VirtualTV plugin

[0balbert 6]

I'm looking for descriptions on what each setting does.  Example what is the difference between Playlist live, Playlist Archive, Continuous Playback Live and Continuous Playback Archive etc.

[pünktchen 1350]

1 hour ago, 0balbert said:

what is the difference between Playlist live, Playlist Archive, Continuous Playback Live and Continuous Playback Archive

Read the start post.

[Tester 45]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:50 AM, Tester said:

This is a long shot since I do not think the issue is VirtualTV related, but I am generating the m3u and xmls and feeding them into Sparkle TV ( LiveChannel ) replacement.

While the m3u loads properly ( including logos ), the xml fails to load.. so far I am unable to get any info/logs from the app to determine why and I have contacted the developer.
I do not have any other way to test these files other than to load them back into Emby ( as a separate TV sources and guide ) and that works.

Again, long shot, but any ideas what may be causing the xml to be rejected ?
 

Disregard, issue resolved on Sparkle side, not plugin

[Tester 45]

Sorry, I am back.

I am able to load both the m3u and xml without issue/errors but now there is no epg data.
I tried to load the xml epg through Tivimate/Sparkle and also through Emby by deleting the Emby guide and then adding the newly created xml.  In all 3 instances there is no epg.
It is either not loading or the data is not match.  I did try to enable "Try to match program entries to library items for catchup streams" with same results.
I manually viewed the xml and it looks good, the Chan IDs match and so does the epg data date/ID.
 

EDIT:  I checked the EPG xml data against what I see in LiveTV Guide and clearly they are not the same..  Not sure what is going on, not much experience with EPG/XML data.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Tester

[pünktchen 1350]

New version 2.0.0.0 in the plugin catalogue:

General:

• Redesign of the settings web page

Channels:

• Unlimited number of channels
• Added an option to cache program data until the guide data runs empty
• As an alternativ to Channel Rules, you can now also choose between Collections and Playlists

Playback:

• More granular control over playback progress reporting
• Improvements to "Continuous" playback with Roku devices
• New playback method "Native (Archive)"
  This new playback method was created by the Emby Devs. Similar to Playlist playback it will play the real library videos, but with the big difference that playback is purely initiated by the client app, without any remote command execution. This is why it also works for Roku devices on a WAN network. And although the real videos are played, the whole thing is treated like live TV. This means that channel zapping is possible and no dialogs for playing the next episode are displayed. Unfortunately, the new playback method does not yet support all features. As the name "Archive" suggests, it will currently always start all videos from the beginning. In addition, only very few Emby apps automatically advance to the next video. If you want it to be improved even further, each of you should raise your voice in this thread.

Export API:

• New security concept that should simplify some things while making the API endpoints more secure.

Because of all the changes, I expect there will be bugs. That's why it will only be available for Emby 4.8.x.x installations.
Regardless of that, before you install the new version from the catalogue, it's important that you delete the previous VirtualTV.dll and also the VirtualTV.xml config file!
As usual, you should also clear your browser cache.

[crusher11 975]

Does this mean we'll have to set up all our channels from scratch again?

[kjhedges 61]

Cant seem to find a version 2.0.0.0 to download

 

 

Edit, sorry, my Bad.  In emby Plugins on server, just found it.

Edited December 29, 2023 by kjhedges

[crusher11 975]

This just updated all on its own, and wiped all my channels.

[Junglejim 383]

1 hour ago, crusher11 said:

This just updated all on its own, and wiped all my channels.

Because of all the changes, I expect there will be bugs. That's why it will only be available for Emby 4.8.x.x installations.
Regardless of that, before you install the new version from the catalogue, it's important that you delete the previous VirtualTV.dll and also the VirtualTV.xml config file!
As usual, you should also clear your browser cache.

 

Not on beta but expect the same when I get there..

I do agree it would be nice to save/backup, maybe it wasn't possible in the new version.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Junglejim

[crusher11 975]

I didn't download anything from the catalog. It just installed itself, and wiped everything.

[crusher11 975]

Dropdowns are broken:

 

[Junglejim 383]

22 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

I didn't download anything from the catalog. It just installed itself, and wiped everything.

Sorry to here that, are you on beta?

I'm not personally so have not run into that yet.

Edited December 29, 2023 by Junglejim

[crusher11 975]

On the beta server, yeah.

At least if I'd done it deliberately I could've noted down my channels and settings. As-is there's not been a guide refresh yet so I've been able to retrieve names and numbers, then just have to figure out the rules and set them back up...once the dropdowns are working again.

[Junglejim 383]

Good to know, a heads up kind of thing could of been nice... like a week before the update..

Edited December 29, 2023 by Junglejim

[pünktchen 1350]

1 hour ago, crusher11 said:

I didn't download anything from the catalog. It just installed itself, and wiped everything.

I'm really sorry for this. I even changed the plugin id to prevent this, but maybe the stupid plugin system just looks for the filename?!
I've just changed the plugin in the catalogue from "Release" to "Developement". This seems to prevent auto updates. So if you have a backup of your previous files...

[pünktchen 1350]

53 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

Dropdowns are broken:

 

This is for sure because of the incompatible VirtualTV.xml config file. Just delete the file or restore a backup.

[CaseyP 17]

Is it normal that when VirtualTV refreshes the guide it essentially locks up emby?

For instance, a user is listening to a music playlist. The server starts a channel refresh, and then the next song for that person doesn't end up playing. Home takes forever to load.. Some users cant even log in until the refresh completes... looking at task manager, EmbyServer is using from 8%-15%.

If the refresh completes, the server returns to normal.

So.. is the building of the guide THAT intensive that the server refuses to queue up the next mp3 for someone else? Why?

EDIT: Also, earlier this year guide refreshes took about 20 minutes with 25 channels. Lately, they last about 8 hours. Is THAT normal?

Edited December 29, 2023 by CaseyP

[crusher11 975]

30 minutes ago, pünktchen said:

This is for sure because of the incompatible VirtualTV.xml config file. Just delete the file or restore a backup.

Where is it stored?

[pünktchen 1350]

46 minutes ago, CaseyP said:

Is it normal that when VirtualTV refreshes the guide it essentially locks up emby?

I'm not sure about this. I run the guide refresh always in the early morning when nobody else is using Emby. It's certainly also dependent on the hardware were you are running Emby.

 

49 minutes ago, CaseyP said:

Also, earlier this year guide refreshes took about 20 minutes with 25 channels. Lately, they last about 8 hours. Is THAT normal?

Definitely not! Even 20 minutes is too much. Is VirtualTV the only live tv source you have in Emby?

[pünktchen 1350]

37 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

Where is it stored?

Plugin folder -> configurations

[crusher11 975]

Oh hey, there's a VirtualTV.xml.bak in there too! And dropdowns are indeed working, so we should be good to go.

[crusher11 975]

What does "cache program data until TV guide runs empty" do?

[pünktchen 1350]

11 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

What does "cache program data until TV guide runs empty" do?

Just try it out 

[crusher11 975]

Why can't you just answer the question?

[Dibbes 458]

On 12/29/2023 at 4:45 PM, CaseyP said:

Is it normal that when VirtualTV refreshes the guide it essentially locks up emby?

No it's not normal, but it unfortunately it happens... I have somewhat mitigated this by moving the Emby database on a separate NVMe from the OS, the Emby cache on another NVMe, making the libraries smaller, spread the libraries over various LUNs and tightening the parameters for the plugin. It's not optimal, but this has improved responsiveness of Emby in general and the scans in particular.

This also happens with a library scan, by the way... That's a bit of an issue since the average library scan takes over 6 hours

Edited December 31, 2023 by Dibbes