[mythtv-users] Where to find Myth Setup Information?

[Raymond Wagner]

On 1/12/2011 12:08, Kevin Kuphal wrote:
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 11:37 PM, Mike McMullin <mwmcmlln at mnsi.net 
> <mailto:mwmcmlln at mnsi.net>> wrote:
>
>     On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 16:40 -0500, R. G. Newbury wrote:
>     > On 01/10/2011 07:41 PM, Nick Rout wrote:
>     > > which is why I ask for this post to be viewed as
>     > > an observation, and not a criticism!
>     > >
>     > > The particular passage the OP identified, on setting up a capture
>     > > card, says (as previously quoted) "Choose the appropriate
>     settings for
>     > > your particular tuner. Use the arrow keys to move around and
>     to make
>     > > your choices, and press RETURN when complete. Pressing RETURN will
>     > > take you back to the Capture Cards screen; if you have additional
>     > > capture cards in this machine, press the space bar when the
>     highlight
>     > > is on the (New Capture Card) row to define another card."
>     > >
>     > > Now you don't have to be around myth for long to know that is
>     a VERY
>     > > once over lightly version of what you need to do to set up a
>     capture
>     > > card.
>     >
>     >
>     > I agree that that is very much 'once over lightly'. But earlier the
>     > point is made that myth will not work if the underlying hardware
>     does
>     > not work. It is (rather unfortunately) assumed and not
>     explicitly stated
>     > at that point, that the hardware must be working properly ALREADY.
>
>      Oddly enough knowing whether or not the hardware was working
>     correctly
>     was my biggest hurdle.  I knew it worked in Windows, I saw it
>     constantly
>     referenced for MythTV, but had the worst time still.
>
>     > The external steps required to set up a new card are assumed to have
>     > been completed. If you have not installed the firmware, for example,
>     > there is nothing you can do within myth, to get that card to
>     work. It is
>     > impossible to do. And that is NOT myth's failure.
>
>      Is installing firmware typical for all supported cards?
>
>
> In Windows, you get a pretty pop-up that says "Hey, we've got some 
> hardware here that I don't know what to do with. What now?" and you go 
> to a vendor website, download an installer, and bing bang boom, you're 
> off and running.  Linux...not so much
>
> It is this, I find, that stymies many a MythTV installation and, yes, 
> could be resolved by some "hardware supported" mechanism on the wiki, 
> etc. but truth be told, it is a fast moving target and hard to 
> document well.

There used to be a hundred or more pages on the wiki with varying levels 
of information on different cards.  The issue is that aside from a few 
devices, we don't support hardware directly, so it's not our duty to 
maintain documentation on the state of the drivers.  All of those pages 
have been deleted in favor of three lists, containing the different 
types of cards, and links to their relevant page on the LinuxTV wiki.

http://mythtv.org/wiki/Analog_Framebuffer_Cards
http://mythtv.org/wiki/Analog_Hardware_Encoder_Cards
http://mythtv.org/wiki/Digital_Tuner_Cards

It would be great if the LinuxTV site were kept up to date and 
maintained, but there are literally thousands of cards they support, 
with regressions that pop up with each new kernel release every couple 
months.  Add on the fact that some families of cards like the old bttv 
aren't really worth maintaining, but still manage to be in heavy use.  
It's simply an unachievable goal.
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