NextPVR v5 Emby plugin

[jordy 284]

@@emveepee, When I updated NPVR to 5.0.4, it caused a disconnect between Emby and NPVR in regards to recording. I could no longer initiate any recordings from within Emby - just got a msg (in Emby) - something like "Unable to set recording at this time"  (can't remember the exact text). The fix was to restart Emby, nothing else I tried worked.

Other than that, no probs

 

jordy

[emveepee 112]

You may just have have had to update the EPG after the change or perhaps you didn't update the plugjn dll to the newer version.

 

Martin

[jordy 284]

You may just have have had to update the EPG after the change or perhaps you didn't update the plugjn dll to the newer version.

 

Yeah, If it happens again I'll take more notice

 

cheers

[stwarr 1]

Using plugin 3.6.0.0 and NextPVR v5,  is there any way of setting a default channel group to apply to the guide data that Emby displays?

Edited June 28, 2020 by stwarr

[emveepee 112]

Could you clarify what you want to achieve?  The addon just provides  All Channels to Emby any filtering would be on the Emby side.

Martin

[stwarr 1]

With any PVR application, I like to be able to ‘hide’ channels in the guide view (for example, removing the listing of adult channels). With ServerWMC as a backend to Emby, this would be done inside WMC by deselecting individual channels under the Tasks>TV>Channels menu. The channels are still known to the PVR application, they just aren’t displayed in the guide.

With NextPVR, the display filtering of channels seems to be done by creating a new named ‘channel group’ and selecting which channels should appear - these channel groups are available as a menu option in all NextPVR client apps when viewing the guide page.

With the Emby/NextPVR plugin, there doesn’t seem to be any way to tell the plugin to use a specific channel group, and so Emby always displays the complete set of channels (which is the default ‘AllChannels’ channel group) with no way of filtering what is displayed. The only way I can find of hiding channels from the Emby guide is to physically remove those channels completely from the NextPVR database, but then they will just reappear again on any retune.

Ideally the plugin configuration page would allow the user to select which channel group will be available to Emby.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by stwarr

[emveepee 112]

I disagree filtering it at the API level is not ideal since it doesn't handle the possibility of recordings coming from other channels.  It is also not a NextPVR limitation because NextPVR clients including Kodi allow group filters.

It sounds like you want Emby to have a filter capability and it may have I don't know the application well enough.

Martin

[stwarr 1]

I’m not familiar with the API details that NextPVR exposes, but every other PVR application I have tried has some mechanism for selectively disabling or hiding channels from the user. AFAICT, the NextPVR model for implementing this type of functionality is exclusively via the use of channel groups - these are setup on the server side of things and are essentially just filtering what is displayed by the client app. All the other NextPVR client apps (except your Emby plugin) seem to be able to determine the set of channel groups that have been created on the server, and then operate using the appropriate subset of channels. I have no idea whether this filtering occurs within the NextPVR server or client side of things, but I would assume it is a server function - maybe every single NextPVR client application is performing this filtering function, but I don’t think that would make logical sense. Rather this seems like a server-side function that your plugin is not utilising. 

I’m not quite sure what you mean by ‘recordings from other channels’ - I guess you mean that channels might be recording that aren’t ‘visible’ to a client configured with a given channel group - that is possible I suppose, but also since those recordings must have been setup via some other mechanism, I do not think they would be the concern of that client - I don’t think there is any logical inconsistency here.

I’ve used ServerWMC as the backend to Emby for many years now, and I’m fairly sure that Emby just ‘sees’ whatever channels the liveTV plugin tells it about, with no additional filtering. There simply isn’t functionality in the core Emby application that would allow further display filtering of the channel set it gets from the plugin, so I don’t think your suggestion that Emby needs to implement this function is realistic.

I’m not looking for any kind of dynamic behaviour, just the ability to have the plugin operate using a channel group (other than the default ‘All Channels’), just like all other NextPVR clients. This would probably just be a static string that could be set via the plugin config page.

