Utility: Web Radio and TV Encoder

[michaeldjcox]

mms://a1134.l1986719939.c19867.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/1134/19867/v0001/reflector:19939?auth=caEaBb0cacSb9dxc9bgcVahdIaKbBdudLbQ-bljM54-4q-SMZX0_5omGDpn2ICujCuAp&aifp=1234&CPROG=SIMULCAST&MARKET=TAMPA-FL&MNM=1&NG_FORMAT=sports&NG_ID=wdae1250am&OR_NEWSFORMAT=&REQUESTOR=WDAE-AM&SERVER_NAME=www620wdaecom&SITE_ID=1124&STATION_ID=WDAE-AM

Got it from here:

http://www.surfmusic.de/radio-statio...0-am,5508.html

That could be it.

Edit the channel in the config tool and change the tune URL to the above.

Michael

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

mms://a1134.l1986719939.c19867.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/1134/19867/v0001/reflector:19939?auth=caEaBb0cacSb9dxc9bgcVahdIaKbBdudLbQ-bljM54-4q-SMZX0_5omGDpn2ICujCuAp&aifp=1234&CPROG=SIMULCAST&MARKET=TAMPA-FL&MNM=1&NG_FORMAT=sports&NG_ID=wdae1250am&OR_NEWSFORMAT=&REQUESTOR=WDAE-AM&SERVER_NAME=www620wdaecom&SITE_ID=1124&STATION_ID=WDAE-AM

Got it from here:

http://www.surfmusic.de/radio-statio...0-am,5508.html

That could be it.

Edit the channel in the config tool and change the tune URL to the above.

Michael

So it starts with "mms://"? How did you get the address from that site? I need to convert the other if this works.

[michaeldjcox]

So I went to the link above.

Chose standalone player.

The browser window shrunk (a bit silly). A resized my browser window to be a bit bigger and noticed a new tab was created with a little media player widget.

Right click on the media player widget brought up a pop-up menu with a Properties option.

The stream URL was displayed there.

And yes its not always http. Can be various things.

Michael

[emilek]

I too am getting choppy audio playback, running XP 32 with a amd quad core, 4gb memory, only 10% cpu usage when playing choppy sound...:-)

Tried the registry changes for Demux, but that one didn't help.

Heads up for the installer, worked beautifull first time!

Emile

[michaeldjcox]

Thanks for your feedback.

Release 0.9.5 is in the final stages of testing - hope to push that out between xmas and new year.

In 0.9.6 I will be aiming to remove need for VLC and hopefully the choppiness issues will disappear.

Michael

[chrisc983]

I need a bit of help with this. I was able to add the channels using the config.jar but I can't get the web feed encoder to stay running. I've tried running it manually using services.msc and encoder.jar but it will only stay running for a second and then turn off.

If it matters I'm using WHS. I tried to get the config.jar to run remotely but I wasn't able to add any channels but if I used the config.jar on WHS I was able to add the channels.

Update:
Ok I got the webencoder service to stay running but now the config can't detect that sagetv is running even though it is.

[chrisc983]

After I finish configuring the channels is their anything in sage as far as the tuners that I have to configure? And which option do I pick the config once I finish adding the channels?

[wubdich]

Would be great if this STVi could run without external programms !

[chrisc983]

Ok I was able to get the config to recognize sage and the webencoder running. Now the issue is that it doesn't seem to be updating the epg for the webencoder tuner. Any tips before trying a full uninstall and reinstall?

Update:
I ended up uninstalling and reinstalling Sage. I now have the webencoder working for the most part. I was able to add some channels in and update the epg. The problem I having now is that it wont play, it just errors. I also noticed that when I tried running the test the file size doesn't grow. I did test the url and it does playback using wmp. Any tips??

I get an error from Sage stating "Error - Halt Detected in Recording. The device input WEbFeedEncoder on localhost:5000 TV TUner stoppede producing data while recording"

Update:
Ok I verified that it also plays through vlc. Also I can see the tmp file being created but then after about a minute or so it will stop and then start over. When I try playback in Sage I just get a blank screen and no audio even after waiting several minutes. I think it may not be showing the video portion and thats why sage is not playing it back. Help!?!?

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by cscherb

Would be great if this STVi could run without external programms !

Hi,

Yeah the only external program needed now is VLC.

Thats next on my hit list as recent versions have dropped some features the plugin needs for radio.

Michael

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by chrisc983

Ok I was able to get the config to recognize sage and the webencoder running. Now the issue is that it doesn't seem to be updating the epg for the webencoder tuner. Any tips before trying a full uninstall and reinstall?

Update:
I ended up uninstalling and reinstalling Sage. I now have the webencoder working for the most part. I was able to add some channels in and update the epg. The problem I having now is that it wont play, it just errors. I also noticed that when I tried running the test the file size doesn't grow. I did test the url and it does playback using wmp. Any tips??

I get an error from Sage stating "Error - Halt Detected in Recording. The device input WEbFeedEncoder on localhost:5000 TV TUner stoppede producing data while recording"

Update:
Ok I verified that it also plays through vlc. Also I can see the tmp file being created but then after about a minute or so it will stop and then start over. When I try playback in Sage I just get a blank screen and no audio even after waiting several minutes. I think it may not be showing the video portion and thats why sage is not playing it back. Help!?!?

