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PVR For Linux
amix writes "After two years of hard work the final 1.0 of VDR (Video Disk Recorder) has been released under the GPL.
VDR is Linux based VCR software for digital TV cards (DVB, the Linux driver supports cable, sat and terrestrial cards), the new TV standard in Europe and also in use at several places in the United States. VDR is a fully networkable digital video recorder (implemented as daemon on port 2001) with optional MP3, DVD and 'MPlayer' based video-codec replay plus much more. It features "timeshifting", an incredibly comfortable OSD, functions to make editing/cleaning-up the streams easier and is controllable by LIRC, keyboard, telnet/ssh, WWW (cgi) or dedicated utilities. It can be used natively on a TV, with standard v4l tools or the KVDR KDE frontend.. You have an old PC? Add one (up to four) DVB card and you got a cheap multimedia center. Here are the screenshots. " A very impressive project indeed.
Are there any of these projects that will controll a Digital cable receiver or Sat System receiver like my tivo will? I'd love to build myself a coupel of these, but I havent seen any that work with digital cable. -Jason
finally, a great build yourself TIVO setup. i didn't see if there's a project to build a public database of showtimes/channels for people to get. shouldn't be that challenging.
i'm sure a decent setup HDD, video card, and processor is near the price of a tivo, but this lends it self to much much more.
i can't see any DMCA implications, as the intent of the software isn't to distribute copies (that have been unencrypted via breaking a digital encryption method) to other users.
Well, you might be able to get the PPV preview channels and a few other in-the-clear Dish Network channels with the Siemens card, since Dish uses DVB.
Here's google's cache of the page since it looks slashdotted.
... "Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the w
Sounds like I either need to start porting, or install Leenooks!
I wonder if anyone has thought to put some of these features onto their tivo or something. If it would be as easy as a package install of a mp3 player and some other stuff why not use the hardware that was created to do this stuff. Im sure you could even smb to another larger server for stuff and have a web cgi and whatnot.
The more I think about it the more I like it. I wish I had half the knowledge it would take to pull something like that off.
once again just my ramblings.
If I were only smart enough to accomplish the things I dream about.. Or maybe too dumb to care.
Looks like they have really thought this one through. There are several really cool features which push the DVR market forward and have been long overdue
- What's on next? button
- The ability to create an edited version of a recording
- Directories to hold recordings
- How much space is left on my hard drive indicator
- And I don't even want to get into network functionality.
Note to Tivo, please add these functionalites to the next system upgrade
With this sort of project in mind, I've been searching for a desktop-style case for a PC that would blend in well with a stack of modern stereo components. So far I've come up empty, and the case this guy is using is no longer being sold.
Anyone know of a good source for A/V-component-style PC cases?
Unfortunately, the page is slashdotted, so I can only comment on what the writeup said. This looks like what Snapstream did, and I'm thrilled to see this. I've been at the mercy of windoze box, and the only format snapstream outputs is .wmv, which really stinks in that I'm tied to MS media player. So, if this thing will put out good .mpgs or something like that (whatever is the best, open video format), I'll gladly embrace it. I'm currently recording about six hours of stuff per day and burning it onto CD (can't watch nearly that much, and no, I have not yet been diagnosed as obsessive-compulsive). I'd particularly like it if I could burn the output files as VCDs, so they weren't tied to my computer (though my computer is my TV at the moment).
Now if only their web server would recover...
One of the things which makes the Linux VDR project slightly easier (?) to implement is that the DVB card they're using as a tuner outputs MPEG-2 to the system. Thus, no messy (and cpu intensive) video input and number crunching. This Digital VCR product from Creative has an MPEG-2 encoder chip on-board, and outputs MPEG-2. It can either use it's own tuner OR it will control your cable box/sat receiver via IR commands. And it's only $99. That's not a typo. I'm not claiming it's output will be as good as a Tivo/DVB/whatever, but at 640x480 resolution, it's a step in the right direction.
And it's no longer vaporware -- I picked one up at CompUSA last week (in NYC - 38th & 5th location).
Now, who's up for tearing this thing apart and creating some linux drivers?!
Yes, for now. The problem with these do-it-yourself PVR solutions is that there are technical hurdles. Every few months, I get the latest Video4Linux driver for my Matrox Rainbow Runner, and try to get them to do something. After an hour, I give up in frustration. I guess I'm just too old or stupid or something for this shit.
But once this stuff gets mature, then some day, someone is going to make it super easy to build apps on top of the tuner/capture functionality. Maybe they'll write some Python classes to encapsulate it all. (Have you seen what happens when a library gets Python wrappers? The productivity that follows is almost scary!) The point is, it'll leak outside the realm of the chipset and kernel hackers. And when that happens, stand back, because, apps will appear that are as good as Tivo, and even better.
