UbuStream v2.1 Beta finally available

[HTPCGB]

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.

There's your problem. I did not have any directories configured for music. I added a directory to the music directory list and Ubusteam works.

[FirstTeamOPS]

Unzip to your Plugins folder. In addition to the bugs fixed in Patch1 (see my earlier post)

Not sure what else changed, but just unzipping to the plugins folder and replacing the beta 280K dll with the beta patch 2 284K dll knocked everything out. Web Streams does not appear in GB-PVR or in the Config app. I tried beta patch 1 just to see and the same thing happened.

If I go back to the beta 280K dll, everything re-appears.

There is an error in the gbpvr.exe.log so I attached it

2/27/2007 12:56:34 PM.140 INFO [1] UbuRadio plugin is loading...
2/27/2007 12:56:34 PM.187 ERROR [1] Error initializing menu plugin: C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\plugins\UbuStreamPlugin.dll
2/27/2007 12:56:34 PM.187 ERROR [1] Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
2/27/2007 12:56:34 PM.187 ERROR [1] at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandle& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean fillCache)
at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean fillCache)
at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
at GBPVR.Backend.Common.xc4f12ec3a8a4c96b.xb77fa95273e0c228(Boolean x8bae2a88590d8cc0)
2/27/2007 12:56:34 PM.187 ERROR [1] Inner exception: System.TypeLoadException: Could not load type 'GbpvrUiElements.Utilities' from assembly 'GbpvrUiElements, Version=0.5.2533.28042, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'.
at UbuStreamPlugin.UbuStreamPluginTask..ctor()
2/27/2007 12:56:34 PM.187 ERROR [1] at UbuStreamPlugin.UbuStreamPluginTask..ctor()

[ubu]

There's your problem. I did not have any directories configured for music. I added a directory to the music directory list and Ubusteam works.

That's a relief. On further inspection, my code was assuming that, if you had an entry for a Video Library directory, you'd also have one for a Music Library.

I'm getting flashbacks of my college assembly language teacher writing on the whiteboard:
"When you assume, you make an ass of u and me". :eek:

[ubu]

Not sure what else changed, but just unzipping to the plugins folder and replacing the beta 280K dll with the beta patch 2 284K dll knocked everything out. Web Streams does not appear in GB-PVR or in the Config app. I tried beta patch 1 just to see and the same thing happened.

If I go back to the beta 280K dll, everything re-appears.

There is an error in the gbpvr.exe.log so I attached it

OMG. I'm sorry. I totally forgot. :eek: A new version of the GbpvrUiElements library was just released and it fixed another problem in my code so I switched to using it. You'll need to update your copy of GbpvrUiElements.dll. to v0.6.

[FirstTeamOPS]

OMG. I'm sorry. I totally forgot. :eek: A new version of the GbpvrUiElements library was just released and it fixed another problem in my code so I switched to using it. You'll need to update your copy of GbpvrUiElements.dll. to v0.6.

Very good. I upgraded UI and all is well my friend! Props for the plugins you write and the time you put in... because as you can see below I'm using most of them.

[ralphy]

After several false starts, and quick to post some questions and then finding the problem, I've finally got a couple of minor comments/problems, and a major one.

• When using the internal player, I have no mouse pointer, so can't right click and easily select options
  
• Autosync doesn't seem to work. But 'Test Import' in UbuStreamConfig will populate the xml file ok.
  
• What happened to next and previous groups? They are very useful buttons!
  
• I also have two "web streams" in GBPVR config plugins page, but only one displays (fortunately).

Something odd has now happened since UbuStream won't start. Here are the log files. I have no idea where the referenced http://www.africahits.com came from! I didn't select it intentionally, and can't find a reference to it in the xml file.

[ubu]

Something odd has now happened since UbuStream won't start. Here are the log files. I have no idea where the referenced www.africahits.com came from! I didn't select it intentionally, and can't find a reference to it in the xml file.

LOL when I realized why this is happening. I'll respond to your other issues separately but I wanted to get you back up and running. I think, if you uncheck "AutoSynch station database at startup" on the Options->General panel, UbuStream will start OK.

This bug is typical of how I tend to shoot myself in the foot with my development environment. I do all my coding/testing on a laptop (sitting on the couch ) with remote sessions open to my development/test machine upstairs in my office and to my "production" machine attached to the TV across the room. I'd got the beta release just about ready to release when I suddenly had the "bright idea" of adding the ability to pass command line arguments to dynamic source apps. So I quickly added the code to support that feature (for "future use"). Tested it. It didn't break anything. It was all good.

