Knots

= About Knots = Knots is a feature rich GPLv2 Video Streaming Application for Linux, FreeBSD and OS X by Janne Mäkinen. It's written in ruby and uses vlc 0.9.6+ to do the transcoding. Knots can be configured to stream Video Files (any format/codec supported by vlc), DVB-Broadcasts, Custom Playlists or any other media to a Knots-Client on a N700/N8x0 or to any other computer, via the Knots Web-Frontend.

= Features =
 * Auto Transcode & Stream Videos to a Knots - Client or to the web-frontend.
 * watch Live TV (DVB) with vlc or VDR (incl. EPG & Timer Management)
 * Playlist Support (worldTV99, ect.)
 * Automatic Subtitle fetching for Movies
 * Automatic Thumbnail Generation
 * integrated Search Function

= Knots Server =

Install
ToDo see http://nakkiboso.com/knots/doc.php

First run
ToDo

config.yaml
Example Configuration: --- cache: - Video - Recordings vlc: startup_wait: 5 tmpdir: /var/tmp remote_play_options: freetype-effect: 2 vout: xvideo freetype-fontsize: 12 volume: 100 fullscreen: "" path: /usr/bin/vlc resume_rollback: 5 port_range: 4214-4244 vdr: vdr1: timer_interval_before: 0 address: 192.168.1.100 streamdev_port: 3000 svdrp_port: 2001 disable_epg: false timer_interval_after: 0 charset: iso-8859-1 force_charset_conversion: false disable_streamdev: false server: log_level: 2 name: panta-rhei remote_auth: false port: 4212 os: linux ip: 192.168.1.100 bind: eth0 vdr_charset: iso-8859-1 service_discovery: 4212 force_update: false auth_timeout: 60 local_auth: false log_append: false media: extensions: avi,mpg,mpeg,wmv,vdr,img,iso,mkv,vob,flv,mov,nuv,sh ffmpeg_path: /usr/bin/ffmpeg subtitles: sub,srt avfs_extensions: tgz,gz,bz2,zip,rar,arj,uha,lha transcoding: N800: audio_format: mpga resolution: 400x240 audio_channels: 2 audio_bitrate: 128 video_bitrate: 900 video_format: xvid High: audio_format: mp3 resolution: 608x256 audio_channels: 2 audio_bitrate: 128 video_bitrate: 900 video_format: xvid Flash: stream_extension: flv audio_format: mp3 resolution: 400x300 audio_rate: 44100 audio_channels: 2 audio_bitrate: 128 video_bitrate: 1000 mux: ffmpeg{mux=flv} video_format: FLV1 categories: TV: - vdr1 Recordings: - /media/recordings/vdr Video: - /media/video

ToDo explain transcoding settings & other config options (Cache, ect)

Extras
./scripts/install_worldtv99 ./knots restart
 * install wordtv99

Scan your channels with dvb-scan using the vdr-format and then create an xml-playlist from it. (dvb-)scan -o vdr /usr/share/doc/dvb-utils/examples/scan/dvb-t/your_city > /tmp/channels.conf ./scripts/create_dvb_playlist /tmp/channels.conf ./knots restart
 * Live-TV (DVB) on Linux without VDR

You may need to edit ~/.config/knots/dvb.xml to make it work with your dvb-card.

If you for example have german umlauts that are iso-8859-1 in your filenames, libxml fails to parse them. You can convert them to utf-8 easily (but use at your own risk): ./scripts/fix_filenames
 * Converting non-utf-8 filenames

Flash-video (flv) requires mp3 -support. Make sure your ffmpeg is compiled with libmp3lame-support.
 * Sound in Flash-video

