[mythtv-users] detecting live video within mythtv?

[dick at photoclerk.com]

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> On May 11, 2006, at 08.09, Adam Hirsch wrote:
>
>> David Watkins (watkinshome at gmail.com) wrote:
>>
>>>> Is there any slicker way to do this test?
>>
>>> I think any slick method is going to depend on knowing what your
>>> capture device is.
>>
>> Heh  -- that's what I get for posting before coffee.  My capture
>> device is
>> a Hauppauge 250.
>
> I'm assuming you mean a Hauppauge PVR-250. cat /dev/video0 >test.mpg
> is about as simple as it gets. MPlayer is another option, and
> everything you should need to know is in the MAN page.
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Sorry, I don't have any new information to add, but I believe that
over-zealous trimming of the original message has lost the context here. 
The poster said:

> Question is, is there any way from within mythtv to tell whether or
> not the
> satellite box is currently sending video?  I'd rather not cycle the
> box if
> we don't have to.
>
> I was thinking that maybe I could do a quick test capture
>
> cat /dev/video0 > test.mpg
>
> for a set number of seconds, and then look to see how big the
> resulting
> file is.  (presuming an mpg captured this way would vary its size
> based on
> complexity and content.)
>
> Is there any slicker way to do this test?

which is what the most recent poster is suggesting he do(!?!)