[mythtv] Automated Transcoding Suggestions

[Malc]

Geoffrey Hausheer wrote:

>On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 14:53:01 -0600, "Paul Thompson" said:
>  
>
>>I am going to come up with some way to flag associate certain Scheduled 
>>Recordings to be transcoded. I think it would be good to allow different 
>>transcoding profiles to be created that can be selected as the 
>>transcoding choice for a particular Scheduled Recording.
>>    
>>
>
>Something like this is already in the works.  For me to handle the MPEG2
>transcoding, it means having multiple transcoding profiles, and
>associating a specific one with a recording profile.  I don't plan to
>associate it on a per-recording basis though, I really see no point
>personally.
>
>  
>
>>Then I am going to hack some way together to cause this transcoding to 
>>occur. Again, I don't know exactly how I'll implement that.
>>    
>>
>
>If you do this, please make use of the transcoding thread.  Myth already
>supports doing automated transcoding, even if it's not with your tool of
>choice.  Adding an external transcoder, and associting it with a given
>transcoder profile would be a good solution.  If you don't want to remove
>the nuv, just delete the line from the transcoding table when done.
>
>  
>
>>The more I think about this, the more that I think I might just go ahead 
>>and hack at MythTV itself. Actually, the more I think about it, the more 
>>I think that this is a good replacement for the existing automatic 
>>transcoding capability, which could use improvement.
>>    
>>
>
>Well, the transcoder has been worked on by mostly one person...me.  It
>isn't a very widely used tool, and (honestly) I don't use most of the
>features that it has myself.  If you want to improve it, feel free, but
>please discuss it before putting together a huge patch.
>
>  
>
>>Anyhow, I will probably start work on this in the next week. I wanted to 
>>toss this out there on the list because:
>>
>>   1. I have heard lots of discussions related to this topic.
>>   2. I'd like to implement a genericly useful implementation
>>      (not just something that "works for me")
>>
>>    
>>
>
>If you go ahead, the things I'd like are:
>a) use the existing mythbackend transcoding thread to control the
>transcoding.  It should be easy enough to add support for calling an
>external transcoder.
>
>b) having user-definable transcoding profiles is something I already plan
>to do, so it's great if you go forward with it.  Make sure they can be
>associated with a given profile (rather than the crude autodetection
>method that we have today).  This should also pop open a dialog when 'X'
>is selected from the playback screen.  If you want them associated with a
>given recording, feel free.
>
>c) support for manual transcoding from mythweb.
>
>Now I'm not asking you to actually do any of the work.  I'm just telling
>you where I am planning to go in the future.  Honestly, I will have very
>little time for mythtv work until March, and most of what I'll be working
>on until then is improving the mpeg2 stuff, which means basically nil on
>the frontend/backend code.
>
As a fellow road warrior, this is where the effort should go. I think 
the approach should be:
 Link in the recorded program screen (Click to transcode -> Choose the 
format you would like (Choices as per nuvexport??) -> confirm.

The transcoding could then be scheduled as part the standard thread. I 
currently use nuvexport to transcode to DivX at about 1/2 resolution of 
 a DVB stream. This is ideal for watching on a laptop and about 300MB an 
hour (enough space in 2GB for a few evening progs to watch).

This means as a road warrior a quick session on the web to request 
recordings and setup transcodes to pick later would be excellent!

-malc-