How To: Add custom online video feed definitions (default STV; v6.3.10)

[Opus4]

Note: For v6.4, see the updated instructions instead.

Support has been added to SageTV v6.3.9 and later for an easier way to add custom online video feeds. Sample custom properties files are attached to this post.

Previously, to customize your online videos, you had to edit the default online video definition files, which would get overwritten during the next SageTV update. Now, you can leave those files alone and edit the custom online video files instead. The installer won't have copies of those custom files, so they won't get overwritten.

The attached CustomOnlineVideoLinks.zip file contains 2 files:

• CustomOnlineVideoLinks.properties
• CustomOnlineVideoUIText.properties.

These properties files can be added to the <install dir>\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3\OnlineVideos directory and then used to customize the online video feeds.

You will need to use the default STV from SageTV v6.3.9 or later in order to use these properties files.

See the comments near the top of the CustomOnlineVideoLinks.properties file for (hopefully) simplified instructions for adding new links. The first time you access a new link in SageTV (the button will be blank at first), the titles and icon URL will be automatically created in the CustomOnlineVideoUIText.properties file, which you can edit later, if you wish.

Oh -- and the custom files can be used to modify the default set of links -- if the custom properties files contain the same properties as the default properties files, the custom setup will be used instead. Just remember, if you do this, your custom setup will still override the default definitions for every upgrade install afterwards.

- Andy

Note: For v6.4, see the updated instructions instead.

[gblinckmann]

Oh, very, very cool! I'll have to try this tonight or tomorrow. I've really been wanting a better way to do this since the video podcasts feature was added! Thank you so much!

[garyellis]

Sage listens again.....exactly what I asked for....

Thanks, I'm downloading now to try it...


Gary Ellis

[gblinckmann]

It works, but not as I expected. The new items came out blank until I selected them the first time. After selecting them, everything filled in. A Quicktime feed worked fine, but not a WMV feed. (I expected this, and WMV is hardly ever used by anybody but Microsoft, but I thought I'd try.)

I'm not complaining, mind you, since I can now get Mahalo Daily on my TV!

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by gblinckmann

The new items came out blank until I selected them the first time. After selecting them, everything filled in.

Right -- just like I mentioned above & in the custom link properties file. It can't fill in the title & icon until it gets them from the feed when you select it.

- Andy

[gblinckmann]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Right -- just like I mentioned above & in the custom link properties file. It can't fill in the title & icon until it gets them from the feed when you select it.

- Andy

Oh, you thought I got this far in the instructions before trying it! Ha!

# After adding a new feed (FeedName and URLContext), select that (blank) item
# in SageTV to download its list of content and automatically set its initial
# icon and title. Aterwards, the icon and/or title can be edited near the end
# of the "CustomOnlineVideoUIText.properties" file.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by gblinckmann

Oh, you thought I got this far in the instructions before trying it! Ha!

Oh well, I tried to state it right up front so it wouldn't come as a surprise. But, silly me... when I write instructions, I keep thinking that someone might actually read them.

I think I did forget to mention one thing, though: after modifying the online link properties, you have to re-enter the Online Services menu to reload the links -- just go to the Main Menu & select Online Services again.

- Andy

[sandor]

so this will, for example, allow me to have all my NPR podcasts accessible directly through Sag's Online Menu?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by sandor

so this will, for example, allow me to have all my NPR podcasts accessible directly through Sag's Online Menu?

I don't know about Sag , but this just makes it easier to add your own feed sources to SageTV -- you could add your own previously; this just simpifies it a little.

And, it all depends on whether the feeds you want to add are usable by SageTV.

- Andy

[gblinckmann]

I've got several entries added and they all are working great from the console and the MediaMVP's and via PlaceShifter. The HD100, however, can't seem to handle the audio from Mahalo Daily. Veronica Belmont sounds like a chipmunk! I've got the latest firmware on the HD100, so that shouldn't be an issue. Would anyone mind giving this a try and seeing if they get the same results?

If anybody is curious, these are the entries I've tried so far:

MahaloDaily/URLContext=http://mahalodaily.blip.tv/rss

BuzzReport/URLContext=http://www.cnettv.com/9706-1_53-0.xml?nodeId=12578&title=Buzz%20Report

on10/URLContext=http://on10.net/Feeds/RSS/iPod/Default.aspx

TechnetEdge/URLContext=http://edge.technet.com/Feeds/RSS/iPod/

CnetLive/URLContext=http://www.cnettv.com/9706-1_53-0.xml?nodeId=13485&title=CNET%20Live

[garyellis]

much easier....

Thanks...

Next step..to be able to load the url from the clipboard into the the custom file...from a Sage menu...so, I never have to leave Sage.. (maybe I would have to leave to get the URL..but you know what I mean)

Great help...

Thanks again...

Gary Ellis

[Stuntman]

Does anybody know of a good NasaTV feed? Would it work with this? I would have loved to watch that liftoff and some of those spacewalks on my TV!!

[gblinckmann]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

Does anybody know of a good NasaTV feed? Would it work with this? I would have loved to watch that liftoff and some of those spacewalks on my TV!!

You mean other than the one already in Sage, under "HD Videos/NASACast Video"?

[Stuntman]

Originally Posted by gblinckmann

You mean other than the one already in Sage, under "HD Videos/NASACast Video"?

I mean one like seen here.. streamed through Microsoft Media Player..

http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx

[sandor]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I don't know about Sag , but this just makes it easier to add your own feed sources to SageTV -- you could add your own previously; this just simpifies it a little.

And, it all depends on whether the feeds you want to add are usable by SageTV.

- Andy

Excellent, more accessible is better.

I honestly had not even thought of this idea until i saw this thread, so now i will have to try to set up a few NPR podcasts in Sag'e'TV!

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by gblinckmann

The HD100, however, can't seem to handle the audio from Mahalo Daily.

I forgot to mention that this is being looked into.

- Andy

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by sandor

now i will have to try to set up a few NPR podcasts in Sag'e'TV!

I went to see if there were a few NPR feeds to add & saw that NPR lists 615 feeds! So, I started to wonder if maybe I could narrow it down to some video feeds... then I woke up and remembered NPR is short for National Public Radio...

- Andy

[gblinckmann]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I forgot to mention that this is being looked into.

- Andy

Thanks Andy! You guys are great!

[gblinckmann]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

I mean one like seen here.. streamed through Microsoft Media Player..

http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx

Oh, okay. I see what you're looking for now. That's not really a video podcast, it's streaming video. That would be very cool to be able to stream, but that's not something in Sage (yet). Think streaming to be like live TV. I remember seeing some other streams a few years ago like this, but I never saw a good way to view them. With real-time video getting more popular, this might be a good feature suggestion.

[Opus4]

Update: Since the custom online video feed properties files are supported in SageTV v6.3.9, I have updated the first post of this thread to remove the test STV & replace it with just the sample properties files used to customize the video feeds.

- Andy