View source for Talk:MythTV on Mac OS X

A section on the status of an Intel / Universal Binary build of MythTV would be useful.
I'm looking for more information on that, along with trying to build it for myself..

Nigel says: there is more information here; [[Myth_on_Mac_x86]] and [[Talk:Myth_on_Mac_x86]]. As far as I know, no-one has built a universal binary yet. If you have the time to investigate how, I will try to add it to the packaging script

Can someone add to the 0. Intro, what other packages are required for the "binary only" version. (ie is there a Qt runtime needed?) I DLed the binary only, installed it, and ran it. It asked me for my back-end IP, login/pw, then just sat there. A force quit and subsequent executions all just hang... what am I missing?


== Backend ==

As far as I can see only the Frontend of MythTV has been officially ported to Mac OS X.

Was the reason for the backend not being ported an Intel vs. PowerPC issue? If so then obviously this is no longer the case. Does this mean it will be more likely for the backend to now be ported? Considering Mac OS X (FreeBSD) and Linux are practically kissing cousins and that many other originally Linux developed packages (Samba, Apache, MySQL, etc.) have already been ported I cannot see what the problem is. [John Lockwood]

Nigel says: The backend wasn't ported because it is closely tied to Linux, and particulary V4L (Video for Linux) for analog capture cards. That is not the case any more, but getting it all working is quite difficult. I haven't had the time to try and build a working setup.
The backend has been buildable (''i.e.'' ported) for about 5 months, but it didn't do much. About 4 months ago, DBOX2 support was added to MythTV, which should work on a Mac backend. About one month ago, Mac support was added for FireWire and QuickTime input devices. So, as far as I know, the backend should work, but only about 2 people in the whole wide world have tried to use it

Syphax asks: I'm currently mulling between getting a Mac Mini and a DIY linux box for my home file server/web server/MythTV box.  I won't waste your time with my requirements & preferences I have, but suffice to say that the Mac Mini would pretty much provide everything I want (except a HUGE harddrive), provided that MythTV backend worked.  What expertise would be required to get it from its current status (ported, in theory) to pretty well-proven? I can't offer a lot of time or expertise, but if I go ahead and get the Mini I'll be highly motivated to help test and debug, at the least.
--[[User:Syphax|Syphax]] 17:04, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Joann says: The backend is running on my G5 using the HDhomerun as an input device as of 2 May 2007.

== Daily Builds ==

> If there is a problem with one of the builds, please let me know from my home page. http://www.thesniderpad.com. 

There is no contact information at all on thesniderpad.com, and no comment section for the downloads. So how exactly do I contact Mr. or Mrs. Snider, and which of them is responsible for the builds? [[User:Zwhite|Zwhite]] 03:05, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

== Merge Varios Mac pages ==

We should really merge the various pages together: [[Myth_on_Mac_x86]]


Maybe - but maybe not.   For people using the current revisions of Myth, there's pretty much no need for the other page, everything just works.   But, for people building older versions for use with their older backend, it's nice to have that information available.   Maybe leaving the other page as historical information (with notes making that clear) would be ok.

== Apple Remote ==

Is the behavior of the Apple Remote documented anywhere?  I have been unable to find it.    ( I later found it on the trac ticket adding apple remote support: http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/2017 )

I just stumbled upon the Pause/Play behavior (hold down the Play/Pause button causes a play/pause event.  Tapping that button marks your present spot).    A list of the actions on tap/hold for each button in the various MythTV modes would be very useful.     Also,  being able to customize the behavior would be great (e.g. I would much rather have Play/Pause as the tap event).

== Slimming down MythFrontend.app ==

The osx-packager.pl script provides a nicely packaged version of MythFrontend, which is used by several people to provide a downloadable version.   One problem with this is the frontend binaries are pretty huge, weighing in at 100MB+.  gzip/bzip2 can help this, but only so much.  Slimming it down might help to make it more accessible to new users,  and could help things like using it on AppleTV.

What do others think about making the default build a bit slimmer, and having something like "--build-all" available for a complete version.    Or, go the opposite way and have a "--minimal" build option.  Or, if not that, then at least including some instructions here for creating a smaller version.

Some areas for possible savings:  

MythPlugins.  Some infrequently used plugins can take a lot of space.  libmythflix.dylib is about 5MB, libmythnews.dylib is 3.8MB.  MythArchive is also a big space contributor, but it's not listed among the plugins to choose/leave.  (I don't know if the "-plugins" options are honored in the script.  I selected only "mythdvd,mythweather,mythvideo"  but, several others were built (mythflix, mythnews, etc.)

Themes.  These take a lot of space, and currently it's an all or nothing option ( -themeskip ).  Being able to specify certain themes, like you can do for plugins, could help this.

i18n.  All the languages add up to a decent amount of disk space.  But, for a pre-built version it's tough to pare out languages.   May be more relevant as an option to someone building a binary for their own use.

Other packages/libraries?  Qt takes up a lot of space, but I don't know if anything can be left out of that package.


I just did a build of 0.20-fixes, without themes or plugins as a test.  The build command was: "osx-packager.pl  -svnbranch release-0-20-fixes -pluginskip -themeskip", and the resulting MythFrontend.app weighed in at 50MB.  Still not exactly light.. but less than half that of the full version.   A bzip2'd tar file of that app compressed to 17MB.

==1080p Playback?==
There have been several reports of playback problems at very high display resolutions like 1080p.    Maybe a warning about this, or at least some definitive information, would be useful.  I only use 720p, and that works great..  Anyone else have info on 1080p playback?

== osx-packager.pl crapping out when trying to compile qt 3.3.6 ==

Anyone else have this problem? I'm having osx-packager.pl crap out on me when it tries to compile QT 3.3.6

 kernel/qapplication_mac.cpp:223: error: syntax error before `void'
 kernel/qapplication_mac.cpp:228: error: `dw' was not declared in this scope
 kernel/qapplication_mac.cpp:228: error: `re' was not declared in this scope
 kernel/qapplication_mac.cpp:228: warning: ISO C++ forbids declaration of sendEvent' with no type
 kernel/qapplication_mac.cpp:228: error: `int QApplication::sendEvent' is not a
 static member of `class QApplication'
 kernel/qapplication_mac.cpp:228: warning: initializer list being treated as
 compound expression
 
 ... etc ...
 kernel/qapplication_mac.cpp:535: warning: `void qt_mac_event_release(QWidget*,
   OpaqueEventRef*&)' defined but not used
 {standard input}:617:Ignoring attempt to re-define symbol.
 make[1]: *** [.obj/release-shared-mt/qapplication_mac.o] Error 1
 make: *** [sub-src] Error 2
 [osx-pkg] Failed system call: " /usr/bin/make sub-src qmake-install moc-install " with error code 2
 Died at ./osx-packager.pl line 726.

Kind of annoying. I know I can download the nightly svn builds from sniperpad, but I would like to be able to build it myself.