Hello,
Here is a solution to a ton of your problems with capturing and
managing live and delayed video from your digital sources. However,
keep in mind a qualifying FireWire capable device is needed here. I'll
use my Motorola digital cable box as a good example.
1. Get a FireWire 400 cable and run it from your digital cable box to
your Mac.
2. make sure in System Profiler it shows up, even if it is an unknown
device.
3. Download the FireWire SDK from developer.apple.com and unpack it.
You must have Developer Tools installed.To my knowledge some of the
functions rely on some included libraries. If I am wrong someone
correct me.
4. Look in the Applications folder within the SDK, you will find two
programs called "AVC Browser" and "AVC Capture" which will act as the
center of this solution.
5. Now get ready to learn more steps to accomplishing your goals.
OK, let us suppose you want to flip through live television. You would
use the AVC Browser application and "open" the device you wish to
control. You should then move to and select the "panel" tab if this is
a digital cable box. If this is a DV camera or other device, such as a
digital radio tuner, pick the tab you need. I'm using "panel" for my
example.
Now, Simply click the start button, and VLC will launch with your live
TV channel up and running. If you play any non-encrypted content, VLC
should keep up with channel changes in real time. You can even use the
minimal remote provided in the "panel" pane of AVC Browser to control
your digital cable tuner box.
OK, let's suppose you want to record a chunk of video and edit it down
later. Use AVC Capture to get this job done. Select the device, then
choose to capture. Specify a file name, and then you'll be able to do
the rest on the next screen. You can set the channel, start time, end
time, etc. Sadly you can only select one channel at a time to record,
and you can only set one recording at a time. Think of this more like
a VCR in that sense. You could run multiple instances of the
application with different schedules, but you would run the risk of
one not letting go of the FireWire stream in time for the other one to
start capture if your timing is close.
Well, keep in mind that both AVC Browser and Capture are example
applications. This means anyone could build a better app for sure. I
believe that the main reason this technology never took off is simply
the fault of the entire paid television industry. They would prefer
that the original undisturbed MPEG-2 transport stream be contained to
the first playback device. Thus, the first thing it hits is your
digital cable box for conversion to a digital or analog display
protocol such as S-Video or HDMI. Well, after that, a flag gets set,
preventing further streams from being properly decoded.
In the United States, the FCC requires that at least one digital cable
device be available to customers with FireWire IEEE-1394 enabled.
Thank TiVo for that one. But, it doesn't do a whole hell of a lot of
good, as anything that doesn't have a terrestrial broadcast is not
restricted from encrypting content sent over FireWire. This means that
if your local cable system has channels that don't themselves exist
outside of the cable network, such as MTV or Comedy Central, they have
the right to encrypt the content after the first stop.
Finally, we can conclude that technologies like AVC Browser and AVC
Capture allow blind and visually impaired users to gain access to the
original digital content just as a sighted user may have access to the
DVR functions of their rented DVR system from the local provider.
Without technologies like AVC Browser and AVC Capture, using a DVR is
difficult at best. YOu cannot select exact times and dates to record
programming. You cannot be aware of alert dialogs popping up warning
you that you're about to kill off your recording if you change the
channel. I personally feel very upset with the FCC's handling of
access concerns. They allow touch screen phones that in an emergency
would not allow a blind user to dial 911. They allow cable TV
providers to provide set-top boxes with no access, and prevent 3rd
parties from entering the market with accessible alternatives like AVC
Browser and AVC Capture. They shot down the requirement that all U.S.
broadcasters provide a minimum daily number of hours described on SAP,
and gave it all to the Spanish audience. No offense, but with digital
broadcasting, SAP now can do both Spanish and description. So once
again, we must fight this crap.
OK, now I'm done. This is the sort of thing that will get me very
upset. If I had it my way, I'd personally visit every member of the
FCC in a decision making role and let them know that we deserve better
access to media. As the technology moves forward, doors should be
opening up. Instead, they seem to ignore the social responsibility.
I'm in a job on a daily basis where I'm introducing the recently
retired and elderly to features like Zoom and Voiceover. More and more
of our parents and older generations will be suffering from blindness
as the baby boomer generation retires. If we don't get our act
together, technology will always be something that is reserved for the
fit and young. The worst part is that touch screens, multi-touch, etc,
are actually tactile movements we could all perform. No screen is
necessary, sounds could be the feedback, or even vibration responses
for those who also suffer from a loss of hearing. We can do it, we do
have the technology.
Ryan
