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Requirements

  • libavcodec, libavformat and libavutil for audio decoding, provided by ffmpeg or libav
  • libswresample when using ffmpeg-1.2 or newer
  • libavresample when using libav-9 or newer
  • freetype2 for GPU accelerated text drawing
  • valid MPEG-2 license when watching MPEG-2 streams
  • Raspberry Pi userland libraries: https://github.com/raspberrypi/userland
  • Raspberry Pi firmware version of 2015/01/18 or newer

Install

If you are using Raspbian, check the Raspbian HowTo.

Get the source code either as archive or with git and compile like any other VDR plugin:

$ cd /usr/src/vdr/PLUGINS/src
$ git clone git://projects.vdr-developer.org/vdr-plugin-rpihddevice.git rpihddevice
$ cd rpihddevice
$ make
$ make install

If you want to link the plugin against a specific version of ffmpeg/libav, set EXT_LIBAV accordingly when compiling the plugin:

$ make EXT_LIBAV=/usr/src/ffmpeg-1.2.6

Usage

To start the plugin, just add '-P rpihddevice' to the VDR command line.

The plugin simply adds two new dispmanx layers on top of the framebuffer, one for video and one for the OSD. The plugin does not clear the current console or change any video mode settings. So it's the user's choice, what's being displayed when no video is shown, e.g. during channel switches or for radio channels.

Options

  • -d, --disable-osd
    Disables creation of OSD layer and prevents the plugin of allocating any OSD related resources. If set, VDR's dummy OSD is used, when selecting rpihddevice as primary device.
  • -v, --video-layer
    Specify the dispmanx layer for video (default 0)
  • -o, --osd-layer
    Specify the dispmanx layer for OSD (default 2)
  • --display
    display used for output:
    0: default display (default)
    4: LCD
    5: TV/HDMI
    6: non-default display

Plugin-Setup

  • Resolution
    Set video resolution. Possible values are: default, follow video, 720x480, 720x576, 1280x720, 1920x1080
  • Frame Rate
    Set video frame rate. Possible values are: default, follow video, 24p, 25p, 30p, 50i, 50p, 60i, 60p

    When set to default, the resolution/frame rate will not be changed and the plugin keeps the current setting of the framebuffer, normally set by the mode number in /boot/config.txt or changed with tvservice. To let the plugin automatically set a value matching the current video stream, choose follow video. In general, video setting are only applied if both, resolution and frame rate, fits to a video mode supported by the connected device, indicated by its EDID.

    EDID information can by overridden with various settings in /boot/config.txt, see the official documentation for further information:
    https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt.md

  • Video Framing
    Determines how the video frame is displayed on the screen in case the aspect ratio differs. box and cut will preserve the video's aspect ratio, while box (often called letter box, however pillar box is used to show 4:3 videos on a wide screen) will fit the image on the screen by adding transparent borders. On the other hand, cut is cropping away the overlapping part of the video, so the entire display area is filled.
    When setting to stretch, the videos' aspect ratio is adapted to the screen and the resulting image might appear distorted.
  • Audio Port
    Set the audio output port to analog or HDMI. When set to analog out, multi channel audio is sampled down to stereo.
  • Digital Audio Format
    Specify the audio format when using the HDMI port as output. If set to pass through, (E)AC-3 and DTS audio can be decoded by the connected HDMI device, if EDID indicates specific codec support. For local decoding, select mutli channel PCM or Stereo PCM if additional stereo dowmix of mutli channel audio is desired.
  • Use GPU accelerated OSD
    Use GPU capabilities to draw the on screen display. Disable acceleration in case of OSD problems to use VDR's internal rendering and report error to the author.