Currently available IceTV-enabled PVRs

[MD]

Hi NBOSTI,

The IceBox software is IceTV's adaptation of LibreELEC and TVHeadend software and they have drivers for just about everything but, at this stage, we simply don't have the time to test the Diversity or any other tuners apart from our own.  Nevertheless I'd say they "should" work just like other PC tuner cards should. Note emphasis on "should" as in "probably will".

[IanL-S]

Hi NBOSTI,

<<snip>> .... I'd say they "should" work just like other PC tuner cards should. Note emphasis on "should" as in "probably will".

Thanks MD, that was my hope/expectation. We all understand (at least I hope we do) that IceTV cannot be expected to test all the USB tuner cards that are out there.

As far as I am concerned, it is try and see if the tuner works or not.

Ian

[MD]

Spot on:) 👍

[DeltaMikeCharlie]

The IceBox software is IceTV's adaptation of LibreELEC and TVHeadend software

Are you building your own Kodi PVR client add-on or a you using/modifying an existing PVR client add-on?

[DeltaMikeCharlie]

The ICE EPG has more data than the standard DVB EIT EPG contains.  Does IceTV plan to have the ability to add this data to the Kodi EPG display?

I'm not sure if there is any interest, but this is what I did a few years back when I wrote a TAP for Topfield PVRs:

ICE contains a repeat flag, multiple genre descriptions, production year, cast, director, language, country of origin, and the ICE series/episode tracking codes.

Because the Topfield only understands standard EIT, I had to devise a way to include the additional ICE EPG data in a way that is compatible with EIT.

I decided to mostly append the extra ICE EPG data to the EIT 'Extended Description' field, although I also tacked on the Series/Episode in decimal form plus '[R]' for repeats onto the 'Short Description' if appropriate.  I do this in a way that looks like there is a carriage return after the end of the ExtDesc and the additional ICE data just flows naturally.

I started with the categories (genres), comma separated for multiples.
On a new line, I then include a repeat indicator 'FirstRun' or 'Repeat', I then have a comma separated list of available fields such as production year, captions, language, etc, etc.
On the next new line, I have a comma separated list of the cast plus the director if one is listed.
On the final line, I present the raw ICE series and episode identifiers.  Using these fields, I can employ a keyword search to guarantee that I can narrow matches as much as possible.  These two fields are also fed to the EIT as CRIDs, although not all Topfields recognise CRIDs.

Mostly, if an ICE field was not provided for an event, it is omitted with the exception of the ICE Series/Episode codes which are intentionally shown as 'None'.

I did eventually manage to hook into the Topfield EPG display and make a more compact and colourful version, however, essentially the same presentation data is used.

I hope that this is useful.  Here are some screen shots:



 

[prl]

The ICE EPG has more data than the standard DVB EIT EPG contains.  Does IceTV plan to have the ability to add this data to the Kodi EPG display?

Because the Topfield only understands standard EIT, I had to devise a way to include the additional ICE EPG data in a way that is compatible with EIT.

There's the same limitation in the Beyonwiz software (and in other enigma2-based software). The EPG is saved in the EIT EPG form, and it inherits all the limitations of that. It isn't helped by the strange and inconsistent mappings between the numerical and text genre names in the IceTV data.

I decided to mostly append the extra ICE EPG data to the EIT 'Extended Description' field

I have long intended to do something like that with the Beyonwiz code, but to make use of the fact that segments of the Extended Description could be tagged with labels, so that, say, "credits" could be stashed in an Extended Rescription section tagged with that. That would then allow the UI code to pick out and assemble various bits of the extra data in any way that it wanted.

But that would need changes to the Beyonwiz base code to make use of it, and there doesn't seem any way to do builds of the Beyonwiz firmware at the moment.

[DeltaMikeCharlie]

It isn't helped by the strange and inconsistent mappings between the numerical and text genre names in the IceTV data.

Are you saying that, for example, "Science Fiction" might sometimes be translated as 0x13 and sometimes 0xA2?  Something not even close?

I'm not sure that I have encountered the issue that you describe.  I use the JSON API.  There is a 'Category' object that contains an array of categories.  Each element in that array contains both text and EIT content_descriptor.

Code Select Expand

,"category":[{"name":"Children","eit":"0x50"},{"name":"Drama","eit":"0x10"},{"name":"Dance","eit":"0x60"}],

,"category":[{"name":"Cooking","eit":"0xa5"},{"name":"Food/Wine","eit":"0xa5"}],I append all of the text categories to the 'Extended Description' and send only 1 (first non-zero) of the EIT codes to the firmware via EIT.

