COPYRIGHT:	(c) 2005 Creative Commons by-nc-sa some rights reserved. 
				For details on copyright see:
						http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa

This script is published in the hope, that it might be useful.						
BUT there's absolutely NO warranty at all. Use at your own risk.


HOMEPAGE: 
---------
Thanks to Helmut Auer there's a space for this project and it's documentation.
For questions about this project contact first http://geronimo.htpc-forum.de
Then - of cause - the vdr-forum :)


IMPORTANT:
----------
The format of the jobfile has changed! Old jobfiles could not be used any more.
Please recreate that jobfiles.


DESCRIPTION:
------------
vdr2iso is a package of 4 components created to convert VDR-recordings into DVD
in an network environment. The components may be installed all on the same machine
or each on a different machine.

The components are:
1. the Jobeditor   - intended to create the jobfiles for later conversion.
							The editor offers an overview over all recordings with
							additional informations.
							The editor and vdr2iso use pluggable themes for 
							menu-creation and so have no more dependencies on a
							grafics-engine. 

							Only themes depend on grafics-engine and for so the
							engine may be changed at any time.

							The preview of the DVD-menu now uses GIF as default.
							I hope, that this reduces the problems with TK and Grafics.

2. the vdrproxy    - is an interface to VDR-data bypassing the vdr for faster
							and relaxed access.

3. vdr2iso			 - the 'kernel' of the conversion. Converts VDR-recordings
							into DVD-isofiles and creates DVD-menu for navigation.
						   vdr2iso may be local used, by passing a jobfile for 
							processing - or as an network-service, which gets the
							jobs from the jobfile-editor directly.
							If the root of recordings is different on different 
							machines, it get's converted automatically. This - of 
							cause - will only work, if the configuration is 
							correkt on each machine.

4. createSimpleJob   creates a jobfile based on the konfiguration-file and
							some commandline-switches.
							This script has no TK- nor grafics-dependencies and 
							should work without X.
							The resulting jobfile is intended as a template ONLY.
							Don't use it for conversion without visual checks!

							
CAUTION:
--------
There may stil some problems with recordings having AC3 streams, so check the
built images before burning any disk!


INSTALLATION:
-------------
start the installer and follow the questions/hints.


REQUIRED 3rd party software:
----------------------------
	- perl (of cause :-)
	- perl::Tk (only for the editor)
	- perl::GD (the supplied demo theme)
	- ImageMagick (mainly convert)
	- vdrsync (preferable with cutmark-patch) or ProjectX (version 0.90.2 or newer)
	- projectX needs a java runtime
	- mjpegtools (only for vdr2iso)
	- dvdauthor	 (only for vdr2iso)
	- cdrtools   (only for vdr2iso)
	- genindex   (only for the editor if management facility for recordings is used)

		  
JOBEDITOR 
----------
The jobeditor may be startet without any parameter. All defaults from the global
config-file can be changed by Edit->Settings, so no more need to edit the 
config-module for the editor. 
vdr2iso still needs the correct settings in the config-module.
So different settings for each user are possible.


If you leave the editor by File->Exit, your actual settings will be saved, as
well as the recent changes on the job.

The restructuring of the scripts for plugin-usage and -handling caused some 
vital changes to the format of the jobfile and little changes to the handling.
There's a little online-help, which describes the editor.

For the recordings-overview all recordings will be scanned by vdrsync. That 
information will be more valuable, if you use the cutmarks-patch on vdrsync.
The informations will be cached locally, so the scanning of all recordings
happens only once. New recordings will be recognized and scanned automatically
at opening of the recordings overview.
If you moved or renamed a recording, usually you're done with a touch to the
file 'index.vdr'.

At the settings in the VDR-section you're able to remove the cache to rescan
all recordings. That happens on reopen the overview of the recordings.

The settings live a 3way hierarchy:
1. the job-defaults (changeable at edit->settings):
		  are used as default at creation-time of a new job. When you close the 
		  settings-window you get asked, wether to distribute the settings for
		  the entire job.
		  So it's easy to change all settings for a big job.

2. the disk settings (the upper right area of the application):
		  are used for the disks main menu.
		  Use the button 'propagate settings' for a copy of the disksettings 
		  to each recording.

3. the recordings settings (shown after a double-click on a recording):
		  used for the description-page of the recording in the DVD-menu.
		  This way you may provide a different background image for the 
		  description-page, or other color settings ...

