WinMount plugin (Play .rar files with MediaPortal)

This plugin uses WinMount (WinMount - Mount rar, zip, iso files quickly) to mount and play compressed archives without extracting them. The plugin is still in testing stage so don’t expect it to work perfect.

Features:
• Plays compressed .rar files.
• Supports splitted archives (.rar, .r00, .r01...)

Install instructions:
• Extract WinMountPluggin.dll to %programfiles%\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\ExternalPlayers.
• Install WinMount, I’ve used the trial version of v3.1.1201 while developing the plugin.
• UPDATE: Open WinMount options and uncheck "Open the new mounted disk" to solve the first issue described below.
• Start MediaPortal Configuration, go to Plugins->WinMount->Config and select which drive to use and the path to Winmount3.exe.
• Add .rar and .000 as file extensions under Videos->Video Extensions in MediaPortal Configuration.

Notice about WinMount:
Make sure the alternative “Options -> View -> Mount” is available in WinMount. If it’s not there the application did not install correctly or you did not restart your computer after installing it. I’ve had quite some trouble getting WinMount to work correctly on my system, so I’d recommend that you try it for at least a few days before you decide to buy it. I’ve also encountered a few BSODs while developing this plugin, probably caused by WinMounts driver or some other driver colliding with WinMount. I did warn you

Known issues:
• The first archive which is mounted will cause a Windows Explorer window to pop up as well as the trial “nag screen”. The plugin will mount a dummy archive which you can keep mounted to avoid this issue. (UPDATE: See updated install instructions to avoid the explorer window.)
• Due to the previous mentioned issue all archives will be mounted to the same drive, but I haven’t found a way to unmount all archives except the dummy. So you have to manually dismount the archives from the WinMount GUI to release the file lock. UPDATE: This functionallity is now on WinMounts todo-list. Hopefully there will be a fix available soon .

Compability:
This plugin should work with “Moving Pictures” and “MP-TV Series”. I’d recommend to replace the first regular expression in "MP-TV Series" with the following, which is modified to remove the subs folder and all “*.part**.rar” except the first one.

^.*?\\?(?<series>[^\\$]+?)(?:s(?<season>[0-3]?\d)\s?ep?(?<episode>\d\d)|(?<season>(?:[0-1]\d|(?<!\d)\d))x?(?<episode>\d\d))(?!\d)(?:[ .-]?(?:s\k<season>e?(?<episode2>\d{2}(?!\d))|\k<season>x?(?<episode2>\d{2}(?!\d))|(?<episode2>\d\d(?!\d))|E(?<episode2>\d\d))|)[ -.]*(?<title>(?![^\\]*?(sample|subs|part0[02-9]|part[1-9][0-9]))[^\\]*?[^\\]*?)\.(?<ext>[^.]*)$

Cool, then we just need an ftp client plugin,
so we can connect to a ftp server, browse for a movie, then mount first *.rar file in the folder and then stream the movie

/Providers


edit, just tryed to use webdrive & winmont together, but it seems that winmount need to download all files b4 it can mount the files...
its a shame, could have been nice to be able to stream FTP rar packed files.

I think maybe its possible if we had a little plugin that downloaded the rar file and then renamed it to vob, and then played it.

I’m not sure what part of the archive this plugin needs, might be some header in every archive which forces WebDrive to download the entire file. I’m using Hamachi and Windows file sharing to mount and play my files over the internet, so I guess it wouldn’t be impossible to write some kind of FTP-plugin.

It dosent help with a ftp client if it has to download all files b4 it can play them.
most ftp movies are iso files packed in rar format. I know if you rename them to avi, then all players can play them as they are, no need to unpack and mount them.

But I dont think there is sound on them, not sure yet, and I dont think its possible to navigate thrugh the menu....
So I guess its not possible to make such a plugin


Edit:
VLC is able to play rar files with this plugin
http://www.shapeshifter.se/code/vlc-unrar/

So then I just need a guy like you JMD to make the plugin
it dont need FTP client, course its easy to use webdrive. It creates a dirrectory with the movies.
Then its possible to tell Moving Pitures this path.
and then all the movies is online for browsing.

but we need to find a way to load the rar files into VLC
and it has to download next file when playing other.


/Providers

Hmm i love the idea, i'm a old xbmc user(sadly no tv there), and i have been using RarPlayer untill now.
but when i try winmount, the machine blue screens on the third movie i tryed.......

and it seems to be a winmount issue...... sucks......
any helpfull insights?

Hm did not see this plugin before today . very cool indeed

I have been using the mplayer-plugin with the version of mplayer supporting .rar-files but using the built-in player in mediaportal would be better I quess .. The VLC-plugin should work great though just need for someone to edit the VLC Player plugin for MediaPortal to support .rar-files since it aint now

Don't now but should this work whit iso/img files thats rar ?

this is a nice plugin and works great... but how can get disable the trial information? i know u said i should mounted the dummy, but if i restart the dummy is dismounted automatically...

hm can no one help me? i did all in that install notes.
ive uncheck "Open the new mounted disk" and keep the dummy archive mounted, but after restart it is automatically dismounted and i got this popup again.

hmm i can't use it. it sends the machine into blue screen after a few movies ...