[ale] Linux V4L Developer / Programming

[Charles Brian Quinn]

Hello ALEs,

I just posted on the ale-jobs list about some Linux V4L developer /
programming help, but thought I'd just ask here if anyone has ever
done any v4l development or programming, or know any other resources I
should be looking at.

Essentially my uncle (the one requesting the help) wants to overlay
text on near-real-time HD feeds.  I know there's some linux software
out there you could glue together.  Having built my own MythTV box a
while back, I know something like this is possible using several tools
piped together.

Here's what I told him (my condensed notes):

------------------

Step 1: Linux PC with HDTV

Get a little computer (cheap would be fine), drop linux on it (any
modern distribution would do), put in a pchdtv hd-5500 card
(http://pchdtv.com/) and then install the drivers and set it up.

Step 2: Overlay the text

Now you can use that to "record" digital video to disk, in mpeg
format, and then use some other tool (which I haven't found, but know
exists) to add or overlay text or video on top of it.  I know it's
possible because of all the work done on mythtv -- this is an
open-source DVR (similar to tivo) that has lots of on screen displays,
and it very easily can add things on top of video, real-time as it
comes in through a cable/coax or even OTA (over the air) HD
broadcasts.

With all the video DJing software out there, it's got to be easy for a
linux hacker to put two tools together to make a down and dirty
interface.

I also just found a neat tool:

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Yet-Another-V4L-Application-22129.shtml

That looks like it simply can add text on top of most standard linux
video formats.  So if you were to combine that with a hardware card
that can create videos on disk from video feeds, you've got yourself
text on top of video.

------------------

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Cheers,
-- 
Charles Brian Quinn
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