API commands for FF, REW and navigation

#1

I've just started my free trial month and so am searching around to work out my best set up for what seems like an amazing product.

I have my server set up and running with the OEM image for a Raspi4 with a WD 4TB HDD and at the moment fed my a HomeRun Quattro. On the Client side so far I just have have a single Nvidia Shield. if all goes well this will be expanded.

I run as much of my current AV gear (where the Shield client will be) using my own custom remote interface which controls things by IP rather than IR or Bluetooth so was pleased to see that Channels has an API which I've started testing. However, there seem to be some fairly basic commands missing from the API spec. These are the left,right,up,down,OK navigation buttons and the FF and REW buttons. Are there really no commands in the API for these or have I missed them in the documentation pages?

Thanks in advance

#2

Transport controls are not provided as this is a system level thing, we couldn't do it even if we wanted to.

Look into direct integrations for your streaming device for doing this. I know Home Assistant can do this with almost anything, so there's code out there somewhere.

#3

Thanks for the response, but I'm confused. There are API commands for skip back and forward, play, pause, stop etc are they not transport commands?

#4

Different devices use different buttons/gestures to do things.

#5

Up, down, left, right, select, are not supported and won’t be.

For example, tvOS does not even have a way for you to do this programmatically. Even our app can’t do this.

Android might be able to, but this is outside the scope of this feature. The Channels API controls channels, not the system.

Look into integrations for controlling your device directly. They are out there.

#6

OK, I will look at system IP integrations as well, but I can't understand the logic of having some API commands but not others. Why is skip backwards in but rewind isn't for example? And there is an API command to get you directly into the Guide but then nothing to move you around within it. As a total newbie, who obviously doesn't understand the nuances, this just seems odd.

#7

We don’t expose rewind because we expose seek instead, for experiential reasons. There’s zero chance rewind would respond the way you want it to. If you started rewind, you’d have to stop it too. There’s zero chance with the latency involved that it would respond the way you wanted it too. Use seek instead.

We can’t do up, down, left, right because we can’t even do that in the app.

I truly don’t know what else I can say to explain this.

#8

OK.Thanks for your patience.

I think my confusion/expectation comes from the fact that I was thinking of the Channels Client as a standalone system like my current Enigma2 satellite DVR where all commands are available in it's API. But clearly the Channels situation is different because it is just an app running on another system, so there are some app specific commands and some generic ones passed through to the app from the system. I think the penny has finally dropped!

Regarding the latency of the rewind, I have been testing the existing API commands and they seem to be absolutely instant on my system. Does the latency you mention occur with rewind because there is a lot of processing going on when it is actually rewinding? If so, does the same apply to any rewind command, IR,BT or otherwise? Should I be weaning the family off REW/FF generally for Channels in favour of seek? We do currently use FF/REW a fair bit on our existing system and I want to make the transition as gentle as possible!