TVHeadend + HDHomerun + raspberry pi

Guillaume Faubert

Hi,

My current configuration is a Raspberry pi B+ (running raspbian, but could be running other OS as needed), a HDHomerun dual HDHR3-US, and I want to configure TVHeadend as a PVR backend.

I am reading many (older) sources telling that you need a DVB wrapper in order to get the HDHomerun working with TVHeadend, but more recent sources tell that this step is no longer necessary. I am trying to install TVHeadend, but does not recognize the HDHR, even with the drivers installed. I can manage to work the hdhomerun_config_gui properly, scanning and finding real ATSC signal available through the house.

I also tried the DVBwrapper method, with no real success, I haven't tried to look really into what went wrong yet.

Does anyone has a recent experience with this setting ? What method was successful ?

Guillaume Faubert

oh, the hdhomerun finally showed up in tvheadend ! you just have to compile it yourself.

start with http://www.silicondust.com/support/downloads/linux/

then with https://tvheadend.org/d/2238-hdhomerun-integration-not-working?r=14823 and https://tvheadend.org/projects/tvheadend/wiki/Building and https://tvheadend.org/projects/tvheadend/wiki/Packaging

Finally ! I've posted the message up here tonight, but had been trying for a long time...

klyne m

Just Last night playing around.

Using openelec 5.0 for the Pi B+ (with mpeg keys) I was able to make it work with a HDHR3-US without complicated steps.

From the pi GUI you can install the (3)programs/services
1- hdhomerun
2- TVheadend frontend,
3- Tvheadend backend (difficult to find but its in one of the menus)
Set the IP on the frontend and backend and then pullup the web interface "http://hostname:9981" from a browser and your off to the races.

Well sorta, I followed this to stumble through setting up channels, which was confusing for a newbie but was able to finally get it.

http://kodi.wiki/view/Tvheadend_PVR

Going to check streaming to other openelec pi's tonight, but I think I have a nice/smaller alternative to a full blown big box WMC.

Now I am not sure how to incorporate recordings, and if its possible to use a network share (ie Freenas) effectively.
Id be interested in how others approach storage on a pi backend.

Brandon Shermer

Any chance of a walk through on what you did to get the hdhomerun to work? Running ubuntu server 14.04.1.

I was following a guide with the dvb headers, which does work, but if this is more stable and up to date I would like to install the latest build and follow a little guidance from there...

klyne m

Its not totally clear from the above but the backend was also on the Pi.

Nothing other than a Pi and a HDhomerun (no separate desktop/server)

From the Pi I installed the hdhomerun program/service.
I don't recall configuring anything within it.

From the web interface (and much fumbling around) the tuners finally showed up.

Unfortunately finding the backend Pi , even overclocked at 900, had a hard time streaming out to multiple other Pi frontends on openelec/kodi 5.0, very choppy.

Guillaume Faubert

My setting now include 2 pi, the hdhomerun and a NAS. One pi runs the backend tvheadend, the other Openelec(XBMC). As long as the Openelec is on the wired network, it works perfectly. The wireless network provided by my WRT54GL router is not sufficient. I will test with faster speed as my new WRT1900AC is on the way.

For me, the NAS seemed a better way to get around, but I don't have to stream to multiple pis.

I had to install the mpeg-2 codec in order to get that fluidity, but no overcloaking required.

Enrique Pulido

I am having problems getting TVHeadend to detect the tuners on my HDHomerun Prime.

The following includes the steps I am using with errors I get in paranthesis in the last section installing dvbhdhomerun.

-------------------------------------------

Hardware: Raspberry Pi 1 Model B

-------------------------------------------

Update:

1. apt-get update

2. apt-get upgrade

-------------------------------------------

install dev dependencies

1. apt-get install cvs build-essential cmake

-------------------------------------------

install Tvheadend

1. repo key: curl http://apt.tvheadend.org/repo.gpg.key | apt-key add -
2. append /etc/apt/sources.list with deb http://apt.tvheadend.org/stable wheezy main
3. apt-get update; apt-get install tvheadend
-------------------------------------------

install SiliconDust drivers

cd #

mkdir HDHomerun

Download Drivers:

1. wget http://download.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/libhdhomerun_20150826.tgz

