[Xlash]

i can't answer completly i have a training in a few mins.

just to say the encoder for mpeg 4 i was checking was optimize for digital camcorders or even digital camera. it was a chip with his own cpu, registery, memory, and was able to encode 30fr/s real-time, which means is enough for pal and ntsc format.

however, it seems the tv2lan would still need another processor to process the data in a "understandable" format, buffer some, channel switching, and pass the data to the ethernet interface.

more detail explication in a few hours, c ya

[Gamester17]

another thing you have to think of before you select which hardware-encoder-chip, main-cpu and code/software to use, and that is the recording-container-format for when storing the stream to harddrive for the pvr function. for this the first things that needs to be considered is the compression-codec (mpeg-2/ts or mpeg-4) and the streaming-format (transport multiplexing) of those, now i know that from a mpeg-2/ts stream you can simple start storing(recording) in the middle of a stream then cut it of at any time and you will still be able to fast-forward and rewind in that stored(recorded) file as mpeg-2/ts is a very resiliant format that does not have to have a speacial header(index) for ff/rw (which will be an important function then plaing back that file at a later date, or if doing time-shifting and pause live-tv), however i do not think mpeg-4 streams works in the same way as mpeg-2/ts, i'm not 100% sure but i believe that by default in all mpeg-4 containers available (avi, ogm, mkv and mp4?) you can't simply start storing(recording) in the middle of a mpeg-4 stream then cut it of at any time, and that is because mpeg-4 containers(and codec?) requires an index and/or header for both the mpeg-4 video and the mpeg-4 (or mp3) audio stream, ...now i'm not a programmer so there are probebly ways around this that i don't know about, (maybe one can code it so that the index/header is create on-the-fly and kept in ram memory while recoding then automaticaly amend it to the stored file when the user press stop or start time-shifting?, maybe one even have to keep two separate index/headers in the ram memory at all time, one for recoding and one for time-shifting?, i don't know). anyway just thought i mention this so you don't overlook it.

list of potential real-time a/v encoding-chips and manufacturers of those chips:
- philips semiconductors manufacturs both tv-tuner chips and mpeg-encoder chips (nexperia-series being the latest & greatest!?)
- sigma designs, inc (http://www.sigmadesigns.com) manufature and sell digital media processors chips for both encoding and decoding.
- cirrus logic (http://www.cirrus.com) manufactuers/sells semiconductors and entertainment processors.
- other relative manufacturers i could find include; conexant systems (cnxt), panasonic, focus, sony, cirrus.
- even more manufactures (plus hints and tips on assembly, manufacturing, etc.) can be found here (link) on yahoo! <= good stuff!
* canopus mediaedge2 lan-based video distribution system (someone who already done something like the tv2lan box?)
# list of ready pci adapters (if chose the via mini-itx route anyway): http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1930

btw, looking at available chips noticed some have embedded host cpu (ex. arm @ 150-200mhz), could those be used as main cpu too?
oh, looks like you might have to have separate chips for tv-turning and video-capture/encoding? haven't yet seen one chip with both?
...wait, looks like nexperia media processor for "networked home media servers" can do it and much more, it looks ideal for tv2lan!?

ps! a quick re-search revealed these avarage bandwith requirements for uncompressed and compressed video/audio formats:
- uncompressed stream of 720x480 video at 30fps or 720x576 at 25fps both requires aprox 41mb/s of bandwidth.
- mpeg-2/ts stream 720x480 video at 30fps or 720x576 at 25fps both requires aprox 16mb/s - 4mb/s of bandwidth.
- mpeg-4 stream 720x480 video at 30fps or 720x576 at 25fps both requires aprox 4mb/s - 1mb/s of bandwidth.
also remember that all standard xboxes only have udma-33 cables with a harddrive at 5200rpm, and max 5gb of free space.

