Bend in the Weather (Entries tagged as sport)

MythTV and scheduled recordings

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:51:54 +1000

MythTV is a great Linux based DVR.
It produces excellent recordings and allows you to compress and remove commercials from your recordings using some of the post-processing commands.

One problem that has plagued me (and many others) appears to be that MythTV whilst great when recording LiveTV it has problems when attempting to schedule a recordings. This is particularly true if it's scheduled more than a few hours.

At first I thought it was a problem with the scheduler threads within MythTV, and started searching the web for a solution.
I managed to come across this solution to MythTV scheduled recordings, which appears to state that the initial video sources set-up is incorrect.
Further digging around has shown that this does appear to solve the problem for most people.

How do you undertake fixing it?

Use the "Delete all video sources" button in mythtv-setup to delete all video sources and then re-create the video sources.
Use MythTV to scan for channels.
Edit the xmltvid for each channel. You can use the process outlined in the Frontend Channel Editor.
Run a mythfilldatabase to populate your TV listings. (Tip: Use Sheperd if in Australia)
Check your listings after mythfilldatabase has run.
You should in theory be able to schedule recordings correctly now.

There are many more tips and tricks to recording under MythTV. Feel free to read more up in relation to MythTV Scheduling Recordings.

Currently I'm busily saving all the televised IPL Cricket games, so as yet, I haven't had a chance to try this out. I expect to do so in the next day or so.
If anyone does beat me to the punch, please give me some feedback as to whether it worked or not.

Hopefully this helps resolve the scheduling frustrations many people currently face.

Happy Recording!

IPL and MythTV recording exports

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:35:40 +1000

IPL doesn't stand for Initial Program Load to non-geeks.... it doesn't even stand for the IBM Public License.

Ask any Indian and they will tell you it most certainly stands for the Indian Premier League. Many would be excused for confusing it with the English Premier League as an Indian version of the famous English football competition.

Whilst it is a professional sports league, it has nothing to do with football (or soccer for those inclined). Though it does actually spring from another English sport -- cricket.

The Indian Premier League is basically a Twenty20 competition (20 overs per side). With 8 teams and stars from around the world of the game of cricket contracted to play. Many are on large money deals after the players were auctioned off.

You're asking what on earth does this have to do MythTV?! A good question indeed!

If you take a look at any TV guide you'll find from around 12:15am each night on Channel 10 for the next 40 odd days that you'll see an entry into the wee hours for IPL. It's being broadcast live into Australia (and around the world for that matter). Being live and timezones what they are means the games start extremely late.

A Twenty20 game is normally over in 3-3.5 hours... but that means in order to watch the game you won't be heading to bed until 4am. (Not really good if you're wanting to work the next day). Even worse if there is a double-header that night!

MythTV comes to the rescue... I just schedule to record the show and watch it in a more Australian Friendly timezone.

However recording 43 days worth of 3-3.5 hour shows does indeed chew a lot of disk space (particularly when recording HDTV!)

In order to get around this I convert the recorded shows in xvid format. Whilst the quality is probably no-where as great as HDTV, it's still very watchable (in fact my blind eyes actually don't tell the difference most of the time!)

I convert the nuv (MythTVs MPEG2 streams+recording info file format) into xvid avis using nuvexport.
I've played around with various settings and have the following works extremely well for me.

It ensures I get:

A good crisp image for sports action (fast moving action).
Reasonable sound.
Most importantly, a reasonably sized file so I can store up weeks of games to watch at my choosing.

Here is the settings I utilise:

Where would you like to export the files to? [/var/lib/mythtv/recordings/transcode]
Enable Myth cutlist? [No]
Enable noise reduction (slower, but better results)? [No]
Enable deinterlacing? [Yes]
Crop broadcast overscan border (0-5%) ? [1.5]
Audio bitrate? [128]
Variable bitrate video? [Yes]
Multi-pass (slower, but better quality)? [Yes]
Video bitrate? [768]
Default resolution based on requested dimensions.
Width? [624]
Height? [352]

This then converts the file from the MPEG2 stream -> xvid avi at around 45fps for me (YMMV depending on the CPU grunt you have available). It also produces an excellent 16:9 video that is perfect to watch on my wide-screen TV.

