[mythtv-users] Frontend for Apple TV 4

Sat Nov 7 18:11:19 UTC 2015

On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 9:19 AM, Tom Bongiorno <tbjr at bongohut.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 11:21 AM, Tom Harris <thom.j.harris at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 7, 2015 at 6:08 AM, Craig Treleaven <ctreleaven at cogeco.ca>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> > On Nov 7, 2015, at 12:24 AM, Tom Harris <thom.j.harris at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > I was surprised to find a MythTV app in the Apple TV 4 app store.
>>>  So, I thought I would give it a try for the $4 app cost.
>>> >
>>> > It worked quite well for me.  It played my HD MPEG2 (US Broadcast)
>>> recordings quite well.  It doesn’t do live TV, schedule recordings, or any
>>> other mythfrontend features.. it just plays recordings.  But, that’s all I
>>> want from a frontend 95% of the time.
>>> >
>>> > The main thing I found lacking was the navigation.  Right/Left arrows
>>> didn’t do the skip forward/back you would expect.  You could only move in
>>> the video via the new remote’s touchpad control on the video timeline.
>>> That touchpad is probably great for a lot of things, but doing 30 second
>>> skips is not one of them.
>>> >
>>> > Overall, I thought it was a really solid first version.  If the skip
>>> forward/back controls are added it could become my primary frontend.
>>>
>>> What is the exact name?  Can you provide a link?
>>>
>>
>> The name is “MythTV”.   I don’t think there are any web links to Apple TV
>> only apps - making them really hard to find.  I also didn’t find any other
>> reference to the app on the web prior to launch.   I guess the author is
>> not one for marketing.   The only current way to find it is to search
>> within the app store on the Apple TV.
>>
>>
>>> Re playing un-transcoded recordings, is your AppleTV on a wired
>>> connection or wireless (which flavour)?
>>>
>>
>> I’m on wireless, 5GHz N / AC.  I’m guessing the new AppleTV is using AC.
>> My other frontends are on N-wireless, and all can do ATSC MPEG2 playback
>> just fine.  Obviously, your mileage may vary depending on your house and
>> wifi location.
>>
>>
>>> I don’t have a new Apple TV, but I understand that at least some players
>>> implement a 10 second skip forward/back by tapping on the right/left of the
>>> player bar.  Have you tried that?
>>>
>>
>> I did try that.  I also tried input from IR to see if my universal remote
>> could control it.  Navigation worked fine, but skip ahead / back did not.
>>
>> I later read the notes in the app listing (RTFM) and there it said slide
>> up on the touchpad is +30s, slide down is -8.   That works pretty well, and
>> is much better than trying to navigate the timeline.  But, I think the
>> remote goes into power savings mode pretty quickly, because it seems to
>> miss the first slide after long pauses.
>>
>> When the remote is working, the skip ahead/back is pretty quick.   Not as
>> quick as a native frontend, but nothing is.  If it would react to IR
>> navigation in all four directions, like Mythfrontend, it would be a big
>> improvement.
>>
>>
>>> Thanks for the report!
>>>
>>> Craig
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> mythtv-users mailing list
>>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>>> http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>> http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>
>>
> It is interesting to here that it will decode MPEG2. Are you sure that
> your recordings are MPEG2? There is no mention of MPEG2 support in the
> specs for the ATV4.
>

:) Yes.   Over the years I’ve been trying many frontend options, always
looking for one that can do MPEG2 because so few devices do MPEG2 and fewer
have a MythTV option.  So, I’m quite familiar with the issue.    My backend
is not powerful enough to transcode real-time-ish and my HDHomeRun Prime
can’t transcode.  I’ve been on the hunt for a multi-function device capable
of MPEG2 playback for quite a while.

I am assuming that the AppleTV is doing software decoding, because none of
the Apple APIs I know of support MPEG2, including Mac OS X devices which
definitely do have the hardware support for it.

For my requirements, the new Apple TV comes closest to the device I’ve been
looking for.  It can support the services I subscribe to (Netflix, HBO,
etc.), broad music/movie rental and purchase options, and now a MythTV
frontend.   For those of us that use Apple devices and content, it makes
for an interesting option.

But, be aware that this app is quite barebones..  It does two things:  1)
Display your list of recordings in a vertical selection list and 2) Play
the selected recording.     For my use, that’s enough and is better than
the various UPnP, Google TV, and other options I’ve tried in the past.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20151107/695e7aa8/attachment.html>