2006-02-10, 04:00 PM
For anybody using this initial release of UbuStreamCmd (or considering it), the following may be helpful:
Quality/reliability of web tv streams:
Streaming TV is clearly a young, emerging technology. It's also, like the internet, free, unrestricted and somewhat anarchistic. As a result you will find significant variation in the quality of the streams you receive and, just like any web site, sometimes the servers will be down. Rich and varied the content may be but Comcast it ain't.
WebRanger TV issues:
The current sample UbuStreamCmd.xml file contains entries for two of the WebRanger channels. The guy who runs WebRanger had pretty minimal security on his site and recently suffered a fairly major attack. So he's rebuilding all his servers and changing the station urls on an almost daily basis. So you'll need to change the url entries in UbuStreamConfig. The current url for WebRanger 1 is http://zazbot.com:8200/zaz3 The urls for WebRanger 2, 3 and 4 are the same but ending with zaz4, zaz2 and zaz5. If they don't seem to be working, check the Web Ranger site and grab the current urls being used (See below for how to do this). The streams might be a bit iffy for the next few weeks while he rebuilds his site but it's worth persevering since these are fairly high quality MS mpeg4 V2 streams and the classic movies, TV shows and cartoons are pretty entertaining.
Getting the url from web browser embedded TV streams:
When a TV stream is displayed in a window on the station's web site, you can usually find the url so you can use it with GBPVR/UbuStreamCmd (or with Ubu Remote). Right click on the window and select Properties from the pop-up menu (this is for Win Meda streams - it may be called something else for other players). The url will be displayed. You can copy it into UbuStreamCmd by highlighting it, typing Ctrl-C, putting your cursor in the url field in the UbuStreamCmd channel grid and typing Ctrl-V. Some sites will actually fire up a player on your desktop to play their stream. In this case, click on the title of the currently playing stream or use the menu to display the url (varies from player to player - let me know if you can't figure it out for a specific player).
Playback problems:
UbuStreamCmd is completely reliant on the underlying player software it is being asked to invoke. It assumes you have installed the player correctly, that you have the neccessary codecs installed to play the stream and that the target site is currently transmitting the stream. So, if you experience problems with viewing a streaming channel from within GBPVR, try playing the stream with the player outside GBPVR. If the stream plays OK, it should play fine with UbuStreamCmd. Check your UbuStreamConfig definitions and GBPVR Capture Source and Channel entries for typos, etc. On the other hand you may find the player can't play the stream for some reason. Sort that out (upgrade the player, download codec plugins, whatever) and it should sort out your GBPVR playback problem. Or it may simply be that the stream can't be found. If this happens, you should see a message dialog to that effect displayed by your player when you select the channel with GBPVR. Close the window, close the player (see below for how to do this with your remote) and select another channel within GBPVR.
Sometimes, when a stream starts playing, it may be jerky or distorted or the have video/audio synch problems. Often these problems will disappear after the stream has been playing for a few minutes. Your player may need time to synch up with the stream or to fill up its buffer before it starts firing on all 8 cylinders.
Using the remote:
The readme file touches on the subject of using your remote with UbuStreamCmd channels (especially for Hauppauge users). In essence, if you can get your remote to transmit a Close Window command (sys(0xF060) or Alt-F4) you are set for basic use. This command will close the fullscreen window, any popup dialog windows, the player window (and any other windows you accidentally open
) enabling you to get back to GBPVR having focus so you can use the GBPVR buttons. I find the GRNPOWER button on the Hauppauge remote is an inituitive choice for this.
For more sophisticated control (pause, toggle fullscreen mode, toggle visualizations when listening to web radio, etc.) you can usually define the appropriate keystrokes for each player to your remote. Hauppauge users may not know that the irremote.ini file as shipped already contains a section for controlling Windows Media Player. By looking at it you can easily figure out how to do the same for other players. I have VLC, mplayer and Winamp already defined (I'll get around to adding that evil RealPlayer one of these days) and working fine.
Quality/reliability of web tv streams:
Streaming TV is clearly a young, emerging technology. It's also, like the internet, free, unrestricted and somewhat anarchistic. As a result you will find significant variation in the quality of the streams you receive and, just like any web site, sometimes the servers will be down. Rich and varied the content may be but Comcast it ain't.
