TVHeadEdit tool

Akos Sz

Hi,

I was struggling a lot with Tvheadend GUI since it goes very slow with huge number of DVB services and does not support bulk change of settings.
Finally I decided to build a small application to address these issues otherwise I could not configure my system.
I am not an experienced SW developer, so the main goal was to get a dirty app which fullfills my basic demands. Finally I spent too much time with it and since the outcome looks usable for others I decided to share it, as it is.

In this forum I can see that others have similar problems that I had, hence probably they will find this app useful.

It is called TVHeadEdit.

The main features are:
* It is able to manage thousands of services (Tested with 8000)
* Ability to edit multiple items at once. (Yes, you can assign a tag to hundred of channels at once)
* Filtering lists by multiple conditions for easier operation (You can filter on anything)
* Advanced mapping to distinct channel names by adding provider name and satellite position (Talking channel names)
* Channel number inserting by automatic shifting of channel numbers (Easy reordering of channels)
* Automatic numbering of selected group of channels (Slow, but working)
* Transponder data update based on kingofsat.net (It looks more reliable than Tvheadend autoscan)
Of course there are limitations.
* Only DVB-S support (I do not have DVB-T card, and tipically DVB-S provides huge number of services)
* Not fool-proof (I assume that much more input validation, etc would be needed. As I said I am not a SW developer)
Download and unzip the file then click on install.
Probably you will observe antivirus notification regarding the source reliability. At least I saw on my computer.

Do not worry it is a Microsoft Visual Studio project. It will install .net if necessary.

Teaser video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PefG3iQ5MR0

Additional video about channel logo selector

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqJziJ8ljqI

Test it. Use it. I hope you will find it useful.

The recommended way of working is to have a local copy of service.multimedia.tvheadend folder. Edit it with the app. If everything is OK, then the original service.multimedia.tvheadend content can be overwritten. Tvheadend has to be restarted to apply the changes.

I do not plan to spend to much time with further improvements but some bug fixes can be expected.

Akos

You can always download the latest from the link below.

(Check regularly, can be updated without notification)

http://goo.gl/WmrP9j

updated: 28/01/2015 - New version compatible with rewritten DVB database

Last update 18/07/2016 - I realized that Tvheadend database has been changed again. Now it stores information of some MUX-es in a kind of zip files some others are in the legacy format hence the tool is currently not able to recognize it.
I will investigate if it is worth updating the tool.

Akos Sz

Link updated in the first post.
New version is 1.0.0.14
- bugfix, problems when saving new channel tag, corrected
- bugfix, channel tag now cannot be deleted when it is in use

- improvement, number of selected/filtered/total rows is on the status bar.

Any response guys?

John Benvenuto

Hi Akos,

I think this is a great initiative.
I would really suggest you upload to GIT and i'm sur there will be

many people willing to contribute to this.

I will test it out and definately give feedback.

John

Akos Sz

Hi John,

Thanks for your response. I am not sure if a very inexpert visual basic code should be uploaded to GIT.

Anyway, there is a new version with some bugfixes and improved channel editing capability (mainly speed improvements)

The link is updated in the first post.

I saw many clicks on the link, but no feedback yet. Probably not everybody trust in SW from an unknown source.
I made a youtube video for them to demonstrate the look and feel of my app.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PefG3iQ5MR0

Regards
Ákos
<<

Akos Sz

New feature.

Automatic/assisted channel logo assignment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqJziJ8ljqI

Indridi Bjornsson

Hi Akos,

Just downloaded your tool and tested it. I think it is pretty cool and I can definitely see this as the right
way of setting up TVHeadend. I wished I've seen it sooner, since I spent some time writing scripts to help me
set up channels listing for Astra 28.2E something I could have done using your tool.
One suggestion. I think it would be real nice if you could automate the service channel mapping. For example
if your tool would be able to read csv file containing map from servicename to channel number and create all the

channels accordingly or even servicename to channel number and channel name, i.e.

252,Travel Ch +1,Travel Channel +1

253,The Style Ntwk,Style Network

Then once you have created the list it would be easy to regenerate everything and of course people would be able to share

those files or you could even provide them as templates.