For reference, here is a screen of the server settings page where you setup/edit channel groups:

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by stwarr
add screenshot

[emveepee 112]

You are confused thinking of Emby as a client,  in this case it is the PVR.  If you want PVR functionality added that is for Emby.  The plugin should not have to address Emby shortcomings. 

The key issue with filtering by group is an All Channels recording might land on a station that isn't in the group.  I don't want to deal with issues Emby might have with success scheduled recordings not being on defined channels.

Martin

Edited July 1, 2020 by emveepee

[stwarr 1]

You asked me what I wanted to achieve, and I tried to explain. Sounds like you have a very specific view of what the plugin should or shouldn’t do, even though the backend NextPVR server seems to have capabilities that aren’t available via your plugin. Thankyou for your efforts with this plugin, but it seems like this maybe isn’t the right route for migrating away from WMC as my backend.

[emveepee 112]

Sorry Iyou haven't made it clear why you would want a channel in NextPVR and not in Emby.    As an alternative to the plugin perhaps consider the m3u approach and limit the channels that Emby sees, just be sure not to use the channels in NextPVR if that matches your use case.

Also I had a look at the WMC plugin for Emby and didn't see a way to filter channels to see if a mismatch was ever considered or even something.   I have nothing to do with the commercial side of Emby I do this as a free service and so I don't really care what your post WMC choice is.  The plugins don't get a lot of love from Emby so I try and minimize the risk  If Luke hops in and tells me that having recordings and scheduled timers sent to the server that aren't in the channel list or EPG is not going to cause any problem it isn't too hard to implement and I can either do it or help you code the change.  Certainly I'd want you to test it since I don't use Emby. 

I  agree that as a PVR NextPVR is more powerful with it's clients then as a source to Emby's sysem wide approach.   I will repeat that Emby is not a client for NextPVR it is a server to server API.

Martin

[stwarr 1]

These are DVB-T2 channels accessed through a tuner card. Channels are transmitted via a small number of multiplexes, so when the hardware tunes to a given multiplex (frequency), it is effectively receiving the data for a whole set of channels simultaneously. The NextPVR tuning process always adds all channels on all multiplexers. I could manually delete channels I don’t want from the NextPVR database. However in the UK, the DVB-T2 multiplexes gets rebalanced every so often requiring a retune, which will make these channels reappear.

 

[jordy 284]

@emveepee, NPVR has the ability to add channels to a Group eg I have created a HD group which I can select within NPVR to have the guide only show those channels. Can you not use that list to tell Emby which channels to display. Just a thought.

[emveepee 112]

@jordyI certainly can restrict it to a group but  I cannot stop NextPVR from recording to other channels and having the results hidden to Emby until the recording appears.

11 hours ago, stwarr said:

These are DVB-T2 channels accessed through a tuner card. Channels are transmitted via a small number of multiplexes, so when the hardware tunes to a given multiplex (frequency), it is effectively receiving the data for a whole set of channels simultaneously. The NextPVR tuning process always adds all channels on all multiplexers. I could manually delete channels I don’t want from the NextPVR database. However in the UK, the DVB-T2 multiplexes gets rebalanced every so often requiring a retune, which will make these channels reappear.

 

I understand the process pretty well but this Xtill doesn't make sense if you do have to retune to a new frequency which has you say is only occasion.   Wouldn't it be simpler not to add them in the first place by just ticking the channels on the changed frequency you do want?   You are going to end up having to modify the group you send to Emby.

Edited July 2, 2020 by emveepee

[stwarr 1]

> Wouldn't it be simpler not to add them in the first place by just ticking the channels on the changed frequency you do want?

I’m pretty new to NextPVR, so I’m not quite sure what you mean. As far as I can tell, the default ‘All Channels’ group is exactly that - there is no way to select or deselect channels.

