2014-08-11, 21:55
Dear XBMC/Kodi community,
I'm proud to present you the plugin I've been working on for the past 7 months. I am now happy with the way it works and the multiple platforms it supports, so this version might be considered the first stable version. This plugin is not a usual plugin, it is complex due to the intrinsic difficulty of making external closed source tools to work within xbmc/kodi. So, despite we tried to make the installation and configuration really easy and straightforward, aditional configurations might be needed from your side. Please read this post and any auxialliary material carefully!
Hope you like and enjoy it!
P2P-Streams Video addon for XBMC/Kodi
About the addon
p2p-streams is an XBMC addon for watching peer-to-peer streams in XBMC without the need for external players. Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application. They are said to form a peer-to-peer network of nodes.
The addon currently supports SopCast and AceStream and several platforms:
Installation & configuration
Addon installation
Please install the repository in XBMC (System → settings → addons → install from zip file)
Repository Download
After, get the addon from the installed repository:
System → settings → addons → get addons → p2p-streams repository → p2p-streams → install
Platform specific configuration instructions:
Although we try to make the configuration as simple as possible it is platform dependent. Please check the specific detailed instructions for your platform/operating system.
About the technologies (and addon integration)
SopCast
SopCast is a simple, free way to broadcast video and audio or watch the video and listen to radio on the Internet. Adopting P2P(Peer-to-Peer) technology, It is very efficient and easy to use. Let anyone become a broadcaster without the costs of a powerful server and vast bandwidth. SoP is the abbreviation for Streaming over P2P. Sopcast is a Streaming Direct Broadcasting System based on P2P. The core is the communication protocol produced by Sopcast Team, which is named sop://, or SoP technology. More info at: Sopcast.org
The addon can accept "sop://" url's or simple id's (e.g.:"sop://broker.sopcast.org:3912/1234") as following:
AceStream
Acestream (formerly known as TorrentStream) is a recent peer-to-peer technology based on the bittorrent protocol which will take you to a new high-quality level of multimedia space on the Internet. It's used for VOD and Live content. More info at: Acestream.org
The addon can accept general `acestream://` based url, `.torrent urls, local .torrent files, .acelive urls or just acestream hashes. Eg:
Addon aditional functionalities
The addon provides aditional functionalities you can use to create your own experience:
FAQ
Are the devs related to acestream.org or sopcast.org?
No, we are not affiliated with any of them. We do this addon in our free time. Hence, we do not provide support for possible errors or issues in both technologies.
Why does the addon come with just one list and no parsers? There are plenty of sop and ace links out there...
The plugin goal is to extend xbmc functionality and to make peer-to-peer streams playable in XBMC. Website parsers are difficult to maintain and can provide non-legal content. So, for obvious reasons we do not provide any support nor include any of them in the core addon. Also we want to keep updates at a minimum level.
Am I allowed to discuss and share websites containg sopcast and acestream links?
If the content is legal yes. If not, please don't. You're messages will be either deleted or ignored if that's the case.
Is it available for iOS or atv2? I get a “not available for your os message”
Sopcast or Acestream are closed source applications that are not available for ios and atv (and might never be). You might want to consider this option.
Why do I need to run xbmc as administrator in Windows when doing the initial configuration?
Sopcast in windows is complete gui package. It doesn't have any CLI executable or any possible way of integration. For the addon to play sopcast links a windows service is created (using the srvany microsoft tool) that makes sopcast.exe to run headless in your system. To create and modify the service permissions you need administration previledges.
If the executables the addon uses are available from the official sites of both technologies why do you host and ship those .exe or .apk's from your repo?
To simplify the configuration, make it easier for the average user and to have better control of the files the addon needs. You're free to get those executables from the official channels and also compare the checksums with the ones downloaded from the addon (to confirm they are exactly the same). Also, you can check the addon code on github to understand what the addon is doing.
Sopcast in OSX only lasts 3 seconds...
Unfortunately since xbmc gotham beta 3 this behaviour started to happen. Frodo and gotham versions till beta 3 seem to handle the streams fine.
Sometimes I get the message “Channel initialization failed” in Sopcast. Why?
Either the sopcast executable failed to login, the channel is offline or has been removed by SopCast because of proprietary content. Either the reason, there's nothing we can do to avoid this.
I'm kicked out of AceStreams after 'x' time...
There are several aditional configurations you might have to do to improve acestreams behaviour and... most of them fall out of the bounds of this addon. Try to limit the cache in XBMC by importing one of the recommended advancedsettings.xml (advanced tools menu). Port forward port 8621 and change the acestream-engine settings. This site has some usefull information:acestream buffer guide. If these don't improve the behaviour your ISP is probably throttling your traffic.