WebRanger TV issues:
The current sample UbuStreamCmd.xml file contains entries for two of the WebRanger channels. The guy who runs WebRanger had pretty minimal security on his site and recently suffered a fairly major attack. So he's rebuilding all his servers and changing the station urls on an almost daily basis. So you'll need to change the url entries in UbuStreamConfig. The current url for WebRanger 1 is http://zazbot.com:8200/zaz3 The urls for WebRanger 2, 3 and 4 are the same but ending with zaz4, zaz2 and zaz5. If they don't seem to be working, check the Web Ranger site and grab the current urls being used (See below for how to do this). The streams might be a bit iffy for the next few weeks while he rebuilds his site but it's worth persevering since these are fairly high quality MS mpeg4 V2 streams and the classic movies, TV shows and cartoons are pretty entertaining.
Getting the url from web browser embedded TV streams:
When a TV stream is displayed in a window on the station's web site, you can usually find the url so you can use it with GBPVR/UbuStreamCmd (or with Ubu Remote). Right click on the window and select Properties from the pop-up menu (this is for Win Meda streams - it may be called something else for other players). The url will be displayed. You can copy it into UbuStreamCmd by highlighting it, typing Ctrl-C, putting your cursor in the url field in the UbuStreamCmd channel grid and typing Ctrl-V. Some sites will actually fire up a player on your desktop to play their stream. In this case, click on the title of the currently playing stream or use the menu to display the url (varies from player to player - let me know if you can't figure it out for a specific player).
Playback problems:
UbuStreamCmd is completely reliant on the underlying player software it is being asked to invoke. It assumes you have installed the player correctly, that you have the neccessary codecs installed to play the stream and that the target site is currently transmitting the stream. So, if you experience problems with viewing a streaming channel from within GBPVR, try playing the stream with the player outside GBPVR. If the stream plays OK, it should play fine with UbuStreamCmd. Check your UbuStreamConfig definitions and GBPVR Capture Source and Channel entries for typos, etc. On the other hand you may find the player can't play the stream for some reason. Sort that out (upgrade the player, download codec plugins, whatever) and it should sort out your GBPVR playback problem. Or it may simply be that the stream can't be found. If this happens, you should see a message dialog to that effect displayed by your player when you select the channel with GBPVR. Close the window, close the player (see below for how to do this with your remote) and select another channel within GBPVR.
Sometimes, when a stream starts playing, it may be jerky or distorted or the have video/audio synch problems. Often these problems will disappear after the stream has been playing for a few minutes. Your player may need time to synch up with the stream or to fill up its buffer before it starts firing on all 8 cylinders.
Using the remote:
The readme file touches on the subject of using your remote with UbuStreamCmd channels (especially for Hauppauge users). In essence, if you can get your remote to transmit a Close Window command (sys(0xF060) or Alt-F4) you are set for basic use. This command will close the fullscreen window, any popup dialog windows, the player window (and any other windows you accidentally open
) enabling you to get back to GBPVR having focus so you can use the GBPVR buttons. I find the GRNPOWER button on the Hauppauge remote is an inituitive choice for this.For more sophisticated control (pause, toggle fullscreen mode, toggle visualizations when listening to web radio, etc.) you can usually define the appropriate keystrokes for each player to your remote. Hauppauge users may not know that the irremote.ini file as shipped already contains a section for controlling Windows Media Player. By looking at it you can easily figure out how to do the same for other players. I have VLC, mplayer and Winamp already defined (I'll get around to adding that evil RealPlayer one of these days) and working fine.
[SIZE=1]GBPVR v1.3.11 [/SIZE][SIZE=1]HVR-1250, [/SIZE][SIZE=1]ES7300[/SIZE][SIZE=1], 4GB, GeForce 9300, LianLi, Vista.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]GBPVR v1.0.08 [/SIZE][SIZE=1]PVR-150, [/SIZE][SIZE=1]P4 2.26GHz, [/SIZE][SIZE=1]1GB,[/SIZE][SIZE=1] GeForce 6200, [/SIZE]Coupden, XP[SIZE=1]
[/SIZE]
Author: UbuStream plugin, UbuRadio plugin, EPGExtra utility.
[SIZE=1]GBPVR v1.0.08 [/SIZE][SIZE=1]PVR-150, [/SIZE][SIZE=1]P4 2.26GHz, [/SIZE][SIZE=1]1GB,[/SIZE][SIZE=1] GeForce 6200, [/SIZE]Coupden, XP[SIZE=1]
[/SIZE]
Author: UbuStream plugin, UbuRadio plugin, EPGExtra utility.
