New Channel - Webisodes

I have written a new channel I call Webisodes.  Sorry for the long instructions, but the channel pulls from a lot of sources and has some limitations that I have not been able to find workarounds for yet.

 

It pretty much creates a channel of your favorite web series from different sources on the Internet. It will work with Yahoo Screens original shows, YouTube playlist and user uploads, Vimeo shows, BlipTV shows, and RSS Feeds. I have added two shows from each source by default, just to show you how the program works. It allows you to add a show with just the URL address and also delete shows, with some special side instructions necessary for Roku users.

 

Roku only allows user entry in the form of a search screen and it pushes or sends each letter you enter directly to the coding of the channel (so it tries to add a separate show for every letter of the URL you enter). These are glitches I have not been able to find a work around for, so I have created some tools and special instructions for anyone using this channel with Roku that uses the Remoku web site and the recent search list.

 

The channel is available through the Unsupported Appstore. If there are any updates to the code, I will include an edit here with the date to let you know an update is available.  You can then go to the Webisodes channel listed in the Unsupported Appstore and choose update to get the latest version of the code.

 

LATEST UPDATE:

11/1/2013 - New Version Available - fixed issue with Yahoo Screens shows causing errors.

 

OLDER UPDATE:

6/10/2013 - fixed issue with Hulu shows not loading due to id error.

6/9/2013  - fixed int issue in YouTube to allow multiple pages, reverted to messages vs redirect when making changes like adding or deleting shows, added sort to show sections by title, and deleted any excess log messages that were no longer needed.

 

For full instructions, please read the user entry instructions text file in the Contents folder, but I will post the instructions below:

 

NOTES AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THIS CHANNEL

With this channel you can add shows from all the sources listed.  I have also added a "Channel Tools" section with some additional tools that can be useful including resetting the shows to the default in case you have any problems, instructions for Roku users, and a Roku Dummy Search, (see Roku User notes below for full explanation). The format for the URL to be entered is given below and usually follows the URL address given in your browsers address bar.

 

RSS feeds seems to work for any RSS feed, I have tested so far, as long as there is already a Plex URL service for the show. So you cannot enter a URL, for example, your local news station unless someone has created a URL service for it. I have included error testing, so the channel will tell you if no URL service exists for the show you entered.  And the Hulu section only allows for the original shows that allow viewing through their site without having to enter a username and password.

YOUTUBE
Examples:
Playlist url: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl4T6p7km9dbx0o8J35KjWAwaiEo5tV7G
User upload url: http://www.youtube.com/user/NewarkTimesWeddings
YAHOO SCREEN ORIGINAL SHOWS
Example: http://screen.yahoo.com/failure-club/
VIMEO
Example: http://vimeo.com/channels/highmaintenance
BLIPTV
Example: http://blip.tv/bigcountryblues
RSS FEEDS
Example: http://www.cwtv.com/feed/video/xml

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR ROKU USERS:
ROKU USERS CAN BENEFIT FROM USING THE REMOKU WEB BASED REMOTE CONTROL TO ENTER A URL ADDRESS. THE REMOKU IS AVAILABLE AT http://remoku.tv/ AND LINK IT TO THE ADDRESS OF YOUR ROKU MACHINE. INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE INFO ARE AVAILABLE AT http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=46852. ONCE YOU HAVE REMOKU RUNNING IN YOUR BROWSER, YOU CAN THEN CAN COPY AND PASTE THE URL ADDRESS INTO THE REMOKU.  

You and Mikewhy should gang up on the Plex Roku channel devs and ask for a way to disable the 'automatically send each character after a ##ms pause' search feature.

I know I've seen some of my Roku channels use a 'static' search..I'm reasonably sure it could be done.

Good work (even if complicated).

I look forward to your stuff as you find work-arounds (including the above suggested abuse of the Roku Plex channel devs :) )

I posted and asked but noone seems to know how to get around the Roku sending every character. I remember Mikewhy talking about turning off the auto-complete, but I think they deal with it after it is sent to their search service, because there is nothing I can find in the channel code. Even the YouTube channel search that works so well still sends a request to the channel for every letter you enter into the Roku.

