VideoLAN external player plugin

[kkendall]

Could you please provide clear installation instructions.

I can't get past step one. After that comes:

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


Where is this "Release" folder?
Is the VideoLAN.dll in that folder? (search in Vista does not work on my pc)
Do you want us to copy VideoLAN.dll from '/Release/Plugins/ExternalPlayers' to '/Plugins/ExternalPlayer' in the MP folder?
I've been trying the last half hour and I'm starting to get frustrated...

[moiristo]

Originally Posted by kkendall

Do you want us to copy VideoLAN.dll from '/Release/Plugins/ExternalPlayers' to '/Plugins/ExternalPlayer' in the MP folder?

I guess the package has changed somewhat. Just copy VideoLan.dll from the package to '/Plugins/ExternalPlayers' in the MP folder, wherever it may be in the zip

[kkendall]

Dear Moiristo,
I'm more than willing to copy the videolan.dll to '/Plugins/ExternalPlayers' in the MP folder....but there is no zip from the videolan website and there is no file called videolan.dll...




And what is this all about. To me, it only raises questions:

I decided to separate this plugin from the IPTV@UT plugin. I have also extracted it from the ExternalPlayers DLL, so you don't need to overwrite other external players. I encourage others to improve this player, and I wanted to start this topic so people can provide feedback. The plugin offers similar functionality as the MPlayer plugin (I guess). The readme can be found below.

NB: This plugin is NOT the same as the one that comes by default with your MP installation; it offers more features and does not depend on the ActiveX control.

The solution can be found in the MP Plugin SVN.
A compiled version can be found "HERE"

You say there is already a default videolan plugin in the MP installation. Where can I find and install that plugin?
You say it's the same as the Mplayer plugin. So why is this plugin made?
It's not clear what "HERE" is and when one has to use it...Is it a replacement for the download from the videolan.org website?

Maybe you can make the opening post more workable and understandable for morons like myself

I've never used an external player, so excuse me for the following (probeably to most users) obvious questions:
How does fast forward/rewind work?
Are the skip steps still available with this plugin?
It is possible to use this plugin for just one file format, right?
Is it possible to resume from where you left, like with partly watched recordings? And is this also the case for webstreams?

[moiristo]

Originally Posted by kkendall

Dear Moiristo,
I'm more than willing to copy the videolan.dll to '/Plugins/ExternalPlayers' in the MP folder....but there is no zip from the videolan website and there is no file called videolan.dll...

It's not clear what "HERE" is and when one has to use it...Is it a replacement for the download from the videolan.org website?

You can click on 'HERE' and download VideoLan_0.8.rar The videolan.dll is in there.

You say there is already a default videolan plugin in the MP installation. Where can I find and install that plugin?

In MP 0.2.2, there used to be a VLC plugin by default. I guess they removed it in v0.2.3

You say it's the same as the Mplayer plugin. So why is this plugin made?

I was slightly sooner with releasing this plugin. I think it is not needed anymore since MPlayer is a similar plugin, therefore I stopped improving it.

How does fast forward/rewind work?

It forwards/rewinds in steps, each time you press forward, the video will be forwarded by something like 5 seconds

Are the skip steps still available with this plugin?

I don't think I have made the length of a step customizable, but this could easily by implemented

It is possible to use this plugin for just one file format, right?

Yes, you can set which files or protocols it should play

Is it possible to resume from where you left, like with partly watched recordings? And is this also the case for webstreams?

No

I suggest that you use the MPlayer plugin instead of this one, since that one is still under development. Or do you have a reason for not using that?

[kkendall]

Well, On the forum everybody points to this plugin to get MyTorrents (http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/my...sts-t6685.html) working...
They say I need this plugin to play video streams.

It's all starting to get really confusing

OK, so you advice to use Mplayer instead of this plugin....
Do you know if I can use Mplayer for just one format? Because as I understand it, if you install it, it will be used for ALL formats.
Do you know if I can get videostreams working with Mplayer?
Do you know if I can get MyTorrents working with Mplayer?


