Chowmain - Kodi Lite (XBMC) Driver for Control4

[alanchow]

Thanks for the quick reply.  Yes, I was using the '300' controller when I was having performance problems with my music collection.  My new house has a '250' and if nothing else, the performance of browsing my music collection is insanely faster.  I assume that as well as importing quickly, the experience of browsing via genre/name/whatever is fairly quick.

 

Do you know, is installing this something that can be done remotely?  I was happy with the group that recently completed my home install, but for something like this, I would prefer to work with someone who has some experience.  Can I do all the manual labor of plugging in my cables/etc. and then let someone have remote access to my system to install the driver and do any other programming?  Anyone you would recommend?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

My whole house is running off a HC250 and works surprisingly well considering the amount of stuff i have warrants a HC800 (security, lighting, multiple av zones, etc).

 

Browsing via genre/name/whatever is independant of the driver.  Once its imported into the database its upto whichever device you are using to display it.  So if you are using a HC250 then it'll be lightning quick, a touchscreen/ipad/android device lightning quick or if you are using a slave HC200/300 then it will be dog slow.

 

There are various Control4 dealers who do work remotely on the forum.  See the link below for details.

 

http://www.c4forums.com/forum/26-looking-for-an-integrator/

[rjsuryan]

Having problems with the import on Kodi Lite Movie Import

 

I selected “Network File Storage” as the storage device after setting it up like the documentation wants, and then clicked import from the actions tab. The Lua tab shows the following output:

KODI MOVIE LIBRARY (182 movies total): Importing

Movie import finished

 

But no movies are actually imported. I tried deleting the movies library from XBMC/Kodi and re-adding them, but it did not help.

 

The driver has a fairly detailed debug log, so I did a little bit of debugging and found that this is because the driver assumes the movie IDs start at 1, but it’s possible that no movie with ID 1 even exists. The driver calls Kodi’s VideoLibrary.GetMovies API, learns I have 182 movies, and then calls VideoLibrary.GetMovieDetails for movieid 1-182. However, the movieid for the first movie is actually 257. His other driver probably has the same bug and is why I’ve had no luck with the import.

[alanchow]

Having problems with the import on Kodi Lite Movie Import

 

I selected “Network File Storage” as the storage device after setting it up like the documentation wants, and then clicked import from the actions tab. The Lua tab shows the following output:

KODI MOVIE LIBRARY (182 movies total): Importing

Movie import finished

 

But no movies are actually imported. I tried deleting the movies library from XBMC/Kodi and re-adding them, but it did not help.

 

The driver has a fairly detailed debug log, so I did a little bit of debugging and found that this is because the driver assumes the movie IDs start at 1, but it’s possible that no movie with ID 1 even exists. The driver calls Kodi’s VideoLibrary.GetMovies API, learns I have 182 movies, and then calls VideoLibrary.GetMovieDetails for movieid 1-182. However, the movieid for the first movie is actually 257. His other driver probably has the same bug and is why I’ve had no luck with the import.

 

Hi Robert,

 

First of all can i please ask you to refrain from contacting me via houselogix, linkedin, c4forums and our contact us page about the same problem.  I understand you have urgency on the matter however please note that we do respond to all enquiries (usually during business hours and sometimes after as well but usually whilst we're awake) and pummeling us with enquiries does not help.  The official way to get support for any of our products is via Houselogix.  They have been trained to support all of our products and will respond promptly.

 

In regards to your problem i have already written a lengthy reponse via Houselogix.  You should get a reply shortly from their support team.

[blub]

Hi

 

 

1)

The button "prev" is mapped to "Backspace" and "cancel" is mapped to "ESC" between C4 and Kodi.

 

Obviously you really need the one and the other to either jump one level up or sometimes reach a sub-menu in Kodi - every other Mediacenter software I have tried, and that were pretty much all available, the was only one button for "back".

 

In Kodi the one that is mostly needed is "prev" because that jumps only one level back while navigating in submenus.

Therefore it would be great to see the option of changing the button mapped to "prev" and "cancel"

 

2)

When playing a video file when I press "left" on my keyboard the movie seeks back 30s. When I press "left" on the C4 remote nothing happens !? - any idea why?

 

regards

[alanchow]

Hi

 

 

1)

The button "prev" is mapped to "Backspace" and "cancel" is mapped to "ESC" between C4 and Kodi.

 

Obviously you really need the one and the other to either jump one level up or sometimes reach a sub-menu in Kodi - every other Mediacenter software I have tried, and that were pretty much all available, the was only one button for "back".