[Xlash]

thanks for your research. the nexperia chip might be everything we were looking for. i'll get back on that chip and another one find at chipwright (for digital camera).

for those bandwith information, if the mpeg4 stream, as you said, doesn't support easy ff/rw (which i think is true, except if we store the data on another format, which won't resolve everything for standard xbox users.), the mpeg2-ts would have to be used. however, the multiple channel display (for multiple xboxs, pc, etc) would be interesting with the bandwith consumption of mpeg4 stream.

i'll study those cpus (which can be used as normal cpu and video/audio encoder too) and get back on forums.

thanks a lot.

by the way, i'm still waiting for friendtech feedback. if they are interested, the project could be done fast enough.

another point, althought most of xbox users still use their 5 gb free hdd space, the pvr will not aim at them. they will have such limited recording. the pvr will aim at those with bigger and faster hdd, those with a dreamx and those with a good pc or mac. it will still work on lower end machine or xboxs, but to use fully the pvr recording ability, we will need more disk storage. moreover, their could be a interest from the modchip producer, as the pvr xbox might take good use of the front display lcd they integrated in their last version. (channel display, recording setting while tv off, or maybe even while xbox off.... to see(need to fully replace a vcr ;-))

back to work, more feedback and encoders analyze to come.!

[Gamester17]

thanks for your research. the nexperia chip might be everything we were looking for.

i haven't read the specs or function sheits yet, but at first glace nexperia centenly looks ideal for this project, there are many different nexperia to choose from, all of which have different capabilities/features, ex. the pnx8550 (link to pdf) looks to have both analog and digital tv receiver/turner built into the one chip, (or?), it supports mpeg-2/ts, has both (two) media processing core(s) and a mips cpu, built-in ide and smartcard/flash controllers, and can transcode both vidio and audio into several formats(?!, ...in fact it looks to be deigned for exacly just a tv2lan/pvr box.

for those bandwith information, if the mpeg4 stream, as you said, doesn't support easy ff/rw (which i think is true, except if we store the data on another format, which won't resolve everything for standard xbox users.), the mpeg2-ts would have to be used.

like i said, i'm sure that mpeg-4 can be ff/rw but it won't be as easy as mpeg-2/ts. but here is another reason why the nexperia is interesting, it supports both mpeg-2 and mpeg-4 so you can code it so the user get to decide, or start by coding only mpeg-2 support then later add mpeg-4 support via a software/firmware upgrade once worked out the issues.

however, the multiple channel display (for multiple xboxs, pc, etc) would be interesting with the bandwith consumption of mpeg4 stream.

if could do multicast streaming then the bandwith would not be a problem as all boxes would recieve same stream (similar to internet radio/tv), however the xbox xdk does not support multicast but i'm sure a workaround count be found. don't quite understand what you mean by "multiple channel display", i understod that if you only have one analog-rf chip then it can only tune-in one tv-channel at a time, so unless you put more than one analog-rf tv-turner chip into the box you can only stream one channel at a time, (but maybe i'm wrong, maybe there are single chip solutions out there that can tune-in more than channel at a time?). however you can with multicast stream that one channel to several different recievers (pc/mac/xbox interfaces) at the same time like a feed, but as soon as one flicks the channel all will change channel as they only display the stream. digital-tv it a bit different, not sure about dvb-t but some dvb-s streams contain more one channel or audio-tracks muxed into the same stream and all the box could do is pass that stream on, or alternativly de-mux (and possible re-mux) those streams before send them on to the local network.

i'll study those cpus (which can be used as normal cpu and video/audio encoder too).

again a plus for nexperia, it looks to function as a cpu as well, this should also save production cost and complexity.

by the way, i'm still waiting for friendtech feedback. if they are interested, the project could be done fast enough.

if it turns out that friendtech is not interested for one reason or the other then consider asking one or several of the modchips teams to join the project (like xecuter, ozxodus or smartxx), those teams all have both electronic design and programming skills/resourses, plus they also have manufacturing contacts/fasilities. they might even be intrested in helping the project without direct reward/profit/pay as this tv2lan project will indirectly help their buissneses becase it would help sell modchips. who knows, the modchip teams might support this project even if friendtech actualy get the credits.

another point, althought most of xbox users still use their 5 gb free hdd space, the pvr will not aim at them.

