UPnP support (Universal Plug and Play) and MediaPortal 2

[Gamester17]

This is a repost of my request for "UPnP (Universal Plug and Play Protocol)" support in MediaPortal:

I like to suggest a FULL implementation of the UPnP protocols suit into MediaPortal 2.

The UPnP AV (UPnP = Universal Plug and Play Protocol, and AV = Audio/Video) standard:
UPnP is a collection of connectivity and communication protocols, most of which would suit MediaPortal.

• UPnP MediaServer DCP - which is the UPnP-server (a 'slave' device) that share/stream media-data (like audio/video/picture/files) to UPnP-clients on the network.
• UPnP MediaServer ControlPoint - which is the UPnP-client (a 'master' device) that can auto-detect UPnP-servers on the network to browse and stream media/data-files from them.
• UPnP Remote User Interface (RUI) client/server - which sends/recieves control-commands beween the UPnP-client and UPnP-server over network, (like record, schedule, play, pause, stop, etc.).
• UPnP MediaRenderer DCP - which is a 'slave' device that can render content.
• UPnP RenderingControl DCP - control MediaRenderer settings; volume, brightness, RGB, sharpness...).

DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) complicance/compatibility in MP2 UPnP server and client would be very nice as well:
http://www.dlna.org (some UPnP clients, like for example PlayStation 3, requires a DLNA complicant UPnP MediaServer)


Some information on UPnP (Universial Plug'n'Play), for developers and end-users alike:
UPnP (Universial Plug and 'Play) looks set to be the de facto default standard among media-share network-protocols of the future. UPnP is an open and free specification format developed by the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), (Formely: Digital Home Working Group). Those who are familiar with Apple's Bonjour/ZeroConf (formely: Rendezvous) protocol will understand the basic concept of UPnP as it works in a very similar way from the end-users point-of-view, however UPnP is designed to compete with Bonjour/ZeroConf, and UPnP is much more aimed from the start to be an open community project. Basicaly the MediaServer ControlPoint and MediaRenderer is the network-client (and digital-media-player) which will automaticly detect/find all UPnP-MediaServers on the local-network through multicast/broadcast and you can then stream audio/video/pictures from them, (UPnP can also be used over the internet if a "UPnP Internet Gateway Device" is implemented too). Then is also RUI (Remote User Interface) part which can be implemented into both the client and the server, when RUI is supported by both the client can fully control the server, (and act like a remote-control device). Because UPnP is an fre and open standard a UPnP-client can auto-detect and stream from all UPnP-servers without any configuration/settings have to be made by the end-user, plus any software of hardware developer can implement the UPnP standard into their application/device. Philips/Sony has already revieled UPnP standalone set-on-top-boxes, D-Link has unvieled a UPnP-enabled "Central Home Storage Drive", and on the software side latest MusicMatch, also SnapStream's BTV and even Microsoft's Media Center Extenders feature UPnP support. So far the UPnP forums has over 40 members, (among them giants like Intel, AMD, Microsoft, IBM, HP, DELL, Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Panasonic).

For a more detailed overview on the basic concept behind UPnP I recommend you read the "Universal Plug and Play" Article on Wikipedia (link)".

What are the benefits of UPnP technology?

• Media and device independence. UPnP technology can run on any medium including phone line, power line, Ethernet, RF, wireless, and 1394.
• Platform independence. Vendors use any operating system and any programming language to build UPnP products.
• Broad industry acceptance, over 800 companies/manufactures/vendors members, and climbing.
• Internet-based technologies. UPnP technology is built upon IP, TCP, UDP, HTTP, and XML, among others.
• UI Control. UPnP architecture enables vendor control over device user interface and interaction using the browser.
• Programmatic control. UPnP architecture also enables conventional application programmatic control.
• Common base protocols. Vendors agree on base protocol sets on a per-device basis.
• Extendable. Each UPnP product can have value-added services layered on top of the basic device architecture by the individual manufacturers.
• Auto-discovery and zero-configurations, making it very user-friendly for all end-users

For my own personaly reason I really like to see UPnP MediaServer and RUI server support in MediaPortal because then a UPnP MediaServer ControlPoint and RUI client could be implemented into XBMC (Xbox Media Center) and thus XBMC will be able to auto-detect MediaPortal 'servers' on the network to stream from them and control MediaPortal remotly over the network via the XBMC GUI (to send command such as record, schedule, play, stop, change channel) and thus be able to function as a front-end for MediaPortal, (you could then have one MediaPortal PC function as a back-end hub and have several Xboxes in the house which could control MediaPortal from each one of them). Of course XBMC is not the only thing that would benifit from UPnP MediaServer and Remote UI support in MediaPortal, but because UPnP is an open standard anyone who add MediaServer ControlPoint to their application or device would in theory be able to stream audio/video/pictures from MediaPortal, and you could for example make a small application (with a RUI client) for PDA or TabletPC that simply functions as a remote control for MediaPortal, (and that application would also be compatible with other UPnP devices that feature a RUI server-side.

