[mythtv-users] Calling external program/shut off LIRC reading

[Michael T. Dean]

On 03/17/2013 08:51 AM, Joey Morris wrote:
> Angela wrote on Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 11:40:16AM +0100:
>> Has mythtv frontend the possibility to start a script/program and stay in
>> the background, not reading lirc, till the program finishes  ?
>> Is it possible to add a menu point in mythtv or even better add a jump
>> button ? Examples welcome.
> I'm not sure about the jump point (I doubt it, though), but you can
> customize your menu to add an entry for executing another program.
> When the program exits, control will be returned to MythTV. If you
> search the list for "mainmenu exec" you'll find several examples.
>
> The basic steps are:
>
> 1. Copy /usr/local/share/mythtv/themes/defaultmenu/mainmenu.xml to
>     ~/.mythtv/mainmenu.xml.
>
> 2. Add a new button to ~/.mythtv/mainmenu with the EXEC action, such as:
>
>     <button>
>       <type>TV</type>
>       <text>MyDVR</text>
>       <description>Execute the MyDVR program</description>
>       <action>EXEC /usr/bin/mydvr</action>
>     </button>
>
> The wiki page on menu development is here:
>
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Menu_theme_development_guide

You need to use EXECTV to "check out" a tuner, otherwise MythTV thinks 
the tuner is still available.  When you use EXECTV, it will tell MythTV 
to let the script/program know which tuner to use, and MythTV will 
reschedule everything around the "missing" tuner and then reschedule 
with the tuner when the program/script you're EXECTV'ing exits.

Mike