[stwarr 1]

> cannotstop NextPVR from recording to other channels and having the results hidden to Emby until the recording appears

I don’t care about that - I just want the Emby guide to display the channels in a group rather than all channels.

[emveepee 112]

17 minutes ago, stwarr said:

> Wouldn't it be simpler not to add them in the first place by just ticking the channels on the changed frequency you do want?

I’m pretty new to NextPVR, so I’m not quite sure what you mean. As far as I can tell, the default ‘All Channels’ group is exactly that - there is no way to select or deselect channels.

It is all channels but you say you don't want all channels.   After your first scan you select the channels you want.  If you have already added channels you can delete them.  On your next rescan deselect all (your existing channels will still be ok) and then tick just the changed channels you want to keep.  Nothing forces you to add every channel on the mux.

Martin

[ThomasTS 0]

Hey guys I just installed NextPVR on my system and want to share it out through Emby.  

I've installed the latest plugin from this thread (3.6.0.0), NextPVR is 5.0.8.200823.

When I try to add it under Live TV there is no option for NextPVR.

I can add IPTV playlists fine but no option from NextPVR.  

I can setup a different TV app but I like this one as it's made here in NZ.

[dcol 165]

I don't use the plugin. I set my channels up in NPVR and just create a library in Emby pointing to the NPVR recording folder.

I think the Emby LiveTV guide populates eventually with NPVR. I don't use the plugin, I use NPVR as a backup because you cannot record the same show from more than one source.

[arrbee99 1559]

Have you made sure NextPVR plays channels and gets the guide in its own app or web page ?

Personally I have dvb-s and iptv together in NextPVR. If you're using the plugin I don't think the LiveTV settings in Emby is used at all (unless you want to do your iptv there).

[ThomasTS 0]

3 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

Have you made sure NextPVR plays channels and gets the guide in its own app or web page ?

Personally I have dvb-s and iptv together in NextPVR. If you're using the plugin I don't think the LiveTV settings in Emby is used at all (unless you want to do your iptv there).

Yes all works normally in NextPVR's webui and desktop player.

Ok so it doesn't get setup under live tv, does it just take a while to sync through to Emby from the plugin?

[arrbee99 1559]

Well, I think all I did was make sure in the NextPVR plugin settings, this url -

matches the address given on you Emby dashboard home screen (apart from the 8866 bit) and then go to Scheduled Tasks and click on Refresh Guide. If your lucky that might bring everything up but it does seem to take its own sweet time sometimes.

An Emby server restart might help as well, possibly.

[ThomasTS 0]

1 hour ago, arrbee99 said:

Well, I think all I did was make sure in the NextPVR plugin settings, this url -

matches the address given on you Emby dashboard home screen (apart from the 8866 bit) and then go to Scheduled Tasks and click on Refresh Guide. If your lucky that might bring everything up but it does seem to take its own sweet time sometimes.

An Emby server restart might help as well, possibly.

Yeah I had that all correct and had done restarts, forcing the guide refresh seems to have fixed it thanks!

[arrbee99 1559]

Coolio. btw, if you haven't all ready, it seems to be a good idea to tell Emby to refresh its guide not long after NPVR does its refresh. So if NPVR does its at 2.44am I do mine at 3am. Its Scheduled Tasks and at Refresh Guide click on the clock face.

[emveepee 112]

I have decided to drop support for this pre-release add-on and removed it from post #1  This was really not an easy decision but I have never been totally comfortable here after the decision was made to move most NextPVR's functionally behind a "pay wall".   My participation on live TV in v4 would certainly never have even begun if I had known that Emby was going to become a commercial application.

Recently sub added cast & crew support and when I started to add it for Emby it opened up this old wound that I get each time I support for the the addon and I couldn't motivate myself any longer.

Although I don't use it beyond testing I do find that Emby continues to be a high quality product with steady enhancements. I expect the reasons users might have interfacing to NextPVR will continue decrease as Emby is enhanced.

Truly I am sorry for any inconvenience. 

Martin