New: External Link Support in Android MiniClient

[cncb]

New in version 1.8.0 is suport for external links to open videos directly in other Android apps from the SageTV library. This is accomplished by renaming and importing a small "placeholder" video in the following format: "TITLE.ESCAPEDURL.exlink". The ESCAPEDURL can be a direct video link (deep link) or an app package name if direct links are not supported. ".exlink" needs to be added to "seeker/video_library_import_filename_extensions" in Sage.properties.

The format of the URL is different for each service but the same for each video in the service except for a VIDEOID that you need to get from the service's website. The URL needs to be escaped (including the periods with %2E) to make up the file name.

Amazon
https://watch.amazon.com/watch/asin=VIDEOID

Imported file name:
TITLE.https%3A%2F%2Fwatch%2Eamazon%2Ecom%2Fwatch%3Fasin%3DVIDEOID.exlink

Netflix
http://www.netflix.com/watch/VIDEOID

Imported file name:
TITLE.http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enetflix%2Ecom%2Fwatch%2FVIDEOID.exlink

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I am not able to test the following but these might work too:

Disney+
https://www.disneyplus.com/video/VIDEOID

Imported file name:
TITLE.https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edisneyplus%2Ecom%2Fvideo%2FVIDEOID.exlink

HBO Max
https://play.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:VIDEOID

Imported file name:
TITLE.https%3A%2F%2Fplay%2Ehbomax%2Ecom%2Ffeature%2Furn%3Ahbo%3Afeature%3AVIDEOID.exlink

Hulu
http://www.hulu.com/watch/VIDEOID

Imported file name:
TITLE.http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ehulu%2Ecom%2Fwatch%2FVIDEOID.exlink

[cncb]

Working examples on the NVidia Shield TV:

Amazon movie

The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019).https%3A%2F%2Fwatch%2Eamazon%2Ecom%2Fwatch%3Fasin%3DB07W7KKY9Q.exlink

Netflix movie

Escape From Planet Earth (2012).http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enetflix%2Ecom%2Fwatch%2F70244165.exlink

Netflix tv episode

Brainchild - S01E04.http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enetflix%2Ecom%2Fwatch%2F80215236.exlink

Open Vudu app (manual navigation to video)

Man On Fire (2004).air%2Ecom%2Evudu%2Eair%2EDownloaderTablet.exlink

[KeithAbbott]

A couple of questions:

• So the external link(s) would show up under the "Videos" main menu within SageTV?
• What would the expected behavior be if I selected one of those external links on, say, an HD300? Is this gracefully handled?
• What would the expected behavior be if I initially set up the external link while subscribed to Disney+, but subsequently dropped the subscription to Disney+? Is this gracefully handled?
• How is authentication to each of the various apps (Netflix, Vudu, etc.) handled?

[cncb]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

A couple of questions:

• So the external link(s) would show up under the "Videos" main menu within SageTV?
• What would the expected behavior be if I selected one of those external links on, say, an HD300? Is this gracefully handled?
• What would the expected behavior be if I initially set up the external link while subscribed to Disney+, but subsequently dropped the subscription to Disney+? Is this gracefully handled?
• How is authentication to each of the various apps (Netflix, Vudu, etc.) handled?

1) They would show up just like any other video alongside your ripped movies and/or shows.
2) The HD300 would just play the placeholder video you used. I created a short video that just shows "Watch on Vudu" for a few seconds.
3) If you don't have a subscription, the Disney+ app is launched to the normal initial screen in the app.
4) This doesn't do anything with authentication or deal with your accounts at all. It just launches the appropriate app with the given URL. If there is no app installed that can handle the URL, it won't launch anything. If you are not logged in to the app, it will launch the app and the app will ask you to login as usual as if you launched it manually from the home screen.

[VCRUser]

So, this isn't for playing videos that you may have downloaded from, say, Netflix using PlayOn, but rather a way to link from Sage Miniclient to a video living in the Netflix (or whatever) cloud, open the Neflix app & play the video there - then back to Sage Miniclient (or stay in the Netflix app) when done?

[cncb]

Correct. For example, you could display a Netflix series along with your normal recordings. When you select an episode it will launch Netflix where you can watch it. Then when you return to SageTV you can mark the episode watched or delete it. In my case, I have the streaming-only version of some movies and want to be able to display and watch them in my SageTV library along with my ripped movies.

[deanm]

This sounds very interesting.

Is this limited to Netflix etc. How is playing of the files handled?

Could you possibly link this to say a file hosted on a URL? Like IPTV?

Dean

[cncb]

Originally Posted by deanm

Is this limited to Netflix etc. How is playing of the files handled?

Could you possibly link this to say a file hosted on a URL? Like IPTV?

It hands the URL off to the Android system and if there is an app registered to handle the URL it is launched. If you have a specific player app that is registered to handle a generic URL it should work. Maybe VLC? Otherwise, you could try installing a browser.