MythTV .25 and the New MythTV Services API = Greater Stability for LMCE ?

[kyfalcon]

Has anybody with working knowledge of LMCE and mythTV had a chance to look at this new API? Will it possibly make Myth more of a stable partner for MCE?  Thom, I know you share my current disdain for Myth as far as stability. Could this new API allow us to see something of an improvement?

Kevin

[l3mce]

lotsa looks, no replies... lol


I will give her a go tonight presuming all is stable with the other stuff I am doing.

[kyfalcon]

Let me know what you find. I have been looking at the code a bit. And would be willing to help the best I can.

[l3mce]

I don't know why I would think my stuff would be stable enough to try and shoehorn something that big in... lol.

I give no time frame on this.

[kyfalcon]

Let me know how I can help!

[kyfalcon]

From what I gather from this API, we have 2 courses of action. 1) rewrite MythTV player to use the http calls with the new frontend API. or 2) create our own frontend and use the other API's which to me would be maybe more work but in the end a much better approch, since this could integrate into the new QOrbiter.


 The backend of myth works just fine currently, it is the communication with the frontend that is flaky as hell. If this new API allows us manipulate myth within an orbiter screen of our design then this whole system becomes much more efficient and fluid.

[Marie.O]

qOrbiter won't talk to MythTV direct. Everything else would be a discourse from the architecture. qOrbiter talks to dcerouter which talks to what ever PVR is installed.

mythtv-player and mythtv-plugin won't be changed to talk to MythTV 0.25 for LinuxMCE 1004.

[kyfalcon]

posde, I understand where you are coming from. My point being that from what I could determine from looking at the code( and I could be very wrong) currently MythTV Player communicates through a socket with mythfrontend to watch, change channels etc. The mythfrontend client communication is fairly unstable. This new api would allow an lmce md to communicate directly with the mythbackend even if it is through the DCEROUTER. We could basically eliminate the mythtv frontend altogether in favor of an lmce frontend.

[tschak909]

I'm all for anything that would improve user experience. What would essentially happen would be a new MythTV Player would be written to interface with the 0.25 API.

As for a new front end, The new MythTV Player would perform this function.

We also need to investigate VDR's viability as a replacement for MythTV as well.

-Thom

[kyfalcon]

Thom from reading the API it looks like we would be able to eliminate the need for myth frontend all together and our MythTVPlayer would get the stream straight from the mythbackend. Under this approach we would need to handle the UI for the guide and programming etc. I'm curious how this is handled currently in VDR as it is my understanding that VDR is stricly a backend and LMCE handles the UI frontend.

Kevin

[tschak909]

we use a VDR device (aka VDR player), you can look at its source code, it essentially uses vdr-sxfe, which is a modified xine.

This provides the minimal UI, which Orbiter of course, lays on top of. Posde can explain this a lot better.

-Thom

[Marie.O]

VDR integration and MythTV integration are identical. Both are using dedicated players.

The advantage of the VDR integration is that the frontend gets out of its way, whereas the MythTV frontends jumps at you. The advantage of the MythTV integration is that you are able to select recordings from the videos part of LinuxMCE.

[kyfalcon]

Posde my understanding of the MythTV .25 is that it allows the MythTV to get out of the way also. The big issue I see is the guide data and setting up recordings, how is this data presented to the orbiter for VDR, I would assume we could mimic that code.

[tschak909]

the Plugins are supposed to handle this code.

For an example, look at the data grid generators in MythTV PlugIn, there are a few of them in there. These datagrids are generated, and sent over via the Datagrid Plugin to Orbiter when needed (when a DataGrid object is on a designobj)

-Thom

[kyfalcon]

Thom, I though the guide data that we currently see for MythTV was actually just the guide part of the mythfrontend and basically lmce just passes keystrokes to the frontend.

By the way I appreciate the discussion, it helps me learn and understand this more, which means I might be able to contribute more