[learningit]

News->Breaking -New has nothing it yet.
News->Local News - has the 'Here and Now TV show'
News->Canada ->Toronto - Has the 6PM local news
Shows ->The National (National news).

Splitting the add-on into News and the Rest or just a bookmarking feature to enable fast access to the most viewed news shows might offer easier maintenance.

Thanks for the feedback. I believe that The National is somewhere in the News section as well as Shows (I'm pretty sure I saw it).
When you say "bookmarking feature" do you mean a favorites within the addon or something else? You can, of course, use the global Kodi Favourites.

I'm getting Local News now as well. I have Windsor, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Igalaaq (where the hell is that?).

[RavRob]

I'm getting Local News now as well. I have Windsor, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Igalaaq (where the hell is that?).

In the GWN teritory of Nunavut

[advocate99]

If you're going to make changes that might prevent us from getting the shows outside Canada (such as changing the resolution), please make that something that we can change back.

Also, which proxy do you use?

I have some suggestions for improvement based on a comparison with Canada on Demand.

1. Could you add the episode thumbnail to more views? It greatly improves the presentation of the content.

I think this issue has something to do with the content type chosen. This would explain the difference in metadata fields shown.

2. The quality of the videos is inconsistent. Most are rendered at 640 x 360, while almost all videos in Canada on Demand are 960 x 540.


Lastly, I don't think it is necessary to repeat the show title when at the episode level. The episode name alone is adequate and easier to read.

I've never used the Canada On-Demand Addon and really don't intend to copy it.

1) I think you're correct, I use 'tvshows' view rather than 'movies' . I believe that 'tvshows' is the correct rendering for this. Nonetheless, I don't understand why you don't see the icons or thumbnails - I do. What skin are you using?

2) I've looked at this resolution issue a few times. I don't understand why the API returns 640x360 for shows but I get 1280x720 for clips. I am able to get the 960x540, but it requires the use of a proxy where I am. I opted to use a resolution which doesn't require a proxy. I'll look at this again when I have some time because I noticed that the requests for News are a bit different than those for Shows and usually return higher resolution videos.

3) Show title at episode level is mainly there for display in the player, where most people find it useful. To keep things simple, I'm not likely to change this.

[PatK]

When you say "bookmarking feature" do you mean a favorites within the add-on

Yes something that would allow for your favourite shows to show up in the add-on as book marked. My Kodi favourites are getting crowded, but in truth if you didn't change anything, I would still be happy.

[learningit]

Version 1.0.6 in the git: https://github.com/learningit/plugin.video.cbc
This fixes the live local feeds and The National live feed (I think?)

Update Version 1.0.7 Adds Sports and Digital Archives
Still need to figure out the Live feeds
Some categories do not have videos

[Warner306]

I have some suggestions for improvement based on a comparison with Canada on Demand.

1. Could you add the episode thumbnail to more views? It greatly improves the presentation of the content.

I think this issue has something to do with the content type chosen. This would explain the difference in metadata fields shown.

2. The quality of the videos is inconsistent. Most are rendered at 640 x 360, while almost all videos in Canada on Demand are 960 x 540.


Lastly, I don't think it is necessary to repeat the show title when at the episode level. The episode name alone is adequate and easier to read.

I've never used the Canada On-Demand Addon and really don't intend to copy it.

1) I think you're correct, I use 'tvshows' view rather than 'movies' . I believe that 'tvshows' is the correct rendering for this. Nonetheless, I don't understand why you don't see the icons or thumbnails - I do. What skin are you using?

2) I've looked at this resolution issue a few times. I don't understand why the API returns 640x360 for shows but I get 1280x720 for clips. I am able to get the 960x540, but it requires the use of a proxy where I am. I opted to use a resolution which doesn't require a proxy. I'll look at this again when I have some time because I noticed that the requests for News are a bit different than those for Shows and usually return higher resolution videos.

3) Show title at episode level is mainly there for display in the player, where most people find it useful. To keep things simple, I'm not likely to change this.

1) I would consider changing the content from TV shows to movies. I don't think content on the CBC site provides "episode thumbs." I think they are more in the vein of fanart thumbs. I am using the skin Aeon Nox. But, as you can see below, Confluence suffers from the same issue of missing thumbnails:



2) A shortcut to solving the inconsistent quality (resolution) of each video is likely found in Canada on Demand. I have been using this add-on for years and the flagship CBC shows always download in high-quality 540p. The portions relating to CBC are still working fine today. This would likely save you a lot of time.

