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Integration with XBMC PVR


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New version available.

 

0.1.5

 

[added] Timers support.

[added] An option to load the channels from favourites.xml instead of from channels.dat (a reset of the PVR database is required).

It is usually located at c:\ProgramData\CMUV\DVBViewer\

This is a hidden folder so be sure to enable the "Settings\Appearance\File Lists\Show hidden files and directories" option.

[added] Always grab the EPG data after a channel switch.

[added] Recordings thumbnails.

[added] Receiving device name to the status info.

[fixed] The preferred language is loaded from the DVBViewer config and used to get the correct EPG in case it supports multi language entries.

[fixed] When the EPG is missing the description entry, the event entry is used instead.

[fixed] Channel names with utf8 chars weren't displayed properly.

 

Builds for Windows, Ubuntu, iOS and Raspberry Pi can be downloaded from here

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried this stuff and it is working OK, including scrambled TV. Nice!

 

 

The biggest drawbacks for me so far:

 

- channel switching is way slower compared to the DVBViewer

 

- zapping to H.264 HD channels results in an initial green image (for some seconds)

 

System -> Video -> Playback:

Render method: DXVA

Allow hardware acceleration (DXVA2): ticked

 

- Deinterlacing is quite a pain

 

Deinterlacing set to 'DXVA Best' results in a still image on my Intel HD 4000 graphics. 'DXVA BOB' is a pain in the a**.

 

- lack of DirectShow kind of makes me feel uneasy ;) . Guess the combination of PVR and DSPlayer is not possible?

 

 

Advantages...

 

Nice integration of TV into a Media Center. XBMC definately has its advantes when it comes to such functionality.

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I've been having a good look at this over the last few weeks. Thank you A600 for all your work.

 

I've found that image quality is much better in XBMC, especially de-interlacing. I'm using an old(ish) ATI card, maybe a year or so old, a 4xxx something I think. Overall it's a useful addition but doesn't have the 'set top box' feel that DVBViewer does. My HTPC is under the TV and family use it - there's no other STB, so it has to be intuitive. With XBMC there's just a bit too much messing about involved in watching TV - and there's no nice MiniEPG for quick channel navigation. Also there's no timeshift on live TV which comes as a shock when you're used to it being there.

 

So overall at the moment I'll go into XBMC to watch a film, backed up bluray etc as XBMC handles feame rate changing and also 24p playback seems a bit smoother than the DVBViewer / frame rate changer / ReClock combination that I've found works best for me otherwise. Useful that I can watch Recording Service recordings in XBMC, check timers and add new ones etc.

 

But if I just want to watch TV, can't beat DVBViewer. And also of course credit needs to go to the recording service for being the engine room for both solutions.

 

But then I see the odd mention of DVBViewer 5 on the boards from developers, and I wonder if that will sway the balance again.

 

But I like that I have a choice now. I've never got on terms with MediaPortal and Windows media centre seems a bit basic so it's good to have 2 options now.

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I've found that image quality is much better in XBMC, especially de-interlacing.

Not for me unfortunately. I can't get full DXVA deinterlacing to work at all with my Intel HD 4000. No temporal edge based deinterlacing (VA), only BOB :( .

 

and there's no nice MiniEPG for quick channel navigation

Aaah, that is also something I got quite used to with the DVBViewer... surfing the Mini-EPG without actually changing the channel.

 

But if I just want to watch TV, can't beat DVBViewer.

Agreed.

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New version available

 

0.1.7

 

[added] The Recording Service version 1.21 or higher is now required. Download the latest version from the DVBViewer members area and install it.

[added] Display a notification if the add-on can't connect to the Recording Service. Please, check that the RS is enabled and the IP, webinterface port, username and pass are correct.

[added] If the favourites.xml selector is empty, the favourites are loaded from the web interface.

[added] Don't fetch recording thumbnails at startup if there are more than 20 recordings.

[fixed] The add-on crashed if favourites.xml had entries with the old 32 bits ID.

[fixed] Channel names with ansi chars are converted to utf8 so they can be displayed properly (a reset of the PVR database may be required).

[fixed] Channel names with more than 25 chars.