So then I started testing a bunch of different streams on my production box. I was using the browser on my dev machine to find URLs and then using Ctrl-C to copy them, then switching to my production machine and pasting them into the UbuStream config app. At one point, cut and paste seemed to stop working. So I was wildly hitting Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to try to get it working again. I still had the UbuStream source code open in a window on my test machine, hidden behind my browser (and with the cursor still in the DynSource command line argument code). Somehow it must have got focus because, when I looked at it just now, I had pasted the URL for africahits.com right in the middle of the database definition for the new command line argument. :o

I'll send you the rest of my response (and a fixed copy of the plugin dll) in an hour or so.

EDIT: And delete (or rename with a different extension) UbuStreamPlugin.old.dll. GB-PVR will try to load anything with a "dll" extension in the Plugins directory, thinking it's a plugin. That's why you're getting WebStreams twice on the menu in the config app. (and why you get the "africahits" exception twice in your log ).

[ubu]

After several false starts, and quick to post some questions and then finding the problem, I've finally got a couple of minor comments/problems, and a major one.

Well you're doing a great job with testing this beta. You're finding all the stuff I can so easily miss. And I really appreciate your comments about my "design decisions". I tend to get a lot of feedback about things that don't work but not many comments about features people like/dislike or which features they use or don't use. For instance, I've just spent several months working on MVP support but I've no idea how many people actually use (or want to use) UbuStream with an MVP. Until you wrote your DynSource app, I'd no idea if people were actually using the DynSource capability and whether I should focus on enhancing it or just forget it. Same with the interface to the WWMP site. Does anybody use that? I've no idea because nobody tells me.

When using the internal player, I have no mouse pointer, so can't right click and easily select options

Is this just with one of the players or with all of them? (Each one is a different class with different code). I have a mouse pointer when I use them but clicking the buttons when a stream is playing is, at best, iffy. Each time I get the keystroke/remote interface to work better, I seem to screw up the mouse interface. I just haven't had time to go through each player and figure out all the issues. My main reason for introducing the internal player feature was to support users watching streams in full screen mode on their TV (and using a remote control) so they wouldn't have to deal with the "which app has focus" issue and with tweaking their remote control config to control the player. For people using UbuStream in windowed mode on their PC, I figured the original external player approach was probably working OK. So my plan was to actually remove the buttons from the internal player and to forget about supporting the mouse interface. What do you (or anybody else) think?

Autosync doesn't seem to work. But 'Test Import' in UbuStreamConfig will populate the xml file ok.

Most likely related to the "africahits.com" problem.

What happened to next and previous groups? They are very useful buttons!

This is a great example of what I'm talking about. I had quite a lot of requests to provide a two level UI (group screen and station screen) instead of the original Next Group and Prev Group buttons. So I introduced that for v2.0. But supporting both techniques for navigating groups was making my code quite complex and I had too many buttons on the menu (scrollable menus tend to confuse people, I find). Since nobody mentioned it, I assumed nobody was using these buttons so I removed them (and the underlying code). Not sure what to do now. Maybe I should put the code back, but only support the Next/Prev buttons on the remote control and still leave the buttons off the menu? Or maybe I should use the forum "poll" feature so people can vote on it.

I also have two "web streams" in GBPVR config plugins page, but only one displays (fortunately).

See my earlier post.

Here's the latest fix (sans "africahits"): [ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND] The "AutoSynch station database at startup" feature should work again.

[ralphy]

Some possible problems with patch 3, and some feedback on the app.

• When I click the preview button, I usually get the external player (WMP), but occasionally get the internal player. I'm having trouble trying to replicate the problem consistently. Restarts of GB-PVR and fresh ubustream.xml don't seem to help narrow down the problem. In fact, right now, I don't seem to be able to get anything to run with the internal player. Seems to be similar to the problem FirstTeamOps reported earlier.
  
• When I hit 'record', I got a "Com Object that has been spearated from its underlying RCW ...." error. Don't know if I can repear this error, or if the logs below captured it.
  
• The mouse problem not appearing in the internal player is with WMP. I haven't tested any other players yet.
  
• I also have experienced a big pause when exiting the internal WMP player
  

My main reason for introducing the internal player feature was to support users watching streams in full screen mode on their TV (and using a remote control) so they wouldn't have to deal with the "which app has focus" issue and with tweaking their remote control config to control the player.

I can see how this can be a problem, but for me, always running full screen on a TV, this was never a problem. With the hauppauge 45 key remote, hit the green button twice and I'm back to GB-PVR. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll use the internal players.

I tend to get a lot of feedback about things that don't work but not many comments about features people like/dislike or which features they use or don't use.

