Linux Media - Revision history

J at 20:46, 19 June 2008

2008-06-19T20:46:46Z

J at 20:35, 19 June 2008

2008-06-19T20:35:08Z

J: /* LinuxMCE */

2008-06-18T18:45:03Z

‎LinuxMCE

J at 18:40, 18 June 2008

2008-06-18T18:40:31Z

J at 21:17, 16 January 2008

2008-01-16T21:17:44Z

J: /* Important ALSA Commands */

2007-12-11T17:40:11Z

‎Important ALSA Commands

J: /* Important Commands */

2007-12-11T17:39:05Z

‎Important Commands

J: /* Digital Sound */

2007-12-11T17:37:57Z

‎Digital Sound

J: /* Remote Control (LIRC) */

2007-08-24T17:09:15Z

‎Remote Control (LIRC)

J at 17:08, 24 August 2007

2007-08-24T17:08:39Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:46, 19 June 2008
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−	~~[[Category:Linux]]~~
	[[Category:Linux_Media]]		[[Category:Linux_Media]]
	This is not meant to be a complete walk-through for anything - there's plenty of those and software changes way too fast for me to keep up. Here you will find a simple summary of some important items to know about when setting up high-grade home media stuff in Linux.		This is not meant to be a complete walk-through for anything - there's plenty of those and software changes way too fast for me to keep up. Here you will find a simple summary of some important items to know about when setting up high-grade home media stuff in Linux.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:35, 19 June 2008
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		+	[[Category:Linux]]
		+	[[Category:Linux_Media]]
	This is not meant to be a complete walk-through for anything - there's plenty of those and software changes way too fast for me to keep up. Here you will find a simple summary of some important items to know about when setting up high-grade home media stuff in Linux.		This is not meant to be a complete walk-through for anything - there's plenty of those and software changes way too fast for me to keep up. Here you will find a simple summary of some important items to know about when setting up high-grade home media stuff in Linux.
	==Media Platforms==		==Media Platforms==

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 [http://linuxmce.org/ LinuxMCE] is a bit more hard core than MythTV.  MythTV has some networking features - like being able to load-balance TV recording, and allowing you to view recordings on multiple networked computers - but LinuxMCE takes this to a whole new level.  LinuxMCE is made to be run across multiple systems on the network, sharing media and responsibilities as needed.  It's also does a lot more than MythTV is capable.
-LinuxMCE runs on top of Kubuntu, and takes over just about all of the configuration of the system.  It runs MythTV in the background to deal with TV recording - becase Myth is damned good at that - but LMCE takes care of all the rest on its own.  LMCE does many things that MythTV does - like managing videos, recording and watching TV, and managing music.  Unlike MythTV, where only TV shows are shared over the network, LMCE shares all the media.  It also hunts down new media providing devices on your network and asks if you'd like to add their contents to the media library.
+LinuxMCE runs on top of Kubuntu, and takes over just about all of the configuration of the system.  It runs MythTV in the background to deal with TV recording - becase Myth is damned good at that - but LMCE takes care of all the rest on its own.  LMCE does many things that MythTV does - like managing videos, recording and watching TV, and managing music.  Unlike MythTV, where only TV shows are shared over the network to other media system, LMCE shares all the media between LMCE systems and maintains a UPnP media server for other devices.  It also hunts down new media providing devices on your network and asks if you'd like to add their contents to the media library.
 But media is just part of LMCE - it also has a set of whole-home automation features including:
@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 *Because the system is so huge, there are some minor usability issues, though most can be overcome.
 *Because the system is so awesome, and connects with so many things, you will want to buy a lot of new toys - then you'll be broke, and your significant other may get angry about that.
 ==Audio==
 ===Important ALSA Commands===

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 This is not meant to be a complete walk-through for anything - there's plenty of those and software changes way too fast for me to keep up.  Here you will find a simple summary of some important items to know about when setting up high-grade home media stuff in Linux.
-==MythTV==
+==Media Platforms==
-If you're building a home media server, you're going to want to look at [http://mythtv.org/ MythTV].  It's pretty sweet and is fairly easy to set up.  One of the most commonly referenced set up guides is [http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/ Jarod's Guide], which is usually up to date, and seems to cover most of the important setup work to get you going.
+===MythTV===
 ==Audio==
 ===Important ALSA Commands===
@@ Line 58: / Line 103: @@
 ===Important Files===
 *~/.lircrc
 *lircd.conf
 *try this crazy thing: http://lircconfig.commandir.com/
 ===Troubleshooting===
-mode2
+Try these commands:
-irw
+*mode2
-lircd -n
+**Output the IR pulses LIRC sees to the console - good to check reception.

