KODI - Recording TV in the UK?

[Pho]

I just set-up a file source in Kodi and pointed it at my NextPVR recordings folder. The same goes for all your other videos, just point Kodi at that folder. I don't "play" recordings via the plugin.

 

[gEd]

I have had a small issue with NextPVR in that whenever I change the channel, it seems to pause badly. In saying this, the test machine is using a cheap and nasty USB stick TV Card and so I dont know how it will dowhen I try it on a proper TV device... If there is any difference, I dont know to be completely honest.

It also seems to hang all too often.

Channel changing takes about 4 seconds on my setup before the new channel appears. This is whilst recording 2 other shows at the same time and also playing music from roonserver.

I can't recall the last time NextPVR ever hung or crashed on me. The product is very mature and typically very stable. I'm sure the community could help debug what the cause is. If it is happening whilst channel changing, it's probably dodgy BDA tuner drivers. If it happens during playback, it's typically an issue with the decoders you have or sometimes the video card driver when people use older rigs.

btw, I'm sure NextPVR isn't alone but note that the DVB-T tuner locks onto a mux not a channel and there are typically multiple channels being shown on a given MUX. Therefore, if the channels that you want to watch/record are all on the same mux, you can watch/record them all at the same time, even with a single tuner. With my dual tuner card, I have recorded 6+ shows at the same time (just to test I might add!).

 

[gEd]

^^
How does Kodi/NextPVR handle recorded TV from other clients. Is it easy to stream the content to other devices?

I'm still learning how to use Kodi and from I've read there is no server / client setup like Plex where videos are marked as watched / unwatched and progress is tracked. There is a Plex add-on for Kodi so I continue to use Plex but how would it work for Recorded TV from NextPVR?

There is a plex plugin for nextpvr here

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?54438-Plex-Channel-for-NextPVR

I've never used plex myself so can't comment on how well it works.

I think Plex is the right way to go for streaming to other devices if you have already bought it. Although this looks very interesting as a free alternative for offering up your recording/video folders as a DLNA service (I might have to try it myself)

http://www.universalmediaserver.com/

"Universal Media Server is a DLNA-compliant UPnP Media Server.

It was originally based on PS3 Media Server by shagrath.

UMS was started by SubJunk, an official developer of PMS, in order to ensure greater stability and file-compatibility.

Universal Media Server supports all major operating systems, with versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

The program streams or transcodes video, audio and image formats with little or no configuration.

It is powered by FFmpeg, MEncoder, tsMuxeR, MediaInfo and more, which combine to offer support for a wide range of media formats."

 

[this_is_gav]

I just use PotPlayer to play the time shift file. Set your PVR (or in DVBViewer's case I use the service) to record the show you want to watch (in a .ts container - which will normally be the default), then I use PotPlayer to play the recording file, which it can do quite happily on the fly (though ITV4 rarely seems to play on the fly, though the completed recording is fine).

PotPlayer is way quicker at rewinding, fast-forwarding and and the likes than NextPVR or DVBViewer.

 

[marc2003]

That windows 10 WMC hack is working fine for me. I don't record so I'm not sure about that functionality but for live tv, no problem.

 

[Scottland]

Hi,

I've used Kodi for Live TV viewing for a couple of years now - I use the Argus TV back end and found it to be quite good. If you're interested I could setup a quick howto, although the wiki is quite good.

Also, I checked out DVBLink a while ago that works with Kodi, personally I didn't think it offered substantially more than Argus.

 

[Mujja]

That windows 10 WMC hack is working fine for me. I don't record so I'm not sure about that functionality but for live tv, no problem.

Was about to give this a go but I've read Windows updates will remove WMC. It might just be the larger quarterly updates.

 

[Mujja]

So I had a go at Kodi over the last few days.

Tried Kodibuntu and hoped everything would work with minimum configuration needed. Been a few years since I last used Linux so was a little lost when editing .conf files etc.

Had to follow a few different guides to get the DVB-T tuner drivers installed, setup all my media libraries, partially configured TVheadend and then realised I couldn't get sound to output through HDMI. Followed guides from all over the place but Lubuntu which Kodi is installed on didn't have the necessary packages and they wouldn't download.

Reinstalled Windows 8.1 with NextPVR and Kodi. Scanned in all channels, setup media libraries and it was looking good until we realised we couldn't control everything using just the Logitech Harmony remote, had to use the keyboard. Channel switching was slower than WMC and Recorded TV didn't look as nice. We could have lived with some of the changes but getting the remote to work looked like too much work, editing .xml files, and for some reason Kodi kept on freezing, usually when switching between live TV and an IPTV stream and even when leaving a locally stored movie on pause for a few minutes. The PC needed a full restart to get it working again.

No idea why Kodi was crashing as all drivers etc were the same as before and as they are now. Only thing different was the NextPVR addon.

So now back on Windows 8.1 with WMC and Plex and it just works with minimum configuration needed. Kodi is launched when needed but would have been nice to have to as the only media app and not having to switch from one to another.

 

[r22snapper]

That windows 10 WMC hack is working fine for me. I don't record so I'm not sure about that functionality but for live tv, no problem.

I record and it works fine. I find the EPG and general interface much better in Media Centre than the alternatives but I know it is a hack getting it to work so I have a Mediaportal installation "in the background" that I can just switch back to if I need and it also provides TV to Kodi so I can watch live in that.