ServerWMC and pvr.wmc Wiki Pages
#1
This thread is dedicated specifically to the development of the wiki for ServerWMC and pvr.wmc.

This is also my to-do list so I will occasionally drop some posts that are reminders for me.

If you have any suggestions for information that needs to be added or updated in the Wiki, please feel free to post them here so I can make the changes accordingly. I only ask that the information be fact not speculation.

If you have made changes to the Wiki yourself, please drop me a quick note here as well so I can stay on top of everything.

Keep in mind, I am still hard at work on things and am aware there are several descriptions missing and/or in need of update or further clarification.

Thanks!!

ServerWMC Wiki page: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=PVR.../ServerWMC
pvr.wmc Wiki page: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Add-on:PVR.WMC
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#2
pvr.wmc page, section 4.1
for non Windows clients hostname may cause problems therefore IP address is recommended with nix based clients

ServerWMC page section 5.3
With Nix based clients user:pass credentials are needed even when the Windows share is shared with "Everyone"


This should probably also be noted under Linux troubleshooting
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#3
A couple items I need clarification on to improve the wiki:

Prestart Tuners - I know what it does, I just don't know what the advantage is.
Only remux this language to output (if available) - Again, I know what it does, I just don't know what the valid available options are other than eng (english).
Force padding on recordings - Why would the padding specified in the other options available on this page need to be 'forced'?
Log WTV headers - I assume this is the first 8 bytes of the stream file? How do these help troubleshoot?

Awesome. Thanks Dilligaf. I also added your post regarding other distros under pvr.wmc section 2. Maybe we can cut down on how frequently that question is asked.
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#4
(2013-10-24, 03:03)TechLife Wrote: Prestart Tuners - I know what it does, I just don't know what the advantage is.

If the tuner is already running (in reality I mean the window's Stream Buffer Engine is running) , it takes less time for the server to switch to another channel. It seems to be variable system-to-system whether it makes a noticeable improvement, so its an option for people to experiment with.

(2013-10-24, 03:03)TechLife Wrote: Only remux this language to output (if available) - Again, I know what it does, I just don't know what the valid available options are other than eng (english).

Wtv files use three letter codes to specify the language for the audio stream, the ones I have seen are eng=English, spa=Spanish (broadcasts in the UK have an alternative audio stream labeled 'nar', but when I switch to it- in the files I have- it still seems to be english). I have not been able to find a list of the possibilities for this label on the web. So the only way to find them (at least for now), is to start a live-tv stream and look at the server log's list of audio descriptors the remux found: here is an example:

2013/10/23 18:37:35.515 Remux::FindDescriptors> wtv scanned (0.15 sec), Streams found:
2013/10/23 18:37:35.517 > Other: ID:1 MPEG2 Sections and Tables
2013/10/23 18:37:35.518 > Other: ID:2 MPEG2 PES
2013/10/23 18:37:35.519 > Audio: ID:3 (eng) AC3 2.0 48000 Hz 192 kb/s
2013/10/23 18:37:35.520 > Video: ID:4 AVC High-4.0 1920x1080i fps: 25
2013/10/23 18:37:35.522 > Audio: ID:5 (nar) MPEG Audio V1L2 Stereo 48000 Hz 256 kb/s
2013/10/23 18:37:35.524 > Other: ID:6 MS TV Caption

Looking at the audio streams, the language label is inside the parentheses.

(2013-10-24, 03:03)TechLife Wrote: Force padding on recordings - Why would the padding specified in the other options available on this page need to be 'forced'?

In wmc when you add default paddings they are just requests for the scheduler to give you these paddings only if it doesn't cause a conflict. The easiest example is you have only one tuner, but you want to record two consecutive episodes. In this case, its not possible for the scheduler to give you the padding you want - say an extra 10 minutes at the end of an episode - because the tuner is needed to start recording the next episode.

If you 'Force' the padding, you are telling the scheduler it is not free to ignore the padding - even if it causes a conflict - so in the case above it will mark the second recording as conflicting with the first - and second one will go unrecorded.

