diff -Nru vdr-1.3.33.origt/thread.c vdr-1.3.33/thread.c
--- vdr-1.3.33.origt/thread.c	Sun Aug 14 13:15:42 2005
+++ vdr-1.3.33/thread.c	Mon Sep 26 14:19:23 2005
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <sys/resource.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <signal.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include "tools.h"
 
@@ -499,5 +500,20 @@
         }
      _exit(0);
      }
+}
+
+// --- KillProcess -----------------------------------------------------------
+
+void KillProcess(int Pid, int TimeoutMs)
+{
+  kill(Pid, SIGTERM);
+  while (TimeoutMs > 0) {
+        if (waitpid(Pid, NULL, WNOHANG) == Pid)
+           return;
+        cCondWait::SleepMs(10);
+        TimeoutMs -= 10;
+        }
+  kill(Pid, SIGKILL);
+  waitpid(Pid, NULL, 0);
 }
 
diff -Nru vdr-1.3.33.origt/thread.h vdr-1.3.33/thread.h
--- vdr-1.3.33.origt/thread.h	Sun Aug 14 13:21:48 2005
+++ vdr-1.3.33/thread.h	Mon Sep 26 14:19:23 2005
@@ -167,5 +167,6 @@
 // descriptors in the child process.
 
 int SystemExec(const char *Command);
+void KillProcess(int Pid, int TimeoutMs = 0);
 
 #endif //__THREAD_H
diff -Nru vdr-1.3.33.origt/vdr.c vdr-1.3.33/vdr.c
--- vdr-1.3.33.origt/vdr.c	Sat Sep 24 15:27:26 2005
+++ vdr-1.3.33/vdr.c	Mon Sep 26 14:20:02 2005
@@ -137,7 +137,8 @@
 
   cPluginManager PluginManager(DEFAULTPLUGINDIR);
   int ExitCode = 0;
-
+  int PidToKill = 0;
+  
   static struct option long_options[] = {
       { "audio",    required_argument, NULL, 'a' },
       { "config",   required_argument, NULL, 'c' },
@@ -145,6 +146,7 @@
       { "device",   required_argument, NULL, 'D' },
       { "epgfile",  required_argument, NULL, 'E' },
       { "help",     no_argument,       NULL, 'h' },
+      { "kill",     required_argument, NULL, 'k' },
       { "lib",      required_argument, NULL, 'L' },
       { "lirc",     optional_argument, NULL, 'l' | 0x100 },
       { "log",      required_argument, NULL, 'l' },
@@ -164,7 +166,7 @@
     };
 
   int c;
-  while ((c = getopt_long(argc, argv, "a:c:dD:E:hl:L:mp:P:r:s:t:v:Vw:", long_options, NULL)) != -1) {
+  while ((c = getopt_long(argc, argv, "a:c:dD:E:hk:l:L:mp:P:r:s:t:v:Vw:", long_options, NULL)) != -1) {
         switch (c) {
           case 'a': AudioCommand = optarg;
                     break;
@@ -185,6 +187,8 @@
                     break;
           case 'h': DisplayHelp = true;
                     break;
+          case 'k': PidToKill = atoi(optarg);
+                    break;
           case 'l': {
                       char *p = strchr(optarg, '.');
                       if (p)
@@ -291,6 +295,7 @@
                "                           if FILE is a directory, the default EPG file will be\n"
                "                           created in that directory\n"
                "  -h,       --help         print this help and exit\n"
+               "  -k PID,   --kill=PID     kill a process before initializing plugins and DVB\n"
                "  -l LEVEL, --log=LEVEL    set log level (default: 3)\n"
                "                           0 = no logging, 1 = errors only,\n"
                "                           2 = errors and info, 3 = errors, info and debug\n"
@@ -458,6 +463,11 @@
      cSchedules::Read();
      }
 
+  // Kill a process:
+
+  if (PidToKill != 0)
+     KillProcess(PidToKill, 1000);
+  
   // DVB interfaces:
 
   cDvbDevice::Initialize();