Again, we are not affiliated with acestream.org and we can't do anything about it.
Some acestreams play fine in windows but not on Android, Raspberry Pi and Linux (Torrent unavailable).
The AcestreamEngine for windows is several versions above the others and seems to receive much more support and development by acestream developers. Streams created in the windows 2.2 version of acestream engine (and above) are not supported in older versions (which are used in all the other platforms). For linux (x86_64 only) you can check the Acestream-Engine Alpha 3.0
Can I run the engine on a different computer?
Yes. Read this.
Can I stream regular torrents with this plugin?
The Acestream-Engine provided by acestream.org can stream normal .torrent files. Since this addon is nothing more than the implementation of its public API...it can play them in XBMC as well.
However in our opinion there are better alternatives to do this. Check XBMCTorrent or Pulsar.
Authors
enen92 and fightnight
Credits
This addon would not be possible without the help and first work of some developers:
Contribute
Disclaimer/Read before you post:
Project page: https://github.com/enen92/P2P-Streams-XBMC
Current version: 1.1.1
Changelog:
I'm proud to present you the plugin I've been working on for the past 7 months. I am now happy with the way it works and the multiple platforms it supports, so this version might be considered the first stable version. This plugin is not a usual plugin, it is complex due to the intrinsic difficulty of making external closed source tools to work within xbmc/kodi. So, despite we tried to make the installation and configuration really easy and straightforward, aditional configurations might be needed from your side. Please read this post and any auxialliary material carefully!
Hope you like and enjoy it!
P2P-Streams Video addon for XBMC/Kodi
About the addon
p2p-streams is an XBMC addon for watching peer-to-peer streams in XBMC without the need for external players. Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application. They are said to form a peer-to-peer network of nodes.
The addon currently supports SopCast and AceStream and several platforms:
- Windows
- OSX
- Android
- Linux
- Armv6 (Raspberry PI including OpenELEC) - SOPCAST ONLY
- Armv7 (OpenELEC,Xbian,MXLinux,Jynxbox pure linux) - SOPCAST ONLY
- i386 (including OpenELEC)
- x86_64 (including OpenELEC)
- Armv6 (Raspberry PI including OpenELEC) - SOPCAST ONLY
Installation & configuration
Addon installation
Please install the repository in XBMC (System → settings → addons → install from zip file)
Repository Download
After, get the addon from the installed repository:
System → settings → addons → get addons → p2p-streams repository → p2p-streams → install
Platform specific configuration instructions:
Although we try to make the configuration as simple as possible it is platform dependent. Please check the specific detailed instructions for your platform/operating system.
About the technologies (and addon integration)
SopCast
SopCast is a simple, free way to broadcast video and audio or watch the video and listen to radio on the Internet. Adopting P2P(Peer-to-Peer) technology, It is very efficient and easy to use. Let anyone become a broadcaster without the costs of a powerful server and vast bandwidth. SoP is the abbreviation for Streaming over P2P. Sopcast is a Streaming Direct Broadcasting System based on P2P. The core is the communication protocol produced by Sopcast Team, which is named sop://, or SoP technology. More info at: Sopcast.org
The addon can accept "sop://" url's or simple id's (e.g.:"sop://broker.sopcast.org:3912/1234") as following:
Quote:plugin://plugin.video.p2p-streams/?url=sop://124.232.150.188:3912/11265&mode=2&name=title+sopcast
Quote:plugin://plugin.video.p2p-streams/?url=1234&mode=2&name=title+sopcast
AceStream
Acestream (formerly known as TorrentStream) is a recent peer-to-peer technology based on the bittorrent protocol which will take you to a new high-quality level of multimedia space on the Internet. It's used for VOD and Live content. More info at: Acestream.org
The addon can accept general `acestream://` based url, `.torrent urls, local .torrent files, .acelive urls or just acestream hashes. Eg:
Quote:plugin://plugin.video.p2p-streams/?url=_some_hash&mode=1&name=acestream+title
Quote:plugin://plugin.video.p2p-streams/?url=acestream://_some_hash&mode=1&name=acestream+title
Quote:plugin://plugin.video.p2p-streams/?url=http://something.torrent&mode=1&name=acestream+title
Quote:plugin://plugin.video.p2p-streams/?url=http://something.acelive&mode=1&name=acestream+title
Addon aditional functionalities
The addon provides aditional functionalities you can use to create your own experience:
- Parser plugins - Built-in plugin engine that lets you create simple pure python plugins for website scrapping. Installing, removing and syncing code with remote repositories for a given parser. More information on the plugin structure and how to create your parser can be found here: Website parser tutorial and reference guide. Any plugin you might find in this addon is third party, not hosted nor maintained by the plugin authors!
