Topics

1

Users / TV image quality issue

« on: November 16, 2007, 03:08:05 pm »

Hi guys,
I can watch TV in LMCE and rewind or fast forward in MythTV, but the image quality, although acceptable, is noticeably lower than what I get using the direct cable connection to my LCD TV.  My capture card is a Hauppauge PVR-150 and my onboard video card is an Nvidia FX 5700.  Image quality when playing ripped DVDs or navigating the GUI is perfect.  How can I improve the image from MythTV so that I don't feel I had to give up something in order to use LMCE?  I have been searching the mythtv setup screens but I can't find something that will improve the image. 

Could it be TV image resolution set too low? 
Could it be MPEG-2 compression set too high? 
How are these things set? 

I haven't changed any settings in Mythtv from the default LMCE installation aside from setting up the PVR-150 tuner1 connection to the cable supplier.

Please help,
Jaime

2

Installation issues / Can't get TV stream in remote Media Director

« on: November 16, 2007, 12:11:38 am »

Hi everyone,
I have been working with LMCE for about a month now.  After some problems at the beginning I now have a working Core/Hybrid with UI2 and alpha blending in my family room.  I can watch TV here with MythTV without problems and the MCE remote control works.  My TV capture card is a Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE.  My video card in the core is an Nvidia FX 5700.

Here is my problem.  I am also trying to setup a remote media director in my study room.  The media director is my new PC, except I boot up using PXE through the network instead of booting up from its hard disk.  I am able to start up LMCE UI2 with alpha blending and everything looks great.  I updated the video graphics driver to the latest Nvidia driver.  I can use the GUI and watch the ripped DVDs stored in the core.  However, I cannot watch TV with Mythtv from this media director.  All I get is a black screen and no sound when I press the watch TV option in Mythtv.  I followed the LMCE documentation for Mythtv setup without joy.

Hardware in the MD PC includes an MSI K9N mobo, AMD 64 X2 5000+ processor, 2GB DDR800 RAM, double DVI port Nvidia 8600GT video card, 250GB SATA hard disk and twin Samsung 17inch CRT monitors.

I must be missing something.  Please help.

Jaime

3

Users / Schedules Direct remapping?

« on: November 08, 2007, 09:37:14 pm »

Hi all,
I live in Panama.  I got my LMCE box updated to connect to Schedules Direct.  I opened my Schedules Direct account, I have been able to log in and extract data to Mythtv.  My free 7 days will expire in a couple of days now.  Panama was supposedly included for now in the SD lineups with no guarantees after Dec 1.  Moreover, my cable supplier is called "Cableonda" and is not listed among the options.  So it seems I am up the creek, with no solution at all for getting lineups for my location.

Here is my idea.  Is there a way to easily remap the program guide database to the actual channels used in my location?  It doesn't sound like something too hard to do in MySQL with maybe a translation table.  This way, I could continue my subscription to Schedules Direct, download the lineups from a listed cable supplier in, say Miami, run this information through a translation filter and relocate the listed channels (Fox Sports, A&E, Food TV, etc) to the channel number my local supplier has them in.  I guess I would need to find a listed source in the same time zone that I live so that only the channel number needs to be remapped.  I can imagine there should be plenty of interest in being able to do something like this for all the areas that are not covered by Schedules Direct.

I would appreciate any help or guidance on how to solve my predicament.

Thanks,
Jaime

4

Installation issues / Can't get my remote to work [Solved]

« on: November 04, 2007, 03:53:39 am »

Hi all,
I have been trying out LMCE for the past couple of weeks.  I think it is a great system.  I have been able to get everything more or less working, except the remote control that came with the Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE kit.  The remote is silver on top and black on the back, and has RC6 printed on the back.  The receiver is black and is marked "SMK" in the backside.  The kit came with an IR blaster that hooks up to back of the IR receiver.

The transmitter appears to connect with the receiver, as the red light in the receiver turns on every time I push a button in the transmitter.  The LMCE does nothing.  I have been unable to get the LMCE box to recognize that the IR receiver is connected to the USB port.  Plugging or unplugging the receiver provokes no response from LMCE.

I tried specifying in the Web Admin, Media Directors page the IR receiver as being mce_usb, or mce_usb2 as suggested in some posts.  When using the mce_usb2 option, the system adds automatically a XP MCE Remote to the MD definition.  The configuration of the XP MCE remote seems to indicate it is using a configuration file that is for a RC6 remote.   However, nothing works.

"sudo apt-get install lirc" reports that the software version installed is the latest.

Is the IR blaster supported under LMCE?

Appreciate any help on this.  I don't know what else to try.

Jaime