HDSurfer Plug-in for HDHomeRun

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
1
OK, I'm putting out the first another ALPHA of HD Surfer. There are a few rough edges and should only be tested by people with low expectations... it's a functional system and works great but it has only been tested by one person (Me) on one system (Fedora 19) with one device (HDHR3-US). The system has now been tested on multiple configurations... read through the thread if you have questions.

 
HDSurfer is a system (Plex plug-in + 'proxy' server) that allows you to stream from your HDHomeRun to any of your plex clients. There are still many limitations and other hurdles, hence the ALPHA release, but it's currently in a 'functional' state and being actively developed. There is a README in the zip that should, obviously, be read first.
 
Developed on: Fedora 19 (should work on other platforms excluding Windows)

Plex Server: 0.9.8.18.290-11b7fdd

Python: 2.7.5

Current Download: HDSurfer-ALPHA-0.4a.zip (863 KB)

 

The code will all be posted to github once it reaches a BETA status.

2

Nice job, will try it after work today.

OK, so I just tried to install it but I get an error.

I'm using Mac OS X 10.8.4, I have installed the hdhomerun_mac installer from Silicondust.com, so hdhomerun_config is now in my path. I have installed VLC also.

python hdsurferwave.py start
Fatal Error: FR22. Make sure your python libhdhomerun.py file is in the same location as this file.

It is in the same location, here is ls -la:

ls -la
total 648
drwxr-xr-x   8 martin  staff     272 16 Okt 12:25 .
drwxrwxr-x+ 84 root    admin    2856 16 Okt 12:24 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff    4304 16 Okt 06:33 README
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff    9453 16 Okt 05:45 hdsurferwave.py
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff   29568  6 Okt 04:13 libhdhomerun.py
-rw-r--r--   1 martin  staff   15668 16 Okt 12:25 libhdhomerun.pyc
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff     168 16 Okt 11:42 server.ini
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff  256337  4 Okt 00:38 vlc.py

I then tried to sudo easy_install vlc (which worked) and sudo easy_install PyHdHomeRun which fails:

sudo easy_install PyHdHomeRun
Searching for PyHdHomeRun
Reading http://pypi.python.org/simple/PyHdHomeRun/
Best match: pyhdhomerun 2.3.4
Downloading https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pyhdhomerun/pyhdhomerun-2.3.4.tar.gz#md5=2ad109b703ae1d310749befbfe9e21d6
Processing pyhdhomerun-2.3.4.tar.gz
Running pyhdhomerun-2.3.4/setup.py -q bdist_egg --dist-dir /tmp/easy_install-XgTzZN/pyhdhomerun-2.3.4/egg-dist-tmp-XbF4OV
ERROR:root:Could not load HDHR library from [/usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so].
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/easy_install-XgTzZN/pyhdhomerun-2.3.4/pyhdhomerun/hdhr.py", line 16, in get_hdhr
    get_hdhr.instance = cdll.LoadLibrary(constants.HDHR_FILEPATH)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.py", line 431, in LoadLibrary
    return self._dlltype(name)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.py", line 353, in __init__
    self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
OSError: dlopen(/usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so, 6): image not found
Could not load HDHomeRun library: dlopen(/usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so, 6): image not found
error: Setup script exited with 1

Any ideas?

3

Nice job, will try it after work today.

OK, so I just tried to install it but I get an error.

I'm using Mac OS X 10.8.4, I have installed the hdhomerun_mac installer from Silicondust.com, so hdhomerun_config is now in my path. I have installed VLC also.

python hdsurferwave.py start
Fatal Error: FR22. Make sure your python libhdhomerun.py file is in the same location as this file.

