KodiDirect and Catch Up TV Services

[naigy]

Hi All,

I am looking to possibly buy a Beyonwiz. Was looking at the Humax 4tune as really want inbuilt catch up services but several simple features missing from this have made we continue researching options. Anyhow recently found information on a Plugin for Beyonwiz (I would be getting the T4 if I go this option) called KodiDirect.

On my current Kodi box which needs to be moved onto another room I have Catchup TV services as Kodi Addons (not seperate app) for SBS On Demand, ABC, Plus7, 9Jumpin and TenPlay. Some of these addons came from this site but I seem to recall one or two of these didn't work and I sourced from elsewhere for those (though forget where)
https://github.com/xbmc-catchuptv-au/repo

Am I right to assume that I could add these addons under the KodiDirect Plugin to then get all catch up services available through the Beyonwiz T4. Also appears there is limited information on KodiDirect I can find. Is this still supported in current firmware as there are indications it wasn't working.

[MrQuade]

I have been giving this a try to see what the current state is.

The Kodidirect plugin is no longer available in the Beyonwiz repository. There is a plugin called XBMCaddons, but it doesn't appear to work properly. It looks like it tries to attach its user interface to the plugins manager and fails for some reason.

I tried to install a Kodidirect plugin from another source I found at random (dangerous I know) http://www.tunisia-dreambox.info/dreamb ... ultimedia/

That required the installation of an additional package python-sqlite3. Installing both of those resulted in a Kodidirect entry appearing in the main menu, but running it did nothing.

It doesn't look like running the Kodi plugins is something that works on the latest firmware at the moment.

[naigy]

Appreciate the prompt reply. Am I right to assume there is no other known way of accessing the commercial catch up services at present on a Beyonwiz T4?

[MrQuade]

None that i know of no. SBS and iView work via hbbtv, but not the commercial stations as you say.

Thanks for the pointer to the Kodi catchup plugins though. It prompted me to install them on my HTPC for a play around.

There may be something that can be done to fix up the XBMCAddons plugin though. Perhaps a dev can give it a quiz much like what was done with the DreamPlex plugin recently.

The issue/error I saw occured when I tried to open the Plugin manager. I("Some plugins are not available: Extensions/XBMCAddons (cannot import name eTPM") am not sure what it means exactly, but it looked like a similar error to the ones that occur when a plugin can't insert itself into the menus properly. IanSav has been looking at cleaning up the menus a bit, but it is a work in progress. If that eventually pans out, it may mean that many of these sorts of errors will be less likely to occur.

[naigy]

Just so I can dig further into this. Is it correct that the Beyonwiz T4 runs OpenATV 6.0 as standard (http://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/c ... beyonwizt4).

If not can this be installed and easily revert back to stock firmware.

As far as plugins if I see something for VU+ or Dreambox could I assume it would likely work on T4.

Apologies for all the questions. Trying to get a grasp on this product and functions before spending the money.

[MrQuade]

No, the T4 runs its own firmware that is a derivative of the OpenVix firmware. I don't know what the details of that OpenATV build are. I'm surprised there is a T4 image actually, no idea if anyone has tested or is using it.

You can always download the stock T4 firmware USB image from the forums or from the Beyonwiz website, so recovering from problems is usually pretty easy.

While all those boxes run the enigma2 software, the are many variations between the different flavours. Many plugins will work, but many more simply won't, and several will break things necessitating a fresh firmware install.

Even many of the plugins in the Beyonwiz repository itself will not work, as there are many that have simply not been tested.

[peteru]

"Some plugins are not available: Extensions/XBMCAddons (cannot import name eTPM") am not sure what it means exactly

It means that the plugin is checking if it is runnning on a genuine Dreambox manufactured by Dream Multimedia. Even if the missing module was present the plugin would refuse to operate if the hardware is not a genuine Dreambox, such as a clone from China.

[MrQuade]

Interesting that a generic plugin would be checking that it was running specifically on a Dreambox!

Can that be fixed, or would it be better to simply pull it from the Beyonwiz repository of it genuinely wants to run on a Dreambox?

[peteru]

Interesting that a generic plugin would be checking that it was running specifically on a Dreambox!

Can that be fixed, or would it be better to simply pull it from the Beyonwiz repository of it genuinely wants to run on a Dreambox?

It's not a part of the Beyonwiz repository. It's a binary package that is provided in the oe-alliance 3rd party feed.

