Cable box and MythTV interface.

[grepico]

I got my cable box and MythTV all setup but I'm not understanding something.

I only get Live TV when I set my MythTV channel to 4, any other channel is static.  Like on a TV with a cable box.  When I'm set to channel 4 I can change channels on my cable box with the cable remote, but that pretty much renders the Native Myth guide and recording useless as it has to stay on channel 4.

I want to have my cable box change channels when I select a channel from the guide not the tuner card.  Can this be done?

[tschak909]

Yes, you will need to make a device template for your cable box, from the LinuxMCE web admin. Does LinuxMCE's setup wizard see your tuner?

-Thom

[grepico]

I setup the tuner and yes, the setup wizard sees my tuner. 

My issue is that when I bring up the MythTV guide and change the channel, it changes on the tuner card not the cable box.

Also the TV quality is terrible, is that because of my Tuner card?  If so what should I use instead of a PVR150?

[tschak909]

you SHOULD actually hook up to your S-Video port, instead of using the tuner port.

-Thom

[grepico]

My cable box only has Composite and Cable I've tried both with the same results.

On a side note: God forbid linux have install files you can just click on instead of "Type this command in Aramaic at a console prompt with these 8 million switches which you will have absolutely no knowledge of what they are for. Oh and don't forget to make sure you're running it as root, we wouldn't want the actual user of this computer to be able to install anything as that would be too convenient."

I can't imagine why every desktop in America isn't running Linux.  Grrrrr

[tschak909]

if you use the composite source, it should not try to change channels on the tuner card.

-Thom

[grepico]

OK, but how do I get it to change the channel on my cable box?

[tschak909]

If you create a device template, you give it the infra-red codes to change channels on your box. This implies that you need a USB UIRT, with an IR Emitter stuck to the IR eye of your cable box.

Once this is done, and the cable box is assigned to the room with your TV, you'll be able to change channels on both MythTV and LiveTV. (Do you see a LiveTV button for your cable box? if not, you've set up your cable box device template incorrectly... look for the DCT6412 template for an example.)

-Thom

[grepico]

OK, what am I missing?  Here's what I have and I believe it's correct.

MythTV is setup and working with the exception of the channel changing thing.  I've got the correct program guide showing up.

I have my cable box setup with a template and USBUIRT controlled by infrared.  When I select the cable box on the Media tab the remote works, channel change, power on/off.  This indicates to me that the box and template are setup correctly.  However I have sound but no video when i select the box.

If I select "TV", the TV comes up fine, vid and audio, the guide is correct, but changing channels through myth does nothing to the  picture.  It says it changed on screen and shows the info for what is supposed to be on that channel but the cable box stays on the channel it was on and that's the show I can see on the screen.  If I change the cable channel with the cable box remote it changes fine and I can watch any channel I want.

Is there some setting I'm missing in the Myth setup that tells it to send channel changes to the UIRT?

[Zaerc]

My cable box only has Composite and Cable I've tried both with the same results.

On a side note: God forbid linux have install files you can just click on instead of "Type this command in Aramaic at a console prompt with these 8 million switches which you will have absolutely no knowledge of what they are for. Oh and don't forget to make sure you're running it as root, we wouldn't want the actual user of this computer to be able to install anything as that would be too convenient."

I can't imagine why every desktop in America isn't running Linux.  Grrrrr

And on another sidenote: God forbid you'd actually know what you're talking about... 

[grepico]

And on another sidenote: God forbid you'd actually know what you're talking about... 

I do and have in the past freely admitted that I don't know linux at all, but I went to view the linuxmce video and Firefox tells me that I need the Flash plugin, cool, I click the link and it throws an error.  There's another link to manually download and install the plugin, OK, let's do that.  Then I get this:

nstallation instructions
.tar.gz installation

   1. Click the "Download .tar.gz" link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
   2. Save the .tar.gz file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
   3. Unpackage the file. A directory called install_flash_player_9_linux will be created.
   4. In terminal, navigate to this directory and type ./flashplayer-installer to run the installer. Click Enter. The installer will instruct you to shut down your browser(s).
   5. Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Mozilla browser. To verify, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.

.rpm installation

   1. Click the "Download .rpm" link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
   2. Save the .rpm file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
   3. In terminal, navigate to the desktop and type # rpm -Uvh <rpm_package_file>. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user). The installer will instruct you to shut down your browser(s).
   4. Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Mozilla browser. To verify, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.

YUM repository installation

   1. Click the “Download .rpm” link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
   2. Save the .rpm file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
   3. In terminal, navigate to the desktop and type # rpm -Uvh <rpm_package_file>. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user).
   4. Once the installation is complete, in terminal, type # yum install flash-plugin. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user).
   5. To verify the plugin is installed in Mozilla, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.
   6. To get the most up-to-date Flash Player in the future, simply type # yum update flash-plugin in terminal. You will not need to repeat steps 1-4.

