Digital TV Tuner (DTV) applications on Mageia 6

[wilcal]

I have obtained a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-955Q USB TV Tuner ( Defacto Standard ). Plugging that into my x86_64 M6 platforms and installing Kaffeine I am am able to view close DTV stations quite nicely thanks. Kaffeine also has a nice record function. So far Kaffeine is the only DTV app I've been able to get working with this tuner. Anyone here had some success with this technology other then just with Kaffeine?

Thanks

[doktor5000]

What about me-tv ?

[wilcal]

What about me-tv ?

me-tv seems to require some kind of database set up where as Kaffeine is simply plug and play.
Is Myth-TV supposed to work with this too?

Note: you really need a very good Antenna. I have one on the way.

[arnesp]

Is Myth-TV supposed to work with this too?

Absolutely, been using it for more than 7 years on Mageia (switched when Kaffeine initially was not available after Mageia switched to KDE4)

[doktor5000]

Absolutely, been using it for more than 7 years on Mageia (switched when Kaffeine initially was not available after Mageia switched to KDE4)

Could you describe here a step by step process on how to set that up.

Thanks

[wilcal]

This all started when I started working on:

https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21762

[wilcal]

Keeping it simple

MCC -> Software Management -> Install & Remove Software -> mythtv

on a 64-bit system presents over 50 packages to be installed. Just installing a basic system what should be initially installed and how should that be set up to get a DTV USB tuner to work?

Thanks

[doktor5000]

What about me-tv ?

me-tv seems to require some kind of database set up where as Kaffeine is simply plug and play.

No, it just requires a configuration file called channels.conf with the available DVB channels, as it cannot really know where you are located and which channels are available there.
kaffeine requires the same, by the way as do all other DTV applications although some bring wizards to create those on the fly (me-tv had this in previous versions, but it's gone sadly - see https://answers.launchpad.net/me-tv/+question/219572 ).

You may want to read https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Dvbscan or /usr/share/doc/dvb-apps/README.scan

[arnesp]

MCC -> Software Management -> Install & Remove Software -> mythtv

on a 64-bit system presents over 50 packages to be installed. Just installing a basic system what should be initially installed and how should that be set up to get a DTV USB tuner to work?

You need to install mythtv-backend and mythtv-frontend and their dependencies.
You also need the mariadb database server. If you are using the Plasma DE, I think it will already be installed.

An initial database must be set up for mythtv. This should be as simple as executing:

Code: Select all

mysql /usr/share/mythtv/initialdb/mc.sql

Unfortunately here, you run into an open issue: https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=19127
Fortunately Bit Twister has provided work-arounds

Next you need to run MythTV Setup from the Sound & Video sub-menu (or mythtv-setup from a konsole prompt)
There are lots of settings, but default values will work for most and a description for the field the cursor is in is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

The MythTV wiki also has a comprehensive description of configuration settings: https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Configuring_MythTV
and a HowTo (for an earlier version, but should still be useful): https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/MythTV-HOWTO_-_0.27

To control and watch recordings and live TV, you start MythTV from the Sound & Video sub-menu (or mythfrontend from a konsole prompt).
MythTV is full screen by default, but can also be started in a window by adding command line options. The front-end may also be started standalone from the Display Manager.

[wilcal]

You need to install mythtv-backend and mythtv-frontend and their dependencies.
You also need the mariadb database server. If you are using the Plasma DE, I think it will already be installed..........

Gracious. What a process. Note I'm also trying to get up to speed on DTV apps on my Raspberry Pi Kodi.
On which is the Mythtv app.

Many thanks to all for your comments on this subject. I think this is a function that is gaining in importance.
As I stumble through this I'll try to document all this as best as possible. Maybe we need a How-To page on this.

My new Mohu Leaf 50 Antenna is due to arrive today and that should make things easier here.
The Antenna that comes with the Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-955Q is really just usable to ensure
that the device is working.

[wilcal]

a HowTo (for an earlier version, but should still be useful): https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/MythTV-HOWTO_-_0.27

This mythTV How-To is 253 chapters long. Bring your Computer Science Degree.

