Frequently Asked Questions

This page will hopefully answer most of the question you have. If not drop me an email at paul@mythqml.net and I will try to respond as soon as possible.

What are the System Requirements?

Doesn't require anything spectacular hardware wise. Only real requirement is a resonably decent graphic with hardware acceleration for OpenGL required by QML.

Here's what I use for my main production systems ASRock Vision 3D 138B's with Intel® Core™ i3-370M Mobile Processor, 4Gb memory, NVIDIA® GeForce GT425M Graphics, 120Gb SSD and they work great.

I also use a similar ASRock Vision HT 321B with 4Gb Ram, Intel® Core™ i5-3210M Mobile Ivy Bridge Processor, Intel® HD Graphics 4000, 120Gb SSD and that also works great.

So basically any PC with a Linux based operating system like Ubuntu installed (it wont run on windows yet), a graphics card or built-in graphics with hardware acceleration, I've used NVidia and Intel based graphics which both work well. I've also tried a AMD Radeon card and don't know if it was the card, drivers, or the setup at fault but the result was very bad with lots of stutter and flashing.

It's not very memory intensive so 4Gb seems to be plenty.

It doesn't require large amounts of disc space so I would think 30 or 40Gb for the system partition should be plenty.

You probably want to connect the system to a TV so an HDMI connector for the graphics makes things easier.

If you want the true HTPC experience then you will need a remote control of some description. The ASRocks have an IR receiver built in so I use an IR remote, see here for tips on what I use and how to set it up. There's also lots of 2.4Ghz wireless keyboards or remotes that would work just as well.

Is there a version of MythQML that runs on Windows?

No not yet but... I think most/all? the dependencies have Windows compatible versions so it may be possible to get it to compile and run on windows but I've not looked to closely into it.

How do I install MythQML?

If you are using Ubuntu the easiest way is to use my PPA to install the packaged version. Detailed instructions are here for exiting Ubuntu desktop users who want to install MythQML alongside their existing setup or here for users who want to setup a standalone system based on Xubuntu.

You can also compile and install from the source code. Detailed instructions are available here.

Which versions of MythTV does MythQML require?

All testing and deployed systems I maintain are using current master version of MythTV but it should work with 31.x, 30.x and 29.x since it mainly uses the Services API but that is untested by me.

Which versions of QT does MythQML require?

Currently the minimum version is Qt 5.9.5 which is what is used by the older Ubuntu LTS 18.04 release. More recent versions have better QML and WebEngine support so use those if you can. I'm currently using QT 5.14.2 on 20.10 Groovy and Qt 5.15.2 on 21.04 Hirsute. I've also tested on Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS Focal with Qt 5.12.8 with no problems.

Which versions of Ubuntu do you support?

The PPA currently has packages for Bionic, Focal, Groovy and Hirsute.

I will try to support the latest LTS release, the latest release and any release in between still supported by the Launch Pad build system. When the next release gets closer I will start building packages for that but personally I normally wait a couple of weeks after the release to update and test it.

The YouTube webcams or videos are failing to play after upgrading Ubuntu to new version

I've noticed this on several systems after upgrading from Disco to Eoan. It's caused by stale cache files. Easiest way to fix it is to just blow away both mythlauncher_qml and mythfrontend_qml's cache files they will be recreated as needed.
$ rm -rf ~/.cache/MythFrontendQML
$ rm -rf ~/.cache/MythLauncherQML

What playback engine do you use?

I'm still experimenting with which video playback engine to use so have support for three different ones.

1. QmlVlc - LibVLC wrapper for Qt Quick 2/Qml.
2. VLC-Qt - Alternative QML/LibVLC implementation. Only compiled in if found at compile time. Ubuntu packages don't currently have support for this.
3. QtAV - A cross-platform multimedia framework based on Qt and FFmpeg.

The advantage of the LibVLC ones are you get all the support for the multitude of video formats supported by VLC like YouTube video playback etc.

Which video formats and feeds are supported

You can play any file formats and streams VLC and FFMPEG will play. You can stream LiveTV, Recordings, Videos and Music files from a MythTV backend. There is support for streamlink so anything that supports can be played in the WebVideo Viewer, there is a YouTube player, you can play live images from ZoneMinder as well as playback ZoneMinder's events. There is a radio stream player and there is an IPTV channel player with over 10,000 channels available.

