[mythtv] DVB Support suggested Roadmap

ramon.roca at xcombo.com ramon.roca at xcombo.com
Sun Apr 20 14:28:15 EDT 2003


Well, first of all thanks to all who replied my previous post, so I really feel that there is interest on that.
I have the needed hardware: a Pinnacle PCTV Pro for analog TV and a Hauppauge WinTV Nexus DVB-s, working with v4l (analog at /dev/video0 and DVT at /dev/video1) and although I'm still a newbie on all of this, I think that somhow I can contribute. So let's go for it.

Thinking on the the streamed MPEG2, yes, the PVR support is the first step to allow the DVB input, however, besides of the mpeg2 stream and channel tuning, I think that a few other things should be considered for a good DVB support: 
    Multiple audio PID for choosing the desired language
    AC3 Dolby digital
    Subtitles
    DVB on-board tv-out (best quality for digital tv)
    Hawrdware mpeg decompression for full featured DVB cards.
    Ci-cam support for scrambled tv providers
    Grab on-air EPG information
    (...)
All those things are already supported fairly well within the vdr project, vdr works also in a very similar way as mythtv backend does: runs as a daemon and can receive orders through the SVDRP from a remote console. So what I am pointing is that perhaps better than constructing a complete new story for mythtv, maybe the best is to link both projects.

In the meantime point that I've tried to add my DVB card as a 2nd v4l device at mythtv, with an script that uses stune for channel switching with no success... yet.

So considering all of this (as well as my current knowledge) my two cents with the following suggested Roadmap:

1.-"Plugin" DVB support. For those who are impatients (like me). Using vdr as a daemon, with no keyboard or lirc support, add a menu or button to mythtv frontend that executes a pathced kvdr player that reads lirc and keyboard commands in the way that mythtv does. So that will provide integration with full featured DVB within mythtv frontend. I think that I can do this within a few days and then enjoy it shortly.

2.-Player merging. As soon as we know exactly which changes have to be done at the mythtv player for supporting DVB input, we can make those changes and therefore enjoy DVB from a single player. The player can still communicate with the vdr daemon through svdrp for all the digital features that I have mentioned before. No more patched kvdr is needed here and all the features can be available from the same player. That will result that DVB can be a fully 2nd videosource with mythtv so then enjoy the PiP, etc.

3.-Backend merge. If it makes sense, merge all videosources from a single backend.

Simultaneously to all of this, a few other things must be adressed: Convergence of EPG's, ability to jointly play/browse/program recordings from both sources together...

Comments welcome again. If the people do agree with this roadmap, I can start providing the DVB "plugin".

By the way, do the mythtv developers think that something like this can be done within the mythtv project or should we start another one based on it?

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