This is a "plugin" for the Video Disk Recorder (VDR).

Written by:                  herbert attenberger <herbsl at a-land.de>

Project's homepage:          <http://www.a-land.de>

Latest version available at: <http://www.a-land.de>

See the file COPYING for license information.

See the file INSTALL for the installation instructions.


Description:
============

Vdrrip is a plugin to encode the vdr-recordings or dvd's into several
formats. The supported output-formats are:

Containers:         avi, ogm, matroska
Video-codecs(divx): lavc, xvid, divx4/5
Audio-codecs:       mp3, ogg-vorbis, stream-copy for ac3 and mpeg2

Ogg-vorbis, ac3, ogm and matroska have to be manually activated in the
setup-menu of the plugin. All further codecs are automatically detected by
the plugin.

You can manually adjust the encoding values, or simply select a
template (read the section 'Templates' in this manual to find out
more about them). If you input the resulting movie size (or number of
files), the video/audio bitrate is calculated. If you change the video/
audio bitrate, the file size is calculated. If there is more then one
audio-stream available, you can toggle between them.

You can choose between four scaling mechanism:

off:     Don't scale, use the original resolution
auto:    The scale values are calculated on a algorithm which is based on
         the bpp-value. Read the file DOCS/tech/encoding-tips.txt in your
	 MPlayer-source directory for further informations. The aspect ratio
	 is corrected
dvb:     You can only choose values, which are supported by the DVB-Card
         without needing a further scaling while playing. This option
	 (together with streamcopy as audio codec) is very useful for slow
         computers (it is possible to play those files on my Celeron 466
         Mhz).
manual:  Select the resolution manually.

In the auto and manual-mode you can automatically detect and crop the black
movie-boarders with the green key. All settings are saved in the file
save.vdrrip in the movie directory. After this you can add the movie with
the red key to the encoding queue (this is the file queue.vdrrip in the
plugins-directory) and select between preview or full encoding-mode.
The script queuehandler.sh reads the data from the queue, joins
or demuxes the vdr-files and encodes the movie.

Some parameters of vdrrip can be adjusted in the setup menu.

DVD's:
======

See the INSTALL-file how to compile vdrrip with DVD-support.

Vdrrip automatically takes the longest title of the DVD. It is possible
to switch between them in the menu. If you press <ok> on the title-
line, a more comfortable title-menu is opened. The last settings
are saved in the file /tmp/<DVD-NAME>.vdrrip, and will be restored
if you want to encode the same dvd again.

WARNING !

Most DVDs are encrypted with CSS (Contents Scrambling System). Copying
of encrypted DVDs is illegal in many countries. This program is not
meant for those who intend on breaking copyright laws. Every illegal
use of this software is strictly prohibited. In no way I will be held
responsible if you do. Be aware to check your countries law !


Templates:
==========

Within a template ('Vdrrip - edit template') you can predefine the encoding-
settings (either with a fixed file size or a fixed bitrate). The default
settings are taken from the template 'default'. You can add further
templates (e.g 1/2-CD, 2/3-CD ...). All templates are saved in the file
templates.vdrrip in the dir <vdr-config-dir>/PLUGINS.


usage of the quehandler-script:
===============================

queuehandler.sh queuefile tempdir

The queuefile is the file queue.vdrrip in the dir <vdr-config-dir>/PLUGINS.
This file is only created, if you add a movie to the queue. After the
encoding the file is deleted by the queuehandler-script. If the movie
couldn't be encoded by the queuehandler because of an error, the queue-
data will be moved to the file queue.vdrrip.rejected. Then you have to look
into the syslog, correct the error and move the movie back to the queue
with the commands: "cat queue.vdrrip.rejected >> queue.vdrrip" and
"rm queue.vdrrip.rejected"

Tempdir is the directory where all temporary files are created and where the
encoded movies are saved. There should be enough space free !

There is no audio-stream in the preview-mode, if the container type is ogm
or matroska !


The file <vdr-config>/PLUGINS/encode.vdrrip is created while an active
encoding process. You can use it to keep vdr from an automatic shutdown.
I added my sample scripts vdrshutdown.sh and sleephalt.sh in the dir
scripts. Feel free to use them. Read the file FAQ to see how you can add
the queuehandler to the file commands.conf.


Please read the files INSTALL, FAQ and TODO for further informations.
And beware of the dangerous xaver.jpg ...
