Htpc dvr pvr

jefro · 08-25-2022, 06:55 PM

What are linux users doing to record OTA currently? I'd like to know what you are using if you would.

jmgibson1981 · 08-25-2022, 07:32 PM

I'm perfectly happy with Mythtv for the backend with Kodi as the front end. Couple that with a few HDHomeRun network tuners and it's a breeze. I run it in a self contained Docker that has it's own Mariadb. Link included if interested.

https://gitlab.com/jmgibson1981/home.../docker/mythtv

uteck · 08-25-2022, 09:22 PM

I am not using it anymore, but like the above post, MythTV backend with Kodi and a HDHomerun worked great for years. But when I realized I was recording shows and had no interest in watching them I turned it off. I used the HDHomerun with its app on a Firestick until the HDHR died to watch the local news.

jefro · 08-26-2022, 03:11 PM

Thanks. Was wondering what state of it was.

teckk · 08-26-2022, 04:49 PM

I use a little usb ATSC tuner. Mine has a Pinnacle chip.

To play it, you need v4l-utils, and a media player. That's it.

You need to make a channels.conf file for your tv channels, then zap a channel and play it with (mpv, mplayer, ffplay, vlc)

Which of course means that you can also dump the stream to file easy enough. let me tune to a channel and make a screenshot.

https://0x0.st/o9n2.jpg

I like simple.

teckk · 08-26-2022, 05:01 PM

And with something that simple, you can make a bash script to automate that. Display the channels that you have in channels.conf and use bash select to display them, select a channel to play. And it is that simple. The key is v4l-utils. And of course firmware support for your little tuner device.

https://0x0.st/o9nL.jpg

You said record. If you can play the tv transport stream then you can dump to file.

In the US that is mpeg2 video, ac3 audio. Run it through ffmpeg if you want to change it.

teckk · 08-26-2022, 05:10 PM

I keep adding stuff that comes to my mind. If you want to schedule a recording, that is as easy as using something like rtcwake.

Code:

#!/usr/bin/bash

#Wake, record channel, return to sleep. Needs rtcwake and v4l utils

cd $HOME/<somewhere>

#Set wake date/time here, sleep
sudo rtcwake -m mem --date "2021-05-13 18:55:00"

#Allow everything to wake up
sleep 10

#Set TV channel to record here
chan=49.2

#Dvb conf file
conf="$HOME/.mplayer/dvb_channel.conf"

#Zap chan, dump to file.ts
dvbv5-zap -ssrc "$conf" "$chan" -o cbs1.ts &

#Recording time
sleep 2400

#Kill record
pkill dvbv5-zap

ffmpeg -i cbs1.ts -c:a copy -c:v copy cbs1.mp4 &&

#Return to sleep
sudo systemctl suspend

I like all of the simple tools that are in our repos. They work.

uteck · 08-26-2022, 05:14 PM

The LinHES distro for MythTV was very good as they added lots of stuff to make setup easy. They boasted you could do it all with just a TV remote.
Anyone who has setup the Myth backend know that it is not a intuitive process. But looking at the LinHES site, development has stalled the last few years and the forums report problems running on the latest hardware.

jmgibson1981 · 08-27-2022, 03:46 AM

I can agree with that. The latest version in Ubuntu Focal is not at all friendly by my standards, and intuitive seems a foreign concept to them. I do like the software though.

jefro · 08-29-2022, 02:46 PM

What looks the best on a large screen do you think?