Difference between revisions of "Configuring Frontend"

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Revision as of 14:37, 27 August 2011

User Manual
Introduction
► Hardware Setup
► Operating System
Software Installation
Post Installation Tasks
Configuring MythTV
Configuring Frontend
Using MythTV
► Upgrading MythTV
Advanced Topics
► Support
Knowledge Base


This page is up-to-date to MythTV version 0.23, the current release is 35.0


Important.png Note: Most of the video menus have been included in this guide, but many of the others have not.

The frontend process is responsible for anything that requires interaction such as Watching Recorded Programs or Watching TV. It provides the GUI you use on your TV or monitor as well as the LIRC, keyboard, or other input handling for Frontend Navigation.

The frontend can be configured by going to the 'Utilities and Setup' menu of the frontend. The following sections describe the available configuration options.

Contents

Music Tools

Edit Keys

Setup

General

Database Configuration 1/2

(Setup->General)

Database Configuration 1/2
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Hostname 127.0.0.1 The hostname or IP address of the machine hosting the database. This information is required. If you are running a single combined backend and frontend, then leave this at its default value of 127.0.0.1. This is often referred to as the local loopback IP address. If you have multiple frontends connecting to this backend then you will need to set this address to the same address as the real IP address eg 192.168.2.11 as it appears on your network. If you have a DNS Server running on your network you can just put the hostname eg "MythBackend". Your DNS Server will translate this to its real IP address.
Database mythconverg The name of the database. This information is required. This is the name of the database the MythTV backend uses to store information. Normally you should not need to change this. However, you may choose to have different databases for different reasons, for example, a test database so you can check out configurations, and then put this back to mythconverg later, or a different database depending on user so each user can set an independent look and feel.
User mythtv The user name to use while connecting to the database. This information is required. You should not have to change this from its default.
Password mythtv The password to use while connecting to the database. This information is required. Change this to suit your system.
Database type MySql The database implementation used for your server. MySql is an Opensource database used by MythTV to hold all of its internal information.

Database Configuration 2/2

(Setup->General)

Database Configuration 2/2
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Custom Identifier for Frontend Preference Unchecked If this frontend's hostname changes often, check this box and provide a network-unique name to identify it. If unchecked, the frontend machine's local hostname will be used to save preferences in the database. This is the meat of the subject
Enable Database Server Wakeup Unchecked If checked, the frontend will use database wakeup parameters to reconnect to the database server (Mythbackend) Database Server Wakeup is an ACPI option that allows your machine to power up based on activity on the network. You need to make sure that your machine supports ACPI correctly for this to work. You can use this to remotely activate your machine (for instance when you are at work).

(The following additional options are only displayed if this option is checked.)

Reconnect time 0 The time in seconds to wait for the server to wake up.
Retry attempts 1 The number of retries to wake the server before the frontend gives up.
Wake command (blank) The command executed on this frontend to wake up the database server (eg. sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart)

Settings Access

(Setup->General)

Settings Access
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Require Setup PIN Unchecked If set, you will not be able to return to this screen and reset the Setup PIN without first entering the current PIN. MythTV setup can be locked so that you don't have tampering fingers change things while you are out. This tells the system that a PIN will be required to access the configuration screen.
Setup Pin Code blank This PIN is used to control access to the setup menus. If you want to use this feature, then setting the value to all numbers will make your life much easier. Set it to blank to disable. Tell the system what the security PIN is here. Don't forget to write it down somewhere so you don't forget. Or back up your database before you set the PIN so you can restore in case you forget.

Audio System

(Setup->General)

Audio System
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Audio output device ALSA:default Blank This is the sound card that you want to use.

To specify an ALSA device, use the format ALSA:device (where device is a valid ALSA device such as spdif; iec958; default; hw::0,0; plughw:0,0; etc.). For example, ALSA:spdif.
You can find out which ALSA devices you have available, with the command

aplay -L

To enable JACK output, use the format JACK:

Speakers configuraion Stereo Set your audio configuration: Stereo or Surround.
Advanced Audio Configuration
(checkbox) 		unchecked Enable extra audio settings. The following additional options are only displayed if this option is checked.
Override SRC quality
(checkbox) 		unchecked Override audio sample rate conversion quality.
Aggressive Sound card Buffering
(checkbox) 		unchecked If enabled, MythTV will pretend to have a smaller sound card buffer than is really present. Should be unchecked in most cases. Enable only if you have playback issues.

Audio Mixer

(Setup->General)

Audio Mixer
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Use Internal Volume Controls On MythTV can control the PCM and master mixer volume. If you prefer to control the volume externally (like your amplifier) or use an external mixer program, disable this option. Disabling this option may lighten the CPU load if the sound device has no hardware mixer. You may also want to disable this if you are using AC3 output as volume control will be done by your surround amplifier or receiver.
Mixer Device /dev/mixer Setting the mixer device to "software" lets MythTV control the volume of all audio at the expense of a slight quality loss. Your system will have a Mixer device that combines multiple channels of audio input and controls the volume independently on each of these. There will also be a master volume that controls the output of all the inputs at the same time.

If you choose an ALSA device for output, you must also specify an alsa mixer name, for example ALSA:default.

Mixer Controls PCM Changing the volume adjusts the selected mixer. Options are: PCM, Master, or any other named mixer control.
Master mixer volume 0-100 (selects volume level) 70 Initial volume for the Master Mixer. This affects all sound created by the sound card. Note: Do not set this too low. This will control the overall sound level output from your sound card.
PCM mixer volume 0-100 (selects volume level) 70 Initial volume for PCM output. Using the volume keys in MythTV will adjust this parameter. The Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) input is where MythTV will send the audio from your TV Card. This sets the initial volume level for this.
Independent muting of left and right audio channels Off Enable muting of just the left or right channel. Useful if your broadcaster puts the original language on one channel, and a dubbed version of the program on the other one. This modifies the behavior of the Mute key. Broadcasters in Europe often will use the left and right channels to send simultaneous language audio on the same transmission. You will often see this on Eurosport for instance, where German and English are sent at the same time. Muting one or the other channel will select the language you want to hear.

General (page 6)

(Setup->General)

General (page 6)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Use Arrow Key Accelerators On If enabled, Arrow key accelerators will be used with LEFT performing an exit action and RIGHT selecting the current item. An intuitive way of navigating through the MythTV menus. Right is considered enter while left is considered exit or back. Much like navigating through a menu tree.
Screen Shot Path /tmp/ Path to screenshot storage location. Should be writable by the frontend.

Media Monitor

(Setup->General)

Media Monitor
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Monitor CD/DVD
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This enables support for monitoring your CD/DVD drives for new disks and launching the proper plugin to handle them. You can set the system up to auto launch DVD or CD playback on insertion. Many new distributions as of 2006 will have this feature.

(The following options are only displayed when this option is checked.)

Use new media
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This will cause MythTV to jump, to an appropriate plugin, when new media is inserted.
Ignore Devices (blank) If there are any devices that you do not want to be monitored, list them here with commas in-between. The plugins will ignore them.

Program Exit

(Setup->General)

Program Exit
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
System Exit Key ESC (Escape) MythTV is designed to run continuously. If you wish, you may use the ESC key or the ESC key + a modifier to exit MythTV. Do not choose a key combination that will be intercepted by your window manager. Possible values are:
  • ESC
  • No exit key
  • Control-ESC
  • Meta-ESC
  • Alt-ESC
Confirm Exit (Checkbox) On When enabled, MythTV will prompt for confirmation when you press the System Exit key. If enabled, MythTV will ask you whether you really want to exit the frontend if you press the system exit key at the main menu.
Customise exit menu options Autodetect By default, only remote frontends are shown the shutdown option on the exit menu. Here you can force specific shutdown and reboot options to be displayed. Choices are:
  • Autodetect
  • Show Quit
  • Show quit and shutdown
  • Show quit, reboot and shutdown
  • Show shutdown
  • Show reboot
  • Show reboot and shutdown

Remote Control

(Setup->General)

Remote Control
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
LIRC Daemon Socket /dev/lircd UNIX socket or IP address[:port] to connect in order to communicate with the LIRC Daemon.
LIRC Keypress Application blank External application or script to run when a keypress is received by LIRC.
Enable Network Remote Control interface Off This enables support for controlling mythfrontend over the network.
Network Remote Control Port 6546 This specifies what port the Network Remote Control interface will listen on for new connections.


