Does anyone have a DVD changer running through MythTV? Or any ideas on the subject? I'd liek to hook my new 300 disk DVD changer into my MythTV backend so it would be available anywhere in the house. It has two different inputs for "Mega Control" on the back (e-link and s-link I think?).

My idea was something along the lines of:

1. Run Mega Changer into dedicated tuner
2. Configure Myth to use the tuner only when selecting 'watch a move'?
3. Pass lirc codes from remote through Myth to DVD changer inputs, possibly RS-232 conversion of some sort?

I have no idea if it's even possible, but it would be very cool.

Thanks,
Gonz

Ironically, it was my ill-conceived purchase of a Sony 400 DVD changer that got me into Myth...

I bought a changer so I could get all my DVD boxes out of my house and stored out of sight. I wanted to be able to play my DVDs at will, but have a nice looking entertainment area without the clutter of boxes lying around. I didn't realize at the time that the changer was about 2 inches deeper than my nice furniture entertainment center!

I "auditioned" the Sony player for a couple of days, to decide if it was worth taking a jigsaw to the back of my entertainment center to make it fit. It didn't take long to me to decide it wasn't worth it. The Sony was nice, but it didn't read titles from most DVDs, meaning I'd have to enter them myself with a keyboard. But if something happened, it could wipe out all the titles and there was NO WAY to preserve them and load them back in. Back to BestBuy it went.

Then I thought, "why not record all my DVDs to a hard disk and make a 'changer' from a dedicated computer and a large disk?" I went looking for such a beast, and found Myth. Now, I can't tell you exactly what I did to make Myth record all my DVDs. The MPAA wants to make me a criminal for recording MY OWN DAMN DVDs on to a hard disk for more convenient viewing. In deference to the legal hassles, we all agree not to discuss these techniques in public US based forums.

Even without converting the movies to mpeg4, I can store about 100 movies in a 300G hard disk. If I transcode I can triple that number. I can view the movies anywhere I have a frontend, and two different TVs can watch two different movies simultaneously. It's a much better solution to the changer dilemma!

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Yeah, there's always that route. I just didn't want to go through converting everything to 'another format'. Not to mention losing all the extra features and whatnot. Also, I got the changer for $75 so I couldn't pass it up.

I guess it's probably more trouble than it's worth to try to get the changer hooked up to Myth. I was just fishing to see if anyone else had tried it before I gave up entirely on the idea.

Thanks,
Gonz

Had I found a 300 DVD changer, I might not have discovered Myth. It is just slightly smaller than the 400 changer, and probably would have fit into my entertainment center. Thus, I would not have had the motivation to solve my problem another way -- with KnoppMyth.

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Then probably a good thing you didn't.

As for my original problem of how to control the unit, I think I have a simple solution. The remotes I use will talk to an RF receiver (which I threw in the closet thinking I'd never use it). I can run that to the changer and then any remote in the house will control it. The only thing I need to figure out now is how to make a MythTV frontend pick a specific tuner to watch. If I can get that part sorted out I think I'm golden.

Gonz