This is one of the few apps where the "open source" dudes really have good odds of beating the commercial guys, because they'll be free to simply make things as good as they can imagine -- whereas Tivo thinks they have to keep a good relationship with the networks. So Tivo deliberatly omits stuff like 30-second skip, makes it inconvenient to archive stuff long-term, occasionally includes some pointless promotion menu item, doesn't integrate well with your network and fileserver(s), etc. There are no corporate pressures in the "longhair linus" camp to hold people back. Free Tivo clones are going to rock!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Just to be clear, what I'm about to talk about is a PVR, not a DVR, so the signal turns analog and then gets compressed again along the way. So this particular solution may be a little off topic, at first:
.ASF files.
Ever hear of snapstream? (http://www.snapstream.com) If you have a TV Tuner card, this program turns your computer into a Tivo-Like device allowing one to capture TV Shows as
One of the features this software has is it can control your Satellite Dish or Digital Cable via Infa Red. It has a little cable or something connected to an IR emitter so it can set the channel for you. Theoretically, with this device, and IR controlled device could be tuned.
The problem is, as I mentioned above, is that you're going analog and then going digital again with the associated Degredation. (To be fair, I don't think it'd be bad.)
I imagine somebody COULD find a way to do a similar thing with Linux. If they were to take their satellite reciever apart, figure out which cable has the digital data (if that's possible... I'm not claiming to know what really goes on inside of these devices and imagine I'll be told it's not possible), and funnel it off to the computer, it wouldn't be that much bigger of step to add infa-red capability too.
Anybody wanna donate their reciever to experiment on? Heh
"Derp de derp."
So Tivo deliberatly omits stuff like 30-second skip
... they aren't in the way at all, say, like a huge slashdot ad appearing before the replies. And they are often timely, like the Oscar-related video ads available a couple nights before the Oscar broadcast.
Easily enabled with a backdoor code that you can easily enter with your remote. I have it, and it works great. TiVo feels, and many people agree, that the three-step FF/RW functionality is easier to use than 30-second skips, especially for people with slow reflexes... (FF/RW have built-in 'jump back' features that pretty accurately measure most people's ability to NOT stop the fast-forwarding soon enough after they see their show come back on.)
makes it inconvenient to archive stuff long-term
Yeah, like that very inconvenient "dump to tape" feature which includes a nice screen at the beginning telling you the program name and air date before starting the program. Or the fact that they've allowed all the networking add-on hardware and software, even though they could have pretty easily come down on those guys, or made it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to hack. Or the fact that TiVolution (a guy that regularly posts to TiVo forums and is an employee of TiVo) has come out to say that there will be some sort of networking enhancements made to TiVo's via a coming upgrade.
occasionally includes some pointless promotion menu item
Which I usually don't bother viewing
doesn't integrate well with your network and fileserver(s), etc.
Huh? You are apparantly not familiar with the very nice TiVo networking hacks. I especially like accessing my TiVo via the webserver I put inside it so I can schedule shows I find out about at work.
There are no corporate pressures in the "longhair linus" camp to hold people back. Free Tivo clones are going to rock!
Just as much as Linux does, sure. But no normal people I know use Linux. No normal people I know think Linux "rocks." Yes it is cool that people can put together a PVR if they want. Some cool projects will come of it. But TiVo killer, it isn't. By the time they get something to compete with the current TiVo, TiVo will have Series 2 and assorted upgrades ready. It does exactly what I want it to do.
"And like that
And if you read enough, you'd see EchoStar intends on discarding *all* the DirecTV proprietary crap. They've budgeted for replacing every DSS receiver (with an active subscription I'd guess.) The people in the TiVo community have been rather disturbed by this (the dish play sucks very badly by comparison.) Fortunately, the OmegaDVD chips at the heart of the DTivo are designed to be DVB processors -- change the tivo software and associated microcode and *poof* DishTivo!
[Disclaimer: There's a lot of stuff behind that *poof*. As the Snafu cartoon once read, "I'm a little fuzzy on step two." [miracle occurs here]]
It looks like I somehow got you into Tivo-defender mode. I really didn't mean to do that... I'm not saying Tivo sucks, I'm just saying that it's intentionally less than it could be.
[30 sec skip]
Then I lose my skip-to-end button. :( C'mon, if they were really trying to maximize Tivo's ease-of-use, this would be configured somewhere under "my preferences", instead of this select-play-select-9-select silliness. Or better yet, there would have been an extra button on the remote (they were custom-made for Tivo anyway) so that people could do whatever they like best. The Tivo president admitted that this was a consession to the networks.