Appearance

Theme

(Setup->Appearance)

Theme
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
UI Theme Terra (none) You can find more about themes on this page: Category:Themes
Theme cache size: 1 Maximum number of prescaled themes to cache.
Paint Engine Qt This selects what Myth uses to draw. If you have decent hardware, select OpenGL. The frontend interface can be drawn using OpenGL if you have a powerful enough video card. This allows for additional visual effects. Do not change this if you have integrated video or are using PVR-350 S-video out.
Menu theme Default (none) This gives you two choices on how the menus are laid out in the MythTV user interface. The content of the two choices is the same, but the terminology (ex. "Optical Disks" vs. "DVD") and organization of the menus is different.

This document is based on the "Default" setting.

Screen settings

(Setup->Appearance)

Screen Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
GUI width (px) 0 The width of the GUI. DO not make the GUI wider than your actual screen resolution. Set to 0 to automatically scale to fullscreen. Width in pixels of window that myth uses.

A normal TV (without MythTV) has a 5%-10% overscan. In other words, 5%-10% of the image is past the visible edges of the screen. If you adjust your MythTV box's output to overscan your display device, and uncheck "Use GUI size for TV playback" (below), you can use this and the following 3 GUI size and position settings to shrink the GUI so that the GUI is not overscanned (and you can see all of it).

GUI height (px) 0 The height of the GUI. DO not make the GUI taller than your actual screen resolution. Set to 0 to automatically scale to fullscreen. see Gui width(px)
GUI X offset 0 The horizontal offset the GUI will be displayed at. May only work if run in a window. see Gui width(px)
GUI Y offset 0 The vertical offset the GUI will be displayed at. see Gui width(px)
Use GUI size for TV playback
(checkbox) 		Checked If enabled, use the above size for TV, otherwise use full screen. see Gui width(px)
Hide Mouse Cursor in MythTV
(checkbox) 		Checked Toggles mouse cursor visibility. Most of the Myth GUI does not respond to mouse clicks. Use this option to avoid "losing" your mouse cursor.
Use window border
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Toggles between windowed and border-less operation.
Use fixed window size
(checkbox) 		Checked When disabled the video playback window can be resized.

Video Mode Settings

(Setup->Appearance)

Video Mode Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Separate video modes for GUI and TV playback
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Switch X Window video modes for TV. Requires "xrandr" support. The following additional options are only displayed if this box is checked.
GUI 640x480 Resolution of screen when not watching a video.
Video Output 640x480 Default screen resolution when watching a video.
Rate Any Default refresh rate when watching a video. Leave at "Any" to automatically use the best available.
Aspect Default Aspect ratio when watching a video. Leave at "Default" to use ratio reported by the monitor. Set to 16:9 or 4:3 to forca a specific aspect ratio.
In X 0 Horizontal resolution of video which needs a special output resolution.
In Y 0 Vertical resolution of video which needs a special output resolution.
Output 640x480 Screen resolution when watching a video at a specific resolution.
Rate Any Refresh rate when watching a video at a specific resolution. Leave at "Any" to automatically use the best available.
Aspect Default Aspect ratio when watching a video at a specific resolution. Leave at "Default" to use ratio reported by the monitor. Set to 16:9 or 4:3 to forca a specific aspect ratio.


Localization

(Setup->Appearance)

Localization
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Language English Your preferred language. Choices include:
  • English
  • Italiano
  • Catala
  • Espanol
  • Nederlands
  • Francais
  • Deutsch
  • Dansk
  • Svenska
  • Portugues
  • Nihongo
  • Slovenski
  • Suomi
  • Hanzi (Traditional)
Guide Language #1 English Your #1 preferred language for Program Guide Data and captions.
Guide Language #2 English Your #2 preferred language for Program Guide Data and captions.
Date format Sat Jan 31 Your preferred date format. Choices are:
  • Sat Jan 31
  • Sat January 31
  • Jan 31
  • 01/31
  • 01.31
  • Sat 31 Jan
  • 31.01.2004
  • 2004-01-31
Short Date format 1/31 Your preferred short date format. Choices are:
  • 1/31
  • 31/1
  • 01/31
  • 31/01
  • 01.31
  • 31.1.
  • 31.01.
  • 01-31
  • Sat 31
  • 31 Sat
  • Sat 1/31
  • 1/31 Sat
Time format 6:56 AM Your preferred time format. You must choose a format with "AM" or "PM" in it, otherwise your time display will be 24-hour or "military" time. Choices are:
  • 6:56 AM
  • 6:56 am
  • 06:56 AM
  • 06:56 am
  • 6:56
  • 06:56

QT

(Setup->Appearance)

QT
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
"Small" font 12 Default size is 12.
"Medium" font 16 Default size is 16
"Big" font 25 Default size is 25.
Fine tune font size (%) 0 Fine tune all font sizes by this percentage. Font sizes should be the correct relative size if the X11 DPI (dots per inch) is set to 100.
Use Transparent Boxes
(checkbox) 		Checked If enabled, the Watch Recording and Delete Recording screens will use transparency. Disable if selecting the recordings is slow due to high CPU usage.
Popup Background Shading Method Fill "Fill" is the quickest shading method.
"Image" is somewhat slow, but has a higher visual quality.
No shading will be the fastest.
Use line edit virtual keyboards Checked Allows you to use a virtual keyboard in Myth line edit boxes. To use, hit OK/Select while a line edit is in focus. (This only works if your OK/Select is set to send a Return rather than a space) This feature allows you to use your remote with an on screen keyboard to fill out text boxes. This allows you to operate MythTV without a keyboard.

LCD device display

(Setup->Appearance)

LCD device display
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Enable LCD device
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Use an LCD display to view MythTV status information. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it. The following additional configuration items appear only when this box is checked.
Display Time
(checkbox) 		Checked Display current time on idle LCD display. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it.
Display Menus
(checkbox) 		Checked Display selected menu on LCD display. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it.
Display Music Artist and Title
(checkbox) 		Checked Display playing artist and song title in MythMusic. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it.
Items Artist - Title Which items to show when playing music. Available items:
  • Artist - Title
  • Artist [Album] Title
Display Channel Information
(checkbox) 		Checked Display tuned channel information. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it.
Display Recording Status
(checkbox) 		Checked Display current recordings information on LCD display.
Display Volume Information
(checkbox) 		Checked Display volume level information. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it.
Display Generic Information
(checkbox) 		Checked Display generic information. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it.
Backlight Always On
(checkbox) 		Checked Turn on backlight permanently. Need to restart mythfrontend to (de)activate it.
HeartBeat Always On
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Turn on the LCD heartbeat.
Display Large Clock
(checkbox) 		Unchecked On multiline displays try and display the time as large as possible.
LCD Key order ABCDEF Enter the 6 Keypad Return Codes for your LCD keypad in the order in which you want the functions up/down/left/right/yes/no to operate.
Menu Pop-up Time 5 The time (in seconds) that the menu will remain visible after navigation.


Screen Setup Wizards

(Setup->Screen Setup Wizards)

  • Follow the on screen directions to adjust the size and position of your GUI display.


