Jump to content

NextPVR v5 Emby plugin


emveepee

Recommended Posts

jordy

Just wondering how people are doing with artwork ? seems like I don't get much and when I do it seems quite slow to appear. Fr'instance my On Now page shows 52 programs, zero of which have any posters.

 

I could send some logs, but from where (Emby ? NextPVR ?) and what should I tell it to do while logging ?

I use EPGCollector to curate a TVGuide.xml file which NextPVR in turn uses to create its own guide and then passes it on to Emby for display.

 

EPGCollector has a very useful tool for editing program names to match those that are listed in TVDB.com. This results in better than 60% correct program images being downloaded and therefore showing up in Emby. Not perfect but Free and much better than nothing at all.

 

Sounds a little convoluted but it's all automated via NPVR script functions, so it's a set and forget :)

 

EDIT: the main reason for the lack of images is that TV Stations rarely get the program title correct - adding all sorts of rubbish or outright wrong names that confuses the search algorithms resulting in no images or worse, incorrect images returned.

post-196-0-30951400-1562997026_thumb.jpg

Edited by jordy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

Episode artwork support is really best with Schedules Direct http://www.schedulesdirect.org/regions My opinion is it should be disabled outside those areas.

 

Recordings artwork is faster because the cache is created at recording time.  It depends on standard sites like thetvdb and themoviedb so if the shows you are recording aren't listed there you probably won't have much luck.  Sub and I have discussed the possibility of using generic images so the screen isn't riddled with  empty boxes.  I also request landscape images, I am not sure what NextPVR does if it only has a poster image.

 

Martin

 

Well my tv is via dvb-s and some iptv. Both are added to NextPVR and hence via the plugin to Emby. Far as I know NextPVR uses SD anyway. NPVR does come up with portraits but I'm not sure they always get to Emby. e.g. I have The Chase listed under My Programs and there's art for it under NPVR-data>media>shows but the poster is still empty.

 

Admittedly the speed thing at the moment could be because the PC is flat out with Handbrake at the moment.

 

Generic images, or (just the name) would be handy. Names would probably be better for things like Theater where there's bugger all really...

 

5d297b7963efe_EmbyNexrPVRTheaterblank.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

I use EPGCollector to curate a TVGuide.xml file which NextPVR in turn uses to create its own guide and then passes it on to Emby for display.

 

EPGCollector has a very useful tool for editing program names to match those that are listed in TVDB.com. This results in better than 60% correct program images being downloaded and therefore showing up in Emby. Not perfect but Free and much better than nothing at all.

 

Sounds a little convoluted but it's all automated via NPVR script functions, so it's a set and forget :)

 

EDIT: the main reason for the lack of images is that TV Stations rarely get the program title correct - adding all sorts of rubbish or outright wrong names that confuses the search algorithms resulting in no images or worse, incorrect images returned.

 

Thanks, but being lazy I like to avoid any extra steps if I can avoid them and as mentioned there's is some artwork, just not sure if its being used or fetched or something. I have noticed that quite a bit of the artwork is wrong, but being in NZ, often stuff gets mixed up with overseas stuff, like Breakfast TV gets mixed up with the UK version, or it'll find something for English Premier League, but not for English Premier League Highlights, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jordy

Thanks, but being lazy I like to avoid any extra steps if I can avoid them and as mentioned there's is some artwork, just not sure if its being used or fetched or something. I have noticed that quite a bit of the artwork is wrong, but being in NZ, often stuff gets mixed up with overseas stuff, like Breakfast TV gets mixed up with the UK version, or it'll find something for English Premier League, but not for English Premier League Highlights, etc.

