MYTH XBMC connect

Background

MYTHTV is "best in class" at scheduling and managing TV recordings but its user interface for watching recordings feels primitive when compared to XBMC. On the other hand, while XBMC provides a "best in class" experience for browsing your library of recordings, XBMC has no capability for creating those recordings. The utility described here "marries" MYTHTV and XBMC so that you can experience the best of both worlds.

Assumptions

This article assumes you already know how to install and configure both MYTHTV and XBMC.

MYTHTV Configuration

  1. Download xbmc_mythlink.tgz.
  2. Put the files in /usr/local/bin. ie
    • cd /usr/local/bin
    • tar xzf xbmc_mythlink.tgz
  3. Create a cronjob that runs the script "xbmc_mythlink.py" every 30 minutes. In my system I did this by creating a file named “/etc/cron.d/xbmc_mythlink” with the following line:

    03,33 * * * * root nice /usr/local/bin/xbmc_mythlink.py > /var/log/xbmc_mythlink.log 2>&1

xbmc_mythlink.py has many configuration options that you can see by running "xbmc_mythlink.py --help". If run without any options it uses a set of defaults that will work for most systems.

XBMC Configuration

These configuration changes resulted in a better experience with XBMC for me. While it looks like a lot of steps, it only takes a few minutes to make these changes:

  1. Download advancedsettings.xml and place it in the appropriate XBMC directory.
    • The correct location for this file depends on the platform you are running XMBC on -- see this FAQ for details.
    • On Windows XP this file is placed in "Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\XBMC\userdata"
    • If you already have an advancedsettings.xml file, you will need to merge this version with your version.
  2. Start XBMC
  3. Goto “System->Video->Library
    • Select “Show plot for unwatched items”
    • Select “Update library on Startup”.
  4. Goto “system->Network->Services”
    • Enable “Allow control of XBMC via HTTP”
    • Port 80, username=xbmc, password=blank
    • Enable “Allow program on other systems to control XBMC”
  5. Goto “Videos”
    • Select “Add source” and add one source for each mythtv storage directory configured in mythtv.
      • Note that the script xbmc_mythlink.py will create a subdirectory named "XBMC" in each of your mythtv storage directories. Each source your create in XBMC must point at the XBMC subdirectory of a mythtv storage directory.
      • If you are using the LINHES or KNOPPMYTH distribution, create a single source pointing at "/myth/tv/XBMC".
    •  Right-click on each source, select “Set Content”
      • Set “THIS DIRECTORY CONTAINS” to “(TV shows)”.
      • I use the scraper “TheTVDB.com”. This is used to obtain a synopsis of each series and fanart.
      • Select the option “Run automated scan”.
      • Hit “OK”.
  6. Goto “System->Skin->General Settings->Home Window Options"
    • Deselect “Hide – TV shows (Videos – Library)”
  7. In this step we set the way the the TV series are listed
    • Goto "TV SHOWS"
    • Hit the “left arrow” on your keyboard and a set of menu choices will show up on the left hand side of the screen.
    • Set “VIEW” to “MEDIA INFO”
    • Set “SORT BY” to “NAME”
    • Select “LIBRARY MODE”
    • Hit the “right arrow” on your keyboard. You should now be back to the list of recorded TV series.
  8. In this step we set the way that episodes within a series are listed
    • Goto "TV SHOWS"
    • Click on a series that has a non-zero episode count.  You show now see the episode list for the series you select.
    • Hit the “left arrow” button on your keyboard and a set of menu choices will show up on the left hand side of the screen.
    • Set “VIEW” to “MEDIA INFO”
    • Set “SORT BY” to “DATE”
    • Select “LIBRARY MODE”
    • Hit the “right arrow” on your keyboard.
I found that some of the fonts were a bit small for me to read so I replaced "c:\Program Files\XBMC\skin\Confluence\720p\Font.xml with this updated version of font.xml.
  • Under Windows 7, XBMC Dharma beta 3 the font file is placed in C:\Program Files\XBMC\addons\skin.confluence\720p
  • Goto System->Appearance->Skin and set the "Font" to "Marc".


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