That ain't nearly as easy to use as "cp". ;-)
I've seen the networking hacks (been too cowardly/lazy to try 'em, though), and I gotta admit that what you did with webserver sounds pretty cool. But that's what they are: hacks. And someday you'll get an update and then you'll have to set things up again. Compare the effort you put into this with what it takes to do the same on a PC.
Well, I guess time will tell. I don't think Tivo has the balls to implement certain ideas, such as
- collaborative suggestions databases. Imagine if the database of all the thumbing up and down you've done over the last couple of years, could be shared, and someone did the "computer dating" game to find other people that like/hate the same stuff as you... You'll learn about TV shows (which you'll probably like) that you otherwise never would have looked at.
- p2p sharing of "sed for video" scripts so that people can share little scripts to automatically playback shows w/out commercials
- Save an hour-long show to CDR in one minute instead of having to play a show in real time for a vcr to record
Someday, some Python programmer is going to think of putting these things into his do-it-yourself PC PVR, and then we'll see who's playing catch-up.As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I own a ReplayTV, recently upgraded from 20 to 80 GB because I was going to be out of town. A couple days ago, the local phone monopoly changed the rules (went to 10-digit dialing, area code is not optional now) and my machine couldn't keep up.
I missed "That 70's Show" tonight, and if I hadn't caught the machine at 8:15, I would have missed "24" as well. The punchline is it had data up to 7:30!
The hateful part is there was no "dial now" option. I had to pretend the input was "Nothing" and accept the changes, then reset it to the proper cable network to get it to call in and get updates.
An Open Source solution would have a distributed "channel" to communicate important "overriding" information like this, with obvious security around it. So my machine, which still had 6 hours of space, would have know how to update its knowledge.
As another poster said, I'd like to see an Open Source "update" to the TiVo/ReplayTV software which gives it our own UI. Complete control over what the buttons do. The ability to teach it new controllers so you can re-use controllers from old machines, for families with more than one kid. That'll teach them how to share! ;-)
For developers, the ability to create Perl and Python bindings to the buttons on-screen. Editing would be a little difficult, but could be (slowly) achieved with the 2 = "ABC2", 3 = "DEF3", etc., where hitting it once is the first, twice is the second, etc., and it wraps around. Or the user could program in macros, in "Edit Mode", for each button. One button could be "last function called" and could keep going back each time it was pressed, again wrapping around.
Now, with these things to help out fellow developers, imagine what a marketing-minded contibutor could add to the polish of the finished product? I think there's a serious competitor, and like Microsoft's Windows Update site, if a product can be auto-updated it can hijacked.
Imagine creating a distrubtion of Linux with a "perfect" WINE, which completely mimicked the Windows interface, except the Help screen had different credits.
Then imagine hijacking the Windows Update machines (which must run IIS, though I'm not certain), and distributing this update. An update which can cross-polinate, and get in through various cracks like IIS holes, Exchange exploits, etc. It tries to be silent, but it'll stop at nothing to replace the closed-source mess that's eating your productivity.
The TiVo's not eating your productivity; it's just not giving you the full potential of the device, and the company wants to be friends with the old dinosaur companies. So it restricts features. That's what forces people to write their own versions, because they want new features. They want to improve what they paid for. And that (I must assume) applies to everybody, with any piece of merchandise -- especially if it can be done at no cost.
But that also means it damn well better be tested good, for it to be accepted by the general public.
You'd think ReplayTV would have been notified by my albatross of a phone company, and then been given ample opportunity to update its devices' software, so they continue to dial correctly. There should be a law -- because the telephone company is a monopoly. Otherwise it should be free competition, but since infrastructure is expensive we gave them a monopoly.
These days a wireless network with the same bandwidth would cost a lot less to set up, and wouldn't have to be regulated. And it could be as simple as an extra "layer" in TCP/IP that took advantage of the fact that wireless cards are approaching the cost of LAN cards. So instead of wiring your house, you can wireless your house.
The benefit is you're getting the ability to talk to your neighbors, too. If they have a card, then it creates a secure network among them, on which commication can be passed -- creating a "separate" Internet, similar to the Gnutella clouds model, each piece connected to a few neighbors, forming a large cloud. Like the original BBS email, as well -- which kept all calls to local calls to keep operational costs down.
And it would of course have "Internet Entry Points" where it would reach other clouds by using the Internet. So if every tenth house had DSL, it would be able to communicate very effectively.
Hated by the providers, of course, since they invested in a technology that's being evolved on top of, and they haven't made back their money yet. But not every investment is (or should be) a profitable one, and legislation isn't going to stop it (but they'll try, I'm sure -- in all the cases above).
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.