I attempt the first one and upon typing the command I'm told that the rpm crap isn't installed and to run some other command.  OK, fine, I run that one and all seems well so I go back to my flash installation and run that command again and I get a list of about 10 libxxx or whatever that are missing and pretty much you're F'd in the A mister.  This is the point at which I just took out my Windows laptop and watched the damn video.

Again, I admit that I don't know Linux and I'm sure there was some easier way to get the flash plugin, but the solution that presented itself was to say the least cumbersome and aggravating.

I, unlike many other people, am NOT an operating system biggot.  I believe Linx, just like Windows has it's place and function (MCE for example).  However, I really don't see how it can be touted as a "desktop" operating system as long as it isn't idiot friendly because that's what most of us are.

That's all my comment, albeit born of frustration, was intended to express.

[Zaerc]

And on another sidenote: God forbid you'd actually know what you're talking about... 

I do and have in the past freely admitted that I don't know linux at all, but I went to view the linuxmce video and Firefox tells me that I need the Flash plugin, cool, I click the link and it throws an error.  There's another link to manually download and install the plugin, OK, let's do that.  Then I get this:

nstallation instructions
.tar.gz installation

   1. Click the "Download .tar.gz" link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
   2. Save the .tar.gz file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
   3. Unpackage the file. A directory called install_flash_player_9_linux will be created.
   4. In terminal, navigate to this directory and type ./flashplayer-installer to run the installer. Click Enter. The installer will instruct you to shut down your browser(s).
   5. Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Mozilla browser. To verify, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.

.rpm installation

   1. Click the "Download .rpm" link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
   2. Save the .rpm file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
   3. In terminal, navigate to the desktop and type # rpm -Uvh <rpm_package_file>. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user). The installer will instruct you to shut down your browser(s).
   4. Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Mozilla browser. To verify, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.

YUM repository installation

   1. Click the “Download .rpm” link. A dialog box will appear asking you where to save the file.
   2. Save the .rpm file to your desktop and wait for the file to download completely.
   3. In terminal, navigate to the desktop and type # rpm -Uvh <rpm_package_file>. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user).
   4. Once the installation is complete, in terminal, type # yum install flash-plugin. Click Enter. (Note: This must be done as a root user).
   5. To verify the plugin is installed in Mozilla, launch Mozilla and choose Help > About Plug-ins from the browser menu.
   6. To get the most up-to-date Flash Player in the future, simply type # yum update flash-plugin in terminal. You will not need to repeat steps 1-4.

I attempt the first one and upon typing the command I'm told that the rpm crap isn't installed and to run some other command.  OK, fine, I run that one and all seems well so I go back to my flash installation and run that command again and I get a list of about 10 libxxx or whatever that are missing and pretty much you're F'd in the A mister.  This is the point at which I just took out my Windows laptop and watched the damn video.

Again, I admit that I don't know Linux and I'm sure there was some easier way to get the flash plugin, but the solution that presented itself was to say the least cumbersome and aggravating.

I, unlike many other people, am NOT an operating system biggot.  I believe Linx, just like Windows has it's place and function (MCE for example).  However, I really don't see how it can be touted as a "desktop" operating system as long as it isn't idiot friendly because that's what most of us are.

That's all my comment, albeit born of frustration, was intended to express.

What an entertaining anecdote, to bad it doesn't have shit to do with linux.  The commercial company you're having grievances with in this particular case is called Adobe, by all means feel free to complain to them about their crappy product.

[grepico]

Again, I'm completely new to linux so I'm sure this is my ignorance but isn't the install process a Linux thing?  I understand the app is from Adobe but the process to install seems to be a condition of the OS.  Are you saying that this is not typical and that Adobe was just lazy in their packaging?

I'm seriously not antagonizing, just trying to make sure I'm informed.

Thanks

[Venom986]

Grepico,

I will assume by the description of your problem in installing the flashplayer that you are using a 64-bit distro.  Adobe has yet to create a 64-bit version of flashplayer for linux.  Full stop.  The ubuntu forums have many posts with guides on how to alternatively isntall 32-bit firefox so that you can get the 32-bit flashplayer for linux working in your browser.

Again, this is Adobe's fault for not supplying a 64-bit linux version of flashplayer.  It affects ALL versions of linux.  In fact, even in 64-vista the auto-installer doesn't work, but there IS a manual installer that works in that case.

[rrambo]

Grepico,

I will assume by the description of your problem in installing the flashplayer that you are using a 64-bit distro.  Adobe has yet to create a 64-bit version of flashplayer for linux.  Full stop.  The ubuntu forums have many posts with guides on how to alternatively isntall 32-bit firefox so that you can get the 32-bit flashplayer for linux working in your browser.

Again, this is Adobe's fault for not supplying a 64-bit linux version of flashplayer.  It affects ALL versions of linux.  In fact, even in 64-vista the auto-installer doesn't work, but there IS a manual installer that works in that case.

ok..  wait a minute...  I have a 64-bit MD....  instead of trying to go through the hassle of installing individual packages (because I couldn't get flash installed by itself), I just went in through add/remove programs (adept_installer) and installed the Ubuntu/Kubuntu Restricted extras and now flash is working...