Regards,
Indridi

Akos Sz

Hi Indiri,

Thanks for your feedback!
Regarding your suggestion, it sounds interesting. In my concept the automatic channel mapping can take into account the satellite position and provider name as well. For me it is important to distinguish DVB services having the same name because they can be totally different from usability point of view. Many provider can broadcast services with the same name but even with different content. It is cruical to make possible selecting among them in HTS client or putting then into different favlists.

Currently I cannot see how could I integrate your porposal into this concept. Otherwise it does not look too complex to implement.

Regards,
Ákos
<<

Frans Rampen

Hello Akos,

Great work! Any chance you are willing to make it open source? I want to add SSH communication with my tvheadend server so we can update the live server with this application. I'm a skilled .NET programmer. I can even provide a TFS repository if interested.

Let me know

Frans

Akos Sz

Hi Frans,

I do not exclude the possibility to make it open source. My big concern is that the code looks like it made by an amateur. I think it would need refactoring first. I can let you to look into it and evaluate.

BTW, I do not understand how your SSH iprovement is connected to this app and what is live server at all.

Regards,
Ákos
<<

Frans Rampen

Hello Akos,

No worries, it works right? I use a tool within visual studio named resharper; this will look through code and optimize it automatically or give suggestions. Very handy!

The SSH stuff is related to this; as of now you need to transfer the tvheadend configuration from the source linux server to a windows PC and 'do the magic'. Then, after saving in you program we need to transfer all configurations back to the linux server and restart tvheadend. I would have this to be fully automatic; tvheadedit transfers configuration from linux server to a local copy, and when saved you have the option to send it to the linux server and restart tvheadend.

If interested mail me directly at frans dot rampen at yoda-ict dot nl

Frans

M. Margi

wow, perfect job. Thank you very much. Can we expect version for new re-written engine? https://tvheadend.org/d/1477-dvb-rewrite-merged

John Benvenuto

Hi Mate,

I've tested your tool and love it.
One option that might be of interest to may people is to be able to export each (or all) configs to csv.

In my case, I have two TVHeadEnd servers accessing 28.2E but with different dvb-s2 cards.

+1 for support on new engine re-write.

Thanks so much

Akos Sz

Hi Margi and John,

I have suspended the work until the code get open sourced.

Frans has undetaken this task. He is busy with his own stuffs so you have to be patient.

Ákos
<<

Antonw Wallner

Hello Ákos,

excellent tool. works as expected. go on! with the good work. waiting for update to reflect the latest tvheadend additions.

best regards
aW
<<

Frans Rampen

Guys,

A quick update; i'm in the progress of converting current code to c# from vb.net to have at least some cleaner code for future use. When this is done we well work on the dvb-rewrite modifications. The conversion will take some time i'm afraid, which i don't have at the moment:-)

Keep you posted,

Frans

piotr w

Where is the tvheadend db located ? is it under /home/hts ?

piotr w

Eh, bump ?

Akos Sz

In Openelec:
/storage/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/service.multimedia.tvheadend/

piotr w

So, where did you mention XBMC ?

Copied the dir from my raspberry running OpenElec (/storage/.xbmc/userdata/addon_data/service.multimedia.tvheadend)

When I try to open this in Tvheadedit: "does not look like a valid tvheadend database folder".

FYI: I'm running standalone Tvheadend server with two xbmc clients.

I think you forgot to mention in what environment this software is supposed to be used. There is no mention of openelec/xbmc whatsoever. That is confusing.

Akos Sz

It should be independent of the environment.

If I understand correctly, you have copied the full content of the ".../service.multimedia.tvheadend" folder from your raspberry device to your windows PC. In the Tvheadedit tool you have to configure the local foder path where you put the copy of Tvheadend database.

The tool checks the presence of some subfolders like "dvbadapters", "dvbsatconf", etc.

If the database copied fully and path set correctly it should work.
Possible problems:
- you do not have DVB-S config at all. This tool does not recognize DVB-T data.
- you are already using the new re-written engine. https://tvheadend.org/d/1477-dvb-rewrite-merged No support for the new database structure yet.