I'm looking at ways to get PMS working with a PVR/DVR back-end. In this case, SageTV, but I would think my questions applicable to any others.
I currently use Plex to play back recordings in SageTV, so playback really isn't the issue. However, I'd like to be able to manage recordings, mark as a bad/wrong "recording", see when the next episode is scheduled to record and from where, etc, all in Plex Clients, through PMS, ideally directly from a "TV Library", not a "Channel Plugin".
For example, in a Television Library, I'd like to have a plugin(s) link to episodes and shows being managed by one or more "PVR" (Sickbeard, SageTV, W7MC, XBMC, What-have-you), and be able to adjust applicable settings directly from the "Library" navigation, depending on PVR features exposed by a plugin -- not have to switch to a different app or navigate to a Channel plugin.
Is there currently any way for a plugin to do anything like this in PMS?
There is ongoing (by 3rd parties not Plex) to bring the XMBC PVR support over to the new Plex/HT client. No plans i know of to bring anything like this to PMS.
There is ongoing (by 3rd parties not Plex) to bring the XMBC PVR support over to the new Plex/HT client. No plans i know of to bring anything like this to PMS.
Yeah, I did see the XBMC/PVR -> Plex Home Theater integration. While interesting, I don't really like that as a solution, but perhaps my opinion will change over time.
I'd prefer to have PMS be the central point since I stream to remote clients often and use the same title/multiple bit-rate feature of PMS extensively. (I automatically re-encode all videos in my collection with low bit-rate versions that can be streamed at 750kpbs and 1.5mbps without FFMPEG transcode -- space is cheap.) This, as well as mobile/roku/etc. compatibility, is a must-have for me on any PVR server/client as well. While PMS's on-the-fly transcoding is nice in a pinch, the quality of it is just too low for everyday use over lower bit-rate connections.
It would be nice to see the PMS API extended in a way to allow "custom actions" to be applied to shows and episodes via plugins, allowing those "actions" to trigger methods in channel plugins.
As for "plans", it shouldn't be too difficult for me to manage most of this through a channel plugin, allowing me to schedule recordings, etc., right from Plex. The problem is that it won't be as seamless (I'd need to back out of the TV Library and go to the channel plugin) as I'd like, so I'm not sure if it's worth the investment of time needed.
