[vdr] Re: User-Friendly Audio Packet Identifications.

[Carsten Koch <Carsten.Koch@icem.de>]

a few more little things:

* I believe this change could be compatible with existing
  channels.conf files, simply by leaving the APID field blank.
  (PLEASE! No mysql DBs for somthing as simple as channels.conf!)
  This way we could even force the old behaviour for certain channels.

* There could be an option for zapping "preferred languages only".
  With this option on, if you press Up, vdr would still go to the
  next channel, check whether it currently has audio with one of
  the preferred languages, if yes, leave this channel tuned, if
  not, switch to the next channel and so on.

* I guess in the first step, timer entries could stay as they are
  and work as described below.
  As an extension, one could implement the number N described
  below and perhaps a flag that disables/enables AC3 independently
  from the global setting. This way, I could even create an AC3
  recording for a friend if I do not have AC3 equipment myself
  or disable AC3 to conserve space, even if I do have AC3 equipment.

Carsten.


P.S.: Stefan, your mailer is broken. It did not create a "References"
or "In-Reply-To" header, so my mailer now shows two different threads
for this subject. :-(
Is there a way to make your mailer generate the correct headers?

Carsten Koch wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> while we are looking at channels.conf format and contents,
> here is another idea:
> 
> Why do I have to enter the APIDs for the various languages
> and for AC3 manually? That's not user-friendly.
> When I want to select a language, I want to select between
> the available languages, not between 4096 numbers, most of
> which do not yield any language at all.
> Also, I want a language that I can understand
> to be the default language.
> 
> My D-Box (with DVB2000) selects a default language (I do not
> think I can configure which one), shows me the language on
> the OSD in understandable text (not as a number) and allows
> me to switch between the available languages with my remote.
> Also, any number of languages is allowed.
> I believe that the windoze application delivered with the
> hardware works roughly the same way.
> I like that much better than vdr's two numeric APIDs plus
> one numeric AC3 PID, but it is still not perfect.
> 
> So, here is my idea:
> 
> vdr could offer a setup value that lists the languages I
> understand in order of preference. As an example, I could
> configure German as my first language and English as my
> second language. So, any channel that broadcasts (among
> others) German audio, would automatically be tuned to
> German audio, while still allowing me to select the other
> languages manually. Any channel that does not broadcast
> German audio, but has English audio, would automatically
> be tuned to English audio, while still allowing me to
> select any other languages manually. Any channel that
> neither has German or English audio, would be tuned to
> its primary APID, while still allowing me to select any
> other languages manually.
> 
> As far as recordings go, the simplest idea would be to
> record all languages that are configured as preferred
> language (if present) or the primary APID, if none of
> the preferred languages are available. At least that
> could be the default behaviour, while a timer entry
> could also allow additional parameters, such as
> "record only the first N preferred languages".
> 
> As far as AC3 goes, this should be en/disabled globally,
> in addition to being treated according to the "preferred
> languages" setup. In other words, If I do not have AC3
> equipment, I disable AC3 globally and nothing is ever
> recorded or heard as live AC3 audio. If I do have AC3
> equipment, I enable AC3 globally. If something is
> broadcast in AC3 AND the language is among my preferred
> languages, I hear/record AC3, otherwise my
> preferred language without AC3 takes precedence.
> 
> I believe that would greatly simplify the task of setting
> up a generally useful channels.conf AND it would make
> vdr easier to use.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Carsten.

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