IPTV@UT Plugin

[moiristo]

Hi!

I created a plugin to view udp:// video streams that are offered here (called IPTV@UT). It uses VLC to play them within MP.

Below is the README for the plugin. The plugin can be downloaded here.

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IPTV@UT v0.3 (01-02-2007)

This plugin is specifically made for IPTV@UT, a service that provides VLC udp streams
for use by students of the university of Twente (NL). It can load *.vlc and *.m3u playlists containing
video/audio channels and uses the VLC ActiveX plugin to play these channels within MP.


-----Installation-----

1) Make sure you installed the latest version of VLC from www.videolan.org.
Copy 'libvlc.dll' from '\<VLC root directory>\VLC' to the MP root folder

2) Go to /Release/Plugins/ExternalPlayers and copy the dll to your /Plugins/ExternalPlayers folder

!!!This will overwrite your ExternalPlayers.dll file. Please backup this file before doing this!!!

The VLC plugin is the same as was used by early versions of the Dreambox plugin.
The adjustments made should not cause any trouble for users using that plugin.

3) Copy the plugin in /Release/Plugins/Windows to your /Plugins/Windows folder

4) Copy the skin file to your currently used skin directory (The default xml should be fine for most skins)

4) Enable the VideoLan plugin in the MP configuration, configure it if necessary,
and configure the IPTV plugin.

5) Create a *.vlc or *.m3u playlist. An example is shown below:

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:-1,Nederland 1
#EXTVLCOPT:filter=deinterlace --
#EXTVLCOPT:vout-filter=deinterlace -- These 3 lines are unnecessary, but are usually generated by vlc
#EXTVLCOPT:deinterlace-mode=blend --
udp://@233.81.233.161:10294

6) Try it out!


-----TODO/BUGS-----

- Fullscreen OSD? ==> Probably not possible, unless a VMR9 filter is created for VLC
- Scheduled recording, timeshifting
- Manage recordings

-----Version history-----

0.3
- VideoLan: Created ExternalPlayers.dll for MP0.2.2_SVN. A version for 0.2.2 can be created on request
- VideoLan: Switched from ActiveX to a native C# library
- VideoLan: More action support, like big/medium/short step forward/backword, ability to make screenshots, DVD menu handling, audio/subtitle track rotation...
- VideoLan: Recording support (A Record-action in MP starts/stops the recording). It stores the recordings in /<MP root folder>/vlciptv/.
- VideoLan: Removed the logo when not playing streams

- IPTV: Redesigned the UI to overcome problems caused by the fact that overlays cannot be laid over the videolan plugin
- IPTV: Context menu removed
- IPTV: Recordings button added

0.2:
- Videolan: Created ExternalPlayers.dll for both MP0.2.1 and MP0.2.1_SVN (different configuration file I/O)
- Videolan: Fixed configuration not being written to file, because the Config class doesn't like text such as
udp://,http://. Now you only need to specify the protocol, e.g. udp,http,...
- Videolan: Some bugfixes
- IPTV: Allowed zapping in fullscreen
- IPTV: Allowed loading *.m3u playlists
- IPTV: #EXTINF-tags are not obligatory anymore
- IPTV: Pressing 1..9 (remote) zaps to channel 1..9 respectively in the playlist
- IPTV: Skin files updated
- IPTV: Several bugfixes

0.1:
- Initial release

[Spragleknas]

UNBELIVABLE!!!

Try browsing my posts; been asking about streaming UDP much lately.

Keep up the good work - and yes, recording would be very nice!

Gonna provide feedback when I get to try this.

[Bram]

Might be only me, but don't yet quite understand what I can do with this plugin.

[moiristo]

It can play network streams (UDP, HTTP) in MP by using VLC. I haven't tried streams like RTSP yet, but I think it can play anything that VLC can play. You can specify the streams the videolan player should accept now in the MP configuration menu; as well as extensions it should play, like .mp3,.avi,.rm, etc.

[Spragleknas]

For instance; I got IP TV. Most channels have to pass a STB (Kreatel 1710) cause their encrypted. The STB captures MPEG-1 through a TP-cable and spits out RGB-signals to a telly -> some quality loss. When using HTPC, even more quality is loss, due to s-video.

With this plug in I (hopefully) can connect the TP-cable to my network-card and get great picture, as I do today with VLC. Also some HD-test signals and more channels (not encrypted) - as well as perfect radio-streams.

I like it a lot!

[Bram]

Ah, I understand. Thanx for explaining and thaks for contributing, eventough I can't think of a reason to use it.

[moiristo]

Originally Posted by Spragleknas

For instance; I got IP TV. Most channels have to pass a STB (Kreatel 1710) cause their encrypted. The STB captures MPEG-1 through a TP-cable and spits out RGB-signals to a telly -> some quality loss. When using HTPC, even more quality is loss, due to s-video.

With this plug in I (hopefully) can connect the TP-cable to my network-card and get great picture, as I do today with VLC. Also some HD-test signals and more channels (not encrypted) - as well as perfect radio-streams.

Why are you having quality loss by using s-video? I thought s-video was not bad at all (much better than composite anyway ) I have some radio stations here, too, and the plugin has no problems playing them

@Bram, the iptv@ut plugin is indeed only meant for people who need udp stream support. The university here hosts about 50 channels (including NL1,2,3, RTL, Talpa, etc.), therefore it is a very convenient plugin to have here. Nevertheless, the modifications to the vlc external player plugin can really be useful for development of other plugins, considering the wide range of extensions and streams vlc supports.

[keith2045]

I cant get it to work. All i see is a black empty box when i click My IPTV. Does it only work with udp streams? Here's my m3u file

#EXTM3U
mms://asf.narrowstep.tv/gk010706_sumotv

[moiristo]

First, make sure that that the latest version of VLC is installed (it was released a couple of days ago, so probably most of you won't have it). Next, check the configuration of the videolan plugin. You can specify the streams it should accept there, for example: http://,udp://,mms:// . Please check whether writing the data went OK by checking the mediaportal.xml file for:

<section name="vlcplugin">
<entry name="enabledextensions">.ts,.gary</entry>
<entry name="enabledstreams">udp://,http://</entry>
</section>

Edit: Is it possible that a channel doesn't start without an
'#EXTINF' tag? The parser won't think your playlist is right if it isn't there.

[moiristo]

It is not very convenient to have the http:// stream also to be played by VLC; it causes trouble with the last.fm plugin and disables visualizations. It can be disabled from the videolan config menu by removing http:// from the comma separated list.