UbuStream v2.1 Beta finally available

[HTPCGB]

Sorry for the delay ubu; here are the logs.

[ubu]

Sorry for the delay ubu; here are the logs.

The error is coming from DirPath, which is a little class I use to set all the folder names I need. Here's what it does:

1) Gets your gbpvr install dir from the registry. This should be OK unless you're running Vista or something.
2) Reads your config.xml file and tries to get the values for <MusicLibraryDirectory> and <VideoLibraryDirectory>.
3) If it can't find them, tries to use Environment.SpecialFolder.MyMusic and Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal instead (should equate to "My Documents\My Music" and "My Documents" on XP systems).

The code for step 2 isn't quite as bulletproof as I'd like it to be (should probably rewrite it anyway) so that's the most likely candidate.

BTW - thanks once again for coming up with the embedded overlay player idea and building the WMP and VLC prototypes. They're now part of the UbuNetStreamPlayer.dll library. As you can see, I went ahead and did the RealPlayer and QuickTime ones as well (I would have done Winamp as well but it looked way too flaky). As you may have read earlier in this thread, I still haven't got the keystroke handling for WMP and VLC to work quite as advertised.

[ralphy]

Oh dear! Good thing I've got a second machine to test this beta on, otherwise there'd be hell to pay in the household screwing things up again!

I can't started with any of the dynsources! Having also removed ubustream.xml and starting over, I still have the same problem namely:

After checking one or more sections and then execute, I get error message

• "No sections are currently selected for :[dynsourceapp]". No sections are copied across to the 'Selected Sections' panel either.
  
• So I then thought, ok, I need to configure, but then after selecting the defaults, and then save, I get a windows execution "Column Aspect_Ratio does not allow nulls."
  

I note that one can now choose the aspect ratio, however don't the streams have defaults? I noted your comment in another thread on OzABCDynsource the suggested you were initially seeing the ABC videos in 4:3, but they are actually widescreen 16:9. Interestingly, my WMP automatically selected the correct aspect ratio - it must be in the default settings, because I didn't do anything intentionally to select 16:9. My concern is that with these new advanced options the wrong setting might be chosen by the user. Can't the player automatically detect the clip aspect ratio and left the player play the default - WMP seems to do this correctly for me in full screen mode?

[HTPCGB]

As you may have read earlier in this thread, I still haven't got the keystroke handling for WMP and VLC to work quite as advertised.

Are you still handling keypresses on a form level basis using (this.keypreview = true) and then suppressing the keystrokes? I remember that this worked quite well for the embedded VLC player.

[ubu]

Oh dear! Good thing I've got a second machine to test this beta on, otherwise there'd be hell to pay in the household screwing things up again!

You think you've got problems! My "production" machine stopped recording the Oscars when the EPG said the show was scheduled to end last night. So it missed the last two hours of the Oscars. WAF is now close to zero. :o

I can't started with any of the dynsources! Having also removed ubustream.xml and starting over, I still have the same problem namely:

After checking one or more sections and then execute, I get error message

• "No sections are currently selected for :[dynsourceapp]". No sections are copied across to the 'Selected Sections' panel either.
  
• So I then thought, ok, I need to configure, but then after selecting the defaults, and then save, I get a windows execution "Column Aspect_Ratio does not allow nulls."

Whoops! It's not often I blame Microsoft (I'm sure MS software never contains bugs ) but I do notice that every once in a while the C# Visual Studio designer will just lose one or more of the event handler definitions. In this case, I made a couple of small cosmetic changes to the config app's UI just before uploading the zip to the wiki and the handler for the DynSource section selection checkboxes appears to have got wiped out in the process. (You might not have noticed, but the sections you selected weren't actually showing up in the slected sections list.) I'll go through all the "clickable" items to make sure the handlers are still there and upload a "fixed" version to the wiki later today.

The second item is my bad. Trouble is, I test everything with a fully populated database but, when I then switch to testing with a fresh, empty database, I never manage to test every function. I'll fix that today too. Thanks for catching both these bugs so promptly.

I note that one can now choose the aspect ratio, however don't the streams have defaults? I noted your comment in another thread on OzABCDynsource the suggested you were initially seeing the ABC videos in 4:3, but they are actually widescreen 16:9. Interestingly, my WMP automatically selected the correct aspect ratio - it must be in the default settings, because I didn't do anything intentionally to select 16:9. My concern is that with these new advanced options the wrong setting might be chosen by the user. Can't the player automatically detect the clip aspect ratio and left the player play the default - WMP seems to do this correctly for me in full screen mode?

I'm trying to handle all the possibilities you might encounter. This varies based on the stream itself, whether you're using Preview or Timeshift, whether you are using an MVP, the characteristics of your TV (overscan, etc.). So there isn't a simple answer to your quesion. The "aspect ratio" section of the README file attempts to address the different options.

In Preview Play, the internal player will initially display the video using the aspect ratio the player has chosen (this will be exactly the same as if you'd used the external player). Most often, the player will detect the aspect ratio from the stream and get it right. Pressing F7 (or Sub/CC) the first time will show the same image but adjusted for the overscan on your TV (using the overscan settings you have defined in config.xml). Usually, these two options will be all you need. But for "problem streams" Subsequent F7 presses will cycle through "forcing" the image to 16:9, 16:10 and 4:3. I'm waiting for feedback from users with different kinds of setups, playing different streams to see if I've got the algorithm right so I can adjust it for the "real world".

