[Fabio9]

Hi,

When I enable the VDR VNSI Client on Kodi, I get the "VDR VNSI Client - Connection lost" message.
In the kodi.log file I can see the following:

Code:

ERROR: AddOnLog: VDR VNSI Client: TransmitMessage - Failed to write packet (Connection refused), bytes written: -1 of total: 39
19:51:27 T:140526043596544   ERROR: AddOnLog: VDR VNSI Client: SignalConnectionLost - connection lost !!!
19:51:27 T:140526043596544   ERROR: AddOnLog: VDR VNSI Client: Login - failed to read greeting from server
19:51:27 T:140526043596544   ERROR: ADDON: Dll VDR VNSI Client - Client returned bad status (1) from Create and is not usable
19:51:27 T:140526043596544 WARNING: UpdateAndInitialiseClients - failed to create add-on VDR VNSI Client, status = 1
19:51:27 T:140526870902528  NOTICE: Thread AddonStatus pvr.vdr.vnsi start, auto delete: true

I have an Arch system with VDR and vdr-vnsiserver-git (https://github.com/FernetMenta/vdr-plugin-vnsiserver) installed and running.
What am I missing in the configuration?

Thanks

[FernetMenta]

please set log level of vdr to 3 any post syslog.
is allowed_hosts configured to allow this connection?

[Fabio9]

After setting log=3, i have:

Code:

$ systemctl status -n 150 vdr
â vdr.service - Video Disk Recorder
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/vdr.service; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Tue 2015-04-07 21:44:19 CEST; 1min 45s ago
Main PID: 470 (vdr)
   Status: "Ready"
   CGroup: /system.slice/vdr.service
           ââ470 /usr/bin/vdr --log=3

Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] VDR version 2.2.0 started
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] switched to user 'vdr'
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] codeset is 'UTF-8' - known
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] found 28 locales in /usr/share/locale
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/setup.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/sources.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/diseqc.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/scr.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/channels.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/timers.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/svdrphosts.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/keymacros.conf
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] registered source parameters for 'A - ATSC'
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] registered source parameters for 'C - DVB-C'
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] registered source parameters for 'S - DVB-S'
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] registered source parameters for 'T - DVB-T'
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [472] video directory scanner thread started (pid=470, tid=472, prio=high)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [472] video directory scanner thread ended (pid=470, tid=472)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [473] epg data reader thread started (pid=470, tid=473, prio=high)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [473] reading EPG data from /var/cache/vdr/epg.data
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] probing /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] creating cDvbDevice
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [471] video directory scanner thread started (pid=470, tid=471, prio=high)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] new device number 1
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [471] video directory scanner thread ended (pid=470, tid=471)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] DVB API version is 0x050A (VDR was built with 0x050A)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] frontend 0/0 provides DVB-T,DVB-T2,DVB-C with QPSK,QAM16,QAM32,QAM64,QAM128,QAM256 ("Silicon Labs Si2168")
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [475] frontend 0/0 tuner thread started (pid=470, tid=475, prio=high)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] cTimeMs: using monotonic clock (resolution is 1 ns)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [475] cTimeMs: using monotonic clock (resolution is 1 ns)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] probing /dev/dvb/adapter1/frontend0
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] creating cDvbDevice
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] new device number 2
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [476] device 1 section handler thread started (pid=470, tid=476, prio=low)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] frontend 1/0 provides DVB-S,DVB-S2 with QPSK ("Montage M88DS3103")
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [478] frontend 1/0 tuner thread started (pid=470, tid=478, prio=high)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] found 2 DVB devices
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] setting primary device to 1
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] device 1 has no MPEG decoder
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] assuming manual start of VDR
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] SVDRP listening on port 6419
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] setting current skin to "lcars"
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] loading /var/lib/vdr/themes/lcars-default.theme
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] switching to channel 1 (Rai 1)
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc systemd[1]: Started Video Disk Recorder.
Apr 07 21:44:19 htpc vdr[470]: [470] OSD size changed to 720x480 @ 1
Apr 07 21:44:20 htpc vdr[470]: [479] device 2 section handler thread started (pid=470, tid=479, prio=low)
Apr 07 21:44:20 htpc vdr[470]: [470] ERROR: no OSD provider available - using dummy OSD!
Apr 07 21:44:20 htpc vdr[470]: [473] epg data reader thread ended (pid=470, tid=473)

The content of allowed_hosts.conf is:

Code:

cat /var/lib/vdr/plugins/vnsiserver/allowed_hosts.conf
#
# allowed_hosts.conf  This file describes a number of host addresses that
#                     are allowed to connect to the streamdev server running
#                     with the Video Disk Recorder (VDR) on this system.
# Syntax:
#
# IP-Address[/Netmask]
#

127.0.0.1             # always accept localhost
192.168.0.0/24        # any host on the local net
#204.152.189.113      # a specific host
#0.0.0.0/0            # any host on any net (USE THIS WITH CARE!)

I am connecting from localhost. The allowed_hosts.conf for xvdr is similar (it was installed with vdr-xvdr-git).

[FernetMenta]

I don't see that your instance of vdr has loaded any plugins.

