Hi all,
My new Raspberry Pi2 install lacks a media player, which begins to be a bit annoying. The current setup : * NFS server * DigitalDevices Octopus Net DVB network server * VDR + rpihddevice + satip on the Pi2 : live TV, timers, recordings, etc. * an old VDR instance on the NFS server plays MKV media (using xinelibouput), but lacks satip (no timers, no live TV anymore)
I will upgrade the old VDR to act as a headless epg/timer/recording server. I will thus be unable to play the MKV media on it (headless).
What's the recommended light way to play MKV videos on the Pi2 from within VDR ? Adding XBMC on the Pi2 seems a bit too heavy. The mplayer plugin seem very old and may not work neatly with the rpihddevice output. Maybe simply moving the MKV files inside the recordings tree, and creating a vdr index for each work in some way.
(I use the MLD distribution (http://www.minidvblinux.de/) on the Pi2, but the forums are all in german, which is a real problem for me...)
TIA,
Le mardi 09 février 2016 à 10:33 +0100, Gerald Dachs a écrit :
As I understand OpenELEC, it is a lightweight Kodi (XBMC) distro, which by definition gets VDR out of the way. I'd like to keep VDR and avoid other things for various reasons (I'll try OpenELEC on some spare SD card though).
Le mardi 09 février 2016 à 11:35 +0100, Gerald Dachs a écrit :
I meant that Kodi becomes the main interface, with a VNSI/PVR client add-on, while the VDR instance will remain (in my case) on the headless server, with a limited or non-existing UI.
Will the current stable Kodi 15.2 include your work ? Any specific advice on how to have this kind of setup running ?
Many thanks !
Am 2016-02-09 12:01, schrieb Nicolas Huillard:
No, OpenELEC supports and provides a local VDR.
Will the current stable Kodi 15.2 include your work ?
yes
Any specific advice on how to have this kind of setup running ?
not really. My work just allows a channel scan from the vdr-addon settings instead of using the vnsi client interface to the VDR.
Gerald
You don't need to bother with Kodi (unless you actually want to use it). VDR + the mplayer plugin work perfectly fine. There's no point in unnecessarily complicating a persons setup if that's not what they want.
He has no idea what to do next because he lacks information, not because his setup is complicated. And, any time you bundle additional software along with all of the dependencies that come with it, it's just more to maintain and more that can break. What sense does that make when all he wants to do is play mkvs? Kodi is completely unnecessary, surely you agree.
Am 2016-02-09 22:55, schrieb VDR User:
No, absolutely not. The setup of OpenELEC is much less complicated and dependencies are no problem. The vdr-addon and the vnsi-addon gets installed by some clicks on the remote and a first channel scan needs only some clicks more.
The raspberry pi has superior HDMI-CEC support that is used automatically by Kodi, so in most cases there is even no need for an IR receiver and an extra remote. The remote of the TV is just enough. That simplifies the setup even more.
The topic is about playing .mkv. That is just a container. What about the used codecs? In the upcoming OpenELEC 0.7 there will even be support of H265 on the RPi. The Kodi GUI has no problems with playing 3D content. Is this working with your solution too?
Gerald
It's always no problem until something breaks......
He's not asking about HDMI-CEC so this is irrelevant. Additionally, HDMI-CEC support can be very limited on the device end so just because a device technically supports it, that doesn't automatically mean you can do what you want using HDMI-CEC. And plenty of people like me already use multi-device remotes so we don't have to bother with configuring HDMI-CEC at all.
I use the vdr-mplayer plugin with mpv-player (rather than mplayer). Yes, it works great. I've already played plenty of h265 content. I don't have a 3D capable card or tv but that works fine too. Very simple, very lightweight. Adding Kodi is adding a whole other layer of software and it's completely unnecessary. He's asking for something very simple, the solution should also be the same. There's no point in bloating his system and adding a whole other layer of software on top of VDR that he never asked for in the first place. You don't have to defend Kodi, I'm not trashing it. Kodi is nice when it's not broken. I'm only stating the obvious, that Kodi is absolutely unnecessary to give the OP what he's asking for. There is no denying this. And, he can decide if he wants to bother adding Kodi to his setup just to play mkvs, or if something less extreme makes more sense.
Sorry for the empty answer before.
Am 10.02.2016 um 16:58 schrieb VDR User:
That is irrelevant, because that can happen with your solution too
I can't see why it is a problem to mention other features he would get with another solution.
On an RPi? With hardware support? I don't believe that.
I'm only stating the obvious, that Kodi is absolutely unnecessary to give the OP what he's asking for. There is no denying this. And, he can decide if he wants to bother adding Kodi to his setup just to play mkvs, or if something less extreme makes more sense.
If you let him really decide you shouldn't make solutions bad without any proof, only because you don't like them. I asked you already before to explain what makes OpenELEC more complicated, you didn't answer. The only thing that is really obvious that you have no idea what you are talking about. As the founder of yaVDR I have some experiences how complicated a vdr setup can be. As a contributor to OpenELEC I know how simple the setup in OE currently is.
Gerald
!DSPAM:56bb8663485834103731893!
I didn't say it was a problem, I said it's not what he's asking for. And since you put it that way, not everybody likes a salesman who tries to "upgrade" or "upsell" the customer to a bunch of stuff they didn't ask for in the first place. Why is it so difficult for you to accept there's an simple answer to his simple question that doesn't involve Kodi.
