[emilsvennesson]

I signed up using the 7-day free trial to do some testing. Apparently, the service is powered by Neulion (same as NFL Game Pass, NBA League Pass & more). The API is quite similar so it's quite easy as there are already addons for those services. I've only done some quick testing but it should be relatively easy to develop this.

However, I'm unlikely to subscribe after my trial and I don't really want to release something I won't be able to maintain after a week...

please do, please do, if you could just fix ESPNU and add the Longhorns Channel would be pretty cool

Alright then. I decided to rewrite it rather than using an old codebase. The project can be found at https://github.com/emilsvennesson/kodi-espnplayer.

Expect nothing to work at this point.

[stammie]

I signed up using the 7-day free trial to do some testing. Apparently, the service is powered by Neulion (same as NFL Game Pass, NBA League Pass & more). The API is quite similar so it's quite easy as there are already addons for those services. I've only done some quick testing but it should be relatively easy to develop this.

However, I'm unlikely to subscribe after my trial and I don't really want to release something I won't be able to maintain after a week...

please do, please do, if you could just fix ESPNU and add the Longhorns Channel would be pretty cool

Alright then. I decided to rewrite it rather than using an old codebase. The project can be found at https://github.com/emilsvennesson/kodi-espnplayer.

Expect nothing to work at this point.

Many thanks for your efforts,
here is what I can report from trying your addon on two different systems both Windows 10,
on the first I deleted all traces of the original addon then installed yours, after signing in I got a NCAA option upon choosing this I only got replays to choose from (possibly because dependencies are no longer there?).

On the second I installed from the zip file over the top of the already installed addon, on this I now get the live options, well most of them (no Longhorn TV showing up), clicking on the SEC Network is working (with lots of buffering on a 212 mbps connection), ESPNU shows but nothing happens when I click on it and the two live events that are on now work just fine.

All that being said I'm not sure how well ESPN's College Pass servers are working for testing SEC, ESPNU and Longhorn TV, even through the Android app via my phone or Fire TV stick and various browsers on my Windows PC's all 3 are playing up yet the live events are working fine.

[emilsvennesson]

please do, please do, if you could just fix ESPNU and add the Longhorns Channel would be pretty cool

Alright then. I decided to rewrite it rather than using an old codebase. The project can be found at https://github.com/emilsvennesson/kodi-espnplayer.

Expect nothing to work at this point.

On the second I installed from the zip file over the top of the already installed addon, on this I now get the live options, well most of them (no Longhorn TV showing up), clicking on the SEC Network is working (with lots of buffering on a 212 mbps connection), ESPNU shows but nothing happens when I click on it and the two live events that are on now work just fine.

Turns out the addon uses the same folder name as ~tbg's. I'll rename mine to plugin.video.espn-player to avoid conflictions.

on the first I deleted all traces of the original addon then installed yours, after signing in I got a NCAA option upon choosing this I only got replays to choose from (possibly because dependencies are no longer there?).

This is expected. Right now, the addon is more a proof of concept. It will list everything found in a big mess.

[emilsvennesson]

The git version is now (somewhat) usable. I had to do a bit of HTTP header magic to get the Longhorn & ESPNU channels to play. It looks like this is currently broken in the latest nightlies though, so those two channels might not play in Krypton.

[Al13]

The git version is now (somewhat) usable. I had to do a bit of HTTP header magic to get the Longhorn & ESPNU channels to play. It looks like this is currently broken in the latest nightlies though, so those two channels might not play in Krypton.

i played around with it on my Amazon Fire TV as well as my Nvidia Shield, it runs perfect, just a question, the upcoming games are they showing all the games right now or are they adding more as closer the games get ?

Because on my iPad i can choose to see Florida A&M @ Miami Hurricanes at 6 p.m. but its not shown in the addon under upcoming games ?

Thanks again Emil...you are the man !!!

[stammie]

The git version is now (somewhat) usable. I had to do a bit of HTTP header magic to get the Longhorn & ESPNU channels to play. It looks like this is currently broken in the latest nightlies though, so those two channels might not play in Krypton.

Many thanks again, I'm still getting buffering and freezing issues on the channels but as I get the same on the browser and Android version too it must be an issue at ESPN's end,
here's hoping the live games work a bit better otherwise I might be cancelling after the free 7 day trial too.

[Al13]

The git version is now (somewhat) usable. I had to do a bit of HTTP header magic to get the Longhorn & ESPNU channels to play. It looks like this is currently broken in the latest nightlies though, so those two channels might not play in Krypton.

Many thanks again, I'm still getting buffering and freezing issues on the channels but as I get the same on the browser and Android version too it must be an issue at ESPN's end,
here's hoping the live games work a bit better otherwise I might be cancelling after the free 7 day trial too.

check your internet connection..there is no buffering at all

[HappyAJ]

Before I will install the addon on my FireTV, I testing it on Windows Kodi.
Both Channels (ESPN U and Longhorn) still not working.

@Al13
Can you play both Channels on your FireTV?

