[vdr] Feature suggestions

[Thomas Keil <tk@commedia-group.com>]

Hi,

I have some suggestions for features I'm missing (and which are probably 
not too hard to implement):

- When you decrease a starting time on a timer and cross a date border, 
for example 00:00 on the 18th to 23:55 on the 17th, there should either 
be a warning on the OSD to also change the date, or it should be 
automagically changed and a warning issed that just this happened.
Maybe there could be some possibility to customize this behaviour.
Past night I blew my last chance to record Dark Angel on VOX because the 
timer didn't change the date when I decreased the time with the left-key 
and I missed to recognize this :( (see my other post).

- If you're recording something a key would be cool to set markings on 
the fly for cutting the recording later. This way it would be easier 
(and faster) to find commercial brakes later.

- VDR is capable to tune to radio stations :-)
Radio doesn't have video broadcast (duh!), thus the screen stays black.
It would be cool if the logo of the station would be displayed :-)

- The automatic EPG scan after some inactivity disturbes me...
If I listen to a radio station there's inactivity for a long time, and 
the scan starts. Incerasing the time for inactivity is probably not very 
good either. Can there be as an alternative a possibility to start the 
scan at a given time? Like 3am, I'm watching TV at this time very seldom...

- I'd like to have a second type of timer that just changes the channel 
but doesn't actually record.
Like it tunes to my favorite radio station at 6am so that I can listen 
to it while getting up (the only thing I'd have to do then is to turn on 
my amplifier, on of the few things I'm alredy capable of in the morning ;-))
Another possibility would be that VDR just displays a message and 
changes on keypress...

- Really cool would be something like regular expressions in timers.
Like this you wouldn't have to enter a time at all, VDR would 
automatically add a timer if it finds a given string in the EPG.
For example I'd like to record all episodes of "Alpha Centauri" on 
BR.Alpha. Since the EPG of BRA sucks big time an is just a couple hours 
in advance, an automatic timer at the moment it is found would be _very_ 
useful!

- A Zap-Back key.
To zap back to the channel you've previously been.
For example if you watch something, commercials start and you zap away, 
most probably more than just one channel. With this you can zap back 
directly to the channel you've started.

Some other things I'd also appreciate very much would be a possibility 
to record radio broadcasts direclty as mp3 (this would spare me the 
demux) and videotext... I know no decent software on Linux to watch 
videotext on Linux without a hassle :(

Comments?

Thomas


-- 
Thomas Keil                    Tel.: +49 8346 98296-4
Commedia-Group GmbH & Co. KG   Fax:  +49 8346 98296-9
Dorfstrasse 15                 Email: tk@commedia-group.com
87666 Leinau
Germany