How can I use kaffeine with vdr?

  • I have installed vdr on my father's Kubuntu 14.04 Trusty machine so I can record TV remotely while he is not there. It seems to meet my needs (not sure about autoboot and shutdown yet) but it disables kaffeine, which he uses to watch live TV and occasionally record.
    It appears that vdr locks the tuner /dev/dvb/frontend0 even when it is not recording, so kaffeine cannot use it.


    Is there some way I can get kaffeine to proxy through vdr, or get vdr to release the tuner when it is not recording?

  • Probably it would be easier to use just VDR, even to watch TV.
    You can start the VDR with suspended softhddevice Plugin and attach or detach the frontend whenever he wants to watch LiveTV.
    i.e., for testing, start your vdr process like that

    Code
    vdr -p 6419 -P"softhddevice -s"


    you can attach the frontend with

    Code
    svdrpsend plug softhddevice atta


    or detach with

    Code
    svdrpsend plug softhddevice deta


    If it hast to be Kaffeine definitely, you should try the dynamite Plugin, whereof i don't know the first thing about though.

  • No offence but I think this advice will not help the thread starter.
    Ubuntu 14.04 does not come with softhddevice and i doubt that he will get it going with an external repo.


    Instead of Kaffein there is a frontend for VDR that comes with Ubuntu:
    vdr-plugin-xineliboutput
    libxineliboutput-sxfe


    This will give you a new entry in your start menu called "VDR X-Frontend". This is instead of Kaffein


    You can have a look into that slightly chaotic threat were I guided someone thru that installation:
    [resolved] Guide installation VDR in Ubuntu 13.10: Remote TV and control with tablet android (step by step)


    BR,
    Joe

  • Yes, I should'nt judge others by my own standards, but is it too absurd to compile Plugins meanwhile ? Or search for a Repository ?
    It's just a tip, because of my own experience under Kubuntu, SHDD works very well, even with my AMD Graphics.

  • To come back to the original question.


    VDR is always taking all the tuners as long as it is running.
    One option is to stop vdr service before starting kaffein. This will release the tuner.


    The other option is to use another frontend instead of kaffein (like softhdddevice - which is not part of standard ubuntu; or use VDR X-Frontend aka libxineliboutput-sxfe)


    I don't know how flexible your father is in changing to another viewer?


    BR,
    Joe

  • I got the xineliboutput working, but it has no mouseable interface. My ancient Dad is not going to remember a bunch of keys without any hints.


    I got softhddevice installed eventually using the fnu ppa, but although I get a big black window (on my local machine instead of my Dad's machine, I am connecting via x2go) it displays nothing. It complains about not finding libvdpau_nvidia.so which is not surprising as he has Intel graphics. My machine has Nvidia graphics. Maybe someone can explain what's going on here?


    Haven't found a usable vdr-plugin-dynamite yet. The rather scanty github overview page says it "turns the dvbdevices into hotpluggable devices. They can be dynamically attached and detached while vdr is running." That sounds promising but it needs a patch to vdr, which implies I'll have to compile vdr myself. Maybe there is a ppa somewhere that incorporates it, I'll keep looking.
    Stopping vdr when he runs kaffeine looks like the simpler option so far. What happens if vdr is recording when he does that? Any way to check for that?
    BTW, he's still running Precise, I forgot that I haven't upgraded him to Trusty yet.

  • You might want to use the yavdr ppa for vdr, which is rather comprehensive. If your father is no "remember-the-keyboard-keys" type of person I would suggest trying out the live Plugin paired with the streamdev-server Plugin. Opening up a browser and clicking on the buttons of a webinterface is surely more intuitive than using softhddevice without a guide. Just make sure to have vlc and the vlc browser plugin installed on his pc.

    - HTPC mit zerbasteltem Yavdr 0.6 , Origen ae X15e, MCE Remote, Asus P5N7A-VM, 1x Digibit R1, Kodi und vdr an Pana 46PZ85E
    - Diverse HTPCs im Umfeld bei Familie und Freundenm die sich vor mir fürchten, mit allen möglichen gruseligen Konfigurationen.
    Auch gern Debian, aber wehe jemand kommt mir mit Suse.

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