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Messages - jeff_rigby

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31
Installation issues / Re: SPDIF output help - DFI SLI-DR
« on: September 28, 2007, 11:53:14 am »
I'm guessing you have the same issues I have.  Everything works inside LinuxMCE including playing back DVDs but MythTV does not output sound and the KDE desktop has no sound.

The fix for this if your MD is part of your core has been addressed in this forum and you can do a search for it using search in the upper right of this screen.  Be aware that you will have to move to a different forum and make this search for each forum.

If your MD is not part of your core but is a diskless boot MD then this problem has not been addressed.   

32
Installation issues / Re: Slow running and warning message
« on: September 28, 2007, 11:35:48 am »
I believe that an image of the kernal for each MD hardware config is kept on the core and is keyed to the mac number of the network card in your PC (MD).  This is the reason the first boot/config takes so long compared to the second boot of the same MD. 

LinuxMCE is apparently not forgiving of any hardware change.  You can go to the Admin site for your core and force a rebuild of the kernal for your MD. I believe you must do that when you change any hardware but keep the same network card mac address.

This is the reason that you see the assigned IP address for each MD and this never changes.

So if you change any hardware and have "issues" then either delete the MD to force the rebuild or go into admin and force the rebuild.


33
Users / Re: DVD image quality during fast motion
« on: September 25, 2007, 12:47:07 pm »
Did some research on the video tearing during fast motion and found some discussion on this problem, see:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11626148


34
Just did my homework and Linuxmce admin page has options for sound output and these are correctly set for it to work as confirmed using the audio video wizard.  MythTV has no settings in the Admin page (that I can find).  So while the above suggestion might work for a core/MD combo it won't work for the diskless MD.

35
Biggest problem I had with LinuxMCE was not waiting long enough for things to happen.  I kept assuming that it was locked up.  I believe, and I'm a beginner too, that during the initial install for a diskless MD or the MD running on the core that MCE is waiting on an orbiter to login.  If it doesn't it proceeds with the diskless MD option.  Somewhere in there are hardware probes etc.  Since MCE is desgined to work with relatively slow computers these timeout options might be longer than we are used to.

I reinstalled MCE two times assuming I had problems.  The problem was me not waiting long enough.  The system I'm using is an AMD X2 3.6 Ghz with 1 gig of memory on a M2NPV-VM motherboard. 

Speed is not an issue (other than it might take longer) for MCE to boot and install but is an issue for live TV playback.  The key in these early releases is the video card.  Nvidia 6000 series work flawlessly.  MB Nvidia 6000 video support sometimes does not work depending on the design I guess.

I've usually had text on screen indicating fatal error hardware probe issues if there is going to be a problem.  I did have one machine with ATI video support on the MB that hung for about 30 min before the video&audio wizard appeared.  Then after setting those it took even longer for the setup wizard to appear and it stuttered.  I gave it up as a lost cause on that motherboard

36
This might be a stupid question.  I have a core and two remote Media Directors which have the M2NPV-VM motherboards with integrated sound.  If I choose the option to go to the desktop on this MD and configure sound will the setting be saved for a future reboot of this media director.  Or must I go to the administration website to change these options for this MD?

37
I don't think that should matter as the sound works properly with LinuxMCE, the problem is that MythTV is not setup properly for sound output.

The sound chip I'm using is built onto the mother board of a M2NPV-VM, one of the recommended boards.  I purchased the daughter board ($16) that provides optical and coax PCM output (dolby digital). This is hooked to my home stereo.  The sound is very good when playing a DVD or audio and non-existant when playing MythTV. 

I'm using the component out port at 480P or 780P but I get digital sparkles in the background on dark images.  HDMI or DVI is the way to go.

38
Linux MCE works properly and routes audio through the audio out selected using the AV wizard.  Myth TV only outputs through the computer audio out port. There is no audio out the optical or spdif port.  How do I setup Myth tv to output sound through the digital audio out port?

 

39
Users / Re: AMD64
« on: September 19, 2007, 03:09:51 pm »
OK...I'll sound petty but I'm 56 and have been involved in computers since 1985.  The I386 is a I286 with memory management and the ability to address memory above the I286 16 bit limit of 64K, that thousands not millions.  It is a 16 bit cpu not 32 bit and certainly not 64 bit.

That we have been stuck with I386 as a common denominator I blame on IBM, Microsoft and Intel.  IBM tried to correct their mistake in choosing Intel (8088 16/8) over Motorola (68000 32/16) for their PC when they bought a large share of Intel stock to push the Pentium processor out the door, the first true 32 bit processor out of Intel.  Motorola at the time this happened had already run thru the 68000 (32/16), 68030 (32/32) and 68040 (32/32 with memory management) and had a line of support chips for industrial applications like 100 million 16 bit samples/sec DSPs.  What did we get with the Pentium, very fast math but extremely slow real world abilities as it was a RISC and memory was slow at that time. 