It is in the same location, here is ls -la:

ls -la
total 648
drwxr-xr-x   8 martin  staff     272 16 Okt 12:25 .
drwxrwxr-x+ 84 root    admin    2856 16 Okt 12:24 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff    4304 16 Okt 06:33 README
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff    9453 16 Okt 05:45 hdsurferwave.py
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff   29568  6 Okt 04:13 libhdhomerun.py
-rw-r--r--   1 martin  staff   15668 16 Okt 12:25 libhdhomerun.pyc
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff     168 16 Okt 11:42 server.ini
-rw-r--r--@  1 martin  staff  256337  4 Okt 00:38 vlc.py

I then tried to sudo easy_install vlc (which worked) and sudo easy_install PyHdHomeRun which fails:

sudo easy_install PyHdHomeRun
Searching for PyHdHomeRun
Reading http://pypi.python.org/simple/PyHdHomeRun/
Best match: pyhdhomerun 2.3.4
Downloading https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pyhdhomerun/pyhdhomerun-2.3.4.tar.gz#md5=2ad109b703ae1d310749befbfe9e21d6
Processing pyhdhomerun-2.3.4.tar.gz
Running pyhdhomerun-2.3.4/setup.py -q bdist_egg --dist-dir /tmp/easy_install-XgTzZN/pyhdhomerun-2.3.4/egg-dist-tmp-XbF4OV
ERROR:root:Could not load HDHR library from [/usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so].
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/easy_install-XgTzZN/pyhdhomerun-2.3.4/pyhdhomerun/hdhr.py", line 16, in get_hdhr
    get_hdhr.instance = cdll.LoadLibrary(constants.HDHR_FILEPATH)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.py", line 431, in LoadLibrary
    return self._dlltype(name)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/ctypes/__init__.py", line 353, in __init__
    self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
OSError: dlopen(/usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so, 6): image not found
Could not load HDHomeRun library: dlopen(/usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so, 6): image not found
error: Setup script exited with 1

Any ideas?

Yea, I ran into the same issue (I'm on 64-bit). I ended up doing a search for the libhdhomerun.so file and found it in a location other than /usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so. While it shouldn't be considered a permanent solution try creating a link (ln -s) to the file you find over to /usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so and doing the easy_install PyHdHomeRun again.

4

Yea, I ran into the same issue (I'm on 64-bit). I ended up doing a search for the libhdhomerun.so file and found it in a location other than /usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so. While it shouldn't be considered a permanent solution try creating a link (ln -s) to the file you find over to /usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so and doing the easy_install PyHdHomeRun again.

Thanks for the reply.

I did a search and I don't have a libhdhomerun.so file on my system.

I don't think the Mac installer from Silicondust installs the libhdhomerun stuff, it seems to be the linux download that provides that when compiling.

Any other pointers on getting this to work in OS X?

5

OK, so I tried to link the hdhomerun framework file from EyeTV to /usr/lib/:

sudo ln -sf /Applications/EyeTV.app/Contents/Frameworks/hdhomerun.framework/Versions/A/hdhomerun /usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so

After that I could do sudo easy_install PyHdHomerun.

But, now it fails when trying to do a channel scan:

Beginning channel scan...
Scan went koo-koo!

If I run it a few times, I get an empty channels.xml and the server "starts".

What is the format of the channels.xml?

6

OK, so I tried to link the hdhomerun framework file from EyeTV to /usr/lib/:

sudo ln -sf /Applications/EyeTV.app/Contents/Frameworks/hdhomerun.framework/Versions/A/hdhomerun /usr/lib/libhdhomerun.so

After that I could do sudo easy_install PyHdHomerun.

But, now it fails when trying to do a channel scan:

Beginning channel scan...
Scan went koo-koo!

If I run it a few times, I get an empty channels.xml and the server "starts".

What is the format of the channels.xml?

Interesting... you can try to manually create the channels.xml file but if the device isn't discoverable there could be other dragons.

At any rate the format is:
7

Interesting... you can try to manually create the channels.xml file but if the device isn't discoverable there could be other dragons.

At any rate the format is:

It is discoverable with hdhomerun_config and it seems that your program sees it too (at least it gets the IP from the HDHR Device name), it's just the channel scanning that doesn't work.

