How To: Add custom online video feed definitions (default STV; v6.4+)

[brainbone]

Couple quick questions:

1) Trying to link to mpeg2 video displays "Video does not have MPEG4, FLV or AVI file type". Any way to get mpeg2 streams to play?

2) RSS items containing videos will show fine, but is there any way to show items that link to another RSS feed as a folder?

[evilpenguin]

Is it possible to drill down N levels before you hit feeds or are are you limited to

Category -> Podcast -> Videos

I'd really like to be able to do things like...

Category -> Sub Category -> ... -> Podcast -> Videos

[Opus4]

No, subcategories aren't available.

- Andy

[evilpenguin]

Ahh, too bad, I could do some awesome things with just one more level

[Opus4]

Adding podcast subcategory support has been on my to-do list for a while & I finally had time to look into adding that support a few days ago... at which time I found that I had accidentally added it a while back when I added the "Top Channels" YouTube item. I just didn't realize previously that I could tweak it to work for general podcast subcategories. The podcast subcategory properties might have been designed differently if I had started from scratch, but since the existing code worked...

The attachment in the first post of this thread has been updated to include podcast subcategory examples.

To use subcategories properly, you must be using the STV v6.6.2.17 (2009100701) update.

- Andy

[ArcAiN6]

I decided to try this out, but it doesn't seem to do anything, looking into the CustomOnlineVideoUIText.properties i see this:

# ==============================================================================
# Create the menu items for the Online Services menu:
# ==============================================================================

Source/xPodcastCustom/LongName=Custom Test Links
Source/xPodcastCustom/ShortName=Custom Test Links

I assume that adds a new entry into the online videos called " Custom Test Links"

However, after re-starting both Sage, and the Sagetv service, i see no new items in the list of online services.

i'm currently running:
SageTV 6.6.2.218
Java 1.6.0-15
SageMC STV 6.3.9a
df_sageutils.jar 2.2
phoenix.jar 1.43
current STV: SageMC_169-7.xml

-------=[EDIT]=-------

hrm... just updated to the latest sagetv STV and all it added was a " get hulu destop application " entry... am i doing something wrong?

[Opus4]

Did you put both custom files from the zip in the proper directory, as instructed in the first post of this thread? And, no SageTV restart is needed; the file are reloaded n the default STV every time the Online Services menu is entered.

- Andy

[matt91]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Adding podcast subcategory support has been on my to-do list for a while & I finally had time to look into adding that support a few days ago

just wanted to say thanks Andy.

[evilpenguin]

Thanks a bunch for the podcast subcategories, I should be able to do some cool stuff with the PlayOn feed now.

FYI, Opus doesn't mention it but you can also add images for the subcategory buttons

Category/AACustomSubCat/ThumbURL=ThumbURL
Category/AACustomSubCat/LongName=Subcategory 1 list name
Category/AACustomSubCat/ShortName=Subcat 1 name
Source/xPodcastAACustomSubCat/LongName=Subcategory 1 menu title
Source/xPodcastAACustomSubCat/ShortName=Subcat 1 title

[Quazeye]

EvilPenguin can you let us in on what you are planning to do?

Q

[evilpenguin]

@Opus

The Podcast sub categories back button and back remote button aren't working properly for me right now. No matter where I am in the tree it always brings me back to the top level.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

The Podcast sub categories back button and back remote button aren't working properly for me right now. No matter where I am in the tree it always brings me back to the top level.

That sounds like what happens when using the old STV -- what version does System Info list for the STV?

If you've included your import, did it by any chance reset something when it was imported?

Otherwise, I'll need to see the custom online properties files to see what happens on my system.

- Andy

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Opus4

That sounds like what happens when using the old STV -- what version does System Info list for the STV?

If you've included your import, did it by any chance reset something when it was imported?

Otherwise, I'll need to see the custom online properties files to see what happens on my system.

- Andy

Yep, old STV, I forgot to update my dev PC. Thanks Andy.

[Opus4]

The attachment in the first post of this thread has been updated to include info about using multiple custom online video properties file sets and how to format the podcast FeedURL to use a custom external application to generate the XML feed.

