[vdr] Software VDR backend (was Re: Re: SPDIF out)

[Gavin Hamill <gdh@acentral.co.uk>]

On Friday 25 April 2003 18:29, you wrote:

> I would prefer to not to have to have X11 on a TV-out only box 

This I agree with totally... 

> unless you know of a card which can output 720x576 to TV-out under X.  

I don't, but I'm far from an authority on the subject.  I think for many 
TV-Out chipsets, you run X itself at 720x576 with "Option EnableTVOut" or 
similar in the XF86Config. That sort of thing certainly rings bells from 
previous googles on the matter.. 

Else I'd assume you just run at 800x600 ... this should be enough to avoid 
black borders, given the edges of the image will be outside the visible frame 
of the TV screen.

> What do people think who aren't limited to TV-out and can output VGA/DVI 
> directly to a projector/plasma etc?

Gosh, that's looking pretty high up the scale :) Maybe they'll lend you some 
kit 'for testing' ;)

> I have a full DVB card and a Nova and one of the reasons for playing around
> with this is because the I feel the OSD is too limited and won't be able to
> provide what is needed for MHP etc.

Oh definately.. From what I read, the OSD of the AV7110 is pretty much 
stretched to the limit at the moment by VDR's fairly modest interface, so the 
prospect of full-screen interactive services with multiple video feeds must 
surely be a non-starter.

Certainly compare Sky's Digibox, Freevo or MythTV with VDR's current 
interface, and you can see they're worlds apart.  I like the simplicity and 
no-nonsense approach of VDR, but the AV7110 seems to be the bottleneck in not 
being able to provide something more glamourous, rather than any lack of 
graphic talent on Klaus' part.

With the early dabblings in MHEG-5/MHP that is happening now on the list, I 
think we are in for a very interesting time ahead, certainly that will push 
VDR light years ahead of MythTV and Freevo :) PVRs based on analogue TV 
capture is ultimately doomed to failure.

> By the way, DirectFB has a SDL target so you can run DirectFb->SDL->X11 :->

It does? Ah, cool - that probably solves most of my mutterings ;)

gdh



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