What I believe makes MythQML unique is you can have up to four video streams playing at the same time from different sources if you want.

How do you mute/change the volume of the background video, sound effects or background radio player?

When on the main menu press MENU (M) and select Volume... from the popup menu and on the dialog that appears change the appropriate volume setting on there.

How do you add/edit news feeds?

That's currently not possible in MythQML so you will have to alter them using the MythNews plugin in the Legacy MythFrontend which is where MythQML gets them from.

How do you add/edit the YouTube Subscriptions?

That's currently not possible in MythQML but you can manually edit the XML file that contains the list of channels you want to subscribe to. It currently does not get the list from your YouTube account if you have one it only reads the list from the XML file.

What languages are supported?

Currently only English is supported. If there is interest support for adding translations could be added.

Why are there two Browse Videos menu options?

Browse MythTV Videos uses the MythTV Services API to get the list of videos and uses the MythTV protocol to play them back. Browse Folder Videos shows the videos in a local directory you set in the Feed Source Settings. They are experimental screens to see which method works best and are WIP (work in progress) and subject to change.

How do you change the news feeds used by the ticker?

Currently the feeds are hard coded in the ticker_grabber.py script. It's on the TODO list to allow them to be changed in the UI but for the moment you will have to edit the script.

How do you change the videos/webcams shown in the WebCam/WebVideo viewers?

The selection shown by default are just example feeds pulled from the mythqml.net website. I will at some point make this more user friendly and would like to make the list of videos/webcams so users can submit feeds for inclusion. You can if you wish manually edit the various XML files and tell MythQML where it can get those edited files from in the Feed Source settings.

Can MythQML play DVD's?

Yes it can play ISO images or VIDEO_TS directories using VLC as the player when using the Browse Folder Videos method to view videos. It can't play them when using Browse MythTV Videos method.

How do you change the Weather Screens for my location?

Everything on the weather screens is a demo of what is possible and currently the locations are hard coded and can't be changed without editing the source code. Whats more some screens wont currently work because they pull web pages from my local web server and weather station.

Of cause it's on the TODO list to change that if enough users show interest in using the MythQML frontend.

How do you stop/change the default item being started by the launcher?

It's hard coded to start the MythQML frontend and currently can't be changed. There is a setting for it but it's not exposed to the UI. WIP

Where does mythlauncher_qml/mythfrontend_qml save its logs?

You can find the log files in ~/.mythqml/logs/. The reason I put them there and not in /var/log/ is it requires no special setup from the user which fits with the goal of making MythQML as easy as possible to setup..

What is mythlauncher_qml?

The mythlauncher_qml app is a useful launcher that should be set to run at startup of a MythQML system. By default the launcher will then start mythfrontend_qml. If mythfrontend_qml exits for any reason you end up back to the launcher where you can restart the mythfrontend_qml, or choose to start the legacy mythfrontend or even to run kodi if you want. There are also options to exit the launcher, shutdown or restart the MythQML system.

It's useful to easily switch between the old and new frontends or kodi on a system that is used purely as a HTPC.

How do you use the auto shutdown after a period of inactivity feature?

mythfrontend_qml will automatically exit after a period of inactivity (default is 90 minutes but can be changed in the Shutdown Settings. It does not shutdown the system though it only exits back to the launcher if you use it. The mythlauncher_qml will then shutdown the system after it has been inactive for a while (default is 10 minutes but can be change in the Shutdown Settings).

So basically if you quickly want the system to shut down then exit out of the new or old frontends or kodi to the launcher and it will then shutdown after being inactive for a few minutes.

You may have to change the Reboot Command/Shutdown Command settings to suit but the defaults are good for Ubuntu systems. You will probably have to allow the command to be run by sudo without a password. There is more information in the Post Install Hints and Tips section here

I get just a black screen when trying to view a MythTV channel, play a MythTV recording or video

This is usually caused by using an incorrect PIN. In the MythBackend settings you can tell MythQML what the correct PIN should be. See here for more details.

Another cause can be MythQML can't find if it's on a separate machine the master backend using it's hostname. One way to fix this is to just add a line to /etc/hosts more details here.

How can I help/donate to the project?

The best help at the moment would be a donation to contribute to its continued development but constructive feed back is also welcome. If you are feeling generous there is a a donation link at the top of the page :)