Developing Android TV client

[fred250]

I have started developing an Android TV client for NPVR. 
I wish it to have the native NPVR-GUI and playback controls/OSD as well as the option of using my custom playback controls and graphics. 
I’d like to support both NPVR4 and 5.

I choose Xamarin platform and using VLC (LibVLCSharp) for playback. VLC allows for excellent playback of many filetypes on Android, including MPEG2 without transcoding. 
So, is there a guide on how to use the web-API correctly? Developing my previous clients I guessed a lot and examined Martins python scripts for methods etc. 
Now if I build something completely new, I wish to do it right and futureproof from the beginning bearing in mind targeting both NPVR4 and 5.

The basics up and running but... 
Currently having trouble with two things:

#1: login with pin. Don’t know if I’m missing a NPVR-setting or not Hashing correctly.
Gets sid and salt, but fails on login, need some (working) .net standard code for generating the MD5-hash.
 
#2: What are the correct steps and methods to call for using native playback controls and getting OSD to work? 
Example code?
 
/Fred

[mvallevand]

Good to see you back. There is no guide. I still guess a lot which is why I like python for adhoc testing. Just in case to respect the NextPVR license you either have to develop a free app or contact sub about a license. I dropped support for Emby because it is a commercial app.

For portability v4/v5 the best model is Kodi but it is xml https://github.com/kodi-pvr/pvr.nextpvr. All the interfaces should be JSON compatible if you add the application/json header or &format=json parameter but responses can be different.

The reference API fro guessing is sub's v5 web page js code.

For .netcore here is the jellyfin code https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plugin-nextpvr I didn't develop the Emby model used as the base but it has many API calls. The login logic is here https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-plu...ice.cs#L85 It is not at all compatible with NEWA JSON but the login should work on both.

For UI client (what sub decided to call the NextPVR GUI) your existing code should be ok for v4/v5. I can't remember any changes for years. You talk about future proof sub has talked about rewriting the Window client. I'd also suggest looking at the SageTV mini client since it uses a similar mode to have the Sage framebuffer GUI with Android. control of a couple of libraries.

The faster Hauppauge UI used on the MVP and mvpmc is gone though which is too bad it still is pretty slick in comparison. In UI client pausing and navigating Live TV isn't supported. If you want this you would have to come up with a solution. What I allow in knewc UI client is the option of

When you say Android TV do you mean real Android TV or Android "TV" box? No Android TV and very few legitimate Android boxes need mpeg2 video support that would be more for phones which I've left to sub's app. VLC is probably better for esoteric file types if you think there is still a use case for the Video and Audio libraries.

For Android TV I started a Live Channels client but still await sub "ok "to move forward since I don't want to compete with his Android client. I use Exoplayer with its ffmpeg addon for mpeg2 and ac3 audio and I don't have any issues with our channels. I have the login in Java in that one if you neede it. The Exoplayer controls for Android are very wall documented.

If you'd like I can upload a version of Exoplayer with udp auto discovery and basic NextPVR Live TV if you want to see how direct play works for you. The apk should run on any of your boxes.

Martin

[fred250]

Thanks Martin,

Lots of useful info.

/Fred