Chrome Capture for Channels

[bnhf]

@sunflower-st

Unfortunately my server is pretty humble so I can’t muscle my to better performance

I have the iGPU working. So, If you're willing, it'd be great if you could spin-up a similar LXC to verify.

Most of the original instructions are the same, but here are the differences:

This time, start with a Debian 12 template, and run these commands right from the first prompt:

sed -i 's/contrib$/contrib non-free non-free-firmware/' /etc/apt/sources.list

apt update

apt install intel-media-va-driver-non-free vainfo libva-drm2 libva-x11-2 mesa-va-drivers

After that, you should be able to follow the original instructions, starting with:

apt upgrade

and on from there...

Proxmox-for-Channels: Step-by-Step for Creating a Chrome-Capture-for-Channels (cc4c) LXC Container

I've tried, as have others, to get the Docker version of Chrome-Capture-for-Channels working better. Although, a few have reported acceptable results, most have not. Being able to containerize it, has appeal though -- so, I thought I'd take a shot at installing cc4c directly in a Proxmox LXC container. It appears to work well, so I thought I'd document the steps for creating a cc4c LXC here: Stepping through the usual series of windows for creating a new LXC, here are the values I used: [scr…

Running the "Weatherscan" channel:

intel-gpu-top: Intel Raptorlake_s (Gen12) @ /dev/dri/card1 -  157/ 617 MHz;  52% RC6
    0.24/66.45 W;      186 irqs/s

         ENGINES     BUSY                                               MI_SEMA MI_WAIT
       Render/3D    6.65% |██▉                                       |      0%      0%
         Blitter    0.00% |                                           |      0%      0%
           Video    0.00% |                                           |      0%      0%
    VideoEnhance    0.00% |                                           |      0%      0%

   PID              NAME    Render/3D       Blitter         Video      VideoEnhance     
292179            chrome |█            ||             ||             ||             |

I'm watching a free Sling channel right now, "T2", and it looks really good -- while using about 35-70% of 4 CPUs. The weird thing though, is that this channel is not using any iGPU, so maybe there's more tweaking to do. Interestingly, running the Weatherscan channel, I saw intel_gpu_top spike to 100% a few times.

But, as I said, we now know the iGPU is getting passed through and is working at some level. chrome://gpu still shows a couple of features using "software". Every Chrome/Puppeteer flag change I've tried so far, has disabled hardware somewhere, so I'm back to the current default flags.

[tmm1]

Maybe --disable-features=UseChromeOSDirectVideoDecoder

[bnhf]

@tmm1

Maybe --disable-features=UseChromeOSDirectVideoDecoder

No joy. The stream would start, but then pretty quickly freeze with that flag.

[cyberskier]

It’s working for me, including sound, with this:

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="weatherscan", tvg-logo="https://(myprivateserver).com/images/tvlogos/weatherscan3.png",Weatherscan
chrome://192.168.7.180:5589/stream?url=https://v2.weatherscan.net

[Accustiver]

That's the format I'm using as well. But I think I figured it out. I was running CC4C headless with the custom node ncc-7-0 that you'll find digging around through this forum. I got rid of headless and the music plays. I'd prefer to run it in headless mode since this uses less resources, but if this is what I have to do to get the music to play, I'll keep it...I'm not using it that often. But just curious if anyone happens to know how to run it headless and still get the music to play.

[laughsbrightly]

To run headless you might want to try cheap HDMI/DP fob from Amazon. That solved all my issues with remote access to my headless server. The "fob" fakes the computer into thinking there is a 1920 display attached.

[Accustiver]

Will need to look into that. Just wondering though if there is a simpler route to go by just editing or adding some code in the .js file.

I did see this line of code:
video style="width: 100%; height: 100%" onKeyPress="videoKeyPress(event)" onClick="videoClick(event)" src="/stream?waitForVideo=false&url=${encodeURIComponent(
req.query.url || 'https://google.com'
)}" autoplay muted />

Notice the autoplay muted line. Not sure if this has anything to do with it but is it possible to change this line to be unmuted? Not sure what you would type in there though to make that unmuted.

[Accustiver]

Once again figured it out with a little tinkering. After digging around in some forums from a google search, I discovered that if I add the following lines of code to the .js file, audio will play when running headless:

Under the args: [ section add the following code: '--autoplay-policy=no-user-gesture-required',

Under the ignoreDefaultArgs: [ section add the following code: '--mute-audio',

It works like a charm!

[bnhf]

A couple of updates for those interested in a containerized version of chrome-capture-for-channels:

The first, which I reported a few posts ago, is that cc4c is running very nicely in a Proxmox LXC container with 4 vCPUs and 4GB of RAM allocated. Highly recommended for users with decent hardware running Proxmox.

