[mythtv-users] HD-PVR2 support (please vote)

Devin Heitmueller dheitmueller at kernellabs.com
Tue Aug 11 03:10:49 UTC 2015


Hi Craig,

A few comments inline:

>> We take pride in our work, and our customers are generally very
>> satisfied.  It's probably also worth noting that for the HDPVR2 this
>> would be the same code we've been shipping in HDPVRCapture on OSX for
>> several years now, which has a userbase that is probably several
>> orders of magnitude larger than MythTV.  While we would obviously be
>> adding code to Myth an extending its frameworks to best support the
>> device, the driver code itself won't be a new undertaking, and would
>> benefit from having been already deployed widely across a large number
>> of environments.
>
> Very interesting.  I know at least one user had a setup attempting to utilize HDPVRCapture to create recordings that he would play with MythTV:
>
> https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/HDPVRCapture_on_Mac
>
> Last I heard, he abandoned this scheme because it was unreliable.  Admittedly, he was using AppleScript to trigger HDPVRCapture to start/stop the recording as there was no command line interface offered.  Obviously, this would be the integration with Myth that you’re referring to.

I'm not sure what you mean by "this would be the integration with Myth
that you're referring to".  I've never claimed that there was *any*
formal integration today (although the guy who did that script told us
about it).  A clever hack, but I wouldn't trust an AppleScript with my
recordings.  :-)

To clarify, when I said it would use the same code shipping in
HDPVRCapture, I meant the core driver code for managing the device,
combined with some tighter API integration using MythTV's
ExternalRecorder framework.  I wasn't intending to suggest it would
wrap around the HDPVRCapture application (i.e. GUI) itself, nor would
it run on the Mac.  It would leverage the HDPVR 2 SDK we've been
shipping:

Hauppauge HDPVR 2 SDK for Linux
http://www.kernellabs.com/blog/?page_id=3707

This would provide API-level access to the recording functionality of
the device, rather than trying to write some script to screen scrape
and control a GUI application.

> BTW, I’d like to know a source for your comment that HDPVRCapture’s "userbase […] is probably several orders of magnitude larger than MythTV”.  I’ve been following Mac-based PVR/DVR systems for at least 10 years.  HDPVRCapture generated some interest on AVSForum maybe 5-7 years ago but there has been essentially no mention of it for the last 2-3 years (apart from the user noted above). IOW, I thought it never got far off the ground and was now effectively dead.

I think I see where the problem is - you're assuming people are buying
devices like the HD-PVR for DVR purposes.  This is a reasonable error
to make for somebody who is heavily involved in DVR applications like
MythTV (in fact, I thought the same for a while), but in fact it's
false.  The *vast* majority of HD-PVR style devices (both from
Hauppauge and others such as Elgato and Avermedia) are sold to the
gaming market so that people can record the output of their console
and put it on YouTube/Twitch/JustinTV/whatever.

HDPVRCapture, Elgato, Avermedia, and Hauppauge all cater to the Gaming
market specifically as that's where all the sales are.  I don't
personally pretend to understand who the hell would want to watch some
stranger play video games, but I never claimed to be an expert on what
kids think is cool these days.  :-)

> Note that I’m not trying to say that I know of any problems with HDPVRCapture.  I’ve never owned the hardware and never run the code.  Anybody thinking about a PVR on OS X looks at Elgato’s EyeTV—nowadays, HDPVRCapture is never mentioned as an option.  Let alone as superior.

Pretty much nobody on OS X is really thinking about a PVR.  That's why
Elgato has is largely exiting the PVR market aside from a few edge
cases such as Satellite and Europe.  Elgato doesn't even sell a tuner
that will work in the US anymore (and hasn't for over a year).  You
could argue that's the DIY DVR market in general though - same reason
Microsoft dumped MCE from Windows 10.

But to answer to your point - you are correct.  Almost nobody is using
HDPVRCapture as a DVR (although technically it does include the
ability to control the IR blaster and schedule recordings).  99% of
all users are using it to record from their gaming console.

Devin

-- 
Devin J. Heitmueller - Kernel Labs
http://www.kernellabs.com


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