Server Version#:1.18.7.2457
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I’m wondering if Plex supports any HDMI input capture card for Live TV? I found a way to strip HDCP from the HDMI connection and I only see two capable capture cards with HDMI inputs. The Elgato cards and BlackMagic Design cards are the only ones that seem like they would work. Does anyone know if any of these cards are supported by Plex?
I don’t know any, but really all you need to is dump the streams to files then preprocess if needed and play them like any other media.
What is your use case for hdmi input, surveillance video ?
If you want live tv, just use an hdhr, no hdcp to worry about.
Nope, Plex does not support hdmi capture cards. These are not the same as a tuner, since they don’t tune. Totally different type of tech.
Dang, that sucks. I’m trying to replace my Slingbox that I use during the NFL football season. I have the DirecTV Sunday Ticket and the online stream only allows one login. I try to bring up as many games on different screens as I can and my Slingbox has helped. It seems that the SlingPlayer app isn’t as widely available as the Plex app so I’d rather find a way to stream live TV through my Plex server.
I was hoping one of these HDMI input cards would allow me to stream to Plex. I would obviously need an IR blaster to change channels remotely. I assumed this would be an option. Maybe its something they’ll add in the future.
This is my setup for getting two of my cable boxes into Plex via HDMI/IR blasting using Hauppauge Colossus 2 capture cards. Thanks to some really cool software this is possible… CableCards are not available in Canada so this is my solution… https://imgur.com/a/UKtb54M
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Awesome. So if I get that card, strip the HDCP from my receiver, I should be able to run my receiver through Plex? How are you able to change channels with the blaster through Plex?
WinTV is included with the Hauppauge Colossus 2 and includes a Blast.exe and BlastCFG program for setting up the built in IR blaster… https://imgur.com/KyycsNo
NextPVR is what controls the channel changing and handles all the Colossus 2 settings… Im using NextPVR v4… Notice the channel changer executable option…
NextPVR exposes a M3U playlist over an http server that can be fed into xTeVe, which then shows up as a tuner in Plex.
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Thanks for the details and images showing your setup. I’m going to order that card and attempt to do the same thing. It’s frustrating that it takes this much work to add the capture card to Plex and they won’t just add direct support for it. I may be back with some questions if I have any issues during the setup.
One last question: this setup allows you to change channels easily through the Plex app?
No worries, I’m happy to answer any questions dude. There is a lot of moving parts lol
And yes, when a channel is selected in Plex, NextPVR will handle the IR blasting to change channels. It’s fairly responsive too, takes about 2-5 seconds for Plex to start playing the channel after selecting it from the guide.
I have the card installed and I can see live TV through the Win TV or NextPVR application. However, I can’t seem to get NextPVR to change the channel using the IR blaster. I have it setup exactly the way you showed in your screenshot. The IR blaster works perfectly fine in Win TV and in the blaster config software when testing. Any ideas on this one?
I tried skipping past that step and setting up xteve. I believe I have it setup correctly and I can find the stream in Plex. However, Plex wants to do a channel scan when I select the xteve tuner and it fails when I attempt to scan the channles. I think something may be off with the xteve settings because it doesn’t show any channels listed under “Mapping.” I have the xltv file loaded and that XMLTV settings show “644 channels.” I’m not sure why they’re not listed in the Mapping settings. How did you generate the XMLTV file? I used some software I found on the internet but that may not be the best way to do it.
NextPVR should be wired up to the WinTV Blast.exe executable. If everything is configured in BlastCFG and is working in WinTV, this should be working. Try confirming it works by calling it from a command prompt and passing a channel as an argument. https://imgur.com/IU1qcXV
Also confirm you have added your channels in NextPVR… Notice how each of my channels has “(Blast.exe {channel})”. https://imgur.com/j04E1Wd
I know xTeVe has a limit on the number of channels you can use. I only have about 120 or so channels setup with NextPVR so I know I’m well under the limit. I also rely on Plex for all my EPG data so I can’t help you out with channel mappings or XMLTV stuff. Somehow Plex actually had my EPG data available for my Canadian cable company, Rogers… There is plenty of xTeVe threads and information available from what I’ve seen tho.
I tested the first item you mentioned. I opened a command prompt, entered the command, and it changed the channel on my receiver. Next, I noticed that NextPVR was referencing BlastCfg.exe instead of Blast.exe and now I have channel changing working correctly in that software.
I’m confused on how you were able to download your channel lineup into NextPVR and xteve? You have to do this before you add the tuner in Plex, correct? I found some software online that generated a “XMLTV.xml” file with my channel listings. You can see in the screenshot below that it generated duplicates (one SD and one HD) for many of the channels. All of mine are HD so I shouldn’t need to duplicates. https://imgur.com/p7LpgMh
It makes me import this same file into xteve when I set it up as well. Here’s what my settings look like it xteve. It shows no channels mapped for some reason.
