UbuStream v2.0 - Beta

[ubu]

UbuStream takes the usability of web radio/TV to the next level!

Can I use you as a reference?

There is one new bug that is introduced though. But I think that this one belongs to Stefan, as it is in Sveriges Radios Dynasource. It's the scandinavian letters that gets omitted in the transfer. After the import a station kalled "P4 Väst" gets called "P4 Vst". Just like the earlier problem you fixed in ubuStream itself.

I did put the code to fix the web response encoding into the DynamicSource dll as well as in the WWMP web transaction (the earlier bug you mention). I think stefan does his own web transaction in order to pass a cookie so he probably just needs to add the same code.

A suggestion to another version: A possibility to start web streams in one group of my choice. For instance a drop-down on General options tab with all groups (The default choice: "Group-view", or a checkbox to enable the drop-down). And yes, I know, I did wish to have the groups listed as they are today. But I always like to have it both ways and be able to choose myself...

I'll think about that as a possibility for v2.1. Changing the runtime to skip the group display screen would be a bit tricky, though. (You can always use the existing UbuStream v1.6 with the original "groupless" interface. It kinda has the same effect! ).

[stefan]

I think stefan does his own web transaction in order to pass a cookie so he probably just needs to add the same code.

Ys, this is my bad... I'll fix it when I find the time. Or if anyone else feels like tinkering with it - the code is out there and may be changed at will

[HTPCGB]

Hey ubu,

Attached is the VLC Overlay and an updated WMP Overlay.

The constructor for the VLC Overlay is VLCOverlay(string mediaURL, bool fullScreen). The Wmp Overlay now also uses a similar constructor.

The puclic methods available are:
-pauseMedia()
-playMedia()
-stopMedia()
-fullScreenMode()
-normalScreenMode()
-requestStatus()

You will need to register the VLC activeX (REGSVR32 "C:\program files\videolan\vlc\AXVLC.DLL") or else you will get an exception.

To Casual Users: You can use the VLC Overlay as a "media player" in Ubustream 2.0 with the included "VLC Overlay Wrapper.exe".

Regards,
HTPCGB

[ubu]

Attached is the VLC Overlay and an updated WMP Overlay.

Thanks. I've got a prototype working using the GBPVR video player to play streams while VLC is recording them - so MVP support (and stream recording) looks feasible. Now I need to rejig the stream playing code to include that and both your overlay dlls. I'm thinking of adding two new options: "Play VLC streams with GBPVR video player" and "Play streams with internal player when available". Does that sound like what you envisaged?

Can you trap the errors that the embedded players encounter (and then throw some kind of exception that UbuStream could catch)? It would be nice if UbuStream could display error dialogs that say things like "Can't connect to stream host" and "Stream format is invalid for this player" instead of just displaying a blank screen.

On another note, I'm finding that your CNN streams play fine with VLC but generate an error when I transcode. Any idea why? I've attached a VLC log but it looks OK to me. (VLC just pukes and gives you one of those error dialogs that lets you click "Details" so you can see some impenetrable M$ dump.) File:[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Also, have you any idea of the mechanics of why some streams respond to pause/FF/rewind and some don't? This becomes a bit of an issue when the GBPVR video player is used.

[ubu]

The constructor for the VLC Overlay is VLCOverlay(string mediaURL, bool fullScreen). The Wmp Overlay now also uses a similar constructor.

I've included both your dlls into my current test project and I can call them just fine (constructor, playMedia and requestStatus so far). Just one problem - the player form never shows up. For both WMP and VLC the audio plays just fine (and requestStatus confirms it's playing) but no video display - I'm still looking at the UbuStream menu. I can't figure out why (and since I haven't got the source code to the dll versions, I can't put debug code in there or even look for some kind of "impedence mismatch" between our programs).

The only other .Net forms I'm displaying from the plugin code are in an external exe running in a separate process but I can't see why this wouldn't work too. :confused:

Any ideas? Can you let me have copy of the source (email it if you prefer)?

[HTPCGB]

I've included both your dlls into my current test project and I can call them just fine (constructor, playMedia and requestStatus so far). Just one problem - the player form never shows up.

If you do the following, does it work?

Code:

Overlay wmpPlayer = new Overlay(yourURL,true);
wmpPlayer.Show();

If that's the case. I'll just add the .Show() method to both overlays' constructors.

[HTPCGB]

Thanks. I've got a prototype working using the GBPVR video player to play streams while VLC is recording them - so MVP support (and stream recording) looks feasible. Now I need to rejig the stream playing code to include that and both your overlay dlls. I'm thinking of adding two new options: "Play VLC streams with GBPVR video player" and "Play streams with internal player when available". Does that sound like what you envisaged?