3) I can live with the extended titles as is. I was just explaining my preference.

[learningit]

I explained why I did what I did, particularly for item 2. You are free to fork the addon and make whatever changes you desire.

[learningit]

Version 1.0.9 in my git supports live streams (when available) and most videos/shows now play in 720 or 540. I need to look further as to why some newcasts are still in 480.
https://github.com/learningit/plugin.video.cbc/

Some shows may not play - if you experience this please let me know the show, season and episode so I can look into it.

Thanks

[Warner306]

Version 1.0.9 in my git supports live streams (when available) and most videos/shows now play in 720 or 540. I need to look further as to why some newcasts are still in 480.
https://github.com/learningit/plugin.video.cbc/

Some shows may not play - if you experience this please let me know the show, season and episode so I can look into it.

Thanks

I have not seen the news in resolutions higher than 480. My suspicion is this has something to do with the frequency the content is uploaded to the website (everyday). It would make the most sense to upload at a lower quality to save time.

[PatK]

If you're looking for Canada wide News, interesting that 'The National' shows up as two entries, one is broken into segments or video bytes. The other is the complete latest entire show as you would be broadcast, sans commercials, although depending on when accessed, the commercial space may be blank or concocted.

I mourn the days when CBC used to broadcast 1080p locally sigh.. I have run into a lot of 720p but news at 11pm is 480

[learningit]

If you're looking for Canada wide News, interesting that 'The National' shows up as two entries, one is broken into segments or video bytes. The other is the complete latest entire show as you would be broadcast, sans commercials, although depending on when accessed, the commercial space may be blank or concocted.

I mourn the days when CBC used to broadcast 1080p locally sigh.. I have run into a lot of 720p but news at 11pm is 480

That's what I find very confusing with this site:
on demand full programs of local news are 480
on demand full programs of The National are 540
Clips of either are (generally) 720

The local live feeds (when available) are 540. I would expect that the on demand full programs would be at least at the same resolution as the live feeds.
I can also say that the default resolution of videos that are available outside of Canada without using a proxy are only 480 using the API. I had to play some games to get the 540 and 720 resolutions

[Warner306]

The quality of the content is excellent at this state, save the local news broadcasts.

Would you consider changing the content to display a thumbnail in more views? In every skin, I end up with a blank thumb. Most other video addons use a different source format because this space is rarely left blank.

[learningit]

The quality of the content is excellent at this state, save the local news broadcasts.

Would you consider changing the content to display a thumbnail in more views? In every skin, I end up with a blank thumb. Most other video addons use a different source format because this space is rarely left blank.

No. I think you are confusing fanart with thumbnails. The images are not hi-res enough for use as fanart - that should be 1280x720 or 1920x1080. The views that I see in Confluence are the intended views. I don't know where the cover flow view you have is coming from, but it works fine in Transparency!. If I were to swap views they wouldn't look correct in Transparency!.

Some skins have a configurable item to use posters as thumbnails.

[Warner306]

The quality of the content is excellent at this state, save the local news broadcasts.

Would you consider changing the content to display a thumbnail in more views? In every skin, I end up with a blank thumb. Most other video addons use a different source format because this space is rarely left blank.

No. I think you are confusing fanart with thumbnails. The images are not hi-res enough for use as fanart - that should be 1280x720 or 1920x1080. The views that I see in Confluence are the intended views. I don't know where the cover flow view you have is coming from, but it works fine in Transparency!. If I were to swap views they wouldn't look correct in Transparency!.

Some skins have a configurable item to use posters as thumbnails.

I understand it already looks appropriate to you. After further testing, I question whether the content is being read as a TV show. See below:

The first image is from CBC:


The second image is from Canada on Demand. Note the metadata includes the fields "Aired" and "Episode":


The last image is from CBS News. It includes the same TV Show metadata:

[learningit]

Now I see the difference. It has nothing to do with fanart or thumbnails. The xbmc.setContent type is different. I have always used 'tvshows', whereas some others (like the examples you give) use 'episodes' and some other addons even use 'movies' for TV. The main reason I chose 'tvshows' is because I very rarely have the aired date and episode info, but often can get year and genre. I will eventually add a config parm to allow the user to choose.