[Fuddyduddy]

Hello

I'm a noob where XBMC is concerned (my computer skills aren't that hot either!). In the process of trying to hone my skills by setting up a test PVR application, I've become immovably bogged-down and don't know why or what to do next.

So far I have:-
- installed and am running ServerWMC on my desktop (back-end) Windows 8 PC (WMC is configured and functioning normally on that PC, although up to now I've not been using it)
- installed on my android front-end device - a Himedia Q5 media-player (non-Neon with a single-core CPU) - the only version of XBMC for Android I could find which will run on it (XAF custom build of XBMC from XBMCANDROID); h/w acceleration isn't available on the device, and I plan to replace it if and when I go "live"
- installed as pvr client:- 'Windows Media Center client - android arm edition ver. 0.1.92', and am now trying to configure that so as to be able to try-out running live TV on it, served from ServerWMC

At present no clients show on ServerWMC's 'status' tab as being online. Meanwhile, at the front end my efforts have so far come to naught ('Live TV' has never appeared on the main menu). What happens (repeatedly) is that after I go to 'System > Settings > Live TV' and click on 'enable' I first see a message "PVR manager is starting up" followed by "loading timers from client" with a progress-bar half-way elapsed. But that's as far as it gets and after a short period of inactivity XBMC shuts itself down.

I don't know whether to ascribe this behaviour to the experimental nature of either 'WMC client' or 'XAF XBMC for Android' (or both), or to some oversight on my part. I wonder if anyone might be able to lend me a helping hand?

I've uploaded my XBMC log file to pastebin, id=112155

Thanks in anticipation.

[krustyreturns]

Hi,

Assuming you have tuners installed and working on your backend machine (i.e. can watch live-tv using wmc on that machine). Before trying to get the android client to work, have you tried just running xbmc with the pvr.wmc client on the win8 machine? It might be good to get that working first.

[scarecrow420]

Yeah, remove the complication of a remote android client and run XBMC locally on the windows 8 machine first. Once that is working, you can then try a remote client.

You also didnt specifically mention some configuration steps, but you may have done them but just not explicitly stated this. On Windows 8 (backend) machine, setup the Recorded TV directory to be Shared in windows. Also create a local windows account on this PC (or use an existing one) that has access to this share. Enter that username and password in the credentials tab in ServerWMC (for remote clients to use to access the share)

When installing the pvr.wmc plugin in XBMC, go to the plugin configuration and enter the IP address of your backend machine (the default installation goes to localhost, so this wont work on a remote client)

Ill see if I can dig up your pastebin log to see if anything is apparent there... Please post the link next time rather than ID so that we can be lazy and just click it! :p

edit: I cant figure out how to find that ID on pastebin, normally they are alphanumberic characters and not an ID. Basically just go here http://pastebin.com/ paste your log contents in hit the New Paste button, then copy the URL from your browser and post it here

[Fuddyduddy]

@Scarecrow

Hi,

Here's the url
http://pastebin.com/siV1rfUw

Sorry, I didn't know the correct drill. Have now signed in to Pastebin so it'll be easier next time

I'll now go ahead to follow the steps which you and Krustyreturns spelled out.

Many thanks to both for prompt responses.

[scarecrow420]

Hey Fuddyduddy,

Sorry I just realised that you were talking about xbmc log. It doesnt seem to even seem to have any PVR stuff in that xbmc log so Im not sure what's going on there. It was actually the ServerWMC log that was more what I was wanting to see There are instructions in a sticky thread and on the wiki about where the log is if you need to refer to that (also you can access it through the ServerWMC app).

[Fuddyduddy]

OK, reporting back...

I'm sorry but certain aspects of the guidance confused me (I said I was a noob!).

First I d/l'd and installed Frodo 12.3 on my desktop (backend) Windows 8 machine. I then puzzled over what was meant by "the pvr.wmc client" in both your posts and - reasoning that you couldn't have meant the android pvr add-on which I've installed on my android frontend box - the pvr client I did in fact d/l and install was the one on https://googledrive.com/host/0ByNnAMYBoW...index.html for the Windows platform.

Testing this on the Windows 8 machine, XBMC played-back live TV flawlessly.

So far so good - but so what? Then I began to wonder if after all you might not have meant that I was to test the android pvr client on my Windows desktop machine, so I tried to d/l and install it on that - and, so far, have failed. What I did was put the zip file in XBMC's 'addons' folder and then in XBMC Settings>Add-ons click on 'install from zip file'. But it hasn't installed so I'm wondering if that's because I'm not doing it right or because I ought not to be trying to do it all.

But if not that then what else, please?

And one other source of confusion (sorry!):- SC wrote

When installing the pvr.wmc plugin in XBMC, go to the plugin configuration and enter the IP address of your backend machine (the default installation goes to localhost, so this wont work on a remote client)

At present, with the Windows pvr client installed as frontend, the IP address on its config page is set at the default 127.0.0.1 (localhost). Would I be correct in believing that changing that to the IP address of my backend machine only becomes applicable when configuring the android pvr client on the remote (android) frontend, which is not what I'm engaged in doing at the moment?

