[mythtvnz] Copy tv program

Thu Sep 29 19:42:11 BST 2011

MythArchive does a brilliant job of this too. http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/MythArchive 

Just point it to where you want it to put the files/s and it'll copy them across without having to dig around through the actual filenames. It doesn't have to create a DVD etc, it can just copy files.

Much simpler...I know because I recently converted to this method after previously writing down file names, rummaging through the hundreds of recordings we have that we just don't get a chance to watch, and copying across a bunch of files by hand.
It will create a folder in the destination (named after the program) and put in the file, screenshot and xml (index?) for if you want to bring it back. The file itself doesn't get renamed though, but if your only moving a couple of files it's not a biggie. You could even have your other box pick this up directly as an archive restoration with its own copy of  MythTV...but then you could just as easily run it as another frontend for the same effect.

You could also try transcoding the files before you watch them. I know it's a messy extra step, and best left to run overnight, but it's one other option and the CPU speed etc won't matter so much for playback.

And yes jerky video is most likely CPU. My box couldn't handle the load but when I put in a video card with VDPAU support it made all the difference in the world. 

Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtvnz-bounces at lists.linuxnut.co.nz [mailto:mythtvnz-bounces at lists.linuxnut.co.nz] On Behalf Of Stephen Worthington
Sent: Friday, 30 September 2011 1:39 a.m.
To: MythTV in NZ
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Copy tv program

On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:05:48 +1300, you wrote:

>On 09/29/2011 09:42 PM, Curtis Walker wrote:
>> What folder(s) do you have setup as your LiveTV or Recording location
>> in mythbackend?
>> 
>> Simply navigate to that folder, find the video file in question & copy
>> it onto an appropriately-sized USB stick. The beauty of mythtv is that
>> it saves files in a user-defined location, in an open format, and free
>> from DRM - just so you can move 'em about at will!
>> 
>> On 29 September 2011 21:31, Mallett <mallett at actrix.co.nz> wrote:
>
>/var/lib/mythtv/recordings$
>Thank you

And you can find the file name for any program by navigating to it
under the Watch Recordings menu, then using the I key on the keyboard
twice to display the full Program Details screen.  The file name is
under the Recorded File Name heading, and should look something like
this:

  1003_20100526231400.mpg

The I command is also usually attached the I or Info button on your
remote control.

Really jerky playback normally means that you are trying to get the
CPU to do all the work of displaying the video, rather than your video
card doing it using hardware acceleration.  What sort of recordings do
you have?  DVB-S ones can be played back OK by a good CPU only, but
DVB-T ones never work unless you have a very expensive CPU - greater
than 3 GHz dual core is required, and I have never heard of anyone who
got completely jerk free playback that way.  So you really need an
appropriate Nvidia GPU and the Nvidia VDPAU drivers installed and
being used by MythTV.

If you copy the recordings to another PC, the same rules apply - it
needs to be using hardware accelerated drivers for the video card,
although a Windows box will be able to use other hardware than just
Nvidia as it has accelerated drivers for most cards with the necessary
accelerated hardware.  Even on Windows though, it is possible to not
have the accelerated drivers installed, or for the playback software
to not be using them, and you will then still get jerky playback.

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