[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       mythtv-users
Subject:    Re: [mythtv-users] Upgrade Madness
From:       Martin Compton <martinc () itrans ! com>
Date:       2021-12-21 0:42:18
Message-ID: e6314a7e-1787-a9c5-ebed-7227832a9a4f () itrans ! com
[Download RAW message or body]

[Attachment #2 (multipart/alternative)]


On 12/5/21 10:25 PM, Martin Compton wrote:
> On 12/5/21 7:51 AM, Stephen Worthington wrote:
>> On Sun, 05 Dec 2021 22:11:08 +1300, you wrote:
>>
>>> Today I tried a few things to see if I could get IR blasting to work
>>> on my MCE hardware, but no luck so far.  At the moment, I seem to have
>>> screwed up my IR drivers enough that I will have to wait for a gap in
>>> the recording schedule so that I can reboot the MythTV box. But by
>>> chance I ran across a post that mentioned a utility I had never heard
>>> of: ir-ctl.  This says that it can send to an IR transmitter directly
>>> without needing to use lirc and irsend.  On Ubuntu, it is installed as
>>> part of the v4l-utils package.  So that looks like a good option, if
>>> it works.  I hope to try it out later tonight after I have rebooted.
>> ir-ctl works for sending with my MCE hardware.  I put my transmitter
>> facing my receiver and was able to do commands like this:
>>
>> ir-ctl -k /lib/udev/rc_keymaps/rc6_mce.toml -K KEY_DVD
>>
>> and see the corresponding data from "ircat mythtv" in another window.
>>
>> So it looks like all you will need to do is convert to the standard
>> devinput setup used for the new lirc version with MCE receivers, the
>> same as many others of us here on this list.  Then you can easily
>> change your STB channel change script to use ir-ctl instead of irsend.
>> You will have to convert your STB keycode file into .toml format,
>> which is easy - just look at the /lib/udev/rc_keymaps files and you
>> can see the required format.  It is not too different from the old
>> format, just some added double quotes and = characters and some header
>> lines.
>> _______________________________________________
>>
> Excellent find.  I had to deal with a bad memory stick, so I am just 
> now starting to look at Lirc and ir-ctl, and the .toml file format.

I ended up sticking with Lirc.  It was surprisingly simple to setup the 
mceusb transceiver (driver "default", lircd_conf= "mceusb.lircd.conf", 
insert "lirc" into the rc protocols).  I think I spent more time reading 
about Lirc/kernel changes than I did actually configuring it.

I was able to restore the v30 database and upgrade the schema when I ran 
mythtv-setup.  I did have a slight problem in that the new server has a 
new name /and/ IP address.  The name change was easy enough using 
"mythconverg_restore.pl --change_hostname ...", but I had to manually 
change 5 references to the old server IP address in the settings table.

The change to using the xmltv sqlite grabber was mostly smooth.  I am 
glad I had already done the channel setup.  So all I had to do was 
configure the video source.  The interface on that left me wondering if 
I had done it right, as I was running mythtv-setup as root and the 
interface wasn't clear to me.  But running mythfilldatabase as the user 
mythtv works as expected.

A lot of little things to tweak, but the system is doing the important 
stuff, and I was able to keep my database.  I really wanted to keep that 
as it knows everything I've recorded since 2013.  The backup/restore 
wiki was sufficient to get the job done, with the exception of the IP 
address change.

I haven't tinkered with the MythFrontend playback settings yet.  It will 
be interesting to see how the integrated graphics work with different 
options.  It seems to do 4kp60 just fine using ffmpeg, though.

Thanks to all who work on MythTV!  After having to use the Spectrum 
remote and guide w/o a DVR, I realize how much my TV watching depends on 
using MythTV, and how much better the Schedules Direct guide is than 
spectrum's.

