VLC Player plug-in for the Foxsat HDR

raydon

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I'm pleased to announce the release of the VLC player plug-in for the Foxsat HDR's web interface. Your Freesat SD recordings can now be streamed directly from the HDR into your web browsers window.

First of all I'd like to give credit and my thanks to adrianf36 for providing and beta testing the 'hooks' into the web interface which enable the player functionality from the media browser page. My thanks also go to Partridge and REPASSAC for beta testing the plug-in on a variety of browsers and operating systems.

Obviously, since the plug-in uses VLC for playback, a prerequisite is that VLC with the appropriate browser plug-in is installed on your PC.
A full user guide is provided via the Documentation link on the main page but using the plug-in is very simple.

Once installed, an additional 'Play' button becomes available in the 'Media Details' pop-up window after selecting a compatible file type. Please note that the player only supports unencrypted .ts video files and mp3 audio files. The 'Play' button will not be visible for any other file type.

playbutton.png


Clicking the 'Play' button will launch the player in the Web Interface:
vlcplayerh.png


You will then be presented with a number of playback options within the player window.

That's it then. I hope you enjoy this latest addition to the web interface.

My regards to all here on AVForums.

raydon
 
Nice one guys, thanks very much. Had to do a bit of jiggery-pokery to get it to work with Chrome (unistalling VLC, disabling WMP plug-in in the Chrome options, reinstalling), but it works a treat.
 
.....................
Unfortunately it is still not working. VLC plays back the files beautifully if downloaded, but wont play them from inside any browser. I have no idea, can anyone help? Thanks.
Browser security settings for Activex controls? Try adding the HDR as a trusted Site.
 
Browser security settings for Activex controls? Try adding the HDR as a trusted Site.

no joy for me either with IE or firefox.:confused:

Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Timestamp: Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:14:11 UTC


Message: 'playlist.items' is null or not an object
 
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no joy for me either with IE or firefox.:confused:
Me niether, nor safari. I wondered whether another prerequisite was to be on version 4.0.6 or should it still work on 4.0.4?
Another thing is I'm getting mongoose stop running on a regular occurrence, normally after refreshing after the message that the plug-in has crashed.

edit: just to say never had problem with mongoose before.
 
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Me niether, nor safari. I wondered whether another prerequisite was to be on version 4.0.6 or should it still work on 4.0.4?
Another thing is I'm getting mongoose stop running on a regular occurrence, normally after refreshing after the message that the plug-in has crashed.

edit: just to say never had problem with mongoose before.

While Safari is supposed to be more compliant than it was before. I don't think anyone tested with it as a large amount of Apple users prefer Firefox.

There are no changes since 4.0.4 that would make a difference to the plugin running - Check you browser to see it is loaded. The only one which could possibly be relevant is a caching directive addition in 4.0.5+. Running ActiveX controls are subject to browser security settings.

Mongoose is known to not like being hurried.
 
@ REPASSAC. Yep plug-in for firefox loaded. ActiveX running after giving permission on first run within IE and Safari. But either the plug-in crashes and after a refresh I'm left with just the control panel and a grey rectangle where the video should be.
 
Firefox on the Mac doesn't work for me. It states that a plugin is needed with a little install button. When pressed, does a quick search and then says that there is nothing compatible. It then has a manual install button that when pressed, takes you to the VLC website, which I already have installed along with the latest plugin!
 
Firefox on the Mac doesn't work for me. It states that a plugin is needed with a little install button. When pressed, does a quick search and then says that there is nothing compatible. It then has a manual install button that when pressed, takes you to the VLC website, which I already have installed along with the latest plugin!

Seems others have had problems on the Mac - try searching for "vlc plugin firefox mac".
 
@ REPASSAC. Yep plug-in for firefox loaded. ActiveX running after giving permission on first run within IE and Safari. But either the plug-in crashes and after a refresh I'm left with just the control panel and a grey rectangle where the video should be.

Some problems with the Firefox plugin were noted and documented. IE9 worked well for all testers without problems. What version of IE were you using?
Mongoose is known to have occasional problems with being interrupted (Rather like some acquaintances) Crashes can be avoided if you wait until the page is complete.
 
Great job on another useful addition.