TV Settings

(Setup->TV Settings)

General

General (Basic)

(Setup->TV Settings->General)

General (Basic)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Channel Ordering channel number (blank) Possible values are:
  • channel number
  • callsign
Channel Format number callsign Your preferred channel format. Possible values are:
  • number callsign
  • number name
  • callsign
  • name
  • number
Long Channel Format number name Your preferred long channel format. Possible values are:
  • number name
  • callsign
  • name
  • number
  • number callsign
  • number name
Change channels immediately without select
(checkbox) 		Unchecked When a complete channel number is entered MythTV will switch to that channel immediately without requiring you to hit the select button.
Avoid conflicts between live TV and scheduled shows
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, live TV will choose a tuner card that is less likely to have scheduled recordings rather than the best card available.
Allow live TV to move scheduled shows
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, scheduled recordings will be moved to the other cards (where possible), so that live TV will not be interrupted.

General (AutoExpire)

(Setup->TV Settings->General)

General (AutoExpire)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Auto Expire Method Oldest Show First Method used to determine which recorded shows to delete first. LiveTV recordings will always expire before normal recordings. Possible values:
  • Lowest Priority First
  • Weighted Time/Priority Combination
  • Oldest Show First
Auto-Expire Default
(checkbox) 		Checked When enabled, any new recording schedules will be marked as eligible for Auto-Expiration. Existing schedules will keep their current value.
Re-record Watched
(checkbox) 		Checked If set, programs that have been marked as watched and are auto-expired will be re-recorded if they are shown again.
Watched before UNwatched
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, programs that have been marked as watched will be expired before programs that have not been watched.
LiveTV Max Age 1 Auto-Expire will force expiration of LiveTV recordings when they are this many days old. LiveTV recordings may also be expired early if necessary to free up disk space.
Priority Weight 3 The number of days bonus a program gets for each priority point. This is only used when the Weighted Time/Priority Auto-Expire Method is selected.
Extra Disk Space 1 Extra disk space (in Gigabytes) that you want to keep free on the recording file systems beyond what MythTV requires.
Auto Expire Instead of Delete Recording
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Instead of deleting a recording, move recording to the "Deleted" recgroup and turn on autoexpire. (The following items are only displayed if this box is checked.)
Expire in deleted order
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Expire Deleted recordings in the order which they were originally deleted.
Deleted Max Age 0 When set to a number greater than zero, AutoExpire will force expiration of Deleted recordings when they are this many days old.

General (Jobs)

(Setup->TV Settings->General)

General (Jobs)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Commercial Flagging Method All Available Methods This determines the method used by MythTV to detect when commercials start and end. Possible values are:
  • All Available Methods
  • Blank Frame Detection
  • Blank Frame + Scene Change Detection
  • Scene Change Detection
  • Logo Detection
  • Experimental: Blank Frame + Logo Detection
  • Pre & Post Roll: Blank Frame + Scene Change
Strict Commercial Detection
(checkbox) 		Checked Enable stricter Commercial Detection code. Disable if some commercials are not being detected.
Default Transcoder Autodetect This is the default value used for the transcoder setting when a new scheduled recording is created. Possible values are:
  • Autodetect
  • High Quality
  • Medium Quality
  • Low Quality
Deferral days for Auto-Transcode jobs 0 If non-zero, Auto-Transcode jobs will be scheduled to run this many days after a recording completes instead of immediately afterwards.
Run commercial flagger
(checkbox) 		Checked This is the default value used for the Auto-Commercial Flagging setting when a new scheduled recording is created.
Run transcoder
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This is the default value used for the Auto-Transcode setting when a new scheduled recording is created.
Run User Job #1
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This is the default value used for the 'Run User Job#1' setting when a new scheduled recording is created.
Run User Job #2
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This is the default value used for the 'Run User Job#2' setting when a new scheduled recording is created.
Run User Job #3
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This is the default value used for the 'Run User Job#3' setting when a new scheduled recording is created.
Run User Job #4
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This is the default value used for the 'Run User Job#4' setting when a new scheduled recording is created.

General (Advanced)

(Setup->TV Settings->General)

General (Advanced)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Time to record before start of show (in seconds) 0 This global setting allows the recorder to start before the scheduled start time. It does not affect the scheduler. It is ignored when two shows have been scheduled without enough time in between.
Time to record after end of show (in seconds) 0 This global setting allows the recorder to record beyond the scheduled end time. It does not affect the scheduler. It is ignored when two shows have been scheduled without enough time in between.
Category of shows to be extended (blank) For a special category (e.g. "Sports event"), request that shows be autoextended. Only works if a show's category can be determined.
Record past end of show (in minutes) 30 For the specified category, an attempt will be made to extend the recording by the specified time. It is ignored when two shows have been scheduled without enough time in between.

General (Channel Groups)

(Setup->TV Settings->General)

General (Channel Groups)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Remember last channel group
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, the EPG will initially display only the channels from the last channel group selected. Pressing "4" will toggle channel group.
Default channel group All Channels Default channel group to be shown in the EPG. Pressing GUIDE key will toggle channel group. Possible values are:
  • All Channels
  • Favorites
Browse/Change channels from Channel Group
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, LiveTV will browse or change channels from the selected channel group. "All Channels" channel group may be selected to browse all channels.

Program Guide

Program Guide 1/2

(Setup->TV Settings->Program Guide)

Program Guide 1/2
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Display Genre Colors
(checkox) 		Checked Colorize program guide using genre colors. (Not available for all grabbers.)
Display the channel icons
(checkbox) 		Checked Display the icons/logos for the channels in the guide. See section 9.5 of the Installation Guide for how to grab icons.
Show the program guide when starting Live TV
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This starts the program guide immediately upon starting to watch Live TV.

Program Guide 2/2

(Setup->TV Settings->Program Guide)

Program Guide 2/2
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
What to call 'unknown' programs Unknown (none)
What category to give 'unknown' programs Unknown (none)
Guide starts at channel 3 The program guide starts on this channel if it is started from outside of Live TV mode.
Record Threshold 16 Pressing Select on a show that is at least this many minutes into the future will schedule a recording.
Allow channel jumping in guide
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, you will be able to press numbers and jump the selection to whatever channel you enter. Removed in 0.24, this is now the default behaviour and can be overridden by remapping the number keys to the preferred actions.

Playback

General Playback (1/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

General Playback (1/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Enable realtime priority threads
(checkbox) 		Checked When running mythfrontend with root privileges, some threads can be given enhanced priority. Disable this if mythfrontend freezes during video playback. Realtime requires special privileges - either running as root, suid binary, permissions from limits.conf, or the realtime kernel module. (suid binary seems broken in 0.20). See the realtime thread information in the HOWTO for more details.
Extra audio buffering
(checkbox) 		Checked Enable this setting if MythTV is playing "crackly" audio and you are using hardware encoding. This setting affects digital tuners (QAM/DVB/ATSC) and hardware encoders. It will have no effect on MPEG-4 or RTjpeg video. MythTV will keep extra audio data in its internal buffers to work around this bug.
Jump to Program OSD
(checkbox) 		Checked Set the choice between viewing the current recording group in the OSD, or showing the "Watch Recording" screen when "Jump to Program" is activated. If set, the recordings are shown in the OSD.
Clear bookmark on playback
(checkbox) 		Checked Automatically clear the bookmark on a recording when the recording is played back. If disabled, you can mark the beginning with rewind then save position.
Alternate clear and save bookmark
(checkbox) 		Checked During playback the Select key (Enter or Space) will alternate between "Bookmark Saved" and "Bookmark Cleared". If disabled, the Select key will save the current position for each keypress.
Automatically mark a recording
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, when you exit near the end of a recording it will be marked as watched. The automatic detection is not foolproof, so do not enable this setting if you don't want an unwatched recording to be marked for expiration.
Continue Playback When Embedded
(checkbox) 		Unchecked This option continues TV playback when the TV window is embedded in the upcoming program list or recorded list. The default is to pause the recorded show when embedded.
Live TV idle timeout 0 Exit LiveTV automatically if left idle for the specified number of minutes. 0 disables the timeout.
Always stream recordings from the backend
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Enable this setting if you want MythTV to always stream files from a remote backend instead of directly reading a recording file if it is accessible locally.
Enable OpenGL vertical sync for timing
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If it is supported by your hardware/drivers, MythTV will use OpenGL vertical syncing for video timing, reducing frame jitter.
Enable picture controls
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, MythTV attempts to initialize picture controls (brightness, contrast, etc.) that are applied during playback.

