XBMC + HD Homerun integration
#1
Hi,

I'm trying to set up my HD Homerun for the first time, but I'm having a little trouble getting it integrated into XBMC as described in this thread.
http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtop...sc&start=0

I've been using XBMC for quite a while, but when things didn't work straight off, I restored a clean system image so I could start from scratch. So from there I've...
Hooked up the HD Homerun to my router and plugged in one PC to test with.
I've downloaded and installed the latest versions of the HD Homerun software, XBMC, VLC and KMPlayer.
I have scanned all channels on both tuners using "HD Homerun setup" and can view them with VLC.
HD Homerun setup seems to have successfully generated the .strm files XBMC needs for each channel.
I've added the folder containing the .strm files to XBMC's video section.

My problem is this. When I try to launch any of the .strm files from XBMC, nothing happens. Well, not nothing, sometimes I get a "opening file tuner 0" message, then nothing. If I try enough times I'll eventually get a "Playlist playback aborted. Too many consecutive failed items" message.

I've also tried using an external player from within XBMC (VLC, KMPlayer) but didn't have any luck with them either.

Enabling the Event server in XBMC gets me (very) choppy audio, but no video. None of the other network settings appear to have any effect, except "Autostart uPnP client" which just crashes XBMC. What I did get in the end was really unstable and XBMC eventually stopped trying to play it, but it makes me think it's got to be a network setting I've overlooked some where, but where? I've never used the streaming features of XBMC before now.

If anyone can offer any advice on what the network settings in XBMC should look like for use with the HD Homerun, it would be much appreciated.

I've also saved the xbmc log file and one of the strm files if anyone cares enough to take a look, but I couldn't find where to attach them.

Any other info I've forgotten, please let me know.

cheers,

Location: Australia
OS: Windows XP SP2
Device ID: 12102DA8
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#2
Well non of the devs have a hdhomerun.. Back when i added it i had one, but no service so I just gave it a shot and it worked for some people.

We'd need to update our hdhomerun lib as well as getting some with dev ability to test and fix it again. Think it has been broken for quite some time, atleast on windows.

You could try and boot you system with a XBMC live cd and see if it still works in linux.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#3
Thanks, Elupus.

Not exactly what I wanted to hear obviously, but thanks for your reply anyway, good to know it's not something I'm doing wrong.

It's a shame it's broken. Seemed a relatively easy way to get TV into XBMC. If I had any real dev skills I'd offer my services to try and get this back up and running, but sadly, not my field at all.

Will give the Live CD a go tomorrow.

cheers,

PS - It must have been an old build I was using when I was playing around with the Event server settings, they don't seem to exist in the current build...not that it really matters now.
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#4
Hi Elupus,

I posted about this problem over at the Silicondust forums before making this thread. After I told them that you thought the XBMC code was broken, one of the Silicondust guys, jasonl, offered to work something out with you (developer) guys to get this feature back into XBMC.

His message was...
Quote:If the XBMC guys are interested in updating HDHomeRun support we can work with them to get a test platform they can develop against. If whoever will be doing the work can open a trouble ticket we can work with them from there. http://www.silicondust.com/support/troubletickets/

I'm not sure if you're interested, or if he was aware of the PVR Frontend development going on anyway, but the ideas seem to tie in together so I thought I'd pass his message along and see what happens.
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#5
fifthQ Wrote:Hi,

I'm trying to set up my HD Homerun for the first time, but I'm having a little trouble getting it integrated into XBMC as described in this thread.
http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtop...sc&start=0

I've been using XBMC for quite a while, but when things didn't work straight off, I restored a clean system image so I could start from scratch. So from there I've...
Hooked up the HD Homerun to my router and plugged in one PC to test with.
I've downloaded and installed the latest versions of the HD Homerun software, XBMC, VLC and KMPlayer.
I have scanned all channels on both tuners using "HD Homerun setup" and can view them with VLC.
HD Homerun setup seems to have successfully generated the .strm files XBMC needs for each channel.
I've added the folder containing the .strm files to XBMC's video section.

My problem is this. When I try to launch any of the .strm files from XBMC, nothing happens. Well, not nothing, sometimes I get a "opening file tuner 0" message, then nothing. If I try enough times I'll eventually get a "Playlist playback aborted. Too many consecutive failed items" message.

I've also tried using an external player from within XBMC (VLC, KMPlayer) but didn't have any luck with them either.

Enabling the Event server in XBMC gets me (very) choppy audio, but no video. None of the other network settings appear to have any effect, except "Autostart uPnP client" which just crashes XBMC. What I did get in the end was really unstable and XBMC eventually stopped trying to play it, but it makes me think it's got to be a network setting I've overlooked some where, but where? I've never used the streaming features of XBMC before now.

If anyone can offer any advice on what the network settings in XBMC should look like for use with the HD Homerun, it would be much appreciated.