Hi Chris,

Sorry for not being around during your last few posts - usual Christmas reasons.

Can you try the "Test" option in "Edit channel" in the config tool for the channel you are trying.

The dialog will show three tabs each with a separate log.

Can you paste me the content - possibly better to look for the three files in the "logs" area and submit them to this forum as attachments.

Michael

[chrisc983]

No problem I figured people were doing holiday stuff. Attached are my test logs. Thanks. KFOG_saveasmp3_test.txt

KFOG_test.txt

KFOG_streamtompg_test.zip

[michaeldjcox]

Nothing obvious there.

The generated mp3 and mpg files for this test run:

C:\Program Files\webfeedencoder\tmp\KFOG_test.mpg
C:\Program Files\webfeedencoder\tmp\KFOG_test.mp3

Do they have any size and are they playable in VLC when run as a media player?

Michael

[chrisc983]

The .mp3 file plays back but the .mpg file shows 0kb.

[SteveW]

Originally Posted by wayner

Is it possible to use this to view IP cameras through Sage? I have two IP cameras that I would love to be able to watch on extenders, Placeshifters, etc? These IP cameras are from different manufacturers and typically use Java or ActiveX within a Web browser to view the video.

If not an IP camera then how about a webcam?

And as a last case scenario can you get VLC, or other apps, to stream/encode whatever shows up on your PC screen over the net? If so could you then set up your PC so that it has browser windows and webcam windows open and viewing the cameras?

Wayner, did you have any luck with this? I have an Axis IP camera that I'd like to feed into Sage. Tnx!

- Steve

[wayner]

Originally Posted by SteveW

Wayner, did you have any luck with this? I have an Axis IP camera that I'd like to feed into Sage. Tnx!

No, but I didn't spend too much time trying to figure it out. In order to use this tool I believe you have to be able to send your video camera stream through VLC and I was having issues with sending very simple stuff with VLC as I was using the latest edition (1.something) and you appear to have to use a previous edition before 1.0 was released. Look back in this thread and you will seem some discussion on what version to use.

I believe it also depends on what type of video feed your camera is capable of. I have two different cameras and they seem to require a Java or ActiveX plugin on your PC within your browser. I don't believe these will work in this instance. You will likely have more luck if you camera can send an MPEG stream.

I did have minor success with streaming a web camera as that is much more straightforward as VLC can directly see webcams as video sources.

By the way there may be a brute force way to do this which is using what some folks call a "loopback". This will require you having a video card in your Sage server that has a TV out - such as S-video. You would then connect this to the input of an analog tuner card. Then Sage can tune into anything that your PC can display. The problem is that you can't control anything from Sage but if you set up a web browser broadcasting your video feed and that feed didn't stop then this should work. Or you could RDP into that PC and fix whatever breaks.

A variation on this idea comes from the fact that VLC is supposed to be able to stream whatever is on your PC screen but I could not get that function to work. Here is a blog entry that explains how to do this. This again should theoretically work for any webcam or IP camera and doesn't require hardware. But I had no success with this method, but others obviously have. Here is a blog that discusses how to stream your desktop with VLC - if you get this working then it should be trivial to use Michael's tool to get it into Sage http://www.nerdlogger.com/2008/01/st...esktop-as.html

Good luck and please post back if you have success.

[michaeldjcox]

Hi,

It may be worth posting something here:

http://forum.videolan.org/

The forum is not quite as active as SageTV but you may find someone who has tried getting a video feed from an IP camera and transcoding to an mpeg file.

Would like to do this myself but I'm not sure my wife will let me spend any more money on gadgets for SageTV! (Having just bought two HD200 and replaced my server box)

Michael

[samsocal]

Sounds like your wife needs to adjust her priorities!

[chrisc983]

Originally Posted by chrisc983

The .mp3 file plays back but the .mpg file shows 0kb.

Any more tips or troubleshooting that I could do to try to get this working? I've tried some of the other radio utilities and plug ins for sage and havn't had much luck. This one looks like the most promising.

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by chrisc983

Any more tips or troubleshooting that I could do to try to get this working? I've tried some of the other radio utilities and plug ins for sage and havn't had much luck. This one looks like the most promising.

Hi,

Sorry for not responding very promptly or fully to your issues - I am aware I'm not meeting my usual Quality of Service targets.

Two things it can be are:

1. The wrong version of vlc - only version 0.9.8 or 0.9.9 work with this plugin. There is an outstanding ticket open on VLC but it does not look like they will ever fix it. I have a plan to drop VLC in the version 0.9.6 of WFE (0.9.5 is immenient).

2. There is no image available to combine with the sound. Normally this will be made evident in the encoder.log file.

As well as tryng the "Test" function in the config GUI have you tried the channel in normal use from SageTV?

Have you tried other channels?

I have a new server and I have not setup webfeedencoder on it yet but I will try and do that today and give your station a try.

Michael