[mythtv-users] Manual record/stop

[Lane Schwartz]

> > >From: Matthew Laird <myth at delirious.ca>
> > >Reply-To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> > >To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > >Subject: [mythtv-users] Manual record/stop
> > >Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 12:48:00 -0800 (PST)
> > >I have a question about Myth's abilities.... is there the an ability to
> > >start and stop recording on command?  I ask because I have a number of old
> > >VHS tapes I'd like to record over for DVD archiving.  However besides
> > >trying to hit record at the exact moment I've configured a manual
> > >recording session, I can't think of any way to make Myth do it.
> > >
> > >Though as I write this, considering I have a pvr-350, I suppose I could
> > >write directly from the /dev/video to an mpeg file.  But it there's a
> > >better way to do it I'm curious.

> On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 02:53:41 +0000, Phill Edwards
> <phill_edwards at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Pressing "R" on the keyboard (or appropriately configured remote control
> > key) is supposed to toggle between record/stop recording when watching live
> > TV. So if the video feed was coming in as the TV feed wouldn't that do it?

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 23:01:09 -0600, spectro <spectro at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've been wondering about plain old VCR functions too. If you hit R at
> 9:55 myth will stop recording at 10 because the programming is got
> stored ends there. It would be cool to have a way to manual schedule
> from live tv, the way you would do with a VCR (just record this for
> the next two hours)
> 
> The problem with using "cat /dev/video0 > tmp/test_capture.mpg" is
> that I would like to use edit mode to remove commercial breaks. I have
> a ton of tennis matches on VHS tapes and mythcommflag works great
> getting the breaks right when I capture these.
> 

I agreed that current Myth functionality is not well suited to copying
videos from a VCR.

I have several dozen old home movies to archive to DVD, and I'm still
trying to come up with a good way of doing this.


Ideally, I'd like to see a "VHS dub" mode in Myth. In this mode, you
could configure Myth to record for X minutes (ex 120 mins), then hit a
key or button to "begin recording now".

This is different from recording Live TV because you can set an end
time. It is different from the manual recording mode because you can
press the  "begin recording now" key as you press play on the VCR; in
manual mode you have to set the time for the start of the recording,
and then try to press play at the exact time you have scheduled - this
is not a trivial difference.

I'd like to try implementing this myself, and I may try later this
month when I'm on vacation. But my C++ skills are a bit rusty... so
we'll see.

Other advanced functions that I think would be very useful in a "VCR
dub" mode would be "blank screen detection." A lot of my home videos
don't use the whole tape. Consequently, if I dub the whole tape onto
the computer, I often end up with 10-20 minutes of blank, blue screen
at the end of the tape. It would be great if this could be marked
automatically, in a similar manner to how commercials are detected.

Anyway, enough daydreaming for now...

Lane


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