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Recommended Setup for Live TV?


mboehler
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mboehler

Like a lot of others on here, I have some questions regarding setting Live TV.


 


I currently have Windows Home Server 2011 running on a SUPERMICRO 1U 2x L5420 Xeon QC 2.5GHz with 8GB RAM and a 500GB HDD.  I run MB3 Server and MCM on it server, and that's basically it. I also have a Synology NAS with 12 TB of storage in it.  This is where all my media goes.  Then I have 4 Zotac Z-Boxes connected to TVs that we watch all of our TV shows and Movies on via MB Classic.


 


I want to set up Live TV but would like some advice about the best way to do it.  Should I get another box, like a Zbox for example, to install Win 7, WMC, and ServerWMC on?  Or should I create a Virtual Machine to run under WHS 2011?


 


Before I discovered Media Browser a couple of years ago, I was using Beyond TV.  I do actually have two older XP machines that have been decommissioned and are sitting in the basement that have Hauppage tuners in them.  I don't know if those cards would be of any use at all.  I forget which models they are, but I don't think either of them would fit in the server if I tried to go that way.


 


So I guess I will need to go with either a USB tuner or a network tuner.  I haven't done much research into which tuner to buy, so advice on that would be helpful as well.


 


Thanks so much!


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krustyreturns

Running xbmc on a separate win7/8 machine would work, kind of a bummer to keep two machines on just to do pvr though.  We have users who run swmc on a virtual machine but I don't know if what you are specifically asking would work (I don't like to make hardware recommendations anyway).  Consider also posting this question on the swmc forums for xbmc, only because they have been using the software longer and you'll have an improved chance of getting someone who can comment on what you are thinking of doing.  

 

http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=205

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mboehler

Thanks krustyreturns,

 

I would have asked over there but you went and beat me to it.  Talk about going above and beyond!

 

I really appreciate what you and the other devs do.  Keep up the excellent work.

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I am in a similar situation sort of sitting back and seeing what develops on the scene. I do run on one Win 7 HTPC WMC using Live TV feed from a HDHomerun box with 2 tuners and using OTA reception. WMC has one of the best interfaces and EPGs for Live TV and I haven't found anything that comes close to it.

 

Another variable that enters into this for me is having Live TV available for my Roku 3 as well as streaming it to tablet devices using the latest HDHomerun device. I am following on Newegg HDHomerun development and am keeping my eyes close on the HDHomerun 2 tuner box that does on the fly transcoding so that the Roku as well as Android & iOS devices can receive live TV.

 

I get the feeling that this whole Live TV thingy is ATM in a flux and that eventually a leader will emerge.

 

I have held back with the MB Server until there is a version that will run on the Linux OS, that a Linux Newb like me can fiddle with.

Edited by One2Go
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mboehler

I think I'll go ahead and install Windows 7 VirtualBox on the server and see how far I get.  I'll still need to get a tuner though.  Any recommendations on a good USB or network device?

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The Silicondust HDHomerun tuners are excellent. Newegg has them and they are often on sale especially now that the new crop has appeared the previous versions are very inexpensive. This is the one I have http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815345007&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Video+Devices+%26+TV+Tuners-_-N82E16815345007&gclid=CKGkrtTyjbkCFY2e4Aoda2cAyg, it has 2 tuners in it for two separate channels simultaneous, you connect the antenna and then the full TV Live stream is available on the network.

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mboehler

The Silicondust HDHomerun tuners are excellent. Newegg has them and they are often on sale especially now that the new crop has appeared the previous versions are very inexpensive. This is the one I have http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815345007&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Video+Devices+%26+TV+Tuners-_-N82E16815345007&gclid=CKGkrtTyjbkCFY2e4Aoda2cAyg, it has 2 tuners in it for two separate channels simultaneous, you connect the antenna and then the full TV Live stream is available on the network.

 

 

Thanks One2Go, 

 

I am going to go check that out right now!

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mboehler

@@krustyreturns,

 

I posted this over at: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=186292 as well, but I thought I'd ask here too...

 

I'm attempting to use ServerWMC in my Win7 VirtualBox VM under WHS 2011. I currently have one HDHomerun Dual with only one tuner connected to digital cable. I managed to find 27 stations using the HDHomerun Setup, and I can watch them in HDHomeRun QuickTV. I also got the guide set up in WMC, but WMC won't play any of the stations. It just says "Video Error. Files needed to display video are not installed or are not working correctly. Restart Windows Media Center or restart the computer." 

ServerWMC installed correctly and seems to be set up right. I'm using MediaBrowser 3 Server and the appropriate plug-in to connect to ServerWMC via MB3's web client. If I watch the Status screen in ServerWMC, it shows an active stream. The current one says "Streaming ClearQAM channel 6 to [MediaBrowser^3]". However, nothing shows up in the MB3 web client. It just shows a black box. 

Am I missing something? Or is this an indication that it's not going to work in a VM?

Also to be noted, although I'm not sure if it matters - I'm planning to put an antenna in my attic so I can use OTA broadcasts. I plan to get rid of cable TV (keeping cable internet), but I haven't done that yet, though. At the moment, I'm just splitting my cable signal so I can try this out.

