Tvheadend

Builds for Lucid are there, so it's not immediately obvious to me why it's failing.

You could always download the deb directly:

http://apt.tvheadend.org/stable/pool/main/t/tvheadend/

... or build it from source, it's easy enough ...

... or manually add the repository to sources.list (or whatever the file is called, I forget for the moment).

Have you imported the key first, and is that correct?

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

I tried building from source, but I need to get a list of the dependencies. Can you show me where to find the list of dependencies that I need to install using apt-get?

If I download the deb file or a tar.gz file, I think that I'll still need the dependencies, right?

I did not import the key first. My assumption was that the key was a non-essential security measure. Was I wrong?

Thank you again for taking the time to help me.

No, import the key - you can theoretically install without it, but I believe it's good practice if not mandatory.

Dependencies... I'd compile it and see what the errors are :-)

This page gives some clues, though:

https://tvheadend.org/projects/tvheadend/wiki/Building

Personally, I'd build it as a package and install that way. It's safer.

... which takes us to simply downloading and installing the .deb directly. This bypasses the repository, so you won't get future updates - but it doesn't bypass the package manager. The .deb file contains all needed dependencies and dpkg should tell you what those are and go and get them for you. The .tar file is more likely to be a "just install this" method which would bypass the package manager (it depends on what's in the tarfile...) and yes, that could leave you missing something.

Again, thank you for taking the time to help me out. Most of my experience with Linux is on CentOS, and I've been fortunate enough to always get by using yum (which is CentOS's apt-get), so this is all a new experience for me.

Adding the key did not help. The repo still will not add using the apt-add-repository command. Do you know how I might report this to the developers?

I was ultimately able to get the repo working by doing the following:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and adding:

deb http://apt.tvheadend.org/stable lucid main

to the end of the file. This I updated apt-get:

sudo apt-get update

and then I installed TVHeadEnd.

sudo apt-get install tvheadend

Now, I'm not sure whether I added the repo correctly. I have no idea whether I also need a deb-src line, or what to include there, and I'm not positive whether "lucid main" should appear after the URL in the "deb" line. But, the install seemed to work, so I'm hopeful... Can you confirm that I did this correctly?

Well unfortunately, even after getting it installed, I'm running into major roadblocks.

Many of the pages and options just get stuck at loading. While the HDHomeRun device appears, there's no ability to enter the device ID (that field is read only). The documentation on the web-site seems out of date - many of the options referenced in the documentation don't exist on the web-interface and many of the options in the web interface aren't mentioned at all in the documentation.

If there are any developers out there who would like to work with me to get this working, I'd be happy to write up some comprehensive, updated documentation that can be posted to the Wiki. Please feel free to reply here or PM me.

I can't help with HDHomeRun, I'm afraid - there are numerous threads on that device, though, so maybe some searching will get you going. However, you're right with the repository, both the unnecessary deb-src and the lucid main bit.

Good luck.

Even setting aside the HD HomeRun, there are a bunch of screens that just don't work right. The "About" screen just shows "loading..." Many of the options in the other screens present similar "loading..." entries that eventually time out. As we've already noted, the repo won't add on Lucid (but it works on Precise no problem).

Documentation with open source projects is always an issue. The people who code are volunteering their time and often either don't want to spent it writing documentation or don't have the skills to do so. Even worse, as the project evolves, the documentation that is written becomes out of date. I'm a writer by trade (and have no experience coding) and have helped to update the documentation on a number of open source projects. So, if there are an devs on this project who want to contact me directly and help me get this working, I'd reciprocate by writing up documentation on the project reflecting my experiences..

It also seems that it might be wise to add direct support for HDHomeRun and other common cards, as MythTV has done..

Well, I managed to get it installed properly. Here's how:

Instructions tested on Ubuntu 10.04.4. The HDHomeRun Add-Ons DO NOT WORK on Ubuntu 12.04.3.

1. Install HDHomeRun Drivers:

sudo apt-get install hdhomerun-config hdhomerun-config-gui

2. Install HDHomeRun Add-Ons

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tfylliv/dvbhdhomerun
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dvbhdhomerun-dkms dvbhdhomerun-utils
sudo service dvbhdhomerun-utils start

3. Install TV HeadEnd:

sudo apt-add-repository http://apt.tvheadend.org/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tvheadend

(Note that currently the repo does not work, so do this instead):

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following line at the end of the file:

deb http://apt.tvheadend.org/stable lucid main

Then hit CTRL-X, and then Y to save and exit.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tvheadend

4. Restart TVHeadEnd

sudo service tvheadend restart

5. Access TVHeadEnd using a web browser:

http://IPADDRESS:9981

I'm now configuring. If I get everything working, I'll post a complete guide.

Thanks for your help. I've posted a complete set-up guide here:

https://tvheadend.org/boards/4/topics/10322