Plex Client For Windows (part II)

Dev Community Dev/API Corner
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New thread covering recent updates to this mini project
All,

I'm happy to announce that *some* work has started up on this mini project! Given that Dave Rensin has been insanely busy and unable
to move development on, I've become a contributor in an effort to gain some momentum - so be gentle, as I'm sure there are still bugs lurking in there and hopefully I've not introduced any regressions! ;)

I've started a new thread, as the previous one although not humungously long, was getting a bit old... However, the reference info
in there still stands [LINK](http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php/topic/18026-plex-client-for-win32-alpha-02/)

***** The usual disclaimers blah blah *****
The software is provided as is..
This app is in no way affiliated with any of the main Plex development or developers..
I'll try and roll in further feature updates and bug fixes when I can (but no guarentees).. By all means direct feedback here and I'll see
what I can do but this will be a *very* part time project at best - sorry :)

Now the good stuff!!! :)

**********************
Version RC 1.6
**********************

[list=1]
[*]You now get Watched/Unwatched functionality (for Direct Streamed files, client will now update PMS)
Also, there's a simple right mouse context menu to allow you to set this status per file.. and a simple visual
cue in the list view for watched items "(*)" :)

[*] Fixed regression in Video Plugin playback. There may still be some more issues around this though, I'll keep an eye on it

To Do: Auto refresh of list view when changing watched/unwatched status.
To Do: Add "Set All Watched/Unwatched" feature
To Do: A pile of other stuff no doubt :)
[/list]
Some addtional info...

[list=1]
[*]Have tested so far on:
[list=2][*] Windows XP SP3 (Client) -> Windows 7 Home Premium (Plex Media Server)
[*]Windows XP SP3 (Client) -> OS X Snow Leopard (PMS)
[*]Windows XP SP3 (Client) -> Windows XP SP3 (PMS)
[*]Windows 7 Home Premium (Client) -> OS X Snow Leopard (PMS)[/list]
[*]Only tested within a Gigabit LAN and performance was good using VLC/MPC HC.. as always YMMV :)

[*]Tested with latest Media Player Classic Home Cinema & VLC. There *appears* to be an issue using MPC HC when
running the client on the same machine as the PMS (Windows 7). You'll need to download and install these apps separately
to make use of them.

[*] Dave R's previous info regarding pre-requisites (.NET 3.5, Bonjour etc.) still stands :)
[/list]

So.. Full thanks go to Dave Rensin who kicked this whole party off and has been really helpful in getting me up to speed! (Not to mention all the effort to get us this far!!) :)

Thoughts, feedback, comments etc. gratefully received!

You can get the goodies here.. [Plex for Win Alpha RC1.6](http://plex-win32-client.googlecode.com/files/Release.RC.1.6.zip)
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** Reserved for future posts **

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Quiet in here… :wink:



Anyway, a question for the plex devs or anyone who might know…



I’d like to extend the functionality of the Windows client to provide “unwatched” information. I know how to query the xml to get that

out of the db, but the problem is the client needs to “update” the db once shows have been watched.



The unwatched flag, gets updated if you use the transcode method of playback, but when doing direct streaming I need to be able to do this manually…

Is there an API call I can use to do this? I know the Plex OS X client does it when direct streaming content (its not transcoded I’m pretty sure

of that)… also, the OSX client can request file deletion from the PMS, so there must be some method of updating the db from a client…



Anyone? :slight_smile:

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You need the ratingKey from the media file.



<Video ratingKey="6791" key="/library/metadata/6791" studio="Universal Studios" type="movie" title="Beethoven" contentRating="PG" <br />
summary="The Newton family live in their comfortable home, but there seems to something missing. This "hole" is filled by a small puppy, who walks into their home and their lives. Beethoven, as he is named, grows into a giant of a <br />
dog... a St Bernard. Doctor Varnick, the local vet has a secret and horrible sideline, which requires lots of dogs for experiments. Beethoven is on the bad doctor's list." <br />
viewCount="1" year="1992" tagline="The head of the family is the one with the tail." thumb="/library/metadata/6791/thumb?t=1308920314" art="/library/metadata/6791/art?t=1308920314" <br />
duration="5220000" originallyAvailableAt="1992-04-03" addedAt="1308920294" updatedAt="1308920314">


