[mythtv-users] Time to take the next step...
Kevin Robbins
robbinsck1 at gmail.com
Sun Nov 16 21:39:41 UTC 2008
> I'll just comment on a few things I remember.
>
> I don't know of any "piggyback" sata cables. But don't limit yourself to
> just sata drives in your main backend. There's always a stand-alone
> network drives, a couple 1 TB's in each front end etc.
>
The existing FE/BE won't support an external HDD (no SCSI, FireWire, no
eSATA, and the USB ports are only v1.0 which is much too slow). Besides, I
really don't want to screw around with the existing FE/BE system _at_least_
until I get the new back-end up and running. And even then, I'd be more
likely to just build a whole new replacement FE/BE system for the Living
Room (thus freeing up the existing one to move to the MBR) than attempt to
"fix what ain't broke" in-place.
As for hanging "external" drives off the new back-end via USB or
whatever... I'm guessing that would impose even more of a performance
bottleneck than doing software RAID on a stack of in-box drives. Plus it's
more clutter and exposed cabling for the cat to attack. Maybe as a
dedicated backup solution, or down the road if/when I decide I want a
quick-'n'-dirty way to add more storage to the back-end system without
rebuilding the system or adding yet another backend box. But for now, I'm
pretty much set on using internal drives, and keeping at least the bulk of
them in that one box.
> My opinion is Raid for the actual recordings is overkill, after all if
> one does crash there will be reruns.
>
You don't know my wife -- or how addicted I am to certain forms of auto
racing.
;-)
Seriously... Given the existence of cost-effective 1TB+ drives, as long as
I can get at least short-term fault-tolerance for a "cost" of only 25% (or
less) of my total storage capacity, I'm quite OK with that. I fully
understand that RAID does *not* obviate the need for regular backups; but
it does buy me some "unpleasant surprise" insurance.
Like you said it all boils down to how many pci tuners you have. If
you get a good board with 5 pci slots and 4 sata's you should be fine
with...say 3 PVR 500's (6 analog tuners) a 4 port sata raid controller
and some other PVR card in the remaining slot. Then throw a HDHomerun
in the mix, that will essentially give you 9 tuners and 8 HD's. You
should find that you wont need a DVD drive in your backend, you will
use one to install etc but just use a usb external type for that.
The HDhomerun is like magic, hook it to an antennae plug in the lan,
tell myth and schedules direct what channels it receives then enjoy
the show, don't think into it to much. You dont need any IR nothing
for it.
> However, what should have raid
> redundancy is your main OS and database as well as a automated regulary
> scheduled "off-site" or at least "off-server" backup.
>
I *may* look at implementing the boot/os/apps "drive" as a mirrored pair
under Linux software RAID, if I can find a pair of appropriately matched
smallish drives in my spares pile.
However, somewhere in the deeper recesses of my (very unreliable, these
days) BioRAM, I seem to recall that there is some sort of Catch-22/"After
you, Alphonse" issue WRT using Linux software RAID on the same drive volume
you're attempting to boot Linux from (something about when in the boot
process the RAID drivers actually get loaded). I'll need to do more
research before making a decision on this.
> Lirc: My thoughts are if your mythbox isn't perfect, fix it (after a
> backup or two).
>
I'd love to. But I don't want to put its usability at risk in the process.
We *do* count on that machine being operational on a daily basis. I can't
afford significant down-time.
> After all you did it from scratch, you can do it again. And it will be
> better the next time around.
>
Maybe. But with everything else that's on my plate at the moment, I just
don't have the time or energy for a trial-and-error "forensic development"
process for anything non-critical. That's why I asked for a pointer to a
cookbook approach. Failing that, it works "well enough" for now.
As far a cookbook for lirc there really isnt one unless you want to be
happy with what other people like...It's really not that difficult and
posses no risk to your system if you make a couple of these 3 files
first.
If your remote is working then your 99.9% done, there are 3 files to
look at. The first is /etc/lirc/hardware.conf to see what file is
being read. A snip looks like this.
# /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
#
#Chosen Remote Control
REMOTE="Custom"
REMOTE_MODULES=""
REMOTE_DRIVER=""
REMOTE_DEVICE="/dev/lirc0"
REMOTE_LIRCD_CONF="/usr/share/lirc/remotes/streamzap/streamzap.conf"
REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS=""
As you can see it's looking at
/usr/share/lirc/remotes/streamzap/streamzap.conf. which looks like
this...
#
# this config file was automatically generated
# using lirc-0.7.1-CVS(serial) on Fri Feb 4 23:20:56 2005
#
# contributed by Christoph Bartelmus
#
# brand: Streamzap
# model no. of remote control: PC Remote
# devices being controlled by this remote: USB receiver
#
begin remote
name Streamzap
bits 6
flags RC5|CONST_LENGTH
eps 30
aeps 100
one 889 889
zero 889 889
plead 889
pre_data_bits 8
pre_data 0xA3
gap 108344
toggle_bit 2
begin codes
0 0x00
1 0x01
2 0x02
3 0x03
4 0x04
5 0x05
6 0x06
7 0x07
8 0x08
9 0x09
POWER 0x0A
MUTE 0x0B
CH_UP 0x0C
VOL_UP 0x0D
CH_DOWN 0x0E
VOL_DOWN 0x0F
UP 0x10
LEFT 0x11
OK 0x12
RIGHT 0x13
DOWN 0x14
MENU 0x15
EXIT 0x16
PLAY 0x17
PAUSE 0x18
STOP 0x19
|<< 0x1A
>>| 0x1B
RECORD 0x1C
<< 0x1D
>> 0x1E
RED 0x20
GREEN 0x21
YELLOW 0x22
BLUE 0x23
end codes
end remote
and the last file is this /home/<username>/.lirc/mythtv which a snip
looks like this...
begin
remote = streamzap
prog = mythtv
button = OK
config = space
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = streamzap
prog = mythtv
button = RECORD
config = r
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = streamzap
prog = mythtv
button = PLAY
config = p
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
Notice that from streamzap.conf each button is basically assigned to a
word, then in /.lirc/mythtv each word is translated to a physical
keyboard entry. So in other words I have several unused buttons from
streamzap.conf and by using the format
begin
remote = streamzap
prog = mythtv
button = RED
config = d
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
I just assigned the "d" key to the red button allowing you to delete a
recording with a key press.
Just so you know you can make your own streamzap.conf (called
whateveryouwant.conf) with irrecord, its fun once you try it.
> Your export problem is most likely related to your dvd-rw drive not
> being itentified properly in settings or maybe there's no ffmpeg on
> your system or something to the sort. We would need to see your logs
> to know for sure.
>
If you can give me a pointer to which specific log files you need, I can
take a stab at finding/posting them.
In mythbuntu the logs are in /var/log/mythtv/mythfrontend.log
/var.log/mythtv/mythbackend.log
and for the exporting failure you will need to look in
/var/lib/mythdvd/temp/logs/mythburn.log and progress.log
> Um, that's all I can remember. But Yes
> Myth really does ROCK!
>
Indeed! ;-)
And don't worry, the HDhomerun is like magic, hook it to an antennae
plug in the lan, tell myth and schedules direct what channels it
receives then enjoy the show, don't think into it to much. You dont
need any IR nothing for it.
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