Sky GO UK (42 Viewers)

[Jason Pyke]

Unfortunately I can't get a hook in to know when the show starts playing, so the process just waits 5 seconds and then disables the app cache. I've increased this to 20 seconds, hopefully that'll deal with all cases. And, yes, the micro judder is really irritating!

 

[darkside40]

Hi Jason do you think it would be possible to modify your script for the german version of Sky Go?

 

[Jason Pyke]

Hi @darkside40, I've had a quick look and it seems that the German version is quite different from the UK one, just changing URLs doesn't work. Unfortunately I haven't got any time at the moment to try and set up a new version of SkyGo. If things do get a bit quieter I'll see if I can take a look, but it won't be in the immediate future.

 

[darkside40]

No problem. As far as i have seen watching Sky Go on a computer is a pain. Many micro freezers etc.
Would only be interesting to wach football.

 

[TheBatfink]

Football is the only thing I use it for now. I still find the stutters worse in MePo too so usaually fire up a chrome browser but I don't know if I'm imagining it so generally steer clear of Sky Go altogether I don't know how they get away with it.

 

[TheBatfink]

Reigniting this one again.

Tonight I watched a football game on Sky Sports 1 via Internet Explorer. To my surprise it was perfect playback. Everything seemed to play smoothly without any issues (maybe Sky have changed something?). So I fired up onlinevideos to try it out on the Sky Go site.. it is no where near the same playback quality. It almost looks like things are moving in fast forward (dropping frames maybe?) and then an occasional stutter (maybe video compensating?).

If this is really just ie interop or something, then what could be happening for a difference? Is MePo processing the video in some way? Could there be a refresh rate issue somewhere? I'd really like to try track down what is causing it because this site is so useful. I'm using the same machine for both playbacks, one is just using OV and the other standard (up-to-date) Internet Explorer. I don't manually change the refresh rate or anything but not sure if MePo is doing anything. Thanks!

 

[Jason Pyke]

Hi @TheBatfink,

The code is only using the standard web browser control, which really is a window in to IE. One thing which is has been reported as an issue (with MediaPortal) is that it seems to use CPU when being put to sleep (https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/guigraphicscontext-state-suspending-and-cpu-usage.128299)

It might be best to try and run the browser host with media portal closed to see how it performs:

The standard Silverlight plugin will be playing the video - basically what you're viewing is just a version of Internet Explorer. One other thing which might be worth a try is to run the browser host without running Media Portal, the below 2 lines, when copied in to a batch file (just create a text file anywhere replacing the "txt" extension with "bat"), will open sky sports news - please note you'll need to replace "USERNAME" and "PASSWORD" and remove the 2 " (x86)" bits if you're on a 32 bit machine:
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal"
"plugins\Windows\OnlineVideos\OnlineVideos.WebAutomation.BrowserHost.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal" "LTV~a2010ac0039e9110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____" "OnlineVideos.Sites.WebAutomation.ConnectorImplementations.SkyGo.Connectors.SkyGoConnector" "USERNAME" "PASSWORD"
Please also note that the last 3 lines above must all be on the same line with a space between

 

[TheBatfink]

How would I change that link to play one of the sky movie channels?

Got the CPU and Memory usage of idle and IE playback and playback is perfect using just IE from the desktop watching a movie. I want to compare like for like.

 

[Jason Pyke]

Here's a complete list of the Sky Go live channels and the LTV parameter:

