Plex Channel for NextPVR

[psycik]

I have installed your channel plugin in plex server and I'm impressed it works very well. I have given up on XBMC as its way too buggy. The windows has broken repositories and I'm not even going to get into the ARM port. Plex is done right with a client server module and upports transcoding for weaker devices. Works very well in ARM. Are you planning on adding Live TV support that would make it amazing. I'm using NextPVR for Hauppage H2PVR-2 and it works very well. Its the only PVR backend that supports it well.

You got to add Live TV support with trancoding via plex.

Your wish is my command.

I have a live branch on git hub. It has a version that I've successfully tested live tv (from my dvb-t tuner h.264/ac3/AACaudio) on a roku 3, iPad and Apple TV via plex connect.

Would love to see if someone else can get it working.



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[dgeezer]

I had a few minutes to look at this today. It did seem to work. I have a core I3 running windows 8 which is both my npvr install and my plex server. I'm in the US and use Npvr for OTA ATSC broadcast TV. This is all mpeg2 in a .ts container. I was able to get playback to work on my plex server pc with the Plex for Home Theatre. It buffered for a few seconds and then played fine. I'm not sure if it was transcoding or playing directly.

I also got playback to work on my Roku 3. Some of the stations seemed clear and some were blocky. Probably something to do with my transcoding settings.

I will try and put this to more of a real test tomorrow.

[psycik]

I had a few minutes to look at this today. It did seem to work. I have a core I3 running windows 8 which is both my npvr install and my plex server. I'm in the US and use Npvr for OTA ATSC broadcast TV. This is all mpeg2 in a .ts container. I was able to get playback to work on my plex server pc with the Plex for Home Theatre. It buffered for a few seconds and then played fine. I'm not sure if it was transcoding or playing directly.

I also got playback to work on my Roku 3. Some of the stations seemed clear and some were blocky. Probably something to do with my transcoding settings.

I will try and put this to more of a real test tomorrow.

Mpeg2 most likely it's being transcoded. As most devices, Apple TV, iOS, android etc all prefer h.264.

The buffering is plex waiting for the live file to exist before it starts to transcode it. I'll look at making the duration of the live tv configurable. Currently it's 1 hour. And for an in progress recording it's the same as the recording data from nextpvr doesn't seem to specify and end time so I can't calculate it.


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[raxxy]

I have installed this on my network.

NextPVR (Latest, 4th feb) Running on Windows 7 Ultimate x64. Not the same physical (or virtual) machine as the plex server.
Tuner: Avermedia Twinstar 825 (http://avertv.avermedia.com/Product/Prod...spx?Id=491)
Plex Server: 0.9.8.18 (Linux)

List of Clients:
4x Raspberry Pi's using RASPLEX 9.9.19. All 4 have bought and paid mpg2 licenses (previously used nextpvr under xbmc until my library got too large, moved to plex and dropped live-tv)
2x Raspberry Pi's using RASPLEX 9.9.19. These 2 don't have the licenses.
3x Android remotes
1x iPhone (4s)
7x PC webuis (both plex.tv/web and server built-in)
1x PlexHT on Windows 8.1



This works on:
All RPI's that _HAVE_ the mpg2 license.
All android remotes
Mostly flawless on iphone (stuttered once in 1min)
Built-in PC Webui ONLY (bundled with plex server on http://plex.server.ip:32400/web)
PlexHT on Windows 8.1


Does not work on:
plex.tv/web PC browser UI.
Rasplex/RPI's without the mpg2 license (need to find a way to force server transcoding to x264 - will ask devs) - result is no video, but audio works fine.



Discovered problems:
Previously, when using nextpvr with XBMC's back end, i would have no problem playing two separate channels (tuner supported) on seperate xbmc clients, under the plex integration it terminates the first playback to start a second one, but still uses the second tuner for the new stream.

because rPI's don't support MPG2 out of the box (must pay the licence fee), i believe you should find a way to force x264 transcoding via the server for all clients (minimal penalty here, but it guarantees full support for every single type of receiver) Also going to file an enhancement request with rasplex to see if they can find a way to do it.

do note that this doesn't attempt to transcode anything at all to devices that have direct-play enabled (thus us handing the data directly from the nextpvr machine to the end-client, skipping the server. this will prevent remote-play over the internet as the nextpvr machine (even if installed on same plex server) won't be able to get through the NAT's on both ends).

I appreciate your work, looking forward to new developments

Crosslinking something I added to the rasplex git list; just incase something can be done to solve the mpg2 problem from their side: https://github.com/RasPlex/RasPlex/issues/133

[W3bbo]

Absolutely loving the Plex channel, extending NextPVR out to additional clients is fantastic.

I'm currently testing out the Live TV functionality (I've also changed the code slightly to show the next programme name instead of channel name on the Live TV listing - looks like the code was already in place for this, is there any reason it wasn't originally used?) and have found an interesting situation.

I have two DVB-T tuners with the same channel lineup and have found that if one tuner is in use recording, I can view Live TV for any other channels on the same mux, however if I attempt to watch a channel on a separate mux (which would require using the second tuner) the Plex channel generates the error "The operation could not be completed. An unknown error occurred (-12880).

My understanding is limited but from the code it appears that the channel simply calls to a URL using the NEWA port on the server so I suspect the issue may be there rather than the channel itself?

I'll continue to test (potentially trying reversing the device order for live TV) to see if this helps but any guidance would be gratefully received!

Update: Looks like during my testing one of the tuners became unresponsive which I suspect was what was causing the error - will test further to see if I can reproduce.

[raxxy]

Had any progress mate?

Rasplex devs have said that there's nothing they can do in regards to forcing x264 transcoding..

[psycik]

So I've update the Live branch wth:
Added the summary and show name to the live menu
Added a unique identifier to teh PVR call which should force a new tuner to be used. I haven't tested this yet baring accessing the live menu to make sure it stll works.


Not quite sure whats up with the plex/web, nor how to force transcoding for all clients.

[chip33az]

Hi,

I've been using NextPVR for about a year and recently purchased a ROKU 3. I found this channel and really like it. I'm intending on purchasing the new HDTC-2US for the h264 transcoding. For about the past week we've been using this channel to watch the shows we've recorded.

My only question - is there an easy way to delete a recording? Currently after we watch a show, I go to the computer, launch NextPVR and delete it. It would be great if this channel would offer a delete option (perhaps it does and I've overlooked it).

Thanks for your hard work on this channel.

[psycik]

Not as yet. I'm not sure if plex gives us the options of a dialog, or a way of attaching an action.

I know it does have delete option for videos in sections, but I've not seen anything in a channel.

[chip33az]

Thank you.

I thought it would be something simple (I'm not a programmer) as just creating a new item in the menu for the selected item and then somehow calling the NextPVR api to delete the program and then returning to the folder or upper folder.

Thanks again for answering the question and for writing this fantastic channel!!