General Playback (2/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

General Playback (2/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Vertical scaling 0 Adjust this if the image does not fill your screen vertically. Range -100% to 100%.
Scan displacement (y) 0 Adjust this to move the image vertically.
Horizontal scaling 0 Adjust this if the image does not fill your screen horizontally. Range -100% to 100%.
Scan displacement (x) 0 Adjust this to move the image horizontally.
Video Aspect Override Off When enabled, these will override the aspect ratio specified by any broadcaster for all video streams Possible values are:
  • Off
  • 4:3
  • 16:9
  • 14:9
  • 2.35:1
Zoom Auto Detect (Default ) When enabled, these will apply a predefined zoom to all video playback in MythTV. Possible values are:
  • Off
  • Half
  • Full
  • H.Stretch
  • V.Stretch
  • Auto Detect (Default C)
  • Auto Detect (Default Horizontal)
Letterboxing Color Black By default MythTV uses black letterboxing to match broadcaster letterboxing, but those with plasma screens may prefer gray to minimize burn-in. Currently only works with XVideo video cards. Possible values are:
  • Black
  • Gray
PIP Video Location Top Left Location of PIP Video Window PIP=Picture In Picture

Possible values are:

  • Top Left
  • Bottom Left
  • Top Right
  • Bottom Right
Action on playback exit Just exit If set to prompt, a menu will be displayed when you exit playback mode. The options available will allow you to save your position, delete the recording, or continue watching. Possible values are:
  • Just exit
  • Save position and exit
  • Always prompt
Prompt at end of recording
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, a menu will be displayed allowing you to delete the recording when it has finished playing.

Playback Profiles (3/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

Playback Profiles (3/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Current Video Playback Profile CPU+ (none) Selection of any of the possible profiles, will display a list of the rules associated with that profile.

Possible values are:

  • CPU+
  • CPU++
  • CPU--
  • High Quality
  • Normal
  • Slim
  • VDPAU High Quality
  • VDPAU Normal
  • VDPAU Slim
Add New (none) Add a new profile to the list.
Delete (none) Delete the current profile from the list
Add New Entry (none) Create a new rule for the current profile.


View Recordings (4/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

View Recordings (4/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Episode sort orderings Sort all sub-titles/multi-titles Descending Selects how to sort show episodes. Sub-titles refers to the episodes listed under a specific show title. Multi-title refers to sections (e.g. "All Programs") which list multiple titles. Possible values are:
  • Sort all sub-titles/multi-titles Descending
  • Sort sub-titles Descending, multi-titles Ascending
  • Sort sub-titles Ascending, multi-titles Descending
  • Sort all sub-titles/multi-titles Ascending
Sort Episodes Record date Selects how to sort a shows episodes.
  • Record date
  • Original Air date
  • Program ID


Start in group list Checked If enables, the focus will start on the group list, otherwise the focus will default to the recordings.

Recording Groups (5/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

Recording Groups(5/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Password required to view all recordings (empty) If given, a password must be entered to view the complete list of all recordings.
Default group filter to apply All Programs Default group filter to apply on the View Recordings screen. Possible values are:
  • All Programs
  • Default
  • House/garden
Always prompt for initial group filter
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Always prompt the user for the initial filter to apply when entering the Watch Recordings screen.
Save current goup filter when changed
(checkbox) 		Checked Remember the last selected filter instead of displaying the default filter whenever you enter the playback screen.
Show filter name instead of "All Programs"
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Use the name of the display filter currently applied in place of the term "All Programs" in the playback screen.

View Recordings (6/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

View Recordings (6/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Sort Titles Alphabetically Sets the Title sorting order when the view is set to Titles only. Possible values are:
  • Alphabetically
  • By Recording Priority
Include the "Watch List" group
(checkbox) 		Checked The "Watch List" is an abbreviated list of recordings sorted to highlight series and shows that need attention in order to keep up to date. The following menu items are only displayed when this box is checked.
Start from the Watch List view
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, the "Watch List" will be the initial view each time you enter the Watch Recordings screen.
Exclude recordings not set for Auto-Expire
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Set this if you turn off auto-expire only for recordings that you've seen and intend to keep. This option will exclude these recordings from the "Watch List".
Maximum days counted in the score 60 The "Watch List" scores are based on 1 point equals one day since recording. This option limits the maximum score due to age and affect other weighting factors.
Days to exclude weekly episodes after delete 2 When an episode is deleted or marked as watched, other episodes of the series are excluded from the "Watch List" for this interval of time. Daily shows also have a smaller interval based exclude time.

Seeking (7/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

Seeking (7/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Smart Fast Forwarding
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, then immediately after rewinding, only skip forward the same amount as skipping backwards.
Fast forward/rewind reposition amount 100 When exiting sticky keys fast forward/rewind mode, reposition before resuming normal playback. This compensates for the reaction time between seeing where to resume playback and actually exiting seeking.
Reverse direction in fast forward/rewind
(checkbox) 		Checked If enabled, pressing the sticky rewind key in fast forward mode switches to rewind mode and vice versa. If disabled, it will decrease the current speed or switch to play mode if the speed can't be decreased further.
Seek to exact frame
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, seeking is frame exact, but slower.

Commercial Skip (8/8)

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback)

Commercial Skip (8/8)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Automatically Skip Commercials Off Automatically skip commercial breaks that have been flagged during Automatic Commercial Flagging or by the mythcommflag program, or just notify that a commercial has been detected. Possible values:
  • Off
  • Notify,but do not skip
  • Automatically skip
Commercial Skip Auto-Rewind Amount 0 If set, MythTV will automatically rewind this many seconds after performing a commercial skip
Commercial Skip Notify Amount 0 If set, MythTV will act like a commercial begins this many seconds early. This can be useful when commercial notification is used in place of automatic skipping.
Maximum commercial skip (in seconds) 3600 MythTV will discourage long manual commercial skips. Skips which are longer than this will require the user to hit the SKIP key twice. Automatic commercial skipping is not affected by this setting.
Merge short commercial breaks (in seconds) 0 Treat consecutive commercial breaks shorter than this as one break when skipping forward. Useful if you have to skip a few times during breaks. Applies to automatic skipping as well. Set to 0 to disable.
Skip blank frames after commercials
(checkbox) 		Checked When using Blank Frame Detection and Auto-Flagging, include blank frames following commercial breaks as part of the commercial break.

