TV Tuner support

[marcevan]

This would be a big add, but look where Windows 10 is heading: No Media Center.

And since TV Tuning is a server-based function, I see FreeNas as a logic place to support TV Tuning, schedule ingest, PVR, etc.

I wil likely do Kodi on my HTPC under Windows 10 with Plex (if they ever figure out mouse support) or Emby (if I ever like their FreeNas plugin).

 

[cyberjock]

Do you know how many people have tried, unsuccessfully I might add, to get the FreeBSD drivers to work on FreeNAS? I'd guess at least a dozen.

One IRC user literally bought something like 3 to 5 TV tuner cards that have FreeBSD drivers in an attempt to get FreeNAS to work with them. Ultimately he was out a chunk of cash and never got any of them working despite 2 months of effort.

This is not something that is remotely simple to implement, it's something that nobody has really gotten to work, and it's not something I expect any time in the near future unless some FreeBSD wizard shows up and figures out how to make it work and provides the source back to FreeNAS as a git pull request.

 

[marcevan]

But there's linux, and Myth TV would be perfect server porting over to a freenas plugin, right? I think MineOS is linux as well so if there's a linux TV backend then I'm sure it's doable.

 

[Ericloewe]

Linux != FreeBSD

As Cyberjock said, this is an unfortunately complicated matter.

 

[Middling]

Actually, this may be possible in the not too distant future, depending on your hardware.

Silicon Dust sell a range of network tuners called HDHomerun. They also provide an opensource client for tuning into streams from these devices. The libhdhomerun library is not currently in the FreeBSD ports tree, but an ancient version of it is mentioned on the FreeBSD site as working so, if the current version doesn't work, it could probably be patched to do so.

Not too long ago TVHeadend integrated native support for HDHomerun using libhdhomerun (previously they used a Linux kernel module) and there is an older port (predating the HDHomerun integration) for FreeBSD. TVHeadend just released v4.0 last month (but haven't updated their news page) so hopefully an updated port will be available soon. It might be worth the OP contacting the port maintainer and mentioning the new TVHeadend release and possibility of native FreeBSD HDHomerun support.

If the OP is in Europe there's also the Sat>IP protocol which is also supported by TVHeadend 4.0. I'm thinking of going this way myself in a year or so.

Lots of caveats, but a dedicated enough person probably could get this working now.

 

[Middling]

I compiled the most recent libhdhomerun in a jail with gmake. It ran and detected my HDHomerun fine. So at least that still works.

I couldn't get an updated TVHeadend to compile. Lots of Linux assumptions in the Makefiles and i don't know enough to fix them. Just have to wait for an updated port.

 

[joeschmuck]

This is flat out funny. FreeNAS is a NAS appliance, not a TV recorder, not a BBQ grill, not a Radio, not a Pizza. I can't believe the amount of stuff which has been crammed into FreeNAS since version 8.01 came out. It's mind boggling, and people want even more. What I want is a reliable NAS. Cram too much into it and it may not be as reliable and it will become more difficult to maintain all the updates.

If someone wants some of these additional features, they can easily implement a Linux system, share hard drive resources and add all these features they want. It's not a simple GUI but it's not terribly bad either, just takes some effort into reading how to use the OS and get it to work for you.

 

[anodos]

I guess theoretically in FreeNAS 10 with the right hardware you could use PCI passthrough to hand off the the tuner card to a MythTV bhyve guest. That said, I wouldn't want to be the one troubleshooting it when something goes wrong.

On a side-note I really wish my freenas appliance was also a beverage dispenser.

 

[Ericloewe]

On a side-note I really wish my freenas appliance was also a beverage dispenser.

You know the fad with the refrigerators that had screens? Stick your server in one of those and pretend you're using FreeNAS to do the beverage serving.

Network Attached Storage and Cold Beverage Server.

 

[Middling]

What I want is a reliable NAS. Cram too much into it and it may not be as reliable and it will become more difficult to maintain all the updates.

Well yes, but isn't the ability to run additional services beyond the default the whole point of having the jails system included?

I don't see having TVHeadend installed as any different from say installing a Plex server.

If someone wants some of these additional features, they can easily implement a Linux system, share hard drive resources and add all these features they want.

If they have another system available and are willing to have it running all the time.

I do have other systems available but my FreeNAS box is the one system that is always running, so i tend to run a lot of stuff in jails.

 

[joeschmuck]

Well yes, but isn't the ability to run additional services beyond the default the whole point of having the jails system included?

The jails were how the basic plugins started out, I doubt there was any vision at the time for what has been done with them these days.

If they have another system available and are willing to have it running all the time.

I meant for you to take your FreeNAS hardware and convert it to a Linux system that also services your storage needs, not add an entirely new system.

Ether way I'm sure that if you want to make a Myth TV thing, you will do it. I was able to make a Linux (Ubuntu) jail in FreeBSD.

 

[gpsguy]

Just tell me where to plugin the flash drive to boot from.

Network Attached Storage and Cold Beverage Server.

 

[Middling]

Just thought i'd update to say this now works.

Tvheadend got updated to the 4.0 version a few months ago but lacked native support for HDHomeRun (it did include SAT>IP support though).

I finally decided to do something about it and created my first port, multimedia/libhdhomerun, which got accepted into the ports tree early this morning, then filed a bug with patch for Tvheadend to use libhdhomerun which got merged 10 minutes ago.

So, Tvheadend now supports native HDHomeRun integration. I've tested streaming live TV from the HDHomeRun through Tvheadend to VLC and Kodi and it works fine.

I've also got Tvheadend running in one jail on my FreeNAS and Emby (running the Tvheadend plugin) in another. All seems to work as expected.

 

[cyberjock]

Congrats! Glad to see someone got that figured out. Here's to hoping others will help you maintain it. ;)

 

[Steven Becker]

That is great news! I've successfully configured tvheadend/EPG/hdhomerun which basically puts the whole DVR in a bow. The development of the hdhomerun libraries appears to be static/stable for awhile, so I'd count that as another win as well.

 

[FreeNASftw]

FWIW, I run Myth in a jail and feed it FTA TV from a HDHR, 99% of the time I only watch TV on my TV, which is a dumb TV with an RPi3 running Kodi plugged into it. Kodi natively support Myth and so it all works flawlessly.