[wellylug] MPEG/DVD encoding/decoding.

[JP]

Hi all

I am looking for options (software or hardware) for
_legally_ doing MPEG/DVD encoding/decoding on Linux. 
This is much more complicated than I initially
thought.  Perhaps one of you can help clarify the
legal status of a lot of this in New Zealand (I know
the US laws, but I don't live there), or point me in
the direction of a licensed hardware/software
solution...

Background: 

* I have a TV/radio capture card and a TV out on my
computer.  I would like to use these to form a
rudimentary PVR/media player.  

* I can record radio to .ogg format, so no problems
there.  If the proposed amendment to the Copyright Act
comes through, I will also be able to rip my CD
collection to .ogg.  

* The card records TV in .avi, or (.jpg frames and
.wav sound).  I would like to convert the TV captured
stuff to MPEG for smaller size.  

* I also have home movies in .avi which I would like
to convert to MPEG/DVD format for storage and playback
on an ordinary DVD player.  

* I would like to play DVDs on the PC too.

Existing software options: 

just about anything (mpeg decoding)
mplayer, ucbmpeg (mpeg encoding)
ogg theora (alternative to mpeg)

Problems: 

1) mpeg is patented and encoders/decoders, strictly
speaking, require a small license fee to be paid. 
It's only a couple of bucks per en/decoder, but you
can't just buy 1.

The ucbmpeg package, which encodes to MPEG-1, is in
Debian, which might mean that it is 100% legal, but
probably means that even though it is not legal,
Debian is satisfied the patent holders won't get nasty
about it.

mplayer is not in Debian, and I'm not happy to run it
on my machine.

Ogg Theora is not ready for prime time yet, but might
be an option in future (not for writing to DVD
though).

2) AFAIK, dvd encoding is basically mpeg encoding, and
dvd viewing is basically mpeg decoding, but with the
added complication of CSS.  Removing the encryption is
illegal in some countries.  I don't know if it is
illegal in NZ, but Rusty Russell has written some
stuff saying it is in Aus (even before they adopt the
US-style DCMA).  

libdvdcss is available, but not distributed by Debian
because of the legal difficulties.  I'd prefer to
avoid it.

Solutions?:

The best solution would be if someone could point me
to a declaration by the various patent-holders that
encoding/decoding is legitimate.  I think that's
unlikely :-).

Alternatively I don't mind paying for a hardware
solution with open-source Linux drivers.  Has anybody
tried one and got it working satisfactorily?  Sigma
Designs has some PCI boards with Linux drivers, but I
don't know if they are open-source or binary-only.

I also don't mind paying for a reasonably flexible
software solution which is open-source.  I saw that
some company is releasing a version of Linux
(Turbolinux?) with a licensed DVD software player, but
I think it only comes with their expensive distro.

Apologies for the long e-mail.

Cheers
Tony

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