 

Builds for Windows, Ubuntu, OS X, Android, iOS and Raspberry Pi can be downloaded from here

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Aaah, that is also something I got quite used to with the DVBViewer... surfing the Mini-EPG without actually changing the channel.

 

Do you mean something like this?

 

channels1.png

 

I've been using DVBViewer for almost 7 years and I've tried the gui a couple of times or something like that :D so I'm not sure if that is what you're talking about.

 

I guess it's a matter of taste but for me, nothing comes even close to the XBMC gui.

Edited by A600
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A600,

 

something like that, yes. With Up/Down I can surf through the Mini-EPG OSD (Now/Next Event) of all channels without actually changing the channel. With Right/Left it is even possible to look further into the future (Extendend Event) when in the Mini-EPG OSD.

miniepg.jpg

 

A feature like Mini-EPG surfing alleviates the burden of long channel switching delays as one only changes the channel when something interesting is found.

 

 

The bigger showstopper concerning XBMC for me is the video playback engine though. DXVA Deinterlacing is a must. Hopefully either the XBMC or the Intel guys will get this sorted. Also H.264 random access is not handled properly. ffmpeg most likely is not very well tested in a streaming environment.

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something like that, yes. With Up/Down I can surf through the Mini-EPG OSD (Now/Next Event) of all channels without actually changing the channel. With Right/Left it is even possible to look further into the future (Extendend Event) when in the Mini-EPG OSD.

 

Press the 'c' key (it's as simple as that). With Up/down PgUp/PgDown you can browse the channel list and with Left/Right you change the channel group.

 

The 'g' key shows the epg list for the current channel, there you can see the full description, set/stop a timer...

 

epg4.png

 

 

The bigger showstopper concerning XBMC for me is the video playback engine though. DXVA Deinterlacing is a must. Hopefully either the XBMC or the Intel guys will get this sorted. Also H.264 random access is not handled properly. ffmpeg most likely is not very well tested in a streaming environment.

 

Not a problem here with a cheap Radeon HD 6450.

Edited by A600
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I think, this feature would be as good as the MiniEPG ... :D

Is it implemented in the new version 0.1.7?

 

XBMC is the one that implements it. The add-on is only a bridge between the backend (DVBViewer) and XBMC that feeds all the needed data (channels, epg, timers...)

 

Not for me unfortunately. I can't get full DXVA deinterlacing to work at all with my Intel HD 4000. No temporal edge based deinterlacing (VA), only BOB :(

 

Did you try "DXVA best"? You have to set the deinterlace method to "DXVA best" to get the best deinterlacing your graphics card is capable of (im my case, vector adaptive)

 

th_deinterlace.png

Edited by A600
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'c' key
'g' key

Is it possible to change that key/action mapping? What do the keys 'c' and 'g' do in other modules like the video or the music player? Is it possible to change the key/action mapping per "module" (music/video/pvr)? I am not yet familiar with the XBMC controlling concept :( .

 

The 'g' key shows the epg list for the current channel, there you can see the full description, set/stop a timer...

Would it also be possible to see the full EPG list of another channel, i.e. the channel that is not currently running (and I don't mean the timeline, I really hate all timeline visualizations...)? E.g. with Left/Right when in this OSD?

 

Did you try "DXVA best"?

That is exactly what I enabled and what gives me the still image with Intel HD graphics. DXVA BOB works but is a no-go quality wise. When searching through the web it seems that I am not the only one suffering from that issue. The ffmpeg DXVA implementation does not seem to work too well for Intel. Too bad...

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Is it possible to change that key/action mapping? What do the keys 'c' and 'g' do in other modules like the video or the music player? Is it possible to change the key/action mapping per "module" (music/video/pvr)? I am not yet familiar with the XBMC controlling concept :(

 

You have to edit the system\keymaps\keyboard.xml

 

Here is the one I use for my WandTV remote.

 

Would it also be possible to see the full EPG list of another channel, i.e. the channel that is not currently running (and I don't mean the timeline, I really hate all timeline visualizations...)? E.g. with Left/Right when in this OSD?

 

No, but you can post a feature suggestion at the XBMC forums.