Once done, I then use avidemux to seek through the avi file (using the seek black frame options) to discover where the adverts are and remove them.

I find this approach is much more reliable then using MythTVs commercial advert detection and cutlists. Whilst it takes a while, and can be tedious the results are much more impressive.

I now find I can watch a game of cricket much faster, without interruption and without the crazy commentator 'analysis' during the game/change of innings.

It's the only way to watch the IPL!

So next time you need to record on your MythTV box, look at exporting it. nuvexport supports are range of formats including:

XviD
SVCD
VCD
DVCD (VCD with 48kHz audio for making DVDs)
DVD
DivX
ASF
MP3
PSP (disabled)
MP4 (iPod)
Export to .nuv and .sql

It also means you should be able to spit it out on a format you prefer. Whether that be onto a DVD, Xvid or even an MP4 for portable watching. PSP isn't currently supported and is documented on their website.

It's one way to ensure you have a great library of recorded shows at your disposal, but not eating a large amount of disk space.

I'm sure that whilst many of you might not be interested in the cricket (yeah I know I'm a sad individual), you can find a great way to reduce your MythTV disk usage... meaning you can record a lot more.

For those wishing to import the exported recording back into MythTV take a read of Jeffery Fernandez's excellent blog entry on just the thing.

Commonwealth Games -- time to update Java

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:26:35 +1100

If you haven't already... it's time to update your version of Java.

Why you might ask?!    Pesky Java DOESNT use your OS to determine the date/time (it cant really... it runs in a JVM after all... seperated from the OS).

You can get updated versions of Java (Update 11 for 1.4.2 and Update 6 for 1.5.0) from Sun directly for Windows... though it can be a little harder for you Linux OS.

Traditionally, items like Java are compiled up and included in your OS... problem with SuSE at present... they haven't released any updated packages for the current 1.4.2 and 1.5.0 Java packages.

As a result -- I did the grunt work and compiled up the updates for both Java 1.4.2 and Java 1.5.0 for SuSE 10... both i586 and AMD64 architectures are catered for in Java 1.5.0.

Update: I've been contacted by SuSE.
                Seems they will be releasing updated Java packages as of tomorrow to cater for this.

The Fishing Trip

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:06:36 +1100

Saturday I headed down to Geelong and went fishing with my father.
It's always a good time to spend some quality 'bonding' time together and something we both don't do enough of.

I'm no fisherman, and have as much fishing skill and the hunchback has sex appeal!
However, my Dad is an awesome fisherman! I always learn something when I go out with him.

So I got down to Geelong around 11am and we headed out shortly afterwards. Dad took me down to St. Leonards and we fished off the pier.

It was quite a non-descript day, with a gentle breeze most of the day, not cold and not warm, and reasonably overcast most of the day with the clouds rolling in from the west most of the day, whilst the sun occasionally broke through just to keep us all warm and hopeful for more.

A bunch of kids were spear-fishing near the pier and made the experience even more difficult. Whether they were scaring the fish away, making enough noise to wake the dead, or just a nuisance always not far of getting tangled in your line. Those fishing on the pier tolerated them, though could be seen cursing them under their breath.

We ate our sandwiches on the pier, swigged a cold drink and some coffee and had a perfect vantage point to watch the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) enter the heads of Port Phillip Bay and head towards Melbourne.

The fish came and went, with a few nibbles here, and a few there. Though no-one caught anything of note most of the day.   I caught a 29cm whiting that we ended up bringing home. (Pauline cooked it up for lunch on Sunday!)

By 4:30pm we'd had our fill and decided to call it a day.   I looked a little read, but nothing too bad.
I stayed at my folks until about 7:00pm and then headed back home. It was a fun day.

By that evening... the sunburn had come out. I started to look like a living tomato and had been burnt on my legs, neck, ears, face, fore-arms and hands.   As Pauline so delicately put it "Who get's burnt on the back of their hands?!"    Apparently I do!