---

Hey Fuddyduddy,

It was actually the ServerWMC log that was more what I was wanting to see

scarecrow

Here's the url for that: http://pastebin.com/ySh6V5QG Hope it provides the info you're looking for.

Regards

PS And - in case it doesn't - here's the last run's log file as well: http://pastebin.com/9ThsruNR

[krustyreturns]

Hi,

The android pvr client will never work on the windows machine, we just wanted to make sure serverwmc was setup correctly by having you test in windows first. You have done that and you said it works (at least until you put the android client there).

You are correct that you only have to change the IP address on your android client's setting to the ip address of the machine running win8/serverwmc.

If the android client still does not connect to serverwmc, make sure the port used (9080) is open.

[scarecrow420]

Yes as Krusty says the purpose of those steps was to confirm that your backend is setup correctly by using a local XBMC client. You have proven that to be the case.

There is one exception though. When you use a local client it accesses your live streams and recordings using local path (in your case this is G:\Recorded TV\TempXBMC)

When you use a remote client, it will instead use a windows share that you need to setup. In your case this would be "\\Desktop8\Recorded TV". Can you confirm that you have setup a share for this folder, and that you can access it from windows explorer on Desktop8, by typing \\Desktop8\Recorded TV

You also need to provide a username and password that the remote client can use to access this share on Desktop8. So, on Desktop8 you will need to create a windows user (lets call it xbmc with a password of xbmc). Now as long as your "Recorded TV" share has the default permissions of "Everyone" having Read Access, "XBMC" user will be able to access this.

So in ServerWMC application, make sure the network path on the "Folders" tab says \\Desktop8\Recorded TV and then tick the "use credentials for non-windows clients" box and enter xbmc for the user and xbmc for the password. Alternatively if you dont want to create a new user you could just use your normal logon user account and password if you want. Finally, you can disable the requirement to have usernames/passwords on shares (this affects the whole windows PC) by going to Network and Sharing Centre (in windows) -> Change advanced sharing settings -> Turn off password protected sharing. Technically this makes your home PC/network less secure so you should assess for yourself whether you want to do this. If you do this, there is no need to provide user/password in ServerWMC for the android client to use

Now on your android device, install the pvr.wmc plugin. To do this, download the zip file for the android versino of the plugin (either 0.2.93 for gotham, or 0.1.93 for Frodo) onto your phone SDCard. Then in XBMC go to Addons, install from zip, then choose root file system (or similar) and browse to the sdcard on your phone storage and select the zip file. The addon should now be installed. Configure the addon and enter the IP address of Desktop8 in the configuration setting. The default port and other settings should be fine.

Cross fingers and hopefully it works!


A couple of other notes.
- The serverWMC logs you posted dont show any activity from the android device. This could be because it wasnt connecting or perhaps you just didnt have that log anymore. Once you follow the instructions in this
post, upload your serverWMC log once the android client has attempted to connect and we can see how things are looking.

- This isnt the cause for any problems however I noticed you are running an older ServerWMC version. Build 1115 is released now, so you should update Desktop8's ServerWMC to the latest

[Fuddyduddy]

Well, I'm sorry to report that my experiment seems to have come a cropper, because I'm now finding that the version of XBMC I'm having to use has gone on strike! It has simply refused to open at every attempt I've made since yesterday; after the splash-screen comes up and the progress-bar has completed its traverse the screen goes blank and nothing more happens. What has caused this suddenly to begin happening when before XBMC was loading normally is beyond me (I haven't changed anything).

It seems I'm going to be forced to write-off the Himedia Q5 sooner than I was anticipating, if I want to persevere along this track. I tried right at the start, several times, to install the latest stable regular of Frodo (then 12.2) d/l'd from XBMC's download page but got an error message every time to the effect that that version wasn't compatible with my device. Searching around I came upon three XAF custom builds of ver. 12.1 on the xbmcandroid.com website, of which only one was non-Neon and that was the one I picked (even though it's labelled as being for touch-screen devices, which the Q5 isn't); it installed the first time I tried and has worked since - 'til now.

I've now tried to install version 12.3 of Frodo, but without success - I get a message that it can damage my device, and the install aborts anyway. So if I want to go further it looks as if I'll have to be prepared to spend some more money.

@ SC

Can you confirm that you have setup a share for this folder, and that you can access it from windows explorer on Desktop8, by typing \\Desktop8\Recorded TV

Yes, I can.

Finally, you can disable the requirement to have usernames/passwords on shares (this affects the whole windows PC) by going to Network and Sharing Centre (in windows) -> Change advanced sharing settings -> Turn off password protected sharing. Technically this makes your home PC/network less secure so you should assess for yourself whether you want to do this. If you do this, there is no need to provide user/password in ServerWMC for the android client to use

I found when I delved into this that I'd already deactivated password protected sharing, and I've left it that way. I just hadn't made the link before with how to configure ServerWMC.

I noticed you are running an older ServerWMC version. Build 1115 is released now, so you should update Desktop8's ServerWMC to the latest

Noted, thanks. It's now on my 'to do' list.