Pikku-DVR

Copyright (c) 2019 - 2024 Martin Grimme

Just a tiny (finnish: pikku) digital video recorder for the Linux command line.

• The EPG (electronic program guide) is updated automatically
• Browse the EPG and schedule recordings
• Get the recordings in MP4 format

1 Requirements

• Linux with a working setup of DVB-capturing hardware.
• bash (who doesn't have this?)
• DVB-related tools:
  • dvbv5-zap
  • dvbsnoop
• ffmpeg built with MP4 support
• nodejs

2 What's in the Box

• config.example: Example for a configuration file
• pdvr: The Pikku-DVR frontend
• core: Contains the various components that make up Pikku-DVR
• README.md: The README file you are currently reading

3 Setup

Copy the file config.example over to config and adjust its contents to your needs. You may at least want to adjust the path to your DVB channels.conf file in ZAP format (which you can create with w_scan for example).

4 Usage

Use the pdvr tool from the pdvr directory for working with the DVR.

4.1 Start the DVR Services

Use pdvr start to start the DVR services and run them in the background:

# pdvr start
[Running] Scheduler
[Running] Converter
[Running] EPG Updater

4.2 Stop the DVR Services

Use pdvr stop to stop the DVR services if they are running:

# pdvr stop
[Stopped] Scheduler
[Stopped] Converter
[Stopped] EPG Updater

4.3 Show the DVR Status

Use pdvr status to see status information about the DVR:

# pdvr status
[Running] Scheduler
[Running] Converter
[Running] EPG Updater

[  Rec  ] Game Of Thrones - 2019-05-11 - S08E02 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
          Until 23:30

[Convert] Goblin Slayer - 2019-05-11 - S01E05

4.4 Schedule a Recording

Use pdvr record to schedule a recording, e.g.

# pdvr record "10:30 pm" 3600 "RTL(Digital Free)" "Game Of Thrones" "S08E02 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

This line will schedule a recording at 10:30 pm the same day on the channel "RTL(Digital Free)" to record the show "Game Of Thrones - S08E02 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" for an hour (3600 seconds).

After the recording has finished, it will be converted to MP4 format and moved to your records directory. Depending on your system, the conversion may take longer than the actual recording.

4.5 Show the scheduled Recordings

Use pdvr show to show the scheduled recordings:

# pdvr show
[2019-05-11 22:30 - 23:30] Game Of Thrones - S08E02 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (RTL(Digital Free))
[2019-05-12 20:00 - 20:15] Tagesschau (ARD HD)

4.6 Browse the EPG

Use pdvr epg to browse the EPG and select shows for recording:

# pdvr epg

This will open the EPG console interface.

Use the cursor keys to navigate channels and shows and press [R] to schedule a recording for the currently selected show.