This is a "plugin" for the Video Disk Recorder (VDR).

Written by:                  Jens Koehler irimi_at_gmx_de

Project's homepage:          http://irimi.ir.ohost.de/

Latest version available at: http://irimi.ir.ohost.de/

See the file COPYING for license information.

Description: A frontend vdr plugin for KDE's amaroK.

supported amaroK features
=========================
* Playlist view: 
  show current playlist of amaroK and active track
  play , stop desired track of current play list(of course :-)
* Track view: 
  show current tracks informations: artist, title, track statistics etc.
* Edit amaroK's playlst:
  remove single tracks, shuffle playlist, clear playlist
* amaroK database query:
  add tracks to current playlist by artists/album and resp. or genre/artists
* amaroK smart lists
  create new playlist: last played, 50 random tracks, never played, ...


Prerequisites
============= 
* amaroK V1.4.x running on KDE environment (dcop server is needed!).
* vdr 1.4 or newer

Installation
============
To run plugin do following steps:
1. install plugin: 
   a. copy uncompressed tar ball to <VDR_SOURCE_DIR>/PLUGINS/src/amarok
   b. execute "make plugins" in <VDR_SOURCE_DIR>
   c. copy file <PLUGIN_DIR>/amarok/contrib/amarokmain.mpg to <VDRCONFIG_DIR>/plugins/amarok/amarokmain.mpg

2. install vdramgw (the amaroK gateway application) to same machine as amaroK has been installed:
   a. copy <VDR_SOURCE_DIR>/PLUGINS/src/amarok/vdramgw to your desired amaroK server (e.g. localhost)
   b. cd <vdramgw_DIR> and execute "make" to create vdramgw executable console application 
      (use './vdramgw --help' to verify build and view all optional parameters)
3. start KDE and execute amaroK v1.4.x (dcop server must be available, don't forget to scan your MP3/OGG/... collection).
4. On same machine & same account as amaroK has started
    start vdramgw:
    ./vdramgw --user amarok --passwd secret
    or
    ./vdramgw -c ./vdramgw.conf

5. If vdramgw returns the message "Starting server listening port xxxx",
   you should be able to use the vdr-amaroK plugin: 
   start your vdr with amaroK-plugin on localhost or your desired machine which has access to amaroK machine via network:
   vdr -P"amarok"
   If you have changed the above default settings of vdramgw or if you don't run the plugin on amaroK localhost ,
   you must adapt the plugin settings (i.e. host and/or port and/or user, password).

6. Enjoy 


Known problems in current version 0.0.1
=======================================
- 'Pause'-key is starting LiveBuffer capturing instead  of set pause amaroK player 
   (under investigation,this is invoked before ProcessKey() of plugin is called !!??)


Todo list
=========

- better support of grapglcd in track menu mode
- optional cControl eyecatcher track view inclusive album cover display
- load/save support of own playlists (actually no supported by dcop amarok)
- better support of audio streams / podcasts
  (can be already used but can only be added to current playlist manually via amaroK)

