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

[John Pilkington]

On 06/01/15 13:21, John Pilkington wrote:
> 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

ffmpeg -i can't identify the codecs from the recorded file and vlc 
doesn't play it.  The 'taking too long' message reads:

Ringbuf(http://stream.arquiva.tv/vintagetv/streamed?content-length=true): Taking 
too long...

so I would guess that although it's 'free' some kind of authorisation is 
required.