- Lists - You can easily add and remove local or remote (internet) lists. The addon supports sopcast based lists, m3u livetv lists and xml livestreams addon type lists. Click here to know more about the formats. The only list included is the sopcast.org. The authors are not responsible for any lists you may install.
- Favourites - Easily add channels from parsers or lists to the addon favourites.
- Advanced tools - Easily import recommended advancedsettings.xml files that are known to provide the best behaviour, backup advancedsettings.xml configuration or remove them. Change AcestreamEngine settings in platforms where a gui is not available
FAQ
Are the devs related to acestream.org or sopcast.org?
No, we are not affiliated with any of them. We do this addon in our free time. Hence, we do not provide support for possible errors or issues in both technologies.
Why does the addon come with just one list and no parsers? There are plenty of sop and ace links out there...
The plugin goal is to extend xbmc functionality and to make peer-to-peer streams playable in XBMC. Website parsers are difficult to maintain and can provide non-legal content. So, for obvious reasons we do not provide any support nor include any of them in the core addon. Also we want to keep updates at a minimum level.
Am I allowed to discuss and share websites containg sopcast and acestream links?
If the content is legal yes. If not, please don't. You're messages will be either deleted or ignored if that's the case.
Is it available for iOS or atv2? I get a “not available for your os message”
Sopcast or Acestream are closed source applications that are not available for ios and atv (and might never be). You might want to consider this option.
Why do I need to run xbmc as administrator in Windows when doing the initial configuration?
Sopcast in windows is complete gui package. It doesn't have any CLI executable or any possible way of integration. For the addon to play sopcast links a windows service is created (using the srvany microsoft tool) that makes sopcast.exe to run headless in your system. To create and modify the service permissions you need administration previledges.
If the executables the addon uses are available from the official sites of both technologies why do you host and ship those .exe or .apk's from your repo?
To simplify the configuration, make it easier for the average user and to have better control of the files the addon needs. You're free to get those executables from the official channels and also compare the checksums with the ones downloaded from the addon (to confirm they are exactly the same). Also, you can check the addon code on github to understand what the addon is doing.
Sopcast in OSX only lasts 3 seconds...
Unfortunately since xbmc gotham beta 3 this behaviour started to happen. Frodo and gotham versions till beta 3 seem to handle the streams fine.
Sometimes I get the message “Channel initialization failed” in Sopcast. Why?
Either the sopcast executable failed to login, the channel is offline or has been removed by SopCast because of proprietary content. Either the reason, there's nothing we can do to avoid this.
I'm kicked out of AceStreams after 'x' time...
There are several aditional configurations you might have to do to improve acestreams behaviour and... most of them fall out of the bounds of this addon. Try to limit the cache in XBMC by importing one of the recommended advancedsettings.xml (advanced tools menu). Port forward port 8621 and change the acestream-engine settings. This site has some usefull information:acestream buffer guide. If these don't improve the behaviour your ISP is probably throttling your traffic.
Again, we are not affiliated with acestream.org and we can't do anything about it.
Some acestreams play fine in windows but not on Android, Raspberry Pi and Linux (Torrent unavailable).
The AcestreamEngine for windows is several versions above the others and seems to receive much more support and development by acestream developers. Streams created in the windows 2.2 version of acestream engine (and above) are not supported in older versions (which are used in all the other platforms). For linux (x86_64 only) you can check the Acestream-Engine Alpha 3.0
Can I run the engine on a different computer?
Yes. Read this.
Can I stream regular torrents with this plugin?
The Acestream-Engine provided by acestream.org can stream normal .torrent files. Since this addon is nothing more than the implementation of its public API...it can play them in XBMC as well.
However in our opinion there are better alternatives to do this. Check XBMCTorrent or Pulsar.
Authors
enen92 and fightnight
Credits
This addon would not be possible without the help and first work of some developers:
- Nouismons – First version of tsengine plugin
- Cristi-Atlanta – Xsopcast plugin
- Divingmule – Livestreams addon
- Marquerite – Addon art
- Tarasian666 – Alternative version of the acestreamengine written in python (which was tweaked to work on linux arm and mac osx)
Contribute
Disclaimer/Read before you post:
- The authors are not responsible for any content you might watch using this plugin (use it at your own risk)
- Do not ask questions or share links/lists or parsers for sites linked with piracy content
- Please read before you post. This is not an usual plugin and the addon devs or other forum members are not here to help you out with basic questions.
- We can't be responsible for any error, stream problems or the way the background executables work. We do not have a part it their development.
- If you decide not to follow these rules your message will most likely be ignored.
