HuLu/Netflix Queue as RSS Feed - Alpha release - Page 3

Mitch G · #41 09-25-2009, 04:24 PM

I don't know if this is useful to anyone else, but I created a little web interface to update the feeds on demand
It's a very crappy piece of code, but it works.

Assuming you installed the zip file and xamplite as given in the first post ....

under c:/xampplite/htdocs create a file called rssupd.html
In that file put the following code:
<form action="rssupd.php" method="post">
<p>Click submit to update Netflix and Hulu RSS feeds.</p>
<p><input type="submit" /></p>
</form>

under c:/xampplite/htdocs create a file called rssupd.php
In that file put the following code:
<html>
<body>
<?php exec('c:/Playonsage/run.bat'); ?>
<p>
RSS feeds updated.
</body>
</html>

Point your browser to http://<your server IP address>/rssupd.html
Click the submit button and wait.

Note: I had to open up port 80 in windows firewall on my server for other computers to access the URL.

Mitch

Taddeusz · #42 09-25-2009, 04:29 PM

This is odd. Hulu works fine but when I play Netflix videos I get video but no audio. Completely silent. Any ideas?

simonen · #43 09-25-2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

This is odd. Hulu works fine but when I play Netflix videos I get video but no audio. Completely silent. Any ideas?

I know that have reported this problem in the PlayOn forums, so I don't know if it is related. Is it the same problem in the extenders?

Taddeusz · #44 09-25-2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonen

I know that have reported this problem in the PlayOn forums, so I don't know if it is related. Is it the same problem in the extenders?

Yes, I had actually tried my extender first and then my client.

robogeek · #45 09-25-2009, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

This is odd. Hulu works fine but when I play Netflix videos I get video but no audio. Completely silent. Any ideas?

I get NetFlix audio on my MediaMVP extender, but it drifts out of sync with the video fairly quickly. Hulu plays fine for the half hour episodes I tested with. I'm guessing it's a problem with the way PlayOn is encoding the NetFlix stream.

HuMan321 · #46 09-25-2009, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonen

UPDATED: 09/25/09 @ 12:47AM PST

This is in it's alpha stage so there may be many changes as it evolves.

I have created a batch file and some VBscripts script that will take advantage of EvilPenguin's (upnp2podcast.exe) app. These files allow users to run a single file that will bring in the hulu and netflix users queues through PlayOn and turn them into rss feeds that they can add to SageTV and view the videos directly within the UI (server, client, extenders (HD100 and HD200) and placeshifter (even outside your network)).

Files located here: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/2122459/Playonsage.zip

Instructions:
1.) Requires PlayOn version 2.59.3555 to be installed.
2.) Download the zip file and copy the enclosed "Playonsage" folder to your C:\ drive.
3.) Edit vbscripts (hulu and netflix) so that you replace "192.168.1.2" with your own servers IP address. I think these are only required for Windows 7 (not sure about Vista) users. If you are using XP, you likely do not need these vbscripts as it sets the right IP address (or so I have read). You can simply omit them from the "run.bat" file by editing it (edit out lines 3 and 6).
4.) I am currently using xampplite web server, so the vbscripts and run.bat file are set up to work with that. If you are using a different web server or your htdocs folder is in a different location, you will need to edit these files to your htdocs location.
5.) Running the run.bat file: I used windows task manager to execute this file every hour just to be safe. In addition I placed a shortcut to the file in my startup folder so that if I reboot, it will run the run.bat file automatically. You will need to run the run.bat file after every reboot and likely a few times a day at a minimum (not sure how often PlayOn updates their video links).

Running .bat file invisibly: If you are creating a task to run the run.bat file every few hours, you may not want to have the window pop up on your screen when it runs. Simply add "/c" argument when you set up the task and it will run invisibly. Example: c:\playonsage\run.bat /c

Note: Netflix may hang the first time you try to watch a movie and there are reports of audio sync issues (this is a PlayOn problem).

On line 4 where it says to edit location of Htdocs?
Installed Xampplite

mayamaniac · #47 09-25-2009, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HuMan321

On line 4 where it says to edit location of Htdocs?
Installed Xampplite

I think you edit the path of the run.bat and two vbs files, default path to xammplite is c:\xampplite\htdocs\. Open the files with notepad or wordpad and edit the path if you installed xampplite elsewhere, then save.

HuMan321 · #48 09-25-2009, 07:28 PM

Thanks. I did just leave it in the default location to simplify things.

