[mythtv] [Philosophical Discussion] VCDX patch for MythDVD

[Steele Price]

I am VERY interested in this also for MythVideo and MythMusic

I have a huge library of movies, tv, audiobooks, and music all being
converted to be managed in Myth and need to move some of it off HD (a
terrabyte just isn't enough).  I also happen to have a Powerfile 200 disc
DVD changer that I am struggling to get working correctly under linux.
(sometimes it works, sometimes it hangs...)  I would really like to have the
DVD Changer catalog avalable in the menus and also be able to remove/add
these disks at will to the library.  What I have been working on for quite
sometime and finally gave up from lack of help and frustration over various
inconsistencies in video data... was to store the library data in an XML
file that sits on the disk so when I mount it Myth would know what to do
with it and insert all the metadata for the disk.

Ultimately a schema for the needs to be published and a write to disc option
needs to be available in Myth.  I am willing to help out with implementing
this if I can get feedback/input on how to go about doing it the "myth" way,
not my old experimental way-- see my website for details.  I don't want to
have some convoluted structure like mpeg7 or mpeg21 which I looked at quite
extensively.  Just pump the files (all of them, covers, descriptions, etc.)
to a simple mythdata.xml file on the disc and be done with it, then we have
the backward compatibility to deal with if we don't think of alot to go into
the structure initially... so.

Anyone REALLY interested in this please email me directly so we can get
going on it, I want to have an export Music playlist to cd/dvd that works
the same way.  I can host anything required to achieve the development of
this branch... i..e. forums, cvs/subversion repository, etc. so development
msgs don't tie up this list and there is a searchable trail for it.

Steele Price
CTO
Digital Dreamshop
http://xtcp.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Edwards" <mark at edwards.homelinux.net>
To: "Development of mythtv" <mythtv-dev at mythtv.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtv] [Philosophical Discussion] VCDX patch for MythDVD


