View Full Version : [REQUEST] TVcatchup.com (UK) Plugin or Script?
jamiec21
2008-01-01, 14:45
As there seems to be high interest in a script for the BBC's iPlayer service (and rightly so, it's a fantastic service), I'd like to request a script for http://www.tvcatchup.com/ , which seems to be an independent, unauthorised service providing much of the same thing, but also for 2 dozen other UK FTA channels as well.
yeah, great request, as this site isnt limited to the uk, unlike iplayer.
paperclipmonkey
2008-01-01, 17:19
Doesn't look like it'd be too hard. It would be nice to have it as a script and a plugin though. The script could be used for browsing / watching and recording.
And the plugin could work a lot like the last.fm integration, with separate parts for public and personal, so you can still watch programmes you haven't scheduled.
Would be a great way to get yourself into scripting, im sure some of the python devs would be happy to give advice to whoever takes this on...
Look forward to seeing an outcome from this :)
yeah, i'm thinking about the site being included in the xot-uzg script. Though i don't have a clue on coding/scraping and all that. I'll ask basje for some guidance..
ive started porting this as a channel to XOT would be nicer as a standalone plugin but i personally wouldnt know where to start... Nuka is king of bling when it comes to that :)
Oh my. This site just has all the streams as FLV over HTTP. We don't have that RTMP headache that we're having with the iPlayer thing at the moment. Well, sounds like you guys are on it already. Ace :D
TheBoxMan
2008-01-03, 00:55
Good find guys. Big thumbs up :D
paperclipmonkey
2008-01-06, 02:18
I personally don't seem to be able to open up the flv streams at all. Tried VLC and XBMC and neither of them seem to work, also saving the webpage to the desktop and opening it like that doesn't work either. Has anyone got any ideas?
i'm getting an acces denied page when I try to go to the main page. bastards started logging ip-adresses. so i cant view the content anymore because i'm not in england....
yeah i dropped the idea to many changes happening at the moment and i have other stuff to maintain.
paperclipmonkey
2008-01-08, 22:24
It's on!
From the tv catchup forum:
Guys
Thought I'd jump on this topic as my first post as XMBC is a subject close to my heart. I have two of the units at my place and use them both daily. Every time Salazar comes over here I try to persuade him to get one for himself, but so far he has resisted! A plugin for this site is definatly something I (personally) had thought of and would support. Also, as a brief introduction, I'm one of the developers behind the backend side of things here at TVC - the code that actually produces the videos from the off-air transmissions is mine.
At the present time, after a very brief discussion with the rest of the site admins, the thought here is that we would be prepared to produce an API interface in order that software such as XMBC could integrate with us without having to use scrapers or other similar techniques. There are a couple of issues that will need to be addressed, not least the bandwidth that would be consumed, and of course the same restrictions that a regular user of the site would have would need to be carried over to the API.
Anyway, I think this is best discussed directly in the XBMC forum, so I will sign up there as/when the site comes back up. It seems to be suffering from a DNS issue at the moment.
Cheers, Chris
http://www.tvcatchup.com/forums/16/thread/512/
So it seems they're willing to help us get this together, once the dev comes over it really will help us get this going!
Any python developers willing to help with the coding of the xbmc side?
C-Quel?
it would be great if they would disable the ip-logging too, so we could enjoy it worldwide..like uzg-xot
it would be great if they would disable the ip-logging too, so we could enjoy it worldwide..like uzg-xot
links above goto there forums and find out why.
i'm being blocked from the forums too because of a foreign ip..
i'm being blocked from the forums too because of a foreign ip..
You could always buy a holiday home in the UK if you want it that badly INSTANT access to there forum :laugh:
You could always buy a holiday home in the UK if you want it that badly INSTANT access to there forum :laugh:
Lol, UK-tv is good, but it aint that good!
Makes sense though to block foreigners from domestic tv, because of un-aired stuff and copyraights and all..i'll just wait and see what happens with this...:cool:
TheBoxMan
2008-01-11, 15:20
if they block your IP then proxy or find a vnc within the uk to tunnel through - problem solved ;-)
Or simply reboot your modem if your IP address isn't static :-D
@TBM
Sounds like a neat trick, can you provide more details as to how I would locate a UK Proxy and make this work. I am a bit of a newby but want to give this a try.
Thanks,
TheBoxMan
2008-01-12, 04:48
You can set up a proxy via the network settings in XBMC or on your PC.
Also most internet browsers can configure proxies in their config.
As for finding proxy servers themselves it's quite easy.
If you google 'proxy list' you'll find loads of sites offering them.
You can go for varying degrees of anonymity in proxies. Bare in mind that the more anonymous frequently the more people use it (crackers/hackers etc) and consequently its frequently slower.
