[mythtv-users] BE3 - Issues with installation and database

[Stephen Worthington]

On Tue, 4 Jun 2019 12:39:49 -0500, you wrote:

>
>
>Hi Stephen!
>
>
>Mythweb as always been a separate thing - even from source code, you
>have to get it separately.  But if you installed the "mythtv"
>metapackage that installs all the other MythTV packages automatically,
>mythweb used to be installed.  Maybe that has changed in v30 and you
>have to manually install mythweb now, as mythweb is deprecated.
>
>    “Metapackage” sounds familiar so probably what I did with the old
>    0.28 Backends here. As mythweb is a past-tense I’ll not attempt to
>    install; LIS 192.168.0.3:6544 looks to do the same functions, some
>    better. Will probably use Bill’s suggestion and place the redirect
>    in the hosts file to make access easier later when I forget what the
>    access was. Actually just added that to my printout of what device
>    is at what IP address around here.
>
>
>
>A 5 GHz WiFi connection works fine when the frontend box has 802.11ac
>WiFi, but I think an RPi only has 802.11n, which, depending on how
>good the actual connection is, may not be fast enough.  The problem
>with 5 GHz is that it does not go through walls nearly as well as 2.4
>GHz, so where you have the RPi in relation to the WiFi access point
>matters.  In your current (testing) location, it may not work well,
>but it may be OK where you actually want to use it, if that is closer
>to the AP or has fewer obstructions in between.
>
>    The RPi 3 B+ I’m using is supposed to have the ac capability:
>
>
>    Networking: Gigabit Ethernet (via USB channel), 2.4GHz and 5GHz
>    802.11b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi.
>
>    https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/raspberry-pi-3bplus-specs-benchmarks/
>    <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiXv-bHntDiAhURCKwKHc6qCwkQFjACegQIDxAH&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.raspberrypi.org%2Fmagpi%2Fraspberry-pi-3bplus-specs-benchmarks%2F&usg=AOvVaw0gfYWKTNZr_AJej0YmUk1b>
>
>
>    Well I must admit I had a bit of a panic: the WiFi thingie has to be
>    capable of supporting 802.11ac for the RPi to use it! Initially what
>    I found didn’t state; website says it does (copied to my Manuals
>    directory!)

Yes, having a nice new RPi that does 802.11ac does not help if your
WiFi access point or WiFi router does not do 802.11ac also.  I did not
realise that the RPi 3 B+ did 802.11ac, and also gigabit Ethernet.
That is good news - I will be able to use RPi boxes now.

>    Not sure why the issues with the 5 GHz connection during testing –
>    both transmitter and receiver in the same room, a few feet from each
>    other. Right now sort of a low priority – the RPi was a convent way
>    to test; all of the Frontends but one are wired and desktop units.
>    (Not putting down the RPi, I love ‘em, just not quite working right
>    here – yet.)
>
>
>
>Closed captions "just work" for me using normal PC based frontends, so
>I think you are probably right that it will be an RPi problem.  Since
>I do not have an RPi, I do not think I can help much with that.
>
>    This is the first time I’ve had issues with Closed Captioning; seems
>    more of a problem with OpenMax as installed on my RPi. The “High
>    Quality” and “Normal” options displayed captions but video displayed
>    ‘pulsed’ (stop, go, stop, go) [with or without captioning]; oddly
>    (to me!) audio was smooth (came through properly).
>
>
>
>It would be easier if BE2 was upgraded to v30 also.  Then you could
>just use the trick of swapping the config.xml files to get the
>frontends to talk to either BE2 or BE3 until you have finally watched
>or deleted all the recordings on BE2.  You might find that easier than
>exporting all the recordings to BE3.
>
>    Sort of have done that with the two old Backends (BE1, BE2, both
>    running 0.28). Two because of antenna issues: if a ‘bad recording’
>    on BE2 may have been recorded acceptable on BE1. Part of the
>    reasoning for a good recording is possibly recorded on a 1600 vs.
>    2500, though not always. Physical antenna placement is with ten feet
>    of each other in the Storage Area (I know!). Where we usually do our
>    TV watching has a desktop computer to BE2 and a RPi 3 (the non-5 GHz
>    version) to BE1 – change HDMI source on the TV was a lot easier than
>    reconfiguring the Frontend.

Swapping mythfrontend to a different backend just takes copying a
different config.xml and restarting mythfrontend.  That can be put in
a batch file and done from the command line in one command.  And you
can set up the GUI menus to run batch files like that also.  So it is
a lot easier than swapping cables.  The first time you run
mythfrontend connected to a different backend, you have to set up its
configuration, but that is all remembered on the backend, so you only
have to do it once.

>If you want to go ahead and export all the existing recordings from
>BE2 to BE3, then you need to first decide how you are going to move
>all the recording files to BE3.  How many recordings are there?  Do
>you want to move the hard drive(s) with the recording files from BE2
>to BE3?  That would probably be the easiest if there are lots of
>recordings.  Otherwise, you would first need to ensure that BE3 has
>enough space on its recording drives for all of BE2's recordings, plus
>space for any new ones it will be making.
>
>    BE3 (the new one you’ve been helping me with) has a 4 TB HDD and BE2
>    has a 3 TB at approximately 70% full but that includes (I presume)
>    the deleted recordings and possibly some large log files – the
>    percentage reported doesn’t ‘add up’ as the other Backend (BE1)
>    reported closer to 70% free and the two BE’s were essentially
>    recording duplicates. Back the BE2 preparation, would delete the
>    deleted (watched) files, etc., to trim down the job.
>
>Then you would need to set
>up network access (using SAMBA?) for BE2 to be able to write files to
>BE3's recording drives.  Or you could temporarily install each BE2
>recording drive on BE3 to move the recording files.  Or use an
>external drive mount to do that.  I will need to know how this is
>going to happen in order to do a custom version of mythexport for you.
>Also, does BE2 have multiple recording file locations (multiple
>directories in its recording storage groups)?  Does BE3 record to any
>storage groups other than "Default"?  Does BE3 have multiple recording
>drives, or only one?
>
>    Wow! This stuff gets more and more complicated as we get into the
>    nitty-gritty!! I’m going to be getting back to you on those details.
>
>
>    Definitely a TIA on all that!
>
>    Barry

Some SQL queries you can run on BE2 and BE3 that can help with all
this:

do_mythconverg.sh
# Number of recordings
select count(*) from recorded;
# Total size of recordings in bytes
select sum(filesize) from recorded;
# Total size of recordings in Gbytes
select sum(filesize)/1000/1000/1000 from recorded;
# List of all partitions in all storage groups
select * from storagegroup order by groupname,dirname;
quit