MediaPortal 2 recording (2 Viewers)

[eltell]

Hi Guys,

Question from a mewbie,
Forgive me if it's already been discussed but will this version have the MHEG5 capability for recording TV in I believe 2013 and onwards.

Thanks in advance

 

[Spragleknas]

I have no idea regarding MHEG, but it found this http://code.google.com/p/mheg-dotnet/ <- @McGoober - is this your baby? If so, perhaps you can answer the above. (Yup, I'm reaching here ):

 

[McGoober]

Yep that was mine.

Although it was easy to create an implementation of MHEG for C# by porting a C++ one, it was much harder to integrate it into the TV server and client.

The MHEG data happens to be in one or more extra streams within the MPEG Transport stream. These streams are identified by other tables within the transport stream and therefore could potentially be recorded along with the audio and video of the program you want to record. But you aren't guaranteed to get all data. Since MHEG is actually a scripting language it is possible for the script to call upon any other stream within the transport stream during it's execution. I believe this is how the adult programs in the UK (and possibly other countries) are hidden from normal users prying eyes. (not sure how I know this.. .).

With that said, you can see that it's actually quite a tricky task to record MHEG in full.

For live tv it can get a bit easier depending on implementation. Since we are talking about Client-Server architecture, one would assume that the TV server filters out unwanted streams from the receiving transport stream before delivering it to the client. If this is the case then you can immediately see a problem. We would need some feedback mechanism to the TV server to allow it to add back in the streams required.

I'm currently working on other things (DLNA support for MP2) and so don't have time to do this as well. But don't let that stop anyone else giving it a go. All the code for the rendering is there it just needs someone more experienced with the TV server to integrate it.

 

[jameson_uk]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/08/open_source_release_of_mheg_to.html
I would love to have MHEG5 red button stuff so much ......

 

[eltell]

Thanks for replies. Spragleknas I checked out your link to McGoober where there is a link to MythTV and in their Glossaary of terms section:

MHEG
From MythTV Official Wiki.
MHEG is a type of Interactive TV used in DVB. It includes such things as an enhanced channel guide, access to additional video streams, and games. So far the MythTV implementation only contains support for the UK and New Zealand profiles.
New Zealand has also decided to adopt MHEG as part of its FreeView digital platform. They are using a modified version of the UK 1.0.6 profile. Initial support for the NZ Profile is included in 0.21.

So McGoober it seems like it's there allbeit on the backburner at present and as it's open source now as Jameson_uk points out it's only a question of time.

I really don't know how you develpment guys find the time for all the work involved in producing mediaportal and still have your daily lives. You should all be applauded.
Thanks a mill all of you.