I’ve been playing around with Plex Channel Plug-ins for probably a little less than a week now. It’s sort of addictive when things work, but I’ve definitely had many confused moments too.
The Daily Show plug-in adds a video clip using a command like this:
dir.Append(Function(VideoItem(FindEpisodePlayer, title=title, subtitle=subtitle, summary=description, thumb=Function(GetThumb, url=thumb)), url=clipUrl))
where FindEpisodePlayer returns this:
return Redirect(WebVideoItem(flashlink))
From what I can tell, this means that the plug-in is handing off the non-DRM video clip directly for Plex to handle (which also means that the plug-in does not need a Site Configuration). When I play this clip on the Windows Plex Client, I cannot pause, rewind, or fast forward (using the space bar, period, comma, and square bracket keys). When I do press the space bar, it briefly shows the seekbar and then it disappears. Is this normal behavior for this type of video clip? The strange thing is when I play an episode of the Daily Show on my Roku, I can rewind and fast forward to a limited extent - I assume that the Roku implementation has some limited buffer of video that I can move around in. Is it impossible for Plex seek to different areas of the video clip for this particular video format? Can you use a:
return Redirect(WebVideoItem(flashlink))
and use a Site Configuration file for the seekbar?
There are some websites, such as PBS, where the video clip is not DRM free. In this case, if I try to do a:
return Redirect(WebVideoItem(flashlink))
Plex complains. So in the case of PBS (for Windows at least which does not have the Helper "decrypt" binary), I would have to make a Site Configuration file. Theoretically, I should be able to pause, rewind, and fast forward with a Site Configuration file if I set things up right. However, my experience is that the tag is really hard to get right. Some of the problems I have experienced with different websites are the following:
1. Seekbars that disappear if the mouse is not hovering over it. Usually what this means is if I try to rewind or fast forward, the Windows Plex Client can't see any seekbar and so it takes me to the end of the video clip. Is there anyway to have Plex move the mouse to the seekbar and pause there for a little bit before trying to do any seekbar actions?
2. Seekbars that are semi-transparent, even the thumb part. Therefore, I can't specify a single color in the tag. I have tried playing around with the op="brighter-than" option for the tag but have so far been unsuccessful with it. For example, here is a sample that I tried:
<br />
<seekbar type="thumb"><br />
<start x="0" y="247" /><br />
<end x="511" y="247" /><br />
<played><br />
<color rgb="70B010" op="brighter-than" /><br />
</played><br />
</seekbar><br />
I was hoping that the tag (with the op specifier) would mean "search for a thumb on the seekbar that is fairly green or even brighter than that." I guess I don't really know what "brighter-than" really means. Maybe the syntax of my tag is wrong.
3. Seekbars that have graphical breaks in them due to commercials. I don't know how to handle these.
And one more observation/question. For a website like vevo.com, the embedded video player changes size as you change the size of your browser window. Is there anyway to specify the width and height of the Plex internal browser so that you can lock in the size of the embedded player (in order to create a Site Configuration)?