Current CPUs now have more instructions in them so that they can handle multi-media.  So we now have a hybrid RISC/CISC.  with extremely large cache on chip, possibly the best of both worlds.  But many of these advanced features are not being used because we still have that crippled common denominator I386 as the standard.

I am not criticizing the developers of Linuxmce for using the common denominator as this makes sense considering their limited numbers and the work involved in development.  That they have said there will eventually be compiled 64 bit versions of kubuntu and linuxmce is farsighted of them.

 




40
Users / Re: Ripping of dvds
« on: September 19, 2007, 01:58:45 pm »
ummmm...  They are already compressed using mpeg2.  Mpeg 4 could be used but that would require all of us to have faster machines (common denominator).  This might be possible as linuxmce evolves and we stop using 16 bit (i386) as the common denominator for the operating system that linux MCE runs under.

Right now 500 gig is $120 so that equates to about an average of about $1.50 for each DVD we copy to those drives.

Don't get me wrong as I feel the same way you do, I'm just trying to be realistic.  I've already experimented with compression and I don't like the shortcuts that have been used as they compromise the quality of the DVD.

41
Since I have read that Linuxmce does not use memory over 1 gig could you perhaps use 500 meg of any additional memory as a RAM drive and automatically have myth TV use this drive instead of the HD for the 5 min FF-REW feature.  This would dramatically improve performance for the core when using mythTV and help many of those slower MD computers. 

I've noticed the problem that MythTV has with this feature on PCs running "Windows" with ATI ATSC tuners and the software for "Windows" that comes with this tuner.  It's not MythTV (software) but the speed of the HD that creates the problem. 

From what I have been able to figure out; 500 MEG will easily store 5 min of HD digital, maybe two 720p HD streams or 4 480p SD streams.

With the cost of RAM being about $20 for 512 meg DDR2 this makes sense economically.
 

42
Users / Guide does not work with comcast cable digital channels
« on: September 19, 2007, 01:15:49 pm »
Comcast does not use the features bulit into and accepted by the industry to make it easier for the consumers who do not have a cable box to know what industry accepted channel number I.E. 74-3 matches what channel in their guide (available only if you have a cable box).

This feature is called mapping.  ATSC channels currently do this.  For instance if the consumer locally is receiving analog channel 3 they will receive digital channel 3 on the FCC channel 54 but their TV will report this as 3-1 and the TV will report the analog channel as 3-0.  It's a simple matter to put a channel # in the digital stream that will be reported by our tuners, in fact any equipment with a QAM tuner (cable) or ATSC tuner (over the air) will properly do this.

Schedules direct publishes the channel numbers that comcast assigns and can be found in the comcast guide.  For the analog channels this works for us but for the digital channels it does not.  Our tuners for linuxmce report the correct RF channel and the comcast assigned subchannel number in the digital stream.  In the comcast guide a 74-3 that our tuner has reported is a channel 690 in the comcast guide. 

I see no easy way for schedules direct to fix this.  It would require a person to actually look at the channels and create a lookup table.  Comcast has changed their digital lineup at least every three months as they move around and add more digital channels.  They are in the process of creating new digital channels as they convert the analog lineup to digital.

It is not in their economic interest to make it easy for us to receive digital channels.  The cable industry is trying to get the FCC to allow them to scramble all digital channels.  So I don't think trying to get a cable company to do the right thing is the way to go in the short term. 

Long term, congress is going to subsidise set top boxes so logically they should have a say in this issue. 

43
Users / Re: MythTV 0.20.2 Packages
« on: September 19, 2007, 12:03:48 am »
Myth works passibly with my PC connected to speakers using the computers audio out plug but there is no sound from the media directors Digital audio out to my home stereo receiver.  To actually see a program I have to schedule it and play it back using I believe the DVD video playback built into linux mce. 

You need a very fast machine for myth to be rock stable with live TV.  If you watch the recorded program it's perfect.

My guess is that the one or two minute rewind ff feature that is the default for myth uses too much overhead because HD drives are so slow (relative to the other equipment in the core).

44
Users / Re: DVD image quality during fast motion
« on: September 18, 2007, 11:33:38 pm »
I have same problem with the recommended MB and a 3.6 Ghz AMD processor.  I want to fix that eventually so I'll keep looking here hoping someone will answer your question and thus mine.

45
Users / Re: HELP! <iwant to format my extra drive
« on: September 15, 2007, 11:43:29 am »
I believe you will have to do that from a command line.  It requires just three command lines;   The last one in an editor like vim (run from the terminal) you will have to be in root mode so use the sudo (super user do) in front of the command ie: sudo vim  /etc/fstab
to edit /etc/fstab.  Do a search for adding a drive to linux.  Read... it's worth it. 

I did it as a novice in about an hour.  Now I can do one in about 3 minutes (not counting reboot time and format time).

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