Backend Mac OS X USA HDHR Setup

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The following instructions pertain to configuring the MythTV backend on OSX, using an HDHomeRun network tuner in the United States.


Listings Information

MythTV requires listings information to do a good job of displaying upcoming shows. Digital broadcasts send a few hours of listings information over the air, but they are often inaccurate.

Begin by obtaining an account from SchedulesDirect. Make a note of your User ID and password. For purposes of this document, we will assume they are sduser and sdpassword respectively. Substitute as necessary in the instructions below.

Know Your Network

To watch remotely, you will need to be able to let other computers talk to your backend and its database. Almost every home network is configured with NAT and will therefore have its addresses appear as A.B.C.x where A, B, and C never change.

In this document we will assume that A.B.C.x is 192.168.1.x. To find out the right numbers for your network, open a Terminal and type

   shell> ifconfig -a

It will show you a lot of information about your network configuration, including an IP address of your backend which this document will assume was 192.168.1.123.

You should also go into System Preferences and click on Sharing to find the sharing name of your backend. It will likely be xx.local where xx is your machine name. If it is not something short and simple, now is a good time to change it. Here we will assume your sharing name is tvrecorder.local.

Substitute for 192.168.1.123, 192.168.1.x and tvrecorder.local as necessary in the instructions below.


Set Up HDHomeRun

Put the HDHomeRun on your network and connect it to the antenna. Install the [official utilities] on your backend, and run the GUI app.

The GUI should be able to find the HDHomeRun automatically, and switch channels. If you know the digital braodcast frequency of a channel, you can tune to that channel and see its signal strength. If you also have VLC installed you will be able to watch the channel live.

You must make sure your backend communicates with the HDHomeRun before proceeding. Once you have done so, quit the GUI app.


Storage Room

You will want to create a directory to store your recordings in, preferably several hundred gigabytes in size. (The SuperBowl requires about 70GB). This document assumes the given directory is /Television. Substitute as necessary in the instructions below.

Database Configuration

Set up the database as in the main instructions, but ensure that the database is configured to communicate with your entire home network:


mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mythconverg.* TO 'mythtv'@'192.168.1.0/tvrecorder.local' IDENTIFIED BY "mythtv-password";;
mysql> GRANT CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES ON mythconverg.* TO 'mythtv'@'192.168.1.0/tvrecorder.local' IDENTIFIED BY "mythtv-password";
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON mythconverg.* TO 'mythtv'@'192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0' IDENTIFIED BY "mythtv-password";;
mysql> GRANT CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES ON mythconverg.* TO 'mythtv'@'192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0' IDENTIFIED BY "mythtv-password";
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;


Backend Setup

Install

Download the backend, and copy its files to a new folder in /Applications/, such as /Applications/MythBackend

Initial Setup

Find the setup program MythTV-Setup.app. To navigate this program it is useful (but not completely necessary) to have a keyboard, a mouse and an Apple Remote all attached. They can all be used in the same session.

Navigation Notes

The setup program contains many pages consisting of boxes that need to be filled in, and buttons for Next or Prev pages of boxes.

Keyboard

You use the Tab key to switch to the next box or button, and the Enter key to select it. Shift-Tab behaves like Tab but moves the selection in the opposite direction.

Many boxes hide a list of possibilities inside. You are supposed to hit the right or left arrow keys to choose among them.

The Esc key lets you exit from a submenu, close a popup, or cancel an action.

Mouse

The mouse can only be used to click on buttons, but is useful when the other aspects of the user interface make navigating to a button hard to figure out.

One difficulty is that the user interface likes to hide the mouse cursor. To find the cursor again, press ⌘-Tab to briefly switch away from the setup app. The cursor will become visible. Press ⌘-Tab again to get back into the setup app and click away.


Apple Remote

You use the down arrow to switch to the next box or button, and the play button key to select it. up arrow behaves like down arrow but moves the selection in the opposite direction.

Many boxes hide a list of possibilities inside. You are supposed to hit the right or left arrow keys to choose among them.

The cancel button lets you exit from a submenu, close a popup, or cancel an action.

Running Setup

Start the setup application. You will be asked to choose a country and language. The defaults of USA and US English are probably what you want, so just hit Tab twice to get to the Save button, and hit Enter to select it.

The application will close briefly and then reopen itself.

Main Setup Menus

The setup menus appear as a list of eight numbered selections, intended to be chosen and manipulated in their numeric order. We will be able to skip a couple of them.

Menu 1: General

Screen A
  • Set the address of the backend either to tvrecorder.local, or to the IP address of your backend if you know it to have a fixed address
  • Set the security PIN to 0000
  • Set the address of the master backend either to tvrecorder.local, or to the IP address of your backend if you know it to have a fixed address
  • Select Next
Screen B

Skip all these locale settings. Choose Next.

Screen C

Skip all these miscellaneous settings. Choose Next.

Screen D

Skip all these EIT Scanner settings. Choose Next.

Screen E

Skip all these shutdown/wakeup settings. Choose Next.

Screen F

Skip all these backend shutdown/wakeup settings. Choose Next.

Screen G

Skip all these backend control settings. Choose Next.

Screen H

Set the maximum job count higher than 1 if you have a relatively modern computer (a pre-2011 Mac Mini should stay at 1). Set CPU usage to Medium. Both these settings are optional and can be left alone.

Choose Next.

Screen I

Skip all these global job queue settings. Choose Next.

Screen J

Skip all these local job queue command settings. Choose Next.

Screen K

Skip all these program schedule download options settings. Choose Finish.

Menu 2: Capture Cards

You need to specify that you have an HDHomeRun. Enter the menu.

  • Choose New Capture Card
    • Type: Press the right arrow to highlight HDHomeRun
    • Available Devices: Press the right arrow until your device appears. It probably has 2 or more entries because it has multiple tuners, so just choose the first one.
    • Click Finish
  • Choose New Capture Card again
    • Type: Press the right arrow to highlight HDHomeRun
    • Available Devices: Press the right arrow. Previously configured tuners will have the message Already in use. Choose the next one that is free. If there are none such, you can cancel out of the screen.
    • Click Finish
  • Repeat until you have configured all your tuners.

Menu 3:

You do not need to enter this menu. Skip it.


Menu 4: Video Sources

You need to specify how you will get TV listings.


Menu 5: Input Connections

You need to link your HDHomeRun tuner(s) to your TV listings, and scan for channels. Enter the menu.


Menu 6: Channel Editor

You do not need to enter this menu. Skip it.


Menu 7: Storage Directories

You need to enter the directory where you will save the recorded programs. Enter the menu.


Menu 8:

You do not need to enter this menu.


You are finished, so press Esc or the cancel button on your remote to exit setup.