i still sthink you should consider (at least in the future) to make/sell several different derivitive models of the box, ex;
- tv2lan lite: basic rf-analog antenna-in and rca coax video-in + rca left/right audio-in to rj-45 100mb network-out
- tv2lan plus: rf-analog antenna-in and rca coax video-in + rca left/right audio-in to rj-45 100mb network-out (as lite),
   but also with built-in harddrive (or harddrive slot/room for future upgrade) for local-storage (nexperia has ide controller).
- tv2lan pro: rf-analog antenna-in and rca coax video-in + rca left/right audio-in to rj-45 1000mb/1gb network-out,
   but maybe also more than one rf-reciever/modulator so can stream more than more channel at a time (muxed?).
- future models/derivitives; could have more than one media (nexperia) processor and space for several harddrives



another big thing that needs to be considered and decided is the network streaming-protocol and remote-control commands to be used;
  the way i see it you would have choose one of these four methods / protocols(?):
1. upnp (link); i think it would be ideal for tv2lan (if can get it to work with xbox), it has both streaming & remote-control.
    (upnp is emerging to become the standard for these things, integrate mediaserver and renderingcontrol into tv2xbox).
2. xbmsp (ccxstream): the xbmc/xbmp streaming protocol, would have to be extended to send remote-control commands.
    (xbmsp is smart/small/simply but lacks needed remote-control commands, plus third-party libs have to be used to pc/mac).
3. http: http, so mac/pc can use webbrowser as interface. add/use #play, #stop, #ff, etc. commads for remote-control.
    (http is not ideal for streaming but would probebely sufice, and it standard could easly be ported to other platforms).
4. write your own protocol/format from scratch. (not ideal, but most flexible and you could design it exacly like you want).

[Xlash]

depending on friendtech interest, and/or other business, it may seems a pretty interesting way to sell the product (lite, normal, pro, etc.) however, i will first think about a single prototype, except if needed. in time, we'll see.

i was thinking about the same thing for the mpeg2 -4 remote control possibility. for recording, mpeg4 could be choosen automatically, and for tivo functionnality, mpeg2 would be preferable (for coding (at this moment)). however, for limited bandwith lan, or for multi-channel streaming, mpeg4 could be our only choice.

i ain't looking for multicast, as you said, multi-channel could be muxed onto a single stream, or as numerous as the # of channels selected.

for the network streaming protocol, i don't know them yet. i will see with my software specialist what he thinks would be the best way, and workaround for the project.

for the remote control, a homemade protocol communication, pretty simple, would be use. probably via ip & tcp. i will read and learn about upnp.

you are of a great help. thank you very much!

[khmann002]

i was reading this forum and something hit me. at my school we have a video system that runs through cat5. all i know is there are little box’s that sit next to the tvs that take the cat5 and outputs it to the tvs with coax. i used to do video announcements for the school and my video board connected to a small box which in turn connected to a cat5 cable that connected to a hub. the little boxes in the rooms could also be used to call up movies on demand and other types of media. the box’s also controlled the tv with an ir attachment that covered the receiver on the tv. that was used for making call over to turn on all the tvs at once and to place them on a channel. this is really all of the info i have at the moment other then the name that i heard used for the system. i remember it being referred to as the ranger system. if you think its worth looking into i can talk to some people.
kevin

[khmann002]

something else hit me..... has anyone ever thought into looking at those ethernet webcams? how do they capture video and serve them to a network? im not talking about a web cam connected to a pc im talking about a webcam that connects directly to a hub. if your getting sick of my ideas let me no. kevin

[Xlash]

for your first idea, it is often found in hotels. those boxes serves as a media requester and buffer to output to tv and receive remote signal. however, it is the opposite that we want to do. in out case, it's gonna be the xbox which will take the signal from the cat5 and send it to the tv. we are looking at the other box, which receive tv, encode audio and video, stream it as desired to the lan.

for your other idea, i dunnot know exactly your webcam to lan, however, it's the last part of the box : take a signal and stream it. the more difficult part would be first to conceive the tv2lan, then the channel selection with analog tv-tuner, and the software part of it, and for the front end devices. right now, the chip that gamester17 point me is able to do everything from input signal, to de-interlacing tv signal, encoding real-time up to mpeg4, access to memory ddr up to 256 mb, tcp/ip ethernet upnp protocol integrated, pci port for ide bus (flash card, ide hdd, dvd-rom), and even a entry for boot eeprom.

it seems able to do everything and manage the core of the tv2lan. more details to come when we would have figured eveything in the device from components to software, library and protocols needed!

continue posting your idea, what's not said is not helpful and what is, is not damageable! we would end with a great product!

