[mythtv-users] AppleTV with Linux

[Scott D. Davilla]

>Interesting. Are you using the mythicbeasts approach to getting linux
>on the appletv? The generic appletv dev wiki has only an outdated page
>regarding linux.
>
>(for reference http://www.mythic-beasts.com/resources/appletv/)

The mythicbeasts page is very outdate and should only be used as a 
reference not a starting place. There are several refs to the 
bootloader but some point to the old version which does not work in 
all cases.

http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Apple_TV_Linux_Kernel and friends 
along with the linux section in the forum have the most up to date 
info.


>For SD, it seems a 100% solution, though. Since the bedroom TV has not
>yet been upgraded (27" SD Trinitron) to HD capability, sounds like I
>can green light this purchase? I know I have to software hack the
>composite out to view video, but I am pretty sure this TV has
>component in. The HD question was really because I fully intend to go
>HD everywhere in the house.

My test TV is a 4:3 with component in. I set it up for 480i and it 
works just fine for SD and HD content.

>That said, Scott, is there any way I (or others) can help the
>development? I have some programming experience and enough equipment
>(if/when I buy the appletv) to do some hacking if you think it'd be
>useful.

Figuring out the hang and video corruption issue during xvmc decode 
are the biggest issues right now. Once I solve those, all the other 
issues are trivial. Testing the various changes takes a lot of time 
as the two issues are random and might take several hours to occur. 
For example, I made a change last night and run 4 hours straight 
before I got a hang. Before going to bed, I made another change (send 
audio to /dev/null) and it was hung again in the morning but a 
difference type of hang, I could escape back to the main menu. There 
are many variables in play.

>Of course, I could just go with the full MythFrontend.app in the
>hacked AppleTV frontend, but I heard it is a bit on the sluggish side.
>

If you want 100 percent painless, go for a MacMini and mythfrontend 
under OSX. But of course, three times the cost. I have both and if I 
was not so stubborn, I'd deploy the MacMini int the media room and 
get another one for development.