More or less, here is the punch list of activities:
- backup old data
- reinstall OS
- configure OS (wireless, video drivers, etc.)
- myth initial setup
- mythtv setup (video card, display, etc.)
- upgrade to Myth 0.20.2
- setup listings, and run mythfilldatabase
- ensure video feed works
- get channel changing working
- test a recording
Step 1: Back-up existing System
The first thing I did was backup my existing data. Essentially, this meant archiving everything under the /storage directory to an external disk drive. Next, I performed a backup of the mythconverg MySQL database. The instructions that I used for this came from a post on g-ding.tv (http://g-ding.tv/?q=node/2008), but essentially, this is what I did:
- mysqldump -u mythtv -pmythtv mythconverg -c > mythtv_backup.sql
- grep "INSERT INTO \`record\` " mythtv_backup.sql > restore.sql
- grep "INSERT INTO \`recorded\` " mythtv_backup.sql >> restore.sql
- grep "INSERT INTO \`oldrecorded\` " mythtv_backup.sql >> restore.sql
- grep "INSERT INTO \`recordedprogram\` " mythtv_backup.sql >> restore.sql
- grep "INSERT INTO \`recordedrating\` " mythtv_backup.sql >> restore.sql
- grep "INSERT INTO \`recordedmarkup\` " mythtv_backup.sql >> restore.sql
- grep "INSERT INTO \`recordedseek\` " mythtv_backup.sql >> restore.sql
I then moved the restore.sql file off to the external drive as well, along with the perl scripts used to change channels (I had made modifications to them), mine were in /usr/bin... I use directv.pl, but also copied directv3.pl and rca.pl just in case I needed them. I also copied my .bash_history files over from both mythtv and root users... some good nuggets end up in there.
Now that everything that I cared about was moved off the mythbox, I was ready to start it over from scratch...
Step 2: The refresh
While preparing to refresh, I had a debate (with myself) over what OS to use... should I stick with MythDora 4, or should I try running MythTV on Ubuntu? I opted to stick with the MythDora 4 (based on Fedora Core 6).
During the refresh, I opted for the "automatic" setup of the disk. I removed my secondary data drive (500 GB SATA), leaving the other 500GB SATA drive in for the refresh. During setup, I selected the following additional software:
- MythTV Digital Video Recording System
- Video Capture Device Drivers
- Wireless Networking Support
NOTE: I had to use my Acer LCD monitor for the initial install and configuration of the OS, my Plasma is not recognized initially, and will not display until the settings are adjusted.
Step 3: Setup of OS, restore data
There are a few things that I do to setup the OS before I run through the myth setup, but these are based on my circumstances, and may not be required by others. Here is my extra config:
- configure the wireless networking to talk to my wireless router with WEP
- install NTFS support for external disk drives (yum install ntfs-3g). I do as su
- reboot
- add mythtv user to groups: root, wheel (wheel for sudoers)
- edit /etc/sudoers, and remove comment in front of line %wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
- restore my .bash_history files
- restore MySQL database (again borrowing from previously mentioned link) using the command: mysql -u mythtv -p
mythconverg < restore.sql Note: Run this from wherever you have the archived file. - restore all data to /storage directories (recordings, videos, etc.)
- restore all data to /storage directories (recordings, videos, etc.)
Step 4: Upgrade to MythTV 0.20.2, configure Backend
This is pretty straight forward, I just did the following:
- yum -y upgrade \*myth\*
That brought me to the newest release of MythTV, which has the support for Schedules Direct. I then ran the mythtvsetup, and selected the Schedules Direct feed for my listings. (Of course, you have to register with Schedules Direct first, and pay the $15/3 month fee).
Once the backedn setup was complete (identified capture card, source, etc.), I then ran mythfilldatbase to grab the channels and populate the listings database. This took a while...
The next step was testing. I had some serious issues at this point with the LIRC, so I tested the channel changing scripts from the command line to ensure that they worked... they didn't (directv.pl get_channel should return the current channel, but instead, would retry 4 times, then give "Error excessive retries"). Here is what I knew:
- Nothing in BIOS had changed, and it worked before
- Cable was fine, it worked before the wipe and upgrade
- Scripts were fine, they were the ones that I archived, but now none of them work
So, I spent some time troubleshooting this.
- checked in /dev to ensure that ttyS0 was there
- ensured that permissions of ttyS0 were adequate
- installed minicom to test com port... testing showed that the port worked fine, so that wasn't the issue
- ran: sudo setserial -a /dev/ttyS0 this revealed no problems
- downloaded a Windows client to test the cable with (http://www.dtvcontrol.com/), this would validate cable was still working.
- AH-HA! when I went to plug the cable into my window laptop serial port, I noticed that the cable had become disconnected at the junction from the serial cable to the null modem... NO WONDER IT WASN'T WORKING.
So, now with the cable actually plugged in, I tried the scripts again, and they worked... probably worked all along. I have a D11 set-top box from DirecTV, so I had to go with 9600 BAUD rate. Once I validated the settings, running directv.pl get_channel returned the channel my box was tuned to.
Finally, I ran ivtv-tune -c 3 to ensure I was tuned to the proper channel to receive the video feed. (I also put this into my myth backend setup afterwards so I wouldn't have to do it every boot up).
I verified that I had a video feed, could change channels with the remote, and could schedule recordings. I setup a show to record for a test, and went for lunch. When I came back, it had worked.
Back in business!
Next Up
So, this puts me back where I was before the change to Schedules Direct. I still have the following bugs to work out, and now have more motivation to do so:
- Get VFD working
- Finish mapping remote buttons
- Fix volume control issue from within Myth (can't control volume)
- Expose Myth Web through my firewall
That will be a job for next weekend, now I need to relax.
-VG
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