Online Services Plugin :: UPnP Browser

[evilpenguin]

I'm having Andy lock down this thread in favor of the PlayOn specific plugin. Please don't repost old issues in new thread, i'm aware of them and i'll get to them when I have the time.


Description:

This plug-in lets you browse any DLNA/UPnP compliant media server like PlayON or TVersity and play back the videos though SageTV. And, unlike the old PlayON plug-in, there are no complicated .properties files necessary!



Platforms Supported:

• HD200/100
• Windows (32/64)
• Linux (32/64

Known Issues:

• @SageTV - Special characters (',/&) sometimes aren't being displayed properly. While UPnP2Podcast is outputting UTF-8 properly, its getting lost when Sage writes the info file back to the tempFeed.xml. I'll ask Sage about this when they get a chance to look at the dynamic subcategories issue.
• @SageTV - Timebar doesn't advance/fill properly when playing back the videos. Bug has been submitted to Sage and they say its an easy fix so we'll probably see it in the next beta cycle.

Requirements:

• SageTV v7
• A UPnP Server such as PlayON

Installation:

You can install UPnP Browser though v7's new built in Plugin manger! Just select your desired platform, click install, and you're ready to go.



Usage:

UPnP Browser is in the More Online Videos->Online Services EXE Menu->Online Services EXE Menu. From there you can browse UPnP servers just like on a Wii/PS3/360.



Release History

• 5/20/10 - Initial Release

Troubleshooting:

• Some people are reporting that they can't see any UPnP Servers or that some show up but PlayON isn't one of them. If that's the case, please try launching the menu a few more times and it should eventually pop-up. Once you see it once, it should always work after that.

PlayON Issues:

64-Bit Windows Users:

You might run into some issues with Netflix, see this post for the fix.

Non-US Users:

Some services like Hulu and Netflix either don't work or have limited functionality from outside of the US. I have no expereince with this myself, but this post recommends a good , non-free, VPN service that can use to get around that.

WHS Users:

From PlayON FAQ:

PlayOn for Windows Home Server and Windows Server 2003
PlayOn generally works great on WHS and Windows Server 2003. You may, however, need to disable "Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration". See below for specific instructions.
Disabling "Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration"

1. Click Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. After a few seconds a window will pop-up. Click the check mark next to Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration (to make it unchecked). If you'd like to only disable it for Administrators or only for Users you can click Details and do so.
4. Press Next, let it finish, and it's complete. Verify that it's disabled by opening Internet Explorer. You should see a message: "Caution: Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration is not enabled".

I also found a blog post from a user detailing their trouble/success getting PlayON running on WHS.

Warnings, Known Issues, Misc.:

• Amazon VOD requires that you first play a video through IE on the PlayON server.

Compiling Perl Scripts: (Devs only)

All my code comes pre-compiled and ready to rock, but if you feel the urge to tinker with it yourself, compiling perl scripts into standalone executables is easily accomplished using PAR::Packer.

LINUX: (Tested using Ubuntu 9.10 in VMware Player)
From a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10 open a terminal and run these commands...

>sudo apt-get libperl-dev
>sudo apt-get subversion
>sudo CPAN PAR:Packer
>sudo CPAN MD5
>sudo CPAN SKONNO/Net-UPnP-1.4.2.tar.gz
>svn checkout http://upnp2podcast.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ upnp2podcast-read-only
>sudo cp -r ./upnp2podcast/upnp2podcast/UPNP.pm/* /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.0/Net/.
>./upnp2podcast/upnp2podcast/build_OUTs.pl ./upnp2podcast/upnp2podcast/UPnP2Podcast.pl

Windows:

1. Download and install ActivePerl 5.10.
2. Open Perl Package Manager
3. Add Bribes repository
4. Find PAR-Packer and install
5. Open a Command Prompt and run this command...
   

   pp -c -M PerlIO.pm -o ./script.exe ./script.pl

[bialio]

It would be nice if an enterprising person worked up an STVI to get a link to the UPnP at the 'secondary' level of the main menu - Online -> UPnP Browser.



btl.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by bialio

It would be nice if an enterprising person...

aren't you an enterprising person

[bialio]

I'm full at the moment hmmm, maybe if we had dynamic menus this would be easier....

btl.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by bialio

hmmm, maybe if we had dynamic menus this would be easier....

another shameless plug

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

another shameless plug

What are dynamic menus?? I think I need sage to show me one so I can understand this better

(yes another shameless plug)

[Brent]

Wouldn't dynamic menus help out here


PS: Great work EP! And the new plugin manager makes this so easy to install & setup - love it!