 

In Kodi the one that is mostly needed is "prev" because that jumps only one level back while navigating in submenus.

Therefore it would be great to see the option of changing the button mapped to "prev" and "cancel"

 

2)

When playing a video file when I press "left" on my keyboard the movie seeks back 30s. When I press "left" on the C4 remote nothing happens !? - any idea why?

 

regards

 

We usually don't take requests from a single person however since this is relatively easy to do i'll add into the next revision.  Won't be releasing it until we have a few more new features.  I prefer to keep updates to a minimum if possible.

[jackstone]

From what I've tested, the library imported from Kodi cannot be used to play on other player like Dune or Popcorn (stored in /Chowmain virtual folder?), even if the files are stored on a NAS. Is that correct? Because your Plex driver import everything and it can play anywhere, which is very nice because I maintain XBMC/Kodi is not a solid enough solution to be installed to a end-user-type consumer (because of the hardware/software side, nothing related with your driver which I find high quality), but the scrapping quality is nice and would be also nice to use the library on any supported player.

[alanchow]

From what I've tested, the library imported from Kodi cannot be used to play on other player like Dune or Popcorn (stored in /Chowmain virtual folder?), even if the files are stored on a NAS. Is that correct? Because your Plex driver import everything and it can play anywhere, which is very nice because I maintain XBMC/Kodi is not a solid enough solution to be installed to a end-user-type consumer (because of the hardware/software side, nothing related with your driver which I find high quality), but the scrapping quality is nice and would be also nice to use the library on any supported player.

Our library import function imports movie ids and not file paths. This will not work as a movie scraper for other media players like our Plex media server.

We work with a few HTPC manufacturers and android box distributors. If installed correctly on the right hardware Kodi is extremely stable. I would recommend visiting xbmc.org to see discussions on recommended hardware installations.

[jackstone]

I'm curious to know what is the best hardware for a stable XBMC setup (have checked the XBMC forum and people all have their own "perfect" kit, perfect for DIY, not for reselling), I tried everything from OpenElec on NUC or commercial-grade mini PC, full Windows PC (Windows is to avoid because of the hard time it get to synchronize HDMI output and audio, just check the Windows-based Fusion media server HDMI issues, it's ridiculous for the price paid...), the Linux version that come with QNap NAS and many more mostly based on x86 hardware and I'm always able to make it crash easily (just play around when it scan for new files to import and it freeze or quit most of the time). Also, many XBMC boxes does not survive a long left over, when we come back they are stuck at a blank screen, frozen importing stuff or so slow they can be used without reboot (something like RAM full...). The only hardware I have not tested is Mac, I don't know how it could work but the initial cost of acquisition is way to high for a dedicated media player (sad it does not install on ATV3, I heard it run rock solid on ATV2), and I prefer stay away from Android stuff that I unstable by nature (owned few Android phones, none was able to run correctly without slowing down or having to reboot now and then, and I'm not an App-filler kind of user...). I'm curious to speak to a Control4 dealer that have standardized an XBMC solution as media player for his clients and does not get service call, just to know what hardware he use and what kind of customer he have to deal with. Don't get me wrong, your driver is excellent, but we need to have a rock-solid player-side solution that can be resell with confidence.

[alanchow]

I'm curious to know what is the best hardware for a stable XBMC setup (have checked the XBMC forum and people all have their own "perfect" kit, perfect for DIY, not for reselling), I tried everything from OpenElec on NUC or commercial-grade mini PC, full Windows PC (Windows is to avoid because of the hard time it get to synchronize HDMI output and audio, just check the Windows-based Fusion media server HDMI issues, it's ridiculous for the price paid...), the Linux version that come with QNap NAS and many more mostly based on x86 hardware and I'm always able to make it crash easily (just play around when it scan for new files to import and it freeze or quit most of the time). Also, many XBMC boxes does not survive a long left over, when we come back they are stuck at a blank screen, frozen importing stuff or so slow they can be used without reboot (something like RAM full...). The only hardware I have not tested is Mac, I don't know how it could work but the initial cost of acquisition is way to high for a dedicated media player (sad it does not install on ATV3, I heard it run rock solid on ATV2), and I prefer stay away from Android stuff that I unstable by nature (owned few Android phones, none was able to run correctly without slowing down or having to reboot now and then, and I'm not an App-filler kind of user...). I'm curious to speak to a Control4 dealer that have standardized an XBMC solution as media player for his clients and does not get service call, just to know what hardware he use and what kind of customer he have to deal with. Don't get me wrong, your driver is excellent, but we need to have a rock-solid player-side solution that can be resell with confidence.

