[emveepee]

Version 3.3.13 of the NextPVR addon should soon be available to all, I noted it on my Windows machine just now.  There are several fixes and better integration with v18 but I thought I'd introduce the some new features

First there is a new Live TV mode called Extended Timeshift.  It is definitely not meant for users who like it zap through channels, since tuning can be slow.  What it offers over regular timeshift is a large buffer you can timeshift and pause as much and as you long as you would like.  It also allows you to save the current "live" show from the moment you started buffering it until the program ends.   With Timeshift recordings you lose any buffered program.   Because it uses a different approach to timeshifting you may or may not get better performance.  There are also some buffering options that you can set to see if these help playback.  If you are happy with the improved Timeshift for v18 you should probably just stay with it.   This mode requires NextPVR 4.2.4

Also the old default with no Timeshift has now been renamed to "Real Time"  no pause or skipping but it still remains quite reliable.

Additionally Kodi PVR radio now works again.  In Extended Timeshift you can also timeshift radio, in Real Time and Timeshift modes radio run in real time mode.  It is also now possible in NextPVR 4.2.4 to add Internet Radio streams to NextPVR as an alternative to capturing from tuners.  I personally love this new functionality. 

Finally a big thanks to users davel,  AndyH and Drexyl for their help in testing these changes, they were a big help.  Also as always thanks to sub for changing the backend to make all of this work.

If you have any questions about these or any other changes in v3.3.13 please let me know. 

Martin

[aderlopas]

Many thanks Martin, that is great news indeed!

[ramus56]

Hi,
super, timer programming "any channel"
is back.
otherwise no error detected

Thank you

ramus56

[aderlopas]

One question: if we have setup SlipSeconds DWORD in registry which exact timeshift type is affected?

[emveepee]

Slip seconds and the standard timeshift process continue unchanged.

Also note that I am working with the testers to see if I can speed up channel switching a little in extended timeshift mode.

Martin

[aderlopas]

Thanks Martin,

But in the case of extended timeshift now we would not be any more needing to define this correct?

Also I had the below behavior last night with the addon...

It worked with extended timeshift fine until current program ended and the next program started and then the addon went into no timeshift mode....(left and right buttons dissapeared)

Is this expected behavior?
What should we expect when program ends and a new one begins?

Can we go back in time across different programs ok n the same channel using the extended timeshift buffer?

[emveepee]

Hi there,  you don't need to do anything to the registry if that is what you mean the default of 20 minutes will still be used in regular timeshift.   However if you have stations that don't have EPG data then the regular buffer is used in extended mode and there are transitions each approx each 1/3 of the buffer.

In extended mode each show is treated as a different recording so there could be a brief delay.  Timeshifting controls may disappear because it would not be desirable to skip in that short period, the should return.  Some of this is based on how fast your server drive and network can deal with the changeover.

You certainly should be able to skip anywhere in the recording buffer. The Prev and Next keys help navigate, Left to the beginning of buffer or current show, another Left to beginning of buffer.  And similarly Next to start of current show and Next again to the catch up to live TV  Be careful with that last one sometimes Kodi drops you to close to the end of buffer and you might have to skip back a little.

For clarity when I write about "current" show I a mean the show that would actually be playing in the EPG.

If you watch a  lot of channels with no EPG data I would suggest regular timeshift because of the transitions.

Martin

[EdBrady]

I had big problems with this update. No artwork appears in Kodi, the program names are all mangled (season/episode numbers are left out, breaking sorting by name), video breaks up from time to time when watching recordings, and seeking forward works poorly or not at all. Thankfully, 3.3.12 is still available. Got it reinstalled and all is well. Not sure why this isn't affecting everyone... but 3.3.13 is terrible here.

[emveepee]

The art issue is fixed, there was a bug when getting art for shows from removed channels which is probably why it has not been reported immediately and this will be released shortly.  As for season/episode logic previously NextPVR didn't support this information for skinning and sorting by name was on the subtitle.  Now I believe you should prefer sort by file or sort by date depending how you record.

