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WMC as the backend - released - Printable Version

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RE: WMC as the backend - released - hoopsdavis - 2013-09-16

(2013-09-16, 12:41)scarecrow420 Wrote:
(2013-09-16, 11:55)bry- Wrote: Wow! Those new speeds are impressive!

Yeah, I could sometimes get speeds like that previously but the inconsistency would see things go as long as 8 seconds or even time out. The new changes seem to be very consistent Smile

(note that this is the descriptor parse time so there is still a bit more time in the backend usually, but not much... then we still have to deal with XBMC frontend processing the stream). But any speed/consistency in any of these areas will contributre to a better user experience

Good stuff scarecrow. I'm waiting on Jurialmunkey to get back to me with the modified xml files for the Arctic skin. I sent them over and he agreed to modify them to work with the skin. If you haven't tried the skin, give it a look.


Re: RE: WMC as the backend - released - TheImmortal - 2013-09-16

(2013-09-16, 12:59)hoopsdavis Wrote:
(2013-09-16, 12:41)scarecrow420 Wrote:
(2013-09-16, 11:55)bry- Wrote: Wow! Those new speeds are impressive!

Yeah, I could sometimes get speeds like that previously but the inconsistency would see things go as long as 8 seconds or even time out. The new changes seem to be very consistent Smile

(note that this is the descriptor parse time so there is still a bit more time in the backend usually, but not much... then we still have to deal with XBMC frontend processing the stream). But any speed/consistency in any of these areas will contributre to a better user experience

Good stuff scarecrow. I'm waiting on Jurialmunkey to get back to me with the modified xml files for the Arctic skin. I sent them over and he agreed to modify them to work with the skin. If you haven't tried the skin, give it a look.

The Arctic skin is amazing! Very fastand clean, with just the right amount of eye candy. Can't wait to get the modified xml files for it.


RE: WMC as the backend - released - Dilligaf - 2013-09-16

Amber series recording files with fixed navigation are in Amber github here https://github.com/pecinko/skin.amber/tree/master/1080i Perhaps these could be used in Confluence? or used as an example to fix the Confluence remote navigation problem. Anyone that knows something about skinning willing to step up Huh?


RE: WMC as the backend - released - Powerhouse - 2013-09-16

So I finally added this to all my XBMC PC's throughout the house (was just testing on the server at first), and noticed that none of the Channel Icon's in WMC show up in the EPG guild in XBMC. I was using My Channel Logos' in WMC and all my channels have their appropriate logos', but apparently XBMC can't pull those in. So where should I put the channel logos' so they will show up in XBMC using this addonHuh

When I was using NextPVR, you put channel logos in C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Media\Channels. Name the files same as the channel + .png or .jpg.

Also, assuming the location for the channel logos' works, will this pull the info to all the Client systems as well?


RE: WMC as the backend - released - krustyreturns - 2013-09-16

(2013-09-16, 14:40)Dilligaf Wrote: Amber series recording files with fixed navigation are in Amber github here https://github.com/pecinko/skin.amber/tree/master/1080i Perhaps these could be used in Confluence? or used as an example to fix the Confluence remote navigation problem. Anyone that knows something about skinning willing to step up Huh?


I'll take a look and see if its a quick fix.

(2013-09-16, 19:48)Powerhouse Wrote: So I finally added this to all my XBMC PC's throughout the house (was just testing on the server at first), and noticed that none of the Channel Icon's in WMC show up in the EPG guild in XBMC. I was using My Channel Logos' in WMC and all my channels have their appropriate logos', but apparently XBMC can't pull those in. So where should I put the channel logos' so they will show up in XBMC using this addonHuh

When I was using NextPVR, you put channel logos in C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Media\Channels. Name the files same as the channel + .png or .jpg.

Also, assuming the location for the channel logos' works, will this pull the info to all the Client systems as well?

Here is how it is supposed to work.
1) When the server reads in the channels from the wmc database, it will get the path to the channel icons - IF wmc has been using channel icons.
2) The sever then stores the icons it finds in TempXBMC\imagecache\channelIcons (note: tempxbmc is created automatically by the server program in your recorded tv folder)
3) the server stores the icons there because all the clients (remote or local) should have access to this directory.
4) when the clients queries the server for channels the server builds the path to these icons and sends it to the clients - so if this all goes the way it is supposed to - no settings should have to be set in xbmc to get the icons to work - they should just work.

Since releasing the software I have heard both that icons work and that they don't work, and some say they only work on the server machine. As a starting point see if you have the icons stored in the path listed above.


