comparison DOCS/en/video.html @ 10615:65226e2ea605

DVB input documentation by Nico <[e-mail]> with some changes by me.

10614:d7243684623c

  underway.</P>


<H4><A NAME="mpegdec">2.3.1.3 MPEG decoders</A></H4>

<H4><A NAME="dvb">2.3.1.3.1 DVB</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer supports cards with the Siemens DVB chipset from vendors like
  Siemens, Technotrend, Galaxis or Hauppauge. The latest DVB drivers are
  available from the <A HREF="http://www.linuxtv.org">Linux TV site</A>. If you
  want to do software transcoding you should have at least a 1GHz CPU.</P>

<P>To keep the aspect ratio of DivX files and get the optimal scaling parameters
  (hardware horizontal scaling and software vertical scaling while keeping the
  right aspect ratio), use the new dvbscale filter:</P>

<PRE>
for  4:3 TV: -vf dvbscale,scale=-1:0,expand=-1:576:-1:-1:1
for 16:9 TV: -vf dvbscale=1024,scale=-1:0,expand=-1:576:-1:-1:1
</PRE>

<H4>FUTURE</H4>

<P>If you have questions or want to hear feature announcements and take part in
  discussions on this subject, join our

10615:65226e2ea605

  underway.</P>


<H4><A NAME="mpegdec">2.3.1.3 MPEG decoders</A></H4>

<H4><A NAME="dvb">2.3.1.3.1 DVB output and input</A></H4>

<P>MPlayer supports cards with the Siemens DVB chipset from vendors like
  Siemens, Technotrend, Galaxis or Hauppauge. The latest DVB drivers are
  available from the <A HREF="http://www.linuxtv.org">Linux TV site</A>. If you
  want to do software transcoding you should have at least a 1GHz CPU.</P>

<P>To keep the aspect ratio of DivX files and get the optimal scaling parameters
  (hardware horizontal scaling and software vertical scaling while keeping the
  right aspect ratio), use the new dvbscale filter:</P>

<PRE>
for a  4:3 TV: -vf dvbscale,scale=-1:0,expand=-1:576:-1:-1:1
for a 16:9 TV: -vf dvbscale=1024,scale=-1:0,expand=-1:576:-1:-1:1
</PRE>

<H4>Using your DVB card for watching Digital TV (DVB input module)</H4>

<P>First you need to pass the <CODE>dvb_shutdown_timeout=0</CODE> parameter
  to the kernel module <CODE>dvb-core</CODE>, or MPlayer will die after 10
  seconds.</P>

<P>You should also have the programs <CODE>scan</CODE> and
  <CODE>szap/tzap/czap</CODE> installed; they are all included in the drivers
  package.</P>

<P>Verify that your drivers are working properly with a program such as
  <A HREF="http://www.sf.net/projects/dvbtools/"><CODE>dvbstream</CODE></A>
  (that is the base of the DVB input module).</P>

<P>Now you should compile a <CODE>~/.mplayer/channels.conf</CODE> file,
  with the syntax accepted by <CODE>szap/tzap/czap</CODE>, or have
  <CODE>scan</CODE> compile it for you.</P>

<P>Make sure that you have have <B>only</B> Free to Air channels in your
  <CODE>channels.conf</CODE> file, or MPlayer will hang on the others.</P>

<P>To show the first of the channels present in your list, run</P>

<PRE>
  mplayer dvb://
</PRE>

<P>If you want to watch a specific channel, such as <CODE>R1</CODE>, run</P>

<PRE>
  mplayer dvb://R1
</PRE>

<P>To change channels press the <CODE>'h'</CODE> (next) and <CODE>'k'</CODE>
  (previous) keys, or use the <CODE>OSD</CODE> menu (requires a working
  <A HREF="documentation.html#subtitles_osd">OSD subsystem</a>).</P>

<P>If your <CODE>~/.mplayer/menu.conf</CODE> contains a <B>&lt;dvbsel&gt;</b>
  entry, such as the one in the example file <CODE>etc/dvb-menu.conf</CODE>
  (that you can use to overwrite <CODE>~/.mplayer/menu.conf</CODE>), the
  main menu will show a sub-menu entry that will permit you to choose
  one of the channels present in your <CODE>channels.conf</CODE>.</P>

<P>If you want to save a program to disk you can use</P>

<PRE>
  mplayer -dumpfile r1.ts -dumpstream dvb://R1
</PRE>

<P>If you want to record it in a different format (re-encoding it) instead you
  can run a command such as</P>

<PRE>
  mencoder -o r1.avi -ovc xvid -xvidenctopts bitrate=800 -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=128 -vf ci dvb://R1
</PRE>

<P>Read the man page for a list of options that you can pass to the DVB
  input module.</P>


<H4>FUTURE</H4>

<P>If you have questions or want to hear feature announcements and take part in
  discussions on this subject, join our