Slim Player (internet radio, mp3, wma, etc from SlimServer)

[mike1961]

Hello - okay I found the registry entry but I don't know what to put in the data for slimserver and it is currently empty.

Also, when you say I can make sure it's working correctly by testing it with softsqueeze is that something I test on the workstation or on the server? How do I test it with softsqueeze, I don't know what softsqueeze is or where to download it. I'm only trying to make this work on my workstations. I have the slimserver running on my fileserver and the plugins are on my workstations.

Thanks,
Mike

[mike1961]

Any ideas on my prior post - I'm really anxious to get this plug in working.

Thanks,
Mike

[mike1961]

Here's where I'm at with this:

I tried using SoftSqueeze from my workstation and I was able to stream and play music. I can also go to my http://MyServersIP:9000 but, if I then select music I can see music in my music folder but when I then click the Play button in the right pane it won't play. Also, I still get a blank screen at the SlimPlayer in Sage just with the commands but no information. All suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

[something fishy]

Hi Mike
I did this slightly differently (on my development machine; I'm hope for a SageMC port). The following worked for me:

Server PC:
Download and install Slimserver v6.5 and any plugins that you intend to use. Install the plugins and make sure that the slimserver is correctly configured and starts automatically on reboot. You can do all this on the server machine on http://localhost:9000.

Client PC:
Install v3 of the Softsqueeze player. I got it from Sourceforge at:
https://sourceforge.net/project/show...roup_id=105169
you want the latest version (v3.2.1 I think) and don't worry that the Sourceforge project page still says Softsqueeze 2.0. The windows binary is the easiest.

Run the softsqueeze player; it should detect where on your network the slimserver is and fill all the registry entries in automatically. No need to worry about regedit. At this point use the Softsqueeze player (and its virtual remote) to navigate your music library (assuming that you told the slimserver to scan it) or the list of internet radio stations. You should get audio at this point. You can watch the Slimserver through its web interface if you like (at http://server_ip:9000) it should detect the softsqueeze player and list its IP address, but it isn’t necessary.

The softsqueeze player is a java file so find it (search the client PC’s hard disk for softsqueeze.jar) and copy it to the sage jars directory as koelec states.

Install the sage plugin as per the instructions (except for the registry editing bit).

Cheers
Eric

[mike1961]

Okay - I got everything working. Great job on the plug in - excellent. Overall I'm very impressed, but I have a few questions/suggestions:

1. Is there an easy way with the SlimServer to just plug in a website and add it to the playlist like we did with Web Radio rather than search on Slim Server?

2. Is there any easy way to edit the playlists like we did in a text editor withthe Web Radio? It's just a pain to use SlimServer to move items up or down in the list.

3. (this one is really important to me) How can I get most or all of my local radio stations that play on the radio (Los Angeles and surrounding areas) since many are not as simple as an IP address? There are some stations that I'm not sure how to get. For example, KBIG 104.3 has a website: http://www.replay-video.com/guide/in...tation_id=1803 and you then click Listen on the website. Many stations are like that out here and I'm wondering if there is some way for the slimserver to play them.

4. What is the difference between Playlists and favorites? I may have to play around with slimserver a bit more to see.

Suggestions:

5. It would be nice to see the radio station that is currently playing. It says, Now Playing 28 of 30 but I don't know what that is since I could browse my playlists. Also, they are not numbered so it would be nice to just see the title of the station playing.

6. I think when selecting a PlayList, it should just show the list and avoid the menu entirely. The menu has the following (and this is why I personally think it's not necessary - or at the least have some kind of configuration/options to disable the menu):
a. Play - Play All could be a button after displaying the list since no one will ever do this when displaying radio stations in a playlist anyway but would only playall for their personal mp3 or wav songs.
b. View Details - Never shows anything anyway when viewing a playlist
c. View Tracks - it's the only one I would ever select so I would love it to just show them.
d. Delete - This forces me to create a backup of my playlists since I would never want my kids deleting or touching the playlist configuration. Also, this can be done in Slim Server.
e. Close - I can go back anyway after viewing the tracks.

7. Again - after viewing the tracks, when selecting a song or station to play, one should not be allowed to delete. The playlist can already be manipluated outside of Sage in SlimPlayer and I don't want unsophisticated users accidentally pressing Delete. Otherwise, I have to schedule a copy of playlists from backup everyday or so just in case a family member or friend accidentally deletes something and then doesn't say anything out of embarrassment.

8. This may not have to do with your player at all (not sure). But, I noticed that about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through a song, the visual at the bottom where it says NOW PLAYING actually shows the next song that is about to be played. I'm not sure if this is just on the specific station I'm playing or if it has something to do with the delay because the song is played on delay but perhaps the video is not. Again - I haven't experimented enough with this but if it is happening to everyone on all stations, if you have some control as to when it is displayed perhaps there could be a control to delay it or something (this may be asking for too much).