UI:
---
some GUI-elements have uncommon behavior:

- font entries, i.e. title font
		- click inside the field and a font selection dialog opens
		- a right button-click opens a color selection dialog, used to 
		  select the font color.

- image entries, i.e. background image:
		- click inside the field and a file selection dialog opens
		  to select an image-file.
		- a right button-click opens a color selection dialog, used to 
		  select the background color.

- select a recording to edit the recordings summary		

- use double-click to edit the settings of the recording

- use the preview to validate your color selections. The preview uses the same 
  code than vdr2iso, so the preview is quite close to the final result.
  Now, the preview-window has navigation buttons, so you're able to view
  additional pages also.

  
USAGE of vdr2iso:
-----------------
Call vdr2iso.pl without parameter or with --help to see the list of valid options.
There are 2 modes of operation:
1. vdr2iso.pl as local worker: you need to add a jobfile for processing.
				In standalone mode, vdr2iso.pl has the testmode enabled, so that 
				the commands will be printed, but not executed.
				Add 'REALLY' to the optionlist to change the testmode to real 
				execution.

2. vdr2iso.pl as network-service: main-usage for this mode is a network-environment
				with a small VDR, which may be too slow for conversion-jobs.
				If you have an additional workstation just for conversion-jobs,
				place vdr2iso.pl (with the modules) on that machine.
				Jobs can transmitted to the service using the jobeditor.

				
How to extend language support:
-------------------------------
If you like this package and want to add a new language, you can achieve it 
this way:

1. copy a language-support-file from /usr/share/jobedit and translate it.
	The new file should be named 'appText.<id of the new language>', i.e.
	for spanish the file would be called 'appText.es'.
	Please ensure, that each line has the same format:
		application-id = text in your language

3. In the scripts vdr2iso.pl and jobedit.pl you'll find some function
	localize*(), to change some values to local format.
	Check if some changes/extensions are necessary.

If someone works out an extension, I would appreciate to receive the 
diff's, to add that work to further releases.


the VDR-Client (poor mans VDR-client):
-------------------------------------
was created to have the epg-overview even with a shutdown VDR.
The editor and the proxy synchronize themself without the need of user 
intervention.
It is also possible, to create a timer (using a VDR below 1.3.43).
No more.


SPECIAL THANKS:
---------------
	Helmut Auer       - thanks for the webspace!
	Klaus Schmidinger - without VDR I would miss a big sense in my sparetime
	Cooper and Tom    - without LinVDR I probably didn't got a running VDR
	Doc					- the author of vdrsync - I learned a lot from him.
	Sascha Volkenandt - the author of the burn-Plugin, wich was the base for
							  my script.
	Christoph Haubrich for the hint about the timecode-conversion
	cocky             - for his detailled feedback, so I could eliminate some bugs 

	and of cause all the uncounted users of the Vdr-Forum, which helped me a lot!


RELEASE-History:
----------------
05/01/2006     release candidate for 0.1 number 13
               - GD-theme now creates 16:9 menues of right aspect
               - Job-Editors preview also shows the 16:9 menues with the right aspect
               - support for additional menue pages (Bonus-Menue)
               - cleanup of the jobeditor
               - new option --toolChain for vdr2iso to ask all versions and paths of
                 used external tools
               - support for immediate burning (but untestet!)  

04/16/2006     release candidate for 0.1 number 12
               - development of the installer caused many intermediate steps
               - more bugfixes
               - new fontselection (overview)
               - put configuration of DVD-navigation into the themes.
               
04/03/2006     fourth release candidate for 0.1:
               - fixed bug in vdr2iso
               - added more error-checks and logs
               - created new theme 'Convex'

03/29/2006     third release candidate for 0.1:
               - changed archive to installer-script, that takes commandline
                 arguments for installation.
               - installer creates an uninstall-script  

03/29/2006		second release candidate for 0.1:
					- fixed bug in xml-format creation
					- fixed bug in jobclass
					- fixed reading paths of commands from system config file
					- improved documentation (web)

03/27/2006		first release candidate for 0.1:
					- changed Syntax of global config file from perl to plain text
					- changed architecture for pluggable themes for the menue-creation
					- demo-theme GD_Demo provides the functionality of the old script.
					- more themes coming up next time.

02/27/2006		release 0.0.2
					- improved the integration of the modules
					- minor usability enhancements
					- now exists support for split, join and rename/move
					  of recordings.

02/15/2006		first release 0.0.1
