Hi Plex users.
I'm trying to convert my media center system from MediaPortal to Plex. But to do this, I really need Plex to stream live tv to my tablets, phones and tv clients.
I have a Windows Server with tv tuners (Digital Devices) and right now MediaPortal TV Server is handling my live tv, recordings and epg. This is working great and with the MPExtended plugin it can all be served by json, so it should be like a walk in the park to develop this plugin (for me) :)
Well my problem is I have developed plugin to MediaPortal, so I know how this is done, but I haven't yet developed anything to Plex.
So right now I will investigate how to develop such an advanced plugin first for Plex web interface and then clients.
If anybody knows just a little bit of how to start developing in Plex, please let me know or direct me with some links or howto's :)
Hi CoolBlue
I'm not reinventing the wheel with just using the MediaPortal TV-Server as an backend. But your post made me think of which backend to support.
To start with I will use MediaPortal TV-Server, just because I already have it installed and setup. I will make this plugin support multiple backends such as TVHeadEnd, MythTV and Argus-TV, by using the Abstract Factory pattern and some others.
As of right now, Plex uses very outdated ffmpeg version which wont play any HD recordings in EU. Neither Freeview or Freesat recordings play in PLex while XBMC / VLC play recordings fine. (recordings made by EyeTV and/or MCE7 converted into mpg Program stream or Elementary stream.)
I was going to start working on DVBLink plugin as their API is pretty simple and documented but as soon as I saw that nothing I would want to watch plays in PLex, i gave up. ( and then 2nd child came so it was a moot point anyway )
I’m very interested if you can get anywhere with current Plex playback engine. Please keep us posted.
Hi there
Thank you very much for the information. I will do some more research before I start develop the project.
Do you know if I can tell Plex playback engine not to use ffmpeg and just use the incoming stream from my SOAP? Because I had in mind to use ffmpeg on the server side of this project? ...where the client side is used in Plex.
I had in mind to create a new "Section" in Plex, so it will be placed under "My library". It will contain an EPG (if possible), a list of recordings and a channel list. Here the EPG will be the advanced feature of this project. I will start with the channel list and see if I can stream a channel. If I can, I will be over the problem you were facing. If that succeed I will continue with the recordings and last the EPG as we know it from our TV's with description and opportunity to select channel.
Honestly, I dont know but your plans sound much grander than what i had in mind… Have a look at the EyeTV plugin by Shirk, i was gonna use that as a guide anyway
Hi, Just an idea I’m thinking about… Maybe the simpliest way is that plex act as an proxy for local network!
If you install WebMediaPortal on the mediaportal server, you just have to use Plex server to act as a local proxy to retrieve/forward the requests to your WebMediaPortal.
I love you Ken4000!!! hope the development goes well as I’m big fan of your idea!!! Plex is amazing and live TV compatible with Digital Devices [that I also have:)] is definitely missing here. I’m not a programmer to be able to help but if you need a beta tester, please let me know :-)))
Hi, Just an idea I'm thinking about... Maybe the simpliest way is that plex act as an proxy for local network!
If you install WebMediaPortal on the mediaportal server, you just have to use Plex server to act as a local proxy to retrieve/forward the requests to your WebMediaPortal.
Isn't it as simple as that ?
Hi there
Yes that will be a great idea, but I want to have Plex as the frontend both when I'm home and on my way.
I'm still in the research and analyse face of the project.
Right now I'm working on getting the EPG to show up correctly using XMLTV as the structure.
It also looks like I'm only allowed to develop "channels" and not sections? Can anyone confirm that?
This plugin will have the ability to show you the EPG, record with the functions provided by the backend and serve the stream from the backend.
The selection will happen through the EPG. So you will select a program and from there you can select if you want to record or show the program.
Right now I'm working on getting the EPG to work...stay tuned ;)
...
Right now I'm working on getting the EPG to show up correctly using XMLTV as the structure...
Dear Ken,
Afaik DVBLogic backend can provide EPG data on the fly. I am not sure which backend are you working with but looks like you can offload xmtv mess to the DVBLogic ;)
Any further progress to report? Not rushing or demanding...would just like to know this is not dead ;)
Also I'm willing to beta test. Not sure if it matters, but I currently have a custom build of mediaportal tv server v1.2.3 to which I added proper support for my DVB-S card. I pushed the fix on github over a year ago but they still haven't brought it into the main builds (too much tv server rework going on in the background) and I haven't bothered to fix 1.3.0 for myself yet. I think there are some database changes, moving from 1.2.3 to 1.3.0, but your stuff may not be affected by that...
I actually created a MediaPortal plugin for Plex which you can find here on github. I also created a thread in the forums for feedback. Let me know what you think.
Are there any updates to this ? Wanting to build my own DVR and really like the plex interface, but to make the money worth the switch need to still be able to watch live tv, working with MythTV backend right now and would not like to have plex and xbmc running to get everything I want to work, seems like a waste of space...
I am willing to help out, dont have much experience with programming, but have basic knowledge and can do test builds on linux if needed. Can throw together a virtual test server anytime.
Are there any updates to this ? Wanting to build my own DVR and really like the plex interface, but to make the money worth the switch need to still be able to watch live tv, working with MythTV backend right now and would not like to have plex and xbmc running to get everything I want to work, seems like a waste of space...
I am willing to help out, dont have much experience with programming, but have basic knowledge and can do test builds on linux if needed. Can throw together a virtual test server anytime.
Bump. I have used XBMC /openelec for years and always had an eye on Plex so when I heard the subscription costs were going up thought Id jump in and pay up now for my future use. One thing that is putting me off making the jump is i dont know what tv adapter support there is. In openelec tvheadend is built in to the OS so i just have to enable it and its there.
What tvserver software does everyone use with plex and what addons/plugins is there to support tv play back? series record would be good.
hope the development goes well as I’m big fan of your idea!!! Plex is amazing and live TV compatible with Digital Devices [that I also have:)] is definitely missing here. I’m not a programmer to be able to help but if you need a beta tester, please let me know :-)))