[mythtv] [Philosophical Discussion] VCDX patch for MythDVD

[Mark J. Titorenko]

On Tue, Aug 26, 2003 at 02:49:16AM -0400, thor wrote:
> On Monday 25 August 2003 05:49 pm, Mark Edwards wrote:
> 
> > 1. Should VCDX go in MythDVD or MythVideo? ( This was an easy one )
> > 2. If a user has only a single DVD drive, but still wants to play VCD's,
> > why do they need two buttons to push? The answer to this question is that I
> > havn't quite figured out how to do an 'autodetect' of the optical media
> 
> 	I haven't figured it out either, at least not yet. But it can't be that hard 
> (Windows seems to be reasonably good at it). 

I imagine Windoze simply checks the directory structure on the disc to
figure out what variety of media is present.  CDs (and HD
directories/image files, although that's not so important in this
case) can contain DVD data too, so perhaps the method of detection
should be:

- mount the disc
- if we can't mount it, then try detection of:
  (a) audio cd
  (b) something else (ie. put more detection heuristics in here for
  proprietary non-mountable discs)
- otherwise, try detection of directory structure [case-insensitive]:
  (a) /video_ts/video_ts.vob || /video_ts.vob -> DVD
  (b) /vcd/entries.vcd -> VCD
  (c) something else (ie. put more detection heuristics in here for
  proprietary mountable discs)

For (c), things that immediately come to mind are:

- look for .avi/.mpg [video] files in / -> (simple) video archive disc
- disc-wide search for .avi/.mpg [video] files -> video disc with some
  structure
- look for .jpg [image] files in / -> (simple) photo archive disc
- look for .jpg [image] files disc-wide -> structured photo archive disc
- look for .mp3/.ogg [audio] files in / -> (simple) audio archive disc
- look for .mp3/.ogg [audio] files disc-wide -> audio disc with some
  structure
- hybrids of the above

I guess that the directory structure heuristics could actually be
applied to arbitrary directories - network mounts could be treated
removable media...?

[Personally, I'd also like something that looked for a /disc.xml file
which is a descriptor file I put on my archive discs, which uses a
totally invented proprietary schema.]

> > MythDVD that you had intended? This would of course mean that MythDVD
> > doesn't really become MythDVD anymore, but
> > MythPLAY-OR-RIP-ANY-FILE-ON-REMOVBLE-MEDIA, which isn't really a viable
> > descriptor, but would perhaps be slightly more accurate....
> 
> 	I'm kind of inclined to think that MythDVD should try and keep dealing with 
> DVD's, whereas mythVideo (which is almost a file browser already), should be 
> the thing that lets you play arbitrary content. 
>
> 	In an ideal world, the mtd (which is already monitoring the dvd drive), 
> should be polling removable media and (if the user configures it), should 
> fire up mythDVD on DVD insertion and mythVideo on XVCD/avi files insertion 
> (and MythMusic on Music CD insertion). 

I also think that if the user hasn't configured it, they should be
able to trigger a similar action for "playing" the disc in a
straightforward way at any point after they've inserted it - something
like a "MythDisc" module at the main menu which offers information
about the disc(s?) that is currently inserted and possible ways of
displaying/playing the data it contains (MythDVD/MythVideo/MythMusic/
MythGallery).
 
> 	I'm going to making some alterations to the mtd over the next couple of weeks 
> in any case (music cd ripping, possibly some burning stuff) so I'll try and 
> come up with a coherent polling strategy.

With regard to the burning stuff, I've been thinking about a module
that would allow users to "archive" content to CD-R(W)/DVD(+)-R(W)
(mmm, brackets ;-)), to include things that have been ripped in Myth*,
TV recordings (perhaps transcoded) and arbitrary files.  Its working
title is "MythArchive". ;-)

I thought it would be nice for it to write some metadata to the disc
too, similar to the "disc.xml" file I currently use.  This would allow
for easy content type detection using a single heuristic that reads
and trusts the disc.xml file.

Discs could also be allocated "catalogue numbers" and what has been
archived where could be maintained in the myth db.  So later on, when
you again want to watch that fantastic episode of The Simpsons that
you recorded and archived 6 months ago, you could easily locate it
using MythArchive.

> > Havn't really trawled the code to see if this is being
> > done, but it seems logical from a usability perspective. This is already a
> > function of MythVideo. With the only perceivable difference between MythDVD
> > and MythVideo (from a playing perspective) being the media where the video
> > is actually stored, do you perhaps see a merging of MythDVD and MythVideo
> > functionality anywhere on the horizon?
> 
> 	Hey, as far as I'm concerned I'd like to see one playing screen (recorded 
> television, music, videos, etc.). It 's all content, it has metadata, and we 
> can organize it into any logical tree/view the user wants. But that's a ways 
> down the road I think.  =)

Hehe, that sounds cool! :-) The "MythDisc" functionality could be
replaced by a top-level item in the tree/view that represents the
removable media, rather than fixed internal storage, but I invisage
that the next levels of the tree/view would be similar. Perhaps there
could also be an option for "absorbing" the content of the removable
media into the content tree/view and having the items that are on the
removable storage flagged on the interface with a little disc icon or
something.

Anyway, I'm just rambling now, so I'll stop. =]

Cheers,

Mark.