Xbmc and xfinity
#1
I just read you can watch live tv via xbmc and my xfinity? Seems neat, how do I set it up if I e got two xbmc bixes? I don't want to record, unless it's needed to stop/pause/play?

Excuse typos on my phone!
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#2
Note to mods: this is a question about an addon to interact with the paid ComCast Xfinity tv subscription.

I was a bit too hasty to garbage bin it, it is allowed.
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#3
Another funny thing is that the fact that Comcast calls their services "Xfinity" now (where as for years they just called it "Comcast") is a source of confusion for their own customers, let alone XBMC-related issues :D

My folks have Comcast/xfinity and what I did for them was I got an HDHomeRun Prime. What's great about the Prime is that if you don't need to record, as you indicated, then you can easily set it up in XBMC by adding it as a UPnP source and no additional software or hardware.

Get an HDHomeRun Prime and then call up Comcast and find where a local customer service center is so that you can go and pick up a Cable Card. They'll charge you a small fee for picking it up or activating it or something, but the card itself should be free of monthly charges. In fact, I think they will give you a credit on your bill since you are providing your own tuner hardware (the Prime). Make sure to mention this, as sometimes people get mistakenly charged for the Cable Card, but the first one you get (that is not in Comcast branded hardware, so existing cable boxes don't count against this) should be free.

Go home and insert the card into the Prime. Sometime now, even before you get the Cable Card, be sure to go to http://silicondust.com and grab the latest firmware update, in case the firmware on the Prime doesn't already have the UPnP update. The Prime should also instruct you on how to load up the Prime's interface in a web browser, which will tell you some numbers off of the Cable Card that you will need to activate it. Comcast should also tell you which phone number to call to activate the card, which for some reason has to be done while it is in the Prime, so it can't be done when you pick up the card (which is silly, I know). Once activated, it should be able to scan for channels from the web interface, and you should see a bunch of them show up in a list.

In XBMC you can now simply add the Prime as a UPnP media source ( http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=UPnP/Media_source ). It's pretty basic and doesn't have a TV guide or anything, but it is possible to add those later if you wish. Here's a great YouTube video that also explains this process. In the video they use Raspberry Pis, but the process is the same for any XBMC install (except that in most cases you do not have to buy an MPEG2 codec license, so you can ignore that part): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKpqmkpkyOA

XBMC can access channels that are "flagged" as "copy freely", which includes most Comcast/Xfinity channels. The only channels you can't access in XBMC are premium channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. There were one or two sports channels that also didn't work for me, but most sports channels did seem to work, like ESPN, Fox Sports, etc. You can still use those channels with the Prime, but they require a UPnP client that can work with "copy once" channels, like a PS3, or HDHomeRun's Android app.
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#4
I used to have a 4 tuner ceton card running windows media center that was fun, but moved to dish, moved to a new place and got comcast internet ... which they throw in digital economy TV for free, because it makes internet cheaper, makes no sense but it's there unused ... so I figured i'd try something, IF I could tap into it via XBMC.

Are there any guides to hooking up HDHomeRun? I am pretty sure they have a 2 tuner network guy that would work great, so I can put hte tuner box in my rack, with the rest of my network gear.

I've also got an mcard from that previous install, and a contact to who can activate it at comcast, so I just wanted to make sure it was possible, and if so, what is needed, any guides or is it as easy as: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=UPnP/Media_source How do I get what TV stations I am allowed to watch?
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#5
If you have an HDHomeRun Prime or one of the newer HDHomeRuns with UPnP servers, then it's that easy :)
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#6
Why go through all the UPNP hassle - just use the plugins from the PVR built into XBMC

My favorite is ServerWMC. Uses the media center API to get hte free guide etc and HDhomerun just "works" - time shifting and all.

If running on linux etc then you can use another tuner solution like mediaportal server.
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#7
(2014-09-04, 22:18)sjchmura Wrote: Why go through all the UPNP hassle - just use the plugins from the PVR built into XBMC

My favorite is ServerWMC. Uses the media center API to get hte free guide etc and HDhomerun just "works" - time shifting and all.

If running on linux etc then you can use another tuner solution like mediaportal server.

Because XBMC has a built in UPnP client and it means live TV access with zero configuration and no additional backend required. There is literally zero hassle using the UPnP features of the HDHomeRun.
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#8
Soo there is no Xfinity tv add on..? http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/ And no one can make one?
For the online streaming.

Of course you would need an xfinity subscription.
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#9
Currently not, no.
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#10
(2014-09-28, 20:41)neandertal Wrote: Soo there is no Xfinity tv add on..? http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/ And no one can make one?
For the online streaming.

Of course you would need an xfinity subscription.

This seems like an excellent add-on idea. Seeing as you can just view your subscribed channels via the internet, if there were to be such an add-on, you could get your xfinity subscribed channels on a tv using a Fire TV or an HTPC and avoid the rental charges for comcast's cable boxes.

Could we get somebody with the technical know-how to look into creating an add-on for this type of thing? If people can make add-ons work for streaming services like mlb.tv and watch espn, I would think comcast's xfinity online would be do-able too. Is that not the case?
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#11
Read http://readwrite.com/2014/05/30/comcast-...opers-apis

So this is a dead subject.
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#12
(2014-10-09, 08:39)uNiversal Wrote: Read http://readwrite.com/2014/05/30/comcast-...opers-apis

So this is a dead subject.

Good find.

That's a shame. Having recently read a transcript of a chat between a linux user and a comcast tech support rep who claimed the company was working on transitioning their online offerings to a format that would be more open-sourced, I am bummed comcast fails to transition to HTML 5 and in other ways make their online offerings more user-friendly. Too bad.
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