XBMC with PVR Support

Attention: This page is under construction. Time to look at XBMC Frodo (12.0), which is now in a surprisingly stable beta phase already and offers with the ARGUS TV PVR Client of Red_F more functionality. Please stay tuned - as there are still some stumble stones to get this properly run right now.

Prologue - Some words about Eden & Frodo

(Newly updated as per 2012-11-27)

For those of you knowing already, what XMBC is about and for, we'd like to share some words about the upcoming XBMC 12.0 (Frodo), which is as per end of November in its After-Beta-1 phase.
Again, the XBMC developers seem to want to make us a Christmas gift - as 2011 with V 11.0 (Eden).

It's always a bit of a challenge to write a Wiki article about latest builds within a development phase, as it is outdated already the day it is published.

Therefore it's not about discussion advantages or disadvantages of Eden, Frodo or even other clients (right now), it shall give a helping hand to those of our ARGUS TV users who want to know roughly what we're talking about, how to install - knowing about hudles and maybe restrictions. That because

Warning: Once moved to Frodo, your database will get partly updated and thus it's not backward compatible. Moving back from Frodo to Eden is not covered in this article; you might have to re-setup Eden entirely. We give no warranty that the description is valid for all systems or that it will run on your system; Frodo and the ARGUS TV PVR Client are still in Beta stage!

Until Frodo has come to its release, please watch carefully to which version/build of Frodo and PVR Client the text refers. This first permutation of the article refers to Frodo nightly and PVR build as per 2012-11-27. Start from reading section XBMC 12.0 Frodo below if you consider installing Frodo instead of Eden. Please note that this article is right now under construction and as such changes within hours & 1-2 days - the not yet updated sections of Frodo are marked as "possibly outdated"

Recommendation: Nevertheless we come to this recommendation (as per 2012-11-27 - not earlier!): Early Movers - are probably already with Frodo ;) Users who like technical stuff and already used XBMC - safe to move to Frodo (Nightlies 2012-11-27 or later!) Safety-first users and households with wives or children ;) or new users of XBMC - Please stay with Eden for the moment. If you are new to XBMC, consider installing EDEN with PVR functionality first, get this up & running, then move to Frodo. This reduces complexity of the task and helps in identifying and classifying potential setup from PVR issues

XBMC

XBMC is a free and open source media player application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a non-profit technology consortium. XBMC is available for multiple operating-systems and hardware platforms, featuring a 10-foot user interface for use with televisions and remote controls. It allows users to play and view most videos, music, podcasts, and other digital media files from local and network storage media and the internet. (see Wikipedia and XBMC Website for a complete description)

The current stable release is XBMC 11.0 "Eden". The following sections refer to this version of XBMC. The so-called Version "Frodo" will be XBMC 12.0 and is at the time of writing (2012-09) in an Alpha Stage. Only Nightly Builds are currently available (no Beta yet) - if you would want to try it out or have some more details, please read the section XBMC 12.0 Frodo below.

XBMC 11.0 Eden with PVR Support

<b>Warning: If you want to have PVR support, do not use the official builds from XBMC Website, they currently do not support PVR functionality and it can't be enabled through adding add-ins. Use the prebuild packages' download link in the next section instead.

XBMC itself can not record or stream live TV or handle TV cards in its current stable release, but as XBMC is open source and expandable through plug-ins, a development branch of XBMC emerged and is kept updated closely with all upcoming releases and betas of main XBMC development.

To use XBMC as a front-end for ARGUS TV, you will need to use this branch, called "XBMC with PVR Support". It adds Live TV & Radio streaming and a (for the time being very limited) ARGUS TV Scheduling to XBMC. Through various PVR plug-ins, it can be used with a variety of TV server software. Please note, that the PVR support is in a beta phase, although it is working already very stable. As the time of writing, client-side pause/timeshift of live streams is not yet possible and scheduling a recording is possible only in a very limited way (only one-time recordings so far).

Downloads Complete prebuild packages and versions with PVR support can be found under Prebuild Versions For those who always want to stay on the edge of latest development, the PVR binaries - more often updated - can be found under PVR Binaries

Warning: Current version is XBMC 11.0 Eden, the next version XBMC 12.0 Frodo is in an early Alpha Stage and the use of it can only be advised to experienced users who are willing to accept errors and dysfunction for the time being - if so, please read XBMC 12.0 Frodo below.