So then the obvious question is 'why force padding?'. The wmc scheduler does something weird, suppose you have multiple tuners and they aren't in use. Go back to the case above where you are recording consecutive episodes BUT they are on the same channel. In this case, the scheduler will use one tuner and therefor it will not give you the padding you requested at the end of the first episode - even though you have a free tuner. Presumably its because it sees no reason to, since this 'padded' data you requested is at the beginning of the next episode. So we have users who don't like this behavior and want to force the scheduler to use a different tuner and give them the padding in all cases, hence forced padding.

So the upside of the 'requested' padding is less conflicts but the padding is not guaranteed. The upside of forcing the padding is its guaranteed but you will have more conflicts (unless you have a lot of tuners or not a lot of timer requests).

Interesting to note that wmc does NOT let you force padding by default, I am overriding its normal behavior here. At no extra charge I might add.

(2013-10-24, 03:03)TechLife Wrote: Log WTV headers - I assume this is the first 8 bytes of the stream file? How do these help troubleshoot?

This is an option scarecrow added. It solely has to do with debugging the parsing of wtv files. Each chunk of data in a wtv file is preceeded by a header that has an identifying string that ms uses for a lot of their software. Its called a 'guid'. There is no documentation that has a comprehensive list of all the possible guids that ms could use for a wtv file. But we have learned most of them, the ones we know we don't bother printing out in the log. If you turn this on, all the guid's found in a wtv file are printed in the log as soon as they are found. Its really only useful for developers to debug with, not so much the users. In some cases though, we may ask the user to turn it on before they send us the log, that's why its there.

Just want to say again how much I dig knowing that this stuff is getting written down in a wiki instead of getting lost in a long thread. Thanks again.
Windows Media Center PVR addon (pvr.wmc) and server backend (ServerWMC)
http://bit.ly/serverwmc
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#5
Cool. It's the least I can do to say thank you for all of your hard work. Thanks for taking the time to get this all written up for me and being so thorough. I'll get this worked into the wiki right away.
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#6
(2013-10-27, 20:33)krustyreturns Wrote: For both frodo and gotham the custom dialogs will now work WITHOUT having to be hand installed into the xbmc install folder - this applies to the Confluence skin only.

So far, these fixes apply to windows only, I'll ask the other guys for the other OS builds.

Before I change the wiki, I want to make sure I understand correctly: As of 1013 of pvr.wmc, the manual copying of the 'DeleteTimer.xml' and 'RecordPrefs.xml' files is no longer necessary on Windows clients, correct?

P.S. Football is it's own religion in our house. The wife is a huge 9ers fan. She's been screaming at Harbaugh for a while now to pull starters. Can't say as I disagree, it's just kinda funny.
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#7
(2013-10-27, 22:24)TechLife Wrote: Before I change the wiki, I want to make sure I understand correctly: As of 1013 of pvr.wmc, the manual copying of the 'DeleteTimer.xml' and 'RecordPrefs.xml' files is no longer necessary on Windows clients, correct?

P.S. Football is it's own religion in our house. The wife is a huge 9ers fan. She's been screaming at Harbaugh for a while now to pull starters. Can't say as I disagree, it's just kinda funny.

Yes. that's right. I already changed the directions on the download site too for the custom dialog instructions. The one downside I have found to the wiki is I feel guilty now when I change things Smile.

PS I was okay with them leaving Kaep in at least - he looks indestructible and he needs all the experience he can get imo They also had to give our friends in the UK a show - I like how it was a runaway game yet all the fans stayed to the end.
Windows Media Center PVR addon (pvr.wmc) and server backend (ServerWMC)
http://bit.ly/serverwmc
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#8
LOL. Don't feel guilty man. I'm happy to see the new features and am happy to update accordingly!

We really need to find some skinners to help out with this. I really need to get this dialog fixed for Nox. Truth be told, Nox is an awesome skin that needs some serious help in the PVR area. It's the ugly stepchild in the corner. I'd volunteer but know absolutely nothing about skinning. I am looking into it though. The problem is there are so many things I want to learn right now and nowhere enough time to do it. I'll get there eventually. I have a couple of posts out trying to recruit a skinner or two for the cause. So far, no one has answered. I'm going to try contacting a couple of the big guns soon but they usually just ignore me.

