Re: [vdr] reel netclient

2009-04-13 Thread Matthias Müller
Hi,

Georg Acher schrieb:
 The thing is not yet available, so the current SVN doesn't contain most of
 the new code. But in general it uses the same reelvdr-base as the
 Avantgarde (just with a different output plugin for the SoC). The live TV
 streaming is not done by the vdr on the Avantgarde, but directly via
 IPv6-multicast by the NetCeiver-hardware. This is the same way the
 Avantgarde gets its data, so the NetCeiver traffic is just bridged into the
 LAN for other clients.

   
I have no netceiver to play with and didn't look at the sources. But 
it's nice to see a real world use for IPv6 in consumer hardware (if you 
can call the reel boxes consumer hardware, it's probably only for a 
limited, but sophisticated market.
Does it just use a fixed multicast-address to receive the stream and if 
yes, how is the communication to the tuner realized? Is this something 
reel-specific or could this be used to start a unified streaming-concept 
for vdr based on standards (and using IPv6 to avoid all that ugly IPv4 
stuff...)

A very interested Matthias

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Re: [vdr] reel netclient

2009-04-13 Thread Matthias Müller
Hi,

Georg Acher schrieb:
 I have no netceiver to play with and didn't look at the sources. But 
 it's nice to see a real world use for IPv6 in consumer hardware (if you 
 can call the reel boxes consumer hardware, it's probably only for a 
 limited, but sophisticated market.
 

 The client and the also available standalone NetCeiver should bring it more
 to the masses as the price will be comparable to typical HDTV receivers.
   
Indeed, 299€ announced on the website sounds good for an out of the box 
client with the functionality of the reelbox (or a vdr-server).

 Does it just use a fixed multicast-address to receive the stream and if 
 yes, how is the communication to the tuner realized? Is this something 
 reel-specific or could this be used to start a unified streaming-concept 
 for vdr based on standards (and using IPv6 to avoid all that ugly IPv4 
 stuff...)
 

 It is a proprietory protocol in the sense as it is no standard. When there
 are so many IPTV standards to choose from, why make not a new one? ;-) At
 the time we started, DVB-IPTV was not even named and still I think it is so
 bloated that it cannot be efficiently used to use cheap hardware as a
 server.

   
I can understand these arguments, I was thinking about a protocol more 
like upnp/av extended for real dynamic streaming. But something 
lightweight is really needed. Especially for the future of vdr and vdr 
based systems. Extending and fixing streamdev isn't a way for the 
future, but implementing a server-plugin for vdr, that could 'emulate' a 
netceiver could unify the reel-way and the stalled streamdev-way.

 However, our protocol uses standard protocols like MLDv2 just with a
 different interpretation to make it light-weight and use hardware supported
 streaming. In the end, one NetCeiver can stream up to 6 full S2-transponders
 (~40MByte/s), only the zapping time increases a bit... Do that with a PC :p
   
I just had a short look von the RfC for MLDv2 and on the first look it 
doesn't look so bloated (in a way that an implementation could limit 
throughput on typicall pc hardware, especially as this shouldn't affect 
the streaming-part at all). But I'd like to be corrected ;-) For a 
typicall vdr scenario streaming 6 full transponders is probably nothing 
that is really needed, but it's nice to know that your hardware (and 
software) scales to that throughput.

 The protocol translates (almost) all DVB specifics to ethernet, so it was no
 problem to wrap it back to DVB-API. The multicast address is not static but
 contains all relevant reception parameters. The basic communication only
 exchanges a few MLDv2-messages (no XML), so it can be processed very fast
 and also gains from MLDv2-aware switches. Only tuner capabilities and tuning
 states (SNR, lock, ...) are transmitted regularly in a side band via XML on
 a specific multicast address. That also allows zero configuration for the
 client. We will write a white paper about the protocol, currently we just
 don't have enough time...