9. Is there any way to fast forward / rewind a song (not from a station/website but an mp3 already on the hard drive)?

Again - great job.

Mike

[koelec]

1. Is there an easy way with the SlimServer to just plug in a website and add it to the playlist like we did with Web Radio rather than search on Slim Server?

use "Tune in Url" function on web interface of slimserver. When it is playing use right then a couple of down keys until it says right to add to favorites.
(for adding to playlist read manual of squeezebox, you''ll have to use the special commands in transparent mode for adding to playlist). Or, use the slimserver's webinterface.

2. Is there any easy way to edit the playlists like we did in a text editor withthe Web Radio? It's just a pain to use SlimServer to move items up or down in the list.

DO you mean changing the order of the list of playlists or the tracks inside a playlist? The first one is complicated, yes. The ordering inside a playlist or the favorites list can be changed very easy through the slimserver's web interface or you could change the playlist file as stored by slimserver in the filesystem.

3. (this one is really important to me) How can I get most or all of my local radio stations that play on the radio (Los Angeles and surrounding areas) since many are not as simple as an IP address? There are some stations that I'm not sure how to get. For example, KBIG 104.3 has a website: http://www.replay-video.com/guide/in...tation_id=1803 and you then click Listen on the website. Many stations are like that out here and I'm wondering if there is some way for the slimserver to play them.

These url's are not playable audio streams. You have to press the start button, so you get the replay player popsup then when the stream is playing, right click somewhere on the player. From the context menu select properties and from the properties sheet copy the location url. Paste this url into the "tune in url" input field on the slimserver's web interface and press the tune in button. Once it is playing you add this url to your favorites list by pressing right once and then a number of down arrows until it shows "press right to add favorite". I was able to add a playing KBIG 104.3 to my favorites this way (but I deleted it again, not my kind of music). I have to tell you that I had to restart slimserver once to get it playing, because it kept saying unable to retrieve playlist.. Probably entered a wrong url at the first time (maybe the one you listed).

4. What is the difference between Playlists and favorites? I may have to play around with slimserver a bit more to see.

Favorites is just a special list with tracks or stations and is provided for convenient direct playback of each item. A playlist normally starts playing with the first item in the list and then picks up the next one (not when you have radio station as items in a playlist).

Suggestions:

5. It would be nice to see the radio station that is currently playing. It says, Now Playing 28 of 30 but I don't know what that is since I could browse my playlists. Also, they are not numbered so it would be nice to just see the title of the station playing.

6. I think when selecting a PlayList, it should just show the list and avoid the menu entirely. The menu has the following (and this is why I personally think it's not necessary - or at the least have some kind of configuration/options to disable the menu):
a. Play - Play All could be a button after displaying the list since no one will ever do this when displaying radio stations in a playlist anyway but would only playall for their personal mp3 or wav songs.
b. View Details - Never shows anything anyway when viewing a playlist
c. View Tracks - it's the only one I would ever select so I would love it to just show them.
d. Delete - This forces me to create a backup of my playlists since I would never want my kids deleting or touching the playlist configuration. Also, this can be done in Slim Server.
e. Close - I can go back anyway after viewing the tracks.

7. Again - after viewing the tracks, when selecting a song or station to play, one should not be allowed to delete. The playlist can already be manipluated outside of Sage in SlimPlayer and I don't want unsophisticated users accidentally pressing Delete. Otherwise, I have to schedule a copy of playlists from backup everyday or so just in case a family member or friend accidentally deletes something and then doesn't say anything out of embarrassment.

8. This may not have to do with your player at all (not sure). But, I noticed that about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through a song, the visual at the bottom where it says NOW PLAYING actually shows the next song that is about to be played. I'm not sure if this is just on the specific station I'm playing or if it has something to do with the delay because the song is played on delay but perhaps the video is not. Again - I haven't experimented enough with this but if it is happening to everyone on all stations, if you have some control as to when it is displayed perhaps there could be a control to delay it or something (this may be asking for too much).

Thanks you for all your positive comments. I'll use this information together with remarks from other users as input for a next release.

9. Is there any way to fast forward / rewind a song (not from a station/website but an mp3 already on the hard drive)?

No, currently not, something for a next release.

- Chris

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Chris, I found out from the creator of the siruis radio plugin that even if we were able to add the howard channels to favorites/playlists, they will not work because these streams/links are only valid for a minute or two.

