Linux-PVR Distribution LinVDR 0.7 Released

Mirko Doelle writes "LinVDR is a very small Linux distribution turning your normal PC with a DVB video card into a rather cool personal video recorder (PVR). 'The Busybox based system requires less than 128 MB disk space and is shipped as compressed bootable CD image (31 MB) with an easy install program. Provided that you have a supported DVB card (Technotrend DVB Premium or Hauppauge Nexus) in your system, you'll get the software up and running running within 15 minutes or less. LinVDR uses the most recent development version of the Video Disk Recorder software VDR from Klaus Schmidinger. VDR is capable of recording more than one channel per time (as MPEG-2), timeshifting, cutting (with your remote control) and converting the MPEG-2 files into other formats. The 39 plugins delivered in LinVDR extend your PVR to be also a DVD player, DVD recorder, E-Mail reader, Voice mailbox and much more. Details on the software versions and plugins you can find at the project page. For download, visit the mirror list.'"

Comments

This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[eno2001]

When I last looked at that project it only seemed to apply to Europe and maybe the U.K. All because our crankass digital TV providers (DirecTV and various Digital Cable providers) are too tightass to allow computers to decode their encrypted signal legally. So instead we have to use external tuners and LiRC or break the law if we want to have computer based PVRs. Pathetic, isn't it?

Remember kids, science is NOT a crime.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a user community in the US, have a look at http://www.hoochvdr.info/

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[kaleco]

He does not want to piss on someone's licence. He just wants to use his computer as a PVR, which is reasonable.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[eno2001]

Well... how does it hurt DirecTV is they release a PCI card that would allow me to record the programming that I pay for directly to my HD in a Linux box? I DON'T want to buy a Tivo because I don't get the satisfaction of having built something with my own hands. I would have no problem paying DirecTV for a PCI Satellite card. It would likely cost a little more up front than their DirecTV/Tivo offer, but it would afford me a lto more flexibility. I wouldn't mind paying the extra monthly fee for an extra unit (assuming that the card would count as another DirecTV Terminal).

Think about the possibilities... If there WAS a DirecTV PCI card, I could then stream the signal to any other PC in the house, timeshift, or even possibly watch interesting shows on my lunch break at work. If I get a shitty DirecTV Tivo, all I get is what everyone else has: a PVR with limited functionailty.

None of what I want to do "pisses" on their license. Unless their license states, "You will accept the limited functionailty of our equipment because we are monopoly and you can't do anything about that". ;P

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Woogiemonger]

When I last looked at that project it only seemed to apply to Europe and maybe the U.K.

First the Brits get booted from the US, then from India, and now from Europe? Man, I am SO getting modded down for this :)

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[amorsen]

Notice that you don't need to agree to the GPL to use GPL'd programs. It is only if you distribute the programs that you need the GPL. Most proprietary licenses do not allow distribution.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[gibbsjoh]

Off topic, but I didn't think there was any way to get a DVB-S card to decode Sky Digital.. am I wrong?

And while I'm off topic, why does Sky want to charge me £259 for a Sky+ box when its only £99 for new customers???

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[homer_ca]

Yes, this project is only for Europe because DVB is the European broadcast HDTV standard. The U.S. standard is ATSC. If you want an internal HDTV tuner card for the U.S. ATI makes the HDTV Wonder, but it has bad reviews. Also, DVB and ATSC are broadcast standards. These tuners won't work with cable or satellite.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Cromac]

When I last looked at that project it only seemed to apply to Europe and maybe the U.K. All because our crankass digital TV providers (DirecTV and various Digital Cable providers) are too tightass to allow computers to decode their encrypted signal legally. So instead we have to use external tuners and LiRC or break the law if we want to have computer based PVRs. Pathetic, isn't it?

I don't know about pathetic, but it is a pain in the ass...also not an insurmountable problem. Spend $25 on a IR blaster and you can have your PVR software change the channels on the external tuner just fine with GB-PVR and I think MythTV.

Re:This Doesn't Work for the U.S. Does it?

[Nik13]

You're wrong. DVB-S *IS* for satellite. Been using it with north american sats for a few years already. What it won't work with is the couple sats companies not using DVB (DTV and *C), or "new" encoding like turbo coded 8PSK (I say new as they're starting to use it, but it's actually already obsolete)

Re:Voicemail?

[geckofiend]

Try MythPhone, it's getting close if not there already. Plus it allows video conferencing on your TV.

Finally!

[Quill]

I think it was only a matter of time before this happened - so well done! Now all I'm waiting for is someone to sell pre-configured Mini-ITX systems running this. (Yes, I'm that lazy.)

Integration

[AlgaeEater]

Cool. Stick that on a mini ITX system with an integrated touchscreen and you have a fully integrated home media system. Heck, I might even sink one into the surface of my desk at work and WiFi it to the work network.