   
That sounds very good and would allow an easy way to map a dvb-stream to 
a network stream and feed it back on the client via standard kernel 
interfaces. That could be even interesting for my boss. Do you have a 
recommendation for a small hardware-setup with a netceiver that would 
work in a dvb-c environment (I only have dvb-c at the moment, enough pc 
hardware and if necessary even a sat-dish to play with)? After my 
vacation I'll check with my boss, perhaps he'll pay for it ;-)

 For the client side, the sources will be published as GPL. Currently we use
 a closed source daemon with a dvb loopback driver in the kernel, but that
 makes it hard to fully use the tuner virtualization and costs some overhead
 for small CPUs. Since we already have a native vdr plugin for that, the
 network code will be then forced to be GPL anyway ;-
Sounds even better, so there's working code to verify the functionality. 
I'm only a networking guy with a little bit experience with dvb, but 
that seems to be a project worth while to invest some time.

Bye,
Matthias

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Re: [vdr] reel netclient

2009-04-13 Thread Matthias Müller
Hi,

Torgeir Veimo schrieb:
 If the netclient hardware runs GPL software I assume that in theory 
 someone could implement a streamdev client that facilitated the hw 
 mepg2/4 decoder?

If you look at the specs and the description Georg provided, a 
streamdev-client isn't needed, only a proper streamdev-server, that 
relays the transport stream from the transponder to the network and 
implements a feedback-channel to provide infos like supported demuxes 
and so on.

 2009/4/14 Georg Acher ac...@in.tum.de mailto:ac...@in.tum.de

 On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 04:03:02PM +0200, Matthias Müller wrote:

  I have no netceiver to play with and didn't look at the sources. But
  it's nice to see a real world use for IPv6 in consumer hardware
 (if you
  can call the reel boxes consumer hardware, it's probably only for a
  limited, but sophisticated market.

 The client and the also available standalone NetCeiver should
 bring it more
 to the masses as the price will be comparable to typical HDTV
 receivers.

  Does it just use a fixed multicast-address to receive the stream
 and if
  yes, how is the communication to the tuner realized? Is this
 something
  reel-specific or could this be used to start a unified
 streaming-concept
  for vdr based on standards (and using IPv6 to avoid all that
 ugly IPv4
  stuff...)

 It is a proprietory protocol in the sense as it is no standard.
 When there
 are so many IPTV standards to choose from, why make not a new one?
 ;-) At
 the time we started, DVB-IPTV was not even named and still I think
 it is so
 bloated that it cannot be efficiently used to use cheap hardware as a
 server.

 However, our protocol uses standard protocols like MLDv2 just with a
 different interpretation to make it light-weight and use hardware
 supported
 streaming. In the end, one NetCeiver can stream up to 6 full
 S2-transponders
 (~40MByte/s), only the zapping time increases a bit... Do that
 with a PC :p

 The protocol translates (almost) all DVB specifics to ethernet, so
 it was no
 problem to wrap it back to DVB-API. The multicast address is not
 static but
 contains all relevant reception parameters. The basic
 communication only
 exchanges a few MLDv2-messages (no XML), so it can be processed
 very fast
 and also gains from MLDv2-aware switches. Only tuner capabilities
 and tuning
 states (SNR, lock, ...) are transmitted regularly in a side band
 via XML on
 a specific multicast address. That also allows zero configuration
 for the
 client. We will write a white paper about the protocol,
 currently we just
 don't have enough time...

 For the client side, the sources will be published as GPL.
 Currently we use
 a closed source daemon with a dvb loopback driver in the kernel,
 but that
 makes it hard to fully use the tuner virtualization and costs some
 overhead
 for small CPUs. Since we already have a native vdr plugin for
 that, the
 network code will be then forced to be GPL anyway ;-)

 --
 Georg Acher, ac...@in.tum.de mailto:ac...@in.tum.de
 http://www.lrr.in.tum.de/~acher
 http://www.lrr.in.tum.de/%7Eacher
 Oh no, not again ! The bowl of petunias

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 -- 
 -Tor
 

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