[Gamester17]

taking a second look at the nexperia chip(s). here is an overview of pnx8550, (one of many different nexperia derivitives):

i think i got some details wrong; take a look at the pnx8550 overview above, i'm not sure if i interpet it correctly but looks like the tv-tuners/recievers ("analog/digital tuner & frontend") are not integrated?, to me it now looks like those are just two separate ports/interfaces to the two trimedia™ media processing cores, if that is true(?) then you would still have to add a separate tv-tuner chip and connect to one of those ports in order to recieve the tv/antenna-signal, though the possitive things with that design is that you could add any compatible tv-tuner chip you want (philips manufactures those types of chips too), and since the pnx8550 has 2 ports and 2 media processing cores you add 2 tv-tuner chips (one on each port) to process and stream two different channels at the same time (watch one while recording the other), you could even chose to use 2 different types of tv-tuner chip (ex; 1 analog chip and 1 digital chip), so for the tv2lan-lite model you could only include 1 tv-tuner chip inside the box but on the the normal and/or tv2lan-advanced models you include 2 tv-tuner chips inside the box. my guess is that philips even manufacture one single tv-tuner chip that can supports both analog-tv (rf-antenna) and digital-tv (dvb-t via antenna), if so then the potential is even greater, one tv2lan-box could have 2 diffrent chips thus support both rf-antenna/dvb-t (chip1) and dvb-s satellite (chip 2).  ...we all should do some diggin into that (not only if it's possible but also find out which tv-tuner chips be best suited and compatible with nexperia).

i've not gone through all models so pnx8550 might not be the ideal choise? think it's a toss between pnx8550 and pnx1500?

if i interpet the nexperia specs correctly then this is what i think is basicaly needed for the tv2lan-box:
- one nexperia pnx8550 chips. pnx8550 because integrates both a main cpu, two separate media cpu's, and much more.
- analog/digital tv-tuner chip(s); note! remember that nexperia pnx8550 can have one or two of these, (think models),
  (there are many different turner variables, some are analog, multi-components and big, others are digital and single-chip,
  persoanly think the ideal would be single digital tv-tuner chip/chips, preferably chip that support both analog and dvb-t).
- coaxial demodulator; not sure if this is needed as the above chip(s) might integrate this, especialy the single chip ones.
- antenna-in/coax input port, plus a rca-video port, and rca left/right audio input ports (to connect vcr or other inputs).
- one or more ddr sdram memory chip, the ideal amound have to be calculated, (more memory is better but cost more).
- flash rom and/or smartcard memory module, for the os/sw. (flash rom needed to boot?, but is it ideal for os/sw?).
- lan controller/adapter and a rj-45 port, 100mb for lite to plus, 1gb for pro(?) (ideal would be if it also supports "wol").
- dc/dc converter(s) (needed to different componets need different voltage/amp)(good idea to put in replacable fuse too).
- ac/dc enternal power supply/converter (extenal psu so can easily sell/use in different contries or replace if the old one fail)
- case (i think idea would be aluminium casing, at least for the bulk, maybe only use plastic for front, so no need for a fan).

i like to elaborate on the idea of making/selling several different derivitive models of nexperia-based tv2lan-boxes:
- tv2lan lite: basic rf-analog antenna-in and rca coax video-in + rca left/right audio-in to rj-45 100mb network-out.
- tv2lan normal: rf-analog / digital dvb-t antenna-in and rca-video-in + rca left/right audio-in to 100mb network-out.
- tv2lan plus: rf-analog / digital dvb-t antenna-in and rca-video-in + rca left/right audio-in to 100mb network-out,
   but also with built-in harddrive (and/or harddrive slot for future upgrade) for local-storage (nexperia has ide controller).
- tv2lan pro: rf-analog / digital dvb-t antenna-in and rca-video-in + rca left/right audio-in to rj-45 1gb network-out,
   but maybe also more than one analog/digital antenna-in so can stream more than more channel at a time (muxed?).
- future tv2lan models could have: more than nexperia chip, dvb-s satellite-in, usb-webcamera input, several hdd's.