Playback OSD

On-screen display

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback OSD)

On-screen display
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
OSD Theme BlackCurves-OSD (none) Possible values are:
  • BlackCurves-OSD
  • Blootube
  • Blue
  • Gray
  • Isthmus
  • Iulius
  • Metallurgy (Widescreen)
  • Mono
  • ProjectGrayhem
  • Retro
  • Titivillus


General OSD time-out (sec) 2 Length of time an on-screen display window will be visible.
Program Info OSD time-out 3 Length of time the on-screen display will display program information.
OSD font FreeSans.ttf (none) Possible values are:
  • FreeSans.ttf
  • FreeMono.ttf
Font size default default: TV, small: monitor, big: Possible values are:
  • default
  • small
  • big
Enable Interactive TV
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enables, interactive TV applications (MHEG) will be activated. This is used for teletext and logos for radio and channels that are currently off-air.
Always use Browse mode in LiveTV
(checkbox) 		Checked If enabled, Browse mode will automatically be activated whenever you use Channel UP/DOWN while watching Live TV.
Browse all channels
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, browse mode will show channels on all available recording devices, instead of showing channels on just the current recorder.

UDP OSD Notifications

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback OSD)

UDP OSD Notifications
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
UDP Notify OSD time-out 5 How many seconds an on-screen display will be active for UDP Notify events.
UDP Notify Port 6948 During playback, MythTV will listen for connections from the "mythtvosd" or "mythudprelay" programs on this port. See the README in contrib/mythnotify/ for additional information. This can be used to display various information (ex. Caller ID, email notification, etc.) on screen during playback. There's related information on the Setting_up_MythNotify page.

Analog Closed Captions

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback OSD)

Analog Closed Captions
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
CC font FreeMono.ttf Closed Caption font. Possible values are:
  • FreeMono.ttf
  • FreeSans.ttf
Black background for closed captioning
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, captions will be displayed as white text over a black background for better contrast.
Always display closed captioning or subtitles
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, captions will be displayed when playing back recordings or watching live TV. Closed Captioning can be turned on or off by pressing "T" during playback.
Prefer EIA-708 over EIA-608
(checkbox) 		Checked When enabled the new EIA-708 captions will be preferred over the old EIA-608 captions in ATSC streams.

ATSC Caption Settings

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback OSD)

ATSC Caption Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Text zoom percentage 100 Use this to enlarge or shrink captions.
Default Caption Font Type Monospaced serif This allows you to set which font type to use when the broadcaster does not specify a font. Possible values are:
  • Monospaced serif
  • Proportional serif
  • Monospaced sans serif
  • Proportional sans serif
  • Casual
  • Cursive
  • Capitals


ATSC Caption Fonts

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback OSD)

ATSC Caption Fonts
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Monospaced Serif FreeMono.ttf ATSC Monospaced Serif closed caption font. Alternate option: FreeSans.ttf
Proportional Serif FreeMono.ttf ATSC Proportional Serif closed caption font. Alternate option: FreeSans.ttf
Monospaced Sans Serif FreeMono.ttf ATSC Monospaced Sans Serif closed caption font. Alternate option: FreeSans.ttf
Proportional Sans Serif FreeMono.ttf ATSC Proportional Sans Serif closed caption font. Alternate option: FreeSans.ttf
Casual FreeMono.ttf ATSC Casual closed caption font. Alternate option: FreeSans.ttf
Cursive FreeMono.ttf ATSC Cursive closed caption font. Alternate option: FreeSans.ttf
Capitals FreeMono.ttf ATSC Capitals closed caption font. Alternate option: FreeSans.ttf


External Subtitle Settings

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback OSD)

External Subtitle Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Subtitle Codec UTF-8 (none) (many options available)


OSD Menu Editor

(Setup->TV Settings->OSD Menu Editor)

  • This page allows you to change the menu options which are displayed in the various video display modes.
    • Live TV
    • Recorded TV
    • Video
    • DVD


Playback Groups

(Setup->TV Settings->Playback Groups)

  • Select the appropriate playback group (usually Default) to see the following menu.
  • Select the (Create new group) to generate a new group.
  • Press "D" when over an existing group to bring up the "Delete Menu".


(Setup->TV Settings->Playback Groups)

Playback Groups
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Title match (regex) (blank) Automatically set new recording rules to use this group if the title matches this regular expression. For example, "(News¦CNN)" would match any title in which "News" or "CNN" appears.
Skip ahead (seconds) 30 How many seconds to skip forward on a fast forward. Press the "Right" key to cause this action.
Skip back (seconds) 5 How many seconds to skip backward on a rewind. Press the "Left" key to cause this action.
Jump amount (in minutes) (default) How many minutes to jump forward or backward when the jump keys are pressed. The "default" value is usually 10 minutes. Press "Down" to jump forward, and "Up" to jump backward.
Time stretch (speed x 100) 100 Initial playback speed with adjusted audio. Use 100 for normal speed, 50 for half speed and 200 for double speed.

Channel Groups

(Setup->TV Settings->Channel Groups)

  • To create a special grouping of channels, select "(Create new group)", name the new group and continue. The initial page for this group may be blank, so exit back to the "TV Settings" menu, then re-enter the Channel Groups menu. Enter into your new group, and select the channels that you want to use.
  • Press "D" when over an existing group to bring up the "Delete Menu".


Recording Profiles

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Profiles)

  1. Select the appropriate profile group.
  2. Select the appropriate profile to see the following menus.

Profile

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Profiles)

Profiles
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Enable auto-transcode after recording
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Automatically transcode when a recording is made using this profile and the recording's schedule is configured to allow transcoding.

Image Size

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Profiles)

Image Size
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Width 720 Width to use for encoding. Note: PVR-x50 cards may produce ghosting if this is not set to 720 or 768 for NTSC and PAL, respectively.
Height 480 Height to use for encoding. Note: PVR-x50 cards may produce ghosting if this is not set to 480 or 576 for NTSC and PAL, respectively.

Codec (1)

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Profiles)

Codec (1)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Stream Type (varies) Sets the type of stream generated by your PVR. MPEG-2 PS for PVR-x50 cards
Aspect Ratio (varies) Set the aspect ratio of stream generated by your PVR. Possible values are:
  • 4:3
  • 16:9
  • 2.21:1
  • Square
Avg. Bitrate 4500 Average bit rate in kilobits/second. 2200Kbps is approximately 1 Gigabyte per hour.
Max. Bitrate 6000 Maximum bit rate in kilobits/second. 2200Kbps is approximately 1 Gigabyte per hour.

Codec (2)

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Profiles)

Codec (2)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Sampling rate 48000 Sets the audio sampling rate for your DSP. Ensure that you choose a sampling rate appropriate for your device. btaudio may only allow 32000.
Type Layer II (preset) (not changeable in this menu)
Bitrate 384 kbps Sets the audio bitrate. Possible values (in kbps) are:
384, 32, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320
SAP/Bilingual Main Language Chooses the language(s) to record when two languages are broadcast. Only Layer II supports the recording of two languages (Dual). Requires ivtv 0.4.0 or later. Possible values are:
  • Main Language
  • SAP Language
  • Dual
Volume (%) 90 Volume of the recording


Recording Priorities

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities)

Set Recording Priorities
Scheduler Options

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Set Recording Priorities)

Scheduler Options
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Reschedule Higher Priorities
(checkbox) 		Checked Move higher priority programs to other cards and showings when resolving conflicts. This can be used to record lower priority programs that would otherwise not be recorded, but risks
Avoid back to back recordings from different channels
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, the scheduler will avoid assigning shows from different channels to the same card if their end time and start time match. This will be allowed when necessary in order to resolve conflicts.
Default 'Start Early' minutes for new recording rules 0 Set this to '0' unless you expect that the majority of your show times will not match your TV listings. This sets the initial start early or start late time when rules are created. These can then be
Default 'End Late' minutes for new recording rules 0 Set this to '0' unless you expect that the majority of your show times will not match your TV listings. This sets the initial end late or end early time when rules are created. These can then be
Preferred Input Priority 2 Additional priority when a showing matches the preferred input selected in the 'Scheduling Options' section of the recording rule.
HDTV Recording Priority 0 Additional priority when a showing is marked as an HDTV broadcast in the TV listings.
Widescreen Recording Priority 0 Additional priority when a showing is marked as widescreen in the TV listings.
Automatic Priority Range (+/-) 0 Up to this number of priority points may be added for titles that are usually watched soon after recording or subtracted for titles that are often watched several days or weeks later.

