Comskip installed using Linux Synaptic Package Manager does not work

[mvallevand]

Depending on quick internet searches and not official support sites is generally not a good idea. Kodi through the forum and wiki have extensive documentation and support starting at kodi.tv

The issue with Linux is there are countless variations and dependencies, and binaries may not be compatible even on version with the same repo and it is not surprising to see users (like you) running older versions so maintenance can be a nightmare and each repo needs its own maintainer. pvr.nextpvr for Kodi is no exception it needs custom building. That is why Kodi moved to using flatpak on Linux and pvr.nextpvr is included in iy. For Debian there actually is a maintainer and he choose to use the standard apt install method and not an wiki. This is explained on the wiki https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Kodi_for_Linux but even keeping that current can be a challenge

This isn't as big a problem as it seems since many SmartTVs allow installing Kodi and even dedicated NextPVR UI client. If your TV doesn't support them, there are cheap standalone devices that do. For a PC I prefer using LibreELEC OSCMC or CoreELEC since they takes much of the complexity of installing the pieces needed for a PVR

My upcoming UI client yauiclient v3 will support installation on deb based distros, RPi's Window, macOS and even a LibreELEC based appliance PC.

Martin

[RAK]

There has not been any reply to my last posted question from any NextPVR Forum member in over 2-weeks, and it hurts. In that posting, unless I'm missing something, the virus ridden Kodi is not a viable choice for a badly needed UI Client for NextPVR. My question asks if there is any viable choice for a UI Client that I can use, and if so, what is it?

Please correct me if I am wrong about the Linux version of NextPVR being at a dead end without a UI Client compared to the Windows version. It does not support Comskip, nor does it have a TV Guide that can be seen at a reasonable distance from the screen. Also, beyond the Comskip subject of this posting, NextPVR does not have a Live-TV feature, can't playback videos not recorded by NextPVR, and can't be run without the Internet and a Web Browser.

To get around the small size of the font for the TV Guide and the Comskip problem, I tried using the built-in "UI Client" (Where is that other web client?) accessible in the Settings mode. I found it to be a great solution for visibility of the TV Guide, but it can't be used for playback skipping because there is no way to manually control playback skip ahead or backward. Also, other playback problems arise like the window or screen size, intermittent audio distortion, it eventually hangs-up while in the playback mode, and the Chromium browser addressing the wrong directory in NextPVR. I could not find a way to use this built-in "UI Client" without being in the Settings mode. Is there a way to do this?

My recent experience with encountering a Virus while trying to use Kodi as a UI Client for NextPVR has led me to recommending others to avoid the same Virus grief by using the free Linux anti-virus program, ClamAV, readily available in the Linux Debian repository. It includes Clamscan which has a database of 3,627,866 known viruses and is updated daily. The good news is that NextPVR has stayed clean and not had any known viruses.

[mvallevand]

If you download Kodi from the source kodi.tv you won't have any trouble. If you simply query "download kodi" or "download nextpvr" for that matter and click OK and install whatever you get the problem is surely yours.

I never recommended Kodi as a UI client, I suggest starting with the built in PVR since it has all the PVR functions you've discussed plus KNEWC is no longer supported. Certainly the web client is not a desktop app (I was really confused when you started discussing "it"). The web UI client has the 10' interface and will always struggle if it has to transcode.

Since your first post there is a Linux version of UI Client in beta test on this thread https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=66973 so not a dead end at all. It isn't up to date with the current client for client thumbnails but comskip should work and you will get a 10' interface. Hooking up a remote is up to you on Linux which is why I also have the LibreELEC based versions available.

Martin

[sub]

Most people using Linux are using it headless as a server, not directly connected to a TV, and then use various clients to view. ie, I personally use it with the LG app on my TV, which gives me UI client to connect to my server. A lot of other people use Android or other clients.

That said, there is a lot of active work going on behind the scenes around client support, so there will be other options in the very near future.

NextPVR does not have a Live-TV feature, can't playback videos not recorded by NextPVR

Huh? Of course it does.

and can't be run without the Internet and a Web Browser.

It doesn't need the internet, and can work just fine without it. It does use a web browser for configuration, but this is just to the local server running on you machine.

However, if the internet is available, then you get the benefit of being able to look up artwork, and download guide data from online sources (a lot of north american users use Schedules Direct).

To get around the small size of the font for the TV Guide and the Comskip problem, I tried using the built-in "UI Client" (Where is that other web client?) accessible in the Settings mode. I found it to be a great solution for visibility of the TV Guide, but it can't be used for playback skipping because there is no way to manually control playback skip ahead or backward. Also, other playback problems arise like the window or screen size, intermittent audio distortion, it eventually hangs-up while in the playback mode, and the Chromium browser addressing the wrong directory in NextPVR. I could not find a way to use this built-in "UI Client" without being in the Settings mode. Is there a way to do this?

That web page is hidden away the settings screen, because it's only really an experiment at this stage. However, assuming you've got thumbnails still enabled, you should just be able to press left or right while playing a recording to seek through recording. Works fine here. You can also click on the timeline if you're using a mouse. The most significant limitation on this web app is that it doesn't provide skipping in live tv.

[RAK]

Thank you Martin for your messages - big help. I only saw your May 09th messages 2-weeks after they were sent because I kept scrolling down to the bottom of the Thread name daily without realizing it was on (a separate) Page 2 of the Thread.  Anyway, that time-gap is probably why some of the things you I said were obsolete and surprising to you.