All of those things you mention are fixable using EPGC. Like I said once  you have it set up you can forget it, until you find other edits needed. even then it only takes a couple of minutes. Of course if there are no images available - which is very common especially for recent & live shows - no amount of editing will fix it :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

All of those things you mention are fixable using EPGC. Like I said once  you have it set up you can forget it, until you find other edits needed. even then it only takes a couple of minutes. Of course if there are no images available - which is very common especially for recent & live shows - no amount of editing will fix it :)

 

I shall check it out, but I'd prefer to use what already provided if possible. As mentioned, there's likely to be quite a few cases were there just isn't artwork - Netball World Cup Highlights, Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmem, Big Bot Radio with Mates & Crates, Jam Jar With Stefan Brown anyone ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

Also, its seems that with On Now, if an item does have a poster, if I click on that to go to its details screen, that screen doesn't have any image.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

emveepee

Also, its seems that with On Now, if an item does have a poster, if I click on that to go to its details screen, that screen doesn't have any image.

 

The one thing you did to ensure is that your databases are in sync or there will be mainly holes.

 

As I posted without the schedules direct link episode data is always going to be spare.  My preference without SD is to disable fetching episode art and just have Emby use the coloured metro style blocks instead of empty boxes but sub advised against this and given he has NZ OTA data I expected better results.  Still this can be configured off if you'd like

 

I think the fact that you were using a lot of cpu for handbrake will also influence this, NextPVR is very busy handling the requests and going to tvdb etc and I expect a few collision errors if we were to see the NextPVR logs.  The requests can easily take 5-10 seconds to round-trip without SD so it can take minutes to populate 10 or 20 requests.  In comparison SD requests are typically under a second with v5 and rarely fail.

 

As for the On Now having art and the popup dialog not showing art for the same episode they should be using the same url from NextPVR so it sounds more like an Emby issue writing and reading the temporary  poster.jpg to the metadata\temp\ cache.

 

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reason NextPVR doesn't have an 'On Now' screen with show artwork is that we know there is a lot of variety in how good the EPG is for various users. Some of them will have good enough EPG sources to retrieve artwork for most the shows, and in timely fashion. A lot of people are using xmltv or DVB EPG, or other sorts of reasons that'll make it hard to find artwork. Throw in non-English guide data and the situation gets even worse. 

 

My preference without SD is to disable fetching episode art and just have Emby use the coloured metro style blocks instead of empty boxes but sub advised against this

I'm all for you disabling it on Emby's On Now screen if you can. I'm not sure you can disable it on a specific screen or not. You'd obviously still want to have artwork in other areas though, like if a user clicks on a show in the EPG etc. 

 

If Emby can't do that separately, you might want to talk to Luke etc to see if they could possibly add that. They'll have the same issue down the track if they eventually support OTA EPG etc, and people probably have the issue today with xmltv.  

 

and given he has NZ OTA data I expected better results.

I'm getting pretty good results with my artwork, but then I'm generally only watching/recording main-stream popular shows. These types of UK/US shows have a pretty good success rate for artwork. As I mentioned, NextPVR's own UIs doesn't try to show the artwork of everything that is on, so doesn't have to try find artwork for all sorts of garbage on an at other times, or from lesser used channels. 

 

EPGCollector has a very useful tool for editing program names to match those that are listed in TVDB.com. This results in better than 60% correct program images being downloaded and therefore showing up in Emby. Not perfect but Free and much better than nothing at all.

I can look into what would be required to add some similar logic into NextPVR's DVB EPG collection. 

Edited by sub3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

emveepee

 

I'm all for you disabling it on Emby's On Now screen if you can. I'm not sure you can disable it on a specific screen or not. You'd obviously still want to have artwork in other areas though, like if a user clicks on a show in the EPG etc. 

 

It is all episode art or no episode art so popup art would need to be disabled too.  It looks great with SD but sucks otherwise not sure how Emby handles it from other sources.

 

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disabling all artwork for non SD users would be mistake. Best bet would be to talk to Luke about adding a way to make the on now artwork optional. (like Emby asks the plugin 'is on now artwork available', and you could return true if the user has an SD lineup, otherwise false)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically the experience for users will vary depending on the quality of their EPG. With gracenote data (via SD or Emby's own service), listings are going to have a good way to find artwork quickly and accurately for pretty much all shows. For xmltv, or DVB EPG (via NextPVR or other plugin) (or possibly later when Emby supports the DVB EPG itself, for countries where it doesn't have gracenote data), you're not going to find artwork that matches most shows, and it's going to be a lot slower. 