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Did you try "DXVA best"? You have to set the deinterlace method to "DXVA best" to get the best deinterlacing your graphics card is capable of (im my case, vector adaptive)

 

th_deinterlace.png

 

In my case the quality of the LiveTV picture in XBMC also is at least as good as in DVBViewer itself if I use the settings you recommend.

And it looks like that video and audio keep synchron in XBMC without permanent stuttering.

 

But I am not able to save the deinterlacing settings done on a channel.

Once I switch channels I have to setup deinterlacing as recommended by you again.

Do you have any idea why?

 

Another problem I have was already mentioned in this forum or in the XBMC forum:

In my favourites I have stored the AC3 versions of certain channels only.

Those channels are not shown in XBMC as already explained in another post.

But if I put these channels into the favourite list on the folder level I am not able to switch to AC3 afterwards.

The only option I have is MPEG2.

Is there any chance to use the AC3 versions of the channels in XBMC?

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But I am not able to save the deinterlacing settings done on a channel.

Once I switch channels I have to setup deinterlacing as recommended by you again.

Do you have any idea why?

 

It seems to be an XBMC bug that doesn't always save the settings. Anyway, select the option "Set as default for all videos" to enable it for all channels.

 

Another problem I have was already mentioned in this forum or in the XBMC forum:

In my favourites I have stored the AC3 versions of certain channels only.

Those channels are not shown in XBMC as already explained in another post.

But if I put these channels into the favourite list on the folder level I am not able to switch to AC3 afterwards.

The only option I have is MPEG2.

Is there any chance to use the AC3 versions of the channels in XBMC?

 

Maybe you don't have the "All audiotracks" option enabled in the Recording Service config:

 

th_settings.png

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Thanks for your keyboard.xml A600. Quite powerful controlling concept. Think I will set up my X10 remote with EventGhost and map the keys to keyboard shortcuts to finally map them to XBMC actions inside the keyboard.xml. Or is there a way to directly integrate an X10 remote into XBMC under Windows via add-on?

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  • 1 month later...

New version available.

 

0.1.8

 

[fixed] Changed the way timers are calculated. This should fix problems with scheduled and instant recordings on some machines.

[fixed] Favourites didn't show channels if the audio track wasn't the first one.

[fixed] Channel settings weren't saved/restored after a channel switch with the channels OSD.

[fixed] XBMC could hang after a channel switch with the channels OSD.

 

Builds for Windows, Ubuntu, iOS, Android, OSX and Raspberry Pi can be downloaded from here

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  • 2 weeks later...

You bet..

I installed it on my android tablet and didnt expect it to work, generally becourse I read it was not a light version of xbmc, but a full version.

But to my big surprize it works flawlessly.

The only problem is HD channels, they are not 100% smoothly running.

According to the xbmc team it is becourse hardware acceleration is still not fully implemented in the Android version.

And I think hd generally is a problem over wireless lan, especially Blu Ray...

Impressing what is possible to run on a small android device, I bet Microsoft have nightmares "Android for PC"..

If that happens they are totally doomed..

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The only problem is HD channels, they are not 100% smoothly running.

According to the xbmc team it is becourse hardware acceleration is still not fully implemented in the Android version.

 

Same here on my Rockchip tablet. There is a PR to get the hardware acceleration working but it's hard to get it working on all devices and I'm pretty sure my tablet won't be one of them :(

 

 

New version available.

 

1.6.4

 

[fixed] Use utf-8 encoding to get and set the timers.

[fixed] Channel names with more than 25 chars could crash the add-on.

 

1.6.3

 

[updated] Language files from Transifex

 

1.6.2

 

New version number by Team XBMC

 

Builds for Windows, Ubuntu, iOS, Android, OSX and Raspberry Pi can be downloaded from here

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Same here on my Rockchip tablet. There is a PR to get the hardware acceleration working but it's hard to get it working on all devices and I'm pretty sure my tablet won't be one of them :(

 

 

New version available.

