I have 3 MythTV frontends scattered throughout my house. I put together a script using wakeonlan and ssh to power the frontends on and off. Below is a video demonstration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82YQEdAmaws
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Logitech diNovo Mini Keyboard Controlling MythTV, Boxee, and Ubuntu Desktop
I've been trying out keyboards to control my home theater PCs. I think I've found the near perfect keyboard. My new favorite is the Logitech diNovo Mini. The only negatives are it doesn't have the F1, F2, F3, etc keys. I would prefer to have a dedicated key for the Esc (escape) instead of having to use a function key combination. This is a great keyboard. Check out my demonstration video below.
PS. I used the YouTube editor to splice the intro I made in Blender with the main content.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3jLyy39hBo
PS. I used the YouTube editor to splice the intro I made in Blender with the main content.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3jLyy39hBo
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Video Streaming to Android Nexus One using VLC
After reading a discussion on the MythTV Cast forum I explored VLC video steaming to my Android Nexus One. After some searching I found this helpful page. From that page I got VLC video streaming to my Nexus One working by doing the following:
I created a html page on my MythTV server called
I started an http server on my MythTV server using
I started the VLC streaming with the following single line command:
Then with my WiFi connected Nexus One I open the browser to
I clicked on the stream link and watched the video file
I've only got an standard definition recording to play so far. My HD recordings playback with a blank screen. I hear the audio. I'm sure there are some settings I need to tweak on the VLC command.
Below are the specs from the video as provided by the
I created a html page on my MythTV server called
stream.html with the following contents:
<html>
<head>
VLC Streaming to Nexus One
</head>
<body>
<h1>VLC Streaming to Nexus One</h1>
<a href="rtsp://192.168.1.5:5554/stream.sdp">Stream</a>
</body>
</html>
I started an http server on my MythTV server using
python -m SimpleHTTPServer. I started this command in the same directory I saved the stream.html file in. I started the VLC streaming with the following single line command:
vlc Hot_in_Cleveland_2010-06-16_10-00_PM_Pilot.mpg -I http --sout "#transcode{soverlay,ab=128,samplerate=44100,channels=2,acodec=mp4a,vcodec=h264,width=480,height=270,vfilter="canvas{width=480,height=270,aspect=16:9}",fps=25,vb=800,venc=x264{level=12,no-cabac,subme=20,threads=4,bframes=0,min-keyint=1,keyint=50}}:gather:rtp{mp4a-latm,sdp=rtsp://0.0.0.0:5554/stream.sdp}"
Then with my WiFi connected Nexus One I open the browser to
http://192.168.1.5:8000/stream.htmlI clicked on the stream link and watched the video file
Hot_in_Cleveland_2010-06-16_10-00_PM_Pilot.mpg specified in the VLC command. I've only got an standard definition recording to play so far. My HD recordings playback with a blank screen. I hear the audio. I'm sure there are some settings I need to tweak on the VLC command.
Below are the specs from the video as provided by the
ffmpeg command.
Input #0, mpeg, from 'Hot_in_Cleveland_2010-06-16_10-00_PM_Pilot.mpg':
Duration: 00:29:57.80, start: 0.189267, bitrate: 5188 kb/s
Stream #0.0[0x1e0]: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 480x480 [PAR 4:3 DAR 4:3], 6000 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0.1[0x1c0]: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, s16, 384 kb/s
Saturday, June 19, 2010
XBMC Mythbox
XBMC Mythbox is a script that lets your XBMC home theater PC emulate a MythTV frontend. The features of release candidate 1 of Mythbox are very close to an actual MythTV frontend. You can edit your DVR schedule, play recordings, watch live TV, view the TV guide, and review upcoming recordings. The best feature of XBMC Mythbox is that it honors MythTV commercial flags. It allows the player to skip right over commercials. The Mythbox also resumes where you previously stopped viewing a recording. Below is my video demonstration of XBMC Mythbox.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5E8KPalqPg
Tools used to create the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5E8KPalqPg
Tools used to create the video:
- Ubuntu Linux
- Blender 3D graphics application
- Blackmagic Pro video input adapter
- MythTV
- XBMC
Friday, June 18, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
SouthEast LinuxFest 2010
I thoroughly enjoyed the second annual SouthEast LinuxFest. I met several of my on-line friends and gained a wealth of information from the sessions. A tip of the hat to all the hard working organizers and speakers. Great job!
