Samsung TV App

[reven]

only working on the default skin atm, just saying it would be pretty easy to add support for more skins without having to deploy them inside the actual app. the goal is to mimic nextpvr as much as possible, so it doesnt matter what client the user is using it looks and behaves the same

im leaning towards open source, i do like open source, dont really want to have to charge for something, but then again i do want a new tv tuner more than likely just make it open source and accept donations from paypal, some people are really great at donation, some are not (im in the not category, dont mind paying for apps but when its donation i kinda just forget about it and rather just pay for it....), also if i charged for it, ill have to make sure its ok with sub.

[steeb]

+ 1 from me. I would go open source with donations possible? Yes absolutely agree the client should be familiar. I said this months ago when you came back to this project and I missed you. Really! And Martin also pointed out that you dip in and out? I have (I think!) a full set of graphics as supplied by Hairy as we used to make the website. If you are game on, I am!

Let's talk?

cheers

steeb

[reven]

I dip in and out when I use nextpvr/stop using nextpvr. I was using it when I was at my parents, as they are heavy tv users, then I moved into my own house and became busy with that. I was also using raspbmc which couldn't handle live tv, so basically stopped using nextpvr.

Now i've switched to samsung tvs, using plex on the tv, so no physical clients any more. but i still want to record and watch tv shows, so trying to nicely integrate that.

basically my home is setup like this (very nerdy)
- Windows Server 2012 running several hyper-v vms in garage
- Every room has at least 4 cat6 ethernet ports
- Lounge + 2 bedrooms have samsung smart TVs
- My sons room is still using raspbmc (will buy him a new samsung tv, later this year, he loves netflix which has so many great kid shows available)
- Started home automation stuff, using a vera lite and z-wave.
- 2 wall mounted android tablets to control the home automation stuff, also used as digital picture frames when not in use. Want to be able to manage recordings using these (ill install the nextpvr android app on them soon)
- windows server is running a customized version of "Elpis" (windows pandora client) which I added a WCF service to and I wrote a remote app for the android tablets to control music playback on the server. The server then sends the music via airplay to the receiver in the lounge. (this was fun and cool to do, I love pandora, but wanted to be able to control the music playback from any device, so need client/server setup).

So, i have a centralized server, I want to use it to its full, its the hub of my home. So yeah, been busy with all that stuff

NextPVR Web Console got off to a very rocky start, mostly my fault of how I released it, but that did impact development and stopped the momentum behind it. Would love for another developer to jump on board to help out on this. Since it's something I wasn't using all that much (stopped watching tv) I also didnt really need to keep at it constantly.

However this samsung app i'll use every day, so really eager to get it working well

[mvallevand]

Not fair steep, my comment was based on replacing NEWA with reven's web console. I was suggesting that such a core change needed huge long term commitment. If users want to pay for a NextPVR interface that doesn't use any GPL code that is between the author and the user. If reven wants to go through the hoops of getting his app approved by Samsung, it probably is worth something.

I suggested that for my work on mvpmc for the MVP and NMT users donate to mvpmc.org I think there were 3 users that did. Donations are more frustrating then motivation.

Martin

[johnsonx42]

If a NextPVR client for Samsung Smarthub devices works well, then I think having in the official Samsung app store/catalog would be best for several reasons:

1. End-user convenience - it sounds like the manual installation method isn't exactly straightforward for the average joe user.
2. Provide some remuneration for reven - though I do see the irony of having to pay for a client to access a free PVR program (of course the client could be free and still be in the Samsung catalog)
3. Drive more users to NextPVR - a Samsung TV/Bluray owner poking around the app catalog to see what's available... "ooh, what's this NextPVR Client? what's this NextPVR that it works with?"
4. -?-?-?-
5. Profit!

[reven]

im very use to paying for additional software to use with free software
- plex + plex for android
- xbmc + xbmc remotes for iOS/android/windows phone

personally i don't think theres anything wrong with it (although, im clearly biased on this particular case), paying $5 for an app to run on the $1000 or so tv.... most people just don't donate, and when you actual get a little money from something regularly it does motivate you to work on it (personally it makes me feel bad if i havent done anything).

i dont think this will make me a lot of money, maybe $50 a month at the maximum, theres not a huge market, but that will pay for some beers

and we're along way from that, i'll ask for some beta users in a month or so, i have 3 samsung tvs to test it on (2 are the same model just different sizes though). it will be a closed beta, and you will need to know how to use iis (or any web server, just so your tv can download the app).

i will try and get this into the samsung app market, a manual install is messy and i really dont want to distribute it that way.

[reven]

and on a somewhat unrelated note, i just purchased a dual dvb-t2 tuner a single tuner really sucks to test against (i often unplug it from my server to develop on my laptop then forget to put it back and i miss recordings ).

[JonnyCam]

I seem to miss a lot on the forums these days.
I am in the market to replace my client in the bedroom (have an aging P4 which the fan makes a noise)

If I was to look at a samsung bluray player, what do I need to look for in the features to ensure it will run this + the plex app (as I use plex on all my tablets & clients currently)

Is it just 'smart hub'

[reven]

i believe you just need smart hub, but checkout the plex wiki, they have a list of supported samsung devices. if the device runs plex it should run my nextpvr app (cant guarantee though, way to early days to know).

[reven]

progress update

got a basic guide mostly working. it doesn't scroll like in nextpvr (worried about the older model tvs/bluray players not handling this well, might improve in future though), when you get to the edge and move forward/down it jumps to the next page.

e.g. at 9am to 12pm, if you press right again, it jumps to 12pm to 3pm and the first show is selected. likewise if your on channel 1-7, and you push down, youre taken to channels 7 -14.

this works pretty well IMO, and my guide loads pretty fast, about 0.5-1second (max) per page change. this might be able to be improved, as im having to load each channels epg individually (so 7 requests for the guide data).

nextpvr service api can only return xml, which is slower to process for webapps, i may switch to the nextpvr webconsole to use json if performance becomes an issue (isnt yet, but im running this on a 2013 dual core tv).

only done the grid, no popups or anything, the tv guide grid is always the slowest thing/most frustrated thing when it comes to this kinda app.