Q&A with DVBLogic

A couple of weeks ago Pavlo Barvinko the Founder & CTO of DVBLogic offered to take questions from TDL readers and we had a great response. I collated the questions together and Pavlo has replied to your here:

TDL: When will they have a Raspberry Pi Client/thin client?

Pavlo: The issue of computer-independent DVBLink client has been recognized some time ago. We are working on several implementations of DVBLink client that would provide rich PVR functionality without the need for having a PC as a client. The 4.5.2 release has a new, re-written DVBLink Boxee client. We are also investigating the possibility of writing an app for Samsung SmartTVs.

As for Raspberry Pi – people can use XBMC Frodo running on it in combination with DVBLink PVR addon, available at our forums. Unfortunately due to Raspberry Pi performance issues, the playback may be not that smooth, especially for HD channels.

TDL: Why don’t DVBLogic develop an official XBMC client now that XBMC support Live TV/PVR capabilities rather than allow 3rd party to develop

Pavlo: Our policy here is that we will not develop official DVBLink XBMC PVR client at least until the PVR functionality is stable and is part of the official XBMC release. However we do support the individuals who write this PVR addon as a 3rd party development.

TDL: Can DVBLink use Sky UK’s EPG

Pavlo: At the moment DVBLink does not provide a grabber for the in-band Sky UK EPG. We are considering working on it in the future. For the time being there are two alternatives:
– DVBLink EPG Loader for Digiguide product to grab Sky EPG listings from the internet
– EPG Collector addin for the Windows version of DVBLink TVSource

TDL: When will DVBLink support recording multiple channels on the same transponder? (Lots of people asked for this)

Pavlo: Not on the short-mid term. This issue is technically difficult to implement in the DVBLink framework and may lead to confusion during normal user operations.

TDL: Could DVBLink Provide a better ‘toolset’ maybe a few additional applets that flush the MCE database/separate applet for channel editing?

Pavlo: We are not planning at the moment having any additional applets for Windows MediaCenter. Channel editing can be easily done using our web configuration interface.

TDL: On the whole I am a happy user of DVBlink products, however recently I have started to be plagued with the dreaded “Update playready” bugs – How can I avoid\get rid of the Update playready issue on v4.5?

Pavlo: The “Update Pleayready” message means that there is no stream coming in. This in its turn can have a lot of different causes and each of them requires different solution. You can think about network connection break for a network client, or no TV signal due to poor reception or issue with the tuner drivers etc. There is no universal solution to the issue. The best thing to do would be to describe the problem at our support forums and attach the log files. We will try to help you there.

TDL: How do you get DVBlink working within XBMC?

Pavlo: There are two possibilities:
– Using official DVBLink XBMC addon. This addon works with all recent XBMC versions and on all supported platforms. Installation instructions is described at our wiki: http://dvblogic.com/wiki/index.php/DVBLink_Server_clients
– Using one of the 3rd party DVBLink XBMC PVR addons from our forums

TDL: What is the future? I appreciate DVBlink is trying hard to build a standalone DVR solution, but let’s face it, although important, this is only one part of the HTPC. Does DVBLink envisage being used within Programs such as XBMC\Media Portal etc

Pavlo: The future of DVBLink lies in two complimentary planes – TV server itself and clients.
For TV server roadmap we are aggressively expanding into a NAS market. The modern NAS devices have everything to become an entertainment hub in a house. These small, low power, always-on devices are ready to serve content 24/7. People already use them to store documents, photos, music, videos. The only missing part is live TV and TV recordings. This is were DVBLink can be used to fill this gap. We already have our software running on Synology, IOmega, NetGear and ASUSTOR devices and expanding further. Users get on NAS all DVBLink features that they used to have on a PC platform – live TV and recordings, rich EPG, multiple tuners support, DLNA, timer recording management via DVBLink apps for mobile platforms. The only missing part is live and recorded TV playback on mobile platforms, but we are working on it as well. And of course Windows platform is still supported.
As for clients, next to Windows MediaCenter we have recently added official support for XBMC in the form of DVBLink XBMC addon. The integration with XBMC PVR functionality is also available over at our forums as a 3rd party development. We have brought back to life our Boxee client, which can be used to watch live and recorded TV from a DVBLink server in the completely computer-less environment. Other than Windows MediaCenter and XBMC there will be no other official integrations with HTPC applications for a PC platform, however we do investigate the possibilities for extra DVBLink clients for mobile and embedded CE platforms.

TDL: Are there any details on a roadmap for the oft-requested Linux server?

Pavlo: For the time being we concentrate on the linux version of DVBLink running on embedded platforms – like NAS, network tuners etc. We have a version of the DVBLink server running on a desktop linux, but do not plan to make it publicly available any time soon. There is quite a competition in this market and we simply do not see any good ways of monetizing our products on desktop linux platform.

TDL: Is there any news on when the feature that will automatically update transponders and channel line will be available, in the UK the channels move around a lot so keeping DVBlink up to date can become very time consuming?

Pavlo: We are indeed working on this feature for quite some time already. Unfortunately the task has turned to be far more complex and challenging than we have originally thought. Hence the delay. As we plan now we will be happy to have a beta release in Q2 2013.

TDL: Now that 1geek1tool has stopped development, any thoughts on supporting the Hauppauge’s HD-PVR and Colossus and the associated user base?

Pavlo: At the moment there are no plans to take the development over in its current state. However we might consider doing it in the future, but re-writing it to be compatible with a Linux platform and only for HD PVR. The idea here would be that users can connect their HD PVR directly to a USB NAS connector and record TV programs directly to the hard disk of a NAS.

TDL: For how long will the MCE be supported? Now that it’s gotten clearer that MCE in Windows 8 might be the last MCE from MS, it seems to be logically to (some day) Abandon the MCE. Are there any plans yet?

Pavlo: We do not have any plans to abandon our Windows MediaCenter functionality. Even with the latest decision of Microsoft to remove MCE from the standard Win8 installation, it is still available as a paid addon to Win8 and there is a huge user base who still use Windows7. What is true that we do things for Windows MediaCenter mostly in a maintenance mode, without adding (many) new features and functionality.

TDL: How many tuner does DVBLink Support with it’s DVBlink Recorder? Is there a limit, or is this limit strictly to the MCE?

Pavlo: Built-in DVBLink recorder has a soft limit of 16 tuners, which can be easily changed to a higher number should it be needed. The limit of 8 virtual tuners for MediaCenter is a hard one and cannot be changed easily.

TD: Will there someday be a capability list for Tuners?

Pavlo: Yes, we have started with this kind of compatibility list for our NAS-based software and in the near future there wil be a compatibility list for Windows applications.

Many thanks to all the readers that sent in questions and thanks to Pavlo Barvinko for the answers, go to DVBLogic for more info