Does anyone use Jellyfin to tune Freeview

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Does anyone use Jellyfin to tune Freeview

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#302400 20-Nov-2022 15:49

I'm curious as to whether anyone uses Jellyfin to tune Freeview, and how you find it.

My media server is Jellyfin, and I'm sticking with that.. It does have a live TV feature, which I have never tried. I'm thinking of getting my TV aerial (which as been broken for about 2 years) fixed, and adding a tuner or two to my Jellyfin setup so that live TV can be viewed around the house (on a mix of TVs, tablets, phones, and Google Hub screens etc) as well as recorded.

I think I have al the infrastructure I need (server, storage, media clients, networking etc) I need, except for tuners and needing an aerial repair.

If you have tried Jellyfin for this I'm interested in:

1. How do you find the overall experience, and how well does the guide information work?

2. What tuner(s) are you using?

3. Have you tried using Comskip to remove commercials from recordings, and if so how well did it work?

4. Any gotchas, things you wouldn't do again, or things you would definitely do again - if starting from scratch?

davidcole

6020 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2998831 20-Nov-2022 17:16

Tried it a number of server versions ago. Found it dogs bollocks (HDHomeRun). So gave up. It was ok in Plex.

But now have it with a nextpvr instance to control the HDHomeRun run (and iptv “tuner”) and use the jellyfin plugin. This presents nextpvr is the right way for jellyfin to think it’s a tuner and guide. But that seems much better. You can access the recordings from it as well (and if you really want you can just add the recordings folder as a library).

I find that much better.

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JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#2998846 20-Nov-2022 18:12

Thanks. That sounds interesting, I will have to do some reading.

Since the HD Homerun doesn't appear to be available locally, if I go that route I will have to order from the UK (I understand the US ATSC tuner versions are incompatible with our broadcasts). Which means it probably won't be in time for this to be my Christmas project.

Do you run NextPVR on the same box as your Jellyfin server, or a separate one, and if so how much load does it impose? My server is an elderly Haswell i5 with 8 GB of RAM, which works well for just JF but I wouldn't want to load too much onto it.

Plus I would use a USB hard drive for recordings (I have a few pensioned off 320GB and 500GB ones lying around somewhere), as the JF server only has read access to the NASes my media is on. But that should be OK.

davidcole

6020 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2998874 20-Nov-2022 19:56

I use the same. Both jellyfin and nextpvr are running as a fairly small vm on a proxmox system (technically an lxc container).

Jellyfin can talk to an HDHomeRun directly, but I didn’t have a lot of success. Nextpvr (locally written) has been around since early 2000s.

It’s very reliable. And in its Linux config (used to be windows only) runs a fairly small footprint.

The HDHomeRun used to be sold from nicegear.co.nz. And there might be some on TM or geekzone if you ask for one.

Aaron2222

216 posts

Master Geek

#2999020 21-Nov-2022 02:58

You can buy the 4 tuner model direct from HDHomeRun for $199 US with free shipping (they've just come back in stock). They have refurbished 2 and 4 tuner models as well for $99 and $149 respectively.

VicMcDonald

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3017459 5-Jan-2023 16:41

I have Jellyfin running live tv thanks to links provided by Matt Huisman

Setttings are:-

For the EPG

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#3017869 6-Jan-2023 16:20

Thanks very much, that's working nicely as a proof of concept. It works fine on mobile devices, and the Google nest hub screen in the kitchen can now be used to watch TV if someone wants to while they cook. So I am now persuaded to order the HD Homerun for higher quality OTA streams.

Now I have to allocate some disk storage for recordings, and play around with post--processing to see if I can make Comskip work. Which (touch wood) means that broadcast TV might be watchable again. Tinkering with the media server never ends - it's lucky that it's a hobby I enjoy, and that the family appreciates it.

Anyhow, much appreciated.

