How does PMS deliver the streams to clients

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
1

Hi there,



I’m a new Plex users and I’m also a developer. So I’m interested in how PMS delivers its streams to its clients? Does it simply provide a URL to the stream, or how does it work? I couldn’t find any information on this.



Regards

2

Hi,

It's done by HTTP Streaming -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_technology#HTTP_server_push

Lot of juicy dev goodness this way -> http://dev.plexapp.com/
3

Thanks for the info Trudge.



I also found the HTTP Control API here: http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/HTTP_Control_API



Looks like I can play media using the application/playFile and application/playMedia command. The next question was how to get the path parameter needed for those http commands. Well, further investigation revealed the using URL Commands I would be able to retrieve the needed parameters like key, path etc…



However, one question remains is: does this only allow to playback media files stored on the server. What about other channels (is that what they are called?) I’m mostly interested in accessing media delivered from the Spotify plugin.



For your understanding here is my scenario:

I have a linux based set top box (VU+) which allows to develop python plugins. I would like to be able to access and control the Plex Spotify plugin installed my PMS (Headless Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS in my basement) and have the audio from the Spotify plugin directed through the VU+ (and any other media from Plex). As far as I understand it, playing “normal” media should be quite easy with the methods provided, but I’m not so sure about other media.