Howto: Mandriva 2005 LE + Mythtv

[devries]

Since my setup (an Hauppauge PVR250) and Freevo in Mandriva 2005 don't play along nice, I was forced to install Mythtv. It wasn't very difficult and it didn't require to much effort (the thing that take most time is the tweaking) but I still think there are people out there who could need a little help with their installation. So for them, here it goes:

 

-0- The TV card: If you have a Hauppauge PVR card read this: https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=24642.

 

-1- Software:

 

-MySQL (MySQL-4.1.11-1mdk is the version I used. MySQL5.0 wouldn't start)

 

-XMLTV (xmltv-0.5.39-1mdk is the package name)

 

-Grabbers for your country (for the Dutch: Mandriva doesn't include the best Dutch grabber so download it from here: link. Just copy it to /usr/bin and rename it tv_grab_nl)

 

-Mythtv (mythtv-0.18.1-2.mdk10.2.thac is the version I used. Make sure mythtv backend, frontend and setup get installed. Urpmi didn't install these for me. All other dependencies will be taken care of by urpmi.)

 

-2- Start MySQL. Open the Mandrake Control Center, system, services and click start mysql

 

-3- Open a console, cd /usr/share/doc/mythtv-0.18.1/database and type (as normal user): mysql -u root < mc.sql

 

-4- Open mythtv-setup and enter your settings. I won't go into this because everyone has a different setup than I have and so my experiences won't be of much use. The documentation on www.mythtv.org is very good and it is straightforward stuff. I'll put some links at the end of this howto for those that need more information. One thing: don't use the channel editor yet Click on it and see what it gives. Then do first step 5 (mythfilldatabse) to try to automagically put in place the channels and frequencies (it didn't work for me so I had to run mythfilldatabse --manual. ).

 

-5- Open a console and type: mythfilldatabase

 

-6- Go back to the Mandrake Control Center, system, services amd start mythbackend.

 

-7- Start mythfrontend and start watching tv :)

 

This all seems easy enough. However I have litlle doubt that people will run into difficulties because of mistakes made in the setup or because mythfilldatabase doesn't work. If you have problems look at the links I will give below. There is excellent documentation for Mythtv. Second, after the install and setup the hard work begins: the tweaking. It will take more time to make Mythtv behave like Freevo than it did to get it running :D

 

Have fun.

 

Links: http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythInstall

http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/

[kristi]

Nice post! :D I appreciate posts on TV cards cause lots of folks have them and I know few are lucky enough, like me, to have their card supported easily in Linux (I have an Asus TV880 (cx0x880x chip), I just use TVTime, but these days I don't need a PVR). It's anoying and surprising to me that cards from big companies like Hauppauge aren't better supported.

Thanks! :D

[devries]

The old cards based on the bt848 and 878 chips have good support (bttv driver). So do the Hauppauge PVR cards (ivtv driver) (though the newer models seem to give problems). ATI tv is supported by the gatos driver I think.

 

The problems with TV cards are just the same as problems with other hardware: it takes time to develop a driver is you don't have the specifications. :)

[Guest stefan.van.der.eijk]

Did you try the ivtv and dkms-ivtv packages? For the PVR-250 and 350 these packages should work:

 

http://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/M...h_1mdk.i586.rpm

http://anorien.csc.warwick.ac.uk/mirrors/M...h_1mdk.i586.rpm

 

(10.2 / 2005LE contrib).

 

For the PVR150 and PVR500 it may be better to try the "dkms-ivtv-unstable and ivtv-unstable packages that can be found in cooker/contrib). If you're on 10.2 / 2005LE, rebuild the src.rpm, of course.