Skippa to Synology NAS to Plex

[MoDementia]

My current setup is Windows Media Centre (Intel I5, GTX960, Hauppauge 22XX x 2, Plex Media Server, etc)  to Synology NAS to Plex
This takes some file conversion, getting Movie/Series info from MovieDB/TVDB, file renaming and moving to the NAS.

Hoping to replace the WMC PVR part (and avoid some of the conversion, internet lookup steps) with 1 or 2 Skippas

I can't answer this question myself with the current information provided 


Hi,

Answers to any or all of the following questions would be a big help.
What format/container do the recordings get written as?
What will the filename be?
How much of the Guide metadata is included in the file.
Is the hard drive sharable?
If I purchase 2 Skippas will Smart recording treat them as 1 and assign recordings to the main one first and then the other if conflicted?

These all have to do with
1 increasing the tuner count, I'm not convinced 3 will be enough as I have 4 now and still have conflicts on some days.
2 automating conversion (hopefully not required),  metadata lookup and renaming the file for Plex recognition and finally moving to my NAS

Movie Title (Year)
Series Name - s01e01 - Episode Name

[IanL-S]

Assuming that the Technical Specifications for the Skippa are correnct, it supports Opera TV Store, and one of the Apps recently added to it is Plex: http://www.operasoftware.com/press/releases/devices/2014-12-10. I hope that is the case as I too have a Synology NAS.

Ian

[IanL-S]

Answers to any or all of the following questions would be a big help.
What format/container do the recordings get written as?
What will the filename be?
How much of the Guide metadata is included in the file.

These are all good questions. There would be no point in changing the native video codec (MPEG2) and sound codec. So, as you point out, will there be a custom or generic container? An associated question is if the meta data will be included in that file or in a separate file (this is done by Topfield PVRs). For the unit to act as a DLNA server using standard MPEG2 ts container would be the cleanest solution.

Ian

[Dave at IceTV]

The recorded file container is a regular mpeg2-ts (transport stream) file with a .ts file extension. The .ts file contains the video, audio and closed captions when available.

I'm not sure if the metadata is included in the .ts file or in a separate file (of the same name but different file extension) but I suspect it's a separate file.

I'm also not sure about the filename but it would be a fairly standard format of year-month-day_hr-min-sec_showname.ts

As Ian pointed out, Plex is available on the Opera TV Store and the skippa has Opera TV Store.

Currently the HDD is not sharable.

Currently 2 skippas in the 1 account would be seen and treated as 2 separate devices each with their own series recordings.

Dave
IceTV Support

[MoDementia]

The recorded file container is a regular mpeg2-ts (transport stream) file with a .ts file extension. The .ts file contains the video, audio and closed captions when available.

I'm not sure if the metadata is included in the .ts file or in a separate file (of the same name but different file extension) but I suspect it's a separate file.

I'm also not sure about the filename but it would be a fairly standard format of year-month-day_hr-min-sec_showname.ts

As Ian pointed out, Plex is available on the Opera TV Store and the skippa has Opera TV Store.

Currently the HDD is not sharable.

Currently 2 skippas in the 1 account would be seen and treated as 2 separate devices each with their own series recordings.

Dave
IceTV Support

Thanks Dave,

IceTV AutoSkip (automatic Ad-Skip Technology) - Watching a movie or TV show without constant interruptions at the worse possible time is one of those things that will make you later wonder how you ever watched TV without AutoSkip.
I have been 30 sec skipping adds 10 secs back with my mouse for years. A little annoying sure, but I'm used to it.
What will be really annoying is to get through most of a movie and realise it skipped a crucial 5 mins of plot dialoguge
So this might not last long turned on.

IceTV Smart Recording and IceTV Electronic Program Guide - IceTV will be more tightly integrated into skippa than in any previous recorder that is able to use IceTV. This also makes future improvements and new features possible to be more easily added to skippa.
But that dosen't mean no development on other integration apps?

Record up to 6 programs simultaneously and watch a 7th program (either live or pre-recorded)
6 Programs as long as they are all only on 3 networks and padding may or maynot be maintained
Less flexability than my current setup, would need to use 2 Skippas to be sure

1080p Video Output - Sharp, clear images on even the largest TV or projector. Most PVRs only upscale to 1080i. Some don't do a good job of upscaling the SD channels.
As long as the file is saved as up to 1080p, I have no need to up scale on a device which handles 1080p natively (PC is 4K)   
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

1 TB Hard Drive - The goldilocks of hard drive sizes (just right). Hard drives smaller than 1TB are too small. Hard drives larger than 1TB hold more hours of recordings than you could ever watch.
27 TB NAS. being able to move all my files into a central raided location, 1 access point for all my devices.   
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

HbbTV Enabled - All of the Catchup TV channels and Freeview Plus (and whatever else becomes available via HbbTV in future).
I would like this, maybe it's good maybe it isn't

Opera TV Store - 100s of apps (mostly free) including Plex, games and Internet TV channels and radio channels etc. etc.
As Ian pointed out, Plex is available on the Opera TV Store and the skippa has Opera TV Store.
Great, I can use Plex to watch everything on my network EXCEPT whats on the Skippa HD.
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

Media playback via USB and DLNA Streaming - play your home videos or recordings off other devices, even if they are mkv format.
I already have a number of devices, players all DNLA capable, but not as pretty enhanced as a proper media library e.g. plex
Currently the HDD is not sharable = Deal breaker

Plug and Play (intuitive setup wizard) - User friendly so anyone can set up a skippa.
Yep, I'm sure it will be for those whose only media device will be Skippa.