I'll try to create the channels.xml manually now.

What is the "channel_code", where can I find that?

Thanks again

Edit:

Here is an example snippet from a channel scan I just did with hdhomerun_config:

SCANNING: 862000000 (eu-cable:862)
LOCK: none (ss=72 snq=0 seq=0)
SCANNING: 861000000 (eu-cable:861)
LOCK: none (ss=72 snq=0 seq=0)
SCANNING: 860000000 (eu-cable:860)
LOCK: none (ss=74 snq=0 seq=0)
SCANNING: 859000000 (eu-cable:859)
LOCK: none (ss=76 snq=0 seq=0)
SCANNING: 858000000 (eu-cable:858)
LOCK: a8qam64-6875 (ss=76 snq=100 seq=100)
TSID: 0x08E8
PROGRAM 7310: 0 DiscHD
PROGRAM 7320: 0 KSp HD
PROGRAM 7330: 0 AnimHD
PROGRAM 7340: 0 C8 HD
SCANNING: 852000000 (eu-cable:852)
LOCK: none (ss=75 snq=0 seq=0)
SCANNING: 851000000 (eu-cable:851)
LOCK: none (ss=88 snq=0 seq=0)
SCANNING: 850000000 (eu-cable:850)
LOCK: none (ss=85 snq=0 seq=0)
SCANNING: 849000000 (eu-cable:849)
LOCK: none (ss=85 snq=0 seq=0)
8

It is discoverable with hdhomerun_config and it seems that your program sees it too (at least it gets the IP from the HDHR Device name), it's just the channel scanning that doesn't work.

I'll try to create the channels.xml manually now.

What is the "channel_code", where can I find that?

Thanks again

The channel_code is how the channel is known in integer format. The code is currently only used for reference and not used to actually send commands to the device, the frequency and program_number are handling that for now. It should be safe to enter any ##.# value in that field but make sure that each one is different as that is the field that makes Plex generate a unique key for the linked URL. IF they're all the same you'll only get one channel in plex instead of one for each .

Edit:

Once you get things up and running I'll send you a script that will go straight to the channel scanning so I can further troubleshoot why the scanning fails.

9

I got it working now :)

Great, I'll help you troubleshoot, but I can confirm that it's possible to make it work under OS X (I just watched some Discovery HD and it look great).

PS. I assume that VLC sends the stream in the end, does it do that without any transcoding - I mean, are we streaming the channels in full quality from the HDHR?

10

I got it working now :)

Great, I'll help you troubleshoot, but I can confirm that it's possible to make it work under OS X (I just watched some Discovery HD and it look great).

PS. I assume that VLC sends the stream in the end, does it do that without any transcoding - I mean, are we streaming the channels in full quality from the HDHR?

Awesome! I'll PM you with scanning debug script details.

Yea, VLC leaves all of the transcoding up to Plex so that it can do it's thing for compatibility. VLC is only used as a proxy to essentially convert the video encapsulation method so Plex can see the stream...

One note, make sure you "Stop Streams" when you're done so the HDHR doesn't stay "locked" and keep streaming unwatched video over your network.  :)

11

Awesome! I'll PM you with scanning debug script details.

Yea, VLC leaves all of the transcoding up to Plex so that it can do it's thing for compatibility. VLC is only used as a proxy to essentially convert the video encapsulation method so Plex can see the stream...

One note, make sure you "Stop Streams" when you're done so the HDHR doesn't stay "locked" and keep streaming unwatched video over your network.  :)

I got it working on my Apple TV with PlexConnect, I've been waiting a long time for high quality Live TV on the Apple TV, so thanks again :)

Also, the "Stop Live TV" and Settings doesn't work for me (both on latest PHT on OS X and on Apple TV), so right now I try and stop the stream by tuning to a channel in EyeTV instead.

12

Tested on Elementary OS Luna (basically Ubuntu 12.04) 32-bit

Server won't start, here is the output from Terminal.  Initial Channel Scan went fine though.

