IR Blasting from Kodi running NextPVR addon

[three6zerocool]

Giday, new NextPVR user here trying the software.

Have successfully setup NextPVR, configured devices, EPG etc.

Am using Hauppauge DVB-T tuners and a Hauppauge colossus card with STB, and using the Colossus cards IR blaster.
(Have learned the IR codes of my STB)

Have all working fine using NextPVR interface, and guide is working, and the IR blasting is working to watch Analog channels from my STB using NextPVR on my PC.

However, I am encountering issues changing STB channels from a Kodi client running NextPVR addon.

I have successfully configured the Kodi NextPVR addon, and it imports the channels and guide.
But, when I choose one of the Analog STB channels in Kodi, it does not initiate the IR Blaster like it does when using the native NextPVR on my PC.
(it just plays one of the DVB-T channels)

Just wanted confirmation that IR Blasting should work when using Kodi NextPVR addon?, or does IR blasting only work on the local PC running NextPVR.

Also, do the channel numbers have to be unique?
ie. I have a DVB-T channel numbered '1' and also an analog STB channel named 'Sky TV 1' Is that OK?
(Have defined two groups in NextPVR 'Digital' and 'Analog'

Kinda perplexed as to why IR blasting aint working from the Kodi client. Is there something obvious I have overlooked?

[BrettB]

Just wanted confirmation that IR Blasting should work when using Kodi NextPVR addon?, or does IR blasting only work on the local PC running NextPVR.

Yes. As long as the device is configured properly for the blaster, is should work properly no matter what type of client requests the recording service to tune to a channel or whether it is to record or watch live tv.

Also, do the channel numbers have to be unique?
ie. I have a DVB-T channel numbered '1' and also an analog STB channel named 'Sky TV 1' Is that OK?
(Have defined two groups in NextPVR 'Digital' and 'Analog'

There are basically 3 "channel ids" in NextPVR. There is a "Channel Number", a "Channel Name", and an (internal) Channel OID. The "Channel Number" and "Channel Name" are really just "labels" for displaying information to the user and are not required (by NextPVR itself) to be unique. However, some functions like selecting a channel in Live TV by entering a channel number would probably have unpredictable results if the Channel Number wasn't unique. Additionally, I wouldn't be surprised if some clients (possibly the Kodi PVR interface) expected the Channel Number to be unique and again produced unexpected results if they are not.

Now, when you truly have the same channel available via multiple tuners (of either the same type or different types), the normal thing to do in NextPVR is to "merge" them. In that case, the channel listing will only have one entry (with one corresponding Channel Number, Channel Name, and Channel OID), but there will be links to each tuner with that channel available. In some cases, NextPVR will offer to attempt to automatically merge channels for you. You can also manually merge channels. (Note: technically you can merge 2 totally different channels which would again produce unexpected results!) You did not tell us if you had merged any channels.

In any event, the first step you need to do for us to be able to assist you is to post the full set of all your logs. For the NextPVR side, go to the Settings | About screen and use the "Zip my log files..." button to generate the .zip file. Post that file here. Since you are also using Kodi in this case, you should also generate and post a corresponding Kodi log file. (Make sure that debugging level is enabled in Kodi!) It is also helpful if you can minimize any other activity against the NextPVR server while doing your testing and let us know the time and a description of what you did, what you saw, and what you expected.

[three6zerocool]

Thanks for the response. I have attached the requested logs from NextPVR.
will have to work out how to do from Kodi clients.

Am actually using a fork of Kodi called 'MrMC', and have found it really good on my AppleTV4k and Nvidia Shield.
However, became interested in NextPVR after looking into Emby, where users on their forums recommend it as a backend solution for intergrating with their DVR, as Plex DVR does not support cards like Hauppauge Colossus.

I have not merged any channels as far as I am aware, just created groups of 'Digital' and 'Analog', where all the Analog STB sourced channels start with the word 'Sky'.
in the client 'MrMC', the channels populate, and so does the guide, but when selecting a Sky channel, the IR Blaster does not fire anything, so no channel change.

If I go to the PC running NextPVR, it works perfectly.

[mvallevand]

First I see that you are encountering the timeshift bug

2019-07-29 23:10:50.893 [DEBUG][20] Renewed lease(2)... (18000E)

which steals tuners and forces you to restart the server PC. That is one of the issues you will find in MrMC with the older plugins and so you need to disable timeshifting.

I also didn't see any attempts to play any Sky channels from Kodi so you might to have Kodi reimport the guide data after rebooting you host.

Martin

[three6zerocool]

Hmm, that's interesting. Thanks for the insight.
Timeshifting bug, yes I did enable that option in the NextPVR addon advanced options in MrMC.

What is weird, is that although the IR Blasting on the client fails, so no channel changes occur for the STB channels...…..when I go back to the main PC running NextPVR, it all works fine.
I did manage to make all the tuners disappear once tho, by enabling client mode in device window, and changing the settings from hushpc to my computers name, which really seemed to upset things. Apart from that tho, the tuners seem to hang around just fine, tho from what you are suggesting, I will disable Timeshifting in the addon.

[three6zerocool]

I also have full Kodi clients, so could configure them and test the IR Blasting with NextPVR.

[mvallevand]

To test it you just need to play a channel that needs it. There is no reason NextPVR should fail to do the blasting if it is configured properly for the Windows client.

Martin

[three6zerocool]

I disabled Timeshifting option in the clients PVRaddon settings...….cleared the channel and guide data, restarted both the PC running NextPVR and the AppleTV4k.
Sorry to report, but no change whatsoever. Selecting any of the STB channels does not trigger IR blasting.

If I immediately go back to the PC and run NextPVR, and select any STB channel, it works great and IR blasts.

Gonna try proper Kodi on my Shield, and see if it does anything different.

Wondering if it is something to do with the Colossus IR Blasting. I have IRSS, so could try configuring that with MCE Blaster, and see if that makes a difference.

[three6zerocool]

Update:

Tested full Kodi on my Shield. It IR Blasts fine, so it would appear the issue is related to the version NextPVR addon they are using.

[mvallevand]

Ok it makes more sense now. As BrettB mentioned prior to v18 we tuned by channel number but you reused the same channel number for your EPG guide. To work with older versions of the addon you would need to use unique channels numbers to get to work.

Code:

<channel>
      <id>7148</id>
      <name>TVNZ 1</name>
      <number>1</number>
      <minor>0</minor>
      <formatted-number>1</formatted-number>
      <type>0x1</type>
    </channel>
    <channel>
      <id>7188</id>
      <name>Sky TV 1</name>
      <number>1</number>
      <minor>0</minor>
      <formatted-number>1</formatted-number>
      <type>0x1</type>
    </channel>

Martin