[mythtv-users] Running Mythtv without capture device.

[Dewey Smolka]

On 2/7/07, Matthew Bellizzi <matt.bellizzi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello
>
>
> Is it possible to run MythTV without a capture device?    You see right now
> I have a ReplayTV unit DVD playerr and a laptop hooked up to my stereo.  I
> use the laptop to access a gallery website and music streaming site.    I
> would like to be able to test out the slideshow, music and other
> functionality before buying a capture device.    TIA

Yes. I originally had my system running for around six months before
adding TV capture capability.

When you're setting up, you'll still need to define a tuner, channel
source, input source, data source, etc, and run mythfilldatabase. It
doesn't matter that you have no tuner, but this step is necessary for
properly setting up MySQL, upon which everything else depends.

The picture display and slideshow is easy enough to set up, but you'll
need to have your picture direcory (-ies) available to your Myth
frontend -- meaning they'll have to be mounted locally on your Mythbox
with Samba or NFS.

The same thing applies for MythMusic -- the directory holding your
music files has to be mounted locally on the Myth box with Samba/NFS.
The setup menus on the frontend (Setup -> Setup -> Media settings, I
believe) will let you point to the right directory for pictures and
music. Pictures should work as soon as you have the directory set (I
believe) but you'll also need to Scan for New Music after you've set
your directory.

I'm not sure how much luck you'll have with online streaming services,
but any music you have stored should work without problem. I'm not
sure about AAC support, but mp3, ogg, flac, wma (*), and other formats
are readily supported.

(*) - There are a few kinks with wma, but on the whole it works.
Nonetheless, it isn't a particularly good format, both because it is
less than optimal in terms of quality/compression ratio and because it
is so encumbered with MS baggage and nonsense. You're much better off
with ogg, FLAC, and/or mp3. There are some very small and useful tools
available on Linux to batch-convert wma to more useful formats