2013-09-11, 19:35
Right now the add-on is programmed so that it simply passes the URL to XBMC, which then opens the URL and detects the format via FFMPEG, then starts buffering and playing the channel.
Other add-ons use their own de-multiplexer and feed XBMC the data directly, thus are not relying on the FFMPEG's format detection. Of course this could be changed, but unfortunately I'm simply not experienced enough to do this. If someone else may be willing to add this, then this would be really appreciated. I'm using XBMC PVR in my home cinema, mostly for watching soccer games - so I really don't zap around but stick to a channel when watching TV, but I can understand that everyone would like to see improved zapping times.
Regarding channel-data, bouquets and general startup times:
I'm currently testing a version of the add-on in which I removed the channeldata.xml, as I think this confused most of the people and doesn't give the speed up in loading time as it used to when PVR was still under heavy development - since then I think the startup times already improved a lot.
In general:
I have my favorite channels in a bouquet "Favorites (TV)" and configured the add-on to only fetch this bouquet. I don't really see how it is possible to decrease the EPG loading time, as the add-on needs to call the web-interface for each channel separately. But I also don't think that this is a big issue, as you should be able to watch TV while it is updating the EPG.
During the startup of the PVR manager this happens:
1. The add-on fetches a list of all available bouquets
2. The add-on iterates over the list of all available bouquets and fetches the channel list for each bouquet
3. The add-on fetches the list of recordings
At this point it should be possible to start watching TV. If this sequence takes very long, then I think you have a lot of different bouquets - not sure how this could be speeded up, too.
Other add-ons use their own de-multiplexer and feed XBMC the data directly, thus are not relying on the FFMPEG's format detection. Of course this could be changed, but unfortunately I'm simply not experienced enough to do this. If someone else may be willing to add this, then this would be really appreciated. I'm using XBMC PVR in my home cinema, mostly for watching soccer games - so I really don't zap around but stick to a channel when watching TV, but I can understand that everyone would like to see improved zapping times.
Regarding channel-data, bouquets and general startup times:
I'm currently testing a version of the add-on in which I removed the channeldata.xml, as I think this confused most of the people and doesn't give the speed up in loading time as it used to when PVR was still under heavy development - since then I think the startup times already improved a lot.
In general:
I have my favorite channels in a bouquet "Favorites (TV)" and configured the add-on to only fetch this bouquet. I don't really see how it is possible to decrease the EPG loading time, as the add-on needs to call the web-interface for each channel separately. But I also don't think that this is a big issue, as you should be able to watch TV while it is updating the EPG.
During the startup of the PVR manager this happens:
1. The add-on fetches a list of all available bouquets
2. The add-on iterates over the list of all available bouquets and fetches the channel list for each bouquet
3. The add-on fetches the list of recordings
At this point it should be possible to start watching TV. If this sequence takes very long, then I think you have a lot of different bouquets - not sure how this could be speeded up, too.
