[mythtv-users] Functionality questions about recent release(s) anticipating 0.27 by a Gentoo user

[Karl Newman]

I'm on (mostly stable) Gentoo (amd64) myself, using the in-portage
0.25-fixes ebuilds. See my answers inline below.

On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 8:27 AM, lists.md301 <lists.md301 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I saw in yesterday's IRC logs a developer question why bug fixes were
> being ported backwards beyond the immediate prior release.  Someone else
> responded (I believe another developer) that he's still using 0.25-fixes
> himself.  Which made me chuckle (even though I'm certainly not a
> developer), because I'm still on 0.24-fixes -- it works for me just fine
> and I'm unsure about whether things I care about have become more unstable
> (or even broken) in subsequent releases.
>
> I'm a Gentoo user, and part of my initial barrier to upgrading beyond 0.24
> was the loss of overlay ebuilds generated from the myth project repository,
> coupled with stale mythtv support in portage.  More bio: I'm an eastern
> U.S. user on Comcast, SchedulesDirect guide info, using a SiliconDust Prime
> (CableCard) and HomeRun (but not for much longer on the latter,
> unfortunately, stupid FCC, making me get an antenna working for that).
> Multiple frontends (ION2) and a master front/backend (3-core AthlonII), all
> with Nvidia graphics (VDPAU).  (If I ever get beyond 0.24, my system stats
> will end up being collected.)
>
> So I have a some questions, but I'll first mention I try and follow the
> mailing lists, IRC logs, and tickets fairly closely, but these are some
> things I've not been able to definitely determine by searching...
>
> (1) Are the official Gentoo portage ebuilds the "right" way to go, going
> forward?  Has the overlay ebuild generation been officially abandoned?
> While the universe of plugins has been decreasing (with the video library
> integrated, for example), one of the past blocking items for me was not
> having ebuilds for the all plugins I used.  I see that there is now a
> consolidated mythplugins ebuild, with use flags for each one -- cool.
>

Not sure about that answer, but at least the Gentoo package maintainer is
bumping the package versions periodically (after a long ~2 year? lapse).
The overlay ebuild generating script was removed because github changed
their API and the script was never updated accordingly. I like the
consolidated mythplugins ebuild--it aligns the ebuild closer to how the
actual mythplugins package is compiled and installed.


> (2) Is mythweb still relatively stable and useable?  From the list, it
> looked like there were issues.  I'm very dependent on it for most of my
> scheduling and recording maintenance.  I may have read that people were
> hacking stuff because developers didn't have the time to make it compatible
> with changes in the main program.  Or updates put off anticipating an
> eventual backend webserver configuration overhaul.
>

I've had no problems at all with mythweb. You do have to copy and customize
the configuration file (default paths in Gentoo are different than in the
config file). The default location for the config files is
/usr/share/webapps/mythweb/0.25.3/conf/{apache,lighttpd,nginx}-mythweb.conf
I use apache so I copied the apache version to
/etc/apache2/modules.d/mythweb.conf


> (3) Commercial flagging:  this is another one that looked like it took a
> step back since 0.24 (because of ffmpeg changes in part).  I was seeing
> mentions of it crashing with an exit code, and explanation that there were
> upstream ffmpeg changes that needed to be dealt with.  But as there were
> apparently several things interacting, I haven't been able to tell if they
> are resolved (either in fixes or for upcoming 0.27).  Is it
> broken/regressed from 0.24?
>

This is definitely regressed. Commercial flagging was near perfect for me
in 0.24. Now it works maybe 70% of the time. (Note: I'm recording analog
inputs encoded to MPEG-2 with a PVR-500) From what I've heard, it's still
semi-broken in 0.26 and master.


> (4) Has the controversy over mythmusic settled down, and is it being
> supported by anyone (or gradually abandoned)?  Myth has been my primary
> music tool, ripping what CD's we have/obtain, and then sharing the digital
> music by CIFS to the Windows machine for the iTunes library.
>

I don't like the new mythmusic interface. Apologies to the developer who
worked hard on the changes, but it's confusing and difficult. We don't
listen to music much anymore, in part because the interface is too
difficult (definitely lowered the WAF there). I guess the "controversy" has
died down; I think people have either accepted it or possibly moved on to
other media players (XBMC?). I heard there were problems with the ripping
portion also, but I haven't tried it since I upgraded.


> (5) It also appears that mytharchive is fading for lack of a developer
> champion with the time.  I have it installed and occassionally use it to
> make a DVD compilations from the recordings.  Should I not even bother
> installing it on the upcoming 0.27?
>

I also used to use this, but I haven't tested it with 0.25. I think it's
non-functional.


> I usually wait until a new version has some bug fixes resolved before
> upgrading, but I have had enough uncertainty from all of the above to wait
> for several releases now.  I'd like finally to make use of the new
> MythNotify and restore my caller ID functionality (which I lost going to
> 0.24), plus play around with HLS. I don't want to lag too far behind the
> current official release, and make the eventual upgrade that much more
> painful.  But for any (developer) that wonders why people don't upgrade, in
> my case it's uncertainty about breaking a working setup--I don't have the
> time (but wish I did) to properly experiment in a chroot jail.  And mine
> has been working to perfection for several years now on 0.24-fixes; I'm
> able to treat it as an appliance.  This message is not a complaint to the
> developers, and I hope my appreciation for the full-featured DVR all their
> hard work has made possible comes through.  Especially since I'm aware
> (from following IRC) that most don't participate on the user list anymore
> because their good deeds too often lead to punishment.
>

Another thing to be aware of: starting with 0.25, LiveTV is completely
broken with regard to its interaction with scheduled recordings. If you're
watching LiveTV and a program is scheduled to be recorded on that same
tuner, the program gets marked as LiveTV instead of a recording, which
means it will be expired along with other LiveTV programs (if you catch it
in time you can move it to another recording group). Also, if you choose to
"watch while it records" and then later exit LiveTV while the program is
recording, the recording will be stopped! Same problem occurs if you try to
record a program that you're currently watching by pressing the "R" key.

MythTV really suffered a lot when there was some sort of developer
disagreement about a year and a half ago and some of the key developers
left and forked MythTV as Torc DVR (which has yet to release anything
formally, although there is still a steady series of commits).

To be honest, I wish I could have stayed with 0.24, but I experienced a
hardware failure and I wanted to be able to use VAAPI with my new hardware,
so I upgraded to 0.25 at the same time. By the time I discovered all the
breakage with 0.25, it was too late to go back, so we're just living with
it. There may come a time where due to hardware failure, software breakage
or DRM intrusion that we give up TV altogether. It's not here yet, but I
don't think it would take much...

Sincerely,

Karl
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