[mythtv] Video Conferencing Plugin

[Kent Williams]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Volkaerts [mailto:paul.volkaerts at lineone.net]
> Sent: Monday, 3 May 2004 8:38 AM
> To: Development of mythtv
> Subject: RE: [mythtv] Video Conferencing Plugin
> 
> > I'd love to see a SIP (or IAX2) compliant conference tool for Myth,
but
> > I really think that some of the more complex stuff (like voice rec
and
> > an interface to recording stuff, etc) may be overkill.  Most of the
> > required capabilities are already implemented in Asterisk (which
would
> > also give you the capability to interface it to a standard phoneline
as
> > well as IP phones).  Asterisk is a bit of overkill for a simple home
> > phone system, but it doesn't require a lot of resources (it could be
> > run on your Myth box), and it makes more sense than re-inventing the
> > wheel...
> 
> I don't know much about Asterisk; but I believe it is a PBX. If so,
then a
> SIP interface on Myth seems to be complimentary, since it can look
like a
> phone to Asterisk. And this way, the GUI is built as a Myth plugin.
But
> for
> people without Asterisk, you can stil make calls to other
Mythfrontends
> (either your own or across the Internet) without the need to load
Asterisk
> somewhere. And as for IAX - other people suggested this but I am dead
> against proprietary protocols.

I'd love to see a SIP client in Myth. At the moment I've got Asterisk
setup around the house with a connection to the PSTN. When someone calls
and we're watching tv, the callerid comes up on the screen, but it would
be even cooler if we could press a button on the remote to answer it :)
Perhaps this could be achieved without changing too much of the main
code base by using jump points?

It'd would be great if I could call up home when I'm out and about and
have Asterisk answer with an interactive voice menu as it does now
(press 1 to leave a message, etc), but with one of the options being
'press x for TV guide... and so on. Two obvious ways jump out at me as
to how this could be implemented. Firstly, it could be done through
Asterisk voice menus with festival and access to the myth database, or
alternatively mythbackend could answer sip calls and provide the tv
guide info itself. I guess the first would be easier to implement but
would then require asterisk.

...anyways, I think I'm starting to head off on a tangent here. Your
plugin looks great and I'm really looking forward to it!

Cheers,
-Kent