[BigbobOz]

Can't help on the catch up TV but Kodi TV plays well with the Beyonwiz

[peteru]

I had a look at the XBMCAddons plugin code. The eTPM error could be fixed trivially. The code in download.py tries to import eTPM, but never actually makes any use of it. It would be just a matter of removing the reference to eTPM from the code. You might want to get in touch with the maintainers and ask them to do that.

[IanSav]

Hi Naigy,

Just so I can dig further into this. Is it correct that the Beyonwiz T4 runs OpenATV 6.0 as standard (http://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/c ... beyonwizt4).

As MrQuade pointed out the Beyonwiz firmware if based on the OpenViX version of the generic OE-Alliance firmware. That said the Beyonwiz hardware is also fully compatible with OpenATV firmware. I last ran OpenATV 5 but I see no reason why OpenATV 6 won't also work.

If not can this be installed and easily revert back to stock firmware.

The settings can't be transferred between builds but if you use the USB flash mechanism you can switch between builds. (If you save the Beyonwiz and/or OpenATV backups separately you should be able to recover the settings when the build used to create the backup is reinstalled.)

As far as plugins if I see something for VU+ or Dreambox could I assume it would likely work on T4.

This is *not* a safe assumption. The Beyonwiz build of the firmware is significantly different from the OE-Alliance builds to the extent that compatibility has become an issue. One of the main problems is the Beyonwiz Main and Setup menus are customised and different from that used by the alliance. There are also many other changes (mostly Beyonwiz improvements) that could trip up OE-Alliance general plugins.

Apologies for all the questions. Trying to get a grasp on this product and functions before spending the money.

It is better to ask first rather than regret the purchase.

If you choose the Beyonwiz T4 then you should accept it as it is and not what it might become. While the product is under constant development and improvement any future benefits etc should be seen as a bonus and not an expectation.

Regards,
Ian.

[MrQuade]

Can't help on the catch up TV but Kodi TV plays well with the Beyonwiz

Are you referring to the VU+ plugin for Kodi or something else?

[BigbobOz]

Hmmm maybe, I forget. In Kodi, I scroll down to TV and I can access my T3's recordings, view guides and set recordings.

Not a big fan on how the viewing skip works but it's ok

[MrQuade]

Hmmm maybe, I forget. In Kodi,

Ahh ok. You're talking about the Enigma plugin for Kodi. Naigy is referring to the Kodi plugin that runs on the Beyonwiz (or as it turns out, now doesn't run and is abandoned by its original author)

Thinking about this a little more though, I think that a better idea might be to atempt to port the functionality of the plugins that Naigy linked in his original post.

If the plugins could be converted into a native Beyonwiz plugin, they would provide full access to catch-up services on the Wiz.

I have no idea what sort of effort would be involved in that. A whole new use interface might have to be written, but at least they are written in python, so perhaps parts of the underlying code could be salvaged.

[snb41]

I think that maybe a simpler way forward would be to try and get the catchup services supported by the iptv player plugin. It seems to be the most active plugin of its kind and the dev is doing nightly builds I think, they have BBC Player so I guess that the catchup services offered here may be similar? There is a section on the linuxsat forum in the link below for addon recommendations

Last I checked iptv player was available through the plugins download on the T4, if not you can download and install the USB version from here: https://linuxsat-support.com/board/1209-iptv-player/

I am leaving on holidays tomorrow so I can't be much help until I get back but maybe if someone who is keen to get the catchup services can get in touch with the developer and check what they need to integrate it?

[netmask]

https://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/460990,kodi-creators-crack-down-on-pirate-content-extensions.aspx?eid=19&edate=20170509&utm_source=newsletter_20170509&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter&nl=daily

[MrQuade]

I don't know what the DRM implications are for accessing the Australian broadcaster's IP based catchup services. It's possible, they have some sort of light DRM applied much like the HbbTV services?

Either way, I don't think the catchup TV plugin would be considered piracy by anyone with a reasonable amount of sense (though when has that ever stopped lawmakers?). Plus the fact that running any of these plugins will not actually necessitate running any Kodi software, just use of code from some 3rd party plugins, or maybe the plugins themselves as-is.

I can't speculate for the other services offered by that "IPTV Player" plugin though.

[naigy]

This all sounds positive. I know its no guarantee that a working solution will come of it but it at least indicates there is possibly a couple of solutions which may be possible. I am fairly familar with python but hadn't looked at the code. If I decide to go with this box then I will possibly have a play and see what I can work out.

Great a project and I am still to work out if this will be the box I get. Though it is looking likely