[wilcal]

What about me-tv ?

Further tinkering here tells me that Mythtv has issues while me-tv seems to want the channels.conf file supplied to it. That to be somehow generated by dvbscan. That installed by dvd-apps. And the MCC tells me that is so.

https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Dvbscan

$ dvbscan -h

does generate:

usage: dvbscan <options> as follows:
-h help
-adapter <id> adapter to use (default 0).....

So that's in there.

https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Dvbscan

tells you how to start that process with a command called w_scan and that does not work at all.

--------

Kaffeine continues to impress. It just works. I can capture a video off the "air" and save that to a m2t file
that's very good. And that file can be imported into Openshot and edited. VLC plays both the captured m2t
file and the edited file. Somebodies are putting a lot of work into this function in Kaffeine.

[doktor5000]

Well, I liked me-tv better, the EPG was pretty good and the usability was fine for my parents. That was in 1.3 times when it still could create its own channels.conf, although creating that is not rocket science, but I digress.

Use what work for you

[wilcal]

That was in 1.3 times when it still could create its own channels.conf, although creating that is not rocket science, but I digress.

Use what work for you

Creating that channels.conf is a challenge for me right now. Caffeine is capturing a local channel at 1920x1080 7000Kbps. Very high resolution. Almost BluRay.

[wilcal]

Note to discussion here.I did get that antenna and that made a HUGE difference in the number of channels I receive. Almost tripled the number I could get.

[isadora]

So, this topic is sort of solved now?

[wilcal]

So, this topic is sort of solved now?

Yes, and no. I'm trying to identify where there needs some clarification in our documentation, or bugs raised, to help make sure we can support this important technology. We can already see from responses here that this has been a moving target over the years. Some things that used to work don't necessarily do so now. There's a significant issue with mythtv and an ongoing bug exists for that:

mythtv install problems
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=19127

That's an important package that needs to work, cleanly. Presently I am trying to find a way to get me-tv to work but all the how-to's on how to generate a channels.conf file appear to be out of date or Mageia6 is missing some packages. When I better understand that problem I'll likely raise a bug on that one.

The really good news is that Kaffeine works incredibly well.

Any and all comments are warmly welcome.

[Zezinho]

So, this topic is sort of solved now?

Yes, and no... The really good news is that Kaffeine works incredibly well.

Nice to see that all the work I had reporting a 100% CPU bug in kaffeine has now resulted in a usable app. There are a lot of apps that only do half the work : they play a channel, while they cannot scan for channels (mplayer/vlc/me-tv/mpv). This is a very bad decision, as it ends with users giving up.

While it is ok for a cli only app, what an end user expect from a gui one is to be able to do everything with it. This is why I would not add a dep to me-tv, as it does not use it directly.

[wilcal]

Nice to see that all the work I had reporting a 100% CPU bug in kaffeine has now resulted in a usable app.

That's kinda what got me involved in all of this. Clearing that bug and trying to find some app that was particularly useful on Mageia for DTV. Kaffeine fulfills most of that need.

I'm concerned that this function is a CPU hog anyway. Seems to need a robust platform to properly perform. Also the antenna setup is very finicky. Having too good an antenna can almost be as bad as not having a good enough one. Do note that Kaffeine captures video in m2t format. Mpeg2 not mpeg4. And playing that back at 1920x1080 and a high datarate can strain a platforms frame buffer. I'm seeing some stations broadcasting at nearly BluRay quality. That's going to consume a lot of space on saving a video stream or stress a video editor like Openshot.

I'll post more things as I tinker with all this.

[arnesp]

Do note that Kaffeine captures video in m2t format. Mpeg2 not mpeg4.

You shouldn't read too much into the m2t file extension. kaffeine will just store a recording with the encoding used in the received signal.

[wilcal]

You shouldn't read too much into the m2t file extension. kaffeine will just store a recording with the encoding used in the received signal.

That is correct. The point I am making is that an Mpeg2 file, which m2t is, is less compressed then a mpg4 file. I've seen some pretty high datarates which can be a challenge for some platforms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.m2ts