At this point, from what I understand, which surely is not everything, I would rather stay away from Kodi and wait for your yauiclient3 to finish testing and then try it.  Its release sounds like it will be more than days, or weeks away.  I'm assuming it will be months, but if you want to venture an approximate guess, I'm all ears.

Meanwhile, I still would like to use the built-in "UI Client" (Where is that other web client?) that is only accessible from "Settings".  My reason is because of its larger font size for the TV Guide.  Also, I would like to use this built-in "UI Client" because it is the only way I know to access Live-TV by using its Menu (which is also large font).

With regard to "Live-TV", I cannot use it now because it hangs-up on a Window shown by the Attachment file "Live-TV_Error_Window.png". It's a photo, not a Screenshot because it hangs-up on that Error window and makes the computer unresponsive to mouse clicks. I can break-out by hitting the ENTER key, but it eventually ends up in the same place.  When hung-up, My Browser shows the URL to be 127.0.0.1:8866/uiclient-html.  After this hang-up, I can NOT use the "UI Client" again because it immediately hangs-up during start-up with the same error message.  Restarting my Browser or logging out and logging in again does not help either.  The only thing that clears this hang-up problem so I can use the UI Client again is to shutdown and restart the whole computer.

With regard to using "Recordings" from UI Client, there is always some kind of problem if I use Recordings via the UI Client Menu to verify that a TV channel has started recording, for example.  But, it is not as bad as the Live-TV problem.  Usually it just makes it more difficult to play-back a recording other than the TV channel that I started to playback.  It seems to remember that TV Channel as the one to playback and it can't be changed.  I remember one time that I had to shutdown and restart the computer to clear the TV channel that was causing the problem.

I can get along without the Live-TV feature if it can't be fixed.  Right now, NextPVR is usable, and works very well as long as I only use the built-in "UI Client" for the TV Guide via its Menu, and then use the TV Guide only for programming an Antenna TV Channel to record.  And then I must use the Menu to Exit the UI Client programming session.  With that limited use of the UI Client, I can do everything else like playing back recordings by using the Web Browser and it all works fine except not being to use the Live-TV feature.

So my question is, can the problems described above be fixed, and if so how?  Am I missing anything?  If not, I'll get along with both the built-in UI Client and the Browser interface until your yauiclient3 is released.  If it's easy to install and there are instructions for installing it, I'll be happy to help in the testing of y3 if I can.

I hope the attached Log files are useful.  The problems I described are between shutdown and restarting the computer.  Tnx, RAK
"logs-20260604-0052.zip" at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KBdXAlq...sp=sharing

[mvallevand]

For your web UI client issue sub will need to look at it is an API call issue. You can get around it by going to setting access and enabling Unauthenticated Access

Code:

2026-06-03 16:32:26.370    [DEBUG][19]    Got request [127.0.0.1]: /live
2026-06-03 16:32:26.370    [DEBUG][19]    /live?channel_id=7220&profile=fast264&sid=13f22fc132954449bb790df31be0b6a0
2026-06-03 16:32:26.370    [DEBUG][19]     - channel_id: 7220
2026-06-03 16:32:26.370    [DEBUG][19]     - profile: fast264
2026-06-03 16:32:26.370    [DEBUG][19]     - sid: 13f22fc132954449bb790df31be0b6a0
2026-06-03 16:32:26.370    [DEBUG][19]    range: bytes=0-
2026-06-03 16:32:26.370    [ERROR][19]    Unauthenticated Stream Access is disabled. Invalid sid=13f22fc132954449bb790df31be0b6a0
2026-06-03 16:32:26.371    [DEBUG][74]    WebException: System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.
   at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
   at NShared.Shim.InputSourceHTTP.ConnectToURL(String url, Int32 depth)

For UI client since that initial prerelease there are several more improvement to UI client logic in 7.0.6 and in yauiclient3 thumbnails so I decided against keeping that post updated things were too dynamic. The download site I used deletes file after 7 days of no activity.

Martin

[RAK]

I think you meant that I should edit config.xml file to change "false" to "true" for the "AllowUnauthenticatedStreaming" setting. I made that edit, but my computer still hung-up at the same error window, and still requires a reboot from a power-off shutdown down to recover. Also, the "true" setting causes other weird behavior, so I went back to the "false" setting. How will I know if Sub fixes the problem.

I have version 7.0.5.260307 now. In your last two sentences, you mention improvement in version 7.0.6. Are you suggesting I should upgrade? How does the 7-days matter?

RAK

[mvallevand]

No I meant the webe setting. No logs no problems.

I wasn't clear the deb file disappeared after 7 days I assumed you tried to download it.

Martin

[sub]

How does the 7-days matter?

He's just saying he had made available the new yauiclient, but the download site he provided has now auto removed the file. I'm sure he'll make it available again soon.

The next release of NextPVR is not far away. With any luck, it'll be this weekend.

[sub]

I think you meant that I should edit config.xml file to change "false" to "true" for the "AllowUnauthenticatedStreaming" setting. I made that edit, but my computer still hung-up at the same error window, and still requires a reboot from a power-off shutdown down to recover. Also, the "true" setting causes other weird behavior, so I went back to the "false" setting. How will I know if Sub fixes the problem.

I'm just having a look to see if I can reproduce the problem you're describing.