[mythtv-users] Can minimyth work with other servers?

[Paul Bender]

Justin Gibson wrote:
> I know this is complete blasphemy and will probably get a verbal lashing 
> when asked....but here goes.
> 
> Can minimyth work with other servers besides mythtv?  (what you mean 
> willis?)
> Say, could I use my minimyth frontend on say MediaPortal server or GBPVR 
> server?

MiniMyth <http://minimyth.org> is tightly integrated with MythTV. In 
fact, it will not boot without a MythTV backend. To be more precise, it 
will not boot without access to the mythconverg database. A few of the 
MiniMyth init scripts access the mythconverg database. Also, MiniMyth 
starts mythfrontend (or mythwelcome) automatically, which requires 
access to the mythconverg database.

Since the other programs have not need for the mythconverg database, 
there is no value in having a mythconverg database available on the the 
network. Also, since the other programs do not use the MythTV protocol, 
there is no value in having mythfrontend as the MiniMyth GUI.

Changing the init scripts would relatively simple. However, without 
mythfrontend as a GUI, you would need to add a different GUI. Ideally, 
that GUI would speak the protocol of your backend. However, since 
MediaPortal and GB-PVR are Microsoft Windows based solutions, it may be 
difficult to find a Linux based solution that will speak either 
protocol. You might be able to access them using a UPnP client running 
as the MiniMyth GUI, but it would not likely be as well integrated with 
the server.

> It sucks too because I loved mythTV, but i've had it up to here with the 
> hard crashing and constant fiddling....I just want it to work, and it 
> did almost most of the time. But can it work?

Unless you have tried them for some period of time, I would be careful 
thinking that solutions such as MediaPortal and GB-PVR are more stable. 
I have no first hand experience with either package. However, I have a 
couple friends that have been looking into MediaPortal as a replacement 
for MythTV. They are doing this because with the exception of MythTV, 
their home networks are all Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Windows Server 
Domain Controller, etc) At this time, their conclusion is to stick with 
MythTV due to instabilities in MediaPortal.

For a backend, might I suggest CentOS 5.1 x86_64. I run CentOS 5.1 
x86_64 on my Intel Core 2 Duo based server 
(<http://home.san.rr.com/benderfamily/network/hardware/#Server>) 
configured for MythTV 
(<http://home.san.rr.com/benderfamily/network/mythtv/>). Since switching 
from Fedora (2|3|4|5|6) i386 to CentOS 5.1 x86_64, my server has never 
crashed and my Myth backend has never crashed or failed in any way. 
While running Fedora, I did have intermittent problems.