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+--- Forum: General Questions (https://forum.jellyfin.org/f-general-questions)
+--- Thread: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? (/t-does-anyone-use-jf-to-record-tv)
Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - Revv23 - 2023-08-17
Greetings!
I see this option of Live TV in the Dashboard, and when I click help it takes me to this support page:
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/live-tv/index.html
I find it to be informative but I am still lost, I was able to get an m3u option working once (i think it was pluto) but couldnt figure out how to schedule recordings or search for programs like a real DVR.
I see the other option is to purchase HDhomerun, but I am even less clear on how that setup works and if it will allow me to record my live TV like a real DVR. I am also unclear on which HDhomerun device to get.
Wondering if anyone is grabbing their local cable/ota and if they could share what their setups are?
Thanks!
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - grumpycat - 2023-08-18
I am using Jellyfin to record tv. I have an HDHomeRun quattro. Jellyfin was able to detect it on my network.
What kind of TV card are you using?
I am running my jellyfin server on an ubuntu 22.04 linux machine.
These links helped me to get started.
https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/live-tv/setup-guide/
I found this project on github to help me set up an automated process to download and update my xmltv.xml file every 24 hours. It took a couple of hours to set up and test. I didn't run it in docker. I just use the perl shell that comes with ubuntu. If you are using windows you might want to look at downloading strawberry perl.
The key was to sign up here for a free account and then use the information sent to you in the signup email to type in the values in your perl/maybe docker script.
If you want to use docker you can also do that, but it is just another thing to download and mess around with.
(Not recommended if you just want to periodically run a perl script)
I am running it out of cron on ubuntu. If you want to run it periodically on windows just google "how to set up how to setup a scheduled task in windows 10".
TV Listings- Find Local TV Listings and Watch Full Episodes - Zap2it.com
GitHub - jef/zap2xml: 📺 Automate zap2it TV guide to XMLTV
I hope that helps. Good luck!
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - Revv23 - 2023-08-21
Thanks for the reply!
I don't have a TV card at this time as I can't find which one I need.
Thank you for pointing me in the right direction I will study up and see I can't figure this out.
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - grumpycat - 2023-08-24
Yes the way the quattro works is you plug it into your ethernet network and it is just another device on your router. Go to your router setup find it's ip address and type it into the jellyfin gui if it is not automatically detected. Your router setup is usually accessed by going to http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1.
https://www.whattowatch.com/deals/hdhomerun-quatro-down-one-lowest-prices-weve-seen#:~:text=Best%20Buy%20has%20the%20HDHomerun%20Quatro%20on%20sale,is%20one%20of%20the%20lowest%20prices%20we%27ve%20seen.
Then hook up the quattro to an over the air hd antenna and see what local channels you can get. More expensive boxes are available if you want 4K video.
I have no affiliation with HDHomerun but it appears to be widely supported by Jellyfin. The quattro lets you record 4 channels at a time and they go onto the disc attached to your computer as .TS files which can be easily played with vlc media player or jellyfin.
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - kingaffiliation - 2023-08-29
Hey grumpycat,
Is your zap2xml setup still working? I've been trying to get this setup for a few days now and it keeps giving me an error "bad hostname" for zap2it. I'm running it on Windows, but I believe I should have everything installed. The options look slim for free epg data, so I'm really hoping I can get this working. Maybe if you could provide more detail on what file you used and the command to run it?
I'm new to this with an HDHomeRun on the way. Thanks in advance!
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - Revv23 - 2023-08-29
So im about to order HDhomerun (looks like the flex replaced the quattro.)
The listings for HDhomerun devices all mention OTA and thats fine, i have a few antennas around.
But what im really looking for is if anyone knows if this device can pick up my signal from my cable company? (Comcast)
It would be really nice to upgrade the old slow DVR with my own hardware if possible.
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - kingaffiliation - 2023-08-30
(2023-08-29, 10:56 PM)Revv23 Wrote: So im about to order HDhomerun (looks like the flex replaced the quattro.)
The listings for HDhomerun devices all mention OTA and thats fine, i have a few antennas around.
But what im really looking for is if anyone knows if this device can pick up my signal from my cable company? (Comcast)
It would be really nice to upgrade the old slow DVR with my own hardware if possible.
I believe you need the HDHomeRun Prime that supports cablecards. The Flex is for OTA. Not sure if any of them do both OTA and cablecard in one unit.
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - bitmap - 2023-08-30
I'm about to set up my OTA stuff again, I'll see if I can try to put together a guide when I do it. I run everything in docker so it's likely to be centered around that, but it wasn't too onerous if I remember correctly. I have a little USB dual tuner, an HD antenna complete with rabbit ears, and I used TVHeadEnd which can fetch/create an XML guide and M3U stream for you automatically. There's a Jellyfin plugin for it that works fairly well, but took a little doing to get set up. Somewhere in there was a ComSkip integration you could set up.
I'm a nerd so what I'm most interested in is whether I get the PBS station here so I can record what I can't get elsewhere...
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - Revv23 - 2023-08-31
(2023-08-30, 02:32 AM)kingaffiliation Wrote:(2023-08-29, 10:56 PM)Revv23 Wrote: So im about to order HDhomerun (looks like the flex replaced the quattro.)
The listings for HDhomerun devices all mention OTA and thats fine, i have a few antennas around.
But what im really looking for is if anyone knows if this device can pick up my signal from my cable company? (Comcast)
It would be really nice to upgrade the old slow DVR with my own hardware if possible.
I believe you need the HDHomeRun Prime that supports cablecards. The Flex is for OTA. Not sure if any of them do both OTA and cablecard in one unit.
ahhh good call thank you... now i have to decide which path to go down
RE: Does Anyone use JF to record TV? - anthonylavado - 2023-09-02
Yeah, to record, you need a guide. Can't just set up arbitrary record for channels/time. That would have probably been the issue with the first setup using an M3U from other channels.
While I don't have an HDHomeRun myself, I do have an antenna and TV tuner that works with TVHeadend, and that outputs an M3U I can use in my Jellyfin install. I then use SchedulesDirect for the guide data.
That said, an HDHomeRun is way easier for OTA TV in the USA.