> Mark -
>
> you make a very interesting point re- archiving. If I may, I would be keen
> for you to consider the concept of Hierarchical Storage Management". This
is
> where the metadata for a particular file can be on the local online
storage,
> however the real data may have been 'migrated' to lower-cost or
> lower-availability storage (such as offline disk, optical disk, tape etc)
> The file is however retrievable - the operating system knows from the
> metadata where the file is and requests access to the media - if
warranted.
> Migration of files (in a true HSM system) is rules-based....
>
> It may be possible to implement a similar archival feature in MYth - where
> the metadata (and ultimate location of the file) is stored in the
database.
> Migration could occur either manually or as part of a set of rules... just
> leave a blank cd/dvd in your drive overnight and your least wached
episodes
> of Buffy (or whatever) find themselves transocded and migrated to DVD -
> they're still in the database however and when you want to watch them, it
> just asks you for the right disc...
>
> This is pretty much what I think you are suggesting, so with a simple
rules
> engine and schema we would have ourselves a true media HSM system...
>
> Mark
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark J. Titorenko" <mythtv-dev at titorenko.net>
> To: "Development of mythtv" <mythtv-dev at mythtv.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 8:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [mythtv] [Philosophical Discussion] VCDX patch for MythDVD
>
>
> > On Tue, Aug 26, 2003 at 02:49:16AM -0400, thor wrote:
> > > On Monday 25 August 2003 05:49 pm, Mark Edwards wrote:
> > >
> > > > 1. Should VCDX go in MythDVD or MythVideo? ( This was an easy one )
> > > > 2. If a user has only a single DVD drive, but still wants to play
> VCD's,
> > > > why do they need two buttons to push? The answer to this question is
> that I
> > > > havn't quite figured out how to do an 'autodetect' of the optical
> media
> > >
> > > I haven't figured it out either, at least not yet. But it can't be
that
> hard
> > > (Windows seems to be reasonably good at it).
> >
> > I imagine Windoze simply checks the directory structure on the disc to
> > figure out what variety of media is present.  CDs (and HD
> > directories/image files, although that's not so important in this
> > case) can contain DVD data too, so perhaps the method of detection
> > should be:
> >
> > - mount the disc
> > - if we can't mount it, then try detection of:
> >   (a) audio cd
> >   (b) something else (ie. put more detection heuristics in here for
> >   proprietary non-mountable discs)
> > - otherwise, try detection of directory structure [case-insensitive]:
> >   (a) /video_ts/video_ts.vob || /video_ts.vob -> DVD
> >   (b) /vcd/entries.vcd -> VCD
> >   (c) something else (ie. put more detection heuristics in here for
> >   proprietary mountable discs)
> >
> > For (c), things that immediately come to mind are:
> >
> > - look for .avi/.mpg [video] files in / -> (simple) video archive disc
> > - disc-wide search for .avi/.mpg [video] files -> video disc with some
> >   structure
> > - look for .jpg [image] files in / -> (simple) photo archive disc
> > - look for .jpg [image] files disc-wide -> structured photo archive disc
> > - look for .mp3/.ogg [audio] files in / -> (simple) audio archive disc
> > - look for .mp3/.ogg [audio] files disc-wide -> audio disc with some
> >   structure
> > - hybrids of the above
> >
> > I guess that the directory structure heuristics could actually be
> > applied to arbitrary directories - network mounts could be treated
> > removable media...?
> >
> > [Personally, I'd also like something that looked for a /disc.xml file
> > which is a descriptor file I put on my archive discs, which uses a
> > totally invented proprietary schema.]
> >
> > > > MythDVD that you had intended? This would of course mean that
MythDVD
> > > > doesn't really become MythDVD anymore, but
> > > > MythPLAY-OR-RIP-ANY-FILE-ON-REMOVBLE-MEDIA, which isn't really a
> viable
> > > > descriptor, but would perhaps be slightly more accurate....
> > >
> > > I'm kind of inclined to think that MythDVD should try and keep dealing
> with
> > > DVD's, whereas mythVideo (which is almost a file browser already),
> should be
> > > the thing that lets you play arbitrary content.
> > >
> > > In an ideal world, the mtd (which is already monitoring the dvd
drive),
> > > should be polling removable media and (if the user configures it),
> should
> > > fire up mythDVD on DVD insertion and mythVideo on XVCD/avi files
> insertion
> > > (and MythMusic on Music CD insertion).
> >
> > I also think that if the user hasn't configured it, they should be
> > able to trigger a similar action for "playing" the disc in a
> > straightforward way at any point after they've inserted it - something
> > like a "MythDisc" module at the main menu which offers information
> > about the disc(s?) that is currently inserted and possible ways of
> > displaying/playing the data it contains (MythDVD/MythVideo/MythMusic/
> > MythGallery).
> >
> > > I'm going to making some alterations to the mtd over the next couple
of
> weeks
> > > in any case (music cd ripping, possibly some burning stuff) so I'll
try
> and
> > > come up with a coherent polling strategy.
> >
> > With regard to the burning stuff, I've been thinking about a module
> > that would allow users to "archive" content to CD-R(W)/DVD(+)-R(W)
> > (mmm, brackets ;-)), to include things that have been ripped in Myth*,
> > TV recordings (perhaps transcoded) and arbitrary files.  Its working
> > title is "MythArchive". ;-)
> >
> > I thought it would be nice for it to write some metadata to the disc
> > too, similar to the "disc.xml" file I currently use.  This would allow
> > for easy content type detection using a single heuristic that reads
> > and trusts the disc.xml file.
> >
> > Discs could also be allocated "catalogue numbers" and what has been
> > archived where could be maintained in the myth db.  So later on, when
> > you again want to watch that fantastic episode of The Simpsons that
> > you recorded and archived 6 months ago, you could easily locate it
> > using MythArchive.
> >
> > > > Havn't really trawled the code to see if this is being
> > > > done, but it seems logical from a usability perspective. This is
> already a
> > > > function of MythVideo. With the only perceivable difference between
> MythDVD
> > > > and MythVideo (from a playing perspective) being the media where the
> video
> > > > is actually stored, do you perhaps see a merging of MythDVD and
> MythVideo
> > > > functionality anywhere on the horizon?
> > >
> > > Hey, as far as I'm concerned I'd like to see one playing screen
> (recorded
> > > television, music, videos, etc.). It 's all content, it has metadata,
> and we
> > > can organize it into any logical tree/view the user wants. But that's
a
> ways
> > > down the road I think.  =)
> >
> > Hehe, that sounds cool! :-) The "MythDisc" functionality could be
> > replaced by a top-level item in the tree/view that represents the
> > removable media, rather than fixed internal storage, but I invisage
> > that the next levels of the tree/view would be similar. Perhaps there
> > could also be an option for "absorbing" the content of the removable
> > media into the content tree/view and having the items that are on the
> > removable storage flagged on the interface with a little disc icon or
> > something.
> >
> > Anyway, I'm just rambling now, so I'll stop. =]
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Mark.
> >
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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