NEWA is a rich web based interface into NextPVR. It is supported by UncleJohnsBand.

Features

  • View your TV Guide.
  • Schedule Events.
  • Delete Events.
  • Search for Events.
  • Stream (via VLC) or download recorded Events and Live TV.
  • Stream (via VLC) or download Music from your Music Library.
  • Stream (via VLC) or download Videos from your Video Library.
  • View your Photo Library in a web based photo gallery format.
  • Interoperability to other applications and systems via a full Web Service interface.
  • RSS Feed for recorded Events.
  • Auto search and record Events.
  • Configure web front-end display options and settings.

On this page... (hide)

Quick Start

Just point your web browser to http://machine_name_or_ip_address:8866, and enjoy (or http://localhost:8866 if you're on the same box).

Here's a quick link to access your guide based on default settings. The raw URL on your local machine (machine hosting NextPVR) is http://localhost:8866/guide2.aspx for CSS based screens and http://localhost:8866/guide.aspx for HTML table based screens.

Configuration

The websever part of NEWA is configured using the NMT & Web tab of the settings dialog.

Current Version

NEWA is included in the default NextPVR installation. Updates and fixes are made to NEWA between NextPVR releases, these are made available as development builds.

NextPVR 3.5.7 includes NEWA v2.17.

The latest development build is NEWA v2.17 (3210 downloads), which was released on 2015-08-30. You must be using NPVR 3.4.8 or higher to use this build.

NEWA v1.34 (2727 downloads) was the last .Net 2.0 version of NEWA. The current release utilizes .Net 4.0.

Installing a development build

  • Download the NEWA build you want to use from the links above.
  • Stop the NextPVR Recording Service
  • Delete all contents and directories in the \web folder (except for the bin directory...removing this will cause NextPVR to reinstall the default version of NEWA)
  • Delete only these files from the web\bin directory:
    • AjaxControlToolkit.dll
    • AjaxMin.dll
    • eWorld.UI.dll
    • HtmlAgilityPack.dll
    • ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll
    • Microsoft.Web.Infrastructure.dll
    • NewtonsoftJson.dll
    • Rss.dll
    • Rss.Net.dll
    • Rss.pdb
    • svg.dll
    • svg.pdb
    • System.Net.Http.dll
    • System.Net.Http.Extensions.dll
    • System.Net.Http.Formatting.dll
    • System.Net.Http.Primitives.dll
    • System.Net.WebRequest.dll
    • System.Web.Helpers.dll
    • System.Web.Http.dll
    • System.Web.Http.WebHost.dll
    • System.Web.Mvc.dll
    • System.Web.Razor.dll
    • System.Web.Routing.dll
    • System.Web.WebPages.Deployment.dll
    • System.Web.WebPages.dll
    • System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll
    • taglib-sharp.dll
  • Extract the zip into your NextPVR data directory using the option to use directory names. This will load all the files into your \web directory and subdirectories.
  • Restart the NPVR Recording Service.
  • Refresh the NEWA page in your Web Browser (important to reload cached files that might have changed).

Troubleshooting

Allow service to interact with desktop

On some PC's the NextPVR Recording Service service may need to have the "Allow service to interact with desktop" box checked for NEWA to work correctly. This setting is available Start\Control Panel\System and Security\Administrative Tools\Services.

NAS Drive Access

If you are experiencing problems with getting to NAS shares from NEWA you can use the following setup instructions and utility to allow NEWA to access the drive shares.

You need to use the ShareHelper utility program for this to work.

Instructions for the install and setup are in the thread as well as some troubleshooting items. Any issues just post into the thread.

RSS Capabilities

All RSS Feed readers such as FeedReader and the built in readers in IE and FireFox should have no problems with these feeds.

Real-Time RSS access information:

Feed Reader Discovery: URL: http://youraddress:yourport/public/rss.aspx

Direct RSS Feed access information:

Base URL: http://youraddress:yourport/public/rss.aspx?filter=

The filter options are 'completed', 'in-progress', 'pending', 'conflict', 'failed' or 'deleted'.

