MythArchive

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Revision as of 18:16, 30 March 2007 by Cmorgan (talk | contribs) (FAQ)

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MythArchive

MythArchive is a new plugin for MythTV that lets you create DVDs from your recorded shows, MythVideo files and any video files available on your system. It can also archive recordings in a proprietary format that archives not only the file but also all the associated metadata like title, description and cut list information which will mean you can create backups of myth recordings which can later be restored or it will also allow you to move recordings between myth systems without losing any of the metadata. It is a complete rewrite of the old MythBurn bash scripts, now using python, and the mythfrontend UI plugin.

Security Concerns

The MythTV 0.20 release has a nasty bug which could cause serious file system damage when archiving to raw format and should not be used.

It only affects archiving to the raw format and only then when saving to a directory. SVN revision 11192 or later from the fixes branch and trunk are OK.

Main Features of the DVD creation part of MythArchive

  • Creates DVDs complete with a themed menu structure
  • New menu themes can easily be added
  • By using different themes you can do things like create auto play DVDs that have no menus etc.
  • Can use not only Myth recordings but also files from MythVideo and any file accessible from your file system
  • Can use mythtranscode to cut out commercials from MPEG-2 recordings.
  • If a file isn't an MPEG-2 file or the file doesn't have a DVD compliant resolution it will be re-encoded using ffmpeg so it is DVD compliant.
  • Can use any video file that ffmpeg can decode and re-encode to MPEG-2.
  • When a re-encode of the video and audio is neccessary you can choose what re-encoding parameters to use using easily selectable encoding profiles.
  • New re-encoding profiles can be added by simply editing an xml file.
  • Can re-encode the audio stream to ac3 for better compatibility in NTSC countries.
  • Tries to select the best audio track based on what you have selected as your preferred languages in Myth
  • Can support two audio tracks per title. (not tested fully)
  • Can use single layer or dual layer dvdr's
  • Can use rewritable DVD+/- RW
  • Can force an erase of a rewritable disc
  • Can create an ISO image that can be moved anywhere on your file system possibly so you can burn it on another machine.

Main features of the raw archive format

  • Can create backups of both MythTV recordings and MythVideo files.
  • Saves not only the file but also all metadata belonging to the file like its title, description, cut list and markup map etc and any preview or coverart files.
  • Creates an easily parseable xml file containing all the metadata.
  • Can archive to any directory on your file system or can also create an ISO image and optionally burn that image to a DVD.

MythArchive Installation

Dependencies

The MythArchive plug-in itself does not require anything to compile and install, but the script it uses has the following dependencies that need to be installed before it will work properly:

  • Python - v2.3.5 or later
  • mysqldb module for python (dev-python/mysql-python on Gentoo; MySQL-python on Fedora; python-mysql on openSUSE)
  • imaging (PIL) module for python (dev-python/imaging on Gentoo) (python-imaging-devel on Fedora)
  • mjpegtools - v 1.6.2 or later
  • dvdauthor - v 0.6.11
  • ffmpeg - v 0.4.9
  • dvd+rw-tools - v5.21.4.10.8
  • cdrtools - v2.01
  • transcode (optional; only needed for tcrequant, but tcrequant is required for rescaling MPEGs whose content exceeds your DVD's capacity during encoding)

The versions above are what are currently being used by me on Gentoo.

Compile and Install MythArchive

From MythTV 0.20 MythArchive is included with the mythplugins package.

Run the top level configure script for mythplugins with --enable-mytharchive added to the list of parameters to make sure MythArchive will be compiled. Then compile and install the plugins in the usual way.

Additional options are --enable-create-dvd which adds DVD creation support and --enable-create-archive which adds native archive support. Both options are enable by default.

How to use MythArchive

If you run mythfrontend there should now be two extra menu items. In the Optical Disks menu, there is an Archive Files item that runs the MythArchive plugin. In the Utilities / Setup | Setup | Media Settings menu is the item Archive Files Settings to change MythArchives settings.

IMPORTANT - The first thing you should do is check the settings. Make sure you set the temp work directory setting. There should be a lot of space at this location for the script to create all its work files. Change the video format to what you want the script to use (PAL, NTSC) and change the location of your DVD drive. Most of the other setting shouldn't need changing unless some of the tools are not in your PATH in which case you will have to supply the full path so the script knows where to find them.

Now you can run the MythArchive plugin. First you need to cue some files for archiving from the "Find Files To Archive" menu. You can choose MythTV recordings, MythVideo files or any media files accessible from your filesystem.