Accessibility Options

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Set Recording Priorities)

Accessibility Options
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Sign Language Recording Priority 0 Additional priority when a showing is marked as having in-vision sign language.
In-vision Subtitles Recording Priority 0 Additional priority when a showing is marked as having in-vision subtitles.
Subtitles/CC Recording Priority 0 Additional priority when a showing is marked as having subtitles or closed captioning (CC) available.
Hard of Hearing Priority 0 Additional priority when a showing is marked as having support for viewers with impaired hearing.
Audio Described Priority 0 Additional priority when a showing is marked as being Audio Described.

Recording Type Priority Settings

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Set Recording Priorities)

Recording Type Priority Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Single Recordings Priority 1 Single Recordings will receive this additional recording priority value.
Override Recordings Priority 0 Override Recordings will receive this additional recording priority value.
Find One Recordings Priority -1 Find One, Find Weekly and Find Daily recording types will receive this additional recording priority value.
Weekslot Recordings Priority 0 Weekslot Recordings will receive this additional recording priority value.
Timeslot Recordings Priority 0 Timeslot Recordings will receive this additional recording priority value.
Channel Recordings Priority 0 Channel Recordings will receive this additional recording priority value.
All Recordings Priority 0 The 'All' Recording type will receive this additional recording priority value.


Set Channel Recording Priorities

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Set Channel Recording Priorities)

  • Enter this menu to alter the recording priorities of one channel over another (in case of conflicts).


Custom Priority Rules

(Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Custom Priority Rules)

  • Enter this menu to establish custom priority recording rules.
  1. Give the rule a name.
  2. Specify it's Priority Change
  3. Add one or more clauses to actually specify the rule.

Media Settings

(Setup->Media Settings)

Music Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings)

General Settings

General Settings (1)

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->General Settings)

General Settings (1)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Directory to hold music /var/lib/mythtv/music/ This directory must exist, and the user running MythMusic needs to have write permission to the directory.
Audio device default Audio Device used for playback. 'default' will use the device specified in MythTV. Possible values are:
  • default
  • /dev/dsp
  • /dev/adsp
Upconvert stereo to 5.1 surround
(checkbox) 		Unchecked MythTV can upconvert stereo tracks to 5.1 audio. Set this option to enable it by default. You can enable or disable the upconversion during playback at anytime.
CD device default CDRom device used for ripping/playback.
Automatically lookup CDs
(checkbox) 		Checked Automatically lookup an audio CD if it is present and show its information in the Music Selection Tree.
Automatically play CDs
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Automatically put a new CD on the playlist and start playing the CD.
Use Keyboard/Remote Accelerated Buttons
(checkbox) 		Checked If this is not set, you will need to use arrow keys to select and activate various functions.

General Settings (2)

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->General Settings)

General Settings (2)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Tree Sorting splitartist artist album title Order in which to sort the Music Tree. Possible values are a space-separated list of genre, splitartist, splitartist1, artist, album, and title OR the keyword "directory" to indicate that the
Number of Artists Tree Groups Few Determines how manny groups we have in the artist tree. Few gives 'A B C D' as per the old behaviour, average gives two letters per group, many gives one letter per group.
Filename Format GENRE/ARTIST/ALBUM/TRACK_TITLE Directory and filename Format used to grab information if no ID3 information is found. Accepts GENRE, ARTIST, ALBUM, TITLE, ARTIST_TITLE and TRACK_TITLE.
Ignore ID3 Tags
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, MythMusic will skip checking ID3 tags in files and just try to determine Genre, Artist, Album, and Track number and title from the filename.
Tag Encoding UTF-16 Some mp3 players don't understand tags encoded in UTF8 or UTF16, this setting allows you to change the encoding format used. Currently applies only to ID3 tags. Possible values are:
  • UTF-16
  • UTF-8
  • ASCII

CD Recording Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->General Settings)

CD Recording Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Enable CD Writing
(checkbox) 		Checked Requires a SCSI or an IDE-SCSI CD Writer.
CD-Writer Device default Select the SCSI or IDE Device for CD Writing. 'default' will let the MediaMonitor choose a device.
Disk Size 650MB/75min Default CD Capacity. Possible values are:
  • 650MB/75min
  • 700MB/80min
Enable directories on MP3 Creation
(checkbox) 		Checked (none)
CD Write Speed Auto CD Writer speed. Auto will use the recommended speed. Possible values are:
  • Auto
  • 1x
  • 2x
  • 4x
  • 8x
  • 16x
CD Blanking Type Fast Blanking Method. Fast takes 1 minute. Complete can take up to 20 minutes. Possible values are:
  • Fast
  • Complete


Player Settings

Playback Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->Player Settings)

Playback Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Play mode Normal Starting shuffle mode for the player. Can be either normal, random, intelligent (random), or Album
Resume mode Off Resume playback at either the beginning of the active play queue, the beginning of the last track, an exact point within the last track. Possible values are:
  • Off
  • Track
  • Exact
Action on exit Prompt Specify what action to take when exiting mythmusic plugin. Possible values are:
  • Prompt
  • Stop Playing
  • Keep Playing
Maximum Search Results 300 Used to limit the number of results returned when using the search feature.
Show Song Ratings
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Show song ratings on the playback screen.
Show entire music tree
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If selected, you can navigate your entire music tree from the playing screen. N.B. Does not work with accelerated buttons disabled.
List as Shuffled
(checkbox) 		Unchecked List songs on the playback screen in the order they will be played.

Playback Settings (2)

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->Player Settings)

Playback Settings (2)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Rating Weight 35 Used in "Smart" Shuffle mode. This weighting affects how much strength is given to your rating of a given track when ordering a group of songs.
Play Count Weight 25 Used in "Smart" Shuffle mode. This weighting affects how much strength is given to how many times a given track has been played when ordering a group of songs.
Last Play Weight 25 Used in "Smart" Shuffle mode. This weighting affects how much strength is given to how long it has been since a given track was played when ordering a group of songs.
Random Weight 15 Used in "Smart" Shuffle mode. This weighting affects how much strength is given to good old (pseudo-)randomness when ordering a group of songs.

Visualization Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->Player Settings)

Visualization Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Visualizations (blank) List of visualizations to use during playback. Click the button below to edit this list.
Edit Visualizations
(button) 		Edit the list of visualizations to use during playback.
Change Visualizer on each song
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Change the visualizer when the song changes.
Show Album Art at the start of each song
(checkbox) 		Unchecked When the song changes and the new song has an album art image, display it in the visualizer for a short period.
Randomize Visualizer order
(checkbox) 		Unchecked On changing the visualizer pick a new one at random.
Delay before Visualizations start (seconds) 0 If set to 0, visualizations will never automatically start.
Width for Visual Scaling 1 If set to "2", visualizations will be scaled in half. Currently only used by the goom visualization. Reduces CPU load on slower machines.
Height for Visual Scaling 1 If set to "2", visualizations will be scaled in half. Currently only used by the goom visualization. Reduces CPU load on slower machines.


Ripper Settings

CD Ripper Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->Ripper Settings)

CD Ripper Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Paranoia Level Full Paranoia level of the CD ripper. Set to faster if you're not concerned about possible errors in the audio. Possible values are:
  • Full
  • Faster
File storage location ARTIST/ALBUM/TRACK-TITLE Defines the location/name for new songs. Valid tokens are: GENRE, ARTIST, ALBUM, TRACK, TITLE, YEAR.
Replace ' ' with '_'
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, whitespace characters in filenames will be replaces with underscore characters.
Script Path (blank) If present this script will be executed after a CD Rip is completed.
Automatically eject CDs after ripping
(checkbox) 		Checked If set, the CD tray will automatically open after the CD has been ripped.

