Problems with NPVR offline installation

[Joram]

(For background, see this thread.)

I continue to struggle with watching recorded programs manually copied onto an offline laptop for viewing from the treadmill, on any player other than Windows Media Center. Had a chance today to play with the system, and here are my notes:

1.
I got Kodi to play WTV (Windows Media Center) files without stuttering, and without freezing up for unpredictable amounts of time when skipping (not FF, skipping) forward and back. This is good. However, Kodi does experience these stuttering and freezing-up issues when I try to play .TS or .MP4 files. This is bad, since it means that, for the foreseeable future, I'd have to do the additional step of converting Hauppauge/NextPVR's .TS files into .WTV files.


2.
Is yauiclient a 64-bit program? When I try to launch it on this 32-bit machine, Windows informs me that I can't run the program on this PC.


3.
Launching the NextPVR web app yields the following screen:

   

(Recall that this machine is not allowed online. There must be a way to reach a local address via the browser that doesn't trigger a complaint that it's not online?)


4.
I can launch the NextPVR UI client, but I can't get it to play any videos. Clicking on Videos in the menu in the left panel, leads to this long error message:

   

Evidently, this has to do with the proper folder for the videos not being indicated in Settings. But this is where the next problem arises. The window that pops up when I select Settings in the right-click context menu from the UI client, allows me to add a new folder in the Settings window... but the window is so huge that the button to Save the change is located far below the bottom of the screen. No display resolution that Windows allows, lets me see the buttons at the bottom. I can neither drag the window past the top of the screen, nor scroll down the window with a scrollbar, nor resize the Settings window so that I can see all of it within the confines of the laptop's screen. To confirm the creation of the new folder for NPVR, what else can I try?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or insights.

[sub]

3) is the recording service running? It needs to be for the web server to be functioning.

You could also try http://127.0.0.1:8866 in case it's having an issue with the "localhost" name (I have seen this before)

or you trying to access your NextPVR server (on another machine) from your "offline laptop"?

4) Does that directory exist on this machine? C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\thumbs

Honestly, it's not really clear what you're trying to do.

[mvallevand]

No yauiclient will never support 32bit.

Martin

[Joram]

No yauiclient will never support 32bit.

Martin

Thanks. I'm not surprised at the answer, as nowadays 32-bit machines are few and far-between. This Windows 10 laptop began life as a Windows 7 system that was sneakily "upgraded" by Microsoft; my father ended up disliking Win10 so much that he simply handed it over to me.

[Joram]

3) is the recording service running? It needs to be for the web server to be functioning.

You could also try http://127.0.0.1:8866 in case it's having an issue with the "localhost" name (I have seen this before)

or you trying to access your NextPVR server (on another machine) from your "offline laptop"?

4) Does that directory exist on this machine? C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\thumbs

Honestly, it's not really clear what you're trying to do.

OK, to answer (3) above, this laptop has never been on the Internet since it's been in my possession. It's a standalone machine, not connected by any means (wired or wireless) to any other computer or network. There is no desire to try to access anything else from it, or conversely to try to access it from anyplace else.

Also, it's not being used to record anything from anywhere, but purely to play recordings made on other computers and copied onto it from a flash drive.

I'm not at the laptop currently, but first chance I get I'll try the address you suggested, and also check for the existence of that thumbs directory. Thanks.

[sub]

OK, to answer (3) above, this laptop has never been on the Internet since it's been in my possession. It's a standalone machine, not connected by any means (wired or wireless) to any other computer or network. There is no desire to try to access anything else from it, or conversely to try to access it from anyplace else.

Also, it's not being used to record anything from anywhere, but purely to play recordings made on other computers and copied onto it from a flash drive.

I didn't ask anything about the internet. NextPVR doesn't need the internet to function.

You posted a screenshot of trying to access the NextPVR webapp on from this machine, and I was just asking if NextPVR was actually installed on this machine (ie, nothing about going out to the internet).

Ultimately though, if you've copied recordings on to this machine, and wanting to watch them, you might as well just use a player like VLC to play these recordings. There is zero reason to try using the NextPVR web app for this.

[mvallevand]

My feeling is if Kodi can't play mp4 files you have serious issues with your installation probably h/w decoding settings and you need to post on the Kodi forums with logs. Try turning off h/w decoding to start.

it will be the best change of an offline player in an online world.

Martin

[Joram]

OK, to answer (3) above, this laptop has never been on the Internet since it's been in my possession. It's a standalone machine, not connected by any means (wired or wireless) to any other computer or network. There is no desire to try to access anything else from it, or conversely to try to access it from anyplace else.

Also, it's not being used to record anything from anywhere, but purely to play recordings made on other computers and copied onto it from a flash drive.

I didn't ask anything about the internet. NextPVR doesn't need the internet to function.

You posted a screenshot of trying to access the NextPVR webapp on from this machine, and I was just asking if NextPVR was actually installed on this machine (ie, nothing about going out to the internet).

Ultimately though, if you've copied recordings on to this machine, and wanting to watch them, you might as well just use a player like VLC to play these recordings. There is zero reason to try using the NextPVR web app for this.

Ah, OK. Yes, NextPVR is indeed installed on that machine. But the idea is to keep it isolated and self-contained (no remote server).

VLC is unsuitable for the current use case because AFAIK it lacks the 10-foot interface. I've tried it on that machine, and at more than sitting-at-a-desk distance it's difficult to read the lists of programs to watch, so not a practical solution.

If I could get NextPVR to work here, then assuming that (unlike Kodi) .TS files played without hiccups, it would be ideal for what I'm looking to do.

[Joram]

My feeling is if Kodi can't play mp4 files you have serious issues with your installation probably h/w decoding settings and you need to post on the Kodi forums with logs.  Try turning off h/w decoding to start.

it will be the best change of an offline player in an online world.

Martin

I'll take a look at the hardware decoding status in Kodi, thanks for the idea.

[mvallevand]

Another option is LibreELEC boot usb to get modern drivers etc.

Martin