Sometimes you find a fix for a problem that's so simple you want to kick yourself.
I'd been unable to watch live TV streams on other frontends (OpenElec on Raspberry Pi, Ubuntu laptop, and Windows 8 laptop) around the house for several months. Having searched extensively and posted the problem on forums I could not seem to solve the issue.
Even though mythbackend would serve live TV to Kodi frontend on the same machine, I could not serve these streams across my local network to other machines running Kodi. The error message in the mythbackend log was "Client speaks protocol version 75 but we speak 77!" when attempting to connect from some devices (e.g. Raspberry Pi), and "Client speaks protocol version 8 but we speak 77!" when attempting to connect from others (e.g. Windows 8)
After some prodding around in the mythtv-setup options, I accidentally blanked out the IPV6 field in the "general" settings section. I then blanked out the IPV6 fields in the kodi-pvr-mythtv settings on the frontend client, and hey presto! It worked! Live TV streamed without issue.
What I found amazing was that this was a such a simple fix yet I had been struggling to overcome the live TV streaming for months. The reason it had baffled me is that in mythtv-setup settings the IPV6 field hint suggests that if I will be connecting to the backend from frontends on other machines then the field shopuld not be left blank. I hadn't really given this much thought other than, my Kodi frontends are on other machines therefore the field should not be left blank. In retrospect, I guess this hint refers to MythTV frontends, not other frontends such as Kodi, which is what threw me.
Wednesday 25 February 2015
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Best Kodi add-ons for use in the UK
There are hundreds of add-ons for Kodi. Many don't work, some give you access to content which is illegal to view in the UK such as copyrighted movies, sport and television series, and some seem to just be too niche to be any use to most people in the UK (Gun reviews in Russian anyone?). Amongst them are some gems. Here is a post to help UK Kodi users find the diamonds in the rough.
BBC iPlayer This essential add-on allows streaming of live and BBC TV and radio and catch-up TV from the iPlayer database. It has a much simpler menu system than the layout on BBC's content-heavy iPlayer website, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your preference. Personally I like its simplicity and aside from Cmyth (see below), this is my most used add-on.
ITV Player Again, another essential add-on for UK viewers. Not quite as slick as the iPlayer add-on in terms of menu layout, but still easy to use, and allows streaming of live ITV broadcasts across ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 as well as streaming catch-up TV from ITV player's database.
USTVnow UK viewers can get live (HD for several months before reverting to SD) access to 6 US channels, for free. ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, CW, and PBS). OK, this one is a bit of a grey area as it is designed for US citizens living abroad, and requires you to tick a box saying so. However, the only time I use this add-on is when my American pal visits to watch the superbowl. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! If you visit https://www.ustvnow.com/ and sign up for free registration, you can then add your username and password to the USTVnow add-on settings and the add-on will stream these free to view channels in Kodi.
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Radio If BBC radio isn't broad enough for your listening tastes (Zouk, anyone?), Radio gives you access to hundreds, maybe even thousands (I haven't counted - let's just say, lots!) of international radio stations, which you can search by popularity, genre, topic, country, city, language, or search for local stations.
FilmOn Allows access to free to air channels from UK Freeview and many others around the world. The picture quality is not particularly good, but this is made up for by the range of channels available.
Spotimc You'll need a premium Spotify account for this to work. If so, installing this add on lets you search for music, browse for music and play your favourite playlists, all from inside Kodi.
This is just a small selection of the Kodi add-ons out there, and these happen to be my most often used ones. I also use a MythTV add-on which connects to my MythTV backend for me to watch and record UK Freeview TV and Radio.
Hope this list has been of some use to other Kodi users in the UK.
BBC iPlayer This essential add-on allows streaming of live and BBC TV and radio and catch-up TV from the iPlayer database. It has a much simpler menu system than the layout on BBC's content-heavy iPlayer website, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your preference. Personally I like its simplicity and aside from Cmyth (see below), this is my most used add-on.
ITV Player Again, another essential add-on for UK viewers. Not quite as slick as the iPlayer add-on in terms of menu layout, but still easy to use, and allows streaming of live ITV broadcasts across ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 as well as streaming catch-up TV from ITV player's database.
USTVnow UK viewers can get live (HD for several months before reverting to SD) access to 6 US channels, for free. ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS, CW, and PBS). OK, this one is a bit of a grey area as it is designed for US citizens living abroad, and requires you to tick a box saying so. However, the only time I use this add-on is when my American pal visits to watch the superbowl. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! If you visit https://www.ustvnow.com/ and sign up for free registration, you can then add your username and password to the USTVnow add-on settings and the add-on will stream these free to view channels in Kodi.
Youtube Allows quick and easy access to Youtube direct from
Kodi. Unfortunately, Youtube seems to have limited access to some DRM-protected content such as official music videos, meaning they can't be viewed from Kodi, but you could view them via a browser. Nonetheless, still a useful add-on.
Radio If BBC radio isn't broad enough for your listening tastes (Zouk, anyone?), Radio gives you access to hundreds, maybe even thousands (I haven't counted - let's just say, lots!) of international radio stations, which you can search by popularity, genre, topic, country, city, language, or search for local stations.
FilmOn Allows access to free to air channels from UK Freeview and many others around the world. The picture quality is not particularly good, but this is made up for by the range of channels available.
Spotimc You'll need a premium Spotify account for this to work. If so, installing this add on lets you search for music, browse for music and play your favourite playlists, all from inside Kodi.
This is just a small selection of the Kodi add-ons out there, and these happen to be my most often used ones. I also use a MythTV add-on which connects to my MythTV backend for me to watch and record UK Freeview TV and Radio.
Hope this list has been of some use to other Kodi users in the UK.