The only way I can think of to make this work is to add the ability to manually add favorites to the SageTV SlimPlayer favorites list which will launch an invisible macro to navigate and select the radio station (or feature) desired.

Adding this capability can also allow for other interesting automations added to the favorites list! You can get pretty creative with some of the plugins at: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?PluginsAudio

Chris, or anyone... what do you thnk??

Hi Michael,

Great idea and not very hard to implement. Already working on this.

- Chris

[mkanet]

Great! That is what I was hoping you would say


Quote:
Originally Posted by mkanet
Chris, I found out from the creator of the siruis radio plugin that even if we were able to add the howard channels to favorites/playlists, they will not work because these streams/links are only valid for a minute or two.

The only way I can think of to make this work is to add the ability to manually add favorites to the SageTV SlimPlayer favorites list which will launch an invisible macro to navigate and select the radio station (or feature) desired.

Adding this capability can also allow for other interesting automations added to the favorites list! You can get pretty creative with some of the plugins at: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?PluginsAudio

Chris, or anyone... what do you thnk??

Hi Michael,

Great idea and not very hard to implement. Already working on this.

- Chris

[mike1961]

Originally Posted by koelec

use "Tune in Url" function on web interface of slimserver. When it is playing use right then a couple of down keys until it says right to add to favorites.
(for adding to playlist read manual of squeezebox, you''ll have to use the special commands in transparent mode for adding to playlist). Or, use the slimserver's webinterface.

Thanks for all your feedback but the Tune In URL does not work. First, I cannot play songs directly from the website http://myserver:9000. When I click the Play it does not work. But, it does work in SoftSqueeze and in Sage.

When I click Tune in URL and type in a radio website and click the Tune In button it does not show in the playlist. I've attached a sample screenshot. Thanks again for all the feedback. (by the way, out of curiousity, what language do you use to write software for plugin's for Sage)? I'm not sure if this matters but the IP in the upper right corner dropdown is the workstation's IP and not the server's IP (I'm thinking that may be why I can't play music from the slimserver website but I'm not sure how to change that).

EDITED: Does anyone have a playlist or easy way to get all the stations that play on the radio in the Los Angeles area?

Thanks,
Mike

[mike1961]

Another Example: KBIG 104 has this:

javascript:void(window.open('/cc-common/streaming_new/index.html',%20'ccTuner',%20'width=668,height=420,status=no,resizable=no,scrollbars=no'))

the website is http://www.kbig104.com/pages/streaming.html

and then I can click the Listen Live and it opens a java player. Is there ANY way to make this work in the SlimServer?

A LOT of stations seem to use this wierd player. Another one is KOST 103.5 and the properties for Listen Live are:

javascript:void(window.open('/cc-common/streaming_new/index.html',%20'ccTuner',%20'width=668,height=420,status=no,resizable=no,scrollbars=no'))

at the website: http://www.kost1035.com/pages/streaming.html

How do I get these to play? I'm stumped.

Thanks,
Mike

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Thanks for all your feedback but the Tune In URL does not work. First, I cannot play songs directly from the website http://myserver:9000. When I click the Play it does not work. But, it does work in SoftSqueeze and in Sage.

When I click Tune in URL and type in a radio website and click the Tune In button it does not show in the playlist. I've attached a sample screenshot. Thanks again for all the feedback. (by the way, out of curiousity, what language do you use to write software for plugin's for Sage)? I'm not sure if this matters but the IP in the upper right corner dropdown is the workstation's IP and not the server's IP (I'm thinking that may be why I can't play music from the slimserver website but I'm not sure how to change that).

EDITED: Does anyone have a playlist or easy way to get all the stations that play on the radio in the Los Angeles area?

Thanks,
Mike

You need to have a player (softsqueeze or slimplayer) running when when use the "tune in url" function. Also you need to get hold of the actual audio stream url, not the website url from which you can launch a player to listen to a specific station. If the tune in url doesn't work anymore, because you tried to tune to url that is not an actual audio stream, please try to restart slimserver before trying a real audio stream. Use a known working (e.g. shoutcast statio url) to be sure the tuen in url function is working properly.

- Chris

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Another Example: KBIG 104 has this:

javascript:void(window.open('/cc-common/streaming_new/index.html',%20'ccTuner',%20'width=668,height=420,status=no,resizable=no,scrollbars=no'))

the website is http://www.kbig104.com/pages/streaming.html

and then I can click the Listen Live and it opens a java player. Is there ANY way to make this work in the SlimServer?

A LOT of stations seem to use this wierd player. Another one is KOST 103.5 and the properties for Listen Live are:

javascript:void(window.open('/cc-common/streaming_new/index.html',%20'ccTuner',%20'width=668,height=420,status=no,resizable=no,scrollbars=no'))

at the website: http://www.kost1035.com/pages/streaming.html

How do I get these to play? I'm stumped.

