BBC DynSource Updated

[ralphy]

This Version 2.0 BBC Dynsource replaces Ubu’s original which appears to point to streams that are no longer updated.

This app scrapes BBC’s main video/audio page, gets as many streams as it can find, and places them in a ‘BBC - ungrouped’ section. It also scrapes the RSS feed URLs from this page, and then uses each of these RSS feeds to obtain the streams for each section. This approach leads to some duplication of streams, since the main page seems to contain the three latest items contained within the RSS feeds (that seem to have six or seven items)


Installation

• If you are still using version 2.0 of Ubustream, delete the BBC dynsource using UbuStreamConfig (right click the BBC dynsource item).
  
• Unzip and install this app and config file into plugins\UbuStream\DynSource.
  
• If you are using UbuStream Version 2.1 Beta, you can ‘refresh sections’ in the UbuStream config application, instead of deleting the dynsource as per above.
  

Options
Options are set up in the BBCDynSource.exe.config file as follows and are self explanatory:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
[INDENT]<appSettings>[/INDENT]
[INDENT]    <add key="Broadband"     value= "false" />
    <add key="UK Version"     value= "true" />
    <add key="RealPlayer"     value= "false" />[/INDENT]
[INDENT]</appSettings>[/INDENT]
</configuration>

Broadband is not generally available outside the UK, but some streams may work..
BBC have an “International” version and a “UK” version.
BBC now seem to support Windows Media Player, which is the alternative to RealPlayer.


(nb: I have not been able to view the broadband streams since I am outside the UK)


TODO
Sort the section streams into ‘published date’ order

Warning
Occasionally, errors may occur while the BBC is updating their pages and they are unavailable. I think these errors are all caught so that application exits gracefully, however, streams will be missing from the plx file. If this is suspected, just wait a while autosynch again. The log file will log the errors.

[ubu]

This Version 2.0 BBC Dynsource replaces Ubu’s original which appears to point to streams that are no longer updated.

Looking good, Ralphy. Works like a charm.

Options are set up in the BBCDynSource.exe.config file as follows and are self explanatory:

Nice. Seems like using an app config file is the way to go for this kind of configuration. I'm thinking that I should add a Configure button to the Dynamic Source panel that could execute an optional config form app. It would be enabled if a <dynsource_name>Form.exe file (eg BBCDynSourceForm.exe) was present. Then users could change the config file values without having to manually edit the config file.

The form would likely be a simple .Net Windows form application but (as with the main DynSource apps) could be any kind of exe written in any language.

Broadband is not generally available outside the UK, but some streams may work..
BBC have an “International” version and a “UK” version.
BBC now seem to support Windows Media Player, which is the alternative to RealPlayer.

(nb: I have not been able to view the broadband streams since I am outside the UK)

Pity those of us outside the UK can't watch the broadband streams. The Beeb is a bit confusing regarding the availability of broadband streams. Strangely, the broadband versions of their VOD streams for a variety of TV shows are viewable outside the UK. In the old version of the BBC DynSource I added an extra section, BBC - Programmes, to the output and hard coded some stations with static links pointing to the broadband versions of shows such as Newsnight, Panorama, Click, etc.

I've attached a PLX file, including these station definitions, which people can import into UbuStream (using the Import panel under Options in the config app). Since the URLs are static, you may or may not feel that you want to add an extra section to your new app. If not, you could add this PLX file to your BBC DynSource zip file so it's available for importing.

Another thought: It occurs to me that people might want to run more than one version of the DynSource to capture links with different config settings. (I might want to have both the UK and International versions available, for instance).

I've been pondering this problem for a while. The user could make copies of the DynSource app with a different names and UbuStream would see them as a different DynSources. (You could have BBC-UKDynSource and BBC-InternationalDynSource, with equivalently named config files, for instance). But the section names would still be the same so they would overlay each other's groups and stations.

As you know, I'm working on providing n-tier group/station hierarchies within UbuStream. If UbuStream defaulted to creating a separate group for each DynSource, with sub-groups for its sections, then the above scenario would work fine (without any code changes to existing DynSource apps). Not a particularly sophisticated solution, but it would be quite flexible.

[ralphy]

Nice. Seems like using an app config file is the way to go for this kind of configuration. I'm thinking that I should add a Configure button to the Dynamic Source panel that could execute an optional config form app. It would be enabled if a <dynsource_name>Form.exe file (eg BBCDynSourceForm.exe) was present. Then users could change the config file values without having to manually edit the config file.

The form would likely be a simple .Net Windows form application but (as with the main DynSource apps) could be any kind of exe written in any language.

Thanks for you tip on using this exe.config approach. After I eventually worked out that I needed to reference system.configuration in my Sharp Develop IDE solution, I couldn't believe how easy it is to use! I was thinking about using a configuration form too.

Pity those of us outside the UK can't watch the broadband streams.

I forgot to mention that the Beeb also have video and audio podcasts too. I presume they would be in a higher resolution than the 'international' streams.

[ubu]

After I eventually worked out that I needed to reference system.configuration in my Sharp Develop IDE solution, I couldn't believe how easy it is to use!

Don't think I had to do that in Visual C# Express. Can't remember. Yes, it is really easy to use. One limitation is that it only works for executable apps, not for dlls. So, if you wanted to do the same thing with a plugin, for instance, you'd have to use gbpvr.exe.config (with attendant total confusion between plugins). I found a neat little class library, AssemblySettings.dll, that allows you to use a similar approach with dlls (you may have noticed that UbuStream has an UbuNetStreamPlayer.dll.config file).

I forgot to mention that the Beeb also have video and audio podcasts too. I presume they would be in a higher resolution than the 'international' streams.

I'm using the Podcasts DynSource to watch some of the BBC video podcasts. Most of them are in hi-res and widescreen format so are pretty good quality. However, they tend to be just extracts or "highlights of" type of material (presumably to save on disk space, which is a consideration since you're downloading the entire video file). I prefer getting my teeth into a whole 30 or 60 minute show so I tend to prefer the broadband VOD streams in the PLX file I attached in my last post.