CD Ripper Settings (part 2)

(Setup->Media Settings->Music Settings->Ripper Settings)

CD Ripper Settings (part 2)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Encoding Ogg Vorbis Audio encoder to use for CD ripping. Note that the quality level 'Perfect' will use the FLAC encoder. Possible values are:
  • Ogg Vorbis
  • Lame (MP3)
Default Rip Quality Low Default quality for new CD rips. Possible values are:
  • Low
  • Medium
  • High
  • Perfect
Use variable bitrates
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, the MP3 encoder will use variable bitrates (VBR) except for the low quality setting. The Ogg encoder will always use variable bitrates.


Videos Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings)

General Settings

General Settings (1/4)

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->General Settings)

General Settings (1/4)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Directory that holds videos /var/lib/mythtv/videos Multiple directories can be separated ':'. Each directory must exist and be readable by the user running MythVideo.
Directory that holds movie trailers ~/.mythtv/MythVideo/Trailers This directory must exist, and the user running MythVideo needs to have read/write permission to the directory.
Directory that holds movie posters ~/.mythtv/MythVideo/CoverArt This directory must exist, and the user running MythVideo needs to have read/write permission to this directory.
Directory that holds movie screenshots ~/.mythtv/MythVideo/Screenshots This directory must exist, and the user running MythVideo needs to have read/write permission to this directory.
Directory that holds movie/TV Banners ~/.mythtv/MythVideo/Banners This directory must exist, and the user running MythVideo needs to have read/write permission to this directory.
Directory that holds movie fanart ~/.mythtv/MythVideo/Fanart This directory must exist, and the user running MythVideo needs to have read/write permission to this directory.

General Settings (2/4)

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->General Settings)

General Settings (2/4)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
On DVD insertion Display play DVD option Media Monitoring should be turned on to allow this feature (Setup->General->CD/DVD Monitor). Possible values are:
  • Display play DVD option
  • Do nothing
  • Play DVD
  • Rip DVD
DVD Drive Speed (varies) Set DVD Drive Speed during DVD Playback. Speed is in multiples of 177KB/s. Slower speeds may reduce drive noise but in some cases it causes playback to stutter.
Enable DVD Bookmark Support
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Enable the setting and skipping to of a bookmark in DVD playback. (The following menu items only appear if this box is checked.)
DVD Bookmark Prompt
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Display a prompt to choose whether to play the DVD from the beginning or from the bookmark.
Remove DVD Bookmarks Older than (days) 10 Delete DVD Bookmarks that are older than the number of days specified.

General Settings (3/4)

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->General Settings)

General Settings (3/4)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Starting Parental Level 4 - Highest This is the 'level' that MythVideo starts at. Any videos with a level at or below this will be shown in the list or while browsing by default. The Parental PIN should be set to limit changing of these control values. Possible values are:
  • 1 - Lowest
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4 - Highest
Parental Level 3 PIN (blank) This PIN is used to enter Parental Control Level 3. Setting this value to all numbers will make your life much easier.
Parental Level 2 PIN (blank) This PIN is used to enter Parental Control Level 2. Setting this value to all numbers will make your life much easier.
Aggressive Parental Control
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, you will not be able to return to this screen and reset the Parental PIN without first entering the current PIN. You have been warned.

General Settings (4/4)

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->General Settings)

General Settings (4/4)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Enable automatic Parental Level from rating
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If enabled, searches will automatically set the Parental Level to the one matching the rating below. (The following menu items only appear if this box is checked.)
Level 1 G Ratings containing these strings (separated by :) will be assigned to Parental Level 1.
Level 2 PG Ratings containing these strings (separated by :) will be assigned to Parental Level 2.
Level 3 PG-13 Ratings containing these strings (separated by :) will be assigned to Parental Level 3.
Level 4 R:NC-17 Ratings containing these strings (separated by :) will be assigned to Parental Level 4.


Player Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->Player Settings)

Player Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Default Player Internal This is the command that is used for any file whose extension is not specifically defined. You may also enter the name of one of the playback plugins such as 'Internal'. Possible values:
  • mplayer -fs -zoom -quiet -vo xv %s
DVD Player Internal This can be any command to launch a DVD player. Internal is the default. For other players, %d will be substituted for the DVD device (e.g. /dev/dvd).
DVD Drive default This device must exist, and the user playing the DVD needs to have read permission on the device. 'default' will let the MediaMonitor choose a device.
VCD Player mplayer vcd:// -cdrom-device %d -fs -zoom -vo xv This can be any command to launch a VCD player. The Internal player will not play VCDs. %d will be substituted for the VCD device (e.g. /dev/cdrom).
VCD Drive default This device must exist, and the user playing the VCD needs to have read permission on the device. 'default' will let the MediaMonitor choose a device.
Enable Alternate Player
(checkbox) 		Unchecked (none) (The following menu item only appears if this box is checked.)
Alternate Player Internal If for some reason the default player doesn't play a video, you can play it in an alternate player by selecting 'Play in Alternate Player'.
Metadata Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->Metadata Settings)

Video Metadata Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Movie Grabber TheMovieDB APIv2 Query (vo.... This is the script used to search for and download Movie Metadata. Possible values are:
  • TheMovieDB APIv2 Query (vo....
  • KinoX Query (v0.04) by Denys...
  • Alpacine Query (v1.1) by Alvar...
  • Allocine Query (v2.05) by Xavie...
TV Grabber The TVDB.com Query (v1.0.9) b... This is the script used to search for and download Television Metadata. Possible values are:
  • The TVDB.com Query (v1.0.9) b...


Enable Random Trailer Playback
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, this will enable a button called "Watch With Trailers" which will play a user-specified number of trailers before the movie.
Trailers to Play 0 Number of trailers to play before a film. (This option is only displayed if "Enable Random Trailer Playback" is checked.)
Display unknown file types
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, all files below the Myth Video directory will be displayed unless their extension is explicitly set to be ignored.
Enable metadata in file browse mode
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set along with Browse Files, this will cause the Video List to load any known video metadata from the database. Turning this off can greatly speed up how long it takes to load the Video List tree.


File Types

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->File Types)

MythVideo File Associations
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Extension (many) Filename extension associated with the following options. Currently know extensions are:

3gp, asf, avi, divx, evo, flv, img, iso, log, m2ts, mkv, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, ogg, ogm, qt, txt, VIDEO_TS, vob, wmv,

Command Internal Command to use when playing/displaying the indicated file type. Possible values are:
  • (blank)
  • Internal
  • "Custom command"
Use default player
(checkbox) 		Unchecked (none) Use the default player for this file type.
Ignore Unchecked (none) Ignore this type of file. (See "Video Metadata Settings -> Display unknown file types".)


Rip Settings

DVD Ripper Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->Rip Settings)

DVD Ripper Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Directory to hold temporary files /var/lib/mythdvd/temp This directory must exist, and the user running MythDVD needs to have write permission to the directory.
Title Playing Command mplayer dvd://%t -dvd-device %d -fs -zoom -vo xv -aid %a -channels %c This is a command used to preview a given title on a DVD. If present %t will be set to the title, %d for device, %a for audio track, %c for audio channels.
Subtitle arguments -sid %s If you choose any subtitles for ripping, this command is added to the end of the Title Play Command to allow previewing of subtitles. If present %s will be set to the subtitle track.
Base transcode command transcode This is the base (without arguments) command to run transcode on your system.

