U4 Webif playback no scrollbar

[chuck_2330]

Playing a recording from a U4 through Webif does not open a local application like VLC but rather appears to use HTML5 playback in the browser. Stream (transcoded) does not show anything. Standard Stream does not have a scroll bar to move forward and backwards through the recording, rather has the label "Live Stream" where the scroll bar would appear.
Is it possible to view the recording in a local application the way that the T3/T4 does it? Or is it possible to have the scroll bar in HTML5 playback to scrub through a recording?

EDIT: This was with Safari on macOS 10.13.3. Opening the recording in Webif with Chrome downloads a ts.m3u8 file. This is similar to the T3/T4 that downloads a ts.m3u file but this opened with VLC immediately. To answer my own question, I suppose I could use Chrome instead of Safari, however it would be nice to use the HTML5 playback as there have been issues with VLC since the release of v3.0.0

[MrQuade]

What are you clicking on to play the movie exactly?

When I open "Movies" on the left hand side navigation pane, then select a recording and click on "Stream", then VLC opens up and plays the movie, and I can use all the normal controls.

Are you clicking on the "WebTV" link instead? That will open an HTML player (which isn't that good I think).

Otherwise, you may need to check your Safari settings to see how it is handling .m3u URLs.

[raymondjpg]

What are you clicking on to play the movie exactly?

I have a similar question. I use the OpenWebif interface extensively, and on occasion watch recordings from a U4 through this interface on a PC. I use the Stream option, set up to play in MPC-HC.

In the U4 there are three options in the OpenWebif interface, Playback, Stream and Stream (transcoded). In the T2 there are only the former two options.

Leaving aside the Stream (transcoded) option, what is the Playback option supposed to do? If I hit it, then it appears to initiate playback of the recording on the PVR through my TV, but there is no sign of playback through the Webif interface. There is just an indication at the top of the Webif page that this recording has been selected, presumably being played back by the PVR.

I haven't tried all of the permutations, but sometimes I can skip and jump through the recording playing on my TV, sometimes not, using the supplied remote control unit. It may be related to whether or not I had taken the PVR out of standby through the Webif interface before hitting the Playback button.

I'm pretty sure that the Playback option has to be doing something useful, because if I hit it then it appears to initiate a scrollbar in the Webif interface indicating position of where the playback has reached. However, I'm unclear as to what the Playback option does that cannot better be done from the PVR interface on the TV. Can someone explain that to me?

Despite a couple of reboots of the U4 that scrollbar remained partially filled until today, when I was fiddling around with options and had initiated Playback, then stopped it using the supplied remote, then rebooted the PVR - the scrollbar has gone away. Again I have no idea why.

[MrQuade]

I'm pretty sure that the Playback option has to be doing something useful, because if I hit it then it appears to initiate a scrollbar in the Webif interface indicating position of where the playback has reached. However, I'm unclear as to what the Playback option does that cannot better be done from the PVR interface on the TV. Can someone explain that to me?

It's just a way to control what is playing on the PVR video output from a remote location, or via some kind of automation interface. There would be no reason to use the "playback" feature if you were already sitting at the PVR with remote in-hand.

[raymondjpg]

It's just a way to control what is playing on the PVR video output from a remote location, or via some kind of automation interface. There would be no reason to use the "playback" feature if you were already sitting at the PVR with remote in-hand.

Thanks for that explanation. It is possible that this feature could be useful if initiated from some handheld device, possibly used as an alternative to the supplied remote.

Other than that it appears to be more of an impediment to smooth operation of the PVR if inadvertently hit from a web browser OpenWebif interface some way away from the PVR output to its preferred monitor. Once initiated it appears to be impossible to stop the playback from the Webif interface, and it will continue to output until stopped either by the remote function in the Webif interface, or by using the supplied remote directly on the PVR.

[MrQuade]

Other than that it appears to be more of an impediment to smooth operation of the PVR if inadvertently hit from a web browser OpenWebif interface some way away from the PVR output to its preferred monitor. Once initiated it appears to be impossible to stop the playback from the Webif interface, and it will continue to output until stopped either by the remote function in the Webif interface, or by using the supplied remote directly on the PVR.

In that way it's no different to executing a remote zap via the web interface. The button labels and/or descriptions could do with some work to better convey their function to help with accidental activation though.

A more convenient way of cancelling the playback would be handy too as you say. While not "impossible" to control, as you pointed out in the next sentence, you still always have the web interface remote control function, which is less convenient.

[prl]

Given the lack of convenient control after initiating it, the "play" function doesn't really seem to have much use beyond mischief.

Though if you want to get up to mischief, you can always do something like:
http://beyonwizu4/web/message?text=Your ... timeout=10

[raymondjpg]

Given the lack of convenient control after initiating it, the "play" function doesn't really seem to have much use beyond mischief.

Agreed. It is any inadvertent hitting of that playback function without knowing what it does that sends the PVR into playback mode, regardless of whether the PVR is fully operational or in standby. I guess you would find out if you switched to the PVR connected to your output monitor, something I don't do very often if at all.

This is probably not the time or place, but my major beef with this latest set of Beyonwiz PVRs is I cannot find any option to set automatic resume play from last position on files, other than recordings made by the PVR. Even that is not set as a general option, one has to choose each time between two options presented by the PVR. In my view a file player that does not present this as a permanent option is not a fully-featured file player at all. If I recall correctly, my DP-P2 did have that as an option, both for Wiz recorded and externally sourced video files. I stand to be corrected on that.

As I cannot find that option in the U4 or T2, that is probably one of the reasons that I use the Webif Stream option, and alternatively Kodi, to play files from the U4. In both cases I can use a file player that automatically resumes from where last stopped.

[Gully]

I have split off all the discussion on resume points to a new topic as it was clearly off topic from the original and didn't look like it was going to end quickly.

viewtopic.php?f=51&t=12908