2009-03-27, 00:38
ianfrommontreal Wrote:apple tv with windows
So no MLB.TV?
2009-03-28, 02:37
Well I'm running at 480p now and I can get the live mlb on navi-x but its scrambled. Kinda reminds me of my youth... or something like that 
2009-03-28, 05:27
It looks like MLB.TV is going t be using the rtmp protocol once the season starts and will be doing away with the mms:// Windows Media streams that it has had in seasons past.
That means that some of the Hulu plugin code could probably be recycled because that also uses rtmp and it means that the current XBMC mms:// limitation will no longer be an obstacle.
Since there is already a python library for MLB.TV authentication and stream grabbing, all this plugin would need to do is display a schedule of games and point the stream URL obtained from the python library in the direction of the XBMC player.
I make it sound simple, I know.
That means that some of the Hulu plugin code could probably be recycled because that also uses rtmp and it means that the current XBMC mms:// limitation will no longer be an obstacle.
Since there is already a python library for MLB.TV authentication and stream grabbing, all this plugin would need to do is display a schedule of games and point the stream URL obtained from the python library in the direction of the XBMC player.
I make it sound simple, I know.
2009-03-28, 23:25
So would it be possible to make this plugin for maybe the 2nd week of the season ?
2009-04-08, 13:54
found an interesting article about mlb dropping silverlight and going to flash. thought you guy might find it interesting.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-285784.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-285784.html
2009-04-09, 04:55
Yes, we do have a pure flash-based player now. It really does look great. Only thing needed now is to figure out the rtmp server-side stuff to get the data onto the hard drive. The HD feeds are h264, look incredible, and would be great in VDPAU. My laptop stutters trying to decode the full-res stream.
2009-04-13, 00:59
As far as I know, nothing has been done on it. Currently, the mlbviewer project has still not been able to get live video working this season since mlb.com changed things up (though I think we are close). The author of mlbviewer has patched rtmpdump and it is now grabbing the data but there is a container problem preventing proper playback of the resulting files.
2009-04-14, 01:38
Sounds good that work is progressing! I wish I knew anything that could help out. Good luck everyone that is working on this!
2009-04-17, 04:43
The video playback problem has been solved as a result of ffmpeg developers' lightning-fast response to my bug report. That means the ffmpeg decoder can now handle these files and mplayer (which uses ffmpeg decoders) can play them. Since XBMC's dvdplayer is based on ffmpeg, it should also be able to handles these files, provided the change makes it into XBMC's source tree.
I've tried applying the change myself but was unsuccessful. There may be more to it than just replacing the source file. Whatever the case, I posted a feature request here regarding this fix.
The mlbviewer project should soon have the various testing scripts consolidated and integrated into a unified interface which will allow premium subscribers the ability to watch full-screen, high resolution baseball games using the NexDef plugin to get 2200 kbps video, even in Linux, and all without opening a web browser.
The libraries are already in python. There is already a curses interface. Unlike the 2008 edition, this version does not use mms:// streams but rather writes a local h.264/aac file for playback.
To get a functional XBMC plugin/script, I believe someone would merely have to port the existing frontend to python and then point the player at the locally created temp file once it starts being written. Alternately, the video can be played directly off the NexDef port, depending on how well XBMC handles http streaming.
Unfortunately, while the task seems to me to be relatively simple (compared to writing something from scratch), I am not a coder and thus cannot do it. I would love to see this come to fruition, but we're going to have to persuade someone to do it.
Any takers?
I've tried applying the change myself but was unsuccessful. There may be more to it than just replacing the source file. Whatever the case, I posted a feature request here regarding this fix.
The mlbviewer project should soon have the various testing scripts consolidated and integrated into a unified interface which will allow premium subscribers the ability to watch full-screen, high resolution baseball games using the NexDef plugin to get 2200 kbps video, even in Linux, and all without opening a web browser.
The libraries are already in python. There is already a curses interface. Unlike the 2008 edition, this version does not use mms:// streams but rather writes a local h.264/aac file for playback.
To get a functional XBMC plugin/script, I believe someone would merely have to port the existing frontend to python and then point the player at the locally created temp file once it starts being written. Alternately, the video can be played directly off the NexDef port, depending on how well XBMC handles http streaming.
