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Rvhalewyn · 2021-11-12, 01:57

In Leia I used Simple Client for the IPTV Manager supported channels, and IPTV Archive Client to get other channels from an EPG provider.

Now I have kodi 19.3, which doesn't support Archive Client. So I'm looking for a second IPTV client that enables me to connect to my EPG provider. It would have been super if Simple Client enabled multiple sources.

**phunkyfish** · 2021-11-12, 23:51

The features of the archive client have been incorporated into iptvsimple which is why you don’t see it for Kodi 19.

All PVR addons have a backend. In iptvsimple that backend is very simple, it’s a M3U file and a XMLTV file.

You could for instance use iptvmerge to combine multiple sources or iptvmanager but there would never be native support added to iptvsimple because it’s just not something that should exist in a PVR addon.

If you are bound to iptvmanager then the only route you have is to try out the PR there (https://github.com/add-ons/service.iptv.manager/pull/67) that enables the functionality that you require.

Does this make sense?

Rvhalewyn · 2021-11-13, 00:02

Thank you, seems to be what I need.
I'd like to try it out, but is there a zip file I can download? I'm not a programmer myself.

**phunkyfish** · 2021-11-13, 01:06

(2021-11-13, 00:02)Rvhalewyn Wrote: Thank you, seems to be what I need.
I'd like to try it out, but is there a zip file I can download? I'm not a programmer myself.

I’m sure if you ask on the PR they can instruct you how to install it. I’m afraid I don’t know much about python addons.

emveepee · 2021-11-13, 02:17

(2021-11-12, 23:51)phunkyfish Wrote: You could for instance use iptvmerge to combine multiple sources or iptvmanager but there would never be native support added to iptvsimple because it’s just not something that should exist in a PVR addon.

I think having multiple instances of a PVR addon is a valid use case. As an example it could allow Live TV to run from a local instance on CE/LE or a small Docker with a heavier backend doing things like recordings, transcoding, comskip etc potentially staying in sleep mode.

Martin

**phunkyfish** · 2021-11-13, 12:02

(2021-11-13, 02:17)emveepee Wrote: I think having multiple instances of a PVR addon is a valid use case. As an example it could allow Live TV to run from a local instance on CE/LE or a small Docker with a heavier backend doing things like recordings, transcoding, comskip etc potentially staying in sleep mode.

Martin

I’m not sure I understand what you mean. It sounds like you are conflating a PVR addon with a PVR backend/server.

If you did want to run a backend in kodi you can’t do that right now. We would need to add a binary API for it to support a server in C++.

emveepee · 2021-11-13, 17:25

I understand the difference. On LE/CE it is quite easy to install TVHeadend or NextPVR service using a packaged zip addon from Kodi, mostly with python and LE enhancement for package install scripts. It helps that LE runs as root. After configuring the tuner then the backend on the Kodi appliance provides easy access to local /dev/dvb or network tuners perfect for live TV.

Martin

**phunkyfish** · (This post was last modified: 2021-11-13, 23:49 by phunkyfish.)

(2021-11-13, 17:25)emveepee Wrote: I understand the difference. On LE/CE it is quite easy to install TVHeadend or NextPVR service using a packaged zip addon from Kodi, mostly with python and LE enhancement for package install scripts. It helps that LE runs as root. After configuring the tuner then the backend on the Kodi appliance provides easy access to local /dev/dvb or network tuners perfect for live TV.

Martin

Ah, so you mean to be able to connect to multiple different backends?

emveepee · 2021-11-14, 06:21

Right multiple instances of the same pvr with different addon_data folders.

Martin

**phunkyfish** · 2021-11-14, 11:33

(2021-11-14, 06:21)emveepee Wrote: Right multiple instances of the same pvr with different addon_data folders.

Martin

I’m not really sure what the right way to do this would be. Taking settings for instance there would be settings local to the addon and then some settings custom to the backend that would need to replicated.

There is quite a bit of work going on in the binary subsystem for kodi 20. Possibly after that we could look at what might be possible here. We need some mechanism like this for inputstreams anyway if we want to do Picture in Picture.

emveepee · 2021-11-14, 19:08

For my reasably unique use case it is pretty simple to rezip the package with a different addon.xml changing just the id and name does all the heavy work

PIP will be quite different it will be more involved in all the stream handling calls from one addon.

Martin

**ksooo** · 2021-11-14, 19:22

(2021-11-14, 19:08)emveepee Wrote: For my reasably unique use case it is pretty simple to rezip the package with a different addon.xml changing just the id and name does all the heavy work

PIP will be quite different it will be more involved in all the stream handling calls from one addon.

Martin

If it works for you, okay, but it is a real hack and there are no guarantees that it will work in the future. For example, forcing the same shared library to be loaded twice into memory can have heavy side effects (on some platforms).

**ksooo** · 2021-11-14, 19:25

(2021-11-14, 06:21)emveepee Wrote: Right multiple instances of the same pvr with different addon_data folders.

Martin

That’s the way to go, yes. But it’s quite some effort to implement it and if nobody with the required skills and time steps up we will never have it. [emoji11]

emveepee · 2021-11-15, 00:52

(2021-11-14, 19:22)ksooo Wrote: If it works for you, okay, but it is a real hack and there are no guarantees that it will work in the future. For example, forcing the same shared library to be loaded twice into memory can have heavy side effects (on some platforms).

I didn't know that thanks. I will start using a separate profile with its own addon_data to avoid this issue

Martin