Official UPnP websites (with free specs, source code, samples and SDK's):
www.upnp.org and DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)

Documentation:
http://www.upnp.org/standardizeddcps/mediaserver.asp
http://www.upnp.org/standardizeddcps/remoteui.asp
http://www.upnp.org/download/MediaRenderer%201.0.pdf
http://www.upnp.org/download/Renderi...01.0.prtad.pdf
DLNA Home Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines v1.0 PDF
DLNA Overview and Vision White Paper (PDF)
DLNA Use Case Scenarios White Paper (PDF)
http://www.intel.com/technology/upnp/index.htm
http://www.intel.com/technology/UPnP/tutorial.htm
Universal Plug and Play in Windows XP (Microsoft TechNet)
Description of Universal Plug and Play Features in Windows XP (MSDN)
Hosting Devices on Windows XP Using Universal Plug and Play (MSDN)

Other resourses: source code exampels, full applications and more:
UPnP official specs, source and SDK's (it's free): www.upnp.org/www.upnp.com
Intel's UPnP SDK/toolset (donno if open source?, but it's free to use for non-commercial software): http://developer.intel.com/ial/upnp/
Platinum UPnP (the cross-platform C++ open source UPnP library used by XBMC) http://sourceforge.net/projects/platinum/

[mofux]

have you tried the alpha yet? mp2 is already acting as uPnP server and client... so you are already able to share uPnP meida, just give it a try!

[Gamester17]

Sorry I have not tried MP2 yet, no, but I knew that MP2 was going to have a basic UPnP server and client before it was announced from speaking to Frodo. But this here today is more a complete request for having practically all UPnP AV features available in MediaPortal, ...which I do not believe that you have implemnted yet? Like the ability to stream live-TV, change channels, full control recording/scheduling, (I do not even believe that there is an EPG standard for UPnP yet), UPnP RUI, etc.

PlayStation 3 (requiring DLNA compliance) and Xbox 360 (requireing special case handling) support as UPnP clients to MediaPortal would be cool as well

[rtv]

Feel free to offer some code / dev sharing if you already handle those special cases

[Gamester17]

I'm not a developer/programmer myself, and as such I can only make suggestions/requests.

However I do not think I am alone in wanting to stream Live-TV over UPnP (and channel changing via UPnP) thus I do not consider that a "special case", ...for those who missed the news the UPnP Specifications has been approved as an ISO/IEC international standard September 13 this 2007 year so you can expect to see a lot more stand-alone media-player set-top-boxes comming with a built-in UPnP client, (and again, the PS3 and Xbox360 covers a lot of the market too as both comes with UPnP AV client support).
http://www.upnp-ic.org

PS! XBMC has partially implemented DLNA in its UPnP MediaServer in order to support devices that require it, (such as the PS3 game-console). As for the Xbox 360, I suggest that the MediaPortal UPnP developer(s) look at GeeXboX uShare UPnP MediaServer as it is open source and support the Xbox360. Otherwise is Wireshark (formally knows as "Ethereal") always a good tool to figure out how devices act on the network, ...of course that requires that the MediaPortal UPnP developer(s) own an Xbox 360 and/or PS3 respectively.

[frodo]

Gamestr17
The current release does not contain TV at all
When we add TV/Radio we will make sure UPnP is supported as well

[Gamester17]

Cool! ...can't wait to stream Live-TV (and radio) from MediaPortal 2 TV-Server to XBMC via UPnP

[Flipit]

Frodo and devs

Streaming TV - Cool. Couple of things that need to be don't first though I guess. :-)

I moved aboard about six months ago (Spain) and had so little time to look at anything fun poped back and whoa, you guys never stop...

Anyhow's perhaps you can help me get up to speed on the way the Dshow filters are used, particularly TSWriter and TSReader, the current Upnp stack in the SVN is the Intel one ( not sure what date version you have but the version I had some time ago was full of bugs... caution required..) Reason I ask about the filters is in order to get tv streaming working with this stack I think you'll need to have the ablity to create some sort of buffer files (either mpeg-2/ mpeg-4) which can be served out over HTTP (ASFAIK The intel stack only supports HTTP, but in theory RTSP or UDP could be used if the connecting client supported it) and then deleted once the client has finished with them.

I kind of envisage this like the current tv server supports remote clients by hooking in the RTSP filter only this way it would hook in file buffer filter instead. As i recall form the stack it already has a VideoBroadcast MediaItem so this would need to be filled with channel data then added to the content directory; when a request comes to the ConnectionManager it can force a retune of the card for the desired channel and republish the buffer to the http server... well something like that anyway... would be good to understand wher your taking the TV aspects going forward.. I'd love to help. Would be even better if it would incorporate dlna, but that;s another step

Flipit

[Gamester17]

Maybe switch to an open source UPnP framework/stack such as:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/platinum

That is the UPnP library XBMC uses for both client and server

[swifty]

Wow, awesome ! I just stumbled upon this thread after requesting the same thing in one of the other sections a few days ago.. (mods feel free to delete that as this now answers my questions )

I am so looking forward to being able to use XBMC as an 'extender' for MP so that I can watch TV and Schedule etc.. from another room
So glad I found this thread, I was literally JUST burning MythTV installation media.. but this is now changing my mind!