 

The problem is very obvious to user on the On Now screen, because it tries to download artwork for everything that is on. With xmltv or DVB, you'll probably find the majority of shows can't find an artwork match. 

 

It's not as much of a problem in the guide, where people are clicking on specific shows, because they're much more likely to be viewing mainstream shows which have artwork, and if the occasional shows doesn't have artwork, it's not a problem. 

Edited by sub3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

emveepee

Disabling all artwork for non SD users would be mistake. Best bet would be to talk to Luke about adding a way to make the on now artwork optional. (like Emby asks the plugin 'is on now artwork available', and you could return true if the user has an SD lineup, otherwise false)

 

I am talking episode art only recording and scheduling art would be available and it is only turned off by changing a config.xml default. Believe me it is not worth waiting for 10 or 20 requests from thetvdb even with 50% success. There is a GetProgramImageAsync() option but it does't tell my the purpose and it probably screws with their cache.  In any case hopefully Luke is following and can offer suggestions.

 

One things I consider is doing it be genre, but this takes time for a user and I doubt they set it up.   Maybe skip news and sports.

 

I like Schedules Direct approach for not found images, a generic genre icon related to the episode and overlaying text when it is not found.

 

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not entirely clear to me what you're describing. I've never really used Emby, and I don't know much about it.

 

If you can find away to not try to download artwork for every currently airing show, but still manage to show artwork when a user clicks on a show in the TV guide, that'd be great.

Edited by sub3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

emveepee

If you can find away to not try to download artwork for every currently airing show, but still manage to show artwork when a user clicks on a show in the TV guide, that'd be great.

 

I cannot, and that is why I am leaving it the way you want.  If you want it unfiltered on popups you get in for every episode request.  I basically provide the url with the episode link, Emby decides when to call for the art because we tell it that hasImage is true.

 

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cannot, and that is why I am leaving it the way you want.  If you want it unfiltered on popups you get in for every episode request.  I basically provide the url with the episode link, Emby decides when to call for the art because we tell it that hasImage is true.

 

Martin

 

That was my understanding, and why I suggested it'd be useful if Emby provided a way for the plugin to decide if it's EPG was appropriate for all On Now show artwork. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

The one thing you did to ensure is that your databases are in sync or there will be mainly holes.

 

As I posted without the schedules direct link episode data is always going to be spare.  My preference without SD is to disable fetching episode art and just have Emby use the coloured metro style blocks instead of empty boxes but sub advised against this and given he has NZ OTA data I expected better results.  Still this can be configured off if you'd like

 

I think the fact that you were using a lot of cpu for handbrake will also influence this, NextPVR is very busy handling the requests and going to tvdb etc and I expect a few collision errors if we were to see the NextPVR logs.  The requests can easily take 5-10 seconds to round-trip without SD so it can take minutes to populate 10 or 20 requests.  In comparison SD requests are typically under a second with v5 and rarely fail.

 

As for the On Now having art and the popup dialog not showing art for the same episode they should be using the same url from NextPVR so it sounds more like an Emby issue writing and reading the temporary  poster.jpg to the metadata\temp\ cache.

 

Martin

 

I presume your talking about the NextPVR database and the Emby database and making sure the Emby one is updated soon after the NextPVR one ?

 

Also, doesn't NPVR use SD to get the artwork anyway, its listed here http://www.schedulesdirect.org/approvedsoftware even though some may be incorrect / missing ?

 

Anyway, I must admit it does seem significantly faster when I haven't got Handbrake going in the background.

 

Also I've just realised the reason I don't get any poster when clicking on details for a program from the On Now section is that I have some custom css that stops it showing. So thats my fault - yes I know no surprises there.

 

So I guess pretty much most of what I'm talking about is my fault for the css stuff or Handbrake.

 

Still, a box with the name in the middle of it might be handy, as in post #77, though whether thats a NPVR or Emby thing...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Also, doesn't NPVR use SD to get the artwork anyway, its listed here http://www.schedulesdirect.org/approvedsoftware even though some may be incorrect / missing ?

