[mythtv-users] Vintage TV - a UK Freeivew/Data Channel and MythTV

[John Pilkington]

On 05/01/15 23:49, Paul Harrison wrote:
>
> On 05/01/15 13:19, Another Sillyname wrote:
>> I think they're streamed sort of in the clear (in the same way that
>> BBC uses DRM but in the clear), but am not certain.
>>
>> Certainly the Subscription channels are DRM protected.
>>
>> On 5 January 2015 at 11:43, Mike Perkins
>> <mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk> wrote:
>>> On 05/01/15 10:40, Charlie Myth wrote:
>>>> Hello there
>>>>
>>>> I have been trying to access Vintage TV on MythTV via Freeview with no
>>>> success; Vintage TV is available in the UK as Freeview channel 242
>>>> (amongst
>>>> other mechanisms), but requires Freeview HD (which I have via a
>>>> (usb) PCTV
>>>> nanoStick T2 290e) and a data connection as it is a streamed channel?.
>>>> Some
>>>> set top boxes and TVs are compatible others are not (
>>>> http://www.vintage.tv/news/26/).
>>>>
>>>> Myth knows about channel 242, but I just get a blank screen when I
>>>> attempt
>>>> to watch it (I can provide further details like logs and MythTV
>>>> versions
>>>> (0.27) when I am not at work). Before delving into the detail of
>>>> logs etc,
>>>> however, I would like to ask if the fact that Vintage TV is a streaming
>>>> service mean that it is simply not going to work with MythTV or am I
>>>> just
>>>> missing something obvious.
>>>>
>>> If it is a streamed channel, I'm guessing that it doesn't come over the
>>> airwaves but through your internet connection.
>>>
>>> All the channel 242 stuff probably does is provide a suitably
>>> obscured URL
>>> for the "smart" TV or STB to be able to go and find the content - and
>>> possibly provide a DRM key to enable the box to decode the stream
>>> when it
>>> arrives.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Mike Perkins
>>>
>>>
>
> I assume they are using MHEG to kickstart the streaming similar to what
> the BBC iPlayer does.
>
> There are a couple of settings to enable MHEG and the IC (Interative
> Channel) that will need to be turned  on.
>
> There have been some updates to the MHEG stuff to enable the IC on
> Freeview. Don't have time to check right now but can't remember if they
> were back ported to fixes or not so you may have better luck with master.
>
> Running with -v mheg may give a clue why it's failing in the logs.
>
> Paul H

I just enabled MHEG and IC on my SL6 installation of master-pre-2456 (2 
Jan) with a PCTV-290e usb tuner.

Ch 242 works in LiveTV after several tens of seconds 'taking too long to 
be allowed to read' and 'enabling buffer optimisations for low bitrate 
stream'.  544x576 H264 AAC/LATM 2ch

Starting a recording from the EIT Programme Guide produced a growing 
file, but attempting to view it caused an apparent system hang for more 
tens of seconds; it then started playing happily.

Restarting playback while recording caused another apparent hangup and 
the backend reported problems with previewgen.  The recording continued 
to grow. The frontend initially reported zero bytes but seems to have 
caught up after recording finished.

It would seem best not to try this yet on a production box.

As a followup, my tv offers a small selection of unfamiliar channels via 
Ch 241, but the associated website appears to offer live streaming of 
many Freeview channels.

John P