RE: WMC as the backend - released - ferretlegs - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-16, 10:03)scarecrow420 Wrote: Given what I just experienced today (low signal warning in WMC but XBMC and plugin just erroring/crashing) I wouldnt be surprised if what ferretlegs said about 1 tuner being dodgy could have some merit. Can you disable that tuner ferret, or try a different one etc? Although there does seem to be those DVBScramble headers in the WTV files I dont think its actually scrambled or encrypted. If they were actually encrypting some content but not others I highly doubt they would encrypt Dr Oz!!! More so a prime time premiere movie or something like that

In WMC setup I believe you can pick which tuners you want WMC to use. I wonder if you disabled the suspect tuner in WMC that this would flow through to ServerWMC addon as well, I think probably it would. So ferret perhaps disabling 1 at a time and seeing if you get a better result on channel 7

Yeah, I doubted that it was solely encryption based on the fact that all 7 network channels, even including their shopping channel are not working for me at any stage. I have tried dozens of times to access all of these channels, at different timeslots etc to see if it was transitory issue of some sort. But I have yet to tune any of these channels even once, but they continually work in WMC without a hitch.

To be honest, I have had some tuning problems over the years, especially SBS network not getting scanned when searching for channels (in the end had to change out all my dvico cards to hauupage, fiddle with aerials etc). So now that its been working almost perfectly for the last year or so I'm very reluctant to start messing with the tuner configurations unless I really have to. That's why I asked if there was a setting I could change so that wmcserver would spin up a different tuner rather than the first one. That would at least tell me if it was a tuner issue once and for all without potentially disrupting what is already working.

On another note, I have also noticed that if I am watching a live channel and right click and select start recording, that the next show in the guide is queued up to record. It does not record the show I am watching right now. Obviously you want to be able to instantly start recording what you are watching - is there a way to do this? I am using confluence but apart from installing wmcserver pvr addon, I havent done anything with skins or anything.

Finally, this is a low priority but still a question. My hauppage cards enable me to tune fm radio in WMC which I have a number of pre-sets set. So I can basically listen to FM radio in WMC. I see that xbmc has a radio section under live tv but the list is empty when I select it. Wonder if its hard to import the WMC presets so radio would be available. I don't use this extensively, but thought I would mention it seeing this seems to be the definitive WMC to XBMC integration solution.

Great news regards the consistent channel change speeds, I also have noted significant variance like scarecrow has reported. Looking forward to the next build!


RE: WMC as the backend - released - krustyreturns - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-17, 00:13)ferretlegs Wrote: Yeah, I doubted that it was solely encryption based on the fact that all 7 network channels, even including their shopping channel are not working for me at any stage. I have tried dozens of times to access all of these channels, at different timeslots etc to see if it was transitory issue of some sort. But I have yet to tune any of these channels even once, but they continually work in WMC without a hitch.

To be honest, I have had some tuning problems over the years, especially SBS network not getting scanned when searching for channels (in the end had to change out all my dvico cards to hauupage, fiddle with aerials etc). So now that its been working almost perfectly for the last year or so I'm very reluctant to start messing with the tuner configurations unless I really have to. That's why I asked if there was a setting I could change so that wmcserver would spin up a different tuner rather than the first one. That would at least tell me if it was a tuner issue once and for all without potentially disrupting what is already working.

On another note, I have also noticed that if I am watching a live channel and right click and select start recording, that the next show in the guide is queued up to record. It does not record the show I am watching right now. Obviously you want to be able to instantly start recording what you are watching - is there a way to do this? I am using confluence but apart from installing wmcserver pvr addon, I havent done anything with skins or anything.

Finally, this is a low priority but still a question. My hauppage cards enable me to tune fm radio in WMC which I have a number of pre-sets set. So I can basically listen to FM radio in WMC. I see that xbmc has a radio section under live tv but the list is empty when I select it. Wonder if its hard to import the WMC presets so radio would be available. I don't use this extensively, but thought I would mention it seeing this seems to be the definitive WMC to XBMC integration solution.

Great news regards the consistent channel change speeds, I also have noted significant variance like scarecrow has reported. Looking forward to the next build!

The mystery is, why are you able to view streams WHILE they are recording on these channels? If its a tuner problem this shouldn't work.

I just tried to record what I was watching at it worked. Can you give me some more details, for a starter what are you right clicking on?