finally i like to quikly argue the reasons why i think you should choose to use "upnp support (universal plug'n'play protocol)":
 (first let me just mention that i'm not sure about nexperia pnx8550 but pnx1500 looks to have integrated upnp support!
- please start by read my post here (link) on why implement upnp support into xbmc, the post describes the different parts of upnp.
  (the two upnp parts that would go into the tv2lan-box integrated os/sw is "mediaserver dcp" and "renderingcontrol dcp").
- upnp mediaserver dcp is the streaming-protocol + method of sharing part of upnp, upnp clients auto-detect it on the network.
  (because upnp is an standard you only have to follow it and any upnp client will be able to detect and stream from tv2lan).
- renderingcontrol dcp is the upnp part that take control/send-commands over the network, like record, change channel, etc.
  (again, because upnp is a standard there's not need to make a new intruction-set, just follow it and any upnp client can use it).
- upnp mediarenderer dcp this is the client part that would go into xbmc, or pc and mac clients so that can stream from tv2lan.
  (again, because upnp is an existing standard you would not have to write the client libraries yourself, ...if you don't want that is)
- the only issue with upnp is that the xbox xdk does not support mulicast but i'm sure a workaround could be found for tv2lan.
   (i think that the only limitations no mulitcast support would mean is no auto-detect of the mediaserver from the xbmc-client).

ps! just remembered that if you choose to use mpeg-2 or mpeg-ts standard you optain a license from mpeg la (for each device?)
(using xvid or a other non-standard and feely open/available codec would get get around the need to pay royalty fees for mpeg-2).

[Xlash]

the pnx8550 device lacks details. for example, it only specifies that it can decode mpeg signal, mp3 signal, ac-3, etc. wheter the pnx1500 can encode to that type of signal. it has to be clarified.

the cpu only features possible cpu calculations. there is no tv-tuner integrated. however, those chips already exist. i haven't extensively search for one of them, but i doubt it will be hard. even more, i and my electrical specialist friend can build one from scratch without a big problem. even the selective channel option wouldn't be so hard. (based on local oscillator selected by output voltage from a cpu interface.

for the 2 front-end tv-tuner possibility, that is a nice idea for digital tv. but because we must take the signal going out of the digital receiver, it'll be the same baseband signal coaxial modulated. the only difference will be that no channel selection would be possible. but it'll offer recording possibility.

i read too about the mpeg2- ts lisence. if i plan to go commercial, or if my "future" sponsor would make it commercial, it would be to have. as you said the xvid is free but none of those chips can encode to that. for the time that is a personnal and open project without commercial perspective, i won't check further about that.

f i interpet the nexperia specs correctly then this is what i think is basicaly needed for the tv2lan-box:
- one nexperia pnx8550 chips. pnx8550 because integrates both a main cpu, two separate media cpu's, and much more.
- analog/digital tv-tuner chip(s); note! remember that nexperia pnx8550 can have one or two of these, (think models),
(there are many different turner variables, some are analog, multi-components and big, others are digital and single-chip,
persoanly think the ideal would be single digital tv-tuner chip/chips, preferably chip that support both analog and dvb-t).
- coaxial demodulator; not sure if this is needed as the above chip(s) might integrate this, especialy the single chip ones.
- antenna-in/coax input port, plus a rca-video port, and rca left/right audio input ports (to connect vcr or other inputs).
- one or more ddr sdram memory chip, the ideal amound have to be calculated, (more memory is better but cost more).
- flash rom and/or smartcard memory module, for the os/sw. (flash rom needed to boot?, but is it ideal for os/sw?).
- lan controller/adapter and a rj-45 port, 100mb for lite to plus, 1gb for pro(?) (ideal would be if it also supports "wol").
- dc/dc converter(s) (needed to different componets need different voltage/amp)(good idea to put in replacable fuse too).
- ac/dc enternal power supply/converter (extenal psu so can easily sell/use in different contries or replace if the old one fail)
- case (i think idea would be aluminium casing, at least for the bulk, maybe only use plastic for front, so no need for a fan).

for your list description, that is all right. (what do you mean by wol, wireless lan (wlan?)) in the case of that wlan, there is some adapters on sale everywhere which take a rj-45 entry and put it to 802.11 a/b/g. and you can connect the tv2lan to a wireless router and the solution is done.

i'll get back to you as soon as i had the time to read all the info for the upnp protocol. as i know, the dhcp protocol use broadcast of the mac adress (both directions) to identify lan components. there is surely a way with the xdk to figure out how to grab those multicast/broadcast. i haven't use the xdk before however. i guess i'll have to learn how it works pretty soon ;-)


just think of the system links detection protocols. it sure use broadcast and multicast to find other xboxs on the network too... we'll have to figure that out.

