[vlc-devel] Need some help writing a demux module

[Chris Douty]

Hi VLC gurus,

First off, you all have my thanks for making this extremely versatile 
media player.

Now, I have some questions about writing a module from the perspective 
of a total neophyte up against a time wall.  My goal is to write two 
modules for our multiplexer/solid state recorder.  As a mux we create a 
particular format file that happens to contain a MPEG-2 TS along with a 
bunch of other junk. (non-audio PCM, gps readings, occasional 
timestamps, Death Star plans, etc.)  The other module will be an access 
module to connect directly to the recorder and read the data over a 
TCP/IP network.  Since I can download files from the recorder to a 
normal filesystem and the demux module is required to understand the 
data, I am working on it first.

My plan is to use the new stream_Demux*() functions to create a sub 
demux for the TS stream which my module would feed.  So far I can 
register and load my new demux and spawn either the 'demuxdump' or 'ts' 
as slave threads.  I think that I've figured out most of the 
requirements for a well-behaved module by examining many of the other 
modules and a lot of libvlc code.  (Gee, I wish the API docs and 
developer's guide were up to date. :-)

What I don't understand is how flow control or rate limiting works.  As 
a gross hack I inserted a msleep(10000) call in my Demux() function 
right after I call stream_DemuxSend().  If I don't do that then the ts 
module never gets beyond reading a few 188 byte packets before I 
overflow the buffer.  I don't think that I am handling eof correctly 
either.  To me it looks like the 'input' thread calls my Demux function 
as fast as it can, while the spawned 'stream out' thread does the same 
thing.  My msleep() call and a carefully tuned block size let's the 
player kinda work, but it's clearly not right.

What am I missing?  How does rate control work?  Do I need to try to 
feed the clock? and what?

I am also unsure how to respond to the various demux_query_e messages.  
My base multiplex has a periodic time packet, but doesn't have a 
constant bit rate.  For simplicity's sake I don't think that I will 
allow seeking on my access module, at least at first.

Thanks folks,
	Chris

-- 
Christopher Douty <Chris_Douty at ampexdata.com> +1-650-367-3129
Senior Engineer, Software & Systems  - AMPEX Data Systems Corp.

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