[mythtv-users] Understanding the ringbuffer file.

[tufkal]

In my research into providing an easy way to stream live TV content from 
a Myth box over a network I have come to a few conclusions.

-Using nuvexport and/or DSmyth (or just transcoding on the backend) it 
is very easy to work with recorded programs.  There is alot of 
documentation on this.  None of it is helpful when referring to LiveTV.

-Using DSmyth you can turn Windows Media Player into a dumb Myth 
frontend, that shows a LiveTV stream, but requires a tuner input and 
backend power, as it is a frontend connection.  It is not efficient to 
have a tuner input and CPU cycles per user watching the same thing. 

-If you have a MPEG2 encoding card (PVR-x50) the buffer file is a 
standard MPEG2 file not RTJpeg in a Nuppel container and thus, this 
entire process is ALOT more academic. (Confirm/Deny?)

-VLC seems to be the easiest answer with its ability to stream via 
mms/http/rtsp whatever it is playing.  VLC is the principal tool used in 
the hard to configure mythstream plugin.  The trick is to get VLC to 
play the ringbuf1.nuv file.  First you have to get VLC to decode the 
video properly, and then handle the buffer changes.  At this point, 
anyone on the network could tune in and get a stream of whatever that 
tuner card is watching (which is what I am aiming for).

Which leads to the next point.

-The ability to read the ringbuffer file after a channel change or when 
the buffer reaches its size limit, is something I have not been able to 
accomplish.  mythfrontend has no problem obviously, I guess I just do 
not understand the buffer process.