• First of all, I love the plugin. I use it primarily to watch video-on demand news streams. I have also used it to listen to radio (asx), but less so now. I haven't tried UbuRadio yet (BTW, GB-PVR NetRadio does handle non-shoutcast files too). As an Aussie, my favorites are ABC and NineMSN (I'll post this dynsource app soon), and these streams are usually good quality, although of late, the internet bandwidth has been a bit of a problem. No MVP in this household!
  

What would be nice:

• When using the internal player, a message showing buffering progress would be useful feedback that something is actually going on. (The internal player splash image was funny at first, but I think seeing it all the time might get on the visual nerves! ).
  
• When starting up Ubustream Config for the first time, there's no feedback that anything is going on. A new user might be tempted to click on the config several times (as I did - on than one occassion) since the panel can take a long time to appear (internet connection related?)
  
• If the autosynch button remains, some form of progress indicator would be useful (eg which group is currently being scraped / how many to go). (Thanks for the standalone update app.[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND] Haven't tested it yet on my production system yet, since the app needs 2.1. Wiki notes forthcoming!)
  
• I like the prev-next group buttons. I like to scroll through the titles within a group to see what catches my eye. V2.1 doesn't let me do this anymore without having to press several more remote control buttons. Please, please bring this back.
  
• The details screen is nice. What I think would be nicer is a pop up that appears showing the description of the webstream, so that as I scroll through the titles, I can see what the clip is all about. The present solution of selecting the item and then selecting the player/timseshift requires backing up to get to the next item - several more button presses on the remote control. The same popup could display a jpg image (I'm working on a prototype, but progress is slow, starting from a zero knowledge base of C# and writing GB-PVR plugin apps, I may get nowhere fast - or at all )
  
• What would also be nice is an extension of autosync to allow downloading and caching of favorite dynsource groups (in my case, news and current affairs) at regular intervals. Perhaps this is something that can be done in channel mode. I've never tried channel mode.
  

Having said all that, you've got a fantastic plugin Ubu. Thanks

[ubu]

Some possible problems with patch 3, and some feedback on the app.

Thanks very much for your detailed critique. I'll respond to your comments/suggestions later this weekend when I've had a chance to mull them over. Meanwhile, I'll focus on the problems you're experiencing:

When I click the preview button, I usually get the external player (WMP), but occasionally get the internal player. I'm having trouble trying to replicate the problem consistently. Restarts of GB-PVR and fresh ubustream.xml don't seem to help narrow down the problem. In fact, right now, I don't seem to be able to get anything to run with the internal player. Seems to be similar to the problem FirstTeamOps reported earlier.

Well, the problem FirstTeamOps had was easy to reproduce: External player the first time in; Internal player thereafter. And I have fixed that bug. So this is something different. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how clicking Preview Play could invoke the external player at all. The log you sent me didn't appear to show this happening. Occasionally, when my code triggers a really ugly exception, the GB-PVR UI code seems to go completely to hell in a handbasket (brings up the station web viewer whatever button/key I press, for instance) so I'm wondering if it's something like that. If you can get a reproduceable case for a specific station and send me the log (and your UbuStream.xml file) I'll know more.

When I hit 'record', I got a "Com Object that has been spearated from its underlying RCW ...." error. Don't know if I can repear this error, or if the logs below captured it.

This was a bug. From your log, it looks like you were playing a station when you hit the Record button. My code created a new NetStreamPlayer object for your recording and then tried call the StopPlayer method on the old object (which was no longer there). So I've switched it to do this the other way round.

BTW - I stop any existing stream playback because the recording process needs all the bandwidth it can get. Theoretically, you could record one stream while listening to another one, but I'm not risking it. The Snapshot feature is quite different. You can hit snapshot whenever you like while listening to a stream and it will simply take a copy of the transcoded file to date. (So you can hit Snapshot multiple times during the same stream and it will simply replace the copy with a bigger one each time). Both Snapshot and Record can only be used with stations that work with Timeshift Play (I guess that's obvious. Just re-stating it for anyone reading this who is unclear about it.)

The mouse problem not appearing in the internal player is with WMP. I haven't tested any other players yet.

Be interesting to know if it happens with the other players. What do you think of my suggestion that I simply remove the mouse/button interface from the internal players on the assumption that a mouse user would use the external players instead?

I also have experienced a big pause when exiting the internal WMP player

This is a wierd one. It does the same thing for me on my production machine, but not on my test machine. As far as I can see, they're identical (same version of WMP, same activex dlls, etc.). I simply close the form (and dispose the player object) when you press Back/Home, which works fine with all the other players. Even on my production machine, the problem is somewhat intermittent (the delay length varies). So I'm still looking for a "smoking gun".