Lightweight DVB-T VCR with linux

gerryino · 9th October 2008, 16:33

Hi,

If i have a debian machine without X installed, is it possible to add a DVB-T card and make a lightweight VCR with some command line app and maybe cron?

I mean, do i need X server or i can just install the card driver and work with... (mencoder?)

I have a mini-ITX with Atom@1.6Ghz, i think i can drop the stream on the HD and maybe process it later.

nm · 9th October 2008, 17:10

I recommend installing VDR for DVB receiving. It works without X and is pretty lightweight with 10-30 MB resident memory usage, depending on installed plugins. Among other uses, VDR can serve as a plain recording backend, controlled through a web interface like VDRAdmin-AM or VDR LIVE. Debian's VDR packages are quite good, but configuration may be a bit awkward at first. There are some Debian-specific instructions at the VDR Wiki: http://www.linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index...onfiguring_VDR

You could also write cron scripts and use command-line DVB tools to control the card, capture transport streams and disect them manually, but VDR already does all this and much, much more. To process VDR's MPEG-2 recordings, use Project X to demux or remux the streams and then re-encode if you wish (all this can be scripted too).

gerryino · 15th October 2008, 19:40

Didn't know about it, thanks a lot.

9th October 2008, 16:33	#1 \| Link
gerryino Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 3	Lightweight DVB-T VCR with linux Hi, If i have a debian machine without X installed, is it possible to add a DVB-T card and make a lightweight VCR with some command line app and maybe cron? I mean, do i need X server or i can just install the card driver and work with... (mencoder?) I have a mini-ITX with Atom@1.6Ghz, i think i can drop the stream on the HD and maybe process it later.

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9th October 2008, 17:10	#2 \| Link
nm Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 2,641	I recommend installing VDR for DVB receiving. It works without X and is pretty lightweight with 10-30 MB resident memory usage, depending on installed plugins. Among other uses, VDR can serve as a plain recording backend, controlled through a web interface like VDRAdmin-AM or VDR LIVE. Debian's VDR packages are quite good, but configuration may be a bit awkward at first. There are some Debian-specific instructions at the VDR Wiki: http://www.linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index...onfiguring_VDR You could also write cron scripts and use command-line DVB tools to control the card, capture transport streams and disect them manually, but VDR already does all this and much, much more. To process VDR's MPEG-2 recordings, use Project X to demux or remux the streams and then re-encode if you wish (all this can be scripted too).

15th October 2008, 19:40	#3 \| Link
gerryino Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 3	Didn't know about it, thanks a lot.