[mythtv] Another promising output option

[Dennis Cartier]

Hello All,

I saw mention of this neat new device, MediaMVP, from Hauppauge in a 
thread on the users list, and I was wondering if anyone has any plans to 
add support into Myth for it?

http://www.hauppauge.com/html/mediamvp_datasheet.htm

After researching it for a few days, I think it may be a very promising 
option to allow for adding extra remote displays. Not quite a frontend, 
more like a splitend.

My idea is to write a server for it that would be a variation on the 
current frontend and would act as the server for the MediaMVP. It would 
have to produce the Myth display and OSD, and act as a proxy between the 
backend and the MediaMVP to stream the MPEG/MP3 data. For me, I would 
think that running the splitend on one of my backend's that contains my 
PVR-250's would be the best bet. It should be able to support most of 
the Myth modules that are currently available (to varying degrees).

The particulars of the MediaMVP are:

- Linux based
- uses the IBM PPC405 Set Top Box system on a chip
- has a hardware based MPEG decoder
- includes an infrared remote
- 100 mbit ethernet support
- very inexpensive $80 - $100 each!
- uses a modified VNC protocol as for the Framebuffer and keystrokes
- is able to accept an MPEG stream over the network and decode it locally
- much of the protocol has already been reverse engineered. See: 
http://www.shspvr.com/forum/
- equivalent of a remote PVR-350, but only for decoding and TV-Out
- a Linux server for VDR already exists. Could highlight how things work.

I am willing to help with this undertaking as I think it will benefit 
the Myth community, but I am not very experienced in C++, and would need 
a more experienced developer to take the lead. Any interest?

Dennis Cartier