NextPVR "Lite" version Possible? ... just a PVR backend, nothing else

[KRA]

reven, I think you strayed a little OT yes

I agree with what you say about 4TR, it's advanced and has excellent managment tools, probably a bit tricky for the average user (if you don't like to read manual)

There are 2 main reasons I'm moving from 4TR to NPVR

1. web streaming of recordings and live-tv, I've search and tried many variants for 4TR but never found a good solution, I love the streaming capability of NPVR, I can do it directly from VLC, don't even need a website or nothing, just zap channels in VLC.

2. Conflict managment, imo 4TR is the best and most advanced recording software, but I don't think Live-TV was something they where thinking about when they started develop it. When you schedule a recording, it picks a tuner, and that is the tuner it's gonna use to record no matter what, so if you are using that tuner for live-tv it will cut you off, even if there is another available tuner it could use to record.

[KRA]

I don't really understand all of this but as sub has built in xbmc support for NextPVR, flakey or not, it needs to start documenting on the wiki.... maybe

but only small stuff nothing big?

cheers

steeb

hmm, don't take personal offense of this, but my point is, if you install xbmc-pvr (frodo) in it's current state you should have an above average knowledge of how this stuff works, so you should be able to figure it out on your own. Like I said it's Alpha software, so imho you shouldn't advertise it's availability for the average joe.

[steeb]

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post442704

hmm, don't take personal offense of this, but my point is, if you install xbmc-pvr (frodo) in it's current state you should have an above average knowledge of how this stuff works, so you should be able to figure it out on your own. Like I said it's Alpha software, so imho you shouldn't advertise it's availability for the average joe.

No offense taken at all KRA!

But I disagree. And need an explanation? If sub has built support into NextPVR for xbmc this then it DOES need to be documented? Otherwise you are saying it is NOT part of NextPVR? And NextPVR has always been and attempted to be as user friendly as possible. So you want to hide this from 'average Joe?'. NOT my way...

if you feel like chatting about this switch any more discussions over to:

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post442704

cheers

steeb

[reven]

oh im more than happy to move back to npvr (well never really used npvr, use to use gbpvr). only reason i moved away originally was i wanted to use xbmc as a frontend. sub has always provided the best support of any software ived used (im a developer, so ive used a lot), xbmc support is usually "grumpy" and RTFM type of responses, 4tr is good just a little slow, raspbmc is like talking to a brick wall, youre very lucky to get a response.

would be nice if you could open the "settings" window form without having to open nextpvr gui. also does anyone find it odd that its called "Stop/Start NPVR service" but "NextPVR" for the gui? slightly annoying when typing nextpvr into the start menu when u want to kill the service

managed to get npvr working on main machine with dvb-t card now, watching SD channel in sync so maybe it was my other machine causing the sync issues. (oh and i have reverted xbmc in raspbmc rc5 to an earlier build, to try and get 4tr addon working)

[KRA]

steeb, I guess we just dissagree

I'm not gonna come here and tell you guys how things should be done, but I'm not gonna hold back on my opinions either. My experience is it's not uncommon that software is released with undocumented features, and they don't get documentet until it's ready for primetime, but if that's not how it's done here and Sub thinks it's a good idea I'm sure I can help with xbmcbuntu documentation, if that's what youre actually talking about. Documentation on how to use NPVR as a XBMC backend ?

Moving on to other thread..

[reven]

my opinion of xbmc as a frontend and npvr as a backend.

use of xbmc as front end should be documented by xbmc, since the idea behind it is any backend and the frontend should behave the same way, it should be invisible to the user what backend they are using

npvr setup is documented by npvr, which it is.

how to configure npvr as a backend for xbmc should be documented by npvr (since sub is writing it).
but so far all that needs to be done is, downloading the addon (when this is merged into main source most distros should have this already included) and then changing the ip address in the configuration of the addon. thats all i had to do, very easy to setup. no passwords/user info required (4tr/mepo can require this), just the ip address. didnt have to change a thing on npvr itself (had to turn configure windows firewall... maybe npvr installer could do this, or add a button in npvr config to "poke hole in firewall")

it is the easiest backend to configure in xbmc ive used, but that might be maturity of the addon, sub might add more features/options later.

[steeb]

my opinion of xbmc as a frontend and npvr as a backend.

use of xbmc as front end should be documented by xbmc, since the idea behind it is any backend and the frontend should behave the same way, it should be invisible to the user what backend they are using

npvr setup is documented by npvr, which it is.

how to configure npvr as a backend for xbmc should be documented by npvr (since sub is writing it).
but so far all that needs to be done is, downloading the addon (when this is merged into main source most distros should have this already included) and then changing the ip address in the configuration of the addon. thats all i had to do, very easy to setup. no passwords/user info required (4tr/mepo can require this), just the ip address. didnt have to change a thing on npvr itself (had to turn configure windows firewall... maybe npvr installer could do this, or add a button in npvr config to "poke hole in firewall")

it is the easiest backend to configure in xbmc ive used, but that might be maturity of the addon, sub might add more features/options later.

Thanks reven. And where do WE find this addon? In the XBMC dist? Where? That is all I am saying! Can we point to it from the NextPVR wiki/ All you guys give me is genius chat but no actual links or solutions. arrggghh. Why do I bother trying with a wiki

I am so glad that everyone that reads these pages and forums is as clever as you guys. Because I AM NOT.... as I said a whole new thread dedicated to this stuff over here:

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...user-guide

cheers

steeb

[reven]

oh you will find it in builds, its all very much beta atm.

so documentation should NOT really be done now, too many things will change during the development process, stuff can break. theyre changing the xbmc pvr api a lot now, and one build your backend may work and one build it might not.

so the best way to actually use xbmc pvr is using a 3rd party build that includes the addons, these generally work with all the backends they come with. i usually download from packages.pulse-eight.com or google "xbmc extensions" to find the mediaportal/4tr builds.

in the mean time sub and others are providing builds here http://www.dotnetdevelopers.net/XBMC/xbmcpvr.html

as soon as subs addon is included in the main repo, it should show up in all the main distros, including raspbmc and openelec.

this stuff will all work itself out of the next few months, and the user will just have to go to

xbmc settings \ addons \ disabled addons \ pvr clients
and enable the npvr addon and set their ip address and then turn on live tv in xbmc. thats it.
you wont have to really worry about downloading the addon.

[Livin]

Yeah, it pretty much is already the lite version. You only need to run front end when you want to configure you tuners, scan etc. The frontend (npvr.exe) and backend (nrecord.exe) are entirely separate. You dont need to use the nextpvr.exe front end if you're using xbmc as the front end instead.

NextPVR is already much lighter and easier to setup than any of the alternative xbmc backends.

Since my thread got hijacked (thx guys! :mad I'll continue it on topic.



I'm looking to replace Windows Media Center functions...

browse EPG
set/edit/change show and series recording schedules
Live TV

... Can this all be done via the NextPVR web UI? What needs to be running for these functions to work via the web UI?

thx

[sub]

You dont need to run the front end (nextpvr.exe) to use the web UI. It's served up from the recording service that runs in the background (nrecord.exe). It lets you browse the EPG, schedule/edit recordings etc.