Yep, that's pretty much the way I imagined it.

Can you trap the errors that the embedded players encounter (and then throw some kind of exception that UbuStream could catch)? It would be nice if UbuStream could display error dialogs that say things like "Can't connect to stream host" and "Stream format is invalid for this player" instead of just displaying a blank screen.

I'll see what I can do.

On another note, I'm finding that your CNN streams play fine with VLC but generate an error when I transcode. Any idea why? I've attached a VLC log but it looks OK to me. (VLC just pukes and gives you one of those error dialogs that lets you click "Details" so you can see some impenetrable M$ dump.)

That's probably because the .asx files that my CNN plugin looks for are simply "pointers" towards the real media file. Perhaps VLC is trying to transcode the .asx file itself. I could add an extra scraping step that would look in the .asx for the real URL. (However, this would double the time it takes to generate the CNN .plx file.)

Also, have you any idea of the mechanics of why some streams respond to pause/FF/rewind and some don't? This becomes a bit of an issue when the GBPVR video player is used.

I can only hazard a guess that it has something to do with the way certain streams are sent over the internet and buffered.

Regards,
HTPCGB

[ubu]

If that's the case. I'll just add the .Show() method to both overlays' constructors.

That did the trick. Thanks! It's actually pretty cool that it works that way so, for audio streams, I just don't call the Show() method and it plays "hidden" (if the user has set that UbuStream option). Adding it to the constructor would be nice but not essential.

One request: could you either combine the two overlay dlls into a single dll or provide some kind of wrapper class that would allow the plugin to treat them as a single entity. Right now, once I've determined which constructor to call, I have to keep track of which one I called every time I want to interact with it. For instance in the plugin's keystroke handling code I'd currently need:

Code:

case System.Windows.Forms.Keys.S:
            if (vlcInternalPlayerInvoked && myVlcPlayer.Focused)
                myVlcPlayer.stopMedia();
            if (wmpInternalPlayerInvoked && myWmpPlayer.Focused)
                myWmpPlayer.stopMedia();

whereas, if I could call a constructor like:

Code:

InternalPlayer myInternalPlayer(InternalPlayer.Type.VLC, myUrl, true);

I could just have:

Code:

case System.Windows.Forms.Keys.S:
            if (myInternalPlayer.Focused) myInternalPlayer.stopMedia();

And, when you add RealPlayer support , I wouldn't need to change all my code to make it work.

[ubu]

That's probably because the .asx files that my CNN plugin looks for are simply "pointers" towards the real media file. Perhaps VLC is trying to transcode the .asx file itself. I could add an extra scraping step that would look in the .asx for the real URL. (However, this would double the time it takes to generate the CNN .plx file.)

I guess I'd been assuming that, since VLC "interprets" the asx file when playing it, it would do the same thing when transcoding. I'll try reading the asx and then point VLC to the real URL and see if that works. If so, I should probably do the same thing for all URLs that point to playlist containers (m3u, etc.). Since this only affects the transcoding part, it's probably not worth adding the extra overhead to your CNN mini-plugin. I'll handle it in the timeshift playback code.

EDIT: Trying to transcode the underlying wmv stream still produces the same error, so I guess it must be something else. The VLC log shows that everything looks good to it and it has started to transcode the stream but then something causes a fatal error and VLC dies, leaving no clues that I can detect. I'm guessing this is a problem with ffmpeg since VLC isn't handling the error itself.

[ubu]

I can't get the overlay classes to respond to keystrokes. I added a bunch of pauseMedia(), stopMedia(), etc. calls to the plugin's keystroke handling code and then realized (duh!) that the plugin doesn't have focus once I've called the Show() method. So we're dependant on the keystrokes you actually handle inside the dll

The source code for your original WMP Video Player (that's the only source I have) intercepts the standard gb-pvr keystrokes for Play, Stop and Pause but I'm not sure what you are doing in the dll versions. Here's what I experience:

Using the WMP dll, Ctrl-S and Ctrl-P work for Stop and Play (as does Esc to exit). I haven't been able to test Ctrl-Q for Pause since I'm using "non-pausable" video streams (I should try it with a pausable MP3 audio stream - or maybe you have a video stream you use to test pause with).

Using the VLC dll, the only key that works is Esc to exit. No other keystrokes seem to elicit a response.

GB-PVR uses Alt-Enter for "Toggle fullscreen mode" , but that doesn't seem to work for either overlay dll so I'm not sure if you have mapped it to a different key or simply haven't implemented it yet.

The playback control methods you expose are still very handy for controlling the player when playing audio with the player hidden.