the next logical step to our current research, will be for me to :
- get more info on pnx8550
- search for a analog2digital converter, coaxial demodulation module and tv-tuner oh and a lan adapter (will depends on the cpu, the 1550 have l2(ethernet) l3(ip) l4(tcp) integrated.)
-learn more about the upnp protocol
-try to figure out the required ddr sdram memory needed (cost approximation would be useful to find sponsor)

ciao

[t029248]

hi xlash

it’s enjoyable too see the birth of tv2lan here. i wonder when there will be started a webpage / community for this project. i also hope that the software will stay open source like is xbmc. i guess many people would like to help / participate in this project but once the startup of the project will be final a community portal would be appropriate.

[Xlash]

i agree with you for the portal. however, if not enough user see it, it won't be of much use. the xbmc forum could do the job for the development part on xbmc, what do you think?

or maybe a adress on x-s... i'll think of it.

to answer your question, the software will be open source. except if a sponsor clearly ask for the development rights, or private rights. however, the xbmc module would be open, even if it's conterpart on the pc is not... we'll see..

[Gamester17]

the pnx8550 device lacks details. for example, it only specifies that it can decode mpeg signal, mp3 signal, ac-3, etc. wheter the pnx1500 can encode to that type of signal. it has to be clarified.

i think i can clear this up for you; looks like pnx8550 have all the features pnx1500 have (with the exeception of a built-in network controller);
- pnx8550 multi-core design: one 266-mhz mips32 main-cpu and two/dual 240-mhz trimedia™ (tm3260) media processing cores.
- pnx1500 single-core design: one 266/300-mhz trimedia™ (tm3260) media processing cores, (same trimedia as pnx8550 but faster)

the cpu only features possible cpu calculations. there is no tv-tuner integrated. however, those chips already exist.

think i understand that principle now; the back-end is the cpu (pnx8550 or pnx1500 in this case), and the front-end is the tv-tuner(s),
so in the case of both pnx1500 and pnx8550 you would still at least need one separate tv-tuner chip connected at the front-end:

front-ends:
philips ultimate one chip iii (uociii) pnx300x digital-one-chip contains the complete functionality of an analog television set in one package, but i'm not sure if pnx300x is too expensive to use as a simple analog tv tuner/reciever front-end(?), though it would be very nice if it isn't to pricy as it does both tv, fm radio and teletext. more info (link). however it doesn't look like pnx300x supports dvb-t, but if go with pnx8550 you could use a second chip for dvb-t.

philips tda10046ht; dvb-t channel receiver (single-chip channel receiver, looks to have a rf-tuner too but i'm not sure)
philips tda10021 or tda10023ht; dvb-c channel receiver (single-chip dvb-c and dvb-c/mcns channel recievers)
alternativly you could use a fm-radio or dab-digital-radio reciever/tuner the bus to the other media processing core/cpu.

checkout philips semiconductors product lists for tv and radio tuners (hybrid digital and analog tv tuners do exists):
http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/catalog....l#41365
http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/catalog....l#47995
http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/catalog....l#47994

for the 2 front-end tv-tuner possibility, that is a nice idea for digital tv.

yes that is if the pnx8550 is selected with its two media processors, also if can't find a single chip that does both dvb-t and analog-tv.
question: is it possible to connect more than one tuner-chip to each media processing cpu (as long as only one is used at a time)?
(if that is possible then one could exampel connect both a 'dvb-t chip' and a 'rm-radio chip' to only one media processing core?, or?)

i read too about the mpeg2- ts lisence. if i plan to go commercial, or if my "future" sponsor would make it commercial, it would be to have. as you said the xvid is free but none of those chips can encode to that. for the time that is a personnal and open project without commercial perspective, i won't check further about that.

not true. you see the nexperia trimedia media processor(s) does not have the decoder/encoder codecs built-into it. it simply caries out the floating-point instructions for such video and audio codec much faster than a normal x86 processor because the nexperia trimedia media processor is designed and dedicated to do just that. so you still need a "trimedia application library" (kind of like a software dll) for each encoder/decoder codec you like to use, and since xvid is a open source mpeg-4 codec you should be able to simply port and compile that into a "trimedia application library" using the trimedia sdk or nexperia nh-8550 sdk, (at least i think so, i'm i wrong?, i mean they already have a divx library available and that is just a mpeg-4 derivitive just like xvid is).  

what do you mean by wol, wireless lan (wlan?)

no, by wol meant "wake on lan" as make it boot when off by sending a magic-packet over the network to it's mac-address.

