Locast.org support

[2leftfeet]

Great one nice thing you will find with with using locast instead of OTA is that you can use the web app and sub's Android and Apple clients with no transcoding.  It should even be able to work on a RPi  where installing python is much easier.

Martin

Yes, no transcoding is a big advantage.  

I am primarily using FireTV devices with KODI.  KODI works fine, but takes so much of the FTV's storage space that I am constantly installing/uninstalling apps to make everything fit.  I am still wishing & hoping for a dedicated FTV app (sub, if you are listening ... hint, hint).

[mvallevand]

You must have a lot of apps to fill even 16G. Base Kodi Android for me is around 170MB probably 10x NextPVR but the rest is cache which they both use. If you are you using Kodi as a video library too that might explain it with meta data scraping, addons and skins build it up too.

For space these locast streams are going to about 20% the size of the OTA so the quality is going to reduced and there won't be 5:1 audio.

Back the locast extra. If you don't mind during your test today could you uninstall the channels (hit the trash can on the extra not delete the extra) with the latest update try

python locast.py install again to see if the XMLTV guide data is better (install is 1 day load, there is another option xmltv that is used to get the week of guide data)

You should not nicer channel names with XMLTV. After this you can auto map to Schedules Direct but you will get the ugly SD names. There is an option after the upgrade to get the nice names back with the SD data.

python locast.py reset

I couldn't find anything on the python install issue but I will probably suggest other users try gsudo https://github.com/gerardog/gsudo if they run into this problem. I use it a lot for elevating from the command prompt and inn the worst cast there is an option to run as local system .

Thanks for your help.

Martin

[jcole998]

I've followed with great interest the support for Locast in NextPVR. locast-0.6.2.zip has been posted and I have a couple of questions:

-Can I assume that this zip contains all the corrections noted in this thread?
-Do I need to install the zip contents on a Linux client using KODI/KNEWC as the front-end? (I think not since NextPVR is not installed on the Linux machine.)

I have Python 3.8 installed on the NextPVR Windows 10 server.

Locast looks very promising and would like to try it out with NextPVR.

Any advice would be welcome.

[Graham]

-Do I need to install the zip contents on a Linux client using KODI/KNEWC as the front-end? (I think not since NextPVR is not installed on the Linux machine.)

Martin's zips for extras contain the tools to create an "extraZZZ.xml" that needs to be in the NextPVR data folder.  In some cases Martin provides the "extraZZZ.xml" and in other cases Martin provides a python script that generates the "extraZZZ.xml".

The locast zip contains python scripts that will generate the "extraZZZ.xml" file. Unzip the locast zip into the NextPVR scripts folder and run the python command as detailed in Post #11 above ... all on the NextPVR Server machine.

Edit: You first need to do the pip install that is in Post #5.

[mvallevand]

Yes 0.62 is complete and I updated the instructions earlier to show the need for

pip install lxml requests m3u8

After @2leftfeet's finding I would check (lower case -v)

pip list -v

To see if they are installed in a non user path.

If they are I suggest uninstalling them and using that gsudo program

gsudo -s pip install lxml requests m3u8

Then verify the location.

For sure this is a backend zip only so you would only need it on linux if you host NextPVR on linux. The requriements change to python3 and sudo pip3....

Martin

[jcole998]

Thank you, gentlemen. To summarize the steps:

- Register with locast.org.
- Unzip locast-0.6.2.zip into npvr-data\scripts folder. This creates folder locast.
(Do any of the following commands need administrator privileges?)
- Run pip install lxml requests m3u8.
- Test location of install using pip list -v. (Not sure what a non-user path is. DL'd gsudo just in case: Unzip and run gsudoinstall.ps1?)
- From the npvr-data\locast folder, run python locast.py install

Do I need to backup npvr.db3 or config.xml before attempting this?

How close am I?

[Graham]

Thank you, gentlemen. To summarize the steps:

- Register with locast.org.
- Unzip locast-0.6.2.zip into npvr-data\scripts folder. This creates folder locast.
(Do any of the following commands need administrator privileges?)
- Run pip install lxml requests m3u8.
- Test location of install using pip list -v. (Not sure what a non-user path is. DL'd gsudo just in case: Unzip and run gsudoinstall.ps1?)
- From the npvr-data\locast folder, run python locast.py install

Do I need to backup npvr.db3 or config.xml before attempting this?

How close am I?

Backups are always optional and always a good idea ... just in case.

You should be able to do all this in your "everyday" user account. Skip all the gsudo stuff ... you almost certainly won't need it and it just adds more complication.

From the npvr-data\scripts\locast folder, run python locast.py install

Restart NextPVR Server ... Settings -> Devices -> extra ... Scan for channels and then do all the usual stuff with xmltv to get EPG data.

[mvallevand]

Backups are always at your discretion. I don't write to them directly everything is using NextPVR API but ....

pip list -v should show files with the installed modules NOT in user space (\userdata\apps\username) gsudo is administrator I can't tell you if you will need it or not, you will tell us.

python locast.py install doesn't need administrator on Windows but needs sudo on linux.


Martin

[mvallevand]

Restart NextPVR Server ... Settings -> Devices -> extra ... Scan for channels and then do all the usual stuff with xmltv to get EPG data.

If all goes as planned user shouldn't need to scan or map.  The install command does all that.  You would go into the extra to remove channels, and into automap if you want to use Schedules Direct.

Martin

[Graham]

Restart NextPVR Server ... Settings -> Devices -> extra ... Scan for channels and then do all the usual stuff with xmltv to get EPG data.

If all goes as planned user shouldn't need to scan or map.  The install command does all that.  You would go into the extra to remove channels, and into automap if you want to use Schedules Direct.

Martin

Blimey ... this just gets cleverer and cleverer ...  

If all goes as planned ... I might have time next week to update the NextPVR wiki to create a full-fat "Extras" page and a "library" of extras (with a wiki page for each item in the libarary).