Since I now know M3U works fine, I'm also now wondering about something like this decoder or similar, to make use of the dish I have installed, just because I can. But I guess it's a solution in search of a problem. Must. Stop. Tinkering. 😬

Wombat1

586 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#3017925 6-Jan-2023 16:56

Is there really still a point in purchasing an HDHomerun considering that you can just record the live streams anyway as VicMcDonald posted above? I have been using Jellyfin for a while now recording directly from the live streams to my NAS. Its working pretty well as is.

Only benefit in going out and purchasing an HDHomerun is that some live games here in Aus are not streamed. I found this out during the boxing day cricket match between Aus and South Africa which was broadcast on 7 freeview.

I am currently trying to find a good alternative for my modded Tivo, unfortunately the EPG is no longer being very well maintained here in Aus. I still need to try the Fetch TV Mighty box which i hear is probably the best alternative there is to the Tivo. Unfortunately Jellyfin is still a little too clunky to be a full replacement for the missus.

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fe31nz

1207 posts

Uber Geek

#3018062 6-Jan-2023 23:48

JimmyH:

Now I have to allocate some disk storage for recordings, and play around with post--processing to see if I can make Comskip work. Which (touch wood) means that broadcast TV might be watchable again. Tinkering with the media server never ends - it's lucky that it's a hobby I enjoy, and that the family appreciates it.

Comskip does not work very well with NZ TV. Or it did not last time I tried it in MythTV. And I have not seen any updates for it in the last few years, so I do not think you are likely to have much luck with it. What you really need to prevent having to watch the ads is to be able to easily skip over ad breaks. Which is what MythTV does very well - I have not watched ads in broadcast TV since I started using MythTV many years ago.

davidcole

6020 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3018084 7-Jan-2023 08:43

Wombat1:

I am currently trying to find a good alternative for my modded Tivo, unfortunately the EPG is no longer being very well maintained here in Aus. I still need to try the Fetch TV Mighty box which i hear is probably the best alternative there is to the Tivo. Unfortunately Jellyfin is still a little too clunky to be a full replacement for the missus.

yeah shoehorning live tv into plex/Jellyfin is not the best imo. They are ok for recorded content though.

so maybe you need something like mythtv or NextPVR as a front end for dealing with guides and performing the recordings, and just export the recording files, or get Jellyfin to access their recordings.

ie there’s a NextPVR plugin for Jellyfin that takes over the live tv function. And exposes recordings, ie Jellyfin asks NextPVR to list recordings, as adding the, as files you’ll most likely not have metadata until it can be added as a sidecar file.

but I found to create a recording etc, that this worked better in NextPVR as that has had 15 years of development in that area.

Tvheadend is another option, but I’m not with its ui capabilities, and how it will expose recordings to Jellyfin.

but the point is use Jellyfin for what it’s good at - playback. And let something much better at it, do the recordings.

Wombat1

586 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#3018155 7-Jan-2023 12:22

davidcole:

so maybe you need something like mythtv or NextPVR as a front end for dealing with guides and performing the recordings, and just export the recording files, or get Jellyfin to access their recordings.

ie there’s a NextPVR plugin for Jellyfin that takes over the live tv function. And exposes recordings, ie Jellyfin asks NextPVR to list recordings, as adding the, as files you’ll most likely not have metadata until it can be added as a sidecar file.

but I found to create a recording etc, that this worked better in NextPVR as that has had 15 years of development in that area.

Thanks for the help. I just installed NextPVR and to be honest I am quiet impressed. I did notice though that they want $10 for the app on each device you install it on, and the app has not had any development for 4+ years. Is it worth purchasing the apps?

davidcole

6020 posts

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#3018165 7-Jan-2023 13:04

That’s the iOS app? If you want to try it just use the web ui (on a computer to
Start) and get the jellyfin integration working.

Then you can judge if you want the iOS apps or not. I bought them, but I’d been on nextpvr for 10 years by then. Also, don’t quote me @sub can confirm but the iOS apps may respect comskip files - without having to reencode the code which jellyfin and Plex will require.

I know the windows user interface did this..but unsure if that feature came to iOS