 

 

NextPVR only uses SD for artwork if the user is using SD for their guide data. If you're using DVB EPG guide data, then it's going to be looking for artwork at thetvdb/themoviedb/fanart.tv (where matches will only be as accurate as the titles)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

emveepee

I presume your talking about the NextPVR database and the Emby database and making sure the Emby one is updated soon after the NextPVR one ?

 

Still, a box with the name in the middle of it might be handy, as in post #77, though whether thats a NPVR or Emby thing...

 

Yes to updating after.

 

Basically when you disable the SD art to Emby this is what you get, I don't find it that bad and it is much faster.

 

Martin

post-1788-0-22210400-1563054469_thumb.jpg

Edited by emveepee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

NextPVR only uses SD for artwork if the user is using SD for their guide data. If you're using DVB EPG guide data, then it's going to be looking for artwork at thetvdb/themoviedb/fanart.tv (where matches will only be as accurate as the titles)

 

Interesting. Another assumption of mine that was wrong...

 

Just as a matter of interest, being in NZ, as I have say TVNZ1 via both dvb-s and iptv, does it look for artwork for say the dvb-s version and use it for both, or does it look twice for both channels.

 

Also, I moved the artwork that was for NPVR v4 to a different location and started fresh with v5. If I wanted, could I copy the v4 artwork back into the v5 folder (if I'm feeling adventurous) ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

Yes to updating after.

 

Basically when you disable the SD art to Emby this is what you get, I don't find it that bad and it is much faster.

 

Martin

 

So that means, at the moment, its artwork (if any) or boxes with titles, but not mixed together ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

emveepee

More like artwork + many empty boxes vs coloured boxes with titles but essentially that is correct.  Right now NextPVR does not return a 404 perhaps that would change how Emby handles it.

 

Martin

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. Another assumption of mine that was wrong...

 

Just as a matter of interest, being in NZ, as I have say TVNZ1 via both dvb-s and iptv, does it look for artwork for say the dvb-s version and use it for both, or does it look twice for both channels.

 

Also, I moved the artwork that was for NPVR v4 to a different location and started fresh with v5. If I wanted, could I copy the v4 artwork back into the v5 folder (if I'm feeling adventurous) ?

Schedules Direct artwork is based on show identifiers that are received with the Schedules Direct guide data.

 

It'll only look for artwork once, then cache it (by name). ie, if you view 'The Big Bang Theory' on DVB-S, it'll be cached, and later shown whenever your look at the show on DVB-S or IPTV or whatever. 

 

Yes, you should be able to copy the /media/shows contentment from v4 into a v5 install. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

emveepee

Just as a matter of interest, being in NZ, as I have say TVNZ1 via both dvb-s and iptv, does it look for artwork for say the dvb-s version and use it for both, or does it look twice for both channels.

 

Without having DVB-S and IPTV channels merged in NextPVR, Emby will always make two requests to NextPVR.since there is no searching by file name. It is also episode art so technically merging by show name is not necessarily desirable.  The results are then cached in Emby until the next guide refresh.

 

It'll only look for artwork once, then cache it (by name). ie, if you view 'The Big Bang Theory' on DVB-S, it'll be cached, and later shown whenever your look at the show on DVB-S or IPTV or whatever.

 

On the NextPVR side AFAIK there is no temporary "name" blacklist so if it a name is not found, NextPVR will also end up going to the external sites repeatably.  That isn't quite as bad as it sounds since "not found" queries are generally quicker then found queries.

 

Also if the DVB-S and IPTV queries for a found series come in closely enough one of them might fail in NextPVR if the file cache is being created so one episode item might be an empty box.

 

Martin

Edited by emveepee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

On the NextPVR side AFAIK there is no temporary "name" blacklist so if it a name is not found, NextPVR will also end up going to the external sites repeatably.  That isn't quite as bad as it sounds since "not found" queries are generally quicker then found queries.

 

Not sure this is what you mean or not, but it'll only go out to the metadata sites once for a show. If no artwork was nothing was found, it'll store an empty metadata entry. Subsequent attempts will just get the empty metadata from the cache, without going back out to the network. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...