 

 

 

Builds for Windows, Ubuntu, iOS, Android, OSX and Raspberry Pi can be downloaded from here

If I use Upnp to stream it works a VERY little bit better but not really good..., so my opinion is it is a LAN problem, n-lan wireless is simply not good enough to transfer HD signals.., which is a PITY!!

not a problem in DVBViewer/Recordservice or XBMC. MAYYYBEEE hardware acc. can help a little, but I doubt it ..

We have to wait for new W-lan standards.. or something like that..

To connect a tablet with wires to your LAN is a joke..

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since the DVBViewer API doesn't provide the logo names and I really doubt it will ever do, here is a custom version of the add-on to get the renamed logos.

 

How to use:

 

- This will only work on Windows

- Install the add-on and close XBMC

- Create the folder C:\DVBLogos

- Start XBMC

- Logos will be saved renamed there and a notification will be displayed when it's finished

- Close XBMC

- Copy all logos to Program Files\DVBViewer\Images\Logos

- Restart the Recording Service

- Delete C:\DVBLogos

 

Download

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  • 1 month later...

Is it not possible to show timers from DVBViewer on Raspberry Pi OpenElec XBMC? I have it working great apart from this. Timers are shown on XBMC Windows 7 PC.

Edited by boborg
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  • 3 months later...

Since the DVBViewer API doesn't provide the logo names and I really doubt it will ever do, here is a custom version of the add-on to get the renamed logos.

 

How to use:

 

 

 

Download

Hi

 

I´ve tested this and works, but I only get with a group of tv icons from favourites

I´ve more than 1 group of favourites and seem only get icons of first group.

What am I do wrong?

 

XBMC 12.2

RS 1.26 (the last one)

 

Thanks in advance

  • Like 1
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  • 11 months later...

@A600 given your woes that XBMC won't play your HD channels. Perhaps you'd look at my thread here..

http://www.DVBViewer.tv/forum/topic/53943-DVBViewer-as-backend-for-mediabrowser-3-tv-service/

 

the mediabrowser server will transcode channels if required, all they need is a plugin. Which i cannot build. I've recently tried the nextPVR implementation but it isn't a patch on DVBViewer. Back to WMC for now....

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A600 is inactiv and manül has taken over the XMBC development.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=140645&page=61

 

Anyway ... what you are doing here is completely SPAM!

http://mediabrowser3.com/community/index.php?/topic/4522-other-potential-live-tv-back-ends/page-3

 

 

P.S. I would love to see DVBViewer/Recordingservice as backend for Mediabrowser3.

If you find a dev. please let me know. Maybe I can help with questions about Recordingservice API, RTSP etc.

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how is it spam? I'm looking in these forums for a dev.the mb3 devs are all too busy.... I think integration with mb3 takes DVBViewer to the next level. Without being rude i think the DVBViewer functionality is superb but the UI is lacking. No way my wife could/would use it. I have always used it as a separate entity to wmc for this very reason. Run my motor with DVBViewer to watch the footy, day to day use wmc.

DVBViewer in mb3 would be a different kettle of fish as far as I'm concerned!

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Imho its Spam to enter the XMBC/DVBViewer thread to call attention to your interests and invite other mb3 user to do the same.

I dont think any DVBViewer Maindeveloper (Griga, Christian) has time for such a plugin, but as I said before, if you find someone you can contect me for help (i.e RS API or encrypted channels over sat>ip is a little bit tricky).

 

I really appreciate any other frontend that support the Recordingservice as TV-Server!

Edited by nuts
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  • 4 weeks later...

I tried out the XBMC PVR addon and ist working quite good. But its not perfect for TV and i guess its not getting anymore better :-(

 

Thats a pitty, going back to use DVBViewer again feels like going back in time for 10 years....

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I tried out the XBMC PVR addon and ist working quite good. But its not perfect for TV and i guess its not getting anymore better :-(

 

Thats a pitty, going back to use DVBViewer again feels like going back in time for 10 years....

Which was exactly my point! Thank you...

The DVBViewer application is functionally fantastic. The UI and WAF is awful

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it hink it works quite well within XBMC, not had any problems, sure channel switching could always be quicker, mines is 2secs, a lot slower with RPTS.

 

But do agree the DVBViewer app could do with a complete image overhaul.. It wouldn't be wife friendly.

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