The Video Disk Recorder (VDR) is a free (open source), non-commercial project from Klaus Schmidinger to create a digital video recorder using standard PC components. It is possible to receive, record and playback digital TV broadcasts compatible with the DVB standard.

lapicidae/vdr-server

Image based on Arch Linux, VDR4Arch and s6-overlay.

Features

regular and timely application updates
easy user mappings (PGID, PUID)
plugin ciplus, ddci2 and dvbapi support
eMail notifications via msmtprc - a very simple and easy to use SMTP client
built-in png channel logos
daily naludump cron
simple web server to provide channel logos, epg images (e.g. for plugin-roboTV), m3u channel list and XMLTV file (e.g. for Jellyfin).
integrate your own PKGBUILD packages
log to file with built-in log rotation
creation of a VDR channel ID list

Note

The image is automatically rebuilt when any of the following sources receive an update:

Arch Linux Official Docker Image - latest
VDR4Arch GitHub repository

Getting Started

Usage

Here are some example snippets to help you get started creating a container.

⚠️ WARNING: The first start might be slow.
The first start can take longer, as non-integrated plugins are built from the AUR.

docker-compose (recommended)

Compatible with docker-compose v2 schemas.

version: "2.1"
services:
  vdr-server:
    image: lapicidae/vdr-server
    container_name: vdr-server
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Europe/London
      - PLUGINS=epgsearch live streamdev-server vnsiserver #optional
    volumes:
      - /path/to/system:/vdr/system
      - /path/to/config:/vdr/config
      - /path/to/recordings:/vdr/recordings
      - /path/to/cache:/vdr/cache
      - /path/to/channellogos:/vdr/channellogos #optional
      - /path/to/log:/vdr/log #optional
      - /path/to/timeshift:/vdr/timeshift #optional
      - /path/to/pkgbuild:/vdr/pkgbuild #optional
    ports:
      - 8008:8008
      - 6419:6419 #optional
      - 6419:6419/udp #optional
      - 34890:34890 #optional
      - 8099:8099 #optional (extra)
    devices:
      - /dev/dvb:/dev/dvb #optional
    cap_add:
      - SYS_TIME #optional: read hint!
    restart: unless-stopped
    stop_grace_period: 60s #important

docker cli

docker run -d \
  --name=vdr-server \
  -e PUID=1000 \
  -e PGID=1000 \
  -e TZ=Europe/London \
  -e PLUGINS=epgsearch live streamdev-server vnsiserver `#optional` \
  -p 8008:8008 \
  -p 6419:6419 `#optional` \
  -p 6419:6419/udp `#optional` \
  -p 34890:34890 `#optional` \
  -p 8099:8099 `#optional (extra)`
  -v /path/to/system:/vdr/system \
  -v /path/to/config:/vdr/config \
  -v /path/to/recordings:/vdr/recordings \
  -v /path/to/cache:/vdr/cache \
  -v /path/to/channellogos:/vdr/channellogos `#optional` \
  -v /path/to/log:/vdr/log `#optional` \
  -v /path/to/timeshift:/vdr/timeshift `#optional` \
  -v /path/to/pkgbuild:/vdr/pkgbuild `#optional` \
  --device /dev/dvb:/dev/dvb `#optional` \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --cap-add=SYS_TIME `#optional: read hint!` \
  --stop-timeout 60 `#important` \
  lapicidae/vdr-server

Parameters

Container images are configured using parameters passed at runtime.
These parameters are separated by a colon and indicate <external>:<internal> respectively.
For example, -p 8080:80 would expose port 80 from inside the container to be accessible from the host's IP on port 8080 outside the container.

