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#373 Featurerequest: Add VDR support
open
nobody
5
2004-01-14
2004-01-14
No
Has anyone planned to add SVDRP (telnet based text
protocol for controlling VDR http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/
) support to tvtime? There is such feature in xawtv and
zapping, but xawtv is ugly and zapping has some nasty
longstanding bugs. Tvtime + VDR would make a sweet
digital TV couple.
XawTV VDR support patch is in the main xawtv source.
(see commands.c and Xawtv.ad).
The idea was first proposed here
http://linvdr.org/mailinglists/vdr/2002/06/msg00915.html
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This is a pretty reasonable idea, but I would not feel
comfortable implementing it myself unless someone with a DVB
card was right there with me on IRC. Patches appreciated,
of course.
I am not entirely sure how to do this in the context of
tvtime either, really. Easiest would be to maybe have a new
command to send whatever its arugment is over the VDR
socket? I'm not sure how best to do this...
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I can do the testing.
There can be a command and an xml config file to list the
shortcuts. I can fill it in with suitable shortcuts. It also
means that Space, Backspace, Enter F1-4, arrow keys and
numeric keypad have to be used for VDR while VDR is active
It would be nice to have VDR as a special channel in tvtime,
like TV's "AV" mode. It would require ability to switch
/dev/video* devices at run-time, though. Alternatively it
can be a special mode selected by a command line option.
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OK, I thought I understood what this feature request was
about, but when you talk about "while VDR is active" and
switching devices at runtime, I totally do not understand
what you are talking about.
Can you please explain what VDR is (in your own words) and
what it means to control it ;-)
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VDR is a software equivalent of a set-top-box. It lets you
watch, record and pause digital TV and has some high-end
grade functionality like burning DVDs and ad cutting.
Tvtime alone emulates a TV sat. Tvtime with VDR is like a TV
with set-top-box and a video recorder.
Controlling VDR means passing user input from tvtime to VDR
via SVDRP requests. It has an effect of calling and
navigating VDR's OSD by keyboard while tvtime window has
focus. All audio and video output is through tvtime.
I have both an analog FlyVideo98 tuner and a Skystar 1 DVB
card. Analog TV comes from /dev/video0, digital TV from
/dev/video1. I want to use and control both video sources
from the same program. Usually a real TV sat has several
tunable channels and an AV non-tunable channel. Emulating
this would fit perfectly with the idea of emulating TV but
switching between DVB or "AV" and analog TV would require
runtime device switching. It this is not possible there
needs to be a way to tell tvtime that we want VDR.
VDR's OSD is navigated by keyboard or IR remote (which I do
not have). Passing keyboard input to VDR means that tvtime's
own keys have to be disabled. This is what I call the "VDR
mode".
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Does VDR have its own window for its OSD, or does VDR's OSD
somehow appear in tvtime (how?). I don't understand where
my keystrokes would be going. Can you explain the data flow
a bit better?
Present situation. Tvtime cannot interact with VDR
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I shall post two pictures explaining how it works now and
how it should.
While tvtime is controlling VDR, tvtime's own hardcoded hotkeys
have to be disabled to avoid interference and replaced by
hotkeys meant for VDR. This mode can be activated by command
line option or (hope it is possible) at runtime by a special
hotkey and option in tvtime's UI. Initialising involves
establishing a telnet connection to the SVDRP port (only
possible while VDR daemon is running), switching to the DVB
videodevice and turning off interfering tvtime's hotkeys.
Future: Tvtime is able to control VDR
A flowchart showing how digital and analog TV can be merged in tvtime
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OK, the images you posted help explain what you mean. So
first off, the issue you have with switching between
multiple capture cards, that's tricky, and I would consider
that separate to this VDR feature. It won't be easy to do,
but it's something which would be nice in other situations
too, like if you have one capture card without a tuner, but
with S-Video input, and another with a tuner (I have that here).
Regarding VDR control, can you describe the user experience
a little more? What hotkey would you use to enter 'VDR
mode', and what key would return to tvtime? Also, how do
you think we would handle mouse input, or would this feature
be keyboard-only?