This year the event was held at the Marriott at Renaissance Park hotel in Spartanburg, SC. In 2009 it was held at Clemson University.
The hotel accommodations were great. The Marriott had large meeting rooms and the staff seemed to be there when needed and invisible when they weren't needed.
There was a great crowd on hand for Saturday's events. The crowd on Sunday was slim. I think next year it should be Friday 1PM through Saturday evening. I would leave Sunday as a travel day.
The session schedule was varied and packed. There were 6 tracks on Saturday and many Birds of a Feather (BOF) meetings. Below is a list of the sessions I attended:
Here is a video clip I put together from my favorite SouthEast LinuxFest 2010 session.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb26slhtT1Q
This year the event was held at the Marriott at Renaissance Park hotel in Spartanburg, SC. In 2009 it was held at Clemson University.
The hotel accommodations were great. The Marriott had large meeting rooms and the staff seemed to be there when needed and invisible when they weren't needed.
There was a great crowd on hand for Saturday's events. The crowd on Sunday was slim. I think next year it should be Friday 1PM through Saturday evening. I would leave Sunday as a travel day.
The session schedule was varied and packed. There were 6 tracks on Saturday and many Birds of a Feather (BOF) meetings. Below is a list of the sessions I attended:
- Friday afternoon - UbuCon: Jono Bacon, Rick Spencer and gang demoed Quickly, the python rapid development tool
- Saturday 9AM - Bradley Kuhn: GPLv3: Better Copyleft for Developers and Users
- Saturday 10AM - Jon "Maddog" Hall: A Personal History of Free Software (see my video link below).
- Saturday 11AM - Nick Owen: Securing your network with open-source technologies: Tips & Tricks
- Saturday 1PM - Cat Allman: Getting Started in Free and Open Source
- Saturday 2PM - Doug Vann: How Drupal is expanding the role of OpenSource in Government, Private Industry and Beyond!
- Saturday 3PM - Michael DeHaan: Datacenter Automation Strategies With Puppet
- Saturday 4PM - Jay Pfaffman: LTSP as a New Model of Ubiquitous Computing for Schools: Fact or Foolishness?
- Sunday 9AM - Alan Hicks: Introduction to the 802.11 MAC
Here is a video clip I put together from my favorite SouthEast LinuxFest 2010 session.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb26slhtT1Q
Monday, May 31, 2010
Identi.ca and Twitter Updates on TV
MythTV is a free open source home entertainment system. MythTV provides a hook to the On-Screen Display (OSD). With a little Python scripting you can display tweets and dents on the screen while your are watching recordings or live tv. It is interesting to read what the rest of the world thinks while you are watching an event on TV. Here are some use-cases for the microblogging On-Screen Display:
Below are two video demonstrations of displaying microblog messages on my TV. The first video is during the 2010 NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 race with the search term "NASCAR". It displays search results from Identi.ca and Twitter. The second video is just displaying my personal Identi.ca and Twitter messages while watching an episode of SNL.
Tweets and Dents while watching SNL
- Election return twitter feed
- Popular TV show twitter feed
- Sporting event twitter feed (see demo below)
- Stock ticker
- Weather alerts
Below are two video demonstrations of displaying microblog messages on my TV. The first video is during the 2010 NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 race with the search term "NASCAR". It displays search results from Identi.ca and Twitter. The second video is just displaying my personal Identi.ca and Twitter messages while watching an episode of SNL.
Tweets and Dents while watching NASCAR Racing: Coca-Cola 600 2010
Tweets and Dents while watching SNL
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