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Best Backend for TV on XBMC - diggadave - 2012-02-15

Hi All

I am hoping someone can help me.

I have spent a long time researching the best options for me to set up a PVR solution, and am still none the wiser.

The closest I have come, is with mediaportal as the backend and xbmc pre eden beta as the front. Which works great for FTA channels, but I need to get ccam working (legal sky sub)

Please could someone point me in the right direction of getting this up and running, and the best course of action. If you can suggest a better backend, that will work with cccam, please do.

My setup is as follows:

Asus P8H67-I motherboard
Intel Core i5 2500K
8GB DDR3 Ram
120GB OCX SSD
TBS 6981 Dual DVB-S2 Tuner
BD Drive

Appreciate any help that can be given.

Thanks


- User 108719 - 2012-02-15

Xbmc+xvdr Addon+vdr+xvdr plugin+dvbapi plugin+oscam is working great.


- xxxnelly - 2012-02-15

or

xbmc + tvheadend + oscam


TVHeadend ... - LastCoder - 2012-02-16

Hi,

first - PVR works and is under heavy development but it is still experimental. I'm using TVHeadEnd as Backend but I have a lot of freezes (client side XBMC, tvheadend is very stable). As I have read somewhere here XBMC PVR development is focused on TVHeadend as backend so this may be the most promising backend for future

but - second it depends on your system. If you have used mediaportal which is windows only I guess there is - if you'll stay with windows - only Argus ForTheRecord as alternative. But I don't know which is better supported.

VDR, TVHeadEnd, Myth require at least a linux based TV Server. I tested MythTV - it's a tortue to set it up, and it's bloated in my mind. TVHeadEnd could be set up via Webfrontend in the browser, it is fast, it is easy to configure, channelswitching with XBMC is fast too. And TVHeadend is a pure TV streaming server (okay you can watch TV from within the webfrontend, but it's not the main feature, more a testing feature), that's why tvheadend is very ressource-efficient and fast. [read more: https://www.lonelycoder.com/tvheadend/

TVHeadEnd has the possibility to connect to a newcamd server, which seems to be the prefered protocol by the tvheadend developers, for descrambling channels (just a few clicks in the frontend); I'm not sure if cccam is supported to. camd is available atm but I read the support could be ceased in later releases.

OSCAM as software cam server and client supports all protocols and is very flexible. There are a lot of wikis and forum entries about getting the right setup. Not a one-click solution but handable. TVHeadEnd connects to oscam with newcamd.

@xxxnelly: Atm I'm trying hard to setup an oscam server for a (regular paid) HDPlus service for my HTPC. I read you have a working oscam solution with TVHeadend. Do you use newcamd or another protocol ? What kind of smartreader do you use - Smargo or easymouse 2 (I have both ;-). Do you use oscam.server->protocol->mouse or smartreader ? Do you have any idea what the tvheadend entry "update card" means ?

Greetz

LastCoder


- xxxnelly - 2012-02-16

<deleted>


- LastCoder - 2012-02-16

thx for sharing .. nice tutorial.

- they use newcamd as supposed
- smargo reader

btw. deactivating ftdi_sio is not possible if someone uses easymouse 2 'cause it's accessed through /dev/ttyUSBx and "mouse" protocol which requires that module - or if you want to use smargo with that protocol.

I have read somewhere that the module - if protocol is smartreader - will disturb oscam .. can't confirm that .. for me there is no difference .. doesn't work neither with same errors ..

conclusion - I configured it all the same way so there seems to be a problem with the smartcard itself :-(


- diggadave - 2012-02-16

Thanks for all your responses.

@LastCoder: I am happy to use a linux based system. I would ask tho if there is any preference for version of os. I was previously playing with ubuntu 11.10, but never quite got it working. I'm not sure if that was because the operating system is new?!

I would like to use my existing dreambox with my card in to descramble and then link my softcam on this system to is, as I dont have a cam on this system or usb reader.

Thanks again


- xxxnelly - 2012-02-16

diggadave Wrote:Thanks for all your responses.

@LastCoder: I am happy to use a linux based system. I would ask tho if there is any preference for version of os. I was previously playing with ubuntu 11.10, but never quite got it working. I'm not sure if that was because the operating system is new?!

I would like to use my existing dreambox with my card in to descramble and then link my softcam on this system to is, as I dont have a cam on this system or usb reader.

Thanks again

I use Ubuntu 11.10 with TBS 6981 Dual DVB-S2 Tuner, TVheadend and OSCAM 1.10rc-svn build #6089. I think it would be best to buy a card reader then use the dreambox as a receiver.

The have a frontend to use the tvheadend server, but this could equally be the same system.

PM me for if you need more info.


