VDR Block Plugin

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

The block plugin is a fork of the orphaned taste plugin 0.0.2d which was
originally coded by LordJaxom aka Sascha Volkenandt.
Please do not install both plugins (taste AND block)!
Apart from that this probably won't work it simply does not make any sense
at all ;).

Contact information (block plugin):
Developer/Maintainer: Michael Schneider <vdrportal_midas at gmx dot de>
Project homepage: http://projects.vdr-developer.org/projects/plg-block/news
Wiki-page: http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/index.php/Block-plugin

Contact information (taste plugin):
Written by: Sascha Volkenandt <sascha at akv-soft dot de>
Project homepage: http://www.magoa.net/linux/index.php?view=taste

See the file COPYING for license information.

*DESCRIPTION:*

This plugin prevents you from being bothered by unwanted broadcasts. Instead
of those the screen will stay black, the sound muted, an info message
appears in the OSD and after a configurable pause the vdr switches to
another channel.

Unwanted shows are identified by their EPG title in a predefined blacklist.
You can add the current title to the block plugin blacklist by choosing
'De-/Block Broadcast' from the main VDR menu or by editing the blacklist in
the setup of the plugin. In the latter case make sure you close the submenus
as well as the setup menu by 'ok' to properly save your changes. This would
also be the right place to remove entries from the blacklist. Once a show is
blocked you could also deblock the current show by again choosing 
'De-/Block Broadcast' from the main menu, while the show is running on the
current channel.

There are two detection methods which can be chosen in the plugins setup
under 'Detection Method' - On Switch or Channel EPG.
On Switch:
Every time the VDR switches to another channel the block plugin checks if
the EPG title of the current show matches with a blacklist entry and if so
the show won't be displayed and after a configurable pause (default 2s) the
VDR switches to another channel automatically. Usually this will be the next
possible lower channel number if you were coming from a higher one or
vice-versa. If this is not possible, the vdr switches to the last channel
displayed.
Channel EPG:
If set to this option the plugin scans the epg title not only on channel
switches but it will scan permanently. This way also block events in the
current channel are detected. This is mandatory for parental guidance mode
and automatically set in this mode.

In case you unexpectedly want to watch a blacklisted show you can override
the block rule by pressing 'Ok' while the message is displayed. This
behaviour can be deactivated in the plugins setup (automatically in parental
guidance mode).

For VDR versions <= 1.3.16 you will have to apply the included patch to the
VDR source in order to have multiple channels being blocked in a row.
Otherwise the block plugin will only skip the first channel. The patch
originates from the taste plugin and was written by Sascha Volkenandt.

*USAGE*

+Block current show:+

Choose 'Block Broadcast' from the main vdr menu.

+Edit, white/blacklist, delete or manually add new entries:+

Go to the plugins setup in the vdr menu, where you will find the blacklist.
Use the color keys as shown in the osd.
Editing additionally allows you to ignore case, or to use regular 
expressions and to white/blacklist the entry.
In Parental Guidance mode it is only possible to add entries and editing
is restricted to new entries and to changes to the pattern and regular
expression mode.
Black/whitelisting is switched by choosing the main menu entry of the 
plugin and can also be changed in the plugins pattern list (by blue/F4)
or in the editing view of an entry.

+Setup Options:+

Hide main menu entry: Shows/doesn't show the block plugin main menu entry.

Timeout: Defines how long the block osd message is displayed, before the
         plugin switches to another channel.

Method: In version 0.0.2 there a new detection method was added. You can
        choose between 'On Switch' which is the old method that only scans
        at zap events. The other method is 'Channel EPG' which scans the
        current epg title permanentely. If you are setting up a parental
        guidance config you want to use the latter one (see below).

Ok deblocks temporarily: If set to yes this allows a blocked show to be
                         watched by pressing ok as long as the block osd
                         message is displayed. It does not permanentely
                         deblock a show. If you are setting up a parental
                         guidance config you want to set this to 'no'
                         (see below).

Fuzzy Fallback: As of version 0.1.0 whitelisting function was added which
                could lead to contradictory rules for a list entry. If so
                the plugin falls back to the value fo Fuzzy Fallback which
                could be set to black or white.

DVB rating: As of version 0.1.2 the block plugins Parental Guidance mode
            can verify against the Parental Rating stream information sent
            by the broadcaster. Unfortunately this information seems not
            to be very reliable as most stations have the value set to 0
            (at least here in Germany and on DVB-S/T), which would be ok
            for lets say Sesamy Street but not for action movies or even
            the news depending on your point of view. That said the
            current implementation only takes care of values > 0.

            So the actual benefit of block taking care of the streams
            rating information is that it will block every show with a
            rating < 1 and additionally deblock shows that are broadcasted
            with valid rating information (ie > 0) and the value being
            lower than 'DVB rating' in the plugins setup.

            Setting the value to 0 means disabled.

            NOTE: DVB rating requires at least VDR 1.7.11.

+Parental Guidance Setup+ 
(Experimental as of version 0.0.2+dev):

First of all: I can't guarantee a perfectly failsafe childprotection.
              Feel free to test the Parental Guidance config at your
              own risk but don't forget, that it is you not me who
              takes care of your children. Nevertheless the method
              used by the plugin should work quite well, as long as
              the stations are updating their epg information in sync
              with the current show.

How to: Several prerequisites have to be configured in the plugins
        setup. For your convenience these are set by manually adding 
        or setting

        block.ParentalGuidance=1

        to vdrs setup.conf. vdr has to be stopped before you edit
        the file, otherwise it will be overwritten the 
        next time vdr stops and your changes will be lost. Note that
        once the setting has been added to setup.conf the only way
        to deactivate parental guidance mode is to set

        block.ParentalGuidance=0

        (again with vdr being stopped) or by removing the row from
        setup.conf.

        Setting ParentalGuidance to 1 overrides four other setup
        options: 'Detection Method' is set to 'Channel EPG',
        'Ok deblocks temporarily' is set to 'No', 'Fuzzy fallback'
        is set to 'black' and DVB rating becomes deactivated,  as
        other settings obviously would undermine Parental Guidance
        mode. Furthermore the color keys yellow (Delete) and blue
        (switch black/white) are deactivated in the plugins setup.
        Editing is only allowed for new entries, for which you are
        only allowed to change the pattern and to set regular
        expression mode.

Finally improvements may depend on your feedback, so please drop me a line 
if you experience any kind of potential misbehaviour of the plugin, if you
have suggestions how to make the block plugin better etc. or if you just
want to say thank you ;) !