2014-12-06, 19:13
If you have a HD homerun tuner that is dlna capable, you can use the new versions of serverwmc and pvr.wmc to use dlna for live tv - instead of the windows stream buffer engine (SBE).
When running in this mode, when your client starts, serverwmc just passes the dlna address of the device you want to use for live-tv to kodi. Later when you start a live stream, serverwmc doesn't do anything, so you won't see any active streams on its status tab, however you will see the tuner is busy in the tuners tab. I have been using this mode on my development pc since I started using helix and it seems to work pretty well, but it would be nice to get others to test it (hence this thread).
Off the top of my head, here are the pros and cons of this mode:
Pros:
1) channels start faster - your mileage on this may vary.
2) no disk space is taken up by temporary wtv & ts files. You can run the stream continuously for a month if you want to (I don't recommend it).
3) the windows rec service cannot steal this tuner from the live stream (depending on how you look at it, this can also be a con).
Cons:
1) for some reason FF and RW don't work. This is a kodi issue, you can find threads where it is discussed. Hopefully someday they'll fix this.
2) Time shifted instant recording will not work, since serverwmc does not have any temp wtv file to use.
3) If you have multiple dlna devices, you have to designate one of them for live-tv streams since this device address is passed only once when the client starts. This means you have the possibility of running out of available live-tv tuners faster when multiple clients are trying to stream live-tv. More on this below.
4) Two client machines watching the same live-tv channel will use two tuners.
To use this mode, you need to edit the config.xml file (debug tab>'edit settings file'):
<UseDLNAChannels_Kodi>true</UseDLNAChannels_Kodi>
As already mentioned, if you have more than one dlna device, by default swmc will choose the lower priority recording device for live streams (recommended). You can set it to high (probably a bad idea), or specify the device IP address of the device you want to use for live streams here (so your choices are low, high, or the <device IP address>):
<DefaultDlnaDevice_Kodi>low</DefaultDlnaDevice_Kodi>
By default, swmc turns off tuner based transcoding (if your device supports it) so that all streams are run at native broadcast resolution. You can change this default here:
Setting the following to true, will make the tuner use its default transcode profile:
<UseHDHRTranscodeForDlna>false</UseHDHRTranscodeForDlna>
You can use this field to set your own custom transcode profile, some examples are: heavy, mobile, internet540, internet480, (see tuner manual for more)
<HDHRForceTranscodeDlnaProfile />
Let us know if you have questions or, if you decide to test it, what your results are.
When running in this mode, when your client starts, serverwmc just passes the dlna address of the device you want to use for live-tv to kodi. Later when you start a live stream, serverwmc doesn't do anything, so you won't see any active streams on its status tab, however you will see the tuner is busy in the tuners tab. I have been using this mode on my development pc since I started using helix and it seems to work pretty well, but it would be nice to get others to test it (hence this thread).
Off the top of my head, here are the pros and cons of this mode:
Pros:
1) channels start faster - your mileage on this may vary.
2) no disk space is taken up by temporary wtv & ts files. You can run the stream continuously for a month if you want to (I don't recommend it).
3) the windows rec service cannot steal this tuner from the live stream (depending on how you look at it, this can also be a con).
Cons:
1) for some reason FF and RW don't work. This is a kodi issue, you can find threads where it is discussed. Hopefully someday they'll fix this.
2) Time shifted instant recording will not work, since serverwmc does not have any temp wtv file to use.
3) If you have multiple dlna devices, you have to designate one of them for live-tv streams since this device address is passed only once when the client starts. This means you have the possibility of running out of available live-tv tuners faster when multiple clients are trying to stream live-tv. More on this below.
4) Two client machines watching the same live-tv channel will use two tuners.
To use this mode, you need to edit the config.xml file (debug tab>'edit settings file'):
<UseDLNAChannels_Kodi>true</UseDLNAChannels_Kodi>
As already mentioned, if you have more than one dlna device, by default swmc will choose the lower priority recording device for live streams (recommended). You can set it to high (probably a bad idea), or specify the device IP address of the device you want to use for live streams here (so your choices are low, high, or the <device IP address>):
<DefaultDlnaDevice_Kodi>low</DefaultDlnaDevice_Kodi>
By default, swmc turns off tuner based transcoding (if your device supports it) so that all streams are run at native broadcast resolution. You can change this default here:
Setting the following to true, will make the tuner use its default transcode profile:
<UseHDHRTranscodeForDlna>false</UseHDHRTranscodeForDlna>
You can use this field to set your own custom transcode profile, some examples are: heavy, mobile, internet540, internet480, (see tuner manual for more)
<HDHRForceTranscodeDlnaProfile />
Let us know if you have questions or, if you decide to test it, what your results are.
