The Panasonic TX-40DX700B is a 40" 4K/HDR LED smart TV which includes a DLNA client.
This blog describes a configuration which includes the TV as a renderer and a Raspberry Pi 2 running a UPNP/DLNA media server.
Having received the Panasonic TV, the aim was to replace an HTPC sitting under our old TV with something more minimal while retaining the ability to record programmes using Mythtv and stream them to the TV. While this works well, it is probably a temporary configuration because an HTPC with mythtv's full functionality provides much greater flexibility than a Smart TV with DLNA.
The TV tuner is a PCTV 290e HD USB tuner which is supported in the Linux kernel. This is connected to a Raspberry Pi 2 running a mythtv backend (v.0.28). Raspbian Jessie is installed on the Pi 2.
Jessie includes mythtv-light which provides the frontend for mythtv. There are instructions here on how to install and configure it. Debian Jessie does not include the packages for the mythtv backend. It is necessary to add a backports repository to /etc/apt/sources.list e.g.:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main
A useful way to sort out the dependencies for the mythtv backend on the Pi2 is to install Synaptic and then install these run-time dependencies (as described here):
mysql-server-5.6 ntp libicu55 libqt5sql5-mysql mysql-client-5.6
I assume that most if not all the other dependencies for the backend must have been installed by the mythtv-light package. I couldn't find libicu55 in backports and libicu52 is running on the backend. I have not yet had any issues using this earlier version of libicu.
The Pi 2 has to be overlocked in raspi-config in order to receive HD television broadcasts via the PCTV tuner otherwise fast-moving video will be pixellated.
In this configuration, TV broadcasts are stored on a remote PC running Gentoo and a Mythtv frontend. Having installed a mythtv backend on the Pi 2, it automatically runs a UPNP server. As noted in the v.028 release notes DLNA compliance is improved in this version of Mythtv.
The Mythtv DLNA server can be accessed via the Devices menu on the Panasonic TX-40DX700B. The Mythtv UPNP server displays the friendly file name and includes menus by channel, recording time etc. A minidlna server is more convenient for videos if you have them arranged in folders because minidlna preserves the folder list whereas Mythtv displays all videos in a single list.
I am not transcoding any of the recordings on Mythtv and it is useful that the Panasonic TV can handle Mythtv's native recording format. Many but not all videos stored in my Mythtv videos directory also played on the TV with navigation including videos in .avi, .mpg and .mp4 format. As expected, not everything was compatible with the TV's DLNA client and some transcoding will be necessary.
For users of Mythtv, my recommendation would (if possible) be to retain the use of the Mythtv frontend rather than to rely entirely on a smart TV. Mythtv accepts a huge range of formats and I find the menus a bit less clunky than the DLNA interface. However there is additional cost involved in having two video renderers feeding the same display device. The costs could be kept to a minimum by using a single board computer for the frontend, perhaps dedicated to it. In my experience, the Pi isn't powerful enough to run a frontend and backend at the same time although it does an amazing job of running the backend which I can access and configure remotely. It is also possible to standard definition live TV on the remote frontend, HD is a bit laggy using this configuration. I have yet to try the Pi 3but this is an obvious candidate for a mythtv frontend or backend.
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