Parameter	Function
`-p 8008`	Http VDR-Live plugin.
`-p 3000`	Streamdev Server (http Streaming) ¹
`-p 8009`	Optional - https VDR-Live plugin (you need to set up your own certificate)
`-p 6419`	Optional - Simple VDR Protocol (SVDRP)
`-p 6419/udp`	Optional - SVDRP Peering
`-p 2004`	Optional - Streamdev Server (VDR-to-VDR Streaming)
`-p 34890`	Optional - Kodi VDR-Network-Streaming-Interface (VNSI)
`-e PUID=1000`	for UserID - see below for explanation
`-e PGID=1000`	for GroupID - see below for explanation
`-e TZ=Europe/London`	Specify a timezone to use (e.g. Europe/London)
`-e LANG=en_US.UTF-8`	Default locale; see list (e.g. en_US.UTF-8)
`-e PLUGINS=epgsearch live streamdev-server vnsiserver`	Optional - Space separated list of VDR Plugins (default: `epgsearch live streamdev-server vnsiserver`)
`-e LOG2FILE=true`	Optional - Write log to file in `/vdr/log`
`-e PROTECT_CAMDATA=true`	Optional - Write protect `cam.data` to avoid unwanted changes
`-e DISABLE_WEBINTERFACE=true`	Optional - Disable web interface (live plugin)
`-e LOGO_COPY=false`	Optional - Use your own station logos in /vdr/channellogos
`-v /vdr/system`	Start parameters, recording hooks and msmtprc config
`-v /vdr/config`	Config files (e.g. `setup.conf` or `channels.conf`)
`-v /vdr/recordings`	Recording directory (aka video directory)
`-v /vdr/cache`	Cache files (e.g. `epgimages` or `cam.data`)
`-v /vdr/channellogos`	TV and radio station logos
`-v /vdr/log`	Logfiles if `LOG2FILE=true`
`-v /vdr/timeshift`	VNSI Time-Shift buffer directory
`-v /vdr/pkgbuild`	Build packages: README
`--device /dev/dvb`	Only needed if you want to pass through a DVB card to the container
Extras
`-e START_NALUDUMP=true`	naludump: start naludump every day at 4 am (via cron) ²
`-e START_NALUDUMP_AT=0 4 * * *`	naludump: crontab schedule for the start of naludump (examples)
`-e START_WEBSERVER=true`	Web server: provision of station logos, epg images, m3u channel list and xmltv file via http ³
`-p 8099`	Web server: http port of the simple web server ³
`-e START_XMLTV=true`	XMLTV: start m3u and XMLTV file generation to `/vdr/cache` every day at 12 am (via cron) ⁴
`-e START_XMLTV_AT=0 6 * * *`	XMLTV: crontab schedule for starting the creation of m3u and xmltv files (examples)
`-e XMLTV_DAYS=3`	XMLTV: number of days to be available in the xmltv file (default: `7`)
`-e XMLTV_DOMAIN_NAME=example.com`	XMLTV: change the default domain name used in the m3u file (must be available within the container)
`-e XMLTV_STREAM_PORT=4561`	XMLTV: video stream (streamdev http) port in m3u (default: `3000`)
`-e XMLTV_LOGO_PORT=1654`	XMLTV: web server port for station logos in m3u (default: `8099`)
`-e XMLTV_LOGO_URL=https://example.com/logos`	XMLTV: use external png station logos (filename ≙ lower case channel name)

Hint

If you want to use VDRs "SetSystemTime = 1" use parameter "--cap-add=SYS_TIME" (untested)

User / Group Identifiers

When using volumes (-v flags) permissions issues can arise between the host OS and the container, we avoid this issue by allowing you to specify the user PUID and group PGID.

Ensure any volume directories on the host are owned by the same user you specify and any permissions issues will vanish like magic.

In this instance PUID=1234 and PGID=4321, to find yours use id user as below:

  $ id username
    uid=1234(dockeruser) gid=4321(dockergroup) groups=4321(dockergroup)

VDR Configuration

Directory Structure

Standard paths and their Container counterpart.

/etc/vdr -> /vdr/system
/var/lib/vdr -> /vdr/config
/srv/vdr/video -> /vdr/recordings
/var/cache/vdr -> /vdr/cache
/usr/share/vdr/channel-logos -> /vdr/channellogos

Application Setup

Please read the VDR Wiki.

Command line parameters can be changed in vdr/system/conf.d/00-vdr.conf and
configuration files are located in vdr/config/.

Webui (live plugin) can be found at http://<your-ip>:8008.
Most VDR settings can be edited via the webui remote.

Plugins

First, see if there is anything to adjust in the Webui / Remote section.

Parameters are passed via the corresponding file in vdr/system/conf.d/.
Most other files related to plugins are located in vdr/config/plugins/.

eMail Notification

For example, the VDR plugin epgsearch can send a notification by e-mail (sendmail).
To provide sendmail functionality msmtp is used and the configuration is done in vdr/system/eMail.conf.
Please refer to the msmtp documentation for configuration instructions.

Bonus

Channel IDs

A list of VDR channel IDs is automatically created when the container is stopped and can be found in vdr/cache/channelids.conf.

Recording Error Check

Scan the recordings before 'VDR 2.6.0' for errors (continuity counter), e.g. to display them in the web interface.
Just put an empty file named checkrec into the main directory of your recordings (vdr/recordings).
The process is executed at container start and runs until everything is checked.
The check is done via vdr-checkts by eTobi and the basic script comes from MarkusE.

Thanks

Klaus Schmidinger (kls)
vdr-portal.de
VDR4Arch
Tobias Grimm (eTobi)
just-containers
linuxserver.io
...and all the forgotten ones

Simple interface is avalable at http://<your-ip>:3000 ↩
WARNING: The whole process has been designed to be as safe as possible! Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that the recordings will not be damaged during the cleanup. ↩
When the server is running instructions available at: http://<your-ip>:8099 ↩ ↩²
Plugin streamdev-server is required for playback. The default server in m3u for channels and channel images is the network alias of the container. Currently, only the German language is fully supported when converting to XMLTV format. ↩

lapicidae/vdr-server

lapicidae/vdr-server

Features

Note

Getting Started

Usage

docker-compose (recommended)

docker cli

Parameters

Hint

User / Group Identifiers

VDR Configuration

Directory Structure

Application Setup

Plugins

eMail Notification

Bonus

Channel IDs

Recording Error Check

Thanks

Footnotes