Update Knots
Server: ./knots stop ./scripts/update ./knots start

Client: Connect to server and select 'Check for updates' from the menu

= Knots Client =

Ruby for Maemo
Add Repository: Catalogue Name: Ruby1.8 for Maemo Web address: http://stage.rubyx.co.uk/maemo/ Distribution: diablo Components: user Open a terminal & change to root: apt-get install libhildon1-ruby1.8 libgconf2-ruby1.8 libconic-ruby1.8 ruby1.8 libosso-ruby1.8 wget http://stage.rubyx.co.uk/projects/ruby-maemo/packages/maemo4/armel/libxml2-ruby1.8_0.9.7-0maemo1_armel.deb dpkg -i libxml2-ruby1.8_0.9.7-0maemo1_armel.deb

Knots Client
Open a terminal & change to root: wget http://nakkiboso.com/knots/dl.php?file=client dpkg -i knots_*.deb

Client Settings
Menu Functions:
 * Server Scan: Automatically search and connect to a knots Server in the local LAN
 * Manual Connection: Specify the IP & Port of a Knots Server manually
 * Offline Mode: Disconnect from a Knots Server, and Display local Media Files
 * Preferences: see below
 * Refresh: Reload current Directory or Refresh list of local files
 * Go to Root: Retun to the Start - Folder
 * Switch Transcoding Profile: Use the next predefined Transcoding profile
 * Switch Theme: Switch Knots theme (no restart required)
 * Remote Playback: Play a media File directly on the Server
 * Check for Updates: Searches for available updates & installs if found.

Client Preferences:
 * Language: Set Application Language
 * Language for Subtitles: Set Language for Subtitles
 * Cache: Buffer in KB. 128 is a good starting point for a stable wlan
 * Local Directories: Knots scans these directories for Media when switched to Offline Mode.
 * Join split Videos: Automatically join split videos (e.g. 001.vdr & 002.vdr)
 * Show Screenshots: generate random Screenshots of Videos

Usage
The Knots Client is designed to be totally thumb controlled, and is including also gesture-support. Most of it's functions are very intuitive to use and self - explaining. The Start Screen gives an Overview of you defined Categories and has an entry to show unfinished Videos as well as the 10 latest additions to the Server.

If you want to watch a video on the way, you can left-click on any video file in your Archive and Knots will put the file on a "Transcoding List". If you change to this transcoding list and hit the start button knots will encode the video in the pre-defined profile and transfer the file to your tablet.

If you configured Knots to connect to a VDR, you can browse the Channellist (you also get the EPG), Stream Live-TV or manage Recording Timers for VDR.

ToDo much more usage tips :)

Offline Mode
In Offline Mode, the Knots Client is a thumb friendly mplayer frontend (with gestures support to change the volume, seek,ect ), that will automatically scan your tablet for media files, and display them in the GUI. You can add them to a playlist, or start playing them directly

Playlist support in offline mode can be used to load a VDR - streamdev channels.m3u Channel list to watch Live TV via VDR if no Knots Server is available.

You can sort playlist entries with the up / down buttons. A long click (2 seconds) pushes the selected entry to the beginning / end of the playlist. A long Click on the play button will start the selected entry directly.

= Web Frontend =

Point your desktop's browser to the Knots server address, followed by it's port. If you don't know what it is, check the the logfile or start the server with ./knots stick

It will print out the address on the first line. If you use the bundled Flash-profile, it will try to open the video in the browser. If you select a different transcoding-profile, it prints out a link to a playlist. You can then open this playlist with your favorite video player.

Authentication
To secure your installation, enable Remote-Authentication for Knots:

Edit ~/.config/knots/config.yaml and set 'auth_remote: true'

./scripts/auth add username password ./scripts/auth delete username
 * To Add / Remove a user:

./scripts/auth add client_id ./scripts/auth delete client_id
 * Add a client to / Remove client from whitelist

You can find your clients id from the logfile (~/.config/knots/knots.log)

Router Configuration
If you want Remote Access to your knots Server, you need to open & forward the ports 4212 - 4250 from your Router to the IP of your Knots Server.

= Bugs & Requests =