I've also saved the xbmc log file and one of the strm files if anyone cares enough to take a look, but I couldn't find where to attach them.

Any other info I've forgotten, please let me know.

cheers,

Location: Australia
OS: Windows XP SP2
Device ID: 12102DA8

I had the same problem using nightlies until I realized that going to [Settings-->Network] and enabling the "Share video and music libraries through uPnP" fixed my problems. With it unchecked, I got nothing when clicking the individual .strm entries. At least I can confirm that through Windows SVN:32246, HDHomerun is piping through flawlessly with uPnP enabled. I also had to click "unblock" when the popup through Windows7x64 came up.
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#6
Well, a big thank you to you, Nitro51! That seems to have done the trick.

Admittedly, after 9.11 didn't seem to work any better, I went straight back to an SVN I trusted that dates from somewhere between 9.04 and 9.11. The "Share video and music libraries through uPnP" option didn't exist in that build. I re-installed 9.11, checked the box as you said, and all worked perfectly.

In case anyone's interested, in the meantime I've been using the HDHomerun with DVBViewer as described in this thread...
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...=dvbviewer
It isn't as seamless as using XBMC's inbuilt player, but it does have the advantages of quick channel change, an excellent EPG and timeshift/recording functions. Plus, if you're using one of the XBMC Mediastream skin variations, someone's already adapted it for DVBViewer's OSD. Just another option.

Thanks again, Nitro51.
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#7
Glad it worked! Also glad the devs don't have to chase their tails because seems to be working great here as well.

BTW, you're reply helped me as well. Thanks to your link (thread I didnt know existed), I was finally able to use XBMC as a gateway to Maximus Arcade and MyTheatre in a much cleaner manner then I was using.

Cheers.
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#8
That's just weird.. Enabling sharing over upnp should not matter at all.. (well unless this setting is for the HDHomerun, maybe it disabled something else on that hw then)

But our setting for upnp should really not matter at all.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#9
elupus Wrote:That's just weird.. Enabling sharing over upnp should not matter at all.. (well unless this setting is for the HDHomerun, maybe it disabled something else on that hw then)

But our setting for upnp should really not matter at all.

I'm thinking it's more of a Windows firewall issue. However, as soon as I enabled sharing on XBMC with this machine, I got the firewall popup where I chose to unblock. I could swear that I had to unblock manually on my main HTPC machine, but that was some time ago and my memory stinks.

I haven't run Linux base in some time to comment on those builds. I don't think they would suffer from the same issue, but I never used HDHomerun with XMBC on anything but Windows7x64 base, so perhaps someone on another base can comment...
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#10
You could be right, Nitro51. I was aware that firewalls could be an issue when I started though, so I've had XBMC + HDHomerun on the exceptions list the whole time, and I certainly didn't get a pop up after checking the share option in XBMC.

Also, I still can't get it to work using the "trusted" SVN I mentioned in my last post. Weird as it may be, the only real difference in the set ups is that share over UPnP option. So I'm not 100% convinced it is a firewall issue.

It's working fine with 9.11 now though, so I'm thinking if it ain't broken...
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#11
I don't think that it'a a code problem within XBMC. I just tested SVN:32453 and it's still peachy. My main HTPC is still using the last posted DSPlayer release (SVN:31520) and it's working on that as well from the same .strm folder that's on my server (this box). Both are on Win7x64 base.

Firewall is the only logical conclusion I've been able to come up with so far on these Windowz boxes. To confirm what elupus mentioned, I just now tested after disabling the uPnP option in XBMC and it still worked (proved his point). Also, I just disabled all HDHomerun firewall entries and it still worked (that tossed HDHomerun settings out of the mix). Then I blocked the XBMC entry and it went back to not working. Unblocked and it works again. So in my case on this box, checking the uPnP tripped my firewall enough to give me an option to unblock XBMC.

I'm not a fan of most of the Windows crud, but seems to me that's the issue. Since this box is the same as where my storage is, the problem never popped up, even with scraping, but as soon as it went to my network looking for the HDHomerun device it got nothing and left me scratching my head like you were. Oddly enough, you are not getting all builds to work on the same box...

Since the pre-Dharma SVN's are running like a champ for me, I've had no reason to look back. Be sure to thank your devs. I used XBMC when it first started on the Xbox - then hadn't seen it for about 4-5 years. It's really turned into a beast!
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#12
Thanks, Nitro51.

I think you're probably right, I doubt the problem is in the XBMC code. More a "problem in front of computer" situation it seems.

I've basically repeated your tests, and it does seem the firewall is at play. Using 9.11, I went back and unchecked the share UPnP option. HDHomerun still came through. I removed XBMC from the firewall exceptions list. HDHomerun stopped coming through again. Added XBMC back into the exceptions list, and the HDHomerun comes through fine.