Set watched:

http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/scrobble?key=6791&identifier=com.plexapp.plugins.library


Set unwatched:

http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/unscrobble?key=6791&identifier=com.plexapp.plugins.library


Set in progress (the 50000 is the timestamp in milliseconds:

http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/progress?key=6791&identifier=com.plexapp.plugins.library&time=50000
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Many Thanks HD1080, will give that a go :slight_smile:



** EDIT **



Spot on info, allowed me to bang out another version, see first post (updated) :slight_smile:

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Great initiative JMS. I found this thread by coincidence. I suggest you post a final remark in the other thread and link it to here… I am sure that will give you the attention you want.



I will test this one of these days. What I have is:



PMS on Mac Mini late 2009

RC Plex client on windows XP - old IBM portable

Router N dual band



Looks promising what you have done so far … Feedback coming your way soon…

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Do you recommend an “uninstall” of the old alpha before installing this RC?

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Thanks mate... and thanks for linking in the other thread.. Not sure about "wanting" attention, but good feedback is useful :)

I'm just hoping I get more free time to make changes.

As for uninstalling, to be honest you can just overwrite your existing version with all of the files from
the new .zip file. I may get round to building an installshield installer for it.. but its so small at the
moment there's probably no point. Enjoy!
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This sounds awesome - will try it out when I get time :slight_smile:

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Just tried this out and this is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I’ve had XBMC for a while now, and while it was great, it didn’t stream. Then I installed PLEXBMC to stream and it made XBMC such a pain to use I finally got rid of it.



Now I find this today and it’s exactly what I was hoping PLEXBMC would be!



My only gripe (small one) is how videos are played on my computer now. It seems that videos are played full screen and my play/pause buttons don’t work on my keyboard. Also, I haven’t figured out a way of making the video non-full screen yet. (I haven’t messed much with the settings either, so maybe it’s all in there) Otherwise this is awesome!

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Duplicate post, sorry.

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Hi, glad you like it. Dave R did all the heavy lifting, I just added a few useful extra features..

Anyway, what media player app are you using? Are you using the default one (FFPlay)...? One of the features I added
was to give you the option to choose your own Media Playback application.. (I tested with Media Player Classic Home Cinema and VLC)
When using the other media player option, you can pass command line parameters to it to force fullscreen etc. (or not).. From memory
MPC HC uses /fullscreen and VLC uses -f

Also, when using those apps the keyboard controls will be the ones that those apps already support (as effectively you have gone "outside" of
PlexWin). To get back to plexwin, you should close the app (Alt+f4) and then you can use the cursor keys, enter, esc. as normal

Hope this helps
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That does help. I apparently missed that I could configure it to use other players, so I have just been using the stock player it comes with. I personally prefer GOM player, so I’ll have to play around with this some more. Thanks for the response!

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I wonder .... why not pass this client to the VLC guys, so that VLC autodetects PMS content and allows playback directly from there. Bringing the client to VLC will secure a massive user base from launch as opposed to a stand-alone client. Just a thought.
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Its an interesting thought, not sure how I'd go about it.. or whether having a more TV friendly UI as is the case here, is on their roadmap.. also, its still in a very very embryonic state
and could do with more polish ;)
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How to use VLC with the Plex client?



regards

Jan

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VLC can playback streams over pretty much any protocol. If VLC were to support Plex Access, pretty much any computer on the planet would have Plex Client ability. Browse and playback plex content.

VLC handles streaming via commands that are very man-unfriendly and too complex for most humanbeings. Browsing the http front should trigger the VLC commands and playback in rtp/rtsp within VLC

Full integration is a must, otherwise the mass-market will drop out.

Somebody here might have an idea...
http://forum.videolan.org/
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I have raised the question concerning VLC at their site…



http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=95322

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I think the project may be moot given the new windows client they just released yesterday.
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Moot means??? Sorry not my native tongue...

What client was released where?