Free and open source home entertainment application
MythTV
is a
free and open-source
home entertainment application with a simplified "
10-foot user interface
" design for the living room TV. It turns a computer with the necessary hardware into a
network
streaming
[1]
digital video recorder
, a
digital
multimedia
home entertainment system, or
home theater personal computer
.
[2]
It can be considered a
free and open-source
alternative to
TiVo
[3]
or
Windows Media Center
. It runs on various
operating systems
, primarily
Linux
,
macOS
, and
FreeBSD
.
[4]
History
[
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]
The MythTV project was started in April 2002 by Isaac Richards,
[3]
who explained his motivation:
[5]
I got tired of the rather low quality
cable
box that
AT&T Broadband
provides with their digital cable service. It's slow to change channels, ridden with ads, and the program guide is a joke. So, I figured it'd be fun to try and build a replacement. Yes, I could have just bought a TiVo, but I wanted to have more than just a
DVR
? I want a web browser built in, a mail client, maybe some games. Basically, I want the mythical convergence box that's been talked about for a few years now.
Features
[
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]
- Pause, skip, and rewind live TV shows
- Completely automatic commercial detection and optional skipping
- Intelligently schedules recordings to avoid conflicts
- Interfaces with
television listing
sources such as
XMLTV
or
PSIP
- Interfaces with nonprofit subscription listings service
Schedules Direct
in the
United States
and
Canada
. Schedules Direct delivers the same
Tribune Media Services
listings data that TiVo and other video recorders use.
- Supports
ATSC
,
QAM
,
DMB-T/H
and
DVB
(everything supported by
LinuxTV
)
high-definition television
- Supports
Xv
,
OpenGL
, and
VDPAU
video output
- Supports
H.264
codec
- Supports
VP9
and
H.265
codecs as of version 0.28
- A backend server and frontend client architecture, allowing multiple frontend client machines to be remotely served content from one or more backend servers. A single computer can perform as both the frontend client and the backend server.
- Plays recordings at an accelerated or decelerated rate, adjusting the audio pitch as necessary
- Schedule and administer various system functions using a web browser-based interface
- Controls a
set-top box
using an infrared remote (
IR blaster
), or
Firewire
HDTV support
[
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]
MythTV is capable of capturing
HDTV
streams from any source that will provide unencrypted video. This means broadcast
ATSC
and
DVB
content, as well as encrypted DVB content when using a tuner with an integrated
CI
module. Most U.S.
cable
and
satellite
providers use encrypted video only accessible through their own
set-top boxes
. Cable systems may provide some unencrypted
QAM
channels, but these will generally only be local broadcast stations, and not cable programming or premium channels.
OpenCable devices are available to access encrypted content on U.S. cable systems, but as this is a full
DRM
system, and not just
CA
like DVB CI, every piece of hardware and software on the playback chain must be tested and licensed by
CableLabs
. At current, Windows Media Center is the only DVR software to meet these requirements, and only it, and other software using its recording libraries, can use these devices. In 2010, CableLabs relaxed the DRM restrictions allowing unlicensed devices to record
copy freely
content using these devices,
[6]
however it is still entirely up to cable operators what content they provide flagged as such.
As an alternative to direct digital capture, one can use an external decoder to receive the channels, and then capture using digital-analog-digital conversion (the
analog hole
). A popular means of doing this conversion is to connect the component outputs of a set-top box to the
Hauppauge
HD PVR.
[7]
[8]
Modules
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MythTV's add-on modules (plugins) include:
- MythVideo
plays various video file formats
- MythMusic
a music player,
jukebox
, collection manager, and CD ripper
- MythGallery
online photo gallery manager
- MythNews
RSS feed news reader
- MythWeather
fetches
weather forecasts
? including
weather radar
? from the Internet
- MythBrowser
small
web browser
- MythGame
frontend for game console emulators
- MythWeb
controls MythTV from a remote web browser
- MythArchive
DVD burner
- MythNetvision
streaming video player intended primarily for Flash-websites like
YouTube
- MythZoneMinder
frontend interface for a
ZoneMinder
system
- UPnP
AV MediaServer v1.0 compliant server: share media files with UPnP-clients
The base system integrates with its modules. A system can be controlled with an infrared remote control using
LIRC
, or radio remote control using
kernel modules
.
Operating systems
[
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]
MythTV is available for many operating systems based on Linux or Unix, including Mac OS. The MythTV website distributes only source code, which must be
compiled
for the desired system; executable programs can be downloaded from various third-party sources.
[9]
The software runs on and is officially supported by Microsoft Windows, but as of January 2013
[update]
no official executable version was available; there are detailed instructions for compiling for Windows.
[10]
All core frontend features work under Windows, including LiveTV, scheduling, and watching recordings, but most plugins do not work without additional patches.
[11]
Bundles
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Notable projects that include a Linux distribution bundled with MythTV (and associated libraries) are:
- FreeBSD
has several ports to support MythTV
- LinHES
is a
bootCD
derivative of
Arch Linux
. Its MythTV frontend can be run from the CD. An entire installation to the hard disk can be made in minutes.
- LinuxMCE
bundles MythTV with
Kubuntu
as the Linux distro, along with the Pluto Home automation suite.
- Mythbuntu
combines
Ubuntu
distributions with MythTV. The Ubuntu community has built extensive resources for installing, configuring and troubleshooting MythTV. It was discontinued in 2016.
- Ubuntu TV
integrates MythTV into a television-ready interface (based on the
Ubuntu Unity
user interface).
- Xebian
is a distribution of
Debian
Linux for the
Microsoft
Xbox
game console and includes MythTV.
See also
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
MythTV
.
Wikibooks has more on the topic of:
MythTV