The ICE documentation states that the EIT content_descriptor is 'Value as closest match to Table 28 in ETSI EN 300 468'.  Perhaps it is the 'closest match' part that is open to interpretation.

http://developer.icetv.com.au/legacy/shows.html

Also, remember that the Australian 'Freeview' content_descriptor does not comply with the ETSI standard.  It is simplified and extended.  If ICE provides a 0x14 (ETSI Movie-Comedy), FTA may provide 0x10 (AU-Movie ) or 0xC0 (AU-Comedy) for the same programme.

I have long intended to do something like that with the Beyonwiz code, but to make use of the fact that segments of the Extended Description could be tagged with labels, so that, say, "credits" could be stashed in an Extended Rescription section tagged with that. That would then allow the UI code to pick out and assemble various bits of the extra data in any way that it wanted.

I did not even consider using 'items' in the extended description.  The Topfield firmware's EIT handling appears to be very basic and most models don't even support CRIDs.  The chances of the firmware understanding extended description tags and displaying them in a useful manner are low.  The EPG structure in RAM only refers to 'Extended Description' as a monolithic block.

[prl]

There is a 'Category' object that contains an array of categories.  Each element in that array contains both text and EIT content_descriptor.

I use the genre (content_descriptor) entries in the EIT EPG to save the genre (and do the corresponding thing with parental rating). The genre in the EIT EPG is a single byte, and so I must store the EIT content_descriptor, not the text.

There are two issues with that, the simpler one is that the content_descriptor values used by IceTV don't correspond to the ones used in the DVB standard. The other, somewhat trickier, one, is that the same content_descriptor can be used for more that one text descriptor in the IceTV EPG. That requires the content_descriptor value to be re-mapped to a different, otherwise unused, value.

I did not even consider using 'tags' in the extended description.  The Topfield firmware's EIT handling appears to be very basic

The Beyonwiz's EIT EPG code is also fairly basic and doesn't use tagged entries in the EIT EPG extended description (and the broadcasters don't use them either). I intended to extend the Beyonwiz API to the EPG to allow access to tagged extended description sections. But that may not be an option for Topfield.

[Ian_AW]

G'day,

I see from the latest IceTV e-mail, I see that the IceBox is now available, but there is conflicting information when I go to the web site

For me, I am extremely interested as my T2 decided to give up the ghost and make like a gift from Santa!

I would really like to know if units are being sold right now.

One other question.

I have been running a Harmony 650 remote control as the standard one suffered badly from the double click issue. Would the Harmony 650 be compatible with the IceBox?

As things stand, I am looking to get something as soon as is possible because you get so used to the benefits of a PVR.

[MD]

Hi, our email says that the IceBox is available from 3 January and therefore our website store will have it "live" from that day.

Regarding the Harmony our current store page for the IceBox explains that the remote is wifi so doesn't use an IR receiver. The Harmony may work if a USB IR dongle is attached but we have no code updates to support it however Logitech should have the KODI PVR software codes if you do some research for the Harmony product.

[Ian_AW]

Hi, our email says that the IceBox is available from 3 January and therefore our website store will have it "live" from that day.

Thanks.

[Teddles]

The IceBox software is IceTV's adaptation of LibreELEC and TVHeadend software

So is it fair to assume that device setup, menu structure et al will be closely akin to the Wiz V2? Will there be a standalone user guide?

[IanL-S]

The IceBox software is IceTV's adaptation of LibreELEC and TVHeadend software

So is it fair to assume that device setup, menu structure et al will be closely akin to the Wiz V2? Will there be a standalone user guide?

The structure is distinctly different, as is the way you navigate. Device setup (as I understand it) will be by using a wizard. For everyday use, there will be a minimalist guide on the IceTV www site. For more exotic functions, there will be a wikie maintained by the IceBox Community. There are also wiki for LibreELECT and TVheadend, and as well as their dedicated forums. The resources provided by the LibreELEC and TVheadend user communities reduces the need for a detailed user guide.

Ian

Once you get the hang of it the IceBox is very easy to use.

[MD]

The Setup & User guide is on our website under Help - Customer Support (don't know why no one ever looks there!!). But I'm updating it right now so the one you see is the previous version but the pictures of the "UI" and how to set padding etc are correct.  Links will be on the store, supplied to purchasers on the invoice plus a .pdf.

[Teddles]

The structure is distinctly different, as is the way you navigate. Device setup (as I understand it) will be by using a wizard

The Setup & User guide is on our website under Help - Customer Support

Thx guys