vdr/INSTALL

Installation of the Video Disk Recorder
---------------------------------------

Compiling and running the program:
----------------------------------

Make sure the files from this package are located in a
directory that is "parallel" to the DVB directory of the
driver source for the Siemens DVB-S PCI card (refer to
http://linuxtv.org/dvb/siemens_dvb.html for more information
about that driver). For example, if the DVB driver was 
extracted into the directory /home/kls/vdr/DVB, then this
package should be extracted into /home/kls/vdr/VDR.

This program requires the card driver version 0.05 or higher
to work properly.

After extracting the package, change into the VDR directory
and type 'make'. This should produce an executable file
named 'vdr', which can be run after the DVB driver has been
installed.

There are two macros you can use to customize the 'vdr' program
at compile time. Adding "DEBUG_REMOTE=1" to the 'make' call 
will use the PC's keyboard as input device instead of the "Remote
Control Unit" (see http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr/remote.htm).
Adding "DEBUG_OSD=1" will use the PC screen (or current window)
to display texts instead of the DVB card's on-screen display
interface. These modes are useful when testing new menus if you
only have a remote connection to the VDR (which, in my case, is
located in the living room and has neither a monitor nor a keyboard).

When running, the 'vdr' program writes status information into the
system log file (/var/log/messages). You may want to watch these
messages (tail -f /var/log/mesages) to see if there are any problems.

The video data directory:
-------------------------

All recordings are written into directories below "/video". Please
make sure this directory exists, and that the user who runs the 'vdr'
program has read and write access to that directory.
If you prefer a different location for your video files, you can change
the value of 'BaseDir' in recording.c.

Note that the file system need not be 64-bit proof, since the 'vdr'
program splits video files into chunks of about 1GB. You should use
a disk with several gigabytes of free space. One GB can store roughly
half an hour of video data.

Configuration files:
--------------------

There are three configuration files that hold information about
channels, remote control keys and timers. These files are currrently
assumed to be located in the directory from which the 'vdr' program
was started (this will become configurable later). The configuration
files can be edited with any text editor, or will be written by the
'vdr' program if any changes are made inside the on-screen menus.
The meaning of the data entries may still vary in future releases,
so for the moment please look at the source code (config.c) to see
the meaning of the various fields.

Learning the remote control keys:
---------------------------------

There is no default 'keys.conf' file, so if you compile the program
without 'DEBUG_REMOTE=1' you will have to go through a "teach-in"
session that allows the program to learn your remote control codes.
It will first attempt to determine the basic data transfer mode and
timing of your remote control unit, and then will ask you to press one
key after the other so that it can learn the various key codes. You will
at least need to provide an "Up" and a "Down" key, so that you can switch
channels. The rest of the key definitions is optional, but the more keys
you define, the more you will be able to navigate through the menus and
control recording/replaying. The program uses only a very small number
of keys which have multiple meanings in the various modes (see MANUAL
for a detailed description).
If the program has been built with "DEBUG_REMOTE=1", it will use the
key configuration file 'keys-pc.conf', so that you won't loose data
when switching between normal and debug mode.

The default PC key assignments are:

  Up, Down, Left, Right     Crsr keys in numeric block
  Menu                      'Home' in numeric block
  Ok                        '5' in numeric block
  Back                      'End' in numeric block
  Red, Green, Yellow, Blue  'F1'..'F4'
  0..9                      '0'..'9' in top row

If you prefer different key assignments, simply delete the file
'keys-pc.conf' and restart 'vdr' to get into learning mode.