Using Ubustream with MediaMVPs

[jbyram2]

Some one asked me how I got Ubustream working with MediaMVPs.
Here's what I said. Any other thoughts, tips & tricks?

I'm using Media MVP Versions D3A

Short How-to:
1) get Videolan client (VLC)
2) Install Ubustream, and set all your stations to use VLC
3) Setup external recorder to allow Ubustream to use channel mode.
4) Use all of tipsters MVP network tweaks

Since the MVP needs a .mpg file to play, VLC is needed to capture the network stream you want to watch and save it in .mpg format so the MVP can play it.

Long version:
1) I'm using videolan client 0.8.5
in settings->preferences
advanced, check advanced options and select "allow only one running instance" and "allow only one running instance when started from a file" keep "use a plugins cache" checked. all others on that page unchecked.

This will keep gbpvr from spawning lots of zombie instances of VLC that never close when you change channels.
2) Set Ubustream to use VLC
in gbpvr config, plugins tab, WebTV/ radio -> Settings. PLayers tab-> Videolan client->edit...this should say
player name: videoLAN Client
PLayer Application: C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe
Fullscreen parm: -f

Stations tab: all station should be set to use VideoLAN Client as their media player

3) gbpvr config->Capture sources-> Create a capture source for Ubustream, like Ubu says to in the wiki. Mine looks like this:
Edit recording source worksheet:
Source name: UbuStream
Recording Source: Extrernal recorder
Settings:
*****************
Start recording executable:C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\UbuStreamCmd.exe
Start Recording Parameters:

Code:

{channel} :sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=2048,scale=1,acodec=mpga,ab=192,channels=2,audio-sync}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ps,dst=^"{fullname}"^}}

Hide recording executable: checked
Wait up to 10,000 ms for the output file to be created
The wait 100 ms before starting "Now Recording"
Now recording executable: blank
Now recording parameters : blank
Stop recording executable: C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe
Stop recording parameters: --one-instance vlc:quit
Start preview executable: C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\UbuStreamCmd.exe
Start preview parameters: {channel} -f
Stop preview executable: C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe
Stop preview parameters: --one-instance vlc:quit
zero pad : unchecked
three digits: unchecked
*******************

EEPG source: XMLTV Plugin
Settings:
XMLTV file: C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\UbuStreamEPG.xml

No Channel changer required

4) MVP tab
set "Pre-play delay" to 5000, to give the stream time to start

Once it is set up, You should be able to pick stations from the TVGuide, and play them just like TV station. But beware!
Your server will be doing a bit more work, since it has to recieve the stream, transcode it to Mpeg, and save it to disk, then serve the file out to the MVP. I've got an Duron 1600 and it works OK, but the LAN connection has the video coming in and going out at the same time, and may not be able to recieve and serve smoothly.

Do not be surprised if you see some of the most psychedelic video distortion you can imagine, and audio/video synch problems, and the four second MVP video/audio loop "feature". I've found that pausing the playback to create a reasonable size buffer (10-20 seconds), and skipping backwards (lowest button on the left) sometimes will get the thing synched up and running smoothly. Sometime not though, especially if the stream is choppy to begin with.

EDIT 12/20/06:
Changed my setup to GB-PVR 98.13b, VLC 0.8.6, Ubustream 2.0+ bugfix,
Added audio-sync to improve audio synch and repeat errors..a pause and back-skip is still needed sometimes.
Changed acodec from mp2a to mpga to keep VLC from crashing sometimes.
Changed vb from 1024 to 2048 for improved appearance on high quality streams

EDIT 12/12/08

Changed my setup to PVRX2, and broke channel mode.

[ubu]

Some one asked me how I got Ubustream working with MediaMVPs.
Here's what I said. Any other thoughts, tips & tricks?

This is really excellent. Since I don't have an MVP myself, my wiki documentation is based on "If this works for watching a stream in GB-PVR timeshift mode, it'll probably work for MVP users". You've added a lot of useful "real world" information. (Checking "allow only one running instance" in VLC, for instance, is a great piece of advice.)