Sunday has seen me in pain from the experience.   I'm not sure if this will blister, though it's likely to peel. I should have slipped, slopped, slapped.... though I did have a shirt, hat and sunnies on and I imagine would have suffered a lot more without them. In hindsight a good dose of sun-cream might have been an even better idea!

Ahhh well... a little bit of pain and discomfort for a few days.... still doesn't take away from the great time I had with my dad.

100/20 days to go!

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 14:52:13 +1100

There is now only 20 days to Christmas (that's right less than 3 weeks!)
This means the silly season is well and truly under way. I've completed almost all my Christmas shopping with the exception of a few presents (hint, hint mother... what do you want?!)

Another milestone has also been reached... There is now only 100 days to the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Melbourne has been preparing to put on quite an event with several landmarks in Melbourne being upgraded.

From public infrastructure to sporting stadiums the state government has funnelled millions of dollars in upgrading facilities to provide a world class event.

The MCG has undergone a massive upgrade and is scheduled to be completed on time. Add to that Spencer Street (soon to be called Southern Cross Station) and Flinders Street Station.

Here are some shots of what the MCG will look like completed:

The Spencer Street station is the most impressive of all the works.... with the new 'wave-roof' changing the city landscape. The state of the art design ensures maximum use of natural light and ensures heating/cooling costs are reduced to a minimum.
Flinders Street is also getting a facelift and having it's roof resealed as well as opening up the old ballroom from yester-year!

I'm unsure whether I'm going to the games as yet (I probably should seeing they are on in my own home town!)
So far the build up has been pretty slow but I suspect as the days start coming down we'll see much more in that area.

World Gymnastics comes to town

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 12:27:24 +1100

Melbourne is currently hosting the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Artistic Gymnastics is the form of gymnastics where competitors compete on various pieces of apparatus and are judged by a score of 10.0.

You will see competitors on the Vault, Pommel Horse, Uneven and Parallel Bars, Rings and Balance Beam.

The event runs from 22/11 - 27/11. Channel Seven are telecasting the event from tonight until Sunday night at 8:30pm. (though Sunday starts an hour earlier).

Those in Melbourne can also benefit by viewing the competition live by purchasing tickets at Ticketek. Ticket prices are quite modest and is a good lead-up for many prior to the 2006 Commonwealth Games that are being held also in Melbourne.
The event is being held at Rod Laver Arena (used most often for the Australian Tennis Open), so viewing should be quite good from all angles.

Australian's are sports made, and Melbourne, Victoria is the capital for sporting events. (They also hold the Australian Grand Prix, Australian MotoGP, Australian Golf Open, The Melbourne Cup and the AFL Grand Final, also hosts the MCG and Telstra Dome stadiums).

Melbourne is the perfect city for me. I'm a mad sports nut and it's fantastic to get out to some of these events.

If you can't get to the event, make sure you check in and watch some of the Gymnastics. These dedicated athletes are bound to leave you speechless as the pull off performances and feats you didn't think was humanly possible!

I marvel at the endurance and strength as well as agility that these athletes bring. It's also important to remember that most of the female competitors are quite young with several only teenage girls.
The stress and nerves competing at the highest level at such a precise sport is also astounding.

Good luck to all athletes and hope it's a successful event for each competitor!

Socceroos off to Germany!

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 13:11:33 +1100

Last night 82,698 people crammed into a capacity filled Telstra Stadium to see the Socceroos (Australia's national football team) make it into the World Cup.

What most people didn't know was they were about to witness one of the most thrilling games of football the country has ever seen.

Australia needed to score 2:0 to win the decider after going down on Sunday 1:0.
By half time we were halfway there, with Marco Bresciano slotting one in behind the goal-keeper after a Harry Kewell miskick spilled into his waiting boots.
By full time the score was 1:0 to Australia, meaning extra-time was required. An extra 30 minutes couldn't see the dead-lock broken; though the Australians had most of the attacking play.
The game went down to a penalty shoot-out. This was time for the Australian goal-keeper Mark Schwarzer to step up to the plate.

Schwarzer was clam and collected whilst the entire nation were on the edge of their seats, nail-biting and hoping this was not going to be another crushing defeat, so close again.
Schwarzer won the match for us, with two brilliant saves to restrict the Uruguay to two penalty goals.

