                                   MythTV 
			        Release 0.21

BUILD/CONFIGURATION INSTRUCTIONS 
--------------------------------

The following is a list of some of the prerequisites you will need installed:

   libttf - Freetype 2 is now required (it used to only be able to use 
            freetype 1).  I _think_ any release will work, but I'm using 2.1.2.
            This is used for the on-screen display.  Get it from your distro, 
            or from http://freetype.sf.net

   libmp3lame - The shared library for the LAME mp3 encoder.  This might become
                optional in the future, or I may switch to vorbis if they speed
                optimize things a little more.  Compressing the audio's not
                _really_ necessary, it just saves 500 or so MB per hour of 
                recording.  You'll probably have to compile this one yourself,
                so get it from http://www.mp3dev.org/ (follow the using Lame
                link).

   QT - Version 3.1 or greater is strongly recommended.  You need it 
        compiled threadsafe and with the MySQL bindings.  I'm using 
        version 3.1.1.  http://www.trolltech.com
        NOTE: MythTV is not compatible with QT v4.0 or above.

   MySQL - You need this setup and working.  A recent version, I think, would
           be best.  I don't know, though, I'm utterly new to it.  Get it from
           your distro, or from http://www.mysql.com

   XMLTV - If you are outside of North America, you will need to install the
           latest version (0.5.42 as of 2006-01-08).  This will do the work
           of actually grabbing the program information. Get it from
           http://xmltv.sf.net

           If XMLTV does not have a grabber for your country, then you need
           some sort of listings grabber and will need to run the
           mythfilldatabase program in --manual mode.

           If you are in North America, you do not need XMLTV.  MythTV has
           a built-in grabber which uses Zap2It as a data source.  See the
           HOWTO for complete instructions on configuring an account.

See the mythtv-HOWTO.html, .pdf or .txt file in the docs/ subdirectory or on
http://www.mythtv.org/docs/ for in-depth instructions on installing and
compiling MythTV and all of the pre-requisites.  It has instructions for
various Linux distributions.

If you are using a framegrabber card (as opposed to a hardware MPEG-2
capture card) you also need v4l setup and working properly.  If xawtv works
(in grabdisplay mode and with xv), this should, too.

Hardware wise, you need a computer.  Really.  Helps to have a fast one, too.
You also need a video card with working Xv support (to scale and convert
colorspaces), and a capture card.  If you're using ALSA for sound support
(which _is_ the recommended thing to do), you should be using at least
version 0.9.

See the UPGRADING file for information on upgrading between releases.

Compiling and setup instructions are all in the documentation in the docs/
subdir (or at http://www.mythtv.org/docs/ ) these days.  Read those carefully.

keys.txt has a listing of all the various default key bindings.  All
keybindings can be changed via MythWeb.

If you want to check out the theme format, and perhaps make your own, just
look at the .xml files in the /usr/local/share/mythtv/themes/[themename]
subdirs.

Feel free to subscribe to the development mailing list at:
http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev

A users list exists as well, subscribe at:
http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

A list that's restricted to the SVN commit messages is available at:
http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-commits

or, just email me directly:  Isaac Richards <ijr@po.cwru.edu>