MTD Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Video Settings->Rip Settings)

MTD Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
MTD port number 2442 The port number that should be used for communicating with the MTD (Myth Transcoding Daemon)
Nice level for MTD 20 This determines the priority of the Myth Transcoding Daemon. Higher numbers mean lower priority (more CPU to other tasks).
Simultaneous Transcode Jobs 1 This determines the number of simultaneous transcode jobs. If set at 1 (the default), there will only be one active job at a time.
Ripped video segments 0 If set to something other than 0, ripped video titles will be broken up into files of this size (in MB). Applies to both perfect quality recordings and intermediate files used for transcoding.
MTD logs to terminal window
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, the MTD (Myth Transcoding Daemon) will log to the window it is started from. Otherwise, it will write to the /var/log/mythtv/mtd.log
Transcode AC3 Audio
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set, the MTD (Myth Transcoding Daemon) will, by default, preserve AC3 (Dolby Digital) audio in transcoded files.
Use xvid rather than divx
(checkbox) 		Checked If set, mythdvd will use the (open, free) xvid codes rather than divx whenever possible.
Let transcode determine frame rate
(checkbox) 		Checked If set, transcode will determine the frame rate automatically. If not set, 23.976 is assumed.


Images Settings

MythGallery Settings (General)

(Setup->Media Settings->Images Settings)

MythGallery Settings (General)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Directory that holds images /var/lib/mythtv/pictures This directory must exist and MythGallery needs to have read permission.
Store thumbnails in image directory
(checkbox) 		Checked If set, thumbnails are stored in '.thumbcache' directories within the above directory. If cleared, they are stored in your home directory.
Sort order when browsing Name (A-Z alpha) This is the sort order for the displayed picture thumbnails. Possible values are:
  • Name (A-Z alpha)
  • Reverse Name (Z-A alpha)
  • Mod Time (earliest first)
  • Reverse Mod Time (most recent first)
Paths to import images from /media/cdrom:/media/usbdisk This is a colon separated list of paths. If the path in the list is a directory, its contents will be copied. If it is an executable, it will be run.
Command to run to display movie files Internal This command is executed whenever a movie file is selected.

MythGallery Settings (Slideshow)

(Setup->Media Settings->Images Settings)

MythGallery Settings (Slideshow)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Use OpenGL transitions
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Check this to enable OpenGL based slideshow transitions.
Slideshow Delay 5 This is the number of seconds to display each picture.
Recurse into directories
(checkbox) 		Unchecked Check this to let the slideshow recurse into sub-directories.
Overlay caption 0 This is the number of seconds to show a caption on top of a full size picture.
Type of transition none This is the type of transition used between pictures in slidshow mode. Possible values are:
  • none
  • chess board
  • melt down
  • sweep
  • noise
  • growing
  • incoming edges
  • horizontal lines
  • vertical lines
  • circle out
  • multicircle out
  • spiral in
  • blobs
  • random
Type of background theme This is the type of background for each picture in single view mode. Possible values are:
  • theme
  • black
  • white


Archive Files Settings

MythArchive Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Archive Files Settings)

MythArchive Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Myth Archive Temp Directory /var/lib/mytharchive/temp/ Location where MythArchive should create its temporary work files. LOTS of free space required here.
Myth Archive Share Directory /usr/share/mythtv/mytharchive/ Location where MythArchive stores its scripts, intro movies and theme files.
Video format NTSC Video format for DVD recordings, PAL or NTSC.
File Selector Filter *.mpg *.mov *.avi *.mpeg *.nuv The file name filter to use in the file selector.
Location of DVD /dev/dvd Which DVD drive to use when burning discs.
DVD Drive Write Speed 0 This is the write speed to use when burning a DVD. Set to 0 to allow growisofs to choose the fastest available speed.
Command to play DVD Internal Command to run when test playing a created DVD. 'Internal' will use the internal MythTV player. %f will be replaced with the path to the created DVD structure eg. 'xine -pfhq --no-splash dvd:/%f'.

MythArchive Settings (2)

(Setup->Media Settings->Archive Files Settings)

MythArchive Settings (2)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Always Encode to AC3
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set audio tracks will always be re-encoded to AC3 for better compatibility with DVD players in NTSC countries.
Copy remote files
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set files on remote filesystems will be copied over to the local filesystem before processing. Speeds processing and reduces bandwidth on the network.
Always Use Mythtranscode
(checkbox) 		Checked If set mpeg2 files will always be passed through mythtranscode to clean up any errors. May help to fix some audio problems. Ignored if 'Use ProjectX' is set.
Use ProjectX
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If set ProjectX will be used to cut commercials and split mpeg2 files instead of mythtranscode and mythreplex.
Add Subtitles
(checkbox) 		Unchecked If available this option will add subtitles to the final DVD. Requires 'Use ProjectX' to be on.
Use FIFOs
(checkbox) 		Checked The script will use FIFOs to pass the output of mplex into dvdauthor rather than creating intermediate files. Saves time and disk space during multiplex operations but not supported on
Default Encoder Profile SP Default encoding profile to use if a file needs re-encoding. Possible values are:
  • SP
  • LP
  • EP
  • HQ

DVD Menu Settings

(Setup->Media Settings->Archive Files Settings)

DVD Menu Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Main Menu Aspect Ratio 16:9 Aspect ratio to use when creating the main menu. Possible values are:
  • 16:9
  • 4:3
Chapter Menu Aspect Ratio Video Aspect ratio to use when creating the chapter menu. Video means use the same aspect ratio as the associated video. Possible values are:
  • Video
  • 4:3
  • 16:9
Date format Sun Jun 13 Your preferred date format to use on DVD menus. Samples are shown using today's date. Possible values are:
  • Sun Jun 13
  • Sun June 13
  • Jun 13
  • 06/13
  • 06.13
Time format 02:04 PM Your preferred time format to display on DVD menus. You must choose a format with "AM" or "PM" in it, otherwise your time display will be in 24-hour or "military" time. Possible values are:
  • 02:04 PM
  • 14:04

MythArchive External Commands (1)

(Setup->Media Settings->Archive Files Settings)

MythArchive External Commands (1)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
ffmpeg Command ffmpeg Command to run ffmpeg.
mplex Command mplex Command to run mplex.
dvdauthor Command dvdauthor Command to run dvdauthor.
spumux Command spumux Command to run spumux. Part of dvdauthor package.
mpeg2enc Command mpeg2enc Command to run mpeg2enc. Part of mjpegtools package.

MythArchive External Commands (2)

(Setup->Media Settings->Archive Files Settings)

MythArchive External Commands (2)
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
mkisofs command mkisofs Command to run mkisofs. (Used to create ISO images)
growisofs command growisofs Command to run growisofs. (Used to burn DVD's)
tcrequant command tcrequant Command to run tcrequant (Part of transcode package). Optional - leave blank if you don't have the transcode package installed.
jpeg2yuv command jpeg2yuv Command to run jpeg2yuv. Part of mjpegtools package.
projectx command projectx Command to run ProjectX. Will be used to cut commercials and split mpegs files instead of mythtranscode and mythreplex.


Info Center Settings

(Setup->Info Center Settings)

Weather Settings

Movie Time Settings

MythMovies Settings

(Setup->Info Center Settings->Movie Time Settings)

MythMovies Settings
Setting Default Value Settings Page's Description Additional Comments
Zip Code 00000 Enter your zip code here. MythMovies will use it to find local theaters.
Radius 20 Enter the radius (in miles) to search for theaters. Numbers larger than 50 will be reduced to 50.
Grabber /usr/bin/ignyte --zip %z --radius %r This is the path to the data grabber to use. If you are in the United States, the default grabber should be fine. If you are elsewhere, you'll need a different grabber. %z will be replaced by


System Event Handlers

(Setup->System Event Handlers)

Retrieved from "http://www.mythtv.org/wiki?title=Configuring_Frontend&oldid=53048"