MythBuntu MythTV Tweaks

After getting MythBuntu installed, I did the following tweaks to MythTV:

• Disabling DPMS (screen power saver): Previously I did it with the session manager, but Mythbuntu doesn't have the equivalent. So based on this thread, I did the following:
  

  $ vi ~/.xsessionrc
  $ cat ~/.xsessionrc
  xset s noblank
  xset s off
  xset -dpms
  Now restart desktop so changes take effect
  $ sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart
  

  Updated Oct 24, 2008: I later also disabled the gnome-screensaver
  
• I was still getting commercials during playback of recorded shows. Poking around it seemed like all the options for commercial remove were select, but then I found under Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> TV Settings -> Playback on screen 8 "Automatically Skip Commercials" which I set to "Automatically Skip"
• I wanted my familiar Blootube theme back. I found this under Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> Appearance on screen 1.
• I wanted channel changing during live TV to take effect immediately. This was done with a combination of two options: Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> TV Settings -> General screen 1, select "Change channels immediately without select", and Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> TV Settings -> Playback OSD screen 1, unselect "Always use Browse Mode"
• Under Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> TV Settings -> Playback, screen 2, I set "Action on playback exit" to "Save Position and exit" and "Prompt at end of Recording".
• Configured MythFillDatbase to run automatically. Utilities/Setup -> Setup -> TV Settings -> General screen 6, enable "Automatically run mythfilldatabase". For "Arguments" I used "--refresh-all --quiet" and for "Log Path" I used "/tmp/mythfilldatabase.log". Everything else I left as is.
• Next I wanted to get the extra buttons on my remote working. So under Utilities/Setup -> Edit Keys I bound keys to the various screens I wanted shortcuts to under "JumpPoints". (Hint: to jump to the "Watch Recordings" screen, use the "TV Recording Playback" action as the target.)
  
  A hint, run "irw" as root and press keys on your remote to figure out their names, e.g. the following shows me pressing the Blue and Go keys:
  

  # irw
  00000000000017a9 00 Blue Hauppauge_350
  00000000000017a9 01 Blue Hauppauge_350
  00000000000017a9 02 Blue Hauppauge_350
  00000000000017bb 00 Go Hauppauge_350
  00000000000017bb 01 Go Hauppauge_350
  00000000000017bb 02 Go Hauppauge_350
  

  
  
  The I edited ~/.lirc/mythtv and bound the remote commands to those keys (the "config" option).
  

  $ cd ~/.lirc
  $ cp mythtv mythtv.orig
  $ vi mythtv
  $ diff -c mythtv.orig mythtv
  *** mythtv.orig 2008-09-24 21:05:35.000000000 -0500
  --- mythtv 2008-09-24 21:39:34.000000000 -0500
  ***************
  *** 733,738 ****
  --- 733,774 ----
  begin
  remote = Hauppauge_350
  prog = mythtv
  + button = Blue
  + config = d
  + repeat = 0
  + delay = 0
  + end
  +
  + begin
  + remote = Hauppauge_350
  + prog = mythtv
  + button = Videos
  + config = r
  + repeat = 0
  + delay = 0
  + end
  +
  + begin
  + remote = Hauppauge_350
  + prog = mythtv
  + button = TV
  + config = l
  + repeat = 0
  + delay = 0
  + end
  +
  + begin
  + remote = Hauppauge_350
  + prog = mythtv
  + button = RED
  + config = m
  + repeat = 0
  + delay = 0
  + end
  +
  + begin
  + remote = Hauppauge_350
  + prog = mythtv
  button = 7
  config = 7
  repeat = 0
  

  
  Next I tried restarting lirc:
  

  
  sudo /etc/init.d/lirc restart
  

  
  But that just caused my remote to stop working with mythtv all together, so I rebooted and all worked fine.

Wow, if it is possible for something to have too many options, MythTV is guilty...