And if I do want to use this plugin, I should uninstall the latest version of VideoLAN and install your version?? Maybe you could explain this better in the startpost...

[JayRoe]

Moiristo is there a chance you might continue working on this plugin? MPlayer isn't exactly Vista friendly.

[kkendall]

Originally Posted by JayRoe

Moiristo is there a chance you might continue working on this plugin? MPlayer isn't exactly Vista friendly.

Because the known issues were nowhere to be found in the opening post of MPlayer, I asked for the known bugs. And it appears most of the bugs are vista related. And since I have vista, Mplayer is not really an option. Or does the videoLAN plugin have the same bugs?

[quote=moiristo;229221
You can click on 'HERE' and download VideoLan_0.8.rar The videolan.dll is in there.
[/QUOTE]
So what you are saying here is that I should download and install the latest version of videoLAN and than put your videolan.dll into my MP folder? That's it, there is nothing more?

So after that I will be able to watch videopodcasts through MyPodcasts, right?

In the openingpost you also talk about some sort of IPTV plugin. You say: "...and configure the IPTV plugin.".
What plugin?? I don't have a IPTV plugin... Do you want me to get it from somewhere or is this some remark that is out of date?

Could you please cleanup the openingpost and the text in the plugindownloadsection, because all the out of date information is sometimes completely wrong for the current situation... I guess a simple cleanup would help a lot of users, don't you agree? Otherwise it would just cause more confusion.

[moiristo]

I'll update the OP and will perhaps release a new version.

The IPTV plugin is indeed a small plugin that I created to be able to watch UDP video streams from within MP. You don't need it. The installation is therefore as follows:

-----Installation-----

1) Make sure you installed the latest version of VLC from www.videolan.org.

2) Copy 'libvlc.dll' from '\<VLC root directory>\VLC' to the MP root folder

3) Go to /Release/Plugins/ExternalPlayers and copy the VideoLAN.dll from VideoLan_0.8.rar to your /Plugins/ExternalPlayers folder

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

EDIT: Indeed, you can probably use this one instead of MPlayer to view podcasts

[JayRoe]

My VideoLAN.dll was already located in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\ExternalPlayers\ folder and I did a format and clean install a few days ago, so I think you can skip step 3.

Thank you for a great plugin Moiristo. Thanks to you I can now watch online videos in Vista.

[kkendall]

Hey Moiristo,
Maybe this could help! In the MyPodcasts thread, the great FCSobel has written an installation guide on how one really has to install your plugin.
If you copy/paste it in your opening post, and delete your old text, people can actually install this plugin without any hastle, frustration or wrong instructions.

It would greatly improve the usability of MP and the plugins, if we keep as much as possible up to date in my opinion.

Here comes:

"I just got the videolan plugin working in mediaportal and found the process a bit confusing so I put together this step by step guide.

1) Install latest VideoLan program from:
http://www.videolan.org/

2) Copy 'libvlc.dll' from '\<VLC root directory>\VLC' to the MP root folder

3) Download the VideoLan.dll from:
http://rhino.student.utwente.nl/rein...deoLan_0.8.rar

If your pc is RAR challenged you can get a copy of a freeware program like tugzip to un-rar it
http://www.tugzip.com/

When you extract grab the one from the SVN folder. The other one errors out in setup.

Copy the VideoLAN.dll to your Mediaportal /Plugins/ExternalPlayers folder

4) Start Meditportal configuration, find the VideoLan plugin under plugins and enable it.
Click on configure and add in the file formats you want it to hanle like ".mp4,.mov...etc.

- Now you should be able to play .mp4 and .mov files. I suggest you save some to disk first and see if they play from there before you try and view them from podcasts.

- And before you you try to view videos from a feed in My Podcasts make sure you can view them using the stand alone VideLan program. If you have problems there it will be the same in My Podcasts.

- So far I see a long wait before some feeds start playing. I think it's downloading the file in the background and starts playback when the whole file is down.

Some feeds to try:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/cnet/crave?format=xml

http://streaming.tagesschau.de/bb/re...tent&media=mp3

If you find good videolan tips and settings, please share them:

Good luck!"