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 ***You may notice 2 sets of surround volume controls - one controls volumes of digital signals, the other controls analog signals
 ***Digital DIN will automatically switch between digital (AC3/DTS) signals and analog signals without reconfiguration of the receiver or ALSA output settings
 *Configure your media player
 **[http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ mplayer]

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 ===Important ALSA Commands===
 I use [http://www.alsa-project.org/ ALSA] for sound, and so do most people, so here's some important commands that will help get you going with ALSA:
-*alsamixer - a console mixer for all devices
+*''alsamixer'' - a console mixer for all devices
-*alsamixergui - GUI version of alsamixer
+*''alsamixergui'' - GUI version of alsamixer
-*alsactl - learn about installed ALSA devices
+*''alsactl'' - learn about installed ALSA devices
-*aplay - play waves and whatnot
+*''aplay'' - play waves and whatnot
-*cat /proc/asound/devices - list all ALSA devices and see what they are for
+*''cat /proc/asound/devices'' - list all ALSA devices and see what they are for
 ===Digital Sound===

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 ===Important Commands===
 Here's a quick summary of important commands.  Look at their man pages for more detailed information on how to use them.
-*mode2 - Shows raw IR signals that the IR Receiver is seeing.  This is useful to check to see if you're getting signals into the computer.
+*''mode2'' - Shows raw IR signals that the IR Receiver is seeing.  This is useful to check to see if you're getting signals into the computer.
-*irrecord - Remote Recorder.  Records the signals a remote sends and maps those raw signals to useful names, then creates a file properly formatted to be used as an lircd.conf file.
+*''irrecord'' - Remote Recorder.  Records the signals a remote sends and maps those raw signals to useful names, then creates a file properly formatted to be used as an lircd.conf file.
-*irw - Remote decoder.  Shows the button names the IR Receiver is seeing.  This is useful to check a newly configured remote control
+*''irw'' - Remote decoder.  Shows the button names the IR Receiver is seeing.  This is useful to check a newly configured remote control
-*lircd -n - LIRC Daemon, foreground.  This runs the LIRC Daemon without forking off to the background, so you can see all the console messages.  This is useful for figuring out why lircd keeps crashing.
+*''lircd -n'' - LIRC Daemon, foreground.  This runs the LIRC Daemon without forking off to the background, so you can see all the console messages.  This is useful for figuring out why lircd keeps crashing.
-−
 ===Important Files===

@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 ****There's a small encyclopedia worth of additional arguments in the mplayer man page.
 **MythTV
-***There is an option for AC3 pass through under Utilities/Setup --> Setup --> General -> 3rd or so page.  I have not seen this work for videos, and I don't have any other digital signals right now.
+***There is an option for AC3 pass through under Utilities/Setup --> Setup --> General -> 3rd or so page.  I believe this only applies to DVDs.
-***Instead, I just added the mplayer arguments under Utilities/Setup --> Setup --> Media Settings --> Video Settings --> Player Settings
+***To make it work for video files, edit the mplayer arguments under Utilities/Setup --> Setup --> Media Settings --> Video Settings --> Player Settings as described above.
 ==Remote Control (LIRC)==

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 ==Audio==
 ===Important ALSA Commands===
-I use ALSA for sound, and so do most people, so here's some important commands that will help get you going with ALSA:
+I use [http://www.alsa-project.org/ ALSA] for sound, and so do most people, so here's some important commands that will help get you going with ALSA:
 *alsamixer - a console mixer for all devices
 *alsamixergui - GUI version of alsamixer
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 ===Digital Sound===
-It's possible to have digital sound pass through the system directly to your receiver in AC3 or DTS format.  To do this, you must: *have the proper cabling (digital coax, fiber optics, digital DIN)
+It's possible to have digital sound pass through the system directly to your receiver in AC3 or DTS format.  To do this, you must:
-*have the proper sound card (has a digital connector and is NOT a USB device)
+*have the proper cabling (digital coax, fiber optics, digital DIN)
 *have a receiver with a digital decoder built in
-*have a digital source.  Digital sources include, but are not limited to, DVDs and AVIs with a52 audio streams (like what is created by MythTV if you rip a DVD).
+*have a digital source.  Digital sources include (but are not limited to) DVDs, AC3 audio tracks, and AVIs with a52 audio streams (like what is created by MythTV if you rip a DVD).
 To get digital audio pass-through to work, there are several things that need to be done:
 *Get ALSA up and running - hopefully this is the default for your distribution
-*Cable things properly - self explainitory...
+*Cable things properly - self explanatory...
 *Configure the ALSA Mixer (if needed)
 **The ALSA mixer does not only include volumes - it also has control switches for sound card features
@@ Line 31: / Line 32: @@
 ***Digital DIN will automatically switch between digital (AC3/DTS) signals and analog signals without reconfiguration of the receiver or ALSA output settings
 *Configure your media player
-**mplayer
+**[http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ mplayer]
 ***add the following command line argument to enable AC3 pass through: -ac hwac3,a52,
 ***This will tell mplayer to:
@@ Line 57: / Line 58: @@
 ===Important Files===
 *~/.lircrc
 *lircd.conf
 ===Troubleshooting===
 mode2
 lircd -n