2. wget http://download.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/hdhomerun_config_gui_20150826.tgz

Extract both libhdhomerun and hdhomerun_config_gui to the same directory, e.g.:

1. tar xvzf libhdhomerun_20150826.tgz

2. tar xvzf hdhomerun_config_gui_20150826.tgz

From the hdhomerun_config_gui directory, run:

1. cd hdhomerun_config_gui/
2. sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev
3. ./configure
4. make
5. sudo make install

6. sudo ldconfig

-------------------------------------------

install dvbhdhomerun:

1. cd /usr/HDHomerun/
2. sudo apt-get install cmake libhdhomerun-dev dkms dh-systemd module-assistant
3. git clone https://github.com/h0tw1r3/dvbhdhomerun

4. cd dvbhdhomerun

# Build and install the kernel module
1. cd kernel
2. make
3. sudo make install
4. sudo modprobe dvb_hdhomerun (This fails with: modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'dvb_hdhomerun': Invalid argument)

5. cd ..

-------------------------------------------

K Shea

I can never understand why people have such problems getting HDHomeRun devices recognized in TVHeadEnd. I think part of the problem is there is a lot of old information out there that's no longer relevant.

I recently installed TVHeadEnd 4.0.8 (latest stable version) under Ubuntu Server and it immediately found the TVHeadEnd tuners on my network, without the need to install any of the drivers mentioned in other posts. I wonder if installing these drivers might actually hinder recognition in some systems running newer versions of TVHeadEnd?

The other thing I notice is that people who install from the repository using apt-get don't seem to have problems to the same degree as the people who think it's a good idea to compile TVHeadEnd from source. I realize there are reasons some people might want to do that but if you can't get a HDHomeRun device to work I'd try starting over with one of the builds from the repository (I'd suggest the current stable version). And try not installing the HDHomeRun drivers or software; they apparently aren't necessary anymore.

Of course there could be other reasons it's not working, so no guarantees.

Mark Walker

K Shea wrote:

> I recently installed TVHeadEnd 4.0.8 (latest stable version) under Ubuntu Server and it immediately found the TVHeadEnd tuners on my network, without the need to install any of the drivers mentioned in other posts. I wonder if installing these drivers might actually hinder recognition in some systems running newer versions of TVHeadEnd?
>

> Of course there could be other reasons it's not working, so no guarantees.

As one of those unfortunates who just tried installing with both Ubuntu 14 and 15 flavours, and also used apt-get to get the 4.0.8 version of the repo I can say it doesn't work for me.

Just for reference, which version of Ubuntu server did you use, and also which of the various available URLs for the apt repository did you use? Also what HD Homerun models are you using. For reference, I have one of each a new connect and an older dual strms model.

Thanks.

Luis S

I bought a Raspberry PI 2 and HdHomerun about a month ago. I installed OSMC. Everything runs super smooth. There has never been any lag watching anything. I also have an Nvidia Shield and an Amazon Fire. Strictly in terms of Kodi experience, I would say the Raspberry pi 2 is best, the Shield second and the Fire third. This is probably because of the software setup. Before I forget all I did, I thought I would document my experience here in case someone is considering a similar setup.

I use the Raspberry Pi 2 both as a TvHeadEnd backend and frontend. I use the hdhomerun extend as the tuner. I also use the Shield and the Fire as frontends. Recorded shows are saved in the microSD card in the RPI.

I strongly believe the hdhomerun "extend" is the right choice currently. This thing does transcoding on the fly, so you can get the perfect quality through the network. Even if you plan to connect it to the RPI over ethernet, it is convenient to have the signal pre-transcoded so that your recorded files are smaller, and also you can stream to other devices in your home. Only warning: the hdhomerun extend has a fan, and it can get mildly noisy sometimes.

I installed OSMC. I have not tried Openelec (or XBian?). I have no reason to recommend one over the other. They both seem to fulfill the same purpose. I have only tried OSMC and I am very satisfied with it. Any of these two systems run Kodi exclusively, without anything else (not even an X server). Because of that, it is logical that Kodi performance will be much better than if you run Kodi inside a full Ubuntu installation, or Android, or (god forbid) Windows.

