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
'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.

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. Of course you can zap to another channel yourself as well.

In case you unexpectedly want to watch a blacklisted show you can override
the block rule by pressing 'Ok' while the message is displayed.

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, 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.


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 was a new detection method 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).


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 good, as long as
              the stations are updating their epg signal 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

        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.
        
        Setting ParentalGuidance to 1 overrides two other setup
        options: Detection Method is set to 'Channel EPG' and
        Ok deblocks temporarily is set to 'No', as obviously
        other settings would undermine Parental Guidance mode.
        Furthermore the color keys (Edit, New, Delete) are
        deactivated in the plugins setup.


Finally improvements may depend on your feeback, 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 ;) !