[vdr] Re: Feature Request: All-Time-Recording

["Reinhard Walter Buchner" <rw.buchner@freenet.de>]

Hi,

> I have an idea for another "nice-to-have" feature for VDR:
> Some Settop-Boxes record the current tuned channel to
> harddisk all the  time,

For *me*: No thanks.  Why not? Well

- You can't do a rec & inst replay of crypted channels with
   a single DVB card. This also means you can't use specific
   plugins (DVD, MP3, etc) while being tuned to a non FTA
   channel (if your idea would be implemented).

- How would you switch channels? At the moment, VDR says
   channel locked if you try to switch from a recording channel
   to another (if it's non FTA) or only allows you to switch to
   another channel on the same transponder. Implementing what
   you would like would mean breaking this safety feature. You
   would at least need to implement a checker, which has a look,
   if you are doing a *real* recording or not. This would once
   again result in sluggish channel switching. Not something
   "zappers" will like.
  
- Increased wear on the HDD. Whilist the disk is spinning 
  all the time, your idea would mean the HDD is working all
  the time VDR is running. Cutting a movie would become
  much slower, since VDR will need to use the disk for
  cutting AND recording at the same time. You also would
  be able to record less channels simultainiously (okay,
  this doens't happen everyday ;o))

> so I could "Rewind" some time or, if disturbed by someone, 
> timeshift the missed parts.

You can already do that. Say you are watching a movie and
your friend calls you exactly when the movie suspense is
at it's highest. Just squeeze the recording button on your
RCU and pick up the phone. After finishing the call, you 
go to the recordings menu and do a (timeshifted) replay. 
The movie then continues where you left off. This only
works for FTA channels, tho. Klaus wants to implement
a "one button" solution for the above.

@Klaus: When you implement this, will you be using a
freeze frame? What I mean is to blank or freeze the the
last I-frame when we start a pause recording. I wonder
how (if) we can do the pause recording for encrypted
channels? The AV711x *must* be able to handle this
from the hardware standpoint as my Nokia 9902 also
uses the TI chip and it can do a pause recording for
any channel, be it encrypted or FTA.

> * Recording should be some definable time backwards,
> maybe about 2 hours

Why this? What are you going to do, if you say adjust it
for one hour and it takes you longer than one hour to get
back to the film? VDR should record as long as it takes
(and less than 23hrs 59 min ;o)).

> * It must be possible to save the recording for later
> viewing, so the  cutting process must be available.

??? If you record something it *IS* available. For me
VDR should *never* delete a recording automatically
(which is why my prio & lifetime are all set to 99).

> * Maybe start one "xxx.vdr" every 15 Minutes and
> delete the old yyy.vdr  to keep the changes simple?

NO Definately not! First of all this would contradict
with your point "it must be possible to save..." What 
would be the advantage of deleting (which VDR doesn't
do right away anyway) a recording every 15 minutes
and starting a new one? For one thing it would clutter
up the video diretory.

What *I* never understood about this idea (you aren't
the first to mention it ;o)) is *what is it good for*????
Why do people want to buffer their stream to RAM or
HDD. Just for fear that you might miss out on 2 minutes
of the movie? 

Greetz,
Reinhard


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