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

[Patrick Mackin]

>
> 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.

HDTV is not as common here as the advertising would make you believe.  HDTV 
programming is very limited here also.  The famous "shut off" of analog 
signals in NA is honestly much ado about nothing (interesting choice in year 
2012 by the way).  It concerns only OTA HDTV terrestrial reception, and in 
America, the vast majority of households (90%+) subscribe to cable or 
satellite.  The remaining 10% are the homes that are too poor to afford an 
HDTV, and therefore won't care about OTA HDTV signals.

Unfortunately, there is no FTA satellite HDTV to speak of, and I doubt we 
will get any anytime soon.  The business model in America for most services 
is proprietary, closed  systems sold through monthly fees, whether we are 
talking about radio, television, software, health care, or what have you.  I 
would venture a guess that over 99% of the population doesn't even know what 
dvb-s is, or that there is any "FTA" available other than the local 
terrestrial 4 or 5 networks (ABC/NBC/CBS/FOX) with their ever-shinking 
market share.  And the vast majority of the FTA here is ethnic or religious 
programming. Nevertheless, MPEG4/H.263 is the future if only for bandwidth 
reasons, and HDTV is the future, if only for aspect ratio uniformity through 
the market.  Again, sorry for straying off topic.