STV Import: Pandora Internet Radio (Default STV and SageMC)

[cncb]

This import allows you to listen to Pandora Internet Radio via the Sage UI. It uses an external Java window with a browser to load Pandora but you can control the player and select stations to Play from within Sage. Imports are included for both the Default STV and SageMC.

Download here

Version 1.1 - 07/21/08

• Added Artist info screen, Search for Artist, and Create Station from Artist. Note that these features rely on HTML so they can easily be broken if Pandora changes their website.
• Expanded Station selection list to 2-column table.

Version 1.2 - 12/06/08

• The external player window is bigger to accomodate the main Pandora page (fix for recent changes to Pandora website).
• Added Song Info screen with links to Artist screen and new Album screen. Added station creation from Song and Song search. Added bookmarking of song and artist. Added artist album list. All of these again depend on the Pandora website so can be easily broken by any changes they might make.
• The screensaver is disabled when the Pandora player is playing.
• There is a prompt to close the Pandora player when leaving the player screen while it is playing.
• SageMC: The "loopback" channel is now tuned without leaving the player screen and the video preview can be hidden (thanks, flachbar). SageMC 6.3.8a is required to hide the video preview. Hide the preview by decreasing the "pandora/previewsize" property until you can't see the video but can still hear the audio (this number seems to vary based on client and display but 0.01 is a good starting point).
• Default STV: The video preview is now included on the player screen so you can use the "loopback" channel approach on extenders. You can hide the video as above.

04/18/09 - Optional alternate .NET-based player window/application
Attached is an alternate .NET-based application to hold the Pandora player window. This download is not necessary to use the Pandora STVi as is in the downloads area. The alternate player may be useful if you can't run Sage in service mode as the "local system account" with desktop access. **Note that you will have to run ''SagePandoraPlayer.exe" manually (or at Windows startup) for the alternate player to work. It also requires the .NET framework 2.0. To use it:

- Close Sage.
- Download the "AlternatePlayer.zip" file below.
- Go to the "SageTV\SageTV\cncb" directory in Windows Explorer.
- Rename "PandoraPlayer.jar" and "PandoraWinCom.exe" and put a ".tmp" at the end (or you can also delete these files if you are sure you no longer want to use them).
- Unzip "AlternatePlayer.zip" to the "SageTV\SageTV\cncb" directory.
- Run "SagePandoraPlayer.exe'' and use the Pandora import in Sage as usual.

11/30/09 - Modified alternate player to work on 64-bit systems and to not show script errors.

[Brent]

Nice, can't wait to try it Craig.

Now that I think about it, I remember it was about 2 years ago this summer when you released the Beyond Media Pandora Plugin. It's like old times except we have a HTPC software maker that actually cares about the media side of things now

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Brent

Now that I think about it, I remember it was about 2 years ago this summer when you released the Beyond Media Pandora Plugin. It's like old times except we have a HTPC software maker that actually cares about the media side of things now

Yeah, Brent. I don't think it will be "wasted" effort this time...

[sleonard]

Screenshots!

So I can drool over this until I get home and install it.

S

[Brent]

Originally Posted by sleonard

Screenshots!

So I can drool over this until I get home and install it.

S

two screenshots are available at the download link

[evilpenguin]

Wow, another great plug-in I don't have time to install this week

I'm curious if you could go a little more in depth into how this plug-in works on the backend?

[cncb]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm curious if you could go a little more in depth into how this plug-in works on the backend?

Sure. Feel free to PM me with any specific questions so as not to bore others here .

[Brent]

Just installed it and have been listening using the SageTV Pandora app (SageMC).

Feedback:
Love it Awesome plugin that will be very popular among the SageTV folks
Requests for future improvements:

• Make sure the "behind-the-scenes" app window stays behind SageTV even when starting it.
• Add ability to share like Pandora has
• Ability to browse the default pandora genre stations
• Any way to see the cover when you go to the home page like you do with music and video playback?

As I said above, awesome plugin Craig - great work!!!

Here's a screen shot of the plugin in action:

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Brent

Requests for future improvements:

• Make sure the "behind-the-scenes" app window stays behind SageTV even when starting it.
• Add ability to share like Pandora has
• Ability to browse the default pandora genre stations
• Any way to see the cover when you go to the home page like you do with music and video playback?

As I said above, awesome plugin Craig - great work!!!

Thanks, Brent.

