UbuStream v2.1 Beta finally available

[ubu]

So, after several delays and false starts, the v2.1 Beta release of UbuStream is now available on the UbuStream wiki page. It's fairly stable (at least on my test systems ) but, since I have rewritten much of the code pertaining to stream playback, there could be a bug or two. I'd really appreciate some help getting the last kinks out of it so I can officially release it ASAP.

No installer, just unzip to your gbpvr directory. If you have v2.0 installed, your station database will be converted the first time you run the config app. But, as always, back up your UbuStream.xml file to be on the safe side. Make sure to read the README document for specific installation instructions.

New features:

• Two new playback options should make using an external media player a thing of the past. Preview Play uses internal players embedded in the UbuStream code to play streams for WMP, RealPlayer, QuickTime and VLC. Timeshift Play uses a new windows recording service to transcode the streams to mpeg-2 or mp3 on the fly so they can be played using GB-PVR's own playback capability.
  
• A revamped and much more usable Channel mode utilizing a custom, UbuStream-friendly version of the ExternalRecorder plugin.
  
• MVP support for most video/audio streams in both List mode and Channel mode via Timeshift Play.
  
• Three different options for recording a stream permanently to disk.
  
• Each station's playback characteristics can be configured individually.
  
• Station config provides a container browser that lets you pick individual stream URLs from an asx, wvx, ram or smil file.
  
• Config app now lets you change the default player for multiple stations in one step by selecting them from a list.
  
• Many cosmetic and usability changes to both the config app and the GB-PVR plugin UI.

[FirstTeamOPS]

Just trying two WMP streams, streaming itself works but there are a few other issues I noticed. I can't test QuickTime or RealPlayer because I use alternative applications for these.

1. Do I need to leave the recording service open in the system tray? It keeps popping up saying 'running' about every 10 seconds and driving me nuts.

2. I'm not sure what the difference is between 'internal player' and 'external player' but the both do the same thing. When I played the stream both settings, WMP opened and went full screen. To me, that would be external player mainly because I have no control with the remote.

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.

Hope this helps!

[HTPCGB]

Hey ubu,

I've installed the ubustream beta but I'm having problems getting into the configuration console. I get a .net exception dialog that says "Index was outside the bounds of the array." "Web Stream's" does not show up in GBPVR.

[FirstTeamOPS]

"Web Stream's" does not show up in GBPVR.

In the GB-PVR config app on the plugins tab, make sure 'Web Stream' is above 'Exit.' That's where mine first showed up, but if you move it, it will appear.

For some reason, anything below the Exit plugin doesn't appear in GB-PVR.

[HTPCGB]

I tried your suggestion but nothing changed. What's strange is that I do have other plugins below exit that do show up.

[FirstTeamOPS]

Weird. For me they never show up below the Exit one, not sure why. It might be because I reorder the included plugins with GB-PVR when I install it, donno.

[ubu]

I've installed the ubustream beta but I'm having problems getting into the configuration console. I get a .net exception dialog that says "Index was outside the bounds of the array." "Web Stream's" does not show up in GBPVR.

If you click the Details button on the exception dialog, it will show you the exception message. Please attach the message so I can see where the problem is occurring. Also, please attach your config.exe.log (after trying to open the UbuStream config app from the Settings button).

If you are installing over an earlier version of UbuStream, its possible that something in your existing station database is causing this (you could confirm this by removing UbuStream.xml and then trying to open the config app). But I'll know for sure when you post the attachments.

[ubu]

Just trying two WMP streams, streaming itself works but there are a few other issues I noticed. I can't test QuickTime or RealPlayer because I use alternative applications for these.

You can define your "alternative" apps to UbuStream as external players. I've used both RealAlternative and QuickTimeAlternative in the past. (Maybe you're already doing this - just checking ).

1. Do I need to leave the recording service open in the system tray? It keeps popping up saying 'running' about every 10 seconds and driving me nuts.

No, you don't. The console app is just a simple interface to the service. It doesn't need to be running. The actual service is running as a standard windows service (You can view it under Services if you select Administrative Tools on the Windows control panel.) The console app is mainly useful if you want to debug some problem with the current Timeshift Play process since you can use the Info button to "talk" to the service and also view the current UbuRecordingService log and VLC logs.

And don't even mention the "click" the console makes when it's minimized. That drives me crazy too but I have yet to figure out how to stop it. :confused:

2. I'm not sure what the difference is between 'internal player' and 'external player' but the both do the same thing. When I played the stream both settings, WMP opened and went full screen. To me, that would be external player mainly because I have no control with the remote.

