Tvheadend 4.0
#1
Morning all,

For those of you that don't frequent the #hts IRC channel, or regularly check github or tvheadend.org or @tvheadend on twitter (though that's been quiet). You might have thought Tvheadend was dead and/or nothing was happening with it. This couldn't be further from the truth!

The problem is it was decided that for the next version of Tvheadend (which in true marketing style will be called 4.0) we'd be making some rather significant structural changes. These were not trivial to implement, especially given limited time and resource available, but are finally starting to come together.

The entire DVB engine (including IPTV) has been rewritten pretty much from scratch. The main aim was to simplify the more common setup's, particularly multi-tuner. The general feedback is this has been achieved, though there may be some issues/concern for more complex (less common) setup's, I'm afraid this is a trade off (especially given my lack of UI skill!).

This new code was finally merged to master a few weeks back, and although there are still teething problems several people have been using it quite extensively.

Apart from the DVB rewrite, and a few minor things, don't expect to see lots of new flashy features in this release. But hopefully we'll have laid the groundwork for future improvements. Things I'd really like to work on are better DVR capabilities, improving the EPG code (again) and sorting out timeshift (though I'm going to need to find some support on that).

Be aware that if you do decide to give the new code a try (there are builds in the unstable apt repo), then your existing DVB/channel configuration is mostly defunct. Don't despair entirely though, I appreciate that many will have nicely crafted setups (including myself), so there is a migration script. See https://tvheadend.org/boards/5/topics/9792 for more details. However it is only semi-automated and I do strongly recommend users backup existing configuration just in case.

Be aware that while MOST functionality has now been ported back into the new code base, there are some features that are still incomplete and need further work. And for all those unfortunate souls out there stuck on Analogue TV, I'm afraid this is one area that has still not been ported (and to be honest I'd recommend at this stage you just stick with 3.4), hopefully I (or even better YOU) will get around to porting that code soon!

Anyway I'll try and get around to visiting the forum more often again now that I've come out of my shell a bit!

Adam
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#2
Hey adam,

Great news! I cant wait for the final 4.0 :-)


Cheers Nordish
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#3
I've just installed tvheadend for the first time this week so great to see its in active development.

Although I did find the initial install very convoluted it works great once setup.

Works really well so far.

Keep up the good work.
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#4
@zag personally I've always found it pretty simple, but them I'm a slightly twisted individual Wink

My problem is, some of you might already know this Wink, that I don't do UIs. Or at the very least I don't make them user friendly.

One change that will be coming, though somewhat gradually, is moving the API (both the old HTTP API used by the webui, and HTSP) into a common shared system that will, eventually, be documented. I'm "hoping" this might encourage those with UI skills to invest some time in writing a better UI, which up to now has been a pain due to the lack of stable/doc'd API and also some structural issues.

Adam
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#5
Thanks for your work Adam!
I wonder how OpenELEC users like me are going to upgrade, since the migration script would have to be run during upgrade or manually afterwards. I know that the settings will break when upgrading but many users that do not visit the forums or websites will be a bit surprised Smile
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#6
(2013-12-06, 13:12)adamsutton Wrote: @zag personally I've always found it pretty simple, but them I'm a slightly twisted individual Wink

Your not the first linux developer to say that Smile

The interface is actually fine, it just needs to go in a more logical order for the first time user. My advice if its worth anything:

- Move the 2 buttons that scan and map channels to a first time config screen
- Make the wording on those buttons easier to understand (Choose location, Finalize Channel map)
- Make it more obvious the muxes waiting to scan is counting down (change to another colour maybe)
- Remove all those little check boxes for options the first time user does not understand. Move them to an advanced config or something.
- Explain better what code word client and capmt connection is.

Without this very well written guide I would never have known what to do so maybe advertise that somewhere on your own website:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=PVR.../Tvheadend
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#7
@zag, ta I'll take a look. Hopefully one day someone will take on the UI side of things!

But then I've been waiting for that day for 2 years!

Adam
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#8
@adamsutton

Great work, Tvheadend is by far the best PVR backend out there it's sleem fast and easy to setup.
Two question:

1. What is the status of the transcoding capability ? I can't test it as I'm on ffmpeg 2+ and I don't think my server got the muscles for this (800Mhz Armv5, 128MB).
(I've seen finally you trashed the vlc plugin and moved to html5 streaming).

2. Should I expect any improvments in channel switching speed if my dvb service is on a single transponder, currently I'm getting about 2 sec.
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#9
@dhead actually there is some concern (well it's a bit more than that) that I've made switching time marginally worse. Which is not good, as this is something TVH prides itself on. But it's on my list of things to do.