The logic for recording playback didn't change beyond fixing in-progress recording playback and real time and timeshift mode playback Live TV are the same too.

Martin

[emveepee]

I am trying to sort out the issue with Season and Episode sorting mentionned but above since my lists are fine, could anyone having any issues provide a link here or via PM and I will have a look.

Edit: for the next build I will default to the original look and provide a setting to use the Kodi PVR style.

Thanks

Martin

[emveepee]

I am just about to start final testing of .14 but I thought I'd link a video highlighting the issue with skins and the recording list.  For this demo I used Estuary, Confluence and Aura switching between the original mode with just the hard coded subtitles and then the newer mode.  It is a bit lengthy but does show how varied PVR recording list and playback can look.

https://youtu.be/vgQsRVOnl_4 (still being processed when I posted)

You will see lists and playback with no titles, no subjects, no  season or episode info and some with mixed information.  Basically the addon just makes the information available to the Kodi and we don't know what it will look like I didn't plan but I ended up with Aura playback nicely showing individual data labels, which come from a list that is very difficult to navigate

Martin

[EdBrady]

Your video isn't appearing on YouTube as I type this.

As for sorting, in previous versions, show episodes would appear in the list as "S01E01 - Episode Title" and could be sorted into season/episode order by simply sorting by name. In the new version, they appear with the show title first (which is useless) then the episode name, which breaks sorting by season/episode. Sorting by date might work for new programs in their original run, but nearly all of my recordings are old shows which can be run out of order, and I seldom start recording with the very first episode.

Regarding video playback, the problem is with skipping forward. I have it set to skip 30 seconds, and that worked previously. With the new version, it starts out skipping about 25 seconds, then gradually skips less and less until it won't skip at all or even moves backwards once I'm about 40-45 minutes into a recording. I'll give it a try with the old version again to make sure it's not something else, but in a quick try it seems normal.

[pkscout]

Martin,

Do you know if any of the work you're doing on the labels will apply to the timers?  I know given the inconsistency of results it might be hard to know for sure, but I'm curious.  Also, is there someplace that maps what infolabels the PVR plugin is dumping information into?  I have an Estuary mod that I could look at to see if I can figure out why things aren't showing the way you're expecting (and figure out the timer stuff too).  My specific timer issue has always been that the title of the upcoming episode is blank.  The title is instead included in the description.

Thanks.

P.S. The YouTube video is working now.

[emveepee]

Martin,

Do you know if any of the work you're doing on the labels will apply to the timers?  I know given the inconsistency of results it might be hard to know for sure, but I'm curious.  Also, is there someplace that maps what infolabels the PVR plugin is dumping information into?  I have an Estuary mod that I could look at to see if I can figure out why things aren't showing the way you're expecting (and figure out the timer stuff too).  My specific timer issue has always been that the title of the upcoming episode is blank.  The title is instead included in the description.

Hi, I am not doing work on labels since that is in Kodi itself.  Basically what I am trying to do is follow the Kodi API and populate as many available fields as possible to help the skin developers create nice skins.  I try and separate  Title, Episode, S## and E##.   Sub's original skips Title and instead hard codes title with "S##E## Episode"  which is really hard to design unless all PVR add devs follow suite.

I will have a look at the timer concern.  Note there is likely a related issue on older timers https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/issues/15606# , Kodi tries and get some display information for the related EPG information from the EPG data but in NextPVR that information is long gone from the guide. 

Martin

[emveepee]

@pkscout I checked and what you are seeing on timers is the hard-coded combination of "Subtitle: Description" coming from NextPVR that Kodi gets from the EPG.  I can probably separate them.    Incidentally this is how things would look if NextPVR provided more information to the EPG. https://imgur.com/a/y2CmWF7  This may be what you hope to achieve.

I did put a request in for sub but it won't be happening anytime soon.

Martin