[mythtv] Mythtv <-> Misterhouse (GPL home automation program)

[Robert Rozman]

Hi,

I've just tried Mythtv and it rocks (thanks for great work). I'm using
Misterhouse as main home automation backend and I like it, but it lacks
better multimedia and GUI (it wasn't intent for this purpose). I'm searching
for right solution and tried Freevo and Mythtv. Both have potentials,
allthough maybe mythtv is more mature - but in another thought it's probably
harder to write plugins in C than in python (for Freevo).

I'd like to ask some questions about possibilities and different features
that in my opinion are needed in home environment before I dig deeper into
docs:
- Misterhouse is monitoring house devices all the time. What are
possibilities to display these informations on mythtv screen (something like
status bar that gets updated every few seconds, and maybe OSD message that
gets poped up when someone is at the front door, or put remainder on screen
for washing machine ...)
- how can I easily write plugin that would control/check house devices
(Misterhouse has all kinds of interfaces - TCP port server, xmlrpc, web,...)
and how to generate menu for those devices ?
- is it possible to write separate frontends? Is frontend/backend protocol
documented ? I guess it some kind of TCP connection... Where does frontend
get media files - through disk share or through streaming ?

Thanks for answers in advance,

regards,

Robert.