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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<TITLE>Installing and using MythTV: First things first.</TITLE>
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<HR>
<H2><A NAME="s1">1.</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1">First things first.</A></H2>
<P>
<FIGURE>
<EPS FILE="stop.eps">
<IMG SRC="stop.png">
<CAPTION><B>NOTE</B>: Please note that I, Robert Kulagowski, am <EM>NOT</EM> the
author/programmer of the MythTV application! I can not give you
personalized installation support. If you are having issues installing
MythTV you should examine the archives, or post your question to the
MythTV-users mailing list. If you send me "Does MythTV work with 'X'"?
messages - I will simply instruct you to ask your question on the
mythtv-users mailing list.</CAPTION>
</FIGURE>
</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.1">1.1</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.1">What is MythTV?</A>
</H2>
<P>MythTV is a GPL licensed suite of programs that allow you to build the
mythical home media convergence box on your own using Open Source software
and operating systems. MythTV is known to work on Linux and Mac OS X
(PowerPC and Intel). It does not run on Windows.</P>
<P>MythTV has a number of capabilities. The television portion allows you to
do the following:
<UL>
<LI>You may pause, fast-forward and rewind live Television.</LI>
<LI>You may install multiple video capture cards to record more than one
program at a time.</LI>
<LI>You can have multiple servers (called "backends"), each with multiple
capture cards in them. All scheduling is performed by the Master backend,
which arbitrates which recording will be performed by each device. All
recording requests are managed by the Master backend, so you can schedule a
recording from any client.</LI>
<LI>You can have multiple clients (called "frontends" in MythTV parlance),
each with a common view of all available programs. Any client can watch any
program that was recorded by any of the servers, assuming that they have the
hardware capabilities to view the content; a low-powered frontend will not
be able to watch HDTV, for example. Clients can be diskless and controlled
entirely by a remote control.</LI>
<LI>You may use any combination of standard analog capture card, MPEG-2,
MJPEG, DVB, HDTV, USB and firewire capture devices. With appropriate
hardware, MythTV can control set top boxes, often found in digital cable and
satellite TV systems.</LI>
<LI>Program Guide Data in North America is downloaded from
schedulesdirect.org, a non-profit organization which has licensed data from
Tribune Media Services. This service provides almost two weeks of
scheduling information. Program Guide Data in other countries is obtained
using XMLTV. MythTV uses this information to create a schedule that
maximizes the number of programs that can be recorded if you don't have
enough tuners.</LI>
<LI>MythTV implements a UPNP server, so a UPNP client should automatically
see content from your MythTV system.</LI>
</UL>
Other modules in MythTV include:
<UL>
<LI>MythArchive, a tool to create DVDs</LI>
<LI>MythBrowser, a web browser</LI>
<LI>MythControls, an application to configure your remote control</LI>
<LI>MythFlix, a Netflix module</LI>
<LI>MythGallery, a picture-viewing application</LI>
<LI>MythGame</LI>
<LI>MythMusic, a music playing / ripping application which supports MP3
and FLAC</LI>
<LI>MythNews, a RSS news grabber</LI>
<LI>MythPhone, phone and videophone using SIP.</LI>
<LI>MythVideo, DVD ripper and a media-viewer for content not created within MythTV</LI>
<LI>MythWeather</LI>
<LI>MythWeb, which allows you to control your MythTV system using a web
browser. With MythWeb, you can schedule and delete recordings, change
keybindings and more. With proper security, you may even schedule a program
over the Internet and have it immediately acted on by the Master backend.</LI>
</UL>
</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.2">1.2</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.2">QuickStart</A>
</H2>
<P>Custom mini-distributions are available to make it easier to install
MythTV. A mini-distribution removes many of the "general purpose"
workstation / server software packages that may be installed by default if
you use one of the big-name OS packages.</P>
<P>See
<A HREF="http://mysettopbox.tv">http://mysettopbox.tv</A> if you'd
like to install a custom version of Knoppix optimized for MythTV.</P>
<P>See
<A HREF="http://www.minimyth.org">http://www.minimyth.org</A> if you'd like
to install MythTV onto a diskless system.</P>
<P>See
<A HREF="http://bit.blkbk.com">http://bit.blkbk.com</A> if you'd
like to install MythTV on a Xbox.