[Fabio9]

First of all, thanks for the support.

In order to enable the plugin(s), should I add --plugin=<something> in the file called by systemd when I start VDR, or are there some configuration files to edit? I haven't found any valuable information searching on the web; it seems to me that when a plugin is installed, everyting works without editing configuration files...

[FernetMenta]

it seems to me that when a plugin is installed, everyting works without editing configuration files...

that depends on the distribution of vdr you have in use. vdr requires -P <plugin> at the cmd line. now it depends on the startup script which comes from the distro how this cmd line is created. some distros generate this automatically. If you compile a plugin from source you most likely have to configure it manually.

[Fabio9]

After editing the vdr.service file, adding --plugin=vnsiserver --plugin=xvdr and other plugins, everything works.

Thank you very much, FernetMenta!

[decaturguy]

Hi Fabio9!

I see that you are using Arch linux, that's not a proper way to start plugins you don't even have to touch .service files that get replaced every time you upgrade.
The new vdr (2.2.0) works very well with systemd.
Are you using CReimer's AUR packages? https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/?O=0&..._Search=Go

if yes, vdr will automatically load any *.conf files in /etc/vdr/conf.d directory so if you install plugins it will install it's conf file to /etc/vdr/conf.avail directory.
If you wanna activate a plugin all you have to do is to make symlink /etc/vdr/conf.avail/pluginname.conf to /etc/vdr/conf.d

There is a great tool called vdrctl it works just like systemctl command, it will help you activate, deactivate, check the status of vdr plugins.
With this tool you don't have to bother with symlinking manually to activate and deactivate plugins.
It's not yet in AUR but you can easily create a PKGBUILD for this, if you can't let me know.
vdrctl: https://github.com/CReimer/vdrctl

[Fabio9]

Thanks for the info! It's my first Arch system, so I still have to learn a lot

I am using CReimer vdr package, with azleifel's vdr-xvdr-git and vdr-vnsiserver-git (I don't know if it's the best combination of plugins; I found them in the "Required by" field of VDR package).
I will fix the symlinks and I need to fix some errors present in the kodi.log file, but this maybe will be another topic's discussion.

[decaturguy]

I don't think those two packages include the needed .conf files. Switch over to CReimer or just copy this .conf files to /etc/vdr/conf.avail and create symlinks to /etc/vdr/conf.d

/etc/vdr/conf.avail/50-xvdr.conf

Code:

[xvdr]
#--timeout=n
#     stream data timeout in seconds (default: 10)

/etc/vdr/conf.avail/50-vnsiserver.conf

Code:

[vnsiserver]
#--device
# act as the primary device
#--port=n
# tcp port to listen on
#--test=n
# TS stream test file to simulate as channel
#--timeout=n
#    stream data timeout in seconds (default: 10)

Install vdrctl package, here is my PKGBUILD.

Code:

# Contributor: Decaturguy
pkgname=vdrctl-git
pkgver=20150318
pkgrel=1
pkgdesc="Tool which adds/removes symlinks or lists the available or active plugins of vdr."
url="https://github.com/CReimer/vdrctl"
arch=('x86_64' 'i686' 'arm' 'armv6h' 'armv7h')
license=('GPL3')
depends=('perl')
makedepends=('git')
optdepends=('bash-completion: enable bash auto completion')
provides=('vdrctl')
conflicts=('vdrctl')
source=("$pkgname::git+https://github.com/CReimer/vdrctl.git")

md5sums=('SKIP')

pkgver() {
    cd "${srcdir}/${pkgname}"
    git log -1 --format='%cd' --date=short | tr -d -- '-'
}


package() {
  cd "${srcdir}/${pkgname}"
  install -Dm755 vdrctl "$pkgdir/usr/bin/vdrctl"
  install -Dm644 bash-completion/vdrctl "$pkgdir/usr/share/bash-completion/completions/vdrctl"
  install -Dm644 LICENSE "$pkgdir/usr/share/licenses/vdrctl-git/LICENSE"

}

[Fabio9]

Hi Decaturguy,

I have substituted the vnsiserver and the xvdr packages with the ones from CReimer, and I have installed the vdrctl package from your PKGBUILD. I made the symlinks from conf.avail to conf.d, and the vdrctl states that the two plugins are enabled, but the "Connection Lost" message is still present in kodi. Also from the vdr syslog there is no sign of plugin activation.

If I write again the --plugin fields in the vdr.service file, in kodi everything works, also if vdrctl returns that vnsiserver and xvdr are disabled (if I remove symlinks).

[decaturguy]

I don't know from which step it went all wrong, the easiest and fastest way to fix this problem is to backup important vdr files like channels.conf, ... and uninstall vdr and it's plugins.
Delete your PKGBUILDs, download vdr and plugins you need from (CReimer) AUR. Build and install packages, restore you backups, run vdrctl to enable plugins and start vdr.
In 30 minutes or less you should have a working vdr and no more headaches.

This is the best advice that i can give you, i myself did this 2 weeks ago when i switched from azleifel (made for the old runvdr script ) to CReimer.
Good luck.