[mythtv] Roku, mythtv integration, mvpmc

Kevin Elliott kevin at phunc.com
Wed Jan 26 02:27:09 EST 2005


-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-dev-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-dev-bounces at mythtv.org]
On Behalf Of David Shay
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 7:26 AM
To: mythtv-dev at mythtv.org
Subject: [mythtv] Roku, mythtv integration, mvpmc

Development team,

I just recently found a product called Roku HD1000
(http://www.rokulabs.com/products/hd1000/index.php), and generated some
traffic on the mailing lists about.  I am just stepping into HDTV, and just
bought a PCHDTV 3000 and am getting it configured.  The Roku seems highly
extensible with it's SDK.  I will probably buy one soon, with the goal of
getting some level of integration with Myth.  It was clear that the team
wasn't very happy with the way that the mvpmc group/project was working, and
I was wondering if the group was open to starting a new initiative to work
with the Roku stuff.  If so, how would you recommend proceeding?  I just
wanted to start off on the right foot.

Thanks

----------------

David,

When progressing with this, keep in mind that the Roku HD1000 only supports
MPEG-2 TS streams. More or less, it should be able to stream most of the
content MythTV records, although you'll need to strip the NUV header more
than likely. The videolan client (vlc) has been able to stream to the
HD1000. I understand that MPEG-4 support is underway, but according to some,
the HD1000 might not have the hardware power to decode it in real time,
which could really make it unusable.

So yes, recorded content should play fine, but local video files (divx,
mpeg-4, and not-so-properly-formatted-mpeg2 can not successfully be decoded
by it.

How you will have the Roku HD1000 be controlled is another issue. I am not
aware of a perfect solution for this yet. There is serial and telnet control
ability for this device, but I don't know if you can tell it to load a
stream at a particular URI as of yet. For example, how do you want to
control it? You might want to be able to use the Roku remote to search,
browse, and list content (this would require creating a new protocol to talk
to MythTV (perhaps adding uPNP AV to MythTV to make it look like a device,
or by writing a custom protocol to fetch content listings from MythTV to be
displayed on a Roku UI application). Or perhaps you want to stay within the
MythTV menu system, select your content there, and have it trigger the Roku
to stream content (somehow) off the MythTV content server. You would also
have to tell your receiver or your HDTV to change to the proper input to
display and hear the Roku HD1000. Either way, it looks like a fair amount of
work.

Roku Labs intends on completing the uPNP AV stack on all of their devices,
but as of now, you can't use it to list content it sees, you can just
control basic functionality. For example, with the Roku M500/M1000/M2000
devices, you can tell it to PLAY, PAUSE, SKIP FORWARD, etc. But you can not
tell it to play a specific song.

Let me know if I can be of assistance when you start working on this.

Kevin

Kevin Elliott
kevin at phunc.com
http://www.kevinelliott.net/





More information about the mythtv-dev mailing list