Both of the above can freely installed over an existing Eden installation without loss of any configuration. Vice-versa, also the Eden stable version can be installed (back) over the installed PVR (Eden) installation without any harm to move back to the main branch.

For more information about this build and development, please visit the PVR Build section of the XBMC-forum under XBMC PVR-Forum

Configuration & Activation of the PVR

To use the PVR functionalities within XBMC, you have to configure it in two simple steps: activate it and configure the PVR add-on for ARGUS TV properly. If you follow the steps to first configure the PVR add-on and then activate PVR functionality it avoids to quit and re-start XBMC to load all ARGUS TV channels, EPG data etc. But it's of minor importance, just keep in mind to re-start XBMC once, if not.

Configuration of ARGUS TV PVR add-on

Move to the PVR Clients under System / Settings / Add-ons / Installed Add-ons / PVR Clients

• Deactivate all PVR Clients except "ARGUS TV PVR Client" (if you're using XBMC with ARGUS TV only.
  
• Configure the ARGUS TV PVR Client to your needs:
  
• The most important fields to configure
  • ARGUS TV Hostname: set the IP address or server name of the machine on which your ARGUS TV Core Services are running. Keep 127.0.0.1 for a single-seat installation (XBMC and ARGUS TV are running on the same machine).
    You may enter also a dynamic DNS entry, if you registered a dynamic DNS service and set up dynamic DNS and NAT / port forwarding on your router.
  • ARGUS TV webserver port: set to 49943 if you used the default settings when installing ARGUS TV
  • Windows User Account: set the username of the above mentioned machine, that should be used. Usually best choice is the same user, under which ARGUS TV Core is running as well. It doesn't matter, if this user is existing on the machine on which BMC is installed, if it's a different one.
  • Password: enter the password of this user that you just entered to be used on ARGUS TV Core's machine.

• Activate ARGUS TV PVR Client.

Activating PVR functionality

System / Settings Live TV and go to the tab General

• Activate "Enabled"
  

• Adjust other settings to your needs, they're self-explanatory.
  

You will now see the PVR starting up, connecting to ARGUS TV, importing recordings and finally also the EPG Now you will find in the main menu also the entry "Live TV" as shown in the pictures above.

Please keep in mind, that the PVR functionality as a whole is in beta stage, the ARGUS TV PVR client is even named to be in alpha stage. Not all functions are yet supported, but absolute stability is given.

Enjoy the combination of these two marvelous software packages: ARGUS TV & XBMC.

Troubleshooting

Network and connectivity problems may cause XBMC with activated PVR Support (both, Eden & Frodo) to crash. If you encounter this, e.g. if you're connecting to remote shares or PVR server or reside in an unreliable network, temporarily disable the PVR functionality in System / Settings / Live TV

• Thus, most troubles come from network issues:
  • First check please, if ARGUS TV and XBMC both have full access to incoming and outgoing connections in your firewall
  • If you installed / added XBMC already earlier and selected only some ports to be opened, add the ports 49941 through 49943 to be open as well
  • Check if your port just configured in PVR Client is correct
  • If you're using dynamic DNS, check
    • that your dynamic DNS service is properly set up and active (check with your dynDNS service provider)
    • that port forwarding or NAT is set up correctly for ALL new ports (49941 through 49943)

XBMC 12.0 Frodo with PVR Support

(Newly updated as per 2012-11-27)

Warning: All I want to say (again): Current stable version is XBMC 11.0 Eden, this next version XBMC 12.0 Frodo is in Beta Stage and the use of it can only be advised to experienced users who are willing to accept errors and dysfunction for the time being. We don't know everything, but we made some experience - if you avoid some of them, please follow the steps described below.

File:XBMC-Frodo-PVR.png XBMC 12.0 Frodo PVR Alpha 3 prebuild package... click to enlarge →

The good news is, that the PVR functionality has found entry to the "official XBMC Frodo Repository". This means actually for us ARGUS TV users, that the PVR Client Add-on has the basis as others, too. As for now,. ARGUS TV PVR Client is NOT part of the distribution and as such, has to be installed by ourselves. This is not a big thing, and we nevertheless profit out of the fundamental decision of XMBC-Tteam to support PVR functionality.