5 USA = LTV~55f5fcce35fc8410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
5* = LTV~03b5fcce35fc8410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Alibi = LTV~ab63ecd825ac0410VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Animal Planet = LTV~f6b113e23bdc0410VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Boomerang = LTV~21bb7dc383930210VgnVCM100000225012ac____
British Eurosport 2 = LTV~58cefafa62c05210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Cartoon Network = LTV~4bfd7dc383930210VgnVCM100000225012ac____
Cartoonito = LTV~8d98bdaaaa758310VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Channel 4 = LTV~cccf538dcb32c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
CHANNEL 5 = LTV~cc85fcce35fc8410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
CI = LTV~0a8635d3accf4210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
CITV = LTV~2a2c5bcf13006410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Comedy Central = LTV~30c66dbbad831410VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Dave = LTV~6c2a9c1437ec0410VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Discovery = LTV~e623a7f05c4c0410VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Disney Channel = LTV~b2798cebaf3fd110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Disney Junior = LTV~8d0e7dc383930210VgnVCM100000225012ac____
Disney XD = LTV~c59282f3b9545210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
E! = LTV~7f2e0240bcc57410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
E4 = LTV~e08dd3b7fe91c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Eden = LTV~015de538018af110VgnVCM1000001f5012ac____
Eurosport = LTV~5ce98cebaf3fd110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Film4 = LTV~3204b7ca3aa1c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
FOX = LTV~7d5731e353a2a310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
GOLD = LTV~928de538018af110VgnVCM1000001f5012ac____
Good Food = LTV~37d467952dec0410VgnVCM100000625112ac____
History = LTV~a8229c1685a04210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Home = LTV~731e0240bcc57410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
ITV = LTV~f149ecdec3006410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
ITV Be = LTV~3d92fcce35fc8410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
ITV Encore = LTV~ee01ecdec3006410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
ITV2 = LTV~19015bcf13006410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
ITV3 = LTV~b3565bcf13006410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
ITV4 = LTV~a9be055193006410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Lifetime = LTV~19fd0240bcc57410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
More4 = LTV~9104d3b7fe91c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
MTV = LTV~234f3b53d871e110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Nat Geo = LTV~7b6a8cebaf3fd110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Nat Geo Wild = LTV~170de538018af110VgnVCM1000001f5012ac____
Nick Jr = LTV~00fe3b53d871e110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Nickelodeon = LTV~b51f3b53d871e110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Arts 1 = LTV~9d9c9c1685a04210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Atlantic = LTV~0644e59b823ad210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Living = LTV~31036488ed81a210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky LivingIt = LTV~24056488ed81a210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Movies Action = LTV~51e717ac48667210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Movies Christmas = LTV~12b517b1a5883310VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Sky Movies Comedy = LTV~276717b1a5883310VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Sky Movies Crime & Thriller = LTV~f96517b1a5883310VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Sky Movies Disney = LTV~4e0691211042c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Sky Movies Family = LTV~91e98dc70a667210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Movies Greats = LTV~1e9f08f699883310VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Sky Movies Premiere = LTV~9b3051d9de9ae110VgnVCM1000001f5012ac____
Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror = LTV~e18008f699883310VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Sky Movies Select = LTV~c10617b1a5883310VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Sky Movies Showcase = LTV~1f5f51d9de9ae110VgnVCM1000001f5012ac____
Sky News = LTV~dd720ac0039e9110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Sports 1 = LTV~296e0ac0039e9110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Sports 2 = LTV~0f100ac0039e9110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Sports 4 = LTV~f5610ac0039e9110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Sports 5 = LTV~42fe0240bcc57410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Sky Sports Darts = LTV~32800ac0039e9110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky Sports Formula 1 = LTV~bf6fea9bc9985310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Sky Sports News HQ = LTV~a2010ac0039e9110VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Sky1 = LTV~83772ff290595210VgnVCM1000002c04170a____
Star Plus = LTV~e72091bd37d4c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
STV = LTV~d7d90240bcc57410VgnVCM1000000b43150a____
Syfy = LTV~8bcbad378034c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____
TLC = LTV~e834a5e1f8ec0410VgnVCM100000625112ac____
Universal = LTV~d9600fd41b42c310VgnVCM100000625112ac____

 

[TheBatfink]

So here is what I see..

Using Internet Explorer: Picture is now fine on Live TV. It is smooth and judder free. My desktop is set to 50hz as standard as this is what I use MePo at (PalHD 50hz).

Using the bat file to launch Sky Go: It is not smooth, it isn't crazy but it's noticable.

CPU at Idle


CPU with IE


CPU with Bat file


There isn't any appreciable difference I don't think. Half my cores aren't even firing up (this is a 6 core piledriver), there is 3GB of memory on standby in all cases and I'm running dual SSD's so drive response should be good. Could this really be a system resource issue?

There is definitely a difference between using the browser automation and IE 11 even outside of MePo. When you say window into IE, is it actually automating my IE installation or is it some other instance?

For info, Amazon Prime is immaculate playback inside and outside of MePo and that uses Silverlight. Is there anything different between the way these two are implemented?