The aspect ratio settings on the advanced station config window are only used by Timeshift Play. They provide instructions to the transcoder for the size of the output mpeg2 video image. They are likely to be most useful for MVP users.

[FirstTeamOPS]

No, that's clear. I understand what you're saying. So, when you say "launch", which method are you using to launch the stream?

Ah, there is a difference... and I noticed something weird which seems more like a logic error in the code where something isn't set until the second call of the Play function (having done a little programming myself). The first time I click any stream and click the Play button, the stream opens externally. I close WMP. Every time after the first time clicking Play, it opens internally.

I'll tell you what I'm doing from the mouse to make it simple. Close GB-PVR and re-open. I am at the Stations window (Web Streams -> Stations). I'll use a stream I have setup to make it a little simpler.

I have WJR & WLS programmed in (yea, I'm a talk radio junkie ). Anyway,
I click WJR and click the Play button, it opens externally in WMP.
I close WMP.
I click WJR and click the Play button a second time, it opens internally (with your comic ).
Close GB-PVR, re-open (just to show all code is reset), and back at the Stations window.
If I double click WJR and click Preview Play, it always opens internally.

And when I say it's opened internally, that also means I have control of it with the remote (ie Back/Exit).

This does look like a bug. From your log, I can see generally where in the code this problem is happening but not why it's happening. Can you please attach your UbuStream.xml file so I can see what data might be triggering this? That will also allow me to exactly reproduce the problem on my test system.

There it is: Good Luck! and as always, let me know if you need anything else.

[ubu]

Are you still handling keypresses on a form level basis using (this.keypreview = true) and then suppressing the keystrokes? I remember that this worked quite well for the embedded VLC player.

Funny you should mention that. I switched to using the VLC plugin control's PreviewKeyDown event (with KeyPreview still switched on for the form) and that seemed to work just as well. I figured that was maybe how you were "meant" to do it (plus I could use regular Keys enum types instead of having to save away the Keycodes). And it works fine on my test system, but on my production system, VLC still grabs the keystrokes (except for Esc and Home) so now I'm wondering if it's a timing issue and if your "keystroke timer" approach was right all along. (Wierd, because the two systems are pretty much equivalent except the production system has more RAM).

Did you get anywhere with your install problem? I forgot to mention in my last post that, if you let me have the <MusicLibraryDirectory> and <VideoLibraryDirectory> lines from your config.xml file, that might give me a clue. If that doesn't give us a "smoking gun", then I'll cut you a version of the plugin with a whole bunch of log messages so we can see what's happening in DirPath.

[ubu]

So here's an update to the beta: [ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Just replace UbuStreamPlugin.dll in your Plugins directory. This should fix the following:

After checking one or more sections and then execute, I get error message

• "No sections are currently selected for :[dynsourceapp]". No sections are copied across to the 'Selected Sections' panel either.
  
• So I then thought, ok, I need to configure, but then after selecting the defaults, and then save, I get a windows execution "Column Aspect_Ratio does not allow nulls."

Your sections should now show up in the selected sections list (and a new group under "Groups" in the tree) when you check the section. Your DynSource app is now working for me when I press Execute. The aspect ratio is now getting set correctly the first time you configure a DynSource.

3. When I open GB-PVR click Web Streams -> either All Stations or Ungrouped -> All Stations, it goes back to the GB-PVR main menu and says "Error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object." If I try to go back into Web Streams from the main menu, I get the error again. I have to close GB-PVR and reopen it so I can go back into Web Streams.
Open GB-PVR.
Click Web Streams.
Click Stations (which brings up 8 buttons on the left (groups, play, stop, etc.) and the two streams I have programmed in the box to the right).
Click All Streams.
Get error.

Now works as advertised. It was trying to find the media player icon for a station called "No stations matching type/group to display". Not surprisingly, it couldn't.

I'm still chasing your problem with the external version of WMP being used instead of the internal one the first time you use it. I can reproduce this on my test system using your UbuStream.xml file. I'll let you know when I've found the bug.

[ubu]

cant get rid of uburecordingservicecontroller.exe (trying to do a fresh install)

get access is denied all the time i try to delete it, what am i doing wrong?

UbuRecordingService is running as a Windows service so you have to stop it and uninstall it first. Open the UbuRecordingService Controller window (use the shortcut). Click the Stop button. When it has stopped, click the Uninstall button. It might take a couple of secs to uninstall. Then close the window and you should be able to remove the UbuRecordingService directory (and/or its files). Let me know if you have any problems with it.

[ubu]

Download: [ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Unzip to your Plugins folder. In addition to the bugs fixed in Patch1 (see my earlier post), this one fixes:

... and I noticed something weird which seems more like a logic error in the code where something isn't set until the second call of the Play function (having done a little programming myself). The first time I click any stream and click the Play button, the stream opens externally. I close WMP. Every time after the first time clicking Play, it opens internally.

Pesky uninitialized variable. I've mainly been testing playing streams from the pop-up dialog (since it's my "new baby", UI-wise) so I missed this one. Well caught!