NPVR on Android?

[mattyb]

I've been reading through the forums and trying various things over a period of time but I can't seem to find anything that meets my needs.

Basically I have two Android devices, a Samsung Galaxy phone and Nexus 9 tablet, and I'd like to be able to:

a) watch live TV/recordings/videos from NPVR - and explicitly be able to skip in playback 10s/60s, as per normal NPVR behaviour
b) watch in progress recordings
c) schedule recordings
d) all of the above from both within my LAN and externally

So far I've tried:

nDroid - can schedule recordings, but playback doesn't work with latest NPVR release and developer is not actively working on it.
NextPVR Plex channel - playback is intermittent and doesn't seem to work reliably, also can't schedule recordings
Kodi / X-Newa - have only just started exploring but having trouble figuring it all out - will it do what I want?
NEWA/iNEWA - can't seem to find how to watch in progress recordings, and also some issues with playback freezing after a couple of seconds - is this a known issue?

Perhaps I'm asking too much for one application?

Thanks in advance.

[sub]

There is nothing built in for Android devices. I don't have any Android these devices here, so haven't built a client for it. I'm guessing Kodi / XNEWA are probably your best options - and should be able to do these things.

[mvallevand]

The biggest challenges for any Android devices will be MPEG 2 and deinterlaced video and good consistent wifi on the LAN. For WAN you need good 15-20 Mbps up and download.

Not sure if yours are good enough but if so x-newa meets most things except

- no seeking on live TV
- no playback of in-progress recordings on WAN because of Kodi http problems on duration staying fixed at the start time

Martin

[mattyb]

The biggest challenges for any Android devices will be MPEG 2 and deinterlaced video and good consistent wifi on the LAN. For WAN you need good 15-20 Mbps up and download.

Not sure if yours are good enough but if so x-newa meets most things except

- no seeking on live TV
- no playback of in-progress recordings on WAN because of Kodi http problems on duration staying fixed at the start time

Martin

How can I assess my devices ability to handle MPEG2 and deinterlaced video?

Not 100% sure what you mean by "no seeking in Live TV", assume you mean no pause/resume of live stream?

Also, is there a step by step guide to setting up Kodi with X-Newa and NPVR integration? I've installed both, but I can't seem to get the add-on to connect to NPVR. I'll post the error message tonight.

[mvallevand]

How can I assess my devices ability to handle MPEG2 and deinterlaced video?

Try them with your files since you own them.

Not 100% sure what you mean by "no seeking in Live TV", assume you mean no pause/resume of live stream?

You can probably pause briefly but not rewind.

Also, is there a step by step guide to setting up Kodi with X-Newa and NPVR integration? I've installed both, but I can't seem to get the add-on to connect to NPVR. I'll post the error message tonight.

Typically after installing x-newa you just need to configure it with the IP. However thinking about the responses again, I realize that you probably want touch support and that isn't going to work out well especially with web client, sorry. Typically the use case for Android are Android TV or Android client boxes.

Martin

[stustunz]

deinterlacing will only be a problem on stuff recorded off dvb-s which is mpeg2 in NZ
dvb-t recordings are h264 and should play pretty good
not sure how you are recording sky but that could be mpeg2 with interlacing also

[p37307]

My two cents might not help you at all and this won't help resolve all your desires but the easiest way I have found to use my Androids with my NPVR recordings and Live TV with the best quality is:

On my Android I use GinkgoDLNA to access live TV and my recordings. https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai...ctrl&hl=en

I have Serviio setup for my library on my NPVR Windows desktop. It transcodes the video well if a device can't use the native recording format.

They have a Serviio App for Android under a donator version that is great but I don't use it. GinkgoDLNa is free and works good. http://serviio.org/

For Live TV:
I also have my live channels setup under Serviio under the "online [video] source options under Library. For Example, It would be a "Live Stream" http://ip address:8866/live?channel=2.3 for Channel 2.3. You can pause but it doesn't let you rewind. You have to manually add your channels in the Serviio Library, Online services section when you set them up.

I use VLC as the renderer, player but on Android I had to go into settings, performance, and set to RGB 32-bit or else I only got sound on certain video formats.

You can pause, rewind, FF with VLC your recordings.

By using Serviio my live TV and recorded library is able to be used on my Roku's, Firesticks, VLC's, Samsung TV's Smarthub, etc.

I find this setup easy, great quality and allows near every device on my network access to live TV and my recorded library.

With Serviio, any DLNA app on any device can access your recordings and live TV if you have the online sources setup.
Photo's from my Android 4.4.2.
Ginkgo
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Ginkgo on Live TV Channel selection
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Ginkgo Playing Live Channel 12.1 with VLC
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
From My Desktop
Serviio Live Tv Setup
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Serviio After Live TV setup
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

For people reading this with a Roku, Roku takes a tweak to get all formats playing. You have to change the profile in Serviio Status section from Roku3 to Chaneru to get support for some formats.

[mvallevand]

While that may be a partial solution for adding many devices that aren't compatible with NextPVR file format DLNA isn't very elegant and it doesn't provide you with a PVR ie no guide, scheduling, multi-room resume, no comskip it would have limited appeal for many users. Since the OP is having problems with Plex, Serviio would likely have similar limitations. However another transcoding solution called Emby might be offer more options.

Martin

[mattyb]

Thanks all. It seems there may not be one application that can do everything, but maybe I can use a combination of two perhaps.

I'll have a look at Emby, that shows some potential as it has NPVR integration and Android apps etc.

[mattyb]

Looks like Emby will do everything I need but for a price! Access to the Android apps requires Emby Premiere...