While VLC is the preferred player for doing this (and all the examples in the documentation use VLC), you can, in theory, use any player that is capable of recording the stream to MPEG2 format (mplayer, for instance).

[happyhammer]

tried those settings, didn't work for me,selected a channel,the screen shows a timeline and then goes black. The GBPVR tray icon goes green and the status shows that an mpg file is being created but infact it isn't.

The vlc instance on the server shows the following in its message log:


main error: invalid chain
stream_out_transcode error: cannot create chain
main error: stream chain failed for `transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acode'
main error: cannot start stream output instance, aborting

[Spartan]

I tried it at home and while the video plays fine on my gbpvr machine, when I select it from the MVP, no video appears at all.

[jbyram2]

tried those settings, didn't work for me,selected a channel,the screen shows a timeline and then goes black. The GBPVR tray icon goes green and the status shows that an mpg file is being created but infact it isn't.

The vlc instance on the server shows the following in its message log:


main error: invalid chain
stream_out_transcode error: cannot create chain
main error: stream chain failed for `transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acode'
main error: cannot start stream output instance, aborting

Looks like a cut and paste error on the Start recording parameters, with the word acodec being split up.


The full Start recording parameters line is

Code:

{channel} :sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mp2a,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ps,dst=^"{fullname}"^}}

Let me know if that helps

[happyhammer]

no, the full command is there in the config, its just the vlc messages window only seems to show that amount of text, i dunno if thats because thats all it can display or is it not seeing the full command.

[jbyram2]

And there are no spaces, except after "{channel}"?

[happyhammer]

yes there were two spaces, i should have looked more closely at the vlc messages.

The spaced words were "acodec" and "access=", see example of spaces below

acode c=mp2a,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access =

obviously some cut and paste error,sorry.

i wont be able to test for a few days though until i get home.

[karlr30]

Hi, i am not able to make it works, the web station start on my pc with vlc saving the file "Research TV programming._2_20061217_00000100-4.mpg" , but i only get a black screen for a short time, then return to tv guide on my mvp. Could it be that the file can't be read when written.

i.e. If i try to play "Research TV programming._2_20061217_00000100-4.mpg" from my pc with windows media player while vlc is recording i get the message "file is occupied".

i have put this in the start recording parameters:
{channel} out=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mp2a,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ps,dst=^"{fullname}"^}}

The same again in the Start preview parameters :
{channel} out=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mp2a,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ps,dst=^"{fullname}"^}}

what am i doing wrong ?

[ubu]

Hi, i am not able to make it works, the web station start on my pc with vlc saving the file "Research TV programming._2_20061217_00000100-4.mpg" , but i only get a black screen for a short time, then return to tv guide on my mvp. Could it be that the file can't be read when written.

If the channel plays OK in timeshift mode on your PC but gives you a black screen on your MVP, this could be a timing problem. You might have to experiment with the "wait" parameters. To avoid repeating myself, I'll refer you to this thread for more discussion of this.

i.e. If i try to play "Research TV programming._2_20061217_00000100-4.mpg" from my pc with windows media player while vlc is recording i get the message "file is occupied".

Not sure why you'd want to do this but I don't think WMP can play a file while it is still being recorded. However, VLC can definitely do this so you could try using a second instance of VLC. GB-PVR can also do this (that's how timeshift-mode works).

i have put this in the start recording parameters:
{channel} out=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mp2a,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ps,dst=^"{fullname}"^}}

The same again in the Start preview parameters :
{channel} out=#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mp2a,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ps,dst=^"{fullname}"^}}

what am i doing wrong ?

The recording parms look OK but you've used the same parms again for the preview parms. That won't work. The preview parms should simply be: {channel}. This is all described in the sample setup parms doc (the link is on the config page of the wiki). The preview parms are only used for non-timeshift mode live TV so will not be relevant if you are exclusively using an MVP.