Download & Installation Instructions

(Newly updated as per 2012-11-27)
Download & install of Frodo with PVR funtionality - recommended way:

Prerequisites

1. First of all & if you want to have an as smooth installation as possible, please follow those steps - explanation mentioned with the individual steps):
   1. XBMC: Disable ... at start-up (a parallel scan of new videos with the parallel start-up of ARGUS TV may expand the runtime of that from 5 to 45 minutes (even on powerfull systems))
   2. XBMC: Disable Live TV (a parallel scan of new videos with the parallel start-up of ARGUS TV may expand the runtime of that from 5 to 45 minutes (even on powerfull systems))
   3. XBMC: disable (maybe already existing) PVR Client For The Record or ARGUS TV
   4. Now exit XBMC and start it up again to be sure the changes have been saved. Exit it again after all initialization has been finished.

Download & Installation

1. ARGUS TV 2.0.1 or later has to be installed. ARGUS TV 2.0 or earlier will not work properly with this description. --> Install ARGUS TV 2.0.1 or later.
2. Download a nightly build of XBMC as per or later than 2012-11-27 from File Repository - Mirror List --> Install it. Frodo (XBMC 12.0) Beta 1 is NOT new enough!
3. Download the latest ARGUS TV PVR Client (zip) file from - Windows & Linux PVR Addon Builds - watch carefully the release notes that my require a "latest" or "later than" XBMC nightly build! --> go to System / Setup / Add-ons / Install from zip-file and select downloaded file.

(NOT yet finished updating as per 2012-11-27)

Get it started

(NOT yet updated as per 2012-11-27)

1. Download & Install XBMC Prebuild Package (see No. 1 in below Download-box)
   1. Run XBMC and enable/configure the ARGUS TV-PVR back-end (similar to [[#Configuration of ARGUS TV PVR add-on|Configuration of ARGUS TV PVR add-on]] above)
   2. Enable Live TV (similar to Activating PVR functionality above)

Alternate way with latest nightly build:

1. Download & Install XBMC Frodo Nightly Build (see No. 2 in below Download-box)
2. Download a PVR Build from below (see No. 3 in below Download-box)
   1. Unzip the contents of the PVR Build and copy to your C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons folder
   2. Run XBMC and enable/configure the ARGUS TV-PVR back-end (similar to [[#Configuration of ARGUS TV PVR add-on|Configuration of ARGUS TV PVR add-on]] above)
   3. Enable Live TV (similar to Activating PVR functionality above)

Download - you have to download & install either 1 OR 2 & 3: → (recommended) Alternatively to 2 & 3 below, download the latest prebuild PVR package of Frodo under Prebuild Frodo Packages. This represents a more stable published Alpha Version. → Latest XBMC Frodo Nightlies: → Windows Nightly → MacOS Nightly → Linux Nightly → Plus latest PVR-Addon Build: XBMC-PVR.html

What is a "Nightly" or "Nightly Build"? "Nightlies" are builds that are run automatically during the night. All (ready-to-test) contributions or changes have before been added to the main development branch and will automatically be incorporated. The keyword is "ready to test" here. These changes normally have been tested on on a subsystem or component level and only few as an incorporated part of the whole system. Thus, every user using "Nightlies" have to be prepared, that the system may be unstable, maybe even (worst case) not run at all.

Differences of PVR functionality between XBMC Frodo and XBMC Eden

(NOT yet updated as per 2012-11-27)

Please add your information and experience! This ARGUS TV article or section needs your support. Please help us to create, correct or extend it. You may want to refer to "Contribute to our Wiki".

This section shall reflect only the ARGUS TV PVR-related functionality, differences but also commonalities, enhancements and restrictions.

We must consider, that most of the ARGUS TV-related functionality is directly linked to the PVR plugin, not to XBMC version.
This means in consequences that restrictions out of this plugin - please remember: as per October 2012 in Alpha Stage! - will remain more or less the same on Eden and Frodo. Namely: no timeshift / pause functionality, no series recordings, editing ARGUS TV schedules or even suggestions and alarms is barely impossible. The differences that have impact out of Frodo or Eden Architecture, are nevertheless obvious: faster channel switching and better sound quality (and probably many more).

Further Information

Please read & follow the ARGUS TV Forum http://www.argus-tv.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=60. The "Development Progress" thread covers PVR functionality in detail, especially under Frodo. You will also get latest news concerning PVR functionality there.

Credits

Our credits go to the ARGUS TV-Users Margro, Red_F, Glenn 1990 and many other contributors of the ARGUS TV Forum.