[linux-dvb] DVB file formats

[Andrew de Quincey]

Hi, inspired by Manu's soon to be released DVB library efforts, we thought it 
might be a good idea to see if we could come up with some improved formats.

I examined as many of the currently existing formats as I could find examples 
of to see their advantages and disadvantages. I've put that, and some initial 
ideas up at:

http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/File_Format_Comparison

Please let me know your thoughts.

The main idea is to keep the file format as simple as possible, with just as 
much information as necessary. Any other information can be retrieved using 
the DVB library and parsing PMTs etc (as it will contain standard API 
functions for doing that sort of thing). 

It should also not require things like XML parsers etc so that it can be used 
on low memory STBs, yet still easily parseable. But it should be clear, 
concise, and editable in a simple text editor with the minimum of "noise" 
imposed by the format.

However it should also be flexible enough to be useful for other things - e.g. 
DVB streaming servers etc.

Of course, we're not trying to force anyone to use this if they don't want to 
- just to provide tools to make it easy to write cool DVB apps, so there 
would be scripts to convert to/from the old and new formats. Also, the 
library will have functions for loading the older *zap file format, and other 
important ones in order to be back compatable.