feature discussion - vdr-client

[kdeiss]

Would this work ?

grab vido output from /dev/dvb/adapterX/video0 and send this to the mvp (instead of  a selected channel) this stream contains also osd output (like fbtv does).
In this mode all commands frome mvp's remote-control are send directly  to the vomp-plugin, the vomp-plugin controls the vdr  like the control-plugin does. Would be a perfect  vdr client , with all features of the vdr : mp3, define recordings, create dvd all you can do with the vdr menu.

Would only work with ff-cards....

klaus

[AronSira]

Hi Klaus,

.. this is also the most valuable feature for me.
Something like the ffnet approach would make VOMP immediately to the number one streamdevclient for VDR.
The menu then would look like:
TV
Radio
..
Server

By having this possibility, it should be possible to use all the features of a VDR with an FF device and having automatically all the features of the main VDR on the client (osd, timers, epg, mplayer, teletext, cutting, burning, livebuffer, weather, mp3 ...), but even if you have no FF it should act like the server VDR.

ffnet tries to divide the work into two parts: one part ist for OSD and remoting by using the vnc protocol (it transports the commands and the osd by using a specific port), while the other part has to transport the actual outputstream of the vdr by using another port.

So while standard TV menu entry takes the stream in the background (as Radio etc.), the Server option should take the actual output of the first device on the vdr (while possibly disturbing other users of main VDR).

Do you know whether osd is part of the stream ?
I think it is not part of the stream and must be handled separately (as ffnet does).
What about the possibilities of osd on mediamvp ?

Robert

[kdeiss]

I also thought about vdr's without ff cards. (even more important cause chris is using only passive adpters in his vdr.....).

But I think this would make the job very diffficult. I thought about a very very simple solution. With ff-cards you have access to that device (for example vdradmin, fbtv, xawtv etc), and inside is the osd. In client mode the mvp would display this stream. 

On the other hand all commands from the remote-control are send to the vdr - at first moment we could use the existing control-plugin and telneting this plugin - only for testing purpose.

What I don't know: Could data from one of this devices  (/dev/video or /dev/dvb/adapterX/video0) be transported from the vomp-plugin like a "normal" recording or livestream??

Would be so great: An horrible loud but fat and fast linux-server downstairs - small and tiny clients in the livingromm, acting like the original ........

But perhaps I kneed to more about ffnet - could you provide some infos ?

Klaus

[AronSira]

Hi,

.. the homepage of the author is http://nano.gmxhome.de/ffnetdev/.
It's goal was just this: allowing easy connection of streaming clients.
It is in an early stage and has some problems right now (users are reporting picture disruptions and they believe its the pes2ts code).
More info about his plugin is available at http://www.vdrportal.de - but it's in german. The sample client currently is a dreambox 5620. The code is somewhere available at this board.

Do you think it might be a problem having diffenent clients all trying to remote the vdr the same time ? Isn't there just one "Adapter Live" stream for a vdr (the primary device) ?

Robert

[kdeiss]

thank you

yes sounds very interesting. To use this it would be necessary to write something like a vnc-viewer and overlay  the video output on the mvp. Not even done in some hours, but would be a universal solution. 

Isn't something like a vnc-client part of the mediamvp project ?

Klaus

[AronSira]

Hi,

..today I took a very short look at the mvpmc project and I think I have read something about a vnc client ?

The client code for the dreambox is available - but do you know the possibilities of OSD on the mvp ?

Robert

[kdeiss]

Before I found the vomp server I played around something with the mediamvp project. They are using the Nano-x (microwindows) for osd output. One of the biggest advantages of this project is that the use a cross-compiling system. You can compile and run the prog for the mvp also under X11, so it is very easy to modify and debug the prog.

The problem (for us) of this project is that they don't support the vdr, there main-target is the MythTV, I was only able to play some media-files (with nfs mounted vdr).

A vnc-client is part of the samples comming with the microwindows system, this could perhaps be a bridge to the ffnet-plugin. It's a bit tricky to compile it for the ppc-target, (normally if you choose ppc as target compiling of the microwindows samples fails) but I was was able to compile some of these samples with modified make files. After that you can run the binaries inside the mvp but the remote control is acting as a keyboard and it is nearly  impossible to use the programs. But I didn't try that with the vnc-client.

Perhaps you can try this way, implementation into vomp would be very easy.
We run vomp not directly from /etc/rcS, instead we run a shell script. Inside this script we have all vars we need to run the vnc-client (ip-adress of vdr-server running vomp-plugin and ffnet). Your new "Server" Button could exit vomp with a specific exit-code, if the shell script finds that exit-code you run the vnc-client, after exiting this (how to exit the vnc-client???) vomp again.

These would bring a full-featured vdr-osd to the mvp, but no video and no audio. But for testing the ffnet-plugin this could be usefull.

If you need some help to set up the cross-compiler enviroment (you need at least gcc 3.3.3 with uClibC for ppc)  please ask.



Klaus

[kdeiss]

I've just compiled the vnc-viewerfrom the nano-x project (target x-windows) and wanted to try it out.

But hell: the ffnet plugin is only available for vdr > 1.3.18. And for this version I don't have anything..........


Klaus

[kdeiss]

It is possible to test this mechanism.

For Debian Users:

Add this lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sarge main
deb-src http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/debian sarge main

Install the videolan client

apt-get install vlc

Run the videolan client

vlc -vvv v4l:/dev/video0:norm=pal:channel=0:size=360x278 --sout '#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=512}:standard{access=http,mux=ts,url=192.168.1.228:1234}'

You can test it (for example install the vlc for windowz) and run it with http://192.168.1.228:1234

You can see the live-picture with osd ! cpu usage: about 25% on epia M10000

The problem: the remote control acts a bit slow, because the encoding needs some time, so it needs up to 2 seconds you will see changes on the osd....

Don't know if this is acceptable.

Klaus

[Wesie]

Nice to have :

To stream a VCD,SVCD or DVD over the MVP
( if the necessarry plugins also included in the VDR )

[Hoochster]

I too would love to see this, but am a patient man!   Some sort of softdevice output or as mentioned a vlc client or whatever. 

So is Klaus the real Klaus?  If so very nice to see your interest in the project!