[t029248]

i agree with you for the portal. however, if not enough user see it, it won't be of much use. the xbmc forum could do the job for the development part on xbmc, what do you think?

i agree with you that people should know there is a pvr2lan project. i also think that any development part which takes place on the xbmc side belongs here? but this project is bigger then xbmc and for that reason and many others it needs its own portal. but first things first, of course!!

the nexperia platform looks promising too me, but if you use it, i advise you to make it possible to use, or add a double tuner. double tuners support is / was one of the biggest wishes many dreambox owners have. perhaps in a lite tv2lan 1 tuner is sufficient but in a tv2lan pro version there should be a 2nd. (i can imagine that the tv2lan box will be the only tuner in a system!!

[Xlash]

sorry about that confusion regarding the instructions sets versus the library avalaible for the sdk. my thoughts were still on a hardware encoder. those processors are what we need. i don't know yet the processing power, but i think that both of 'em would do great job.

that is right : cpu don't have analog inputs. (except if it has analog to digital chip embedded) in our case we'll need another hardware piece, "front-end" as you call it, which will demodulated the coaxial signal for the selected channel to baseband signal. or if it's rca (video and stereo audio), it will only pass throught it. then, there will be the analog to digital conversion. after that, the signal will be an entry to the cpu chip. our software will take that (those)signal(s), and encode it as needed (we have talk about mpeg2-ts, mpeg4, xvid, etc.) or don't stream anything.

but what about the dvb-t signal decoding, you propose that right? or you propose that we took the output of the digital receiver and put pvr functionnalities on it? if you propose to replace the digital receiver, most of the signals are encrypted, and it's illegal to decrypt them. you need to buy the proper key or licence to use it.

if you mean take the output signal of the digital receiver, the signal is already converted to baseband (either with rca, or modulated to coaxial rf). that means that our analog encoder would do the job, except it won't be able to change the channel. (as an old nes system use by default coaxial modulator to channel 3 or 4)


the pnx300x is a nice chip that seems once again perfect for our need. i'll study it tonight a bit more.

question: is it possible to connect more than one tuner-chip to each media processing cpu (as long as only one is used at a time)?
(if that is possible then one could exampel connect both a 'dvb-t chip' and a 'rm-radio chip' to only one media processing core?, or?)

a cpu can process any data if the software is made for it. we can take 10 signals, mux (either temporal mux, or data mux) them into on input to the cpu, and then process it as we wish. remember, we are talking about data, that is no longer analog signal which are querky to manipulate and with which we risk to lose data. a data flow can contain anything, and can means different thing. for example we could create a c++ class as this :

class input(char data[int data_size])
{
 private:
 stream st_1, st_2, st_3, st_4, st_5..

 public:
 load_stream();
 output_channel();

}
class stream()
{
  public:
  stream:tream();
  encode_audio(type);
  encode_video(type);
}

the point is simply to show that we will deal with the data ourself. first software demux, than soft encoding processing, etc, than output.

finally for the wol, remember those chips aren't power expensive. the cpu can be slow down (frequency), so it would be possible. however, the only use for that i see (if paying 2¢ a month of power comsuption isn't a problem) is the bandwith save. (which can be triggered via the upnp command on/off tv)

t029248:
i'm thinking of even channel on channel while recording ;-)
i guess that 3 simultaneous stream would be enough, but we haven't think of that. i guess that one isn't enough, if you got 2 tv and a pc, that sucks pretty much to watch the same channel or to fight for what to check!

a university friend suggest me to create a community at our university to work on that. i think it's a pretty good idea. there are some limitations on marketing stuff probably, but that can ensure enveryone a free, open product, and still let us some funds and precious help for development and debugging. this is on the case no sponsor are to be found, or no good agreement to be conclude.

good after-noon, and good night gamester17 i presume (where do u live, europe? asia?)