I’m letting Plex handle all my EPG data. So when I configured xTeVe or NextPVR, I didn’t need to provide a XMLTV file or worry about EPG data. When configuring the tuner in Plex, I just entered my postal code and selected my provider..
xTeVe has an option to set Plex as the EPG source.. Notice how I’m missing the XMLTV and Mapping tabs in xTeVe..
Obviously if Plex doesn’t have your providers EPG data your going to have to roll your own XMLTV file.
I would definitely clean up the duplicate channel entries in NextPVR, I’m not even sure how it handles duplicates of the same channel number. lol. I only have 103 channels setup in NextPVR. xTeVe has a channel limit of 480.
I went back and deleted the XMLTV data from NextPVR and changed the EPG source to PMS in xteve. I think my problem now is within Plex. It doesn’t automatically find the tuner and I have to enter the address manually. When I enter it manually, the next step is to do a channel scan. This is where it fails and I’m not sure how to get past the screen. Below are screenshots showing those steps.
xteve never asks for the username and password of the m3u stream. I noticed that NextPVR has user credentials when setting up the web server. Is it possible I’m missing something in xteve where I should be entering the username/password?
Tuner not automatically found: https://imgur.com/NEM1jZD
Enter the address manually: https://imgur.com/1usqfk6
I click Connect and the next screen wants to scan channels: https://imgur.com/0fsI1qC
I click Scan channels and it fails. I can’t continue past this point. https://imgur.com/hAwEs67
I don’t think the server authentication works on NextPVR, I’ve tried messing with it and I could still access the m3u and channel streams regardless lol. Verify everything on the NextPVR side by downloading and opening the M3U (http://localhost:8866/channels) in VLC Player and playing a few channels. Try and keep the number of channels below 480 cause xTeVe and Plex can’t handle that many..
Also verify if xTeVe is seeing all your available streams (channels).. At the top notice how I have 103 available streams.. This is the number of channels that will be available in Plex.
As for xTeVe not automatically showing up in Plex.. I’ve always had to manually enter the device IP in as well, It has never been an issue for me tho. Even when everything is working, if I go into DVR settings, Plex says the xteve tuner(s) are unavailable. Everything works fine tho, it just sucks to make small changes in Plex cause I have to delete and re-setup the xteve tuner every time.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll try in VLC starting with a couple of channels I enter manually first.
Also, I’m confused because I thought you said Plex fed the channel listings to your xteve and NextPVR? What you’re saying above seems like you’ve defined your channels in NextPVR using something. If so, what did you use to generate the channel listing? I can do it manually but it will take a good amount of time to type all of the DirecTV channels.
Ya the interface sucks in NextPVR for configuring channels manually, but its free..
You can use the “import” feature under the device settings, and use ScheduleDirect (7 day trial is available). You’re not going to be using Schedule Directs EPG in the end tho, this is just to setup the channels in NextPVR.. During import you can batch highlight and select/deselect channels to import by pressing space. You can get away with just manually adding channels too..
NextPVR: configure your Colossus 2, configure channel lineup w/ IR blasting (manually or through SchedulesDirect), and enable http server so a M3U playlist is exposed at http://localhost:8866/channels
xTeVe: Only used to pass the M3U playlist (channel line-up) into Plex as a hdhomerun tuner.
Plex: Setup xTeVe tuner and setup EPG data, match EPG data to correct channel.
Thanks again for all of the help. I think I have the NextPVR service setup correctly now. I’m able to open the M3U stream in VLC and change channels easily. The only thing I can’t get configured is Plex. It fails every time when I try to scan the channels. How did you get past this point? Here’s the screen that I can’t get past in Plex. Am I entering the wrong option somewhere?
I can’t click “Continue” until I click “Scan Channels.” https://imgur.com/XmH4fJw
I click “Scan Channels” and this is what I see. I’m stuck at this screen. https://imgur.com/sDY3Uh8
M3U stream playing in VLC. https://imgur.com/qVT660F
Disregard the last post. I didn’t realize after removing duplicates that I still had more than 480 channels. I deleted some of the music only channels and got the number down to 466. That seems to have fixed it and the channel scan finally worked. I’m going to keep testing but I think I’ll be good from here. Thanks so much for all of your help.
No worries man. Glad you got everything all setup and working. Despite all the moving parts, I’ve found my setup to be quite reliable.
Just another tip, my cable box had settings to remove the info banners/channel number upon channel changes, and also power on when it receives a channel change command.
Cheers and enjoy!