[Attachment #5 (text/html)]

<html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/5/21 10:25 PM, Martin Compton
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
      cite="mid:2a8b1e80-bba2-8199-d0e9-3e63aa869177@itrans.com">On
      12/5/21 7:51 AM, Stephen Worthington wrote: <br>
      <blockquote type="cite">On Sun, 05 Dec 2021 22:11:08 +1300, you
        wrote: <br>
        <br>
        <blockquote type="cite">Today I tried a few things to see if I
          could get IR blasting to work <br>
          on my MCE hardware, but no luck so far.  At the moment, I seem
          to have <br>
          screwed up my IR drivers enough that I will have to wait for a
          gap in <br>
          the recording schedule so that I can reboot the MythTV box. 
          But by <br>
          chance I ran across a post that mentioned a utility I had
          never heard <br>
          of: ir-ctl.  This says that it can send to an IR transmitter
          directly <br>
          without needing to use lirc and irsend.  On Ubuntu, it is
          installed as <br>
          part of the v4l-utils package.  So that looks like a good
          option, if <br>
          it works.  I hope to try it out later tonight after I have
          rebooted. <br>
        </blockquote>
        ir-ctl works for sending with my MCE hardware.  I put my
        transmitter <br>
        facing my receiver and was able to do commands like this: <br>
        <br>
        ir-ctl -k /lib/udev/rc_keymaps/rc6_mce.toml -K KEY_DVD <br>
        <br>
        and see the corresponding data from "ircat mythtv" in another
        window. <br>
        <br>
        So it looks like all you will need to do is convert to the
        standard <br>
        devinput setup used for the new lirc version with MCE receivers,
        the <br>
        same as many others of us here on this list.  Then you can
        easily <br>
        change your STB channel change script to use ir-ctl instead of
        irsend. <br>
        You will have to convert your STB keycode file into .toml
        format, <br>
        which is easy - just look at the /lib/udev/rc_keymaps files and
        you <br>
        can see the required format.  It is not too different from the
        old <br>
        format, just some added double quotes and = characters and some
        header <br>
        lines. <br>
        _______________________________________________ <br>
        <br>
      </blockquote>
      Excellent find.  I had to deal with a bad memory stick, so I am
      just now starting to look at Lirc and ir-ctl, and the .toml file
      format. <br>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
    I ended up sticking with Lirc.  It was surprisingly simple to setup
    the mceusb transceiver (driver "default", lircd_conf=
    "mceusb.lircd.conf", insert "lirc" into the rc protocols).  I think
    I spent more time reading about Lirc/kernel changes than I did
    actually configuring it.<br>
    <br>
    I was able to restore the v30 database and upgrade the schema when I
    ran mythtv-setup.  I did have a slight problem in that the new
    server has a new name <i>and</i> IP address.  The name change was
    easy enough using "mythconverg_restore.pl --change_hostname ...",
    but I had to manually change 5 references to the old server IP
    address in the settings table.<br>
    <br>
    The change to using the xmltv sqlite grabber was mostly smooth.  I
    am glad I had already done the channel setup.  So all I had to do
    was configure the video source.  The interface on that left me
    wondering if I had done it right, as I was running mythtv-setup as
    root and the interface wasn't clear to me.  But running
    mythfilldatabase as the user mythtv works as expected.<br>
    <br>
    A lot of little things to tweak, but the system is doing the
    important stuff, and I was able to keep my database.  I really
    wanted to keep that as it knows everything I've recorded since
    2013.  The backup/restore wiki was sufficient to get the job done,
    with the exception of the IP address change.<br>
    <br>
    I haven't tinkered with the MythFrontend playback settings yet.  It
    will be interesting to see how the integrated graphics work with
    different options.  It seems to do 4kp60 just fine using ffmpeg,
    though.<br>
    <br>
    Thanks to all who work on MythTV!  After having to use the Spectrum
    remote and guide w/o a DVR, I realize how much my TV watching
    depends on using MythTV, and how much better the Schedules Direct
    guide is than spectrum's.<br>
  </body>
</html>


_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users@mythtv.org
http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org


[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

Configure | About | News | Add a list | Sponsored by KoreLogic