 

Thanks!

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krustyreturns

If wmc won't play the stations neither will serverwmc, this program starts with the assumption that you have wmc working.  There may be a hint in the serverwmc log so consider posting that (see the debug tab, post the whole log, but preferable after a failed live tv run).  You should be able to find lots of info about getting wmc to work and the error you are getting - hopefully specific to VM/whs.

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mboehler

That makes sense.  So basically I have to figure out how to get WMC to display live TV.  I figured I'd have trouble installing it in a virtualbox on a server that doesn't have much of a video card.  But I heard that others had success so I thought I'd try.  It's worth a bunch of trial and error and research to me if I can keep from having to have another PC on the network just to stream TV.

 

Here is the log you requested (I think).  But I'm pretty sure the problem is with WMC.

 

Thanks!

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krustyreturns

This is treading new ground since as far as I know all of our uses have always started with wmc working, but it found video:

 
2014/02/19 11:21:20.371 Pass 'Descriptor':
2014/02/19 11:21:20.371 >  WtvToPesDemuxer::Parse> total guid headers processed: 500
2014/02/19 11:21:20.371 >  WtvToPesDemuxer::Parse> total data packets processed: 85
2014/02/19 11:21:20.379 Remux::FindDescriptors> wtv scanned (3.50 sec), Streams found: 
2014/02/19 11:21:20.379 >  Audio: ID:10 (eng) AC3 2.0 48000 Hz 192 kb/s
2014/02/19 11:21:20.379 >  Video: ID:11 MPEG-2 MP-ML 544x480i fps: 30000/1001 AR: 4:3
2014/02/19 11:21:20.441 StreamProc> 'ts' file created, size: 65,536 in 3.66 sec
 
Make sure you are using chrome, not IE.  Start a live stream and watch the files in the tempsbmc folder in your rec tv folder.  See if the ts is file is growing.  If it is, post the ffmpeg log.
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scarecrow420

I dont think it matters if WMC can display the video or not, it only matters that windows recording service is able to produce "good" WTV files.  As I said on the XBMC forum, while ServerWMC is "streaming" to your client, try and play the WTV and TS files in Recorded TV\TempSWMC folder in a standalone video player on another server (access files remotely or copy them over locally etc).  If there is video and audio in the WTV/TS files then you are good to go, and you just have an issue with MB3/plugin accessing the video files from ServerWMC

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mboehler

I apologize for taking so long to get back on here.  But after much playing around (most of it caused because I convinced myself that WMC wasn't working), I think that the problem does lie with MBS and/or the ServerWMC plugin.

 

I am using Google Chrome to access the MB3 Web Client.  If I browse to Live TV and look at the guide, it populates fine.  I will click on a show and click Play, and the play window will open, but it is still black.  I can tell that it is trying though.

 

I am using a HDHomeRun Dual tuner, and it comes with a program called HDHomeRun Config GUI.  If I have this open, I can see what channel the tuner is on, the signal strength, network rate, etc.  And it definitely starts up when I click Play.

 

I have also browsed to: \\LIVE-TV\Users\Public\Recorded TV\TempSWMC and there are files in there.  I can open the .ts file with VLC and it plays fine.  So I'm not really sure why it's not playing in the web client.

 

Here are the MB Server and ServerWMC logs from my latest attempt to play something.  Where can I find the ffmpeg logs?

 

I am using MB Server version 3.0.5135.31685, ServerWMC version 1.0.0.24, build: 1126 on my Win7 VM, and ServerWMC plugin version 1.0.0.16.

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krustyreturns

According to the serverwmc log the 'ts' file that is being created inside TempSBMC (that you tested) is not accessible by mbs.  The path handed to mbs is:

 

\\LIVE-TV\Users\Public\Recorded TV\TempSWMC\***.ts

 

The reason you don't see the ffmpeg log is like because of this (it would be in the same dir as the MB log)

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mboehler

According to the serverwmc log the 'ts' file that is being created inside TempSBMC (that you tested) is not accessible by mbs.  The path handed to mbs is:

 

\\LIVE-TV\Users\Public\Recorded TV\TempSWMC\***.ts

 

The reason you don't see the ffmpeg log is like because of this (it would be in the same dir as the MB log)

 

Yes!  That did it!  Once I gave the server PC access to the share on my VM, it started working fine.  Thank you for that.  I can't believe I didn't check to make sure it had access earlier.  I had access from the PC in my office, where I do most of my work, so I didn't think to check the server's access.  I feel like a such a moron. LOL

 

So, in conclusion, it is possible to run Win 7/WMC/ServerWMC on a Virtualbox VM under WHS2011 and have it work.  I still can't play the files in WMC in the VM, but apparently you don't have to for ServerWMC to work.  You just have to make sure you have the channels/guide set up correctly in WMC.  And most importantly, you have to have access to the share.

 

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with this: @@krustyreturns, @@One2Go, @@Lee, @@scarecrow420, and the guys over at http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=186292 .

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