<B>NOTE</B>: Site appears unmaintained.</P>
<P>See
<A HREF="http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/">http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/</A> for instructions tailored to RedHat's
Fedora Core distribution.</P>
<P>See
<A HREF="http://www.mythbuntu.org">http://www.mythbuntu.org</A> if
you'd like to install a customized version of Ubuntu optimized for MythTV.</P>
<P>There is a MythTV wiki at
<A HREF="http://wiki.mythtv.org">http://wiki.mythtv.org</A>.</P>
<P>If you are installing this version for Schedules Direct support, please see
the
<A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO-24.html#migratingtoSD">Migrating from DataDirect Labs to Schedules Direct</A> section for additional information.</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.3">1.3</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.3">Upgrading from previous versions</A>
</H2>
<P>The upgrade from previous versions should be transparent. Any changes to
the database structure should be applied automatically.</P>
<P>It is <EM>strongly</EM> recommended that you back up your database before
installing a new version of MythTV.</P>
<P>See
<A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO-23.html#backupdb">Saving or Restoring the database</A> for instructions.</P>
<H2><A NAME="how_to_obtain"></A> <A NAME="ss1.4">1.4</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.4">How to obtain this document / PDF versions of this document </A>
</H2>
<P>This HOWTO document is maintained at the primary MythTV website:
<A HREF="http://www.mythtv.org">http://www.mythtv.org</A> by Robert
Kulagowski
<A HREF="mailto:rkulagow@rocketmail.com">mailto:rkulagow@rocketmail.com</A>.</P>
<P>This document is available as a single-page HTML document at
<A HREF="http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-singlehtml.html">http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-singlehtml.html</A> or as a PDF
at
<A HREF="http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO.pdf">http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO.pdf</A>.</P>
<P>This HOWTO is for MythTV v0.21</P>
<P>Release notes for this version may be found in the MythTV Wiki at
<A HREF="http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Release_Notes_-_0.21">http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Release_Notes_-_0.21</A></P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.5">1.5</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.5">Books about MythTV</A>
</H2>
<P>If you would like to purchase a book specifically about MythTV:</P>
<P>
<UL>
<LI>Hacking MythTV, ISBN 978-0470037874 by Wilson, Tittel, Wright and Korelc</LI>
<LI>Practical MythTV: Building a PVR and Media Center PC, ISBN 978-1590597798 by Smith and Still</LI>
</UL>
</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.6">1.6</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.6">Document conventions</A>
</H2>
<P>The following conventions are used throughout this document.<BR>
<B>boldface</B> - used for program names.<BR>
<CODE>typewriter</CODE> - used for program paths.<BR>
<EM>emphasis</EM> - Pay attention here.<BR></P>
<P>
<FIGURE>
<EPS FILE="warning.eps">
<IMG SRC="warning.png">
<CAPTION>Pay more attention.</CAPTION>
</FIGURE>
</P>
<P>
<FIGURE>
<EPS FILE="stop.eps">
<IMG SRC="stop.png">
<CAPTION>Ignore at your own peril.</CAPTION>
</FIGURE>
</P>
<P>
<FIGURE>
<EPS FILE="add.eps">
<IMG SRC="add.png">
<CAPTION>Feature that has been added to SVN (subversion, a revision control system)
but is not available in the current release.</CAPTION>
</FIGURE>
</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.7">1.7</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.7">Mailing lists / getting help</A>
</H2>
<P>It's recommended that you join the user list at
<A HREF="http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users">http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users</A>. The developer
list is at
<A HREF="http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev">http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev</A>. Please keep
the developer list strictly for development-related issues.</P>
<P>Searchable archives for the lists are available at
<A HREF="http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/">http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/</A>.</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.8">1.8</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.8">IRC</A>
</H2>
<P>There are two IRC channels dedicated to MythTV which can be found on
irc.freenode.net
<UL>
<LI>mythtv</LI>
<LI>mythtv-users</LI>
</UL>
</P>
<P>The <CODE>mythtv</CODE> channel is where the developers discuss code. It is
<EM>not</EM> a user-support channel. Please don't ask non-development
related questions there.</P>
<P>
<FIGURE>
<EPS FILE="stop.eps">
<IMG SRC="stop.png">
<CAPTION>Really. Even if there's no one in the mythtv-users IRC group or everyone
seems to be ignoring you.</CAPTION>
</FIGURE>
</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.9">1.9</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.9">Bug database</A>
</H2>
<P>If you feel you need to contribute to a bug database, use the MythTV bug
ticketing system at
<A HREF="http://svn.mythtv.org/trac">http://svn.mythtv.org/trac</A>.</P>
<P>Good entries will contain the following:
<OL>
<LI>Qt version</LI>
<LI>Linux distribution</LI>
<LI>gcc version</LI>
<LI>the last entry in config.log to detail how you compiled</LI>
<LI>MythTV version numbers (<EM>e.g.</EM>from mythfrontend --version)</LI>
<LI>Hardware</LI>
<LI>How you are able to reproduce the bug</LI>
</OL>
</P>
<P>See the instructions on how to debug in
<A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO-22.html#debugging">Section 22</A>.</P>
<P>The bug database is not a chat room, so restrict your entries to what is
relevant. It's also not a repository of feature requests; a feature request
without an accompanying patch file to implement that feature will be quickly
closed. There is a feature wishlist on the wiki at
<A HREF="http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Feature_Wishlist">http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Feature_Wishlist</A>. There is no
guarantee that anything on the wishlist will ever get code written to
implement it.</P>
<P>If a developer closes out your bug, it's likely you didn't provide enough
information. Don't re-open a bug without providing additional information.</P>
<H2><A NAME="ss1.10">1.10</A> <A HREF="mythtv-HOWTO.html#toc1.10">Contributing to this document</A>
</H2>
<P>Contributions to the HOWTO are welcome, especially if you find a
grammatical or spelling error, or if the wording of something is just plain
confusing.</P>
<P>If you'd like to make a new contribution, create a ticket at
<A HREF="http://svn.mythtv.org/trac">http://svn.mythtv.org/trac</A> and
click "New Ticket". The type should be set to "patch" and the owner set to
"rkulagow" to ensure that I see your contribution.</P>
<P>Please send it as either SGML or as plain text. <EM>NO HTML</EM>. The
source used to create the HOWTO is in SGML / Linuxdoc. Do not be afraid of
SGML! A quick look at the source of this HOWTO will show that it is not
difficult, because there aren't that many tags to worry about, so at least
<EM>try</EM> to submit as SGML. See the Linuxdoc HOWTO at
<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Howtos-with-LinuxDoc.html">http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Howtos-with-LinuxDoc.html</A> for information
on the linuxdoc format itself, or look at the <CODE>mythtv-HOWTO.sgml</CODE>
file as an example.</P>
<P>To create the actual patch, run <B>diff -u origfilename newfile >
doc.patch</B> and attach your contribution to the trac ticket.</P>
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