The second, is that I built a new Docker container (amd64 only) based on the @dravenst cc4c repo, and that's also working very nicely. @dravenst appears to have really cleaned-up the cc4c code, with better error handling and improved performance. I'm testing this on a 10th generation i7, also with 4 vCPUs allocated and 4GB of RAM. Here's what resource usage looks like, including all overhead, with a single active stream:

I've circled back to cc4c many times since it was first released, and this is the first time I've liked the results enough to put it into "production". I'm using it with a Sling Starz/Encore package, which includes 15 premium movie channels for ~$11/mo.

The container is available as bnhf/cc4c:latest, and should be spun-up using the following Docker Compose in Portainer:

version: '3.9'
services:
  cc4c:
    image: bnhf/cc4c:${TAG:-latest}
    container_name: cc4c
    #devices:
      #- /dev/dri:/dev/dri # Uncomment for Intel Quick Sync (GPU) access
    ports:
      - ${HOST_PORT:-5589}:${CC4C_PORT:-5589} # cc4c proxy port
      - ${HOST_VNC_PORT:-5900}:5900 # VNC port for entering credentials
    environment:
      - VIDEO_BITRATE=${VIDEO_BITRATE:-6000000} # Video bitrate in bits per second  [number] [default: 6000000]
      - AUDIO_BITRATE=${AUDIO_BITRATE:-256000} # Audio bitrate in bits per second  [number] [default: 256000]
      - FRAMERATE=${FRAMERATE:-30} # Minimum frame rate  [number] [default: 30]
      - CC4C_PORT=${CC4C_PORT:-5589} # Port number for the server  [number] [default: 5589]
      - VIDEO_WIDTH=${VIDEO_WIDTH:-1920} # Video width in pixels (e.g., 1920 for 1080p)  [number] [default: 1920]
      - VIDEO_HEIGHT=${VIDEO_HEIGHT:-1080} # Video height in pixels (e.g., 1080 for 1080p)  [number] [default: 1080]
      - VIDEO_CODEC=${VIDEO_CODEC:-h264_nvenc} # Video codec (e.g., h264_nvenc, h264_qsv, h264_amf, h264_vaapi)  [string] [default: "h264_nvenc"]
      - AUDIO_CODEC=${AUDIO_CODEC:-aac} # Audio codec (e.g., aac, opus)  [string] [default: "aac"]
      - TZ=${TZ} # Add your timezone in the Environment variables section with "name" set to TZ and "value" to your local timezone
    volumes:
      - cc4c:/home/chrome/chromedata # Creates a persistent Docker Volume in /var/lib/docker/volumes for Chrome data.
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  cc4c:
    name: ${HOST_VOLUME}

Here's a set of sample env vars, that you'll want to customize to your requirements:

TAG=latest
HOST_PORT=5589
CC4C_PORT=5589
HOST_VNC_PORT=5900
VIDEO_BITRATE=8500000
AUDIO_BITRATE=256000
FRAMERATE=60
VIDEO_WIDTH=1920
VIDEO_HEIGHT=1080
VIDEO_CODEC=h264_vaapi
AUDIO_CODEC=aac
TZ=US/Mountain
HOST_VOLUME=cc4c_chromedata

Use the compose as-is, and put the env vars (with your values) in the section of the Portainer-Stacks editor designed for that purpose (use Advanced mode to copy and paste this list).

This container is designed to use a VNC client for connecting to the Chrome instance to enter credentials and the like. I use TightVNC Viewer, but others will work. The VNC server is on the standard port 5900, unless you change it.

If you're interested in the Proxmox LXC approach, I've updated the step-by-step here to use the @dravenst repo:

Proxmox-for-Channels: Step-by-Step for Creating a Chrome-Capture-for-Channels (cc4c) LXC Container

EDIT (10 April 25): I've reworked this post to reflect my latest recommendations for creating a cc4c LXC container in Proxmox. This now uses a Debian 12 template and incorporates the @dravenst cc4c repo. This repo features better error handling, more descriptive console output, command line switches for configurable elements, and some specific support for Sling. I've also added suggested changes to ~/.bashrc to run cc4c on login in an additional post. I've tried, as have others, to get the Dock…

[bnhf]

I've added Project One-Click support for the new cc4c Docker container based on the @dravenst repo. This includes spinning-up the container, and creating an initial CDVR Custom Channels wth the Weatherscan channel. As a bonus, if you have the Sling StarzEncore package, it'll add those 15 channels as well -- ready to use. Pushed this afternoon as bnhf/olivetin:latest (aka bnhf/olivetin:2025.04.13).

Tweak any values you need/want to change, and the Portainer Stack will be created for you:

And, as always with Project One-Click, the Custom Channels Source is created too:

If you don't have OliveTin-for-Channels or Portainer installed yet, it's very easy these days:

OliveTin EZ-Start: The Next Generation. Deploy OliveTin-for-Channels from the Command Line without the Need for Portainer to be Installed in Advance!