When Aloisi had slotted home the 5^th penalty for a 4:2 win, the realisation had come.
Australia had made it the World Cup! An achievement that last occurred 32 years ago!
Now everything turns to Germany in 2006. How far we go in the competition, who knows?

Making the Cup has been a big challenge in itself and after 7 consecutive unsuccessful attempts it's great to finally get there again. I was only 1 last time they played in a world cup.

Whilst they are likely to be 100:1 chance of winning the competition, getting there is half the battle and anything can happen.
It will be fantastic to finally be able to barrack for our own nation in this competition!

Early rise, no suprise...

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 14:20:20 +1100

I was like thousands of males around Australia this morning that rose at 6:30am to see the Socceroos compete in Uruguay in Montevideo to see if they could qualify for next years FIFA Word Cup to be held in Germany.
The crowd obviously was backing for their home team (Uraguay) with a small band of Aussies (around 300) that headed there to support the Socceroos.

The game was entertaining, and the Australians had much of the possession and strike in the first half, but were unable to capitalise. The South Americans were able to score just prior to half time through a dubious free kick, a well executated set-play and some poor defence from the Australian defenders.
The 2^nd half saw Uruguay with their tails up, keeping our defence under pressure. Several close attempts from the Aussies, yet no success.

The game ended in a 1:0 victory to Uraugay. Though the Australian's can hold their heads high, last visit they went down 3:0 (the last time they were knocked out of the World Cup Qualifier, and agaist Uraugay that time too!).

All is not lost. Each team get a home game. So that means both teams will be flying back to compete here in Australia. Wednesday night will see them go head-to-head at Sydney's Telstra Stadium.

SBS will be covering it from 7:00pm on Wednesday night, so either get to the ground if you're in Sydney or watch from home on SBS if you're not.
We've got a very good chance of going through, and the team will need all the support they can get! If they qualify it will be the first time since 1973!

Go Socceroos Go!

Recovery time

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 12:28:42 +1000

The body has a sick sense of humour.

After doing the right thing and getting some exercise into this body, I felt great yesterday. We warmed up and even warmed down with a light 5 minute walk home.

I even felt pretty fair yesterday arvo that I decided to cut our lawns (it's a big job normally involving 60 mins straight of pushing the mower... a good workout!).

I felt quite refreshed and not even a twinge of muscle soreness... though I did get a little 'red' around the face and neck. (Damn my lily white skin!).

Pauline was a little sore yesterday arvo, though I thought I had evaded it. Not so! I work up this morning and realised with the first movement that muscle soreness was going to be my day!

Ahh well... just my muscles complaining about the lack of use. Was fine after a nice hot shower, though as I'm sitting at work all day I've cramped up again. I'm moving around like an 80y.o, and it appears my left side (tennis serving side) is feeling the full force of the exercise.

Not to worry... I'll be taking today off... and do a bit more tomorrow. These muscles are going to have to get used to the new regime!

Court appearance

mbottrell@gmail.com (Matt) — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 22:35:17 +1000

Pauline and I purchased some tennis racquets around 1999-2000.
The plan was to use them.. for a bit of fun and exercise. Somehow that never happened... We seemed to get too busy doing everything else around us and quickly forgot about the racquets.

I don't know why we did... we paid a fortune for them! (We bought Wilson tennis racquets -- probably more money then sense... though they are damn good racquets, that are very powerful and extremely light).

After all these years... we decided to face the music, pull them out... remember what they looked like and go for a hit.

We've got a tenis court within walking distance from home so we went down to play.

Actually I was suprised at how good the court surface was.. it was that green rubbery surface (rebound ace? *shrugs*).

Well we had fun; ran around like idiots for an hour or so hitting tennis balls left, right, up and down and occassionally even over the net!

We played a mini set after about 30 minutes... though finished early... Pauline's shoes were pretty inappropriate for the tennis... but she was up 3:1.

We had a ball (sic), and will look at playing again this week. It's a good cardo workout and I'm sure we have as much a workout laughing as we do playing!