More Online Services

[tvmaster2]

Has anyone written an app, or extension for Sage, that updates and expands the "online services" option found from the main menu/online section?

Obviously, since Sage packed it in, there have been no updates to this part of the architecture since 2010? Since it seems possible to fix/update the "Online/Youtube" videos section, is there a way to also update the online services?

what pegged my interest - I was looking for the Macworld Podcast and couldn't find it, and then realized how many cool new podcasts have appeared since Sage went dark.

For anyone with super-programming-smarts, I'd even pay for an app that would let you pick and choose the streaming-video podcasts to insert. That would be great. No need ever for Netflix, etc. if that existed

Someone who is capable of this: start a poll, set a price and see who answers

[Bagal]

It's possible to add custom feeds to the online videos section, see this post, haven't done it personally though.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Bagal

It's possible to add custom feeds to the online videos section, see this post, haven't done it personally though.

thanks - I'll see if it's something my non-tech brain can handle lol

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Bagal

It's possible to add custom feeds to the online videos section, see this post, haven't done it personally though.

This is actually pretty easy to do. You don't even have to re-start Sage (you can edit and save the text file with the custom links while Sage is running - just need to back out of the On-Line Videos menu and it will refresh when you re-enter).

I've been doing this for a while since many of these feeds have gone away or changed their address over the years (and new ones pop up from time to time).

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Tiki

This is actually pretty easy to do. You don't even have to re-start Sage (you can edit and save the text file with the custom links while Sage is running - just need to back out of the On-Line Videos menu and it will refresh when you re-enter).

I've been doing this for a while since many of these feeds have gone away or changed their address over the years (and new ones pop up from time to time).

can you cut and paste an example line of text you've added at currently functions, aka a good URL...that would be great

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by dannylogi

Thanks for checking - must have been a hiccup -- all is good now.

how would you find out the URL of these services?

* moved to more appropriate topic *

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

can you cut and paste an example line of text you've added at currently functions, aka a good URL...that would be great

OK... I added this line to the CustomOnlineVideoLinks.properties file create my own category:

CustomSources=xPodcastFavorites

Then I added these lines to add some feeds to it:

xFeedPodcastCustom/AdobeCreativeSuiteVideoPodcast=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://creativesuitepodcast.com/rss
xFeedPodcastCustom/AlwaysOn=xPodcastFavorites;http://cnettv.cnet.com/9706-1_53-0.xml?franchiseId=164&title=Always%20On&hd=true
xFeedPodcastCustom/AppleByte=xPodcastFavorites,xPodcastScienceTech,xFlagTitleNone;http://cnettv.cnet.com/9706-1_53-0.xml?franchiseId=69&title=Apple%20Byte&hd=true
xFeedPodcastCustom/BenHeckShow=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/tbhs/feed/MP4-hd30
xFeedPodcastCustom/CnetFirstLook=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.feedburner.com/cnet/firstlookhd
xFeedPodcastCustom/CnetNews=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.feedburner.com/cnet/cnetnewshd
xFeedPodcastCustom/CnetTop5=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://cnettv.cnet.com/9706-1_53-0.xml?franchiseId=7&hd=true
xFeedPodcastCustom/CnetUpdate=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://cnettv.cnet.com/9706-1_53-0.xml?franchiseId=161&title=cnet%20update&hd=true
xFeedPodcastCustom/GeekBeat.TV=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/geekbeattv/feed/MP4-High-Definition
xFeedPodcastCustom/Hak5=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/hak5/feed/MP4-hd30
xFeedPodcastCustom/iPadTodayVideo=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.twit.tv/ipad_video_large
xFeedPodcastCustom/NixiePixelGeekbuzz=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/nixiepixel/feed/MP4-hd30
xFeedPodcastCustom/OSAlt=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/osalt/feed/MP4-hd30
xFeedPodcastCustom/SoldierKnowsBest=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/soldierknowsbest/feed/MP4-hd30
xFeedPodcastCustom/TechNewsToday=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.twit.tv/tnt_video_hd
xFeedPodcastCustom/TechnoBuffalo=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/technobuffalo/feed/MP4-hd30
xFeedPodcastCustom/Tekzilla=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://revision3.com/tekzilla/feed/quicktime-high-definition
xFeedPodcastCustom/ThisWeekInTechVideo=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.twit.tv/twit_video_hd
xFeedPodcastCustom/ThisWeekInTechLiveSpecialsVideo=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.twit.tv/specials_video_large
xFeedPodcastCustom/WallStreetJournalWaltMossbergsPersonalTechnology=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.feedburner.com/atd/mossberg/video-feed
xFeedPodcastCustom/WindowsWeekly=xPodcastFavorites,xFlagTitleNone;http://feeds.twit.tv/ww_video_hd

