HDMI for Channels

I’ve been watching this thread with great interest, although as a non-programmer (but avid tinkerer) it is beyond my abilities. Does this look like it is headed in the direction where, some day, there will be a way for someone who is willing to tinker and to follow along with instructions (“buy this encoder, buy these streaming sticks, install this, configure it like this, etc.”) to get a functional setup working and feeding in Channels DVR?

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This thread is only 10 days old. I’m not a programmer either, just a tinkerer, but I follow instructions well, and was successful. So I’d say the answer is yes.

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I am not a programmer either. All I know “if then” commands. This is why the script is so basic. I am leaving it to the programmers to come up with things more elegant and efficient.

In other words just dive in and ask questions man.

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I’m showing the Onn 4K linked as sold out in my area.

Anyone know if it needs to be Android TV or does Google TV work. Is it just a rebrand?

Would this one work?
https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Google-TV-4K-Streaming-Box-New-2023-4K-UHD-resolution/2835618394?athbdg=L1102&from=/search

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onn Google TV is the new version. It works the same

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I've changed the bmitune.sh script for hulu live users. You can populate a contentid.txt file with the channelname and content_id of channel and the script will read it in when called with a http://ipaddress:7564/play/tuner/channelname

#!/bin/bash

content_file="contentid.txt"
content_id=""

# Read content_id from file
if [ -f "$content_file" ]; then
  content_id=$(grep -w "^$1" "$content_file" | cut -d " " -f 2)
fi

# Check if content_id is empty
if [ -z "$content_id" ]; then
  echo "Invalid option or content_id not found in $content_file"
  exit 1
fi

adb -s x.x.x.x shell am start -a hulu.intent.action.PLAY_CONTENT -e content_id "$content_id" -n com.hulu.livingroomplus/.WKFactivity

contentid.txt file would look like this:

syfy syfy-07fb8004-d9af-43fe-8f7c-811cf3b7e0b0
espn espn-13978f5d-e315-41aa-97ad-040b890304bc
motortrend motortrend-b41b0d7e-58e2-4a5e-bf1b-1f4d19eab44c

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Anybody have any recommendations for a HDMI encoder other than the FB100? I see other video encoders that are cheaper than the FB100 but I'm concerned that they will perform poorly as far as picture/audio quality.

I've been happy with this guy. Under 100 bucks with the coupon.
https://a.co/d/09eNPaP

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This one (JTECH-ENCH4) has been working well for me:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0761X6L3C

I have a "LinkPi ENC1V2" device coming this week, I will share some info here afterwards. Based on the specs it looks really promising for ~$120.

Since I have a Cable card, I am using HDMI in to record DRM working great. Can also Capture CC if I turn them on the input device ... I'm using nextpvr thanks to nextpvr support as a backend to control Channel change on my 4 input capture device and supply the Stream through M3U. Sill a work in progress but is very stable.

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@Fofer thanks for posting you troubleshooting here. I just got my encoder up and running in Channels and your posts and the posts from @tmm1 @boukmandutty and @turtletank were a tremendous help.

Thanks all!

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Can you share how you got the channel changing working in nextpvr?
Thanks.

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I'm glad that the sharing of my travails helps others, this is such a cool project that I'm excited about! And hopefully this will pave the way for others to dive in and get it going for their CDVR setups too. I suspect I'll be expanding upon it soon. In the meantime I went back to review the original main.go script and I see where the bmituneb.sh filename came from, it's for setups with multiple encoders, since I only have one currently, I had just removed the first listing and not the second one, but didn't confirm that my actual file names matched exactly... duh. Thankfully @tmm1 caught that quickly :slight_smile:

Anyway, if I add more encoders with more Android TV dongles, do I just need to duplicate and edit these three scripts with their different IP addresses, so I have one set for each encoder?

prebmitune.sh
bmitune.sh
stopbmitune.sh

prebmituneb.sh
bmituneb.sh
stopbmituneb.sh

prebmitunec.sh
bmitunec.sh
stopbmitunec.sh

prebmituned.sh
bmituned.sh
stopbmituned.sh

...and then Channels DVR will be smart enough to manage them as separate tuners as usual (like, say for example, I'm watching MSNBC but scheduled a recording at the same time for a show on USA?)

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Right now we are still in the testing phase ... more to come.... probably a WIKI.

Thanks

I do not want to start documentation in this thread and have it lost in the Chatter.... gets confusing with different members doing different things.

Yeah, and only available for local pickup, no shipping, from the few zip codes where it is available. Interesting marketing strategy, I suppose, but I try to avoid having to go inside Walmart.

So as I was checking, a Brickseek search landed me on this product listing on Amazon, the new Onn 4K for just $10 more and shipping right away. While supplies last of course. Odd that a regular search on Amazon doesn't reveal this particular listing. At least it didn't for me.

There are also plenty of these available on eBay in the $31-$60 range.

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Just a quick question. I use Directv Stream as provider. I know that when I use their app. I have to have activity or it’ll close the stream after 4 hours. I would think the other services have something similar but don’t know. Is it possible to send a command every couple hrs to defeat the “Are you watching screen”?

For those wanting a hdmi encoder with ir blaster for a STB instead of adb commands for an android box - I’d say the easiest way would be a Hauppauge HD PVR2 1512 (not gaming edition)

Can output 1080i60/720p60 or 1080p30 and when set up through NextPVR as the M3U backend, you can then bring that m3u into channels and have nextpvr doing the channel switching/ir blasting, while using channels far superior app and video player.

Just a note that only the windows version of NextPVR seems to support hdmi encoders like the Hauppauge hd pvr2 etc

Edit: also need to be mindful this device does not support hdcp so would need a cheap hdmi splitter/device that can strip the hdcp

I have one of those units now. I'm struggling with the settings. Would you mind sharing how you setup yours? Here is how mine is currently setup.

Also, how did you setup the source in channels?