Time to start saving for that touchscreen. :(

Acronym heavy....

[ajs]

"LinVDR [...] PC [...] DVB [...] PVR [...] MB [...] CD [...] MPEG [...] DVD"

Ding! We have an acronym winner! ;-)

Oh, and by the way, Slashdot's caps filter is annoying... I have to type random noise like this just to get the darn thing to post!

Digital Only? HDTV at all?

[JLavezzo]

According to the site, "We're here at digital TV, there is no purpose for any analog TV cards." Which I re-translate into English as saying: "Our software only works with digital TV. Don't think about using analog."

Can anyone confirm? Maybe someone who can read the site in it's original German?

Here is a copy of the project page.

[Goodbyte]

What for hell is LinVDR

Basically, it's an approach to build a small, cut to the bone, ready and easy to install VDR Linux distribution.
LinVDR is a complete, breathing Linux system smaller than 128 MB with a complete digital Video Disk Recorder (VDR) / Personal Video Recorder (PVR) and several plugins -- listed seperately below.
For easy access we installed additionaly the browser frontend VDR Admin and a Samba share for up- and downloading music or DVD images with Windows clients.

The base system is Debian Woody compatible (only compatible, not Debian Woody itself!) with the DVB driver from Convergence and Klaus Schmidingers unbeated Video Disk Recorder Software VDR.
All this Tom has mixed smoothly together, and I made the install system and installation programme -- suitable for normal users without Linux knowledge.

OK, sounds good. I have a XYZ tv card and a GeForce 10 with TV out. Lets start.

That's nice you have such expensive hardware, but it won't bring you a step closer to a running LinVDR system. We're here at digital TV, there is no purpose for any analog TV cards.

VDR was designed to work with so-called full featured DVB cards. This is a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) receiver card originally develloped from Technotrend. Hauppauge adopted these cards and labeled them WinTV DVB-s/C or Nexus.

The important point of this cards: Byside the receiving unit, where you can read a MPEG-2-Stream, they're equipped with a DSP chip working as MPEG-2 decoder and OSD creator. This DSP decodes the steam, overlays the menu and put the result to the composite video out of the DVB card.

This means: You don't need a graphic card with TV out, your full featured DVB card already has one (and only this one is used by VDR).

But you need only one of that expensive (> $150) full featured DVB cards. If you want to install a second one, e.g. to enable you to receive more channels at the same time, you can use a so-called budget card.

These buget cards have no TV out and no MPEG-2 decoder, making them a lot cheaper (around $70).

Type Vendor Model Class Price DVB-S Hauppauge WinTV Nexus-s Full Featured abt. $250 DVB-S TechnoTrend DVB-S Sat PCI
Rev. 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 Full Featured abt. $190 DVB-T TechnoTrend DVB-T Rev. 1.2 Full Featured abt. $250 DVB-C Hauppauge WinTV DVB-C Full Featured abt. $300 DVB-C TechnoTrend DVB-C Rev. 2.1 Full Featured abt. $230 DVB-S Hauppauge WinTV Nova-S Budget abt. $125 DVB-S TechnoTrend Budget DVB-S Budget abt. $90 DVB-T TechnoTrend DVB-T 1300 Budget abt. $110 DVB-C TechnoTrend DVB-C Rev. 1.0 Budget abt. $110

To cut it short: You need one full featured card with MPEG-2 decoder (Technotrend style, supported by the DVB driver of Kernel 2.6) and any number of budget cards (supported by the same drivers). No way to use your graphic adapter or analog TV card, if you're looking for an analog PVR, try e.g. MythTV.

VDR Version and Plugins VDR 1.3.17 with enAIO-Patch and this plugins:

• Autotimer-Edit 0.1.4 new
• DVD-Burn 0.0.5 new
• Clock 0.0.5b1 update
• Console 0.6 update
• DVD 0.3.5b06 (without CSS support)
• EPG-Search 0.0.3 new
• Femon (signal strength) 0.1.6 update
• Games 0.6.1 update
• GraphLCD 0.1.1 update
• GraphTFT 0.0.8 new
• Hello 0.1.0
• Image (Diashow) 0.2.2 update
• LCD-Proc 0.0.10 update
• Mailbox 0.3 update
• Manual 0.0.2 (german only) new
• Media-MVP 0.1.5 new
• Media-MVP-Server new
• M-LCD 0.0.4 update
• MP3 0.9.8 update
• MPlayer 0.9.8 update
• OSD-Demo 0.1.0
• Osd-PiP Plugin 0.0.7 update
• OSD-Teletext 0.3.1 update
• Pilot 0.0.7 new

This is nothing:

[oexeo]

I have:

- A dedicated development box
- A dedicated server box
- A dedicated "juke" box
- A dedicated "TiVo" box
- A dedicated gaming box
- A dedicated backup box
- A dedicated firewall box
- And a general purpose box

Unfortunately due to all the money wasted^H^H^H^H^H^H spent on this essential equipment, I don't have a home to put them in.