- xxxnelly - 2012-02-16

LastCoder Wrote:Hi,

first - PVR works and is under heavy development but it is still experimental. I'm using TVHeadEnd as Backend but I have a lot of freezes (client side XBMC, tvheadend is very stable). As I have read somewhere here XBMC PVR development is focused on TVHeadend as backend so this may be the most promising backend for future

I actually disagree with some of this. My setup is few stable, it used to crash a lot before there was a fix for the HD channels, now it goes all day without crashing once nor freezing. I still have a few small issues I'd like fixed but I more than happy to use this in my living room now.

I personally use openELEC as I find it much lighter option for my frontend. I implemented a suggestion from there forms to add a restart xbmc option as the red button. This means the girlfriend can reset if it does freeze.


- LastCoder - 2012-02-16

@diggadave: atm I'm using Xubuntu 11.10 'cause it's easier to add special repositories (ppa) and there is lot of binary package building for ubuntu .. easier to maintain. But I'm not happy with Xubuntu .. it's very bloated, not a real XFCE distribution but more something like a Ubuntu with XFCE .. means slow and bloated and sadly not very stable .. so I'm going to switch the distribution. 'Cause I prefer "rolling distributions" based on Debian there is not so much choice. Unfortunately Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) seems to be dead (since 4 month no updates); after some distro hopping I really prefer now AptoSid (KDE) .. it's lightning fast and bleeding edge .. but requires some linux knowledge and thirst for adventure Big Grin .. OpenELEC performs very well and is a very nice project, but I prefer some more generic system based on a well know basis like Debian ..

Dreamboxes could be used as card servers with special images .. just google .. tvheadend could access it via network ..

@xxxnelly: hm .. interesting .. is it right, that you use a Ubuntu based TV Server and a OpenELEC based client on a different machine ? Maybe OpenELEC is much more stable than a Xubuntu with XBMC ?! What kind of gfx does you client have (I use a GT430) ? Did you download your PVR enabled OpenELEC from pulse-eight 'cause it seems that the main OpenElec-Site doesn't offer a PVR enabled version in the download section ..

Btw. I use OSCAM 1.20-svn and read that nagra support depends on OSCAM version .. your version is exactly what was recommended to me as a working build .. I'll test it and hope it works Confused

So long

LastCoder


- xxxnelly - 2012-02-16

LastCoder Wrote:@diggadave: atm I'm using Xubuntu 11.10 'cause it's

@xxxnelly: hm .. interesting .. is it right, that you use a Ubuntu based TV Server and a OpenELEC based client on a different machine ? Maybe OpenELEC is much more stable than a Xubuntu with XBMC ?! What kind of gfx does you client have (I use a GT430) ? Did you download your PVR enabled OpenELEC from pulse-eight 'cause it seems that the main OpenElec-Site doesn't offer a PVR enabled version in the download section ..

I am using http://sources.openelec.tv/tmp/image/openelec-pvr/ The latest version doesn't work due to the current bug in xbmc so I am using OpenELEC_PVR-ION.x86_64-devel-20120201190527-r9725.tar.bz2.

The good thing about openELEC is that you just unzip and add the SYSTEM and KERNEL files in the share drive and reboot and it updates, This means reverting is very easy, so you can keep up with new fixes but if it doesn't work any better then revert in 5mins.

I have a Acer Revo 3700 4GB version. I have just updated it to use a 30GB SSD drive. It boots in seconds. So just google to see the spec of the machine.

It means that the server is completely stable, and I rarely update or change that, just the frontend. I am actually concerning buying a second revo 3700 as it works so well...

Neil


- xxxnelly - 2012-02-16

I guess the other key point is that openELEC is build for platforms so I am using the ION2 one so its designed to work with the hardware better...

And yes I meant to say that the server is on a different machine, its a HPProLiantML110G6

running with a freeview DVB-T and a TBS 6681 or whatever the dual DVB-S2 is called


- LastCoder - 2012-02-16

thx for the reply .. if the next setup with aptosid doesnt perform better I'll try OpenElec (again ;-) ..


- edbq - 2012-02-16

ocram Wrote:Xbmc+xvdr Addon+vdr+xvdr plugin+dvbapi plugin+oscam is working great.

I am also on Xbmc+xvdr Addon+vdr+xvdr plugin, without oscam on ubuntu with dvb-s2.
With vdr backend you should use the pipelka fork https://github.com/pipelka. I am compiling the plugins and xbmc by myself because there is no ppa.
Its working and you have this semi timeshift, record atual tv program and switch to the recording.

regards ebola


- diggadave - 2012-02-17

Thanks for all your responses.

Still a little confused here.

I have a single system which I would like to use as backend and frontend. Is this advisable?

I have tried numerous setups, linux and windows based, but never got all of the components working together correctly.

The closest I came, as I said was with mediaportal (Windows). Which worked really well, apart from not being able to get ccam plugin to work. This was by far the quickest at channel change also. (EPG was good too, as it used the official sky guide from hiphop channel)

Need to get this sorted soon, otherwise my wife will end up divorcing me lol