[mythtv-users] IPad and mythtv.

[Raymond Wagner]

On 5/27/2010 08:33, Phil Linttell wrote:
> Maybe what mythtv needs is a streaming plug-in that can be configured to
> do on-the-fly transcoding according to different mobile device screen
> resolutions, available bandwidth, and codec support (and potentially
> control protocols.)

The backend does not support plugins, only the frontend.  While there 
has been some discussion of duplicating the plugin code into the 
backend, such live transcoding (to something other than nupplevideo) 
would ideally be integrated into the backend.  Have some generic method 
that could be used in the backend, and proxied through MythProto, UPnP, 
MythWeb, or anything else you wanted.

> There's a whole variety of mobile devices and
> embedded TV front-ends these days, and it's simply not practical to do
> static transcoding of all recorded content to each potential target.
>    

Why not?  iPods, phones, PSPs, are all going to have similar 
capabilities in terms of their hardware decoders (and none in terms of 
software decoders).  TVs are likely able to playback anything you record 
directly.  That means its a single transcode to support most devices 
available.  A near term plan for MythTV by one of the devs is to rework 
the storage of recordings, to allow multiple files to be stored against 
a single recording.  This would significantly improve management of 
multiple transcodes.