Closed Captioning - Any PVR that does not have closed captions is not suitable for a growing percentage of the market.
Glad it's available, but not used in my household 


From my round up of comments
The biggest issue is not being able to access the files on Skippa directly from other devices
i.e. Move them somewhere to be catalogued

Even if this were solved with the addition of Samba etc
The mpeg2-ts has no capability of storing metadata (.WTV has some great information)
And the filenaming won't even help look up additional data without at least title , year, and episode name

Looks like I will be cancelling my order of 2 x Skippas and after quite a wait    

[csutak40]

From my round up of comments
The biggest issue is not being able to access the files on Skippa directly from other devices
i.e. Move them somewhere to be catalogued

My limited understanding has also bought me to the same conclusion.  The 1TB HDD may be large enough - I am forever watching and deleting stuff off my 750Gb Toppy, provided I can easily move stuff that I decide to keep long term easily to another  HDD.  ATM, my convoluted system means that stuff that I know I will want to keep, I record with my WMC, not the Toppy, but I thought the idea of the Skippa was that it was supposed to simplify everything, so that one can record everything on the same device and then decide what to do with it later.  Of course, the lack of the promised four tuners could hinder in that as well.

[michaelwho]

I asked via email if recordings can be archived.

"You can copy skippa's recordings to a USB drive to archive or play on another device or computer.

You can also copy the file's url from a network media player app like Windows Media Player and then paste that url into the address bar of a web browser and download the recording (but it's a little fiddly to do).

It currently cannot see other devices' shared folders on the network, or be seen as a shared drive by other devices on the network (but that may be added by firmware update)"

[warkus]

I cannot wait to see what apps are available from the store... If something like ES file explorer was to be available, potentially it could allow full access to network shares to copy recordings off the unit easily, but I'll bet there are no file explorer apps to download, siggghhhhhh, time will tell...

Fingers crossed.


Mark

[IanL-S]

If there is not already an ftp server in the firmware it would be very easy to add one - they are generic. Subject to licence requirmenets you could easily add FileZilla Server. Technically it is a 'no-brainer'.

Ian

[csutak40]

If there is not already an ftp server in the firmware it would be very easy to add one - they are generic. Subject to licence requirmenets you could easily add FileZilla Server. Technically it is a 'no-brainer'.

Ian

Easy for you to say   

That's what scares me.  That, if I buy it, setting it up will be way above my capabilities.

[IanL-S]

If there is not already an ftp server in the firmware it would be very easy to add one - they are generic. Subject to licence requirmenets you could easily add FileZilla Server. Technically it is a 'no-brainer'.

Ian

Easy for you to say   

That's what scares me.  That, if I buy it, setting it up will be way above my capabilities.

Judy, it would be easy for the IceTV firmware engineers to include the ftp server.

For the user it would be easy to set up; just turn it one and add a user name and password (that is how it works on Topfield PVRs). The more difficult task is to set up the ftp client on you computer, but even that is relatively simple (compared to many other things).

Ian

[prl]

...
The more difficult task is to set up the ftp client on you computer, but even that is relatively simple (compared to many other things).
...

Most Web browsers can be used as simple FTP clients. Just use ftp:// URLs.

[IanL-S]

...
The more difficult task is to set up the ftp client on you computer, but even that is relatively simple (compared to many other things).
...

Most Web browsers can be used as simple FTP clients. Just use ftp:// URLs.

Yes, that is so.

Not sure what is meant by the process described in the earlier post of copying URL from a Network Media player. This suggests that the Skippa is some sort of server (probably DLNA?). It would seem to me that you could use that URL to configure an ftp client to access recordings located on the Skippa on a PC/MAC.

Ian

[nis200sx]

Not sure what is meant by the process described in the earlier post of copying URL from a Network Media player. This suggests that the Skippa is some sort of server (probably DLNA?). It would seem to me that you could use that URL to configure an ftp client to access recordings located on the Skippa on a PC/MAC.

Ian

It's easy enough in Windows Media Player. See the attached images for steps 1 and 2.

Step 1: In Windows Media Player, right-click on the recording and select Properties.
Step 2: Highlight the first line of the Location link, right-click and select Copy.
Step 3: Right-click in your web browser's address bar and select Paste.
Step 4: Press Enter and wait for the file to download to your browser's default download folder.
Step 5: You can rename the file after it has downloaded, otherwise it will have a number as the name.