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "hdsurferwave.py", line 190, in

    server = SimpleXMLRPCServer((XMLRPC_IP, int(XMLRPC_PORT)), logRequests=False)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SimpleXMLRPCServer.py", line 593, in __init__

    SocketServer.TCPServer.__init__(self, addr, requestHandler, bind_and_activate)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 408, in __init__

    self.server_bind()

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 419, in server_bind

    self.socket.bind(self.server_address)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 224, in meth

    return getattr(self._sock,name)(*args)

socket.error: [Errno 99] Cannot assign requested address

13

Tested on Elementary OS Luna (basically Ubuntu 12.04) 32-bit

Server won't start, here is the output from Terminal.  Initial Channel Scan went fine though.

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "hdsurferwave.py", line 190, in

    server = SimpleXMLRPCServer((XMLRPC_IP, int(XMLRPC_PORT)), logRequests=False)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SimpleXMLRPCServer.py", line 593, in __init__

    SocketServer.TCPServer.__init__(self, addr, requestHandler, bind_and_activate)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 408, in __init__

    self.server_bind()

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 419, in server_bind

    self.socket.bind(self.server_address)

  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 224, in meth

    return getattr(self._sock,name)(*args)

socket.error: [Errno 99] Cannot assign requested address

It looks like the server couldn't bind to the default port (8000). Try changing the port in the server.ini file.

Edit:

I just added an error handler in the dev version for that exception that will give a better description of the error then a traceback.

Next version updates (so far):

  • Added support for custom icons (still a manual creation process, though).
  • Removed the need for shipping/editing the ini file, if it's not found it will walk through a quick EU setup process.
  • Additional error handling to be more EU "friendly"
14

It looks like the server couldn't bind to the default port (8000). Try changing the port in the server.ini file.

Edit:

I just added an error handler in the dev version for that exception that will give a better description of the error then a traceback.

Next version updates (so far):

  • Added support for custom icons (still a manual creation process, though).
  • Removed the need for shipping/editing the ini file, if it's not found it will walk through a quick EU setup process.
  • Additional error handling to be more EU "friendly"

I edited the server.ini file to a known-good port but got the same error.  I'll try out the dev version ASAP to see if I can get more info.  Thanks for the quick reply!

Also, for anyone else on Ubuntu derivatives, I did have to ln -s my libhdhomerun.so file, as it existed as libhdhomerun.so.1 on my system.

15

Hi.

Running on Mac OS 10.7 latest.

I got the scripts to install, but got the

Beginning channel scan...
Scan went koo-koo!

I manually created a channel.xml file in the format above and got HDsurfer running on the PMS machine, however Plex HT says unavailable. I event edited the JSON file in the bundle to point to the PMS server IP.

In case it helps anyone, I had to install the Lion CLI tools to get the easy_install vlc to work on Mac OS 10.7.

Thanks @TwoOneSix

16

I edited the server.ini file to a known-good port but got the same error.  I'll try out the dev version ASAP to see if I can get more info.  Thanks for the quick reply!

Also, for anyone else on Ubuntu derivatives, I did have to ln -s my libhdhomerun.so file, as it existed as libhdhomerun.so.1 on my system.

Interesting, maybe it's the IP. Try using either the server IP or 127.0.0.1 (whichever your not currently using,

17

Deleted and re-downloaded, started from scratch and now the server is running.  I was able to set preferences via the iOS app, and got a full channel list.  However, it will not stream to clients ... I just get an "Unable to play media / An unknown problem occurred" on iOS and PHT on Mac OS X just silently fails and falls back to the channel list.