I can put in the url to hulu on the Sageserver itself and it shows up on the server with my queue, but when I do this on the extender it does not (running under server) I typed it in manually on the extender and it still doesn't work. Is there a certain beta firmware I need to be at for this to work on the extender?

How do you address it to work directly from extender mode? I don't see any rss place to enter hulu url???

OK
Added custom online links and now have my hulu queue showing up in online videos. Next problem is that it says the video is not found on the server. I seem to remember reading about this and still wonder if I need to update my extenders from 20090702 0???

Mitch G · #49 09-25-2009, 09:20 PM

I had the same problem where after finally getting the list to show up on the extender, it couldn't find the video.
To solve it I simply re-ran the run.bat file to recreate the xml files.

Mitch

Slipshod · #50 09-25-2009, 09:32 PM

Fun! Playon has lots of interesting feeds. I added a "Twin Peaks" channel to my RSS Feed...

Code:

 C:\playonsage\UPnP2Podcast.exe "PlayOn:CBS:TV Classics:Twin Peaks:+3" > C:\xampplite\htdocs\twinpeaks.xml

Watching the first episode right now, my wife has never seen it before.

Slipshod · #51 09-25-2009, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HuMan321

Added custom online links and now have my hulu queue showing up in online videos. Next problem is that it says the video is not found on the server. I seem to remember reading about this and still wonder if I need to update my extenders from 20090702 0???

No need to update firmware.

I had similar problems when I was trying to get playon installed on my WHS server, so I scrapped it and installed it on my wife's PC instead. Worked much better, and I'll try to figure out the WHS issues later...

simonen · #52 09-25-2009, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HuMan321

OK
Added custom online links and now have my hulu queue showing up in online videos. Next problem is that it says the video is not found on the server. I seem to remember reading about this and still wonder if I need to update my extenders from 20090702 0???

I think it is important to remember that the links to the videos change. This is PlayOn doing this. I don't know why for certain, but I can only assume they are trying to make it difficult for people to copy videos/movies as it would violate terms of service. We, of course, are not doing this.

It is necessary to run the run.bat file every time you reboot, because those links will definitely change. You may need to every run it more than once a day, even if you do not reboot. That is why I suggest setting up the task manager to do this for you several times a day.

If the sage server is playing the video and the extender is not, this is likely due to the vbscript not being edited correctly to your servers ip address or correct path to the htdocs folder. The purpose of this script is to change the ip address from 'localhost' (127.0.0.1) to your server's IP in case the upnp2podcast.exe app is not doing that, which is the case with windows 7.

HuMan321 · #53 09-25-2009, 11:17 PM

Thanks for the input.

My setup is this:

Sage server on a WHS quad core machine.

playon and your files installed on another PC (wifes) which is an I7 running Windows 7 64 Ultimate.

I changed the IP in the two vbs files to my WHS Sage Server
(192.168.123.37) I left the localhost info in the file and edited the other IP.

I added the custom online links from the sticky and the hulu queue shows up in online videos. When I select a video it says the video cannot be found on the server. I saw the posts about re-running the batch file which I did and I still get the same. I updated the firmware on my extender to the latest also.

I should point out that I have not been able to actually test from my WHS server as it does not play video or have media player or anything installed.

Other custom video links play ok so I am not sure why the hulu queue does not...
Still looking for a solution.

evilpenguin · #54 09-26-2009, 12:46 AM

A few things random things I know right now:

a) The video links change fairly often, I think they use the current time as a seed to randomize the name. Once its given you a link, its only good for a small period of time to access it before the link goes bad.

If you're getting "video not found on server error" check the following things

Check the PlayOn config and it should help you with setting your firewall
Make sure you've got PlayOn updated to the lastest version.
Open up the .xml files and verify that the links are real IP address's and not 127.0.1.1 or localhost
Try opening the link in a browser. If it asks you if you want to download the video then the link should be good, but if it gives you a 404 your link went stale and you need to re-run the batch file.

B) I've been emailing Sage about this and they mentioned that progressive downloading a podcast of an MPEG-2 isn't really a use case they anticipated so they aren't surprised that the timebar is acting strange. It a little annoying but it certainly works good enough for everyday use. Once we iron out all of our other problems I'll put together a bug report for them.

matt91 · #55 09-26-2009, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Try opening the link in a browser. If it asks you if you want to download the video then the link should be good, but if it gives you a 404 your link went stale and you need to re-run the batch file.