One thing I remember wondering when I was ordering my RPI online was whether I would need to connect a keyboard. I DID NOT. You install OSMC in a microSD card from a separate computer. Then you plug that card on your RPI and the installation finishes. You control the RPI with the TV remote through CEC. There is really no advantage in having a keyboard connected to the RPI.

OSMC is downloaded here https://osmc.tv/download/ You have to download a piece of software on your computer which will copy the operating system to a microSD card. I downloaded the installer for linux, since I use Ubuntu on my laptop. The installation went without trouble. After writing into the microSD card, I wanted to read it from my computer to see what was there. I noticed that the created partition was only about 100Mb, leaving the majority of my 64Gb card empty and apparently unusable. I remember I was slightly concerned about this at the time. But it was nothing to worry about. As soon as you insert the card in the RPI and run it for the first time, the installer program will reformat the card to its full capacity.

OSMC has a section where you select from a few additional standard packages to install. TvHeadEnd is one of them. Thus, you can install it easily just with one click in your remote control.

OSMC also comes with an ssh server preinstalled. At this point your may want to ssh your RPI from another computer. The default username and password are both 'osmc'. This is important to install some extra utilities related to hdhomerun and tvheadend. I ran the following two commands (through ssh):

apt-get install hdhomerun-config

This installs the usual utilities for hdhomerun. To be honest, I am not entirely sure how necessary it is. But it doesn't hurt to have it. The second command I ran was

apt-get install xmltv-util

This installs the EPG grabbers to use with Schedules Direct (I live in the US). If you want to use a different method for EPG and you know what you are doing, maybe you will skip this last command.

The next step is to setup tvheadend. This setup is done through a web interface, using a computer in the same network as the RPI. Here I have to say it: TvHeadEnd is a nightmare to setup. I followed the following tutorial that helped me a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y-E4sQSb94

Here is the important piece of information: you DO NOT NEED dvbhdhomerun. Do not install it!!! It was designed for an older version of TvHeadEnd. New versions of TvHeadEnd (and OSMC certainly has one) support HDHomerun natively without any driver. When you go to the TvHeadEnd configuration page, select DVB Inputs, and you should see two TV adapters corresponding to the two tunners that come with the hdhomerun extend.

The reason why I installed xmltv-util is so that in the Channel/EPG / EPG Grabber tab there is a selection of modules to use. From a fresh install of OSMC, that section would appear empty. I use the one that says "North America (Data Direct)", which is for Schedules Direct. You need to set up an account for Schedules Direct before. Doing this, you get the RPI to download tv listings automatically by itself.

I also bought the two proprietary codecs for RPI2, MPG2 and WVC1. I don't know how much of a difference they make because I enabled them at the beginning. I figured that for the price of $4, it was not even worth thinking about it. The file where you are supposed to enter the codes that you receive over email is /boot/config.txt

Aaron Sullivan

Just wanted to add a little here. Thanks to the post by Luis he got me started on a successful path. A couple of keys if you are interested.

My build is to have a RPi2 running only as a tvheadend, tvh, server saving files to a NAS. I could not get tvh running on my NAS with internal grabbers so a low power RPi was the next best option.

Comments about RPi OS options
- Libreelec - is locked down for installing additional applications etc.. This may be possible to defeat but I don't know how and did not bother

- Raspbian - I could not get my hdhomerun to show up in tvh. I tried the drivers at silicon dust and did not attempt apt-get install hdhomerun-config so not sure about that one. At the end of the day you want the lightest linux install possible so one of the kodi targeted builds makes sense

OSMC is light weight, built to run tvh and allows additional application installs. So here are my additional comments to the build process.

Internal EPG for NA - tv_grab_na_dd no longer works so I switched to tv_grab_sd_json which I was able to download from the github in a compiled version since it is missing from the xmltv-util 0.5.63 pkg installed. Basically move it to /usr/bin/ and run tv_find_grabbers. If someone knows how to get the 0.5.68 pkg please let me know.

Second issue was getting a permanent mount to my NAS drive configured. My NAS location is shared with SMB allowing guest write access.

• Add line to etc/fstab
○ //192.168.*.*/RecordedTV /mnt/RecordedTV cifs guest,uid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0
• Add lines to etc/rc.local
○ sleep 5

○ sudo mount -a

The rc.local lines seem to be required to rerun fstab when the network is configured. Wired in my case.