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

Written by:                  Jens Koehler irimi_at_gmx_de

Project's homepage:          http://irimi.ir.ohost.de/

Latest version available at: http://irimi.ir.ohost.de/

See the file COPYING for license information.

Description: A frontend vdr plugin for KDE's amaroK.

supported amaroK features
=========================
* Playlist view: 
  show current playlist of amaroK and active track
  play , stop desired track of current play list(of course :-)
* Track view: 
  show current tracks informations: artist, title, track statistics etc.
* Edit amaroK's playlst:
  remove single tracks, shuffle playlist, clear playlist
* amaroK database query:
  add tracks to current playlist by artists/album and resp. or genre/artists
* amaroK smart lists
  create new playlist: last played, 50 random tracks, never played, ...


Prerequisites
============= 
* amaroK V1.4.x running on KDE environment (dcop server is needed!).
* vdr 1.4 or newer

(has been tested successfully with amaroK 1.4 / 1.4.4 resp. vdr 1.4 / 1.4.4)

Installation
============
To run plugin do following steps:
1. install plugin: 
   a. copy uncompressed tar ball to <VDR_SOURCE_DIR>/PLUGINS/src/amarok
   b. execute "make plugins" in <VDR_SOURCE_DIR>
   c. copy file <PLUGIN_DIR>/amarok/contrib/amarokmain.mpg to <VDRCONFIG_DIR>/plugins/amarok/amarokmain.mpg

2. install vdramgw (the amaroK gateway application) to same machine as amaroK has been installed:
   a. copy <VDR_SOURCE_DIR>/PLUGINS/src/amarok/vdramgw to your desired amaroK server (e.g. localhost)
   b. cd <vdramgw_DIR> and execute "make" to create vdramgw executable console application 
      (use './vdramgw --help' to verify build and view all optional parameters)
3. start KDE and execute amaroK v1.4.x (dcop server must be available, don't forget to scan your MP3/OGG/... collection).
4. On same machine & same account as amaroK has started
    start vdramgw:
    ./vdramgw --user amarok --passwd secret
    or
    ./vdramgw -c ./vdramgw.conf
    or try
    ./vdramgw --help

5. During first execution the application tries to create SQL query cache files to speed up queries, hence first startup needs
   some time (depends on your hardware and the size of you collection) 
   The renew the cache try -r option.
6. If vdramgw returns the message "Starting server listening port xxxx",
   you should be able to use the vdr-amaroK plugin: 
   start your vdr with amaroK-plugin on localhost or your desired machine which has access to amaroK machine via network:
   vdr -P"amarok"
   If you have changed the above default settings of vdramgw or if you don't run the plugin on amaroK localhost ,
   you must adapt the plugin settings (i.e. host and/or port and/or user, password).

7. Enjoy 


Known problems since version 0.0.1
=======================================
- 'Pause'-key is starting LiveBuffer capturing instead  of set pause amaroK player 
   (under investigation,this is invoked before ProcessKey() of plugin is called - help/hints are welcome)


Todo list
=========

- better support of grapglcd in track menu mode
- optional cControl eyecatcher track view inclusive album cover display
- load/save support of own playlists (actually no supported by dcop amarok)
- better support of audio streams / podcasts
  (can be already used but can only be added to current playlist manually via amaroK)