Really switching on same transponder should be near instant. Though some devices do some strange things if you close down all handles between switches (which both old and new code do - in fact not doing so can cause other problems). However there is an option to disable some of that. But definitely some work still needs to be done in this area as I'm not happy with current performance (don't get me wrong, its not that much worse, but its enough to have caused some comments).

Adam
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#10
(2013-12-06, 16:00)zag Wrote: The interface is actually fine, it just needs to go in a more logical order for the first time user. My advice if its worth anything:

- Move the 2 buttons that scan and map channels to a first time config screen
- Make the wording on those buttons easier to understand (Choose location, Finalize Channel map)
- Make it more obvious the muxes waiting to scan is counting down (change to another colour maybe)
- Remove all those little check boxes for options the first time user does not understand. Move them to an advanced config or something.
- Explain better what code word client and capmt connection is.

Without this very well written guide I would never have known what to do so maybe advertise that somewhere on your own website:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=PVR.../Tvheadend

Good suggestions from zag. I would say it's impossible to configure tvheadend without a guide.
The things you have to do first seem well hidden.

Once you've done it a couple of times it is fine, but first time setup is pretty daunting.
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#11
(2013-12-06, 19:40)popcornmix Wrote:
(2013-12-06, 16:00)zag Wrote: The interface is actually fine, it just needs to go in a more logical order for the first time user. My advice if its worth anything:

- Move the 2 buttons that scan and map channels to a first time config screen
- Make the wording on those buttons easier to understand (Choose location, Finalize Channel map)
- Make it more obvious the muxes waiting to scan is counting down (change to another colour maybe)
- Remove all those little check boxes for options the first time user does not understand. Move them to an advanced config or something.
- Explain better what code word client and capmt connection is.

Without this very well written guide I would never have known what to do so maybe advertise that somewhere on your own website:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=PVR.../Tvheadend

Good suggestions from zag. I would say it's impossible to configure tvheadend without a guide.
The things you have to do first seem well hidden.

Once you've done it a couple of times it is fine, but first time setup is pretty daunting.

I guess you never setup MythTV? =) TVH is super easy, even if i haven't tried the latest version. But, as almost everything, things can always be easier.
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#12
That sounds really great.

Is there now an official support for unicable systems? Nod

edit:
Is there already an estimated release date?
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#13
Estimated release date would be awesome Smile
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#14
I'm using MythTV for years now, but ar not happy with softcam dependency to ffdecsawrapper (sasc-ng). So for a week ago i saw this thread and i decide to give TVHeadend a try. My system is debian testing and i have 2 dual tuner cards TBS6981. After some hours i have a working combination TVHeadend (4.0) with oscam and as frontend XBMC.

Like:
- Channel sap speed is great, compared with MythTV, and the frontend XBMC interface is also not bad;
- Configuration of the system is easier than whitin MythTV;
- All channels, I like, are working. In MythTV some channels are locked, but have no stream (MythTV / softcam problem ?);
-

Concerns:
- It is possible to Pauze a live stream, but it seems not possible to skip forward/backward during live showing;
- In XBMC the listed channels are not always the same?! sometimes i see only a part of the hole range;
- Disk-use / speed. MythTV calcultes where recoding should be stored, I configured several partition on differend disks and MythTV makes the desission. Can TVHeadend handle 4 streams at a time without stuttering?
- My wife and childeren have to learn a new interface Wink
-

I have to play more with TVHeadend to have the feeling that I can swap to TVHeadend, but what i see so far is very nice.

I'm developer my self and have experiance in C / C++, is there a possibility to get involved in this project?
Is there a special reason that TVHeadend is written in C instead of C++?
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#15
Quote:- It is possible to Pauze a live stream, but it seems not possible to skip forward/backward during live showing;

I believe this improves in Gotham and/or later PVR addon versions.

Quote:- In XBMC the listed channels are not always the same?! sometimes i see only a part of the hole range;

Try forcing XBMC to sync with backend numbering (System -> Settings -> LiveTV -> General ... there are several options to play with here). I'm not aware of any channels missing on my set up, and all the tvheadend groups (tags) come through fine.

Quote:- Disk-use / speed. MythTV calcultes where recoding should be stored, I configured several partition on differend disks and MythTV makes the desission. Can TVHeadend handle 4 streams at a time without stuttering?

I've certainly recorded multiple SD and HD streams concurrently while also streaming off the same server, although I never play back via the addon - instead, I use a mapped source/share.

Quote:- My wife and childeren have to learn a new interface Wink

It's a cross we all bear sometimes.

Quote:I'm developer my self and have experiance in C / C++, is there a possibility to get involved in this project?

Try posting onto the tvheadend forum - or, more likely to succeed, volunteer on IRC. I'm sure they'd be grateful for some help, especially if you know anything about user interfaces (not just the changes that your family objects to :-) )
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