Pretty cool

[Bilzmoude]

This is why I love Linux... people finding a good use for it, configuring it up to do something cool, and distributing it as a useful package. There are so many distros I like to use for different things... clustering, parallel processing, desktop usage, servers, real-time processing, and now a new one to play with... DVR.

You cannot do this with commercial operating systems. Linux has its niche.... to support niche markets. It does it really, really well. Bravo to all.

However

[Ricerocket63]

LinVDR does not seem to make a good web server solution.. :o/

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget Freevo... works great!

nsfw

[Anonymous Coward]

last link is not safe for work (and in really poor taste)

Re:Useful for recording video

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD PARENT DOWN!

Link to tinyurl.com is the goatse.cx image!

Note to slashdot contrib'ers

[alta]

When posting a link to the download mirror, don't post the original location first. Don't post it at all. In this case, everyone see's that .iso and clicks it. Server dead. Yes, there's a mirror page, but it's hosted on the same server, so... mirror page dead. In this case people are even getting frustrated and clicking other link and killing it too. Remember, link to mirrors, link to lists of mirrors, never link to disk images!

No HD = worthless

[badmammajamma]

Who cares? All this stuff is worthless to me until I can record HDTV off my cable connection. Since there are no cards that make this possible, any software out there is useless to me. All these cute linux solutions are gonna go the way of the dodo bird once HD is the normal broadcast. The only way you'll be able to record this crap in fascist America is by buying/renting set tops from your cable or satelite company.

Fortunately, I hate almost every broadcast out there except for about three shows (and two of them are pay channels).

Mirrors Here - Pages and ISO

[Kinetic]

Looks like a Slashdotting has killed the site. Of course, MirrorDot has the pages and the ISO image mirrored.

Poor, poor server...

[koi88]

Right, the first link in the article must be the actual disk image, later maybe a link to the web site (so people can find out about hardware requirements, features, etc.).
The list of mirrors should come last, as the project is unworthy if the server doesn't survive the stampede of the slashdot crowd...

WHY? A little more careful approach would make downloads faster and save the server's admins a lot of trouble...

MythTV allows HD recordings

[dowobeha]

I know this is a bit tangential to your comment, but I'm hoping that if it doesn't help you, it might help others reading this thread.

Another Linux-based PVR will allow you to record HD. The catch is that it only records HD over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts. So if you live in an area with HD broadcasts (at the least, most major metro areas in the U.S.), and you have an antenna, you can have an HD-capable MythTV PVR.

The card is the pcHDTV 3000, available at http://www.pchdtv.com/.

The MythTV web site is http://mythtv.org.

For info about HD and MythTV, search the MythTV mailing list archive for "hdtv" or "pcHDTV".

Finally, a step-by-step install guide for MythTV is available here.

Re:Total Cost of Ownership?

[dowobeha]

How much would a setup like that cost?

I can't speak to LinDVR, but a decent MythTV setup can be built for less than $500.

MythTV has most of the features listed for LinPVR, plus some additional modules. It's really nice to use, and it can handle HDTV in the US. I may be wrong, but I think that LinPVR is based around DVB, which is the digital TV format for much of Europe.

Mirror of the site

[randomErr]

Hey all,

Here's a Coralized copy of the site:
http://linvdr.org.nyud.net:8090/projects/linvdr/in dex.en.php
http://linvdr.org.nyud.net:8090/projects/linvdr/mi rrors.php

This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[SeattleGameboy]

Let me get this straight...

It DOES NOT handle analog signals - No cable/OTA analog channels.

It DOES NOT handle HDTV signals.

AND it DOES NOT decrypt encrypted signals - No DirecTV, Dish, etc.

Okay, what is this software for??? Seems to me this is DOA for US.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[kswtch]

> It DOES NOT handle HDTV signals.

You can record HDTV Movies with LinVDR. All you have to do is to add a HDTV Channel to your channel list and set up a timer for it. And, you have to disable processing your output video signal. Your DVB Card can not handle the resolution and will crash. (Reboot of the card needed). If you save the HDTV data stream to your disk without forwarding it to your v/output you can watch the show.
If you do not want to waste disk space you can stream the data to your Local Network (or loopback device) and watch it with mplayer.

Re:This is absolutely WORTHLESS!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it's absolutely worthless.
Nobody outside the US watches TV.

What were they thinking - why did they
waste their time like that?

Those crazy Europeans, huh?

NTL Digital

[Idimmu Xul]

Are there any DVB cards that support NTL Digital at all? This sounds awesome and I'd really like to play!

MOD DOWN

[Stevyn]

This guy is a troll. He posts some obvious links and finally the goatse guy.

What do you mean wasted?

[slash_noodle]

You could build a house out of all thoses boxes!