MythTV backend setup on Ubuntu

mythtv-ubuntu-backend.md

MythTV Ubuntu backend configuration

Installation

Check your system info

uname -a

Upgrade Linux Kernel to 3.16 if necessary. Alternatively, install or upgrade to Ubuntu 14.10, as default kernel is 3.16

Connect PCTV device and check status of the card

grep -i dvb /var/log/syslog

or checking dmesg

dmesg | grep dvb

You need to find something like DVB: registering new adapter or si2168 7-0064: si2168: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2168' in warm state

If for some reason the driver detects the hardware but the firmware is not loaded we need to download the firmware and copy the file to /lib/firmware. In my case for the si2168 I got the message si2168: firmare file 'dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw' not found so I downloaded the firmware from http://palosaari.fi/linux/v4l-dvb/firmware/Si2168/

sudo wget http://palosaari.fi/linux/v4l-dvb/firmware/Si2168/dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw -O /lib/firmware/dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw

Once the messages from dmesg acknowledge the correct functioning of the device, we install w_scan as it's a lightweight command line tool to check everything is fine with our setup:

sudo apt-get install w-scan
w_scan -X -c GB >> channels.conf

And with cat channels.conf we see which channels have been detected.

Proceed with the packaged install. This will install the required dependencies. It will also setup a MySQL server, for which you will need to setup a root password. A database for MythTV will be created and a default password will be generated and stored in /etc/mythtv/config.xml. You will also be prompted whether you'd like to use multiple and external front-ends. Select Yes if you'd like to watch live tv from other devices.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mythtv

##Setup## Run mythtv-setup to configure the backend.

• Database configuration. Retrieve mythtv database password with sudo cat /etc/mythtv/config.xml
• General: TV format to PAL and the channel-frequency-table to europe-west
• Capture card: select card. In Recording Options, set Max to > 1 if multiple virtual tuners are intended.
• Video Source: Name: EIT, Grabber: Transmitted guide only (EIT)
• Input connections. This associates tuner device with video source. Display Name: DVB-T, Freeview, TDT (Spain) are good names. Hit Scan for channels.
• Channel Listings: Check we have the desired channels. Download icons.