Flash video playback error

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
1

Hi folks



This is my first crack at a Plex plugin (and python dev for that matter).



I’m attempting to create a video plugin to view ‘on-demand’ TV from the Australian channel 10 (http://ten.com.au).



I’ve managed to get a first cut of the menu system up, and believe I’ve got the appropriate URLs formatted to retrieve a flash stream. The URL I have created based on the menu selections will play an embedded flash video in a browser, eg:

http://apps.v2.movideo.com/player/flash/movideo_player.swf?apiKey=movideoNetwork10&alias=catch-up-tv-external-embed&playerId=movideoNetwork10_catch-up-tv-external-embed_1285374480319&mediaId=69590



I add this (URL encoded) directly as the URL to the WebVideoContainer.



When it comes to play the file I am getting errors:



09:05:53 T:2687850272 M:122507264   ERROR: Playlist Player: skipping unplayable item: 0, path [plex://127.0.0.1/video/:/webkit?url=http%253A%252F%252Fapps.v2.movideo.com%252Fplayer%252Fflash%252Fmovideo_player.swf%253FapiKey%253DmovideoNetwork10%2526alias%253Dcatch-up-tv-external-embed%2526playerId%253DmovideoNetwork10_catch-up-tv-external-embed_1285374480319%2526mediaId%253D71320&prefix=/video/sc10]<br />
<br />
09:05:53 T:2687850272 M:122507264   DEBUG: Playlist Player: no more playable items... aborting playback


The following is my site configuration (I still need to look into the crop, seek bar etc):

[xml]<site site="http://ten.com.au/*"
site="http://apps.v2.movideo.com/*"
plugin="http://apps.v2.movideo.com/player/flash/movideo_player.swf*"
initialState="playing"
version="1.0">[/xml]

...

Since I'm on Plex9 I believe I can't play around with .strm file(s) to debug.

Any suggestions/pointers on things to try would be much appreciated.

cheers

ps - let me know if it's useful to have the whole plugin bundle attached
2

Hi!

Looking at your site config, I think the problem is caused by one or two things:

  1. The double site attribute in the site tag;

    The value should probably be http://ten.com.au if you’re using the urls of the pages wih the embedded player, or http://apps.v2.movideo.com if you’re using the .swf files directly (I’m not sure if that is possible or even a good idea, because when you link to the swf file the player doesn’t have a specific height and width)
  2. The * should be .*



<site site="http://ten.com.au"<br />
    plugin="http://apps.v2.movideo.com/player/flash/movideo_player.swf.*"<br />
    initialState="playing"<br />
    version="1.0">
3

Hey and Welcome!

A bit off topic…



But, I’ve started a plugin for Channel 9’s “FixPlay” http://fixplay.ninemsn.com.au/

I can’t finish because of geo-blocking. If you’re keen I’ll let you take over.



FYI- I’ve got all of the directories, it just needs support for the actual videos…

4

@sander1 - thanks.

I’ve been using the URL of the swf directly as I’d found that easier to identify and verify. If that is iffy I’ll refocus on the primary flash video and see what I can sniff to understand it’s format.

The double site attribute in the tag I’d only added in because the single attribute wasn’t working. I’ve tried your suggestion re the “.*” but still no joy - yet.



It looks like I’ll have to keep tinkering.



@Dbl_A

Thanks - I’d not stumbled upon the fixplay.ninemsn.com.au site - but I’m definately interested in further developing it. Might take a while as I’m learning as I go - but if you want to send me what you’ve got so far, I’ll keep you (and others) posted on any progress.



cheers

5


Here ya go...
Let me know if I can help/guide you
6


Success (with both the FixPlay plugin and the Channel10 one I was first looking at).

I'll tidy both up, comment on resolution for the original issue, and seek to have them both published in the app store.

For reference - the work you had done was excellent - all I had to do was change the
URL link XPath expression
From:

        <br />
        # I'M GEO-BLOCKED, THIS IS AS FAR AS I GO!!!<br />
        #link = item.xpath("./span/a")[0].get('href')<br />
<br />

To:

        link = item.xpath(".//div[@class='td col3']/a")[0].get('href')


And change to use the WebVideoItem container rather than RMTP stream. Bung in a site config - and it played first go.

Thanks again!
7

So as mentioned - both plugins are working (to v0.1 standard at least).



For the original issue - the site config I required was:



<site site="http://ten.com.au/.*"<br />
    plugin="http://apps.v2.movideo.com/player/flash/movideo_player.swf"<br />
 	initialState="playing"<br />
 	version="1.0"><br />
<br />
<crop x="0" y="0" width="512" height="288" />


I've put both the [Channel 10](http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/Channel10) and [Nine MSN](http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/NineMSN) (FixPlay) plugins up on the unsupported plugins page.

For those interested - I've written up some steps for newbies in developing a plugin [here](http://adamrumbold.com/?p=150)
8

Love your writeup!

9


I can't see the write up... "Not found"
10


Apologies - seems my hosting provider is doing some upgrades. Should be back online soon.
11


Its back online now. Seems my hosting provider had reset my DNS records :angry:
(you get what you pay for - and I'm cheap enough to go with a free host)
12

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