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Chowmain - Kodi Full (XBMC) Driver for Control4


alanchow

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58 minutes ago, Matt Lowe said:

Installed this driver recently for a customer using a Video-storm Matrix. Install was little intimidating,but i think we have the majority of it under control.

 

Issue at hand:

currently the customer has a command to bring up an overlay of a camera when the doorbell rings. However control4 assumes you want to exit xmbc when this happens. This causes xmbc to go black, and then he has to go through the process of restarting his movie.

after speaking to Houselogix and Video Storm it should be possible to send a TCP IP command to manually create the overlay for the camera and not close xmbc.

https://www.houselogix.com/shop/generic-tcp-command

looks like the above driver will accomplish this.

currently i am still waiting on video storm to send the exact commands

Interesting.  I have VS but the original VRX 010 not the 020 or whatever, so I have gotham, not Kodi.  So I figured not to use this driver and just Gotham as is using the SR-250 to control it.  Any benefit to using this driver in conjunction with VS?  I guess 2 way info on the navigators, etc?

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48 minutes ago, Matt Lowe said:

and the movies selection to direct select content from a mobile navigator or on screen and just go straight to the content.

got ya.  right now I am just using XBMC for watching my personal NAS collection so I do it via the TV screen and SR-250 remote, not via an app/touchscreen, but interesting.  Assuming this is using the VRX 020?  not the 010?

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Correct, our device needs a firmware update (feature enhancement) for this.
 
Maybe about a week once we get started on it.  Probably 4-5 weeks out.
 

It doesn't have anything to do with XBMC integration/driver.  It is just that the VOSD (pip) feature currently cannot be used on top of XBMC.

 

latest from Video Storm

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We did some testing on the VRX receivers back in August.  Basically when they switch to cameras they kill the Kodi application and as such need to switch back to restart it.  As such Videostorm will need to make some modifications to their devices to cater for this functionality.

The generic TCP command driver will allow you to test HTTP GET and HTTP Post commands in addition to direct socket commands.  Test it out to see if it will do what you want but from memory I don't think the VRX works the way you envision it to work.

Our Kodi driver is based off of the V6 protocol which dates back to XBMC Frodo days so XBMC Frodo, Gotham, Helix, Kodi Isengard and Jarvis will all work on our driver.

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2 hours ago, eggzlot said:

Interesting.  I have VS but the original VRX 010 not the 020 or whatever, so I have gotham, not Kodi.  So I figured not to use this driver and just Gotham as is using the SR-250 to control it.  Any benefit to using this driver in conjunction with VS?  I guess 2 way info on the navigators, etc?

This driver does so much.  It provides browsing/searching/playback of movies, tv shows/episodes, video files, photos, music library, music files, audio addons on any navigator device.  Playback state feedback, automatic aspect ratio detection (if you have a screen that masks and projector that supports 2.35/16:9 mode changing then you can automate this), automatic room on playback and room off on screen saver and much more.

Have a look at our Kodi Full product page for full details on what it can do.  Watch the videos on the page to be wowed.

www.chowmain.co.nz/kodi-xbmc-full-driver-for-control4

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Hearing it works with video storm and Gotham is a game changer.  However I am having issues with houselogix and their support on another driver.  I already have a few of their drivers and want a few more.  Until this issue is resolved I'll have to put this and the other drivers from HL on the back burner.  

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3 hours ago, eggzlot said:

Hearing it works with video storm and Gotham is a game changer.  However I am having issues with houselogix and their support on another driver.  I already have a few of their drivers and want a few more.  Until this issue is resolved I'll have to put this and the other drivers from HL on the back burner.  

Note: this is not a houselogix driver, houselogix is the distributor but they are not the developer - Alan and Chowmain soft are the developers.

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I know they are just the distributor, but they are also the support center.  If there is an issue, though Alan is helpful and does answer some stuff here, he does ask for tickets to be open.  Matt discussed some issues with the VS implementation, turns out its on the VS side, not the kodi driver, but still if I did need support or basic troubleshooting (had Matt not found this out prior) I could see issues.  If I am going to spend a few hundred on drivers (not just Alans, there are 1-2 more I wanted) I want to make sure the distributor will stand by their product.  I already have 2-3 other HL drivers, and I've had other issues and same thing, very slow if any response.  The Rachio driver comes to mind (they built it, again different in this case, but support channels are the same from what I can see).  This is getting off topic on the thread, but just voicing my reasoning.

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Not sure where to put this, but I think it best fits here.

I am just beginning to work on my video library.  I have a VidaBox LiivNAS to rip movies to my NAS and can play them using a Dune HD player through C4.  I only have one movie loaded so far, but understand what to do.  I also have a Sony BluRay changer in the system and see those movies in the C4 interface with the ones on the NAS.

