CoreElec and LibreElec as native host for NextPVR

[mvallevand]

Over the last week I have using my ODroid N2 with Kodi Matrix and I have found it to be tremendous client.  It's nice being able to power off a box with the remote.

I decided to see how hard it was to set up NextPVR server without Docker and as it turns out  it is really quite easy.   I still have issues with transcoding with ffmpeg, it doesn't make the box faster but it does remove the overhead of running Docker.

I was able to get an HDHR and even a locast tuner going so it is hard to imagine a better combination for light PVR requirements.

To install NextPVR server here is what I did. 

First I installed the supplied Netcore binaries from CoreElec Addons ->Programs  Then I started a new ssh session and did the following

1. Run dotnet with no parameters to make sure it is installed

2. Installed NextPVR

Code:

mkdir /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server
cd /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server
curl http://nextpvr.com/stable/linux/NPVR.zip
unzip NPVR.zip
chmod +x DeviceHost/arm32/DeviceHostLinux

3. In that folder created a service startup script /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server/nextpvr-server.start

Code:

. /etc/profile
export NEXTPVR_DATADIR_USERDATA=/storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server/config/
exec dotnet  /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server/NextPVRServer.dll > /dev/null

And used chmod +x on it

4. Create the folder for the config and database

mkdir /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server/config/

5. I then created a systemd file to run NextPVR as a service  /storage/.config/system.d/nextpvr-server.service

Code:

[Unit]
Description=NextPVR
Wants=multi-user.target
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/sh /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server/nextpvr-server.start > /dev/null
Restart=never

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

chmod 640 nextpvr-server.service

6. Setup the server.

Code:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable nextpvr-server.service
systemctl start nextpvr-server.service

All done.

[baj1]

Impressive! I'm going to have to put some thought into making a portable PVR system when I do extended travel for work. :-)

[thecubasekid]

Hi Martin,

can you confirm if this is using the newer CE-ng builds, should it work also for the older kernel non ng builds? - if yes it looks like a good use for one of my S912 boxes that will not get Matrix support on CE, as can feed my two kids pvr set up centrally addressing my epg issue when the kids boxes are off....


Thanks!

[mvallevand]

This was a v19 nightly but I suspect it will work on 9.2. If you don't need a Kodi client or tuners why not just use the HK ubuntu or Armbian and get more memory.

Martin

[thecubasekid]

Thanks Martin,

i wouldn't need Kodi or tuners, so will checkout HK ubuntu and Armbian...

[mvallevand]

Armbian is probably your best bet is you have a generic S912.

Martin

[thecubasekid]

thanks Martin,

i looked at Armbian, but in the end decided to keep kodi, and set it to update library on start up, and set a cron job to reboot daily in the small hours so i can keep artwok beef filling my media folders ready for when i scan in on matrix...

i tried following the steps but have not been able to get it going.

everything went without obvious error but at the end there is nothing in my config folder and web page times out so suspect it never started.

one thing i noted while installing, on the below step when i hit return my putty window just closes - i have to open a new session and log in again before i go to next step - is this expected?

exec dotnet /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server/NextPVRServer.dll > /dev/null

[mvallevand]

If you run any command via a bash shall it will end when the shell ends unless you add other commands. The systemd server works differently.

If you upload nextpvr-server.start and /nextpvr-server.service I can have a look.

Martin

[thecubasekid]

Thanks,

i uploaded the two files - not sure if it will help, but see below output when i query the status of the service

nextpvr-server.service - NextPVR
  Loaded: loaded (/storage/.config/system.d/nextpvr-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
  Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2021-02-24 10:16:29 GMT; 5min ago
  Process: 3522 ExecStart=/bin/sh /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server/nextpvr-server.start > /dev/null (code=e
Main PID: 3522 (code=exited, status=2)

Feb 24 10:16:29 CoreELEC_Beelink_GT1 systemd[1]: Started NextPVR.
Feb 24 10:16:29 CoreELEC_Beelink_GT1 sh[3522]: [123B blob data]
Feb 24 10:16:29 CoreELEC_Beelink_GT1 systemd[1]: nextpvr-server.service: Main process exited, code=exited, stat
Feb 24 10:16:29 CoreELEC_Beelink_GT1 systemd[1]: nextpvr-server.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.


also not sure if there was any impact but the curl command to download the zip failed with below message about the file being moved, so i manually grabbed the linux zip from this url https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=59390, and dropped in to correct location over smb before moving to the unziping step using ssh..


CoreELEC_Beelink_GT1:~ # cd /storage/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server
CoreELEC_Beelink_GT1:~/.kodi/addons/nextpvr-server # curl http://nextpvr.com/stable/linux/NPVR.zip
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<html><head>
<title>301 Moved Permanently</title>
</head><body>
<h1>Moved Permanently</h1>
<p>The document has moved <a href="https://nextpvr.com/stable/linux/NPVR.zip">here</a>.</p>
</body></html>

[mvallevand]

Did you try creating the scripts with a Linux editor, ie no carriage returns?

As for curl I copied the URL from the NextPVR instruction which is technically wrong since the link should be to https not http. Add a -L to have curl follow the redirect.

Martin