Messages

16

Users / UI1 Video Controls Blank

« on: May 30, 2009, 06:16:15 pm »

When using UI1 on a Diskless MD that uses a Composite NTSC_M video connection, the Video control screen (the one with that comes up after pressing ESC during a playback and which contains the play, pause, track advance, menu button, and so on) is blank except for the small video box in the upper right corner. If I set this same Diskless MD up to use a VGA connection with a computer monitor, this Video control screen appears and works correctly.

Should the Video control screen be usable with a Composite, NTSC_M video configuration?

Regards,
Mark

17

Installation issues / Re: Hybrid to Core Alone

« on: May 25, 2009, 04:12:10 pm »

Thank you posde. Interesting info in that link. I guess I was remembering an old pluto installation option for a "headless" Core that just ran off the command line and didn't realize that an LMCE Core required X.

Cheers,
Mark

18

Installation issues / Hybrid to Core Alone

« on: May 23, 2009, 10:55:01 pm »

After using LMCE for over a year now on a single hybrid machine, I have recently purchased two machines I wish to use as Media Directors. I intend to continue to use my old hybrid machine as my home's core server, but would like to maximize its efficiency by removing the overhead introduced by the hybrid elements. Short of reinstalling, is it possible to convert a Hybrid system to a basic Core server?

19

Users / Re: HVR-1600, MythTV, and nvidia 6200

« on: February 12, 2009, 12:46:05 pm »

Thank you Tim.

MANDINGO: I'm running the standard LMCE MythTV version which I believe is a patched 0.20. I'm not sure what you mean in this case by template, so I prbably didn't make one. :-) I basically followed the instructions from the MythTV wiki which had me make and install the package, modify the kernel and then download the current cx18 firmware.

Mark

20

Users / HVR-1600, MythTV, and nvidia 6200

« on: February 12, 2009, 03:32:28 am »

My Geforce 6200 installed properly with the correct nvidia driver after a DVD install. However, after following the configuration of my HVR-1600 capture card from instructions provided here:

http://mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HVR-1600

I was glad to find my ATSC tuner was now working in mythtv, but at the cost of my nvidia driver. Upon rebooting after the HVR-1600 install, my system would just cycle at the "dcerouter login:" when attempting to load X. This problem was simple enough to solve, as I just logged in and changed the video driver in /etc/X11/xorg.conf from "nvidia" to "nv" and X started right up.

I'd like to get back to running the nvidia driver, but am not sure how. There's no Restricted Drivers Manager in my Kubuntu System Settings:Advanced and visiting the nvidia drivers site doesn't provide clear enough direction (for me) on what is the proper driver to use for a Geforce 6200. During previous installs on another machine, I've done irreversible damage to my setup after selecting the wrong driver. As my family is beginning to rely on this system, I'd like to avoid repeating that scenario if I can help it!

I'm interested in restoring the proprietary nvidia driver because I'm experiencing stuttering LiveTV playback and have noted 90%+ user cpu utilization (a P4 2.6GHz system with 2GB of RAM) in mpstat when watching TV in mythtv. My newbie reasoning is that this cpu load may be reduced if running the proprietary nvidia driver for the 6200. This reasoning might be totally wrong, as I've read that the proprietary driver mainly delivers 3D and alpha blending, but I figured it was worth a try.

Any suggestions?

Regards,
Mark

21

Users / Re: Changing Bootup from LMCE to Kubuntu Desktop

« on: February 12, 2009, 02:58:02 am »

No joy.

I created an /etc/inittab file as specified, but either I haven't assigned the file proper permissions or the id:2 directive is being ignored or overridden during startup by something else.

Now I'm curious what the CD install does to enable a Kubuntu desktop startup.

Mark

22

Users / Re: Changing Bootup from LMCE to Kubuntu Desktop

« on: February 11, 2009, 02:00:39 pm »

Cool, thanks posde.

I'm thinking that following these instructions will take me to KDE with the LMCE Core not running on bootup:

cd /
cat >etc/inittab <<"EOF"
# WARNING: Do NOT set the default runlevel to 0 (shutdown) or 6 (reboot).
id:2:initdefault: # KDE
#id:3:initdefault: # Core
#id:4:initdefault: # Core + KDE
#id:5:initdefault: # Launch Manager
EOF

I'll make this edit tonight when I get home and report back on how it goes.

Regards,
Mark

23

Users / Changing Bootup from LMCE to Kubuntu Desktop

« on: February 11, 2009, 05:12:25 am »

I installed LMCE from the DVD which sets up my machine to boot into LMCE directly. I use my machine primarily as a PC and would like to boot to the Kubuntu desktop first. Is it possible (and how) to make this change post-install?

Regards,
Mark

24

Users / Re: Edit Meta Data Tags and Cover Art

« on: November 03, 2008, 03:24:51 am »

Thanks. I previously didn't know about the synchronization between the id3 files and the LMCE database. I'll be setting up a new core this week and will be moving all my media files over to new hard drives on this server. It's a relief to hear UpdateMedia will take care of re-synching the media with the database.

Cheers!
Mark

25

Users / Edit Meta Data Tags and Cover Art

« on: November 01, 2008, 04:35:53 pm »

Is there a method within LMCE to edit the meta data describing media files? If not, would anyone have a recommended package to install for this? I have a lot of genre classifications to add.

Likewise, I was interested in being able to edit the cover art used for media. I'm not interested so much in replacing the cover art entirely, but in adding some text titles to the cover art images to specify which covers are Disc 2, Bonus Features, etc.

Thanks,
Mark

26

Users / Screensaver Aspect

« on: November 01, 2008, 04:25:19 pm »

Is there a "keep aspect ratio" config option for the screensaver? I ask because several of my photos are distorted when displayed within the screensaver.

Regards,
Mark

27

Installation issues / Plug-in-Play?

« on: November 01, 2008, 01:32:44 am »

I would like to upgrade the video card in a MD from a pre-6200 nVidia card to a 256mb 6200. Currently the system is running UI2 and after the upgrade I would like to begin running UI3. Will LinuxMCE automatically detect and install the proper drivers for the 6200 or are there some things which I will need to do manually to get the new card properly configured?

Regards,
Mark

28

Users / Re: Movies in Kubuntu

« on: October 26, 2008, 04:21:19 pm »

Thanks Rob, that did it. 

Cheers!
Mark

29

Installation issues / Hardware Migration Help

« on: October 26, 2008, 04:14:45 pm »

I am planning moving my core server (0710) to a new box and could use some advice on how to move my current LinuxMCE system (its database and media files) to this new environment. Hopefully its just a matter of backing-up and restoring the database on the new install and copying the media files into the same locations on the new hard drives, but I thought I'd better make sure.

Thanks,
Mark

30

Users / Re: Movies in Kubuntu

« on: October 22, 2008, 03:45:29 am »

Thanks. I tried renaming a .dvd file as a .iso but no luck with Xine or Kaffeine. Mplayer tried, but the video signal was all scrambled.

If playing .dvd files is only possible inside of LinuxMCE, would you know if it's possible to transcode the files to divx or theora or something that's playable on the desktop?

Regards,
Mark