 

I really like the function and look of the Kodi full driver and think I want to get it, but don't quite understand how it fits in.  I have a Roku and a 2015 Sony Bravia TV and think I would use either of them to act as the player for content that the Kodi driver sees, like the Dune does for the movies on my NAS. (Right?).   

 

Now we get to my mental block:

 - where do I put the media I want Kodi to see?  Would this be in an existing location defined to C4?

 - is it / can it be shared with the media I already have? (i.e. Use the copies of the movies I already rather than needing multiple copies)

- Does the Kodi driver also see what's in the C4 media library (in my case the BluRays and LiivNAS movies)?   Or is it that the Kodi driver just adds to the C4 media library?

 

 

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6 hours ago, jfh said:

Not sure where to put this, but I think it best fits here.

I am just beginning to work on my video library.  I have a VidaBox LiivNAS to rip movies to my NAS and can play them using a Dune HD player through C4.  I only have one movie loaded so far, but understand what to do.  I also have a Sony BluRay changer in the system and see those movies in the C4 interface with the ones on the NAS.

 

I really like the function and look of the Kodi full driver and think I want to get it, but don't quite understand how it fits in.  I have a Roku and a 2015 Sony Bravia TV and think I would use either of them to act as the player for content that the Kodi driver sees, like the Dune does for the movies on my NAS. (Right?).   

 

Now we get to my mental block:

 - where do I put the media I want Kodi to see?  Would this be in an existing location defined to C4?

 - is it / can it be shared with the media I already have? (i.e. Use the copies of the movies I already rather than needing multiple copies)

- Does the Kodi driver also see what's in the C4 media library (in my case the BluRays and LiivNAS movies)?   Or is it that the Kodi driver just adds to the C4 media library?

 

 

I think you're getting confused.  The driver does not interact at all with Control4's movie library.  It talks directly to the Kodi installation which is the media player itself (Sony Android TV's can install Kodi from the playstore for example).  Kodi will need to be setup for your movie, tv show, photo, music locations on your NAS.  Once Kodi is setup and the Kodi library has populated itself with content the driver will pull that information from Kodi's library on the fly.  What this means is that you no longer need to scan for movies in Control4.

Note Kodi is not compatible with Dune's or Roku's.  It needs to be installed as an application on a compatible platform.  Visit www.kodi.tv for information about Kodi.

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Alan,

That helps a lot, thanks.  Yes, I was confused.

Can I let the Kodi config point to the same music and video subdirectories on my NAS that I use for Dune/C4? (I think Yes?)

to test this, would I need anything else but your driver and to install the Kodi ap on the Sony TV?

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3 minutes ago, jfh said:

Alan,

That helps a lot, thanks.  Yes, I was confused.

Can I let the Kodi config point to the same music and video subdirectories on my NAS that I use for Dune/C4? (I think Yes?)

to test this, would I need anything else but your driver and to install the Kodi ap on the Sony TV?

Yes just point Kodi to the locations for your music, movies, tv shows and photos on your NAS.

To test install Kodi on your Sony Android TV, set up your video, photo and music sources and once everything is scanned into your Kodi library install our Kodi Full driver (comes with a 48 hour trial) to test.

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  • 4 weeks later...
1 hour ago, 9800pro said:

Alan did you make any new changes to that Sony TV driver of yours? There was another firmware update some time ago but it was after you issued those revised drivers.

Sent from my LG G2

Our sister company is a Sony distributor.  The last time i got them to check the driver was a few weeks ago to ensure that it launches Plex (which it does).  I just checked again to be sure and the drivers that we updated are still current.

Firmware upgrades shouldn't break the code in most cases however the last one broke because of a major API change.  It is unlikely that this will happen again (at least anytime soon).

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have installed this driver following the install instructions but its remaining as disconnected. I have the IP correct and the port, I have set the remote access setting also. Is there any other debugging I can try?

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6 minutes ago, Jas0r said:

I have installed this driver following the install instructions but its remaining as disconnected. I have the IP correct and the port, I have set the remote access setting also. Is there any other debugging I can try?

Are you running it on Android? if so, the changes to open the ports and allow remote access don't happen until you force close Kodi and reopen.  Have you tried that?

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  • 4 months later...

Anybody have issues with kodi full and Jarvis 16.1  I had kodi lite with Jarvis 16.1 with c4 2.7.2.  Everything was fine.  Upgraded to kodi full and 2.8.2 and now I can not control the navigation in Kodi at all.  It doesn't respond to any commands from the sr250 except for when I already start playing a movie with a keyboard.  It then can pause and stop, but that's it.

This is a htpc I built and has worked fine up to this point.  Also, I have another htpc kodi installation that is isengard and is working fine with the kodi full and 2.8.2

Alan, can you chime in on this?

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