HDHRTV - a streaming server for both DLNA and non-DLNA HDHomeRun devices that can stream a native MPEG2 TS stream (DLNA devices only) or transcoded flash stream. MythTV program listings can be displayed if a MythTV server is available.

1. Disclaimer

HDHRTV is a hobby project that has been developed to serve a need but not be a perfect body of code. It most likely will contain bugs. Please note that security is ultimately the responsibility of the person installing software on a server. It is highly encouraged to secure any public facing server with password protection and encryption.

The transcoding and streaming method used by HDHRTV is rather crude and simplistic. The possibility exists that FFmpeg processes could become orphaned when streams are not cleanly initiated or closed. Please check for orphaned FFmpeg processes on a regular basis if the streaming server is being regularly used.

2. Overview

HDHRTV was originally developed for the HDHomeRun PRIME, which is a CableCard tuner device capable of HTTP streaming the native MPEG2 TS digital cable stream tuned by the device over a network. Unfortunately, this stream is typically too large to stream over WiFi or outside the local network, though the native standard definition stream will stream okay, in most cases, over WiFi on the local network. In order to allow streaming to any location, HDHRTV transcodes the MPEG stream to a flash video and streams it via a web page. Though Apple devices have embraced HTML 5 and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), it seems that the rest of the world is slow to get on board. Android seems to only have mild success with HLS depending on what 3rd party applications have been installed. As such, HDHRTV has been developed to stream Flash until the rest of the OS world catches up to HTML 5 and HLS streaming. If interested in setting up an HLS server for the HDHomeRun PRIME, consider using Wallop (http://jonmaddox.com/wallop/). For direct streaming using Android device, consider using MX Player or Daroon Player. Standard definition flash streaming should work on nearly any server. HD channels will require that a decent, modern processor be used for transcoding. Also note that a couple of ffmpeg configurations have been set up in the configuration file. One uses the original Sorenson flv codec. This codec cannot multithread, so it will most likely not be effective transcoding HD channels. The other ffmpeg configuration uses h.264 video and mp3 audio in an flv container. This configuration is capable of multithreading and should be able to transcode HD video.

The predecessors to the HDHomeRun PRIME were not capable of streaming directly ove HTTP, but HDHRTV can still stream a flash stream using these legacy devices. The server uses hdhomerun_config to create this stream. Please refer to the Silicon Dust website and documentation for installation instructions of hdhomerun_config. HDHRTV streaming of legacy, non-DLNA HDHomeRun devices was added in HDHRTV version 0.2.

3. Credits

• GUI modeled after Web1.0MPC (http://web10mpc.geuecke.org/)
• Thanks to Jon Maddox and his Wallop server which is an HDHR streaming server for iOS and other devices that can stream HTML5 (https://github.com/maddox/wallop/ or http://jonmaddox.com/wallop/)

4. License

GPLv3 - see COPYING file.

5. Requirements

• HDHomeRun - either DLNA or non-DLNA
• Apache or similar webserver
• PHP >= 5.1
• FFmpeg
• MythTV (optional for channel listings and info)
• hdhomerun_config utility is required if using legacy, non-DLNA HDHomeRun device.

Development system: CentOS 6.4, Apache 2.2.15, PHP 5.3.3, MythTV .26, FFmpeg 1.2.4, HDHomeRun Prime.

6. Features

Main Page / Listing:

• The main home page lists all the channels available. If MythTV is being used, then the channel data and listing info will be retrieved from MythTV. If MythTV is not being used, then channel data will be retrieved from the HDHomeRun. The HDHomeRun only provides channel number and name. If using a legacy device, a channel scan must be run from the settings page.
• Channel icons can be shown on the channel listings. Icons are configured in ./config/channel_icon_map.php. Icons reside in ./public/images/channel_icons/
• The play button on the left can be configured to start the flash player or provide a direct HTTP link to the HDHomeRun PRIME. Only flash player is available for non-DLNA devices.
• If the direct link to the stream is selected, the client device must be configured to play this link. On Android, consider using MX Player or Daroon. On a standard computer, consider VLC.

Favorites:

• Favorite channels are listed by selecting the star icon from the header menu. Favorite channels can be set by browsing to the Favorties page then selecting 'Edit' from the header menu.

Channel Details:

• The channel details page is shown when selecting the arrow on the right of an individual channel on the listings page. The detail page will show information for the selected channel. If MythTV listings are being used, program details and start/stop time will be shown. From this details page, the user can select a link to play the channel via a direct URL or via the flash player. This direct link is only available for DLNA devices.

Settings:

• The user can adjust general and transcoding settings. The settings are stored in a user cookie. If cookies aren't enabled, then the default settings defined in the config file will be used.

Channel Scan:

• Channel Scan is selected from the Settings page but is only available if the HDHR is a legacy device as defined in the config file. The channel scan must initially be run before the streaming server can be functional when using legacy HDHR devices.

7. Installation

• Extract the files to a directory on your webserver.
• Check and adjust file and directory permissions.
• Make any additional adjustments to the server as necessary for the specific application directory, such as password protection, etc.
• Copy ./config/config.php.dist to ./config/config.php. Edit ./config/config.php. The config file contains three sections. The first section contains the application settings, all defined in the $config[] array. The next section contains the ffmpeg transcoding settings, all defined in the $ffmpeg_cmd[] array. The last section contains the user settings, the respective setting's selections, and the default setting, all within a nested array defined by the $user_config[] array.
• All of the config file settings are well documented.
• Edit the ./config/channel_icon_map.php file to assign channel icon images to channel numbers. Add channel icon images to ./public/images/channel_icons as necessary.
• Run a channel scan from the Settings page if a legacy HDHR is being used and defined in the config file.

8. Tips and Tricks

• For direct streaming to Android, there has been success with both MX Player and Daroon Player depending on the hardware and Android version.
• If HDHRTV is running on a server without enough processing power, it is possible to use ssh and have another machine with greater processing capabilities take care of transcoding. A line exists in the config file to define the ssh command. The remote machine will transfer its standard output to the server running HDHRTV. Remote ssh keys will need to be set up to allow for apache, or whatever user is used to run the webserver, to connect to the remote machine and execute ffmpeg. See (http://mingstert.blogspot.com/2009/11/ssh-via-apache-deamon-user.html)

9. Known issues

• The php web page uses a very simple 'passthru' command to stream the output of ffmpeg to the web page's flash player. If the server has issues transcoding or streaming the video, the php page will stop responding and the ffmpeg process will be orphaned. If an ffmpeg process is orphaned, it typically won't increase the server's load. The server administrator should 'ps aux | grep ffmpeg' for orphaned ffmpeg processes from time to time and clean up as necessary.

10. Possible TODO Items

• Monitor for ophaned ffmpeg processed and terminate gracefully if discovered. Consider usind PID files.
• Add user option to terminate any orphaned ffmpeg processes.
• Add more options and information to Flowplayer, such as 'now playing', adjust bitrate, mini-EPG. Mini-EPG could be a menu of favorite channels.
• Favorite channels (added in version 0.2)
• Create a direct streaming wrapper to stream the full MPEG-TS file via HTTP for legacy devices.

11. History

version 0.2 (2014-01-18)

• add ability to use legacy, non-DLNA HDHomeRun devices
• add 'Favorites' page and function
• add transcoding option for Audio Only
• refactored portions of code, improved error checking, and revised channel model

version 0.1 (2013-11-23):

• initial release