[evilpenguin]

Is my configuration for the new Sage v. 7 plugin typical?

I have to navigate to Hulu with the following clicks (8 of them!):

Online -> More Online Videos -> Online Services Exe Menu -> Online Services Exe Menu -> UPnP Browser -> PlayOn -> Hulu

Is there a way to reduce the # of clicks to get to the good stuff with the new plugin. Maybe a way to specify a default UPnP server to skip the "UPnP Browser" step at the very least?

Thanks and great work on the plugin!

Yeah, that's just how it is right now

I was hoping to have a much nicer version ready for the public beta but I got extremely busy and ended up just distributing my test code so people would have something to play with.

[heffe2001]

I wouldn't beat myself up about the current navigation, although it's more clicks, we can all see much more on the server, much easier than before. That, and we can see other sources other than Playon as well .

[wbarber69]

and I just bought playon now its not quite as neccessary

[Thomas Wischgol]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Yeah, that's just how it is right now

I was hoping to have a much nicer version ready for the public beta but I got extremely busy and ended up just distributing my test code so people would have something to play with.

I just played with this for a little while now and it works pretty well; does not feel like some test code ;-) Great job! This makes dealing with PlayOn a lot easier.

Thomas

[spook]

Had a chance to play with this plugin last night, and its definitely a step in the right direction. I will be very interested to see it refined. The two Issues I saw,
1. allready mentioned, too many clicks deep. Dynamic menus would be sooooo nice.

2. I noticed I wasn't able to Fast/skip forward in any of the programming. This may be a limitation of PlayOn though. Im not very familiar

So far if I had to make a judgement, I thick I would continue using the Netlix web browser interface.

Thanks EP

Spook

[Naylia]

Agreed, dynamic menus that mapped into a detailed area would be amazing - but even just bringing the UPnP browser up to the Online menu would be great.

[dinki]

Has anyone tried TVersity with the plugin? I thought there were some kind of format problems with the video TVersity streams?

[skyeclad]

Anyone notice that Netflix DVD icons don't load on the first page of the video download list? When I scroll to the second page they load and so on until the end of the list but Sage doesn't go back to collect the one's that were missed.


EP,

Is it possible that the plugin takes too long or something and Sage skips over the first icons and then moves on too quickly? Let me know if I'm not explaining myself clearly.

Also,

+10 for getting the playon server moved closer to the front of Online Services if possible. Seems like playon is nesting Hulu and Netflix so deep into the directories(i.e. Alphabetical A-C) that finding shows takes a ton of clicks.

Anyway, one last thing, great plugin and getting video feeds are much faster now!

[bsung]

It sounds as if more people use Playon vs TVersity. Any reasons why? I don't have either but am planning to get one or the other and any thoughts would be appreciated.

[wrems]

Originally Posted by bsung

It sounds as if more people use Playon vs TVersity. Any reasons why? I don't have either but am planning to get one or the other and any thoughts would be appreciated.

Well if you desire it to work with EP's tool you'll need Playon

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by wrems

Well if you desire it to work with EP's tool you'll need Playon

Nope, not this time. This plug-in will work on any UPnP server that resolves to content that Sage can play. I've only tried PlayON so that's what I recommend, but anything else should work.

[bulaman]

evlipenguin is the BEST!!!!

[PiX64]

I might be posting this int he wrong spot, but wasn't sure if the steps would change for V7.

How do i get all the extra content from playon which i have downloaded plugins for (ex. Discovery Channel) to show up in the uPnP browser?

again sorry if this is redudant, or posted elsewhere

~Pix64