Thanks,
Mike

Unfortunately, I cannot test this here, because the streaming is only available for US residents. Maybe someone else could help out. Try to figure out the actual streaming url. You could test this url first by starting windows media player and use file/open url function. If this works than proceed to the "tune in url" function in slimserver + softsqueeze/slimplayer.

- Chris

[mike1961]

I tried saving the file as test.asx and it opens just fine in windows media player but I cannot get it to work with winamp. I tried the first link and then the second and neither work. It's as if they need each other. This is the contents of the file (how do I get this to play with slimplayer)?

[Reference]
Ref1=http://a493.l1977044510.c19770.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf
Ref2=http://63.147.36.213:80/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf


Mike

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

I tried saving the file as test.asx and it opens just fine in windows media player but I cannot get it to work with winamp. I tried the first link and then the second and neither work. It's as if they need each other. This is the contents of the file (how do I get this to play with slimplayer)?

[Reference]
Ref1=http://a493.l1977044510.c19770.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf
Ref2=http://63.147.36.213:80/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf


Mike

take this part
http://a493.l1977044510.c19770.g.lm....eflector:44510
paste it into the tune in url text field of slimserver's webinterface (i think winamp cannot play wma 9) make sure you have softsqueeze or sagetv/slimplayer running.

- Chris

[mike1961]

Did you know if I click on the link you provided, it allows me to save it as a file. If I do that and then open it in notepad, I get this:

[Reference]
Ref1=http://a493.l1977044510.c19770.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf
Ref2=http://63.147.36.198:80/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf

So, do you want me to pase the entire info above with the carrage returns/line feeds? Also, I can't even seem to paste the simple URLS in the Tune In with SlimLine. Not sure why but nothing plays.

Mike

[mike1961]

Almost forgot to ask,, I'm still wondering what language people are using to create plugins for Sage.

Thanks,
Mike

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Did you know if I click on the link you provided, it allows me to save it as a file. If I do that and then open it in notepad, I get this:

[Reference]
Ref1=http://a493.l1977044510.c19770.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf
Ref2=http://63.147.36.198:80/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf

So, do you want me to pase the entire info above with the carrage returns/line feeds? Also, I can't even seem to paste the simple URLS in the Tune In with SlimLine. Not sure why but nothing plays.

Mike

No only the Ref1 value after the equal sign, i.e

http://a493.l1977044510.c19770.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/493/19770/v0001/reflector:44510?MSWMExt=.asf

Before you try again, please restart slimserver.
Then start softsqueeze or SageTV/slimplayer.
Make sure when you navigate to an internet radio station it is playing.
Stop playback of this station.
Now open up the web interface of slimserver.
Go to Server settings. Select file types from dropdown menu and verify that line windows media FLAC wmadec/flac has a check mark.
Now go to Tune In Url and paste the following shoutcast url: http://64.40.99.2:8080. Verify this is playing.

If this is playing try the KBIG link. (it will take 10/20 seconds to start)

- Chris

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

Almost forgot to ask,, I'm still wondering what language people are using to create plugins for Sage.

Thanks,
Mike

Well, we've got SageTV Studio, which provides support for calling Java code.
And from the Java code you can call the SageTV API, which provides limited access to parts of the SageTV, like tv listing, media player, etc.

- Chris

[mike1961]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or what but here's the situation: Almost always now (with Sage V6, not sure about version 5) when I go to the radio I don't see my playlists. If I click Show Favorites, Show Playlists I still don't see the playlist. The only way to see it is to go out of the radio (to the prior menu) and then back in again. This seems to only happen the FIRST time I launch Sage and go to the radio menu. I have to leave the menu and come back for my favorites to be displayed. But, once they are displayed everything is fine no matter how many times I leave the menu and come back to it so long as I don't close out Sage. It only happens when I first launch Sage.

Is anyone else noticing this?

Thanks,
Mike

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mike1961

I'm not sure if this is a bug or what but here's the situation: Almost always now (with Sage V6, not sure about version 5) when I go to the radio I don't see my playlists. If I click Show Favorites, Show Playlists I still don't see the playlist. The only way to see it is to go out of the radio (to the prior menu) and then back in again. This seems to only happen the FIRST time I launch Sage and go to the radio menu. I have to leave the menu and come back for my favorites to be displayed. But, once they are displayed everything is fine no matter how many times I leave the menu and come back to it so long as I don't close out Sage. It only happens when I first launch Sage.

Is anyone else noticing this?

Thanks,
Mike

Thanks,
will look in to this for next release.

- Chris