Direct Streaming not working

[Pacman 0]

Hi,

 

I'm currently using Kodi with MediaPortal for the TV backend.

 

Whilst it works ok it doesn't have the must-have feature that I need which is parental controls, since have a 5 and a 2 year old.

My missus is not a massive fan of the interface either, for TV.

 

So, I'm looking at options, and having tried MediaBrowser a long time ago I thought I'd have another look.

 

It's looking pretty good to be honest, especially for the parental control aspect.

The EPG interface looks great in the web client... not sure whether it is as good in the Windows 8 app, or any of the other clients.

 

Anyway, the first step is to get the TV streaming working, and I cannot seem to get the Direct method working.

I've had success with streaming profiles such as Android FFmpeg, so know that the connectivity is working. Can view the EPG etc...

 

HTTP streaming fails with NullReferenceException it seems.

 

Anyway, I need Direct to work, since everything else seems to thrash the CPU quite hard.

 

Here's an extract from my MPExtended log:

2015-05-05 19:21:23.55755 [(45)] INFO: Starting timeshifting on channel 27 for client TV-27-20150505182123 with identifier TV-27-20150505182123
2015-05-05 19:21:23.55755 [(46)] DEBUG: Starting timeshifting with username mpextended-TV-27-20150505182123 on channel id 27
2015-05-05 19:21:23.55755 [(46)] DEBUG: Starting timeshifting
2015-05-05 19:21:24.29194 [(46)] DEBUG: Timeshifting succeeded
2015-05-05 19:21:26.37010 [(45)] DEBUG: Timeshifting started!
2015-05-05 19:21:26.37010 [(45)] INFO: Called InitStream with type=TV; provider=0; itemId=E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer; offset=; clientDescription=TV-27-20150505182123; identifier=TV-27-20150505182123; idleTimeout=10
2015-05-05 19:21:26.41697 [(45)] DEBUG: Called StartStream with ident=TV-27-20150505182123; profile=Direct; start=0
2015-05-05 19:21:26.43260 [(45)] DEBUG: StartStream with identifier TV-27-20150505182123 for file mediatype=TV provider=0 id=E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer filetype=Content offset=0 path=E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer
2015-05-05 19:21:26.46385 [(45)] INFO: TsBuffer: Files added 1, removed 0
2015-05-05 19:21:26.46385 [(45)] DEBUG: Using path E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer1.ts from TS buffer E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer as source for mediatype=TV provider=0 id=E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer filetype=Content offset=0 path=E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer
2015-05-05 19:21:26.79198 [(45)] DEBUG: Using 1280x720 as output size for stream TV-27-20150505182123
2015-05-05 19:21:26.80760 [(45)] DEBUG: Final stream selection: audioId=64, subtitleId=
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO: Assembling following pipeline:
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO:    data 1: MPExtended.Services.StreamingService.Units.InputUnit (input False, data True, log False)
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO: Using TsBuffer to read input
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO: TsBuffer: Files added 1, removed 0
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] DEBUG: Setup data unit 1
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO: Pipeline assembled
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO: Starting data unit 1
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO: All data units started!
2015-05-05 19:21:26.82323 [(45)] INFO: Started stream with identifier 'TV-27-20150505182123'
2015-05-05 19:21:26.90135 [(45)] INFO: TsBuffer: Files added 1, removed 0
2015-05-05 19:21:26.90135 [(45)] DEBUG: Using path E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer1.ts from TS buffer E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer as source for mediatype=TV provider=0 id=E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer filetype=Content offset=0 path=E:\Timeshift\live4-1.ts.tsbuffer
2015-05-05 19:21:32.87019 [(45)] WARN: TsBuffer: Trying to read from a non-playing stream
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(8)] INFO: Stream TV-27-20150505182123 had last read 10717 milliseconds ago (read 1511936 bytes in total) and last service activity at 05/05/2015 19:21:32, so cancel it
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(8)] DEBUG: Called FinishStream with identifier=TV-27-20150505182123
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(8)] DEBUG: Stopping stream with identifier TV-27-20150505182123
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(8)] INFO: Stopping data unit 1
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(8)] DEBUG: Pipeline stopped
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(8)] DEBUG: Killed stream with identifier TV-27-20150505182123
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(8)] INFO: Cancel timeshifting with identifier TV-27-20150505182123
2015-05-05 19:21:43.58909 [(44)] DEBUG: Canceling timeshifting for user mpextended-TV-27-20150505182123
 

MediaPortal, MPExtended and Emby server are all running on the same box.

 

I hope someone can help!

 

 

Kind regards,

Pacman

[Luke 37011]

there's nothing you need to do to setup direct stream of live tv. the server will probe the live stream at the time of playback and report the media info to the app. the app will then decide the best way to play it. if it has ac3 audio the android app will most likely not be able to direct stream it.

[Pacman 0]

This is attempting to stream from the web app

[Luke 37011]

ok, same thing. the browsers don't support ac3. basically in order to get direct stream the tv provider is going to have to output a stream that the client you're using can natively support. as of now the best way to do that is to use an Hdhomerun h264 transcoding model, since that will spit out h264, and they have a mobile option to convert to aac audio

[Pacman 0]

Is there a way of seeing the media info that the app is trying to deal with then, so can see if it's ac3 audio?

 

Like I say, I have got a few of the methods working, so something must understand it...

[Luke 37011]

after the live stream is opened, it will be dumped to the log. you'll need debug logging on to see that. apart from that, you can also check documentation on the Media Portal plugin. They might just be passing the source untouched, which means it will depend on the broadcast.

[Pacman 0]

Attached logs of what happens when I try and open a stream.

 

So the MB server is trying to use ffmpeg to decode the direct stream from MP, right?

If that's the case then I think it may still use too much CPU... Hmm

server-63566464326.txt

transcode-12e9691b-e340-4cfb-b95c-263b411554c1.txt

[Luke 37011]

yes, Emby server has to take the stream and convert to something the apps can understand