There's a big difference. For one thing, the external player is running in a separate process while the internal player is part of the UbuStream app (so I have more control over it) In fullscreen mode, you can also control the aspect ratio of the display and my code uses your overscan settings from your config.xml file to adjust the display to fit your TV screen.

The idea for using embedded players this way came from HTPCGB who developed the early prototypes for WMP and VLC (Thanks HTPCGB, btw ). One big advantage of the internal player approach is that they are set up to recognize standard GB-PVR keystrokes so your remote should work with them.

I do have some known issues with the control interface which I'm still working on:

• The VLC player responds correctly to GB-PVR commands on one of my test systems but on the other one it responds to "native" VLC commands instead. To date, I've been unable to determine what's causing this.
  
• The WMP seems to stop responding to some commands (such as Pause, Stop, Change aspect ratio, etc.) when playing certain streams. Still investigating this.
  
• On one of my test systems, the WMP player sometimes delays for a couple of seconds before returning to the menu after pressing the Back button.
  
• The RealPlayer and QuickTime players both seem to respond to commands correctly on all the streams I've tested with.

Nonetheless, in terms of usability, all the players will respond to Esc and Home (the Back/Exit and Menu buttons on the remote). So, minimally, you can stop the stream and return to the menu with your remote. (Not the case when using external players - you have to customize your irremote.ini file to do this.).

Most WMP streams will also work with the VLC player, so you could try that. I'd be interested in which streams you are playing with WMP when you encounter this problem and also which remote buttons are not working with them

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.

I can't reproduce this. Do you mean you select All Stations and then select the All Streams button? In any case, please attach your gbpvr.exe.log file (after the error has occurred) so I can see what's causing this on your system.

Hope this helps!

Sure does. Thanks very much for your input.

[FirstTeamOPS]

You can define your "alternative" apps to UbuStream as external players. I've used both RealAlternative and QuickTimeAlternative in the past. (Maybe you're already doing this - just checking ).

I saw something that looked like I could configure those but I haven't tried that yet. And those are the alternative applications I'm using as well.

For one thing, the external player is running in a separate process while the internal player is part of the UbuStream app (so I have more control over it)

OK. It's not doing that for me. When I launch any Windows Media stream (no matter if it's set to internal or external), the Windows Media Player app itself opens up, loads the stream, and then goes full screen once the stream starts. To me, I know what I'm saying but it's not coming across as clear as it could be. Set for internal, I would expect to see it embedded in your GUI (much like embedding in a web page) and still be within GB-PVR, but I am not. It takes me back to Windows and I see the taskbar. I have to physically close Windows Media Player to get back to GB-PVR and the remote commands do not work.

I can't reproduce this. Do you mean you select All Stations and then select the All Streams button? In any case, please attach your gbpvr.exe.log file (after the error has occurred) so I can see what's causing this on your system.

Yes, that is one way. The easiest way to reproduce this:
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.

Sure does. Thanks very much for your input.

Happy to help. Let me know if you need anything else.

Here's my log:

[ubu]

I saw something that looked like I could configure those but I haven't tried that yet. And those are the alternative applications I'm using as well.

As long as a player can be invoked from the command line with the stream URL as an argument (and some kind of argument that will switch it to fullscreen, if you are using fullscreen mode) it can be used as an UbuStream external player. That's actually been available ever since v1.0.

OK. It's not doing that for me. When I launch any Windows Media stream (no matter if it's set to internal or external), the Windows Media Player app itself opens up, loads the stream, and then goes full screen once the stream starts. To me, I know what I'm saying but it's not coming across as clear as it could be. Set for internal, I would expect to see it embedded in your GUI (much like embedding in a web page) and still be within GB-PVR, but I am not. It takes me back to Windows and I see the taskbar. I have to physically close Windows Media Player to get back to GB-PVR and the remote commands do not work.

No, that's clear. I understand what you're saying. So, when you say "launch", which method are you using to launch the stream? ie: You should be able to start the stream playing by selecting the Play button on the menu (or by pressing the Play button on your remote), in which case the station should be launched using the playback mode (Preview, Timeshift or External player) that you have defined for that particular station. Or, you can start the stream from the pop-up dialog that appears when you select a station by explicitly selecting the Preview Play, Timeshift Play or External Player button on the dialog. This latter method should force playback to the mode you have chosen.

I can't figure out how the external player is getting launched if, for example, you select the Preview Play button. I would know more if I could see your UbuStream.xml file (see next item).

Yes, that is one way. The easiest way to reproduce this:
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.

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.