Video Digital Recorder

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Video Digital Recorder

Adding XBMC to VDR

Getting XBMC integrated with VDR consists of two parts.

You need a working VDR with the streamdev server plugin.

The second stage is to install the latest version of XBMC and use the PM3 skin. This gives the option in settings for TV and add VDR capabilities.

In the past I always used to compile my own VDR system which was extremely complex. In the past the drivers were not part of the kernel and therefore needed to be built and installed (which was difficult). Then there was the compiling and getting hold of the plugins and patches that I wanted for VDR.

Installing XBMC on Acer Revo

Acer R3610 Revo - Atom 330 Dual Core - 160GB HD - 1GB RAM

This is a fantastic low cost computer which costs less that £150 and is perfect for XBMC. The plan is to use this as my media center and to access live TV via VDR.

The installation process has been refined from posts on HUKD by worldchangin and installation of Nvidia Ion drivers at xbmc.org

Asterisk controlling VDR

Using Asterisk to control VDR

I feed my VDR picture throughout the house via a modulator, but wanted to be able to alter the channels while in other rooms.
The web interface (vdradmin) works well with a wireless tablet but it is not practical to carry around all the time.
The solution was to use my PABX (Asterisk), which runs on the VDR server. Now I can pick up any phone and dial extension 837 (vdr).

The PABX gives a beep and I then use the keys on the phone to navigate. By pressing 0 on the phone puts me into number mode and after 2 seconds the system reverts back to navigation mode.