VDR (LinVDR) PVR Addon back-end client (StreamDev or VNSI based) built-into XBMC?

in that case we should change the protocol, this plugin also works on rtp and udp, but we need some changes in the plugin as well and i got problems finding and talking with the one that builds it, because he don't have any web representation of his projects...
in the readme he says that the sources should be inside the package but i don't see any!?!

hi,

i was wondering if there are any python scripts available to act as a streamdev client for vdr (cadsoft.de/vdr).

xbmc is great and i do like it a lot but the one thing i'm missing is being a vdr client. (vdr is a dvb app and using the streamdev plugin of vdr one can stream dvb content, get epg, make timers etc).

it is already possible to stream vdr channels. just let the vdr go to "suspend mode" ("pause live tv" in the main menu) and open a .m3u-file (save them from vdr-admin or create them yourself). these files have just the following content: "[url]http://ip_of_your_vdr:3000/x"[/url] where x is the number of the channel. i have created one for every channel i want to stream and named them as the channel, too. so i just play them out of "my movies" and watch tv.

(acid70 @ sep. 24 2004,21:01 Wrote:it is already possible to stream vdr channels. just let the vdr go to "suspend mode" ("pause live tv" in the main menu) and open a .m3u-file (save them from vdr-admin or create them yourself). these files have just the following content: "[url]http://ip_of_your_vdr:3000/x"[/url] where x is the number of the channel. i have created one for every channel i want to stream and named them as the channel, too. so i just play them out of "my movies" and watch tv.

yes, i know that. sorry, i did not make myself clear. i do not just want to stream live tv but act as a "full" streamdev client. so i can watch the recordings, have access to epg and also program timers.

ok, misunderstodd you and you´re right,a full client would be fine. and shouldnt´t be so much work (its allreadey done for dreambox and dbox2) if one knows how to do that

Well this post is very old - obviously VDR isn't used by many XBOX owners!
(If you've not heard of it, read on..)

VDR being a very capable and long running DVB PVR application on Linux is perfect in bringing live TV / Time shifting / EPG based timed-recordings etc to the XBMC.

While the xstreamdev plugin gets us somewhere along the road - it's not seemed to have much work done on it recently and is sorely needing improvements, notably - live channel switching, support to pass remote codes onto VDR server, or preferably a direct stream of the VDR OSD.

Currently there are a few options for controlling a VDR box:

Xineliboutput whereby a stream of the output of VDR is channeled to the client - has support for remote control of VDR's menu, so you can record a channel being watched, browse the EPG, set Timers, view previous recordings etc. Obviously the hurdle with this option is there's no xine-lib DLL on XBMC... ;-)

VDR Streamdev-client: This is what's being used for the xstreamdev python script currently available, however it's never reached full maturity. It currently lacks support for streaming recordings from the server - though this could be achieved simply with a script parsing SVDRP output and Samba folders into one list. SVDRP - VDR's protocol should be improved soon and ideally would have support for all the main functions of VDR. Being able to cut out the adverts from your recordings while viewing them before instructing the vdr-burn plugin to archive the recordings would be fantastic.

I reckon VDR is ideal for people and only suffers from a lack of exposure - though it's massive in Germany, where the program originated. Because it's lightweight, under very active development, and can run on fairly limited hardware VDR, it's perfect for bolting onto your linux based file server - have one yet? ;-). Just plug in a couple of cheap DVB-T cards.

Running DVB software on a windows box doesn't make sense- people need an always on file & PVR server, and Windows is simply not an option for this. License issues aside - it's poor reliability, cost of ownership & terrible track record on security means I'll never again store the bulk of my files on a windows box.

While Mythtv has better support in XBMC than VDR, unless you've got another mythtv client in your house, I don't think there's any point having all the crossovers between XBMC and the PVR client. XBMC already handles music, video files, internet accessing plugins, very very well. Anyway, MythTV was designed around analogue capture cards, and though supports DVB very well these days still has many many strange things going on in it's design - X windows system? MYSQL backend??

As a client for a trusted & very functional bit of software handling the PVR side of things - *VDR*, the xbox would surely become the ultimate home accessory!

I'm keen on more work happening on this idea - I don't believe it's particularly hard work for a programmer with average skills, though I'm unable to program well enough at the moment. That's not to say I don't want to be involved with development, just more as a guinea-pig/opinionated user!

Maybe I need to convince some of the devs to give VDR a go.. try it - you'll like it and never want to watch normal TV again.

all the best

Alasdair

VDR here: http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr

i totally agree. vdr is awesome and as mentioned above under very active development. @devs .. please give it a try

Firsts of .. sorry for bumping this old thread, but i think it would be nice if XBMC would also support a VDR backend/server to stream LiveTV and recordings beside the recently added MythTV backend capabilities.
At the moment VDR streams are started very very slow and there's no possibility of changing the current channel, which could be done easily with the simply VDR protocol language (SVDRP) which is using a simple socket connection.

http://linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index.php/Svdrp
http://linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index.php/Xin...put-plugin

In case a developer is willing to give it a try i could offer a VDR for testing purposes.

VDRfan Wrote:Firsts of .. sorry for bumping this old thread, but i think it would be nice if XBMC would also support a VDR backend/server to stream LiveTV and recordings beside the recently added MythTV backend capabilities.
At the moment VDR streams are started very very slow and there's no possibility of changing the current channel, which could be done easily with the simply VDR protocol language (SVDRP) which is using a simple socket connection.

http://linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index.php/Svdrp
http://linuxtv.org/vdrwiki/index.php/Xin...put-plugin

In case a developer is willing to give it a try i could offer a VDR for testing purposes.

I would love to bring VDR to XBMC, so much so that I'm going to be attempting this while at university.

Rather than focus on VDR specifically (or MythTV, or whatever), I agree with Gamester17, that work should be done on a universal frontend to the many PVR apps out there, with specific DLLs or plugins to interface with the PVR's server API.

discussion: http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28918

This can only become a reality if more interest is shown by programmers willing to tackle this.

Sorry to resurrect this thread again but I just wonder how many people are actually interested in this?

I have had some success with modifying Xstreamdev and some server side code to enable seamless playback of recordings, which I think was the main stumbling block for Xstreamdev.

I have written to the author of Xstreamdev for some joint work on this but have had no reply.

So ladies and gents do I continue? Is there a demand for this?

Regards
John