So I have this all set up, but am getting stuck here.

I get this from my huluqueue.xml file:

Code:

<item> 
      <title>Arrested Development: Pilot</title> 
      <description>Season 01 Episode 001 - </description> 
      <pubDate>2003-11-02T00:00:00</pubDate> 
      <itunes:subtitle>Season 01 Episode 001 - </itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:duration>0:21:46</itunes:duration>
      <enclosure url="http://192.168.1.100:63478/hulu-7081e733-0f8a-495d-a798-59a5e964fd8b/1-hulu-7081e733-0f8a-495d-a798-59a5e964fd8b.mpg" length="998744000" type="video/mpeg2" /> 
    </item>

even if I cut and paste this url into a browser immediately after running the batch file, I'm getting 404's.

Code:

404 Not Found
MediaMallServer/2.59.3555.48

I don't have a firewall turned on at the server.

Any thoughts?

Thomas Wischgol · #56 09-26-2009, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt91

So I have this all set up, but am getting stuck here.

I get this from my huluqueue.xml file:

Code:

<item> 
      <title>Arrested Development: Pilot</title> 
      <description>Season 01 Episode 001 - </description> 
      <pubDate>2003-11-02T00:00:00</pubDate> 
      <itunes:subtitle>Season 01 Episode 001 - </itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:duration>0:21:46</itunes:duration>
      <enclosure url="http://192.168.1.100:63478/hulu-7081e733-0f8a-495d-a798-59a5e964fd8b/1-hulu-7081e733-0f8a-495d-a798-59a5e964fd8b.mpg" length="998744000" type="video/mpeg2" /> 
    </item>

even if I cut and paste this url into a browser immediately after running the batch file, I'm getting 404's.

Code:

404 Not Found
MediaMallServer/2.59.3555.48

I don't have a firewall turned on at the server.

Any thoughts?

Did you try and restart the playon server? Of course, you need to regenerate the xml files after that. I had an error message about Adobe flash failing somewhere on the computer where the playon server was running on, which seemed to have kept it from serving the files that resulted in the error you are getting.

Thomas

JetreL · #57 09-26-2009, 08:17 AM

It works, it works, it really really works!

It took me a while to set up the RSS feed for online videos but it seems to work pretty good. I created a scheduled task to rebuild the RSS feed every hour and have tested it on the SageTV Placeshifter client and it works great! Can't wait to show the WAF. Don't know if she will be as impressed as I am but great work!

JetreL · #58 09-26-2009, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matt91

So I have this all set up, but am getting stuck here.

I get this from my huluqueue.xml file:

Code:

<item> 
      <title>Arrested Development: Pilot</title> 
      <description>Season 01 Episode 001 - </description> 
      <pubDate>2003-11-02T00:00:00</pubDate> 
      <itunes:subtitle>Season 01 Episode 001 - </itunes:subtitle>
      <itunes:duration>0:21:46</itunes:duration>
      <enclosure url="http://192.168.1.100:63478/hulu-7081e733-0f8a-495d-a798-59a5e964fd8b/1-hulu-7081e733-0f8a-495d-a798-59a5e964fd8b.mpg" length="998744000" type="video/mpeg2" /> 
    </item>

even if I cut and paste this url into a browser immediately after running the batch file, I'm getting 404's.

Code:

404 Not Found
MediaMallServer/2.59.3555.48

I don't have a firewall turned on at the server.

Any thoughts?

Have you went to and logged into Hulu's website from your browser on the computer that Playon is running. I read somewhere that that is a requirement to pulling videos from Hulu's site with Playon? worth a try Maybe reinstall flash if that doesn't work?

Thomas Wischgol · #59 09-26-2009, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JetreL

Have you went to and logged into Hulu's website from your browser on the computer that Playon is running. I read somewhere that that is a requirement to pulling videos from Hulu's site with Playon? worth a try Maybe reinstall flash if that doesn't work?

As far as I remember from having to do this months ago, they just want you to accept their new terms. So you should be able to just log in using your Hulu account credentials and you should be fine.

Thomas

Taddeusz · #60 09-26-2009, 08:49 AM

I'm not sure but the no sound thing with Netflix may be due to not having an interactive user logged into the computer. I can't be certain though because the video was choppy but there was crackling audio playing between chops. When I'm logged off my SageTV server I get smooth video but no audio.

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