On the 9ers, that's very true. I'm not a huge fan of the London games but I get it. And that is the whole point is to put on a show. I do see her point though, with as many ridiculous injuries as there have been this year thanks to so many asinine rule changes in the name of "safety", the likelihood of injury is much higher. There are a ridiculous number of first string, household name players on the bench because of it. And when you guys get to the playoffs and hopefully the SB, you're going to need Kaep, Gore, Boldin, Davis, etc. Anyway, it was a fun game to watch. Think the Ravens miss Boldin yet? LOL
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#9
(2013-10-28, 02:55)TechLife Wrote: We really need to find some skinners to help out with this. I really need to get this dialog fixed for Nox. Truth be told, Nox is an awesome skin that needs some serious help in the PVR area. It's the ugly stepchild in the corner. I'd volunteer but know absolutely nothing about skinning. I am looking into it though. The problem is there are so many things I want to learn right now and nowhere enough time to do it. I'll get there eventually. I have a couple of posts out trying to recruit a skinner or two for the cause. So far, no one has answered. I'm going to try contacting a couple of the big guns soon but they usually just ignore me.

I only learned enough skinning to create those two dialogs (i.e. just enough to be dangerous - that's usually the threshold where I stop expanding my knowledge base). Not sure what the difference is between Nox and MQ5, but MQ5 has these dialogs now (I think).
Windows Media Center PVR addon (pvr.wmc) and server backend (ServerWMC)
http://bit.ly/serverwmc
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#10
How about an addition to the server wiki under installation stating something in regards to.

When updating to the newest server build no need to uninstall the previous version, just install over.
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#11
Done. Thanks bungee91.

Also added the two newly discovered language codes (ger) and (dut).
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#12
im sure italian would be ITA as well... although I cant confirm. In that wiki section (if you havent already) you could put a comment to ask any users from other language areas where the 3 letter codes are not yet listed to please advise us of their discovered codes
pvr.wmc TV addon and ServerWMC Backend Development Team
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#13
I had a weird problem happen today where something in wmc's epg database got corrupted. All the guide data in xbmc was blank. The fix was to start wmc - as soon as it began it noticed the problem and re-downloaded the database. Just figured you might want to file this away in the wiki somewhere.

Also I found this on language codes. It looks like ms is following a standard called ISO 639-2. See:
http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php

although in some cases it lists multiple codes for a given region, so it may not be definite as to what ms will use.
Windows Media Center PVR addon (pvr.wmc) and server backend (ServerWMC)
http://bit.ly/serverwmc
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#14
@ Scarecrow - Great idea. Done.

@ kr - Does your WMC automatically download the guide data? I ask because I had disabled WMC services quite some time ago and that was causing me all kinds of issues. Basically it would run out of guide data because WMC services were disabled and everything would crash and burn. I re-enabled the services so it could download in the background again and it has been fine ever since. I'll be happy to add it to the wiki somewhere either way.

That's a great find on the ISO standard. It certainly looks like what we are seeing. I'll keep and eye and do a little more homework on it.
The XBMC team, plug-in devs, skinners, etc. do this for us for FREE in their spare time because they want to. Think about that for a second before you start bitching...
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#15
(2013-11-01, 00:07)TechLife Wrote: @ kr - Does your WMC automatically download the guide data? I ask because I had disabled WMC services quite some time ago and that was causing me all kinds of issues. Basically it would run out of guide data because WMC services were disabled and everything would crash and burn. I re-enabled the services so it could download in the background again and it has been fine ever since. I'll be happy to add it to the wiki somewhere either way.

That's a great find on the ISO standard. It certainly looks like what we are seeing. I'll keep and eye and do a little more homework on it.

No this was different, I always have the background download in place. In this case the last data set downloaded must have become corrupted because the server couldn't get data from it. So I started up wmc and as soon as it began it put up a message saying that the database was corrupted and it would have to re-download the data. I thought it would be worth mentioning that wmc will auto-detect and repair these database problems if they occur.
Windows Media Center PVR addon (pvr.wmc) and server backend (ServerWMC)
http://bit.ly/serverwmc
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