Unfortunately, while the task seems to me to be relatively simple (compared to writing something from scratch), I am not a coder and thus cannot do it. I would love to see this come to fruition, but we're going to have to persuade someone to do it.
Any takers?
2009-04-17, 05:41
sorry for my igrnorance. what is NextDef? from the other threads you indicated that it was using rtmpdump to save the videos. is this still the case? what is a curses interface?
i think the main problem in recruiting a coder is that it requires a subscription. i am not a coder either. i just play one on tv. i just like to tinker and grab other code that works similarly and modify to fit another purpose. I am just trying to encourage you here because python is really easy language and i think this might be easier then you think. if they are using rtmpdump then most of the heavy lifting is already done. you could use the same parameters they pass to the rtmpdump to play with xbmc dvdplayer.
you gota love those ffmpeg guys. =)
i think the main problem in recruiting a coder is that it requires a subscription. i am not a coder either. i just play one on tv. i just like to tinker and grab other code that works similarly and modify to fit another purpose. I am just trying to encourage you here because python is really easy language and i think this might be easier then you think. if they are using rtmpdump then most of the heavy lifting is already done. you could use the same parameters they pass to the rtmpdump to play with xbmc dvdplayer.
you gota love those ffmpeg guys. =)
2009-04-17, 06:36
I would love to learn python and would love even more to cut my teeth on this project. However, I am a law student, I have exams coming up, and there's no way I can devote the mental energy to learning a programming language right now.
NexDef is what MLB calls their branded version of the Autobahn swarmcast software. It's basically a cross between a distributed network and a multi-threaded downloader. In Linux, it runs as a java application and opens a local http proxy. You can basically point mplayer at the local port using an authenticated URL provided by MLB when you request the given stream.
An example of how to watch a baseball game with the "NexDef" (Autobahn) plugin running:
The "local.swarmcast.net" is really the local proxy. You could replace it with 127.0.0.1 and it would still work. The 8001, obviously, is the http port opened by Autobahn. In other words, we're not using rtmpdump anymore. rtmpdump would only have supported the lower-res streams anyway, it it was less stable for archived games than Autobahn + mplayer -dumpstream is.
NexDef is what MLB calls their branded version of the Autobahn swarmcast software. It's basically a cross between a distributed network and a multi-threaded downloader. In Linux, it runs as a java application and opens a local http proxy. You can basically point mplayer at the local port using an authenticated URL provided by MLB when you request the given stream.
An example of how to watch a baseball game with the "NexDef" (Autobahn) plugin running:
Code:
mplayer "http://local.swarmcast.net:8001/protected/content/adaptive-live/base64:aHR0cDovL3d3dy5tbGIuY29tL3B1YmFqYXh3cy9iYW1yZXN0L01lZGlhU2VydmljZTJfMC9vcC1nZW5lcmF0ZUtleS92LTEuMT9jb250ZW50SWQ9NDE1OTc2MyZpcGlkPTg4MjAyOTYmcGxheWJhY2s9TUxCX0ZMQVNIX1NXQVJNQ0xPVUQmc2Vzc2lvbktleT1BZHRDZzQ5ZXJsdWEwU1JIV3o1dDh6UVVyU0klM0Q=?mlbfpk=g5B0jFHTfuDwgR4w3ZwY38jZX3k%3D&max_bps=2500000&v=0" -really-quietThe "local.swarmcast.net" is really the local proxy. You could replace it with 127.0.0.1 and it would still work. The 8001, obviously, is the http port opened by Autobahn. In other words, we're not using rtmpdump anymore. rtmpdump would only have supported the lower-res streams anyway, it it was less stable for archived games than Autobahn + mplayer -dumpstream is.
2009-04-17, 06:39
2009-04-23, 22:42
Again, wish I could help... but since I can't... what else is new with this plugin?
2009-04-25, 00:47
hi, i think i have all the experience and tools needed for this. python kung-fu, MLBTV account/baseball nut, just haven't written a xbmc plugin before. not sure about the HD support, I looked at the Autobahn software some already. I'd like to get this working in Boxee and I think that an XMBC plugin is the path for that to happen.