So every line starts with "xFeedPodcastCustom/", followed by the name of the podcast, followed by "=" and the name of the category where it should appear (in my case "xPodcastFavorites"). After that you can optionally add ",xFlagTitleNone" (this will keep Sage from typing the name of your podcast on top of the thumbnail icon - I do this if the graphic already contains the podcast name). After that you have ";" followed by the URL.

The first time you go to the new menu in Sage, none of the new podcasts will have icons. But, if you navigate into a specific podcast to get the list of episodes, when you go back out, Sage should populate the icons automatically.

I am attaching the complete custom properties file (Note: I left all the sample code that Sage provided intact... any line that starts with "#" is treated as a comment and is ignored... you will see that most of the file is commented out, except for the lines I posted above).

There is also another file called CustomOnlineVideoUIText.properties. I added 2 lines to this file to give my custom submenu a Title:

Source/xPodcastFavorites/LongName=Favorite Podcasts
Source/xPodcastFavorites/ShortName=Favorites

Notice that the "xPodcastFavorites" part matches the category name that I used in the other file.

This file also contains the paths to the icons, but you shouldn't need to create these lines manually (Sage should generate them automatically as I mentioned above. I'll attach a sample of that file too.

By the way, these files should go in this location:
[SageTV_Install_Folder]\SageTV\STVs\SageTV7\OnlineVideos

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

how would you find out the URL of these services?

1. Do a Google search to find the website for the podcast you are interested in (in this case, you might search for GeekBeat and find http://revision3.com/geekbeattv).
2. Go to the site and look around for something that says "RSS Feed". This is often accompanied by a small orange icon that looks like radio waves or something. The RSS Feed link could be anywhere on the page, but is usually near one of the edges.
3. You may get a choice of a couple of different RSS feeds (usually listed by quality / file type). I look for the highest quality and click the link.
4. This should take you to a web page that has a list of "episodes". Usually each episode will include an episode title, a short description, and a link to the actual video file. If you see something like this, you're probably in the right place.
5. Copy the URL for this page from your browser's address bar.

Note: RSS feeds can be used to distribute more than just podcasts. Instead of video links, the RSS page could have links to audio files, PDF's, photos, or other webpages (maybe with news articles). Sage can really only handle audio and video files (you'll get an error message if you try to play a file that Sage doesn't recognize). So, if you go surfing the net looking for more podcast be prepared to experiment and don't be surprised if you find some feeds that don't work.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Tiki

1. Do a Google search to find the website for the podcast you are interested in (in this case, you might search for GeekBeat and find http://revision3.com/geekbeattv).
2. Go to the site and look around for something that says "RSS Feed". This is often accompanied by a small orange icon that looks like radio waves or something. The RSS Feed link could be anywhere on the page, but is usually near one of the edges.
3. You may get a choice of a couple of different RSS feeds (usually listed by quality / file type). I look for the highest quality and click the link.
4. This should take you to a web page that has a list of "episodes". Usually each episode will include an episode title, a short description, and a link to the actual video file. If you see something like this, you're probably in the right place.
5. Copy the URL for this page from your browser's address bar.

Note: RSS feeds can be used to distribute more than just podcasts. Instead of video links, the RSS page could have links to audio files, PDF's, photos, or other webpages (maybe with news articles). Sage can really only handle audio and video files (you'll get an error message if you try to play a file that Sage doesn't recognize). So, if you go surfing the net looking for more podcast be prepared to experiment and don't be surprised if you find some feeds that don't work.

and then this gets pasted into Sage properties somewhere?

[tvmaster2]

thanks...great info. now let's see if I can make it work