Enclosures

Enclosures are supported in the RSS feed. To use enclosures your recordings must be accessible via HTTP on the file system. NEWA's transfer mechanism does not natively support the necessary HTTP file access. Rather than reinvent the wheel enclosures can be supported by the open source HTTP File Server software HFS. This software will host a file system via HTTP. It is a standalone application that is very small in size.

Configuration

  • First, install HFS and set the port you want your enclosures to be accessed over.
  • Point HFS to your file store for your recordings and set the desired name of the folder.
  • To include enclosures in your RSS feed you need to pass in two new query parameters. The port and the directory name you set in HFS. The URL should look something like:
  • If you want enclosures to be accessible outside your network you will need to open the port you set in HFS and forward it to you hosting machine.

Auto-Search/Record

NEWA provides the ability to save searches that you may frequently use allowing you to easily search your EPG with the stored search criteria. These saved searches can be set to record Events that are found in the search to be recorded. You can optionally set/unsett these saved searches to be eligible for the Auto-Search feature of NEWA.

You can configure NEWA to run these saved searches automatically by setting the Enable Auto-Search and/or the Enable Auto-Record (sets found Events to be recorded) options on the Config tab of NEWA. You contol how many days in the EPG are searched by entering a value (that represents the numbers of days to search) in the Auto-Search EPG Days field.

If set, the Auto-Search/Record feature will only run one time per day. It will only run when at least 1 hour has elapsed since your scheduled EPG update time for that day. This helps ensure that your searches are executed against the most recent EPG load and only run one time each day. You can force your saved searches to run in NEWA via the Search Now button on the Config tab.

Web Streaming Capabilities

You must first install VLC. VLC is used on the NextPVR Host PC to stream the recording. Just run the install...if you use the default install settings you do not need to change anything in the web configuration tab of EWA.

NOTE: 64-bit systems will need to update the location pointers for VLC by clicking on the config button near the top right corner of the EWA screen. Once in the config screen, scroll down until you see the two VLC Location fields. One for audio and one for video. By default, these fields will be filled as C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\ . As of this writing (23-JAN-2011), VLC is only available as a 32-bit app, which 64-bit Windows will install at C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\. You must change both fields in the config screen to this location (or, if you did not accept the default install location when you installed VLC, then change both fields to reflect the location where VLC is now located.) After making your changes, click on the Submit button near the top left corner of the screen to save the changes.

You can set the process priority, install location for VLC, bitrate, video size, buffer size, video/audio/mux combination for streaming, stream player (VLC or Windows Media) and view the video in the player via external player or web browser plugin.

For best streaming results use VLC 1.x or higher

Default Settings

  • VLC Player to open externally
  • Stream Bitrate = 256
  • 320x213 Video Size
  • VLC Install Location set to c:\program files\videolan\vlc\
  • Stream Port = 7648 (If you change this port do not use 8080...this is used by VLC)
  • Stream Buffer = 5000 (5 seconds)
  • Below Normal Process Priority (on a strong machine you can bump it up but I have found no problems on this setting in combination with the other default settings)
  • Video/Audio/Mux combination = MP4 Video, MP4 Audio and Mpeg-TS Mux

Plugin Info:

Using the external player option is far more reliable than the plugins. If you do use a plugin running FireFox is the best browser to use with either Windows Media or VLC plugin. The VLC plugin is recommended. 

  VLC Plugin
     Firefox 2.x
     Plugin works for Play, Stop and Pause

     IE 6.0
     Plugin works for Play, Stop and Pause

     IE 7.0
     Plugin works for Play, Stop and Pause

  Windows Media Plugin
     *Can only use the  WMV and MPEG 3 Audio with ASF Mux combination
     *For the Windows Media Plugin to work in Firefox you can not have the VLC plugin installed
     *Firefox Windows Media Plugin is available here. 
     *Instructions: for loading the plugin can be found here.

     Firefox 1.5
     Plugin Works. (Can not have the VLC Plugin Installed at the same time)

     IE 6.0
     Plugin Works.  However, Player window does not close correctly.

     IE 7.0
     Plugin Works.  However, Player window does not close correctly.

Known Limits

  • FF and RW are currently not available.
  • If your upstream bandwidth of your internet connection is 384k do not go above the 256k bitrate setting for streams going outside of your network.

Change Log

NEWA Change Log.

Page last modified on August 30, 2015, at 03:39 PM