[atharmian]

@atharmian did you read me comment about channel groups?  That is one way you can differentiate PVR backends and you can break channels into whatever "playlists" you'd like, and select them via the blade or what mechanism your skin provides.

Martin

@emveepee 

1. Yes I did read !
Yes, I used separate channel groups for TVLink v. Simple IPTV, and these channel groups did appear correctly under PVR Simple as the ouput PVR under Kodi > Live TV menu, with unified Guide and Channel Lists.

2. The problem, I repeat, is that I would like to be able to run different playlists (under different PVRs), in different skin shortcut menus displayed on a home screen.

For instance, TVLink PVR menu would be great with live streams without extra configuration, but not non-live, VoD content (streamlink base is only live stream !)

OTOH, Simple IPTV PVR menu should work nicely with live youtube (but needs plugin.video.youtube configuration) and VoD streams.

When I see Estuary or Arctic Zephyr Reloaded configuration, I can only select Live TV shortcut, without knowing which PVR is being used.

3. Another way I can look at the problem is to say that Kodi Live TV actually represents the internal Kodi Player, which aggegrates all PVR playlists in a single Guide + Channel Lists to output. And there is only one instance of Kodi player you can use in a build.

So this means Kodi Player/Live TV is capable of streaming all VoD and live streams regardless, while it will be individual PVRs that will determine what playlists (VoD, live or mixed) can they correctly (no buffering, other parameters adjusted for smooth operation) output to Kodi Player ?

This should also imply that PVRs cannot operate their own Players (unless you can configure external players like VLC.) PVRs merely manage stream quality and other parameters, e.g., like streamlink software for live streams which is not a player itself.

Now if above is true, there should be no question of selecting a specific PVR for output. Playback is handled by Kodi Player/ Live TV and is independent of a specific PVR operation ?

Thus, in my case, IPTV Merge may be sending the Plex Live playlist to TVLink (and not to the intended PVR Simple), but this shouldn't matter. All channels with channel groups are shown under the Live TV unified menu, and all content is being played back by Kodi Player, without regards for the individual PVR sources for playlists.

4. Now, from @phunkyfish last post, my objective doesn't seem possible anyway, and #3 above is what I believe he says.

And I have a different suggestion from @Atreyu that I asked him to clarify.

Certainly confusing to me, at least ! I do understand Kodi "good enough doc" may be resource intensive for a non-profit effort. But so should be posts/comments that still cannot clarify such issues.

[Atreyu]

I'll try to clarify.

No, you cannot have different PVR backends displayed in different skin menus (as it is now that i know of).

You could, however, filter groups, backend providers, playlists, showing only a selection (provider, backend, group,..) if one chooses to do so.

If you are dead set on using different menus instead of filtering, it would need a change in the current pvr structure. I, however, much prefer having one interface, aggregating all channels using these filters. Imo having separate menus per backend would only complicate things instead of having it all in one spot, filtering what is needed, or just show all. One of my reasons for choosing Kodi as a frontend is how this currently works.

Your goal seems different and would require someone picking up your feature request. But as i said, that goes against current concept and i am not sure you will get much traction on this. But who knows.

Hope it helps.

[atharmian]

I'll try to clarify.

No, you cannot have different PVR backends displayed in different skin menus (as it is now that i know of).

You could, however, filter groups, backend providers, playlists, showing only a selection (provider, backend, group,..) if one chooses to do so.

If you are dead set on using different menus instead of filtering, it would need a change in the current pvr structure. I, however, much prefer having one interface, aggregating all channels using these filters. Imo having separate menus per backend would only complicate things instead of having it all in one spot, filtering what is needed, or just show all. One of my reasons for choosing Kodi as a frontend is how this currently works.

Your goal seems different and would require someone picking up your feature request. But as i said, that goes against current concept and i am not sure you will get much traction on this. But who knows.

Hope it helps.

@Atreyu 

Thanks for the continued responses.

1. So I am not looking for any change in PVR structure given it would be a big effort.

2. My objective was to be able to watch both live & VOD streams from different or same playlists.

Here the problem, as I understand now, is that PVR Simple IPTV can only accept one playlist, from any source, m3u playlist, Pseudo TV Live (beta) PTVL etc.

TVLink PVR can do good live streaming, not VOD streams. So this implies I can either use a m3u playlist including youtube VoD links (via YouTube addon STRM URLs) in PVR Simple, or use PTVL (which may or may not extract Youtube streams, IDK.)

3. One solution might be Playlist Loader addon, if this is deemed "legal" !
But I don't know if this Playlist Loader can input multiple playlists into PVR Simple, one playlist being YouTube VOD streams via YouTube addon STRM URL format: plugin://plugin.video.youtube/play/?video_id=$VIDEOID

4. In any case, TVLink: live playlist(s) + PVR Simple: YouTube VOD+ other streams m3u playlist will do for now, all playlist streams going into Kodi > Live (aka Kodi Player.)

5. I haven't been able to check the sidebar filter options you talk about.
But I am assuming these filters can only be applied universally once, i.e., I cannot filter different options in different skin shortcut menus since there is only one instance of Kodi Player that aggregates all these playlist streams?

[Atreyu]

No different skin shortcuts, no.

In your case, it might be best to wait for simple iptv to support multiple backends. Might take some time, but a badly forked alternative i would pass on myself.
I don't use VOD, only live but i have seen some improvements regarding treatment of vod in iptv simple in latest versions that might help your case.

[atharmian]

No different skin shortcuts, no.

In your case, it might be best to wait for simple iptv to support multiple backends. Might take some time, but a badly forked alternative i would pass on myself.
I don't use VOD, only live but i have seen some improvements regarding treatment of vod in iptv simple in latest versions that might help your case.

@Atreyu 

I agree that wait for multi-instance PVR Simple is a good idea. Not much choice here !

[phunkyfish]

A very early version of multi instance for IPTV Simple: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=371948. It may not run properly at all!

If you test it please report any issues on that thread (not this one).

[atharmian]

A very early version of multi instance for IPTV Simple: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=371948. It may not run properly at all!

If you test it please report any issues on that thread (not this one).

@phunkyfish

Ok thanks.
Which versions here will work on Coreelec/AlexElec for x86 and Amlogic SoC ?

I see x86 for Windows and OSX, and armv7 and aarch for Android ....

[emveepee]

You would need to build them directly for LE/CE based on their build systems and the version you are running. They take about an hour to build from scratch.  No idea about AlexElec, you would need to talk to them.

Martin

[atharmian]

You would need to build them directly for LE/CE based on their build systems and the version you are running. They take about an hour to build from scratch.  No idea about AlexElec, you would need to talk to them.

Martin

@emveepee

I unfortunately am not a dev, just a monkey typist aka product manager.

So I will wait for more stable versions!