 

Alot of dealers have been using XBMC for years though it is just recently that XBMC has had work done to it to allow for lower spec devices to work well with it hence the influx of devices that can play it well.  There are also hardware based setups like the Helix systems that Houselogix sells that are also pretty solid as mentioned.  We have had a huge influx in sales since we started selling this driver (When i was at Recluse we sold alot but the chowmain version is selling way more).  I would ask for a second opinion on the official dealer forums.  Quite alot of dealers use and sell setups and there are some who know XBMC inside out.

 

I have had issues with it in the past on poorly designed systems but once you get the formula right its solid.  As i mentioned android for me has worked well (on the right box) but that's just my experience.  We are starting to distribute these boxes through our distribution arm and so far we've had only positive feedback.

 

Hope that helps.

[msgreenf]

Openelec is a great distro of kodi. I would recommend looking at their website for hardware picks

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

[jackstone]

Ok then, I will give another try to Kodi. I will use the most robust PC I have at home, it's a 2 year old Core i5 2nd gen with Intel mobo and onboard HDMI port, no PCIe graphics. It run Windows 8.1 host and Hyper-v with some virtual production servers and test workstation, Maybe the worst machine to use as a media player but it was running for two whole years 24/7 with no reboot or crash at all, this PC is a tank so I'll be sure the hardware part will not be the cause if something goes wrong.

 

First though, with Kodi, the poor SD quality is finally solved, it now look good (the best it could for SD), good. Not sure it this is something related to the fact I run on Windows and the Windows driver for Intel video may be better than the generic driver in OpenElec...

 

Will run Kodi always open and use it for my day to day movie and series viewing. Will use the free JSON-based XBMC driver for UI-only control (48h trial is not long enough for this test, but will sure buy the Chowmain's driver if this test is convincing.)

 

Let's try this for let's say, a whole month, then I will try some hardware that could be use for a dedicated player, like the Gigabyte Brick or the China i3 mini PC from Aliexpress

[jackstone]

Alan, quick question, can we use an imported movie collection from one XBMC client to play to another? For example, 3 Kodi players around the house but all movies are saved in the same shared NAS, so we'll use one Kodi to ingest all movies in C4 and then play them on any Kodi player, is this possible?

[blub]

Windows is stable with good hardware. I also used Linux a lot, and given good hardware from Windows 7 on there is no real difference if the Software in use is of decent quality (shitty program code can crash pretty much every OS).

 

For HTPC in general, the less codecs installed the more stable the setup will be.

Also avoid notifications, or programs to pop up as they will steal focus on the app which might lead to issues.

 

 

I usually reboot ever 14d because I am not using ECC memory. Longest time I had my system run was 20d with no issues (rebooted windows updates).

 

I do not have A/V sync problems when I adapt refresh rate to match video fps (I do not use passthrough any more, I use WASAPI output).

However I use a HDMI Doctor to avoid HDMI sync issues (no audio after standby etc - I just got sick of the workarounds)

 

 

just my 2c

[alanchow]

Alan, quick question, can we use an imported movie collection from one XBMC client to play to another? For example, 3 Kodi players around the house but all movies are saved in the same shared NAS, so we'll use one Kodi to ingest all movies in C4 and then play them on any Kodi player, is this possible?

No. The driver indexes the library and grabs the movie id not the file path. As such movie is numbers are unique to that library. The reason we did this is so that

A) when you play a movie it counts to the play count

you can resume playback

C) you can see the movie info

D) it doesn't matter if the movie is on local storage/network storage/Etc

You will need a seperate share for each instance of xbmc. Just hide the other shares in each room under both watch and videos.

[jackstone]

Yes, I agree Windows is stable, my central Win8.1 PC that run 24/7 for 2 year w/o any reboot or crash is a good example of that, but the HDMI sync is a problem. As workaround I connect the computer using VNC with no monitor or TV connected, Windows will use the default 1024x768 resolution and wait to detect a monitor, I changed the default resolution to 1080p within VNC and no more resolution switching problem when I power ON my TV.  Linux does not have this issue but the video driver in Linux is not as good as Windows (from what I've tested using Intel HD 2000 graphics)

[jackstone]

No. The driver indexes the library and grabs the movie id not the file path. As such movie is numbers are unique to that library. The reason we did this is so that

A) when you play a movie it counts to the play count

you can resume playback

C) you can see the movie info

D) it doesn't matter if the movie is on local storage/network storage/Etc

You will need a seperate share for each instance of xbmc. Just hide the other shares in each room under both watch and videos.

