XM Radio (and probably Sirius...) Working on MP 1.0.0 RC2

[pharaohamps]

I know that there is a replacement XM Radio plugin in the works, but I have a VERY simple solution using free tools.

The XM Online stream is just a WMA stream that's protected by a username and password. MP can play the stream but can't supply the password. uXM is a small free app that can "tune" XM online stations by supplying the required authentication and then serving the streams through a port on the local PC. Devices capable of playing WMA streams should be able to access the audio by pointing back to the IP address and port# of the machine running uXM. On MP, we can play streams from any URL by entering in the Radio section as a Stream. Getting uXM and MP to play together nicely is very easy:

First, install uXM:

uXM Release Candidate 3 | Millard Software

Install it with all the default options, then start the program.

Enter your XM Radio username / password and then start the service.

Once connected, you will see a button called "URLs" on the right side of the uXM window. Click this, and a list of XM channels will be displayed. Select the first channel you would like in your XM lineup, and press the "clipboard" button.

Enter MediaPortal Configuration and go to the "Radio" section. Select the "Stations" tab and press the "Add" button.

Choose "Type" = "Stream," enter a descriptive name such as "XM 2 - XM Exclusive" and a Genre if desired, then paste the URL from uXM into the "URL" box. Press "OK."

If you use the newer TV Server rather than the old included TV Engine, you'll need to set up the streams in the "Radio" portion of the TV Server setup.

When you restart MP, you should see all your stations under "Radio" The streams from uXM are WMA, so they don't work on a lot of standalone devices without more work, but MP should be able to play them fine. They're working for me, anyway

Sirius support is probably possible with the uSirius app: http://www.millardsoftware.com/usirius but since I don't have an account, I can't say for sure.

Hope this helps everyone.

[Redth]

Please see this post regarding the new XM Radio Plugin:
XM Radio plugin

[jporn]

This works perfectly with Sirius following the exact same steps listed for XM just install the uSirius server and away you go.

I setup all my favorite channels in My Radio using this method and they work perfectly.

This ROCKS!!!!

[fillerguy]

it does work however it doesnt (for me) display song name/title etc. Does that work for you?

[jporn]

No I have the same issue. I was just happy that I finally had some way to just get Sirius to play through MP. Now that XM and Sirius have merged I'm sure someone will come up with a way to get all that data streaming to MP.

I hope anyway.

[zswman]

This is fantastic - works like a champ. Makes me want to go out and get a wireless media player even though I already have MP wired into my audio system. Can't wait to try the iPhone version.

[mightysween]

Originally Posted by jporn

No I have the same issue. I was just happy that I finally had some way to just get Sirius to play through MP. Now that XM and Sirius have merged I'm sure someone will come up with a way to get all that data streaming to MP.

I hope anyway.

Sirius doesn't stream the data along with their audio. However, there are sources available for "now playing" information, such as SIRIUS Schedules - SIRIUS Information - SIRIUS News - - DogstarRadio.com. With a little effort, you should be able to capture the channel number from uSirius and query dogstarradio to get your song/artist information.

UPDATE:

I just threw this code together in case anyone wants to use it...basically it just demonstrates how you can download and parse a text file for a channel listing and extract the artist/song info.

class Class1
{
public static void Main()
{
try
{
WebClient wc = new WebClient();
wc.DownloadFile("http://www.dogstarradio.com/channelrss/1.txt", "1.txt");

FileStream fs = new FileStream("1.txt", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
using(StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(fs))
{
string strAllFile = sr.ReadToEnd().Replace("\r\n", "\n").Replace("\n\r", "\n");
string[] arrLines = strAllFile.Split(new char[] { '\n' });
string Artist = arrLines[3];
string Song = arrLines[4];
sr.Close();

MessageBox.Show(Artist + " - " + Song);

}

}
catch(IOException ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
}
}