[vdr] [RFC] Shutdown rewrite for 1.5.x

[Tony Houghton]

In <004b01c74640$882cd800$6b01010a at REDMOUNTAIN01>, Patrick Mackin wrote:

> >Also generic video cards are increasingly coming with video decoding
> >features, and HDTVs can be connected straight to a PC without the need
> >for a horrible scaler or special screen mode. Although not all the
> >decoding features are available to Linux, dedicated decoder/TV-out cards
> >are looking quite obsolete, and DVB card manufacturers are bound to
> >respond to that.
> >
> Not to get too off-topic, but I disagree. In north america, from surveying 
> posts on several bulletin boards, vdr usage seems to be 90%+ with FF cards 
> (typically the Nexus-S).

Is that HD-capable? HDTV seems quite common in NA, but currently in the
UK there are very few HD channels, only available through overpriced
subscriptions. It looks unlikely that there'll be any FTA/FTV HD until
at least after the analogue terrestrial switch-off in 2012.

> There's actually the perception with many in NA 
> that vdr doesn't work with budget cards!  And while more PCs are adding the 
> built-in functions a FF card provides (Digital audio out, Coax or S-video 
> out, adequate processing power for decoding) everything seems to be moving 
> to mpeg-4.

If the Nexus-S requires replacement for HD/MPEG4 I wouldn't be surprised
if its successor doesn't feature a decoder. The latest graphics cards
support MPEG4 too, including H.264. Someone posted about a new DVB card
which does have an MPEG4 decoder recently, but pointed out that it's
only a reference design, not a production model. And it's PCI-E, so it
doesn't look like the manufacturers are very keen to support old PCs.

> I know from working regularly with Xvid / mpeg4 files that they 
> require a lot more processing power, and many pcs are older machines 
> dedicated to running vdr, not top of the line full fledged 4 ghz systems. 

I haven't noticed a big difference, although I've only encountered MPEG4
part 2 (DivX etc), usually at lower resolutions than DVB/DVD, as opposed
to HD H.264.

> I've never regretted owning my FF card, and would look for a FF mpeg4 card 
> if I was in the market.  Plus, they always seem the simplest to configure 
> and use with most software, not to mention not requiring a computer monitor 
> to run vdr on FF :) 

Well that was one of my points too. Connecting a typical HDTV to a PC is
pretty much the same as connecting a monitor, not like all the headaches
involved in getting a decent PAL or NTSC signal from a standard graphics
card.

-- 
TH * http://www.realh.co.uk