moving recordings to new PC

[PhilB]

Do not confuse the folder you have set for new backups and the one holding the backup file you have copied across. To restore you need the latter.
Try --directory etc/lib/mythtv/hddsda1/recordings
Just confirm it's hddsda1 not hddsda 1 with the space. Maybe just limitation of this phone.
Phil

[jimls]

Looks like that did it! On to the next step...

I wrongly put the path as /etc/lib/mythtv... above when it was actually /var/lib/mythtv... Adding the directory to the script got a successful message.

[jimls]

I started the backend and didn't get any message about upgrading the database which seemed odd. I started the backend setup program and updated the recordings location. Exited backend end setup saying to start the back end. Then went to the front end and saw the shows from the old PC. Took a bit for the thumbnails to show up. Is that normal? I thought it would need to update the database from 0.27 to 32 but maybe it happens in the background without being obvious?

[PhilB]

See my posting of 20 June. The schema is updated by setup.
My understanding is that you should NOT allow backend to run between database restore and running setup to upgrade to database scheme.
Hence:
disable and stop backend
database restore
setup
re-enable and restart backend.
Phil

[jimls]

I will give it another try but my first statement was a summary of the issue not part of the statement of order of things. I can see how that could be taken as part of the order of what I have done so my bad on how I worded things. I still have the question - is the update of the schema something that now happens without notification (or perhaps notification that is easily missed) or does it still ask the user?

My actual order of things was:
Stop the FE and BE
Restore database
Run setup and poke around and don't notice anything needing updates so exit
Start BE and FE and notice that show titles are there but when trying to play it doesn't find recordings.
Stop BE and FE
Run setup and put in new location of recordings and exit
Start BE and FE
Seems to work but never got any notice of database update, at least that I noticed.

[jimls]

Redid the steps and got the warning screen to upgrade the database. Not sure how that was missed last time...

[PhilB]

I cannot provide details but I recall having some puzzlement myself with that.
Phil

[jimls]

Managed to move everything and get it working. Just a few things to clean up.
In the backend setup I didn't see any tuners and set up 2 for my dual Silicon Dust network tuner. Now in the front end status I see 6 tuners - the 4 from the previous setup (marked unavailable) and the 2 new ones that are being used. Still unclear to me why each tuner got 2 for a total of 4 before. When I get a chance I will rerun backend setup and see if I can figure out what is going on with that.

Initially the front end display filled the screen but when I turned on the TV after some off time it showed up in the upper left corner and covered about 1/4 of the screen. When exiting the FE the desktop icons were very tiny. Need to figure out how to set the display so it doesn't depend on the TV being on when starting to set the proper size.

Otherwise happy with the new setup. The responsiveness is MUCH better.

[white_haired_uncle]

If there are multiple things to record at the same time on the same RF channel, mythtv can record them using a single tuner (for ATSC1.0 in your case, not ATSC3.0, where it's really needed, last time I looked). This is known as multirec. There's a lot of info out there, most of it outdated, and I can't find the current at the moment.

Short answer: Things work differently today than they used to. Don't worry about why you had four before, you now can only configure two (one per tuner). One day, when you need to record multiple programs on a single channel, a new virtual tuner will magically appear.

[jimls]

Ok. Might try recording 3 things just to see how it works. I fixed the issue with the old tuners showing up. They didn't appear in the backend setup so I skipped the step of deleting all the tuners. Went back and did that and then added them and now that all looks good.

[white_haired_uncle]

Just to be clear, at least two of them will need to be on the same channel (channel in hdhomerun_config_gui, or frequency in myth channel editor).

[jimls]

Thanks. Yes, I understand that two need to be on the same channel and they are subchannels on the same transmission - just different data pulled out of the same data stream. I suppose I might be able to do more than 4 but there may be other limits. For example I have one local channel that has 5 subchannels. And others with 4. It might be possible to record all 9 channels at once with a dual tuner - not that I would ever have an actual use for that.

[biffhero]

If there are multiple things to record at the same time on the same RF channel, mythtv can record them using a single tuner (for ATSC1.0 in your case, not ATSC3.0, where it's really needed, last time I looked). This is known as multirec. There's a lot of info out there, most of it outdated, and I can't find the current at the moment.

Short answer: Things work differently today than they used to. Don't worry about why you had four before, you now can only configure two (one per tuner). One day, when you need to record multiple programs on a single channel, a new virtual tuner will magically appear.

This right here. "Things work differently today than they used to. Don't worry about why you had four before, you now can only configure two (one per tuner). One day, when you need to record multiple programs on a single channel, a new virtual tuner will magically appear." This explains _so much_ of my confusion from when I did an upgrade a month or so ago.

[gnurocks]

Hi,
not a job we do very often!
I did a v0.27 to v32 to new hardware last year and a v32 to 34 a month or so ago. This was how I did 0.27 to v32. I used xubuntu.

Get your new system running satisfactorily. Use a new hostname (mine were old='myth', new = 'myth2'). That way I could run both together on the same network.
Get utilities working (editors etc).

I installed mythtv with MCP. Check it records, plays back, gets program data etc and that you are happy with it. No rush over this part.

Put any utilities you may have had with the old system (eg system event scripts) in place. It helped that I had written a little utility to backup these to external media (NAS) and restore them complete with with right ownerships and permissions.

Delete all your test recordings.

Stop the backend and prevent it from restarting on reboot:

Code: Select all

sudo systemctl stop mythtv-backend.service
sudo systemctl disable mythtv-backend.service

Copy recordings across. (actually, I did a quick trial run with just a week's recordings, then repeated with all. Again, no rush over this!).
Copy your recent database backup across.

Restore database. Sample script:

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#!/bin/bash
FILENAME='mythconverg-1317-20221204224118.sql.gz'
sudo /usr/share/mythtv/mythconverg_restore.pl --drop_database --create_database –directory
/var/lib/mythtv/db_backups --filename $FILENAME

If backend hostname is different then also:

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sudo /usr/share/mythtv/mythconverg_restore.pl --change_hostname --old_hostname="myth" --new_hostname="myth2"

Note: the database password remains as created by MCP and found in config.xml files - it does not change and adopt that in the backup.

Run backend setup and allow it to upgrade schema from 0.27 to v33. May need a reboot or two.

Configure audio, capture cards, recording locations etc. retune it.

Restart backend and allow it to restart on reboot

Code: Select all

sudo systemctl start mythtv-backend.service
sudo systemctl enable mythtv-backend.service

run find_orphans
job done!

For the v32 to v34 upgrade I swapped out the small SSD with xubuntu, database etc for a new one (only £22) and mounted the big recordings disk so didn't need to change hostname or copy recordings - just database backups and odd utilities..

Hope it all goes smoothly. Please feed back for the benefit of other subscribers.
Phil

PhilB - Thanks for this post! I used your "checklist" and it made my migration to v33 that musch easier. Only "gothcha" for me was that I should have restored the database to a CLEAN install (per the wiki). I tried the first time to a fully setup system and it chocked. Thanks again for the post.