* * * *     tvtime     * * * *

               http://tvtime.net/

tvtime is a high quality television application for use with video capture cards. tvtime processes the input from a capture card and displays it on a computer monitor or projector. Unlike other television applications, tvtime focuses on high visual quality making it ideal for videophiles.

tvtime supports:

o Deinterlaced output at full interlaced rate of 59.94 frames per second for NTSC source, or 50 frames per second for PAL sources. This gives smoothness of motion and high visual quality.

o Multiple deinterlacing algorithms for finding the optimal mode for your video content and available processor speed.

o 16:9 aspect ratio mode for the highest available resolution when processing input from an external DVD player or digital satellite receiver.

o A super-slick on-screen-display for the complete television experience, with a featureful menu system.

o 2-3 Pulldown detection for optimal quality viewing of film content from NTSC sources.

Contents

1. Where to find help with tvtime
2. How to configure your tvtime
3. An introduction to using tvtime
4. Setting up your channel list in tvtime
5. Using tvtime in areas that receive both PAL and SECAM stations

1 Where to find help with tvtime

Detailed help, documentation, known bugs, and known hardware issues can be found on the tvtime website:

 http://tvtime.net/

2 How to configure your tvtime

Most everything in tvtime can be configured via the OSD menu system, hit or to get to the menu in tvtime. However, some settings must be configured on the command line. Run 'tvtime --help' to get a list of command line arguments. You can also save command line arguments to the config file using --saveoptions.

 tvtime --saveoptions --norm=pal --frequencies=europe

This will save to your config file the norm PAL and frequency table Europe as your defaults. See docs/default.tvtime.xml for a default configuration file and the default runtime keybindings.

3 An introduction to using tvtime

Here are the core set of key bindings you want to learn for using tvtime:

Escape or q        Quit
F1 or tab          Show menu
up/down            Change channels
0-9 and Enter      Change channels
Backspace          Jump to previous channel
i                  Change input
m                  Mute
+/- and left/right Volume control
f                  Fullscreen
s                  Take a screenshot
d                  Display debug statistics

Here are some advanced keys. These features are all configurable via the menu, but some of these may be useful if you use the features often:

a               Toggle the output aspect ratio
e               Toggle audio mode (stereo/mono/SAP)
v               Toggle always-on-top with supporting window managers
F5/F6/F7        Picture settings
c               Toggle closed caption decoding (NTSC only)

Commands can be sent to a running tvtime using the 'tvtime-command' application. For example, 'tvtime-command channel_inc' to change channel, or 'tvtime-command channel_1 channel_5 enter' to change to channel 15. Run 'tvtime-command' without arguments to get a list of available commands.

4 Setting up your channel list in tvtime

tvtime supports a channel scanner, channel renumbering, channel names, and a list of active channels for browsing. All of these features are available within the OSD menu system itself. Here we present some of the details for users that wish to configure their stations directly.

European users of cable providers that do not use standard frequencies can use our channel scanner: tvtime-scanner. This outputs to the 'Custom' frequency table, selectable in the OSD menu.

4.1 stationlist.xml

The station listing is read in from the ~/.tvtime/stationlist.xml. Channel settings are saved specific to norm and frequency table. For more information on the specific format used, see 'man stationlist.xml'.

4.2 Future enhancements

tvtime still needs a method of editing channel names at runtime (should not be hard).

5 Using tvtime in areas that receive both PAL and SECAM stations

If you live in an area which receives stations in both PAL and SECAM formats, no worries, tvtime can switch between norms on a per-channel basis. This feature is available in the OSD menu.

tvtime cannot currently remember norms per input, that is, you cannot yet tell tvtime that your composite in is SECAM but your tuner input is PAL. This feature will be added in a future version of tvtime.