RE: WMC as the backend - released - scarecrow420 - 2013-09-17

Ive also had some strange recording issues. I selected from the current channel's program list (fly out screen on the right, under confluence) to record the current show and it actually set a recording for the show that follows it, in about 30 miunutes time

I also tried to schedule a recording using this screen, for a show that was on the following night and was getting an error. Debugging the backend showed that the call to WMC to get the scheduled events for the specified start/stop time was returning 2 events, the show I wanted and the show previous. The code then throws an exception if it didnt receive only 1 entry. The times being sent from XBMC (and i assume thus from EPG data) back to the addon seem to be out by like 10 minutes so it jags the show prior as well. I dont think its the "start recording 2 minutes prior" setting it just seems to be a bit wonky on the times


RE: WMC as the backend - released - scott967 - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-15, 17:50)krustyreturns Wrote: Hey Scott,

I really want the wtv file generated from this run. Please look in your tempxbmc folder in your 'recorded tv' folder. Inside this folder you should see a folder called 'savedfordebug' hopefully this wtv file will be in it. After a day goes by these files are cleared out to save disk space so please rescue it. I know the file will be big and getting it to me will be a challenge, but we'll deal with that later. For right now, just see if you can rescue it. I'm going to PM you too.

I have it. 9.3Gb though.

scott s.
.


RE: WMC as the backend - released - drewscm - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-16, 00:45)Dilligaf Wrote: Sounds the same as me as far as setup, tried it on a second PI with no issues, so I've had success with 2 PI and 1 Windows install. Hopefully someone can fix the navigation issues, I'm not a coder/skinner but seem to have a way of getting things done. If no one steps up in a couple days I'll see what I can do.

How did you do the install? Just update to the nightly build and setup the pvr?? I have been unable to get any video through the pvr. When I select a channel, i can see on the server that the tuner changes to the channel, but the working wheel pops up in the corner on the pi for a few seconds then nothing. The channel is recording in the temp folder like normal, the pi just never plays it. Any ideas?



Also, Krusty you mention something about converting the file a page back or so, has there been any thoughts about converting the stream so that we could stream over the internet at a lower bit rate?


RE: WMC as the backend - released - starsin2000 - 2013-09-17

My wife likes wmc so on the main tv it will be staying and we will continue to use it to record shows. Does the server software allow xbmc to pull the metadata from the wtv file so I can see what a show is about in the bedroom? Thanks.


RE: WMC as the backend - released - Dilligaf - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-17, 03:41)drewscm Wrote:
(2013-09-16, 00:45)Dilligaf Wrote: Sounds the same as me as far as setup, tried it on a second PI with no issues, so I've had success with 2 PI and 1 Windows install. Hopefully someone can fix the navigation issues, I'm not a coder/skinner but seem to have a way of getting things done. If no one steps up in a couple days I'll see what I can do.

How did you do the install? Just update to the nightly build and setup the pvr?? I have been unable to get any video through the pvr. When I select a channel, i can see on the server that the tuner changes to the channel, but the working wheel pops up in the corner on the pi for a few seconds then nothing. The channel is recording in the temp folder like normal, the pi just never plays it. Any ideas?



Also, Krusty you mention something about converting the file a page back or so, has there been any thoughts about converting the stream so that we could stream over the internet at a lower bit rate?
What install are you referring to Raspbmc or Amber? In Raspbmc you need to add your recorded tv share as a source in xbmc file manager in order to provide credentials to access it. I've explained how to do this several times, search this thread. Have you purchased the codecs for the PI? I think you may need mpeg2


RE: WMC as the backend - released - hoopsdavis - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-14, 19:33)krustyreturns Wrote: In order to enable the addon to set 'series' recording and 'cancel' series recordings do the following:

Install:
If you look in the ‘resources’ folder of the addon you will see two xml skin files I created for confluence.
These files need to be manually added to the confluence skin folder, or you can do what I did, and just create symbolic
link to these files in the confluence folder.

If you aren't using confluence you can add these files to the skin folder you are using, but the dialogs will look funky
since they are designed for confluence (they should work though). You can modify these files to look right in whatever
your skin of choice is if you are so inclined.

Use:
So once installed, when try to record a show after the initial confirmation, a new dialog will open (if it’s a tv series)
asking if you want to record the series. Similar for when you go to delete a timer, if it’s a series timer, it will ask
you if you want to delete the whole series-timer.

Guys, here's the links for the xml files modified to work with the Arctic skin
(Use the steps listed above)


DeleteTimer.xml -- http://ubuntuone.com/7Ou9fHEtA4cM6Gll63IxNQ
RecordPrefs.xml -- http://ubuntuone.com/2IBsH0yJ0g7MzcWvuOyoK9

On the next Arctic update the conditions will be added.


RE: WMC as the backend - released - ferretlegs - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-17, 02:19)krustyreturns Wrote: The mystery is, why are you able to view streams WHILE they are recording on these channels? If its a tuner problem this shouldn't work.