The next generation of OliveTin EZ-Start is here! With the latest bnhf/olivetin:latest (bnhf/olivetin:2025.03.27) push, you can now install OliveTin EZ-Start from the Linux command line (Windows users, via Windows Terminal and Debian or Ubuntu WSL2 distros). Prerequisites: Channels DVR Docker (Docker or Docker Desktop) Steps (more detail below): Execute OliveTin EZ-Start Docker run command Go to http://ip.address.you.specified:1338 (note this is NOT the standard OliveTin 1337) Run the Inst…

[daldana7296]

@bnhf

Not sure if I'm missing something, but I can't change the ip address for the dvr. It only has three items as a dropdown.
Also, where would the main.js file be located after this install? I've found that the ncc-7-0 would very well for me when I used the windows executable, so I'd like to swap those two for comparison after install. Thanks.

[bnhf]

@daldana7296

Not sure if I'm missing something, but I can't change the ip address for the dvr. It only has three items as a dropdown.

My fault -- I'll fix that. I'll post here shortly once there's a new build available.

@daldana7296

Also, where would the main.js file be located after this install? I've found that the ncc-7-0 would very well for me when I used the windows executable, so I'd like to swap those two for comparison after install.

This one we'll need to put out heads together on. From my perspective, the @dravenst code base is the first time I've found cc4c to be usable in container form. As a matter of fact I'm watching Dante's Peak on StarzEncore now.

All of the previous fixes/enhancements I've tried have perhaps been fine for folks running the code non-containerized. But, even with a 14th generation i9 running Proxmox the container version would, at best, have audio and video out-of-sync.

Having said that, I would like to add support for Peacock un-muting (similar to the Sling volume control in this repo), and whatever else you find you appealing in the version you're using. My number one goal though, will be to keep the Docker/LXC versions humming like they are now.

Long way around to saying the main.js in not exposed in this version, and I'm not sure you could replace it on the fly anyway, since it's running from container start -- and killing it would kill the container. I'm hoping we can get one version that serves everyone's needs, but is also solid, and can be containerized.

[bnhf]

@daldana7296 OK, hopefully all rock and no roll now. Please pull :latest again, and let me know if we're good.

Also, any chance you could give me a rundown on the features you have with the version you're using now, that you'd like to see in this version?

Another interesting point, that I forgot to mention before, is that the new codebase is almost double the number of lines of the old. That's not necessarily indicative of anything, as I prefer to write compact code myself. But in this case, it appears to be mostly to do with reliability, configurability, error-handling and a few Sling-specific things.

[bnhf]

@daldana7296 Thinking about this for a few more minutes, you wouldn't be able to swap out the main.js anyway.

The new version incorporates flags that are used to make things configurable. I did a few of these way-back-when, but this new version makes all the key settings tweakable.

I don't think it'll be difficult to merge code bases though. I don't believe the version you're using ever made it to GitHub -- but we can make that happen.

[daldana7296]

@bnhf

Thanks, the new version does allow the ip change (in fact, it was pre-populated with the correct address, kudos!).

I use cc4c primarily for Spectrum channels that are not TVE and the ncc-7-0 did very well at pulling in the videos at a decent rate. So far, with this version I can't seem to pull anything at over 200-300kbps. Also the NFL channel would stay at fullscreen after I initially opened it up, but with this version I seem to have to press fullscreen every time I start the channel.

As for Peacock, @m0ngr31 and @doug8796 were collaborating on a project they called CCEPG which worked for Peacock and ABC (although on Android devices only). Maybe you could check with one of them.

[bnhf]

@daldana7296

So far, with this version I can't seem to pull anything at over 200-300kbps.

You're seeing that in client stats -- or using the CDVR WebUI? What are the specs on your Docker host computer?

@daldana7296

Also the NFL channel would stay at fullscreen after I initially opened it up, but with this version I seem to have to press fullscreen every time I start the channel.

That's likely something that would need to be merged.

@daldana7296

As for Peacock, @m0ngr31 and @doug8796 were collaborating on a project they called CCEPG which worked for Peacock and ABC (although on Android devices only). Maybe you could check with one of them.

I'll see what I can find.

[daldana7296]

@bnhf

I'm seeing that in the WebUI. I running a Windows 11 Pro PC with a 12th Gen I5 UHD 770 and 16 GB RAM. All drivers updated.

I just sent in a support ticket to CDVR because the server is not seeing any hardware transcoding hardware anymore. I just noticed that, so that might be the problem.

[bnhf]

@daldana7296

I'm seeing that in the WebUI.

Try looking at a stream on a client if you could. The WebUI isn't a great way to compare, as it tends to make decisions on streaming rates too quickly.

[daldana7296]

@bnhf

Yup, you are absolutely right! On my android phone, the bitrate was no lower than 2Mbps and the picture was clear, not blocky. Thanks!

[doug8796]

It was working pretty good but it wasnt 100% pulling the right channels. The goal was live events that happen as well similar to his sports channels ESPN+ etc and maybe also add others like Netflix live events.

The goal is to have the app work for people with Android devices as well that use the scripts and cc4c the guide data would be shared and it would be an instance both teams could work together