On an RPi? With hardware support? I don't believe that.
I didn't say anything about hardware support.
I haven't said any solution to his problem is bad and I have said I don't like anything. Once again I have to point out that Kodi is unnecessary to play mkvs. It's idiotic to even question that fact but if you really need "proof" then go ahead and install the vdr-mplayer plugin and prove it to yourself. If you don't want to do that then you can install the vdr-play plugin as an alternative.
Yes, I have answered that question. Feel free to refer to my previous posts and perhaps pay better attention to what's being said.
The only thing that is really obvious that you have no idea what you are talking about.
Do you have any idea how completely foolish that sounds?
If I'm supposed to be impressed by that, it's not working. I've been a VDR user for nearly 15 years and have never relied on anyones pre-compiled packages. I've automated practically every aspect from OS install to fully working VDR, including auto-configuring things outside of VDR. So what, who cares? This isn't about how big my johnson is or how tiny yours seems to be. This started out with a guy asking a simple question - how can I play mkvs in VDR? If you want to act butthurt because someone pointed out that all it takes is the vdr-mplayer or vdr-play plugin then start a new thread about it. I doubt he posted to the ML in hopes of seeing someone get all sensitive over Kodi and start acting like its' honor must be defended at all cost.. It's really starting to seem teenage girl'ish so maybe you should give it a rest.
Am 10.02.2016 um 23:45 schrieb VDR User:
Of course not. You told that my solution is too complicated, you have to prove it. I did not judge about your solution.
It's really starting to seem teenage girl'ish so maybe you should give it a rest.
My fault, I should have learned over the years that you are just a troll.
Gerald
!DSPAM:56bbc3a8493521263344062!
Gerald,
You freak out because I suggested an easier solution to yours, and then call me a troll for correcting you on your own nonsense. I hope you don't think you're fooling anyone with that fake b.s. Take your temper tantrums somewhere else, or get lost.
==========
Nicolas,
Sorry your thread got polluted with this garbage. Gerald has a history of lashing out at people who disagree with him or have any criticism about yavdr. It's pathetic but hopefully in all the nonsense you've found a solution that suits you.
Hi Nicolas
Quoting Nicolas Huillard nicolas@huillard.net:
The mplayer plugin seem very old and may not work neatly with the rpihddevice output.
As I understand the mplayer plugin, it just launches an external player - this won't work on the Raspberry Pi. But technically speaking, it shouldn't be that hard to write a plugin which browses through mkv files, reads them and passes the packets to VDR's output device by implementing a dedicated player class. But that's probably not the way you asked. ;-)
Maybe simply moving the MKV files inside the recordings tree, and creating a vdr index for each work in some way.
Personally I convert mkv files to VDR recordings. Since you don't need to reencode anything this is quite fast and easy and you'll get all the comfort you're used from VDR. This even works for BD rips on the Raspberry, including subtitles and DTS sound tracks.
Regards, Thomas
Le mardi 09 février 2016 à 11:24 +0100, thomas@reufer.ch a écrit :
I wonder why this kind of plugin does not exists since all these years... The need and skills seem to be here. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do this. I'll check mplayer + omxplayer though.
Can you please elaborate a bit on how you convert mkv to VDR ts ? I see a 2011 thread on a related topic, but tools may have evolved since then ;-)
Thanks for your answer !
Quoting Nicolas Huillard nicolas@huillard.net:
There is no "VDR ts", it's just ts, so you can use every tool which is capable of handling ts streams.
When I'm converting BDs with makemkv on my Mac, I use tsMuxeR, since there's a nice Mac GUI available - this way, I don't even have to bother the keyboard for typing cli commands.
On Linux, using ffmpeg is also straight forward. Here's an example from my bash's history: ffmpeg -i /var/data/media/movies/Breaking\ Bad/Breaking_Bad_Season_1_Disc_1_t00.mkv -f mpegts -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map 0:3 -map 0:5 -map 0:6 -map 0:11 -map 0:12 -vcodec copy -c:a:0 ac3 -c:a:1 copy -scodec copy -bsf h264_mp4toannexb 00001.ts
You see, there's a mapping to get rid of unwanted subtitle tracks and the first audio track ist converted to AC-3 since it was stored as DTS-HD on the disc. But basically the command sould look like:
ffmpeg -i <some file> -f mpegts -vcodec copy -acodec copy -scodec copy -bsf h264_mp4toannexb 00001.ts
That's it. Put the file into a VDR recording folder, write a minimal info file (AFAIK only title, lifetime and priority is mandatory) and you'll see the new recording once you triggered VDR to update its recordings.
Regards, Thomas
2016.02.09. 11:19 keltezéssel, Nicolas Huillard írta:
The mplayer plugin seem very old and may not work neatly with the rpihddevice output.
I use mplayer plugin on my old RPI, and it's working fine, even with HD .mkv-s. It's patched for using omxplayer instead of mplayer. See details here (neither do I speak German, but it's pretty easy to understand with Google translate).
http://www.vdr-portal.de/board18-vdr-hardware/board98-arm-co/121850-rpihddev...
regards,
István
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Damien Bally -
Füley István -
Gerald Dachs -
Nicolas Huillard -
thomas＠reufer.ch -
VDR User