Cool stuff!  Thanks for this.

I was in the middle of fixing the TGWTG channel, but they all seem to be working within the blip.tv framework of your plugin.

Related question -- I've noticed that the pauldotcom blip.tv channel doesn't seem to work.

There are no logs in the specific plugin log file, but in the PMS log file, the Completed request for GET /video/webisodes for the Nostalgia critic has a return code of 200.

For the pauldotcom channel, the log line is essentially the same (with appropriate changes for pauldotcom) but with a return code of 500.

The format within the iframe for PDC is similar to that of NC and others on blip.tv.  Any pointers on what debug steps to take next?

Sorry, some of your abbreviations are confusing me a little. Not sure what the TGWTG channel is.

I am taking that PDC is pauldotcom and NC is Nostalgia Critic. And I am assuming that you are having issues or problems getting both of these shows to work using this Webisodes channel? And I appreciate this info because it would be impossible for me to go through every possible show that could be added to this channel and test it, so knowing where their may be glitches that can be fixed is so helpful.

I just pulled up the two shows to get the URLs. Let me try adding them and take a look at the code and see what I may be able to see that is different for them and why their may be issues. That way I can throw in some log statements on my local version that may find what is different about them and see if there is some tweaking to the code that may pick them up.

I will let you know what I find.

UPDATE:

At first look, Nostalgia Critic loads fine, it just takes forever to load, so you may be getting timeouts.  There is an issue with the format of the duration info for pauldotcom. Give me a little time to tweak code and I will create some type of exception to either handle the alternate format or return blank value for that.

There was one video on the 14th page that did not have a duration so it was kicking out the whole show.  I added an exception and it seems to be working fine now. I have updated the copy of the Webisode channel on my Github.

So, Darkwind, try downloading the channel again and see if that fixes your problems and please let me know.

Ah!  Sorry for the acronym soup. =)

TGWTG = That guy with the glasses.

You're right on with the Nostalgia Critic.

Actually, both TGWTG and NC work great with your plugin.  I didn't notice any from those playlists that didn't function, but glad that you found something useful from that endeavor.

The problem I ran into was with the PDC, or pauldotcom (pauldotcom.com) channel on blip.tv.  When I look at the HTML source, I see what seems to be similar content at the level of the actual video (ld / sd / hd), but leading up to that point I'm sure something is different.

Pauldotcom is a security podcast with more heckling and conversation about beer than much anything else.  They bring the content over to blip.tv shortly after recording.  It's a decently entertaining / educational / security newsy feed.

Thanks for taking a look so quickly.  I'll download the newest copy and have a go!

BTW, how did you locate the video with no duration?  Any special debug options?

Awesome!  All are working for me now.  Thanks again!

Great to hear Darkwind. And thank you for helping test the channel and finding this issue.

BTW, to anyone trying the channel, any suggestions for additional sources or tweaks you can see that might make it better, please let me know.

I was thinking that some of the channels do not always bring things up in the best order, so I may play with looking at trying to add sorting on some. At the least maybe by date where and if possible, so the latest episode will always be at the front of the list.

BTW, how did you locate the video with no duration?  Any special debug options?

Sorry, I must have missed this part of your post, and that is why I didn't respond.  Not sure why you didn't see an error in the plugin log and I did.  I am wondering if it is because I am using a Roku. Maybe it gives an error with Roku, where PMC may have just timed out.  (I am assuming you are using PMC as your client)

But when I added the pauldotcom show to my copy of the webisode channel and tried to open it, I got an error when I tried to open the pauldotcom show page. When I looked at the webisode channel log, there was a duration error pointing to a particular line of code. Also in the log, it seemed to be processing through every page for the show fine until it hit page 16.  When I went back and looked at page 16 on the show's website at BlipTV, I saw a video there that had no duration.

It is curious that you did not get an error in the log. I do wonder if the Roku is more sensitive to these types of errors. Do you use PMC as your client?

