Kodi Community Forum

(2013-09-05, 23:41)dCypher Wrote: [ -> ]Spank, I am running Frodo 12.2

I'm out of ideas then, no clue why it wont play streams.

@spanktastic2120

What hardware are you running XBMC on?

Solution found: Changed the stream to 400k AND back to RTMP. I hope this helps someone

Now that I have that fixed, I am just starting the process of research how to get EPG data for USTVNOW into XBMC's TV Guide add-on and it doesn't look very fool-proof. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I'd ask if anyone in the community has an EPG set up that works with the current version of USTVNOW that is compatible with Frodo that they'd care to share with the rest of us?

Thanks in advance!

(2013-09-06, 01:13)RGB_Gamer Wrote: [ -> ]@spanktastic2120

What hardware are you running XBMC on?

I have an HTPC in the living room that used to be a dell optiplex 170L, which is a pentium 4 machine with 2 gigs of ram and onboard graphics. It runs XP from a 2TB harddrive and acts as a server for the other computers in the house as well as the living room tv.

My main computer is an i7 920 with 6 gigs of ram and an nvidia 9800GT.

Why do you ask?

Oh just curious. I once had XBMC on a quad core PC with Windows 7 x64, but since switching to my G-box Midnight 2.2, the PC is now just a server, since it has 12TB of storage

For me its all about the minimum required to do the job. My HTPC works perfectly fine for everything but 1080p, but i dont have a 1080p tv so it doesnt matter. The optimization is fun for me, stripping the OS down to its bones and finding new lightweight applications that normally wouldnt be necessary for a modern machine.

That's why I switched to an android box rather than a PC. Cheaper, more flexible, not as many issues, small footprint, low power consuption, and I mostly stream, rather than play local offline files. I use USTVnow for live TV as well, so I do it all in one small box.

(2013-09-07, 10:43)dCypher Wrote: [ -> ]Solution found: Changed the stream to 400k AND back to RTMP. I hope this helps someone

Looks like that worked for me too but sucks. Watching the low res stream on my HDTV is pretty bad. I guess it is not unexpected since it did seem strange that my free account does not have HDTV but I could still get it when using XBMC.

I hear so many complaints about Ustvnow from people that don't have a paid account, so issues are to be expected. I have a paid account, and even with 400kbps, it doesn't look too bad. Just me personally, I don't care about HDTV for TV shows. I really care about HDTV for movies, but again, that us just be, since I am so used to SDTV

For me it is more about sports so the HD is not only nice, but almost necessary. No real complaining from me since it is free, just keeps getting less free (since I really got used to the HD streams being free on XBMC)

@Clobber, I signed up for their full DVR plan after testing the free plan out. For the most part, I couldn't be happier. It's fast, accessible, decent to very good quality.


Improvements I'd like to see:

1. All channels in HD with networks at 1080p
2. Reliable CNBC (goes out at least once a day -- not the stream, but their access card)
3. Reliable access to Recordings via xbmc.... a couple hours after I upgraded my plan, xbmc now hangs when trying to access them
4. Access to NBC Sports Network

Once I get this "Recordings" issue solved.... though since nothing changed, not sure what to fix.... this will be my add-on of choice for network television.

Just my $0.02

(2013-09-07, 10:43)dCypher Wrote: [ -> ]Solution found: Changed the stream to 400k AND back to RTMP. I hope this helps someone

Now that I have that fixed, I am just starting the process of research how to get EPG data for USTVNOW into XBMC's TV Guide add-on and it doesn't look very fool-proof. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I'd ask if anyone in the community has an EPG set up that works with the current version of USTVNOW that is compatible with Frodo that they'd care to share with the rest of us?

Thanks in advance!

You can read how to setup both the tvguide addon and ustvnow addon at my post here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1320386 You need to be able to setup a .strm file for the tvguide addon. The code snippet I gave for the ustvnow addon allows a ustvnow channel to be played from a .strm. I haven't looked at the ustvnow plugin for quite sometime, so the code may differ a bit now, but the idea will be the same. I haven't touched the addon (by t0mm0 version 0.3.0) since I did this small change and it still works perfectly today.

When you run mc2xml for the tv listings use country = US, zip code = 17101 for Harrisburg. When prompted for the provider, use DIRECTTV Harrisburg (usually selection #3, but has varied). If you want to reduce the amount of download size from mc2xml, create a channel (.chl) file for the needed channels. For example, the free channels are:
I21.28461176.microsoft.com
I8.28459340.microsoft.com
I43.28461074.microsoft.com
I27.39705353.microsoft.com
I1034.223774507.microsoft.com
I15.28461494.microsoft.com
I1015.45359710.microsoft.com

You need to understand a bit about code, etc. to get this done, but I've had a couple dozen people message me back that it works for them as well. I originally posted this in the TV Guide addon section and probably should have put it in this thread too.

@learningit

Willl your method work for recordings? I mostly play those rather than live TV.

(2013-09-09, 18:36)RGB_Gamer Wrote: [ -> ]@learningit

Willl your method work for recordings? I mostly play those rather than live TV.

With the code given, no. Conceptually the same, but the TV Guide addon doesn't pass the time period when it plays a .strm file, so there's no way to tell the ustvnow addon which recording to play (this is off the top of my head, I've never played with recording on the ustvnow stuff).
BTW which version of the ustvnow addon are you using? Some versions don't handle the bitrate indicator correctly and hence don't play HD even if it's available to play. I note a number of people complaining about the lack of HD.

I will have to see what version of the ustvnow plugin I have. I can play recordings, but recordings/live TV stutter if I set the bitrate above 400kbps, and I am on 30mbps cable.

If you could somehow get recordings included into the tvguide (or another app other than ustvnow), that would be awesome. The ustvnow plugin as I understand is not being updated, so it seems to be finicky.