2013-02-16, 17:27
Somehow I missed this thread, so I'm glad I found it. I've been experimenting with what I consider to be a creative solution for getting pseudo-live TV working under XBMC, but there are two big problems. Perhaps krusty will have some thoughts on this. The approach I take would make the EPG a lower priority, but requires a smarpthone / tablet. So here's how it works in theory...
My server: a Windows 7 Media Center computer. I have WTV-MetaRenamer set up to run every 15 minutes and rename/move my .wtv files into a format that the XBMC (and Plex) scrapers are willing to work with. This server is also running Plex Media Server (PMS). PMS is not critical to the solution, but I like having it as my single/central metadata manager and for Plex's ability to do on-the-fly transcoding to lesser-powered clients, including smartphones/tablets. I also have Ceton My Media Center's server component running which taps into WMC's EPG data, series recording info, etc.. This software does not require a Ceton tuner (I have an HDHomeRun Prime).
This same computer would also be a client running XBMC with the PleXBMC plug-in (to get all of my movie and TV show metadata from the Plex Media Server). Other clients in the house can be running any OS with XBMC and PleXBMC. Mobile clients would run the Plex app. XBMC clients, in addition to seeing the Plex metadata via PleXBMC, would also have a direct SMB share to the "Recorded TV" folder, so that they could see a live view of any shows that are currently in progress of being recorded (whereas the Plex Media Server won't see these until it does a scan, and with WTV-MetaRenamer won't see them until the show has completed recording, WTV-MetaRenamer has moved them, and PMS has scanned/processed them).
For EPG scheduling, and pseudo-live TV, I would use the Ceton My Media Center app on my iPhone. They also have Android and Windows Phone versions.
So how it would all work together for pseudo-live TV...
1) I fire up the Ceton My Media Center app on my iPhone, look at the EPG, select a show, and tell it to record it.
2) On my client XBMC box, I go into the SMB file share pointing at "Recorded TV" and the show is immediately listed. Note: There will be no metadata for the show, but it should be easy to identify as the filename will have the show name and some date info.
3) I select the show and start playing it.
Problems:
A) Step 3 above does not work under XBMC Frodo. If I selected the show 2 minutes ago in my Ceton EPG app, when I start to play it in XBMC the time/status bar reflects a total runtime of 2 minutes. After 2 minutes of playback (or even a bit under), the show will abruptly stop and you'll be kicked back to the XBMC menu, even though the total runtime is now actually about 4 minutes. At that point, if you were to select it again, the time/status bar will reflect 4 minutes, and you'll get kicked out again once you hit that 4 minute mark. Important: Under XBMC Eden this is *NOT* an issue. You can keep watching the show all the way to the end. The time/status bar will show a seemingly bizarre total runtime which changes (and never looks correct), but it appears to let you continue to play the in-progress recording all the way to the end. This indicates to me that this is a *BUG* in Frodo (or, at least, a previously working capability that should be relatively easy to re-implement). Note: This is also a problem in the Plex client app (I don't know if it might have worked under previous versions of the Plex client app).
B) When running XBMC Frodo (I haven't tried this with Eden) on the same box as my WMC server, I use the Ceton smartphone app to select a show to record. But, then I navigate in XBMC to my SMB share to "Recorded TV" and I see the show, but if I try to play it, XBMC just clocks, and eventually kicks back an error. At that point, it also seems like my Ceton smartphone app starts having problems connecting to the Ceton server component. Again, this problem appears to only affect the box running both WMC and the XBMC client. On other XBMC clients (e.g., my MacBook Air), I can play these but have the issue described above (A).
My server: a Windows 7 Media Center computer. I have WTV-MetaRenamer set up to run every 15 minutes and rename/move my .wtv files into a format that the XBMC (and Plex) scrapers are willing to work with. This server is also running Plex Media Server (PMS). PMS is not critical to the solution, but I like having it as my single/central metadata manager and for Plex's ability to do on-the-fly transcoding to lesser-powered clients, including smartphones/tablets. I also have Ceton My Media Center's server component running which taps into WMC's EPG data, series recording info, etc.. This software does not require a Ceton tuner (I have an HDHomeRun Prime).
This same computer would also be a client running XBMC with the PleXBMC plug-in (to get all of my movie and TV show metadata from the Plex Media Server). Other clients in the house can be running any OS with XBMC and PleXBMC. Mobile clients would run the Plex app. XBMC clients, in addition to seeing the Plex metadata via PleXBMC, would also have a direct SMB share to the "Recorded TV" folder, so that they could see a live view of any shows that are currently in progress of being recorded (whereas the Plex Media Server won't see these until it does a scan, and with WTV-MetaRenamer won't see them until the show has completed recording, WTV-MetaRenamer has moved them, and PMS has scanned/processed them).
For EPG scheduling, and pseudo-live TV, I would use the Ceton My Media Center app on my iPhone. They also have Android and Windows Phone versions.
So how it would all work together for pseudo-live TV...
1) I fire up the Ceton My Media Center app on my iPhone, look at the EPG, select a show, and tell it to record it.
2) On my client XBMC box, I go into the SMB file share pointing at "Recorded TV" and the show is immediately listed. Note: There will be no metadata for the show, but it should be easy to identify as the filename will have the show name and some date info.
3) I select the show and start playing it.
Problems:
A) Step 3 above does not work under XBMC Frodo. If I selected the show 2 minutes ago in my Ceton EPG app, when I start to play it in XBMC the time/status bar reflects a total runtime of 2 minutes. After 2 minutes of playback (or even a bit under), the show will abruptly stop and you'll be kicked back to the XBMC menu, even though the total runtime is now actually about 4 minutes. At that point, if you were to select it again, the time/status bar will reflect 4 minutes, and you'll get kicked out again once you hit that 4 minute mark. Important: Under XBMC Eden this is *NOT* an issue. You can keep watching the show all the way to the end. The time/status bar will show a seemingly bizarre total runtime which changes (and never looks correct), but it appears to let you continue to play the in-progress recording all the way to the end. This indicates to me that this is a *BUG* in Frodo (or, at least, a previously working capability that should be relatively easy to re-implement). Note: This is also a problem in the Plex client app (I don't know if it might have worked under previous versions of the Plex client app).
B) When running XBMC Frodo (I haven't tried this with Eden) on the same box as my WMC server, I use the Ceton smartphone app to select a show to record. But, then I navigate in XBMC to my SMB share to "Recorded TV" and I see the show, but if I try to play it, XBMC just clocks, and eventually kicks back an error. At that point, it also seems like my Ceton smartphone app starts having problems connecting to the Ceton server component. Again, this problem appears to only affect the box running both WMC and the XBMC client. On other XBMC clients (e.g., my MacBook Air), I can play these but have the issue described above (A).
