plugin for the website wwitv.com?

[samundsen]

Originally Posted by Globoxrocks

Today i got a mail form wwitv. They were having problems the last 2 month with their datatraffic. So they asked me if i would change the plugin so i got a link with a textfile with all the channels in it. I asked them if they could see what caused the increase because wwitw did not work for a while ( after new year ). They could not give me an answer. They also said there were other projects doing the same as mediaportal.

My question is because i only added catgegory support. the plugin itzelf already existsed for 8 months ( countryselection ) or so an they have only problems since 2 months. Can the wwitv plugin cause the trouble. Now i got textfiles they are about 256 kb for each language but i doubt if it helps their problems is the way i do it now not causing less datatraffic ?.

I think i will try to get the data form the txt in a local xml file and make a button which can be pressed to update channel info. So mediaportal only gets the channellists if you push the button.

But i still doubt if this is not peanuts, because all the streaming media they supply is that not causing more data traffic. if i for instance call channel ZTV http://www.ztv.se/|http://wwitv.com/tt/b1877.asx who gets the datatraffix wwitv or www.tzve.se ? i saw there are streams with 2000k at movie.

On the other hand it also has advantages because the plugin will get more stable because it no more depends on the website. Please help.

Go with the text file they will provide. That way you won't risk having to update your plugin every time they make a change to their web site. A text file should be much easier to parse than having to parse an ever changing web site.

I like your idea of having an update button. After selecting language, have a button to refresh the channel listing, that way only one 256Kb file will have to be downloaded. That should only take a few seconds..... keep in mind everyone using a plugin to watch streaming video will most likely have a broadband connection anyways.

[Globoxrocks]

The users are not the problem wwitv is having problems with the datatraffic increase ( costs more money ). So i have to update the plugin otherwise there will be no more wwitv plugin in a while. But they are very helpfull they liked the plugin the already added categories.

By the way some people think i created the plugin but i only updated it ( fixed the bug around newyear ) and added language support/ categories. the topicposter gets all the credits.

So i try to make an extra button ( and when you change language ). To get all the channel data in an xml so everything can be done on the client ( list of countries, categories, channellist ). Except when you run the stream offcourse. So i think and wwitv is also hoping that people only once in a while refresh the channels now it happens every time. This is not necesarry i think. Oke they add al lot of channels every day but i think most people like the channels they have and once in a while if they will they will look if there are new intersting ones.

By the way can i measure the datatraffic is use ?. maybe for testing.

edit*** i found a programm. So i tested it because i thought maybe i made a stupid mistake which caused more datatraffic. I compared the outcome with clicking on the website itself and yess... it was not the plugin. I even had less datatraffic ( 93,5 kb ( by mediaportal ) vs 101,6 by website countr germany )) then someone surfing on the wwitv website. i tested with country germany and category news life ( big ones ). But i am planning to make the changes because the plugin is getting stable and i think we may be happy to may connect to the wwitv website so although the website wwitv surfing itself is consuming more datatraffic if we do it on the client we can reduce the datatraffic maybe in future so we can help wwitv although it is not the fault of the plugin. But maybe in future they want to add features we can use in the plugin.

[shaly_c]

Hi,

I tried the wwiTV plugin and found out that I can get to channels only throug the category. for some reason if I select country nothing showing up.
Maybe I've done something wrong?
Can anyone help me out here?

Thanks in advance,
Shalom.

[Globoxrocks]

today i was programmaing again on the plugin see my previous post and noticed it. But i thougt i was running on a version which i was programming on. I saw your post and installed the plugin you have. And indeed it did not work anymore for the english language. I looked at the wwitv website and they changed the website again. The other languages still work. I do not know the reason why they changed the website ( maybe because see my previous post ). But if it is they could at least give me some time to rewrite the plugin. i also have proven already that the datatraffic increase was not due to the mediaportal plugin. But maybe they planned already to change the website so i do not know the answer why they changed it. I do not know if i can make a new version of the plugin the way wwitv wants it ( in everyday life a am not a c# programmer ) and when it will be finished ( the plugin has to be rewritten drasticly ). I cannot fix the current version maybe i get trouble with wwitv if i do ( see my previous post ).

[shaly_c]

I think,

That you shouldn't count on the oline site which is changing once in a while.
You should publish an XML file in a web site which will list the online TV stream url's, and update the XML file automatically/manually once in a while with a script.
The plugin will access the XML instead of the wwiTV web site, this way in case they have changed the site, it won't affect the plugin. The only thing you'll have to fix is the xml creation script.
Additional enhancement, is to add a userdefined XML file for customized streaming sites that users wish to add themselves.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Shalom Cohen.

[Globoxrocks]

as i said i am planning to make a button to refresh the channeldata. Wwitv has given me acces to textfiles ( why tekstfile i do not know html/xml was much easier ) so i do not have to crawl their website and updates on the website will not affect the plugin and for wwitv the profit is less datatraffic. after you refreshed your channels i will put them in an xml and till you refresh again mediaportal gets the data from the xml.

if you want to add streams you can do it at the wwitv website itself ( when you give them a link the post it very fast ).

I am not planning to host such files myself. But my first obstable is to read the txtfile direct form internet. maybe i first download it and then read it locally and put it in the xml.

if you want to add channels ( different websites ) you could do it now already by changing the favorites xml. My opinion is that if you want to add an extra channel do it at the wwitv website so everyone can enjoy your new channel and this attracts more people.

[Globoxrocks]

I have the plugin working again completely by xml. Still a lot to do, but is is progressing. Are there any wishes i have contact with wwitv.

[Globoxrocks]

I have some questions about wwitv: first of all an update.

Update: 23-02-2007 the sppeding issue below has been solved. The time is the same as the old plugin. So about 7 seconds ( on my old pc ) instead of 40. So Everything is working again.

- the rewritten plugin is working again. I only have an issue saving an xml when you choose to refresh data with all the channels costs some time ( on my pc about 40 sec ) on my newer pc is costs about ( 8 seconds). But i hope i can make it a bit faster. But writing to harddisk of xml costs time. But i think most people will refresh one a week maybe a month and the pro is that it now works by xml so in the old situation it made alwys connection at startup which took some time. This is now much faster.
- and i have to make some appointments with wwitv but it loks very stable at the moment. No more dependecy on websitelayout but seperate delimited html files if they want to change something they can do it after an new delimiter so it does not effect the plugin at all.

Now the fintuning has started.

- How do you navigate with your remote control/ other device can you get fast to your desired country / countries or do you think it is not good now. For instance i could add funcionally so you can add a country/ categories to favorites.
- who likes the webcam ( steraming not website ones )section on wwitv ?
- Are there things you would like to see in the selection list. For instance when you choose category do you want to see more things ( countryname, bandwith ).

[samundsen]

I'd like to be able to go back.... for instance, after selecting country and getting a list of stations, it doesn't seem to be possible to just go back up and have the cursor on the selected country. You have to go over to the menu, select country, then scroll through the country list again. The list is long, so it's quite a pain.

[ciduser]

I second the request to go back to the same country. This is a great plugin, thanks for everyone who is saving it.