Project page: https://github.com/enen92/P2P-Streams-XBMC
Current version: 1.1.1
Changelog:
Quote:===== Stable Versions ========
v1.1.2 (4/10/2014)
-Fix manually add to favourites option not showing
-Fix non-existent acestreamcachefolder on linux
-Added addon history (can be disabed in the addon settings). Every ace or sop link you watch gets saved
-It's now possible to change acestreamengine settings through the addon gui in windows
-Added option to enter the list of parsers on addon startup
-Updated italian translation (tks axlt2002)
v1.1.1 (29/9/2014)
-Fix changing acestream settings from the addon for recent linux/android acestreamengine versions
-Add possibility to call torrentstream controller proxy and use any media player (in android)
-Fixed bug with costum fanart not showing in parsers
-Added option to have a costum fanart for costum lists
-Added option to mannually add channels to favourites
-Added a costum stop function to replace the one used by the skin or the remote (credits of the remote option goes to takoi - keymap editor addon). This new function basically checks if the playing media matches the acestream url format and, if that's the case, it kills the engine and clears cache before stopping the stream.
-Updated italian translation (thanks axlt2002)
v1.1.0 (20/9/2014)
-Fix acestream window for any skin rather than confluence
v1.0.9 (19/9/2014)
-Updated linux x64 Acestreamengine to version 3.0.0-b2
-Updated Openelec x64 Acestreamengine to version 3.0.0-b2
-Updated Android internal Acestreamengine to version 2.3.1
-Updated Android Apks in repository to match latest version of the engine and player
-Added support for android x86 (Acestream only)
v1.0.8 (17/9/2014)
-Updated acestreamengine for Windows (version 2.3.0-Next)
-Updated acestreamengine for Linux x64 and Openelec x64 (version 3.0.0 b1)
-Plenty of new options for Android devices:
-The addon now includes its own engine like in other platforms (default option -> All addon). This allows you to change the acestreamengine settings from within the addon plus stop/killing the engine after you watch a stream.
-You can still use xbmc player + external acestream engine as before (xbmc player + external acestreamengine.apk)
-You can now use an external player (aceplayer.apk) (option external player)
-Fixed bug in m3u lists not being properly scrapped
-Added support for private parsers (hosted in dropbox)
-Fixed timezones due to the pytz dependency being missing in addon.xml
-In android rooted devices you can now kill the processes if for some reason xbmc crashed leaving the process running on the background (hence assigned to a different username)
-It's now possibile to define the cache folder from within the addon
-Bump parser disclaimer
v1.0.7 (8/9/2014)
-Fix download modules on boot on arm
v1.0.6 (5/9/2014)
-Fixed issue with mobile networks
-Updated italian strings (tks axlt2002)
-Fix download modules on boot (acestream) android
-Fix local lists
-Added support for Jynxbox Pure linux custom firmware (added to the list of supported OS's)
v1.0.5 (1/9/2014)
-Fix download modules on boot function
-Fixed script error in advancedsettings.xml
-Fixed "An error has occured" notification after sys.exit
-Bug fixes in the configuration function to avoid the download of wrong modules
-Fixed change port function for platforms using the tarasian666 acestreamengine
-Minor fix regarding disk cache determination in tarasian666 acestreamengine
-Updated acestream bundle for openelec i386
-Updated acestream bundle for openelec x86_64
-Fixed acestream bundle for linux i386
-Bump acestreamengine md5 to force transfer the new acestreambundles for linux_i386, linux_armv6, linux_armv7, osx_i386, osx_x86_64,openeleci386,openelecx86_64
v1.0.4 (29/8/2014)
-Configuration has been written "from scratch". It's now possible for us to force the user to push module updates between versions.
-It is now possible to change acestreamengine settings from the advanced tools menu for linux
-Fixed non-existing folder if the first thing a user does after instalation is to clear the parser traces or run a remote python script
-Added sleep before sopcast "channel initialization failed" notification
-Minor bug fixes
-Wiki updated
v1.0.3 (23/8/2014)
-Updated acestreamengine for windows + android
B]v1.0.2 (22/8/2014)[/B]
-Updated acestreamengine for linux i386/x64_86
-Simplified configuration for linux i386/x64_86
-Updated engines for openelec i386/x64_86
-Updated sopclient for android
-Improvements in the parser engine (requested by al101)
-Fixed xbmc favourites if parser folder is empty
-Wiki updated
v1.0.1 (17/8/2014)
-Fixed handshake for acestreamengine api versions > 2.x
-Added new android acestreamengine (addon configuration)
v1.0.0 (11/8/2014)
-First stable release
===== Development versions =======
v0.1.0 (13-01-2014) - v0.5.0 (11/8/2014)
-Development and previous alpha,beta releases of the addon
A few days ago none of them would play on the pi but they are all working now, maybe the streamers changed the way they broadcast. If it keeps like this I will just leave things as they are and just update the engines for linux + openelec.