Here's the terminal output from the server session after I request a channel from iOS:

Sending channel info to the HDHomeRun:

hdhomerun_config 1031E151 set /tuner0/channel auto:665000000
Sending program info to the HDHomeRun:
hdhomerun_config 1031E151 set /tuner0/program 3
Activating re-stream:
hdhomerun_config 1031E151 set /tuner0/target 192.168.10.200:23113
Sending Plex the URI:
http://192.168.10.200:23013
libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 8, expected 0) for PID 0
libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 15, expected 0) for PID 48
18

Made some adjustments and it looks like it's working on some clients but not others.  So far, it's working fully in Plex Home Theatre on Mac OS X.  Partially working in Plex/Web - it's transcoding and playing smoothly, but no audio.  iOS still is a no-go.

However, I'm currently testing via VPN - I'm not actually on the same network as the Plex server or HDHomeRun, so that might have something to do with it.  It would not work via Plex Home Theatre or Plex/Web unless I VPN'd into my home network.  Plex doesn't seem to be transcoding the stream to PHT, it is reporting AC3 audio and MPEG2 video, so it looks like it's just passing the raw stream.  I don't seem to be able to set a "Force Transcode" in PHT anymore, this would be a handy option to have.

I can also test to an Android TV stick as well as PleXBMC on XBMC/Linux this evening.

I'll test more tonight when I'm on the same network.  Thanks for all the hard work!  Let me know what paypal account I can kick a few bucks to.

Plex/Web Screenshot:

image.png

PHT Screenshot:

PHT.png

19

Made some adjustments and it looks like it's working on some clients but not others.  So far, it's working fully in Plex Home Theatre on Mac OS X.  Partially working in Plex/Web - it's transcoding and playing smoothly, but no audio.  iOS still is a no-go.

However, I'm currently testing via VPN - I'm not actually on the same network as the Plex server or HDHomeRun, so that might have something to do with it.  It would not work via Plex Home Theatre or Plex/Web unless I VPN'd into my home network.  Plex doesn't seem to be transcoding the stream to PHT, it is reporting AC3 audio and MPEG2 video, so it looks like it's just passing the raw stream.  I don't seem to be able to set a "Force Transcode" in PHT anymore, this would be a handy option to have.

I can also test to an Android TV stick as well as PleXBMC on XBMC/Linux this evening.

I'll test more tonight when I'm on the same network.  Thanks for all the hard work!  Let me know what paypal account I can kick a few bucks to.

Interesting... the main reason I didn't setup VLC to transcode anything is so that video didn't end up getting transcoded twice (once by VLC and again by Plex). In the past, I've had a few issues with Plex transcoding but nothing that I couldn't work out with-in with Plex. It's easy to send additional flags to the VLC instance if anyone is interested in trying to use VLC to (pre)transcode... I played around in my first tests but found that Plex was more reliable (as it's supposed to be) and used less CPU cycles.

Sounds good on the testing, I can only test on PlexWeb, Android (GS4, Note 2, and Nexus 7), and Roku (Roku 2 XS and Roku 3). My Vizio Co-Star kicked the bucket a few months back so I can't test on that but I have 3 Chromecasts so I'll be able to test that when the Plex release for that eventually comes.

I sent you a PM on the Paypal but, again, don't feel obligated as having live TV in Plex ranks pretty high on my "cutting the cord one day" list.  :)

20

More test results:

Plex/Web in Firefox on Linux:  Fully working, with transcoding

Plex/Web in Chrome on Linux:  Fully working, with transcoding

Plex Home Theater in Linux:  Fully working, no transcoding

PleXBMC in XBMC 12.2 on Linux:  Fully working, no transcoding (but one can force transcoding in PleXBMC)

Plex iOS App:  Browses and tries to load but never plays any video

Plex Android App:  Fully working, with transcoding. A little choppy though.

On a Core 2 Quad 2.33GHz (Q8200), CPU is at about 130-150% transcoding a typical 720p live TV stream

Great, GREAT work so far.  I am truly impressed and quite excited :D

EDITs:

FWIW, it doesn't look like the Plex Transcoder is starting when requesting a stream from iOS app.

It works in Chrome, but not in the Chrome App, which is weird.

Plex/Web on an iPad (Chrome & Safari) will load the first frame and freeze