[mythtv] New Protocol Development

[Marc Randolph]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Simon Kenyon <simon at koala.ie> wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-09-23 at 13:12 +1000, Glenn wrote:
>
>> - Upnp has been worked on, but is simply too 'heavy' to be used as the
>> primary protocol, so will likely remain as an 'extra' protocol
>> - XML-based protocols or similar are likely to also be too 'heavy', and
>> parsing will therefore be too CPU intensive for low power systems and so
>> on. New protocol must be easy on the processor!
>
> it cannot be that it is too hard to implement as it already is used by
> myth
> or that it consumes too much bandwidth becuase it is an XML based design
>
> so i'm curious why a standard, documented protocol is "too heavy"?

I find myself wondering that too.  Could myth protocol use UPnP or XML
for everything except the parts that cause the highest CPU load and/or
bandwidth?  Or how about enhancing Mythweb (random idea: use AJAX?)
and make the front-end interact as if it were a web browser?

>> - The protocol doesn't use any authentication

At the risk of throwing ideas in too soon, hopefully any
authentication would allow for multiple simultaneous users, as well as
allow for restricting access/permissions for each of those users (not
only restrict which menus, but also which groups of shows are allowed
or disallowed).

Looking around, perhaps DPWS
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devices_Profile_for_Web_Services) could
be used?

   Marc