- I can't really keep the player window/app behind Sage when starting it or changing stations (it's a Windows thing beyond my control). The plugin should bring Sage back into focus after a short delay, though. Let me know if this isn't happening.
- I will look into sharing stations but I don't think there is a way to automate this (you would have to go to the player window and type things in).
- If there is an RSS feed for the genre stations then this would be easy but if it is embedded in the player (which I think is the case) then not really possible.
- I will look at this but since it is not using the built-in Sage media player it might be difficult.

[cmaffia]

Great job however the browser popping up and taking priority over sage makes this unusable for me :-( I can see this working great if you use sage as a server feeding MediaMVP extenders though. No way to bypass having to bring up the browser? I am assuming the music is coming from the website and not sage. Nice work regardless!

[Brent]

Originally Posted by cmaffia

Great job however the browser popping up and taking priority over sage makes this unusable for me :-( I can see this working great if you use sage as a server feeding MediaMVP extenders though. No way to bypass having to bring up the browser? I am assuming the music is coming from the website and not sage. Nice work regardless!

Not sure what you mean about bringing up a browser. When you connect it opens up a small window (could be a browser app I guess), but as soon as it connects it puts SageTV in front and hides the window - at least that's how it works for me.

[Zippster]

Do we still have to use the Netflix add on for this to work on HD100? I have no audio and no stations, in fact if I push the stations button it comes up blank and pretty much locks up with no way to get rid of it.

[pjpjpjpj]

Following up on Zippster's question.... I don't have any analog tuners and don't have Netflix so I was not following the Netflix plug-in thread... I just read it though...

I have an old ADS video/audio capture device (similar to this but an older model: http://www.adstech.com/products/USBA...d=USBAV-191-EF) that captures streaming video and sends it to the PC via USB. Might this show up as an analog tuner (I suppose I need to just try it and see, duh)?

If so, correct me if I am wrong, but I could run my PC audio out, wire it to the gadget's audio in, and set up a dummy channel that would pick this up, right?

Next question: If I had two extenders in use, would each of the two open an "instance" of the Pandora browser where I would enter my login info... and then I would just leave these open permanently on my server?

[Brent]

Not sure I'm understanding the two posts above. Netflix is not required for Pandora - although you could use the same method to do the Pandora plugin on an extender as you can to do the Netflix plugin on an extender.

[cmaffia]

Originally Posted by Brent

Not sure what you mean about bringing up a browser. When you connect it opens up a small window (could be a browser app I guess), but as soon as it connects it puts SageTV in front and hides the window - at least that's how it works for me.

Correct browser application pops up and takes priority. Sage never comes back as top app even after waiting 10 minutes. I then have to plug in a mouse and click on the sage app.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Zippster

Do we still have to use the Netflix add on for this to work on HD100? I have no audio and no stations, in fact if I push the stations button it comes up blank and pretty much locks up with no way to get rid of it.

Sounds like you may have not set your stations ID as described in the setup instructions. "Back" should close the stations selection window.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by cmaffia

Correct browser application pops up and takes priority. Sage never comes back as top app even after waiting 10 minutes. I then have to plug in a mouse and click on the sage app.

An executable in the "cncb" directory under SageTV/SageTV focuses Sage after the player opens. If that file is there but it's not working then make sure you have the .NET framework v2.0 installed correctly as described in the setup instructions.

[wbarber69]

First off let me say nice job putting this together i know future versions will be better and better it does work like it says it should on my system im only writing to express a few bugs i haveseen to help you try to make this better: A few times i sage has lost sync with the player right now im only able to listen to like half the song before i goes on to the next song could you make it possible to close the player when a new media is launched like it does with music when using winamp as the external music player

[cncb]

Originally Posted by wbarber69

A few times i sage has lost sync with the player right now im only able to listen to like half the song before i goes on to the next song could you make it possible to close the player when a new media is launched like it does with music when using winamp as the external music player

You can close the Pandora player any time by choosing that button on the Pandora screen. There is really no "sync" between Sage and Pandora other than the song information so if you are getting unexpected skipping of songs and not hitting the Skip Fwd #2 button in Sage then there are probably problems with the Pandora site itself.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by Brent

Not sure I'm understanding the two posts above. Netflix is not required for Pandora - although you could use the same method to do the Pandora plugin on an extender as you can to do the Netflix plugin on an extender.

I'm not using my Sage server for any viewing so having Pandora available on the server does me no good - I need to have it available on the HD Extender. And from what I read, it appears the only workaround to getting Pandora to stream through an HD Extender is to set up a "dummy" channel on an analog tuner as you do in the Netflix Watch Now "hack".

By all means, if there's a way to get Pandora streaming on an HD Extender without doing any tricks (other than downloading/installing this plug-in), please let me know!