[vdr] Streaming Patch for VDR version 0.1

["Simon Dean" <linux-dvb@sickhack.com>]

Here's the first "proper" version of the Streaming patch for VDR.  It
now streams in both during normal viewing and recording.  It won't
stream during replays or transfers.  This patch uses UDP to multicast
the current channel on each DVB card in VDR over the local network.
These video and audio streams can be viewed simultaneously from any
computer on the LAN.  I don't have more than one DVB card in use with
VDR at the moment so it is not possible for me to test multiple card
multicasting.  With the current patch it should be possible to watch the
multicasts from more than one DVB card on the same monitor at the same
time.  I have successfully watched a single broadcast in two different
Windows Media Player windows at the same time.  

I will probably produce a small client Linux client to allow the streams
to be viewed over the network on a Linux box using something like
mplayer.  But I have yet to commence work on such a client.  

The patch can be downloaded from: 

   http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~csuqk/vdr-1.0.0-strm-0.1.diff.gz

When making the modified version of VDR you need to include the STRM=1
parameter.  E.g.: 

    make VFAT=1 STRM=1

What you will need: 
- Multicast networking enabled in your kernel.  
- A local multicast network route.  This can be achieved by executing
the following line: 
    /sbin/route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev eth0
- A Windows client with Moonlight UDP Streaming Application installed.
This can be found at: 
    http://www.moonlight.co.il/products/udpstreaming.shtml
  The file you need is: 
    http://www.elecard.com/ftp/pub/mpeg/UDP/UDP.zip
  The NetPlayer has to be installed in order to view the stream.  
- DirectShow filters for MPEG2 demultiplexing and decoding.  You can
find such filters at: 
    http://www.moonlight.co.il/products/mpeg2decoder.shtml 
- A vanilla installation of VDR 1.0.0. 

To install the patch: 
1) go to your vanilla VDR 1.0.0 directory and execute: 
    zcat vdr-1.0.0-strm-0.1.diff.gz | patch -p1
2) Re-make the VDR installation with the extra STRM=1 parameter.  E.g.: 
    make VFAT=1 STRM=1
2) Install Moonlight UDP Streaming Application (UDP Stream Player).  
3) Install MPEG2 demultiplexer and MPEG2 decoder DirectShow filters
(http://www.elecard.com) 
4) Execute 
    ./runvdr 
   in your vanilla VDR 1.0.0 directory.  
5) Open Windows Media Player on your Windows PC and open the following
URL location: 
    moonlight://224.0.0.1:1212n/udp
   Where "n" is the number of the DVB card being used to instant record
(with 0 being the first card, 1 being the second card...). 
6) Enjoy watching live streamed MPEG2 TV!  

Known bugs/problems: 
- The aspect ratio of the streaming video in Windows Media Player may be
wrong.  Please refer to previous posts on the message list regarding
this.  
- Only the primary MPEG2 audio stream of a channel in the channels.conf
will be streamed.  
- I am having problems with the current UDP Streaming filters on Windows
timing out.  Sometimes Windows Media Player will timeout after viewing
4-5 seconds of video.  I'm not sure what causes this but it is an
intermittent problem.  If this happens to you then try reconnecting to
the URL until you get a stable connection.  

If you experience any problems then please send them to the VDR mailing
list.  

Regards, 

Simon Dean 

PS Sorry if any of the above e-mail doesn't make sense but it is the
early hours of the morning :)