Expose a .m3u channels playlist

[sdf]

I was playing a little bit with NextPVR server and saw in the forum that with command http://x.x.x.x:8866/live?channel=# i can play almost everywhere (vlc, android, smart tv) a live tv channel.
It's important for me because i have problems in my config with NextPVR client, but server works perfectly (using kodi), so I was thinking: what about exposing an .m3u playlist like http://x.x.x.x:8866/playlist/channels (group).m3u, or something similar, containing the nextpvr channles list? This way even from smarttv i could change channels. Tried making a playlist myself full of http://x.x.x.x:8866/live?channel=1, http://x.x.x.x:8866/live?channel=2, etc, and it works flawlessly in vlc and kodi, but doesn't work on my samsung smarttv (plays only the first channel but can't play others).
I think it could be an unexpensive and flexible solution to interface NextPVR server with almost everything in the house.
What do you think?
Bye,
sdf

[sub]

Ok. In the next release you can call:

http://127.0.0.1:8866/channels
http://127.0.0.1:8866/recordings

to get a m3u list of urls

[sdf]

Wonderful sub!
Thank you!
sdf

[sle118]

@sub,

When the server has multiple tuners, it seems like it has trouble dealing with simultaneous requests from clients.

For example, suppose the server is connected to a HDHomeRun tuner, which exposes 2 tuners internally. NextPVR sees HDHomeRun-0 and HDHomeRun-1.

The following sequence happens:
- Client 1 gets the list of channels
- Client 1 starts streaming
- Client 2 gets list of channels
- Client 2 starts streaming
- Client 1 streaming stops ***

Any way we could have NextPvr switch to an available tuner, and if there is none, return 404 or something that would tell clients that streaming is not possible?

thanks !

[scJohn]

One of the experts can confirm, but the current version of the web player only supports 1 client at a time.

[mvallevand]

One of the experts can confirm, but the current version of the web player only supports 1 client at a time.

This isn't the player transcoding problem.

@ sle118 you will need to create and edit multiple m3u files and add a unique parameter &client=1 and &client=2 otherwise the server thinks it is just one client.

Martin

[sub]

When I'm back home I'll try adding a workaround.

[sle118]

This isn't the player transcoding problem.
@ sle118 you will need to create and edit multiple m3u files and add a unique parameter &client=1 and &client=2 otherwise the server thinks it is just one client.
Martin

I don't believe this will work as the LiveTV code in Download.aspx.cs seems to be the culprit. Unless it has changed lately, I believe the logic below applies currently when the server respond to a live stream request:

Code:

case (int)InternalFiles.LiveTV:
    //string[] tuners = Info.GetRecordingService().getTunerStatus();
    string[] tuners = null;
    string currentStatus = tuners[Convert.ToInt32(path)];
    Match match = Info.liveTVRegex.Match(currentStatus);
    XmlNode node = SettingsHelper.GetInstance().GetSettingsNode("/settings/Recording/RecordingDirectory");
    if ((node != null) && (match.Captures.Count == 1))
    {
        fileName = Path.Combine(node.InnerText, match.Groups[1].ToString());
    }
    seekable = false;
    break;

I don't have a debugging environment setup for NextPVR, but I believe the original intention behind the code was to look for a tuner that supports the channel and that isn't busy at the time. It looks like this wasn't fully implemented, though, as code was commented out

Code:

//string[] tuners = Info.GetRecordingService().getTunerStatus();
string[] tuners = null;

When I'm back home I'll try adding a workaround.

This would be awesome!

[mvallevand]

I don't believe this will work as the LiveTV code in Download.aspx.cs seems to be the culprit. Unless it has changed lately, I believe the logic below applies currently when the server respond to a live stream request:

No /live requests are handled by sub's code not NEWA

Martin

[sle118]

No /live requests are handled by sub's code not NEWA

Martin

So I connected vlc from 2 different clients and this worked flawlessly. I had originally tried with the wrong url, thinking that the m3u link was the same as the one for LiveTV. This is amazing!

Not only does this work, but it also correctly rejects attempts at opening a channel that is unavailable. In my setup, I have a dual network tuner and a USB capture device defined as follow (with fictional channel numbers)
- Dual tuner has 2 streams covering channels 1-30
- Capture device has 1 stream covering channels 80-90

Connect client 1 to channel 10 : works
Connect client 2 to channel 22 : works
Connect client 3 to channel 25 : rejected (expected behavior, so this works!)
Connect client 3 to channel 80 : works

Now, all I need to do is to host the amended m3u files (with client numbers) somewhere so that my client apps can consume them according.

Martin, thanks for the quick response!