Wednesday 4 February 2015
Petition to bring Elite: Dangerous to Linux
Have you seen this petition yet?
https://www.change.org/p/frontier-developments-plc-port-elite-dangerous-to-linux-desktop
Were you a fan of Elite on the BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and Amiga, Sinclair Spectrum, Acorn Electron and Archimedes, Nintendo Entertainment System, Apple II, MSX, Atari ST, PC, amongst others?
Were you a fan of Elite on the BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and Amiga, Sinclair Spectrum, Acorn Electron and Archimedes, Nintendo Entertainment System, Apple II, MSX, Atari ST, PC, amongst others?
Back in the 1980's and 90's Elite appeared on many different platforms and sold hundreds of thousands, maybe even more than a milion, according to Frontier Developments.
What a pity that Elite: Dangerous is only available on Windows at present, Mac in several months, but no confirmed plans for other platforms.
Do add your support to this petition for Frontier Developments to release a Linux version.
Monday 2 February 2015
Steam-ish machine
Steam Machines' future is reported to be in peril as a result of delayed releases and Windows 10/Valve announcements (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2877281/why-the-steam-machine-revolution-may-fizzle-out-before-it-even-starts.html). However, my Steam(-ish) machine is here right now, and here's a report.
A quick recap: my linux (Ubuntu-based distro) HTPC sits in my lounge in ye-olde case (13 year old, Evesham X case), next to the television. I chose components to get a good balance between performance, low noise and low-power usage. The CPU is an AMD FX-8300 and GPU is an Nvidia GTX-650. This means the system can run games such as The Witcher 2, and Metro Last Light at medium/high settings, yet can be left running 24/7 without high power usage and too much noise (HDD soon to be replaced by SDD, and GPU fan to be replaced, which should reduce noise to practically inaudible).
Steam for Linux is installed on this PC, and runs absolutely fine in Desktop mode. However, Big Picture Mode frequently crashes, usually when viewing video, so I rarely go into Big Picture Mode, which is a problem, as Desktop mode is so hard to read on my television from about 8ft away. This is a real shame as Big Picture mode's layout is very good as part of a living room PC. Big Picture Mode also seems to be very resource-hungry, even after lauching a game; so much so, that when launching Metro or The Witcher 2 from BPM, the frame rate is so low the game is unplayable. Switching to Desktop mode and launching those same games resolves the issue.
I use an Xbox 360 wired gamepad to play most games now. Any games that require mouse and keyboard, particularly FPS, range from virtually impossible to slightly clunky with a Logitech K400 keyboard, as it has a trackpad, and a small one at that. Fortunately, most WASD games I've seen being released on Steam these days, support gamepads.
So what is the experience like compared to dedicated gaming consoles? Well, I'm sorry to say, that whilst I get on well enough with Steam Desktop version (as long as I sit close enough to read text!), Big Picture Mode just doesn't feel as sound as I'd like it to be. Admittedly, my machine is configured to do a lot more than just run Steam, but when I trim down running processes to test Steam I still come across the same issues; the main ones being Big Picture Mode crashing, and its resource-hogging. Once these are resolved, I would be quite happy to boot into Steam BPM by default.
The range of games is on Steam for Linux is growing larger and larger all the time - Steam is now listing 939. With recent major titles such as Metro, Dying Light, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Football Manager, Sid Meier's Civilization series, and The Talos Principle, to name a few, the quality is getting better too. Hopefully this year will see more and more AAA titles being released on Steam for Linux, as this will surely prompt Valve to iron out those bugs on Big Picture Mode sooner rather than later.
A quick recap: my linux (Ubuntu-based distro) HTPC sits in my lounge in ye-olde case (13 year old, Evesham X case), next to the television. I chose components to get a good balance between performance, low noise and low-power usage. The CPU is an AMD FX-8300 and GPU is an Nvidia GTX-650. This means the system can run games such as The Witcher 2, and Metro Last Light at medium/high settings, yet can be left running 24/7 without high power usage and too much noise (HDD soon to be replaced by SDD, and GPU fan to be replaced, which should reduce noise to practically inaudible).
Steam for Linux is installed on this PC, and runs absolutely fine in Desktop mode. However, Big Picture Mode frequently crashes, usually when viewing video, so I rarely go into Big Picture Mode, which is a problem, as Desktop mode is so hard to read on my television from about 8ft away. This is a real shame as Big Picture mode's layout is very good as part of a living room PC. Big Picture Mode also seems to be very resource-hungry, even after lauching a game; so much so, that when launching Metro or The Witcher 2 from BPM, the frame rate is so low the game is unplayable. Switching to Desktop mode and launching those same games resolves the issue.
I use an Xbox 360 wired gamepad to play most games now. Any games that require mouse and keyboard, particularly FPS, range from virtually impossible to slightly clunky with a Logitech K400 keyboard, as it has a trackpad, and a small one at that. Fortunately, most WASD games I've seen being released on Steam these days, support gamepads.
So what is the experience like compared to dedicated gaming consoles? Well, I'm sorry to say, that whilst I get on well enough with Steam Desktop version (as long as I sit close enough to read text!), Big Picture Mode just doesn't feel as sound as I'd like it to be. Admittedly, my machine is configured to do a lot more than just run Steam, but when I trim down running processes to test Steam I still come across the same issues; the main ones being Big Picture Mode crashing, and its resource-hogging. Once these are resolved, I would be quite happy to boot into Steam BPM by default.
The range of games is on Steam for Linux is growing larger and larger all the time - Steam is now listing 939. With recent major titles such as Metro, Dying Light, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Football Manager, Sid Meier's Civilization series, and The Talos Principle, to name a few, the quality is getting better too. Hopefully this year will see more and more AAA titles being released on Steam for Linux, as this will surely prompt Valve to iron out those bugs on Big Picture Mode sooner rather than later.
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