To create a DVD

  • Choose Export Video Files | Create DVD
  • Choose what size DVD you are going to use and whether you want to just create the file system or create an ISO image for later burning or actually burn the ISO image to a blank DVD. Press 'Next'.
  • Choose what files you want on the DVD. If the file is a MythTV recording and the file has a cut list you can have MythArchive cut out the commercials for you. If you wish to edit the files metadata (title, subtile, description etc) press 'Menu' to show the popup menu and choose 'Edit Details'. Press 'Next'.
  • Choose the DVD menu theme you would like. Press 'Next'.
  • The final page of the wizard shows you the shows you have chosen and the order in which they will appear on the DVD and also shows whether a cut list will be used. You can change the order by clicking SELECT on file in the list and using the up/down keys to move the file to its new position in the list then press SELECT again to fix the file in this new position. On this page you can also choose what re-encoding profile to use. Each file can have a different profile if you wish. If the file is already a DVD compliant file the default is to not re-encode the file but you can if you wish choose another profile maybe to reduce the file size so you can squeeze more files on the DVD. You can also run the Thumb Image Selector from this page - See below. Press 'Finish'
  • The script to create the DVD will now be run and the log viewer will now be shown.

Keys :-

  • C - toggle use cut list

To create a native archive backup

  • Choose Export Video Files | Create Native Archive
  • Choose what size DVD you are going to use and whether you want to just create the file system or create an ISO image for later burning or actually burn the ISO image to a blank DVD. Press 'Next'.
  • Choose what files you want to backup. Only MythTV recordings or MythVideo files are supported.
  • The final page of the wizard shows you the files you have chosen. Press 'Finish'
  • The script to create the backup files will now be run and the log viewer will now be shown.

To import a native archive backup

  • Choose Import Video Files
  • Use the file selector to find the xml file containing the metadata for the file you want to import. Press 'Next'
  • dvd's might be found under /media/cdrecorder
  • On the next page if the file you want to import is a MythTV recording you can choose what TV channel should be associated with the recording - this is mostly usefull if the exporting system and importing system have different channel line ups. MythArchive tries hard to find a reasonable match but there may be instances where it can't find one so you may have to choose a channel yourself. Press 'Finish'
  • The script to import the archive will now be run and the log viewer will now be shown.

Using the log viewer

Whenever a script is run to create a DVD or native archive or when the import native archive script is run the log viewer will automatically be shown. By default the viewer will automatically update every 5 seconds. You can turn this off or change the update frequency by changing the options at the top of the viewer. You can if you wish exit the viewer and continue to use Myth. If you do this and return to MythArchive and the script is still runing the log viewer will be shown again automatically. If you want to stop the script you can press 'Cancel' and the script will be asked to stop. It may take several minutes for the script to respond, depending on what it is doing at the time. The update button will force the log viewer to update.

Using the Thumb Image Selector

Only available on the svn trunk version

The thumb image selector allows you to choose what images to use on the DVD main and chapter menu's. You access it from the last page of the Create DVD wizard. First select which file you want to find the thumbs for in the list then press I/INFO to show the Thumb Image Selector screen. The screen has three main areas a large Preview Image, an info area, and an image grid that shows the selected thumbs.

You use the MENU key to change what has the focus.

When the Preview Image has focus:- The LEFT/RIGHT keys jump forward/backward using the current 'Seek Amount'. Use the UP/DOWN keys to change the seek amount. Pressing SELECT chooses the current preview image for the selected thumb image. Pressing the number keys (0-8) will jump to that thumb image.


Keys for all screens

  • Up/Down/Left/Right - move focus/change selection
  • Select - activate push button/toggle selection
  • Exit - return to myth main menu

FAQ

  • MythArchive doesn't work. It gets to the log viewer and just sits there. What's wrong?

The most common reason for this is python is missing some required modules. The script requires imaging (PIL) and mysqldb both of which are not part of a standard python install so have to be installed separately.

This is also a symptom of an incorrect temporary files setting. Note that the user running mythfrontend needs write access in this directory, regardless of the user running mythbackend.

Once you have address the above dependencies and permissions, you may need to clear out your temp DVD directory to get the log viewer to start over, making files with the correct support.


  • Why does MythArchive take a lot longer than the old MythBurn to create a DVD?

The old MythBurn scripts would add any mpeg to a DVD even if it didn't have a DVD compatible resolution. MythArchive on the other hand tries to make sure the DVDs it creates are as close to the DVD standard as possible and will re-encode any files that don't have a DVD compliant resolution.


  • How can I speed up DVD creation?

If you use an encoder card that creates MPEG-2 files and allows you to set the capture resolution (PVR-x50 for example) then you can save a lot of time by setting the capture resolution to a DVD compliant resolution.

For PAL countries they are 720x576, 704x576, 352x576 and 352x288

For NTSC countries they are 720x480, 704x480, 352x480 and 352x240


  • My created DVDs play OK but the audio is out of sync with the video?

This can usually be fixed by telling the script to always run

mythtranscode --mpeg2 

to fix any errors in a file. You do this by setting the 'Always run MythTranscode' option on the MythArchive settings page.


  • Looking at the log output I see that mplex exited and reported:
**ERROR: [mplex] Too many frame drops -exiting

This can be due to the input recording exceeding the maximum dvd datarate, see http://forum.doom9.org/archive/index.php/t-100234.html, in the cases where recording is being performed without transcoding.

If you had selected 'record without transcoding' during mytharchive setup try switching to the HQ profile. This should transcode to the dvd max rate and avoid the problem.

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