I then repeated the above using the aforementioned SVN used for most of my testing (BTW, where do I find the build number?). The HDHomerun still doesn't come through properly at all, at best I get the really choppy audio, then it cuts out.

One thing I did just notice in these tests is that the SVN shows up on the firewall exceptions list as "XBMC Media Center", while 9.11 shows up as just "XBMC". I thought I was on top of the firewall issue from the start, but the only scenario I can think of that even sort of fits, is that I forgot to add 9.11 explicitly the first time I tested it, but did at least add "XBMC" at some point during later fiddling.

I think it's probably best to just put my problems down to me not being thorough enough, and the fact I was doing most of my testing with an older SVN which had some issues I hadn't come across before this. I certainly wouldn't expect the devs to invest any more time on it than they have already.

thanks again, much appreciated.

and thanks, Elupus, sorry to have wasted your time.
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#13
fifthQ Wrote:(BTW, where do I find the build number?).

Open the xbmc.log file located in the XBMC root directory and the second line down will give the build information as such:

Code:
07:59:49 T:4336 M:2173460480  NOTICE: Starting XBMC, Platform: Windows 7, 64-bit (WoW) build 7600. Built on Aug  3 2010 (SVN:32453, compiler 1500)

I always had a helluva time navigating through the WindowsXP firewall muck. Luckily Win7 seems to have made it a little easier. Mine just shows as 'XBMC', but I've only had the nightlies on this box from the past month or so. The guys have been going nuts with the code, so something may have changed in that area since your build. I haven't skimmed the source in some time, so don't know. I can say that the Dharma branch is a different animal (much improved IMHO) than Camelot.

So far as the choppy video between your builds...you got me. Your bandwidth/hardware should be the same, all things equal, so that shouldn't be the issue. That would leave some setting or an issue with the build itself you are testing. OR - the process in which you swap between builds. I have found it best to run XBMC using the -p flag, cut & paste the userdata folder (or portable_data) to another folder, then use the uninstall. Then I reinstall the new/other build and paste the userdata back in. To me, this alleviates overlay issues. Curious if you've tried any of the latest nightlies? You can find them here for Windows if you don't mind living on the edge a bit for testing: http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/win32/

I'm glad you created the thread. It seems none of the devs (or many others) have the HDHomerun, so it's up to us to bring possible issues to the table. I chaulked it up to being broken on the Dharma branch until I got lucky and clicked something in XBMC which gave me the firewall popup. Smile
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#14
Nitro51 Wrote:Open the xbmc.log file located in the XBMC root directory and the second line down will give the build information as such:

Code:
07:59:49 T:4336 M:2173460480  NOTICE: Starting XBMC, Platform: Windows 7, 64-bit (WoW) build 7600. Built on Aug  3 2010 (SVN:32453, compiler 1500)
Excellent, thanks. Seems I was using SVN:21979. From the Babylon era.
Nitro51 Wrote:So far as the choppy video between your builds...you got me. Your bandwidth/hardware should be the same, all things equal, so that shouldn't be the issue. That would leave some setting or an issue with the build itself you are testing. OR - the process in which you swap between builds. I have found it best to run XBMC using the -p flag, cut & paste the userdata folder (or portable_data) to another folder, then use the uninstall. Then I reinstall the new/other build and paste the userdata back in. To me, this alleviates overlay issues.

Yeah, I've always run XBMC in portable mode as well, portability was actually one of the reasons I looked into it to begin with. I mean before I realized how cool it really is, I'd run it now anyway even if portable mode wasn't possible. As far as the swap procedure though, I do basically the same as you do. Only real difference being that if I'm going to test a new build, I copy the entire installation directory of the previous build so I can switch back more easily if the update has issues.

At this stage I'm putting the choppy audio (& no video) down to a bug in the SVN I was using. I'm not sure if it has any relevance anymore, but the fact XBMC crashes immediately every time I check "Autostart UPnP client" suggests something isn't right.
Nitro51 Wrote:Curious if you've tried any of the latest nightlies? You can find them here for Windows if you don't mind living on the edge a bit for testing: http://mirrors.xbmc.org/nightlies/win32/
Not for a while, no. Although I have been reading a lot about Dharma in the last week or two, so I'm gonna have to try one out pretty soon I reckon. Especially since the HDH is pretty much sorted now.
Nitro51 Wrote:I'm glad you created the thread. It seems none of the devs (or many others) have the HDHomerun, so it's up to us to bring possible issues to the table. I chaulked it up to being broken on the Dharma branch until I got lucky and clicked something in XBMC which gave me the firewall popup. Smile
Cool, I don't feel like such a twit then. Laugh
And they're awesome little boxes the HDHs, can't quite work out why they're not more popular. They really should be.

cheers,
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