Scripted Slick Capture

We have shown (see Slick Capture) that a super-cheap, credit-card computer, a Raspberry Pi 2 B (redhen3rpi.case.edu), is adequate to capture a broadcast, extract the closed captions, compress the captured file to an appropriate .mp4 file, and transfer the derived products via internet to the Red Hen archive. This means that a remote capture station can be configured for under $200 USD. UPDATE 2015-07-03: Setups essentially identical to the Turner development machine have now been sent to our 8 Google/Red Hen Summer of Code 2015 students and to the 5 Google/CCextractor Summer of Code 2015 students, for their experimentation. We'll see what develops and post it here or on Slick capture.

Task

Now, we need to script and automate that process. There are solid resources already available for this task: the capture at UCLA already uses Linux and HDHomeRun, just like redhen3rpi at Case Western Reserve University, and those processes are scripted at UCLA. All of the remote capture stations have scripts for extracting closed captions, compressing to .mp4, and moving the derived files to the Red Hen archive. Those scripts need to be adapted for use on a Raspberry Pi 2 B, such as redhen3rpi. Can they be generalized in various ways so that the script itself would query and incorporate local information—time zone, city, technical standard for the digital transmission (DVB-T, ISDB-T, etc.)?

Would you like to accomplish all or part of this task?

If so, write to

and we will try to connect you with a mentor.

Solution

See Portugal capture station for a full implementation of a working fully automated system and How to set up a Red Hen capture station for instructions on setting one up for yourself.