I just tried to record what I was watching at it worked. Can you give me some more details, for a starter what are you right clicking on?

When I was testing this I started channel 7 recording in WMC (not xbmc) and then verified I could play that in xbmc while it was recording. So I thought it might have worked because maybe wmc was now using another (working) tuner to do this recording if wmcserver had already spun up the dud tuner? Or does "spun up" not mean it is exclusive to wmcserver?

(2013-09-17, 02:38)scarecrow420 Wrote: Ive also had some strange recording issues. I selected from the current channel's program list (fly out screen on the right, under confluence) to record the current show and it actually set a recording for the show that follows it, in about 30 miunutes time

Sorry for not being clear Krusty, what scarecrow says above is what is basically happening to me - right clicking the current channel-list channel (which is on the left for me) and pressing start recording schedules the next show, instead of immediately recording the current show. I don't know any other way to record actually (I'm still new to xbmc)

hope this all makes sense


RE: WMC as the backend - released - krustyreturns - 2013-09-17

(2013-09-17, 08:37)ferretlegs Wrote: When I was testing this I started channel 7 recording in WMC (not xbmc) and then verified I could play that in xbmc while it was recording. So I thought it might have worked because maybe wmc was now using another (working) tuner to do this recording if wmcserver had already spun up the dud tuner? Or does "spun up" not mean it is exclusive to wmcserver?

Ah I see. If you have multiple tuners in the same tuning space I don't know of a way to 'pick' the tuner, it just takes whichever tuner is available. One way to force it, is to start a recording on one of them, then live-tv can only use the other one.

(2013-09-17, 08:37)ferretlegs Wrote:
(2013-09-17, 02:38)scarecrow420 Wrote: Ive also had some strange recording issues. I selected from the current channel's program list (fly out screen on the right, under confluence) to record the current show and it actually set a recording for the show that follows it, in about 30 miunutes time

Sorry for not being clear Krusty, what scarecrow says above is what is basically happening to me - right clicking the current channel-list channel (which is on the left for me) and pressing start recording schedules the next show, instead of immediately recording the current show. I don't know any other way to record actually (I'm still new to xbmc)

hope this all makes sense

I never start recordings this way, so this morning I tried it a lot and I can't reproduce it, it always seems to work. Even when there is only 5 minutes left in the show that is currently on it records those 5 minutes. Does this happen to you consistently or just sometimes? Try this, using the 'timeline' view of the guide, set it to record a half hour show that is not on now and see if it selects the correct show, or the show that comes after. Do this by right clicking on the show in the time line view. Let me know.

(2013-09-17, 05:23)hoopsdavis Wrote:
(2013-09-14, 19:33)krustyreturns Wrote: In order to enable the addon to set 'series' recording and 'cancel' series recordings do the following:

Install:
If you look in the ‘resources’ folder of the addon you will see two xml skin files I created for confluence.
These files need to be manually added to the confluence skin folder, or you can do what I did, and just create symbolic
link to these files in the confluence folder.

If you aren't using confluence you can add these files to the skin folder you are using, but the dialogs will look funky
since they are designed for confluence (they should work though). You can modify these files to look right in whatever
your skin of choice is if you are so inclined.

Use:
So once installed, when try to record a show after the initial confirmation, a new dialog will open (if it’s a tv series)
asking if you want to record the series. Similar for when you go to delete a timer, if it’s a series timer, it will ask
you if you want to delete the whole series-timer.

Guys, here's the links for the xml files modified to work with the Arctic skin
(Use the steps listed above)


DeleteTimer.xml -- http://ubuntuone.com/7Ou9fHEtA4cM6Gll63IxNQ
RecordPrefs.xml -- http://ubuntuone.com/2IBsH0yJ0g7MzcWvuOyoK9

On the next Arctic update the conditions will be added.


That is so cool Hoops, thanks for making this happen. How do they look? And does navigation to the 'ok' and 'cancel' buttons work using the remote?

(2013-09-17, 04:24)Dilligaf Wrote: What install are you referring to Raspbmc or Amber? In Raspbmc you need to add your recorded tv share as a source in xbmc file manager in order to provide credentials to access it. I've explained how to do this several times, search this thread. Have you purchased the codecs for the PI? I think you may need mpeg2

Dilligaf, if you would like me to put some raspbmc instructions up on my website, and/or on the start page of this thread I would be happy too, if you write them up. BTW, whenever I read your instructions to users about problems I always want to add that they should make sure they have xbmc and the pvr client working on the server machine as a starting point.