Using Vu+ Tuners on external kodi box

[smreid]

Hey guys

Hoping someone can help me as this is driving me insane. I am trying to setup my raspberry pi in the bedroom (running kodi) to watch live TV using my Vu+ Solo2. Easy enough or so I thought. I tried setting up the Vu+ PVR Plugin on kodi but no matter what settings I try, transcoding or not, I can't seem to get a good picture. It buffers, it's low resolution and suffers from major sync issues.

Next I used the Tunerserver plugin on the Solo to create a set of m3u files and shared the internal HDD using nfs. If I play these m3u files through the file manager on Kodi they play perfectly but I can't seem to use them for the live TV addon in Kodi. The iptv live TV addon seems to expect a single m3u list for all channels but Tunerserver creates individual m3u files for each channel inside bouquet folders.

Ideally I would like a nice channel list and epg on kodi, even if it is only a days worth of channels. Can anyone help me finish off this setup?

Cheers

[Joe_90]

I use my Kodi (it's not a a Raspberry Pi) with the Vu+ Enigma Plugin to stream live TV from my Quad Plus. Apart from the initial setup woes where you have to get the bouquet name exactly right, it will now stream HD and SD live or recorded programmes just fine. I've a CAT5 cable connection, not wifi. HD over wifi is problematic due to bandwidth and latency issues unless you have AC or at least N standard.
I recall there being an issue with RPi (certainly there was when I first bought one) that it would not display MPEG2 video without a licence pack being installed. MPEG4 was ok but not MPEG2.

[smreid]

Thanks for the reply mate. I had thought there may be an issue with the mpeg license but the channels play but the quality means they are unwatchable. I guess this means the license isn't needed? It's strange that they play perfectly running the m3u files generated by tunerserver which suggests my issue is with the Vu plugin (maybe related to the pi?). Both boxes are connected to the LAN via Cat5e, I'm pulling my hair out (well, what's left of it lol).

Is there anyway I can generate a single m3u list for all channels using tunerserver or something similar?

[Joe_90]

Kodi displays my channel list in full in the same order as it is on openvix, but with its own numbering. Starts at 1 and increments from there no matter what I configure it to do. The EPG is full and exactly as it is on openvix. I can set recordings from the EPG or zap to any channel. It's not as fast channel switching as the Quad, but it's perfectly usable. If you're on a cabled connection, then you shouldn't be needing any transcoding, so ensure you're using port 8001. Try HD channels just in case it is the MPEG2 licence issue.

edit - I'm not familiar with tunerserver so I can't assist there.

[DaMacFunkin]

Used to have the rasperry Pi version B, bought the licenses, installed kodi, installed VU+ pvr plug in and ended up throwing the thing in the bin, it really wasn't fast enough for the none transcoded hd streams, i used to find the occasional low bit rate channel that was alright, but given the amount of time it spent parsing and loading the epg data everytime i loaded it i gave it up.
Just as a side a built a very cheap htcp running openelec but with 8gb ram with the same set up and that was a lot better.

[judge]

Is there anyway I can generate a single m3u list for all channels using tunerserver or something similar?
Using WebIf will let you download a m3u file of all channels in a bouquet.

[DaMacFunkin]

The Pi3 is a different beast, that said my experiment was on a FTV4K which should have been fine. Next time i'll use the NUC and give it a proper go.

I've tried on AFTV2 also and it wasn't brilliant.
I have a Nvidia shield TV here which is a beast but i can't be bothered.
I have a separate enigma2 box and a seperate media device in every room that there is a tv and that is the best way to do it.

[smreid]

Hi guys, thanks for all the replies. Strangely it just started working last night, now I get a 1 day EPG and a good quality stream on all channels including HD. I can also view and start recordings. It's not the snappiest solution but perfect for my needs at the moment. I will probably look at upgrading the pi2 to a pi3 or nuc at some point. Also, good to know how to create multi channel m3u as well, thanks.

[Joe_90]

Funny - you should get a 7 day EPG as it is a default in that plugin IIRC. Working on an RPi you will have issues with limited RAM, though. They are great little gadgets but you can't beat a dedicated HTPC for robust data handling and snappy performance.