[stammie]

I'm happy to report the GA Tech-Boston College game is working just fine at the highest bitrate

@HappyAJ both those channels have stopped working on my Windows (Surface Pro 4) Kodi 16.1,
also I don't have Kodi installed on my Fire TV Stick but on the Android app side loaded onto it neither channel works either (SEC Network working on both with buffering) so I'd guess without trying on the website there are problems on ESPN's side.
I have to say though personally for me I'm not worried about the channels working as long as the live and on demand content works.

P.S.
The GA-Boston game is far more watchable at similar bitrates via Kodi than the Android app

[Al13]

Before I will install the addon on my FireTV, I testing it on Windows Kodi.
Both Channels (ESPN U and Longhorn) still not working.

@Al13
Can you play both Channels on your FireTV?

Nvidia Shield everything works on Fire TV i can´t tell you right now because my wife is using the fire TV for Netflix right now, will update later

[stammie]

Ok a quick heads up for anyone using this service via Virgin Media in the UK, there is an issue between the ESPN Player servers and VM on all platforms, as I previously mentioned the networks when they work have massive buffering and completely stopping issues, I've also had the same with College Game Day today (the GA Tech-Boston College game worked ok though),
however trying to get to the source of the problem I fired up my VPN and purely at random connected to a server in Germany then one in France, on both VPN servers all issues completely disappeared.
I have a 212 mbps connection on VM and this reduces to about 80 mbps on the two VPN servers I tried so bandwidth isn't an issue.
I'll fire off a support ticket to ESPN but I'm fully expecting them to blame Virgin and then Virgin to blame ESPN when I contact them.

[emilsvennesson]

The git version is now (somewhat) usable. I had to do a bit of HTTP header magic to get the Longhorn & ESPNU channels to play. It looks like this is currently broken in the latest nightlies though, so those two channels might not play in Krypton.

i played around with it on my Amazon Fire TV as well as my Nvidia Shield, it runs perfect, just a question, the upcoming games are they showing all the games right now or are they adding more as closer the games get ?

Because on my iPad i can choose to see Florida A&M @ Miami Hurricanes at 6 p.m. but its not shown in the addon under upcoming games ?

Thanks again Emil...you are the man !!!

I'm glad it's working okay! I did some comparisons and I'm able to see all games listed on the iPad app. What day is the Florida game?

Many thanks again, I'm still getting buffering and freezing issues on the channels but as I get the same on the browser and Android version too it must be an issue at ESPN's end,
here's hoping the live games work a bit better otherwise I might be cancelling after the free 7 day trial too.

Yeah, I'm also having some buffering issues on the highest bitrate every now and then. I think the CDN (looks to be the same as WatchESPN) is located in the US so the peering is a bit crappy for us Europeans. I've added an option to limit the bitrate.

[weordie]

Sorry I'm a complete n00b to this. What are the step by step instructions to install this programme?[/align]

[stammie]

ESPN Player has really gone downhill in the 9 months since I last used it, whether I use this Kodi addon, the browser service or the Android app pretty much no live feed works unless on the lowest postage stamp sized pixels setting on my 200 meg internet connection.
I can get it to work on the second and third highest bitrate settings (or the highest on the browser version) if I connect my VPN to Dutch or German servers though (UK servers where I'm located will not work so I guess their peering to an entire country is fubared).

Yesterday I watched Bowling Green-Ohio State via BTN2go International as well as Oklahoma-Houston via BT Sports Windows app absolutely perfectly without one hitch or buffer, I then tried to watch LSU-Wisconsin via ESPN Player and had to give up on it, at which point I figured if I need to use a VPN to get it to work I might as well use my good American friends cable login that they have kindly shared with me and use watchESPN, I got a near broadcast quality HD stream from watchESPN but can't get the service I'm paying for to work at all without jumping through several hoops.

I've had a general reply from ESPN Player about making sure my software is up to date and clearing my cookies and cache etc, it'll be interesting to see if they take ownership or acknowledge my issues from my reply to that.

[Al13]

ESPN Player has really gone downhill in the 9 months since I last used it, whether I use this Kodi addon, the browser service or the Android app pretty much no live feed works unless on the lowest postage stamp sized pixels setting on my 200 meg internet connection.
I can get it to work on the second and third highest bitrate settings (or the highest on the browser version) if I connect my VPN to Dutch or German servers though (UK servers where I'm located will not work so I guess their peering to an entire country is fubared).

Yesterday I watched Bowling Green-Ohio State via BTN2go International as well as Oklahoma-Houston via BT Sports Windows app absolutely perfectly without one hitch or buffer, I then tried to watch LSU-Wisconsin via ESPN Player and had to give up on it, at which point I figured if I need to use a VPN to get it to work I might as well use my good American friends cable login that they have kindly shared with me and use watchESPN, I got a near broadcast quality HD stream from watchESPN but can't get the service I'm paying for to work at all without jumping through several hoops.

I've had a general reply from ESPN Player about making sure my software is up to date and clearing my cookies and cache etc, it'll be interesting to see if they take ownership or acknowledge my issues from my reply to that.

i think i had 3 buffers the whole weekend, but that could be because i was running 3 games at the same time, so i can´t confirm that their is a buffer problem, the only thing i would complain about with ESPN is that the feed is like 2 minutes behind