Basically a proxy is an intermediate computer between you and the website you're talking to. The website sends all it's messages to the proxy which sends them on to you. The website simply thinks it's talking to the proxy and if the proxy is in the UK then it will consequently circumvent the IP ban. ;-)
Some particularly zellous admins will ban certain proxies but then again the rate at which new ones are published largely means that this strategy is useless. You can find another one in 2 seconds flat. Many admins recognise it for what it is though: more work than it's worth. Few users knowto use them anyway.
.....once the dev comes over it really will help us get this going!
Hey all
For some reason it took a week for the activation email to come through, but I'm here now. Is anyone still interested in doing this?
TheBoxMan
2008-01-14, 22:28
in a word: yes!
Shame I've not got the skills to make it happen yet ;)
Luckily the community isn't deficient in those that do have those skills ;)
Microchip
2008-01-15, 16:22
Just as a random topic, jumping the gun a little I know as there's no development done yet, but addressing one of the concerns raised by one of the TVCatchup admins: I noted on the TVCatchup forums that you're concerned about the extra bandwidth usage, which is a fair point. What about adding an advert at the beginning of the show in question of your own if accessed via the external API? I'm fairly sure people wouldn't mind having to sit through an advert at the beginning in order to have the site integrated with XBMC. Just a random thought to throw into the pool at the very beginning...
TheBoxMan
2008-01-20, 17:42
So what needs to happen?
Don't know. There's talk of creating a custom API so we don't need to scrape the website.
I'm not sure if there's currently development ongoing behind the scenes ore not.
Leastways that's what I like to imagine is going on. I'd love to see this project succeed. It's got great potential. ;-)
If anyone needs help with testing or anything let me know. Other than that I'm afraid my meager skills aren't quite the equal of my boundless enthusiasm ;)
With XBMC Fox itīs possible to paste the URL to XBMC. Works fine. I think itīs okay to do that, isnīt it? (Because downloading the tvcatchup recordings isnīt allowed, accoring to their Terms)
TheBoxMan
2008-02-14, 01:02
well technically you're not downloading it you're streaming it (i.e. downloading only a tiny bit then deleting it) which is what their own flash app will probably do anyway so I think it's all good.
Still would be better to see an XBOX only solution!
I think they have been closed down by there ISP, can any one else confirm this?
Yeah.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/15/tvcatchup_downed/
As of October 2008, The website TVCatchup.com is back online.
Id love to refresh support for this on XBMC they have a developers forum here (http://forums.tvcatchup.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15).
Yes, this looks like it offers quite a good collection of programmes - much better than porting individual channels (BBC, Ch4 etc...)
Do you have a proxy for the stream stuff to work?
I'm really hoping this time a script (with proxy) will see the light of day...
Probably gonna need Mr Voinage on the case... anyone done a request in his list?
realdavidfield
2009-05-20, 01:16
just like to say that aj_gerbil over at the tvcatchup has put together a rather useful alpha of this, i have it working on xbmc under ubuntu, but the lack of flash streaming on xbmc means that he needs the external flash player to get this working. so what do we have to do, on xbmc to get internal flash streaming working?
HexusOdy
2009-05-20, 10:44
just like to say that aj_gerbil over at the tvcatchup has put together a rather useful alpha of this, i have it working on xbmc under ubuntu, but the lack of flash streaming on xbmc means that he needs the external flash player to get this working. so what do we have to do, on xbmc to get internal flash streaming working?
Your probably best speaking to Dink in the iPlayer plugin thread, he knows about what can and can't be done with streaming.
Your probably best speaking to Dink in the iPlayer plugin thread, he knows about what can and can't be done with streaming.
2 part answer
Running RTMP streams under xbmc you need
a rtmp://server:1935/.... url
listitem.setProperty("SWFPlayer", SWFPlayer)
listitem.setProperty("PlayPath", PlayPath)
and possibly listitem.setProperty("PageURL", PageURL)
Have a look through the IPlayer code or search the xbmc-addons (http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl=en&lr=&q=SWFPlayer+package%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fxbmc-addons%5C.googlecode%5C.com&sbtn=Search) for more examples. This ticket has some more info http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/5159 . Looking through the tvcatchup webpages and using wireshark are the best ways to figure out the required values of these variables.
The second part is a problem as it isn't yet supported in the XBMC rtmp code. Since this is a live stream it probably needs FCSubscribe support. Frosty details this here http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=247071&postcount=777 . It is currently the major issue holding up support of streaming the live BBC broadcasts see http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46424
For getting FCSubscribe support Frosty is the guy as he both supplies most of the XBMC rtmp patches and knows the guy behind tvcatchup.
Cheers
Dink
fantaman32
2009-05-23, 18:30
Done.
I put one together for my media center the other night. Posted it here (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51575)