[vdr] Sky plugin / recording analog video with VDR.

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

Hi,

Klaus and I have briefly compared the quality of analog
video recorded

a) with VDR using the Sky plugin and a kfir MPEG encoder board.

b) with SGI's dmrecord using a shell script and the built-in
   frame grabber hardware of an SGI O2.

Here are the results:

*  At least with kernel 2.4.10, the kfir driver "captures" an
   annoying virtual green line in the lower half of the screen.
   The rest of the picture looks good.
   The picture captured by the O2 contains no artefacts.

*  The resolution captured from the kfir board is 704x576,
   the resolution captured from the O2 hardware is 768x576.

*  Visually, the O2 picture is sharper and has a slightly
   better contrast.
   OTOH, the O2 solution is not automatic and does not
   even create MPEG on the fly.

*  We compared slowly moving scenes, so we cannot judge the
   compression quality (block artefacts) in fast-changing
   images (on the O2, this cannot be a problem, as it
   captures frames individually).

As discussed before, decoding the MPEG data into analog AV,
capturing the analog AV and re-encoding it into MPEG seems
like a perfect way to waste a lot of money on hardware just
to get the quality down. ;-)
Has anyone heard any news about a way to tap into the Sky
box and get at the original MPEG stream?

I have taken a look at the web site of the german maker
of the kfir board, but I could not find the product
anywhere, so I assume it is no longer being produced?

I have searched the net for Linux capturing solutions
and found the following:

  * A linux driver for the Hauppauge PVR 250/350 PCI board.
    See http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/FAQ.html
    The 250 board has a list price of 199 Euro, see
    http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/index.html
    This:
      http://ivtv.sourceforge.net/index.html
    looks to me like the driver is actively being developed,
    but development is still at an early stage.

  * A linux driver for the Hauppauge PVR USB box.
    See http://pvrusb.sourceforge.net
    According to
      http://linuxtv.org/mailinglists/mpeg2/2003/03-2003/msg00001.html
    this runs relatively well.
    The USB box has a list price of 299 Euro, see
    http://www.hauppauge.de/prod_pvrusb.htm

  * An MPEG 4 (!) encoder board including Linux drivers
    by Linux Media Labs.
      See http://www.linuxmedialabs.com/product_details.php?prodid=105
    Cost: $595 + $85 Shipping.
    Picture MPEG 4 and Sound MP3 certainly is the ideal combination
    for best quality at lowest data rates.
    Seems like a great board, but quite a steep price.

Does anyone know if you can use any of these (including the kfir)
to re-encode MPEG AV into other resolutions and/or bit rates in
real time, so you could for example create archives of your VDR
recordings in (S)VCD or MPEG 4 (divx) format?

Does anyone (besides Klaus) have any experience (good or bad)
with the Sky plugin or at least with any analog AV to MPEG
capturing solution?


Carsten.



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