The updated support requires the STV v6.6.2.18 (2009101301) update.


Multiple Custom Online Video Property File Sets

Multiple custom properties files can be used by simply adding your own descriptive text between the end of the base custom filenames & their .properties extensions, like this:

Base filenames:

• CustomOnlineVideoLinks.properties
• CustomOnlineVideoUIText.properties

Sample secondary filenames:

• CustomOnlineVideoLinks_Set2.properties
• CustomOnlineVideoUIText_Set2.properties

The "CustomSources" properties in all the CustomOnlineVideoLinks files will be combined; any other duplicate property name values will be overwritten.


External XML Feed Generating Apps

See the example CustomOnlineVideoLinks.properties regarding formatting the FeedURL portion of a feed property to use an external XML feed generating application.

- Andy

[Vettenstein]

I can't get my head wrapped around the use of subcategories and need my hand held.

Here's my properties files I'm working on.

CustomOnlineVideoLinks_UPnP2Podcast_HGTV.properties

CustomSources=xPodcast_HGTV_PlugIn

#
# Declare Sub Catagories
#

#
# Declare Links
#

#HGTV
xFeedPodcastCustom/HGTV_Color_Splash=xPodcast_HGTV_PlugIn;external,UPnP2Podcast,PlayOn:HGTV:^Color.Splash$:+2

CustomOnlineVideoUIText_UPnP2Podcast_HGTV.properties

Source/xPodcast_HGTV_PlugIn/LongName=HGTV
Source/xPodcast_HGTV_PlugIn/ShortName=HGTV

# ==============================================================================
# Create the category names & thumbnail urls for xPodcasts:
# ==============================================================================

# HGTV
Category/HGTV_Color_Splash/LongName=Color Splash
Category/HGTV_Color_Splash/ShortName=Color Splash

I'm trying to create a couple of subcategories inside Color Splash, named Season 2 & Season 3.

I've studied the samples in the first post and the .PROPERTIES files of EP's for Hulu & Netflix and the bulb hasn't lit yet.

Thanks

[evilpenguin]

Check out Opus4's examples in the first post, they include lots of instruciton that I cut out of my files.

[Tiki]

It is easy to add custom feeds, but is there a way to remove unwanted feeds so they won't re-appear the next time there is an update?

I've noticed that there are a lot of feeds where there have been no new podcasts posted in months or years. In many cases the most recent podcast is a "goodbye" podcast indicating that there will be no more new podcasts.

I've also noticed that there are some feeds that I would prefer to be categorized differently (example: why aren't the NASA poscasts filed under Science-Tech? why are there so many animal/nature poscasts under Science-Tech?)

[tmiranda]

Shameless plug on.

You could try the malore online browser and mark the podcasts you like as favorites and ignore the rest. (Or browse them in the Category/Subcategory view.)

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...online+browser

Tom

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Tiki

It is easy to add custom feeds, but is there a way to remove unwanted feeds so they won't re-appear the next time there is an update?

I've also noticed that there are some feeds that I would prefer to be categorized differently (example: why aren't the NASA poscasts filed under Science-Tech? why are there so many animal/nature poscasts under Science-Tech?)

You can override the default properties in custom properties files, but I'm not sure what happens if you simply clear the values. You could, however, customize them to add/change categorization.

I've noticed that there are a lot of feeds where there have been no new podcasts posted in months or years. In many cases the most recent podcast is a "goodbye" podcast indicating that there will be no more new podcasts.

There's already a thread to post ideas for new feeds, so go ahead & start a new one to report broken/obsolete feeds & I'll add a link to it in the first post of this thread, like the one for new feeds.

(My auto feed checking tool just checks for feeds giving a response, not those that still give a response but their content is no longer being updated.)

- Andy

[Sparhawk6]

I'm having no luck adding custom video feeds. Even the examples don't work. I click on the feed, it buffers for a while, and then it says that there are no videos. Running 6.6.2.218 and trying this on an HD200. Also, this is in SageMC.