Pushed a couple updates for the channel. I will edit the first post to reflect the new date. I fixed a problem with Hulu not showing episode numbers and added support for more than 50 videos from YouTube.

I also added a sort by originally_available_at to all of the section except Yahoo. It is not a perfect solution, since many webisodes release multiple episodes on the same date, they are not all in perfect order, but at least you will see the latest released videos first . I didn't add it to Yahoo because it already puts the newer section videos in proper order and since many episodes had the same date, the sort actually messed up the order of Yahoo shows. And the other video section of Yahoo did not have a originally_available_at.

Here is a question for anyone trying out the channel. Right now, when you add a new show, I have it set to automatically send you to that updated section. But that also means later when you try to exit the channel completely, you have to hit the back button alot more.  I could change it to where after you add a channel, it gives you an added show message, and you have to hit the back button a few times right then to return to the main menu and then reenter the section where you added the show.

Just trying to figure out if it is better practice for the channel design to have to hit the escape or back button a few times after each show is added or several times later when you are trying to exit the channel.

I am starting to think, it is better practice to send a message to the screen and have to back through a couple pages at the time you make changes vs having to back out of a lot or hit home when you want to exit the channel. So I will probably reverse this. There are some little tweaks and log messages I need to pull out of the code, so I may give it a few days to make sure there is nothing else before updating the code. Unless anyone else finds something that needs a fix before then.

Just a quick question -- the Hulu show "The Booth at the End", does this play for you with this plugin without any Hulu credentials?

I'm just getting errors about no content when I select it.  I'm running the most current available code as of the time of this message.

Otherwise the plugin is working well for me. 

Actually, Hulu is the one channel that does not work for me.  I can get webkit channels to work if I keep the webkit window open on my PMS computer, but Hulu will not work for me in any situation. (I think it may be an Win7 as my PMS server issue, since others with that setup have similar issues). 

In, theory, you should not need to login to watch these shows since they are Hulu original shows.  When you access Hulu original shows through their website, a login is not required. But that is in theory and may depend on how the Hulu services works. I was kind of hoping someone who was able to get Hulu to work on their system through the official channel could help me test this. Does the regular Hulu channel work for you? If so, I may get you to help me test some things with the Hulu section.

Also, I made a few little tweaks to the channel.  I am updating it now and once you see the new date on the first post, the new version will be available. This should be the last of the tweaks unless we find something through testing.

The changes to the latest version are fixed int issue in YouTube, reverted to messages vs redirect when making changes like adding or deleting shows, added sort to show sections by title, and deleted any excess log messages that were no longer needed.

I am now getting errors trying to load Hulu shows. Sorry I thought you were saying that it just wouldn't play the video.  Something must have changed in the code of the page. 

Yep. They changed the page. Tweaked the code and it is pulling Hulu shows now.

Just uploaded new version to Github.  Darkwind, let me know if you can access the Hulu shows now.

Yep. They changed the page. Tweaked the code and it is pulling Hulu shows now.

Just uploaded new version to Github.  Darkwind, let me know if you can access the Hulu shows now.

Apologies for the delay.  I'm idling a bit today with a wall of conference calls on the calendar, so I'll do something a bit more productive with my time and install your updated plugin! =)

Thanks for taking a look so quickly.  I'll report back in a few!

Reporting in:  

I did just a quick test on my Android and Plex Home Theatre players.  You're right -- the shows are definitely appearing on the list now.

When I go to play the content, the Android player causes a transcoding window to appear on the Plex server, as expected, however no video is displayed (I only waited about 60 seconds).

When attempting to play with through PHT, The initial ad is displayed, and there is no transcoder process running on the Plex server.  However, the sound stops after just a few seconds.  The ad plays to completion, then the episode starts.  It is not smooth though (skipping frames?), and there is no sound.

Oh... finally, though the Plex web interface (which I never actually use but just tried for testing purposes), it works fine, but I'm immediately redirected to the Hulu before even the ad plays, so I have to use the back button to get back to Plex.

=)