README

Technisat Digicorder Communicator and Transcoder

A python tool for downloading/uploading files from/to a Technisat Digicorder and fast and lossless transcoding of mpeg-ts.

Detailed description:
This python-based command line tool allows download & upload of recorded videos from/to a Technisat Digicorder via network

Additionally it allows a fast and lossless conversion of the .ts-files to DVD-compatible .mpg-files (using projectx and mplex) and the .ts4 HD-videos to 
.mkv-files which can be read by any DivX-Plus compatible device (using ffmpeg). The file transcoding functionality is independent from the Technisat functionality
and should work with any SD (which is typically a mpeg2 in mpeg-ts container) or HD (which is typically H264/AVC in mpeg-ts container) digital TV stream.  

If you have questions don't hesitate to contact me (in English or German)

Requirements:
* Python >3.6
For transcoding
* ffmpeg (ideally available in system PATH) from https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html

Installation:
* Simply unpack it to a preferred destination
* On Linux its recommended to activate the execution bit on main_technisat_digicorder.py
* On Linux/Windows it can be helpful to make main_technisat_digicorder.py available in the system PATH

Configuration:
* Set the correct options in the config-file "options.cfg"

Execute/examples (">" indicates a command line interface):
* > main_technisat_digicorder.py --help
	Gives you information about available options
* > main_technisat_digicorder.py --list
	Connects to the digicorder and lists the available main directories
* > main_technisat_digicorder.py --list --cd recordings
	Connects to the digicorder and lists all elements available in the folder "recordings" = Lists all recordings
* > main_technisat_digicorder.py --get 3 --localdirectory=/home/peter/video
	Downloads the element ID=3 (you get the ID with the list command above) to the local directory /home/peter/video
* > main_technisat_digicorder.py --convert /home/peter/video/bigbangtheory
	Transcodes the .ts/.ts4 files (HD-video recording) in /home/peter/video/bigbangtheory to an .mpg/.mkv in the same directory

Todo:
* More feedback/progress indicators when downloading/transcoding
* Upload files to technisat
* Delete files on technisat

Changelog:
0.3.0: Switched to Python3. Use only ffmpeg for converting.
0.2.4: Applied patch by F. Schwichtenberg. Enables pausing/resume of Technisat download via F9.
0.2.3: Added configuration file, removed "-newaudio" flag for the recent version of ffmpeg. 
	If you experience problems with .ts4 conversion now either update your ffmpeg or edit "technisat_digicorder_fileops" 
	and uncomment the line "#        args += ['-acodec', 'copy', '-newaudio']" and comment out the line "args += ['-acodec', 'copy']".
0.2.2: Allowed unknown file types for Digicorder S2
0.2.1: Small bugfixes (Concat error on combining string and numbers)
0.2: Improved speed and stability by following the protocoll more strictly. Added iso-8859-15 encoding - allows special characters now.
0.1: First release