 

I see. That make sense.

 

But you can still use Plex for cataloging a shared folder of film an play them over any Kodi client right? Like it was the case with your past version.

[alanchow]

I see. That make sense.

But you can still use Plex for cataloging a shared folder of film an play them over any Kodi client right? Like it was the case with your past version.

Yes you can. The driver looks for the /chowmain/ text in the confrol4 file path to assume it is a movie from the library.

Any other movie will be played as normal if using another scraper like plex media server. Note you won't get the pretty movie info and cover art if you press the info button on your remote if you go with this method.

[alanchow]

Windows is stable with good hardware. I also used Linux a lot, and given good hardware from Windows 7 on there is no real difference if the Software in use is of decent quality (shitty program code can crash pretty much every OS).

For HTPC in general, the less codecs installed the more stable the setup will be.

Also avoid notifications, or programs to pop up as they will steal focus on the app which might lead to issues.

I usually reboot ever 14d because I am not using ECC memory. Longest time I had my system run was 20d with no issues (rebooted windows updates).

I do not have A/V sync problems when I adapt refresh rate to match video fps (I do not use passthrough any more, I use WASAPI output).

However I use a HDMI Doctor to avoid HDMI sync issues (no audio after standby etc - I just got sick of the workarounds)

just my 2c

Our kodi driver can help automate reboots if you want it to do so. For example my house automatically shuts down my main kodi HTPC when I arm my house. It will automatically turn it back on again when I disarm my house.

It also does it at scheduled times of 3am shutdown and 8am startup.

I do this to save a bit of energy for the times I know that my family will never be using the system.

Alternatively if you have a fast boot system then control4 can automatically turn it on and off every time you use it. Personally I don't want to wait 30 seconds to a minute to use the system so not for me.

[blub]

Hi

Just an Info others should know in case they need it:

If you want to delete stuff, i.e. recordings there is no direct mapping of a button to delete an item. It can be done via "context_menu".

[jackstone]

Just a quick feedback of my Kodi reliability test done last month, it survived about 3 weeks with no issue, then started choppy playback with no sound, for no reason. The PC never crashed or rebooted for the whole month and all VM that run on it are still fine.

 

Conclusion: for pc-based media player, always-on may become problematic, better plan a way to have it rebooted at some interval or handle power management in some way it powered on and off when needed. Sleeping is not recommended.

 

Will now try with a Gigabyte Brix Celeron box with power management enabled, using OpenElec...

[alanchow]

Just a quick feedback of my Kodi reliability test done last month, it survived about 3 weeks with no issue, then started choppy playback with no sound, for no reason. The PC never crashed or rebooted for the whole month and all VM that run on it are still fine.

Conclusion: for pc-based media player, always-on may become problematic, better plan a way to have it rebooted at some interval or handle power management in some way it powered on and off when needed. Sleeping is not recommended.

Will now try with a Gigabyte Brix Celeron box with power management enabled, using OpenElec...

The current KODI windows release has a few issues that they are addressing (see their website for details). It should be resolved when they release KODI 14.2 shortly.

Alternatively if you want our driver can programmatically reboot your machine. Mine is setup to shutdown the machine on security arm and boot on security disarm and as such save the idle power during my time away from home.

[wappinghigh]

Just a quick feedback of my Kodi reliability test done last month, it survived about 3 weeks with no issue, then started choppy playback with no sound, for no reason. The PC never crashed or rebooted for the whole month and all VM that run on it are still fine.

 

Conclusion: for pc-based media player, always-on may become problematic, better plan a way to have it rebooted at some interval or handle power management in some way it powered on and off when needed. Sleeping is not recommended.

 

Will now try with a Gigabyte Brix Celeron box with power management enabled, using OpenElec...

Use a QNAP NAS..... I've shown how to set this up as a media player server that does HDMI straight out of the QNAP.... It's really cool.... 

[MakeItAMudLight]

Use a QNAP NAS..... I've shown how to set this up as a media player server that does HDMI straight out of the QNAP.... It's really cool.... 

Did you post a how to for this on here?  I searched but I was too lazy to look through all the results

[jackstone]

Qnap NAS is to avoid for use as a media player, I had sold some to my customer and the XMBC version that is available on it is anything but stable, It close for no reason and it does not always auto-start on boot. Qnap NAS are a great product, especially for the built-in PLEX server. Add some external player and you're good to go, rock solid.

[BREAL]

Alanchow Is it possible with Amazon Fire TV with Kodi (XBMC) installed, to be able to communicate with Chowmain – Kodi Lite (XBMC) Driver?

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