Just to let you know that initially I couldnt get this to work under Chrome or IE9. (grey box or plugin crash).

I then tried loading the file in VLC client directly and it asked for the authentication (username/password). It then occured to me that this was stopping the plugin.

Good news is that with the authentication disabled, it works great!

Thanks
 
Some problems with the Firefox plugin were noted and documented. IE9 worked well for all testers without problems. What version of IE were you using?
I've two XP machines using IE version 8 and a win7 running v9
Mongoose is known to have occasional problems with being interrupted (Rather like some acquaintances) Crashes can be avoided if you wait until the page is complete.
I certainly haven't been pushing mongoose but I'll look to being more gentle with her in future. :p
 
got it working with ie8 by unistalling vlc and checking 'mozilla plugin' when re-installing vlc. I haven't tried ie9 or firefox yet.

excellent work and thanks again.

the same method works for firefox.
 
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I've two XP machines using IE version 8 and a win7 running v9

I certainly haven't been pushing mongoose but I'll look to being more gentle with her in future. :p

This week i have just setup and new machine and have just had problems with the plugin on the new machine with IE9 (32 bit). There is not a plugin for 64 bit browsers.

Reinstalling VLC (without removing old version first) with all boxes ticked including removing old preferences etc did the trick.

Mongoose user security will prevent the plugin from working.
 
Seems others have had problems on the Mac - try searching for "vlc plugin firefox mac".


On the Mac try starting Firefox in 32bit mode.
Also you may have to do this.

You have to open the plug-in package and add this into Info.plist file:


<key>WebPluginMIMETypes</key>
<dict>
<key>application/x-vlc-plugin</key>
<dict>
<key>WebPluginExtensions</key>
<array>
<string>mp4</string>
</array>
<key>WebPluginTypeDescription</key>
<string>VLC plugin</string>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>WebPluginName</key>
<string>VLC plugin</string>


(you have to enter it BEFORE the closing </dict> tag)

Then you have to put it out of plug-ins directory, restart firefox, put it back in, restart firefox, and it works.
 
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Then you have to take it out of plug-ins directory, restart firefox, put it back in, restart firefox, and it works.
Thanks Pat, and just to clarify, the plug-ins directory on a MAC is named /Library/Internet Plug-Ins and the VLC plug-in name is VLC Plugin.plugin.
Can't seem to get it to work on my virtual OSX Lion under VMWare though. Did you actually succeeded in running the web interface VLC plugin in OSX yourself Pat ?
 
Yes I have. I installed the plugin (1.0.5), then I amended the Info.plist file ((CTRL-click Show package contents) in TextEdit and save it. If you want a copy of mine let me know. Firefox MUST be started in 32Bit mode as the plugin is only 32bit as it relies on carbon framework. I think they are looking at a 64bit version.
Hope this helps.
 
Pat Flanel said:
On the Mac try starting Firefox in 32bit mode.
Also you may have to do this.

You have to open the plug-in package and add this into Info.plist file:

<key>WebPluginMIMETypes</key>
<dict>
<key>application/x-vlc-plugin</key>
<dict>
<key>WebPluginExtensions</key>
<array>
<string>mp4</string>
</array>
<key>WebPluginTypeDescription</key>
<string>VLC plugin</string>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>WebPluginName</key>
<string>VLC plugin</string>

(you have to enter it BEFORE the closing </dict> tag)

Then you have to put it out of plug-ins directory, restart firefox, put it back in, restart firefox, and it works.

That worked a treat, thanks.
 
Yes I have. I installed the plugin (1.0.5), then I amended the Info.plist file ((CTRL-click Show package contents) in TextEdit and save it. If you want a copy of mine let me know. Firefox MUST be started in 32Bit mode as the plugin is only 32bit as it relies on carbon framework. I think they are looking at a 64bit version.
Hope this helps.

Installed and working perfectly on OSX 10.7.2 with Firefox 9 (running in 32 bit mode)

Why do you have to drag the modified .plist file out of the Internet plug-in folder and then restart Firefox then drag it back in ?

Many thanks !!
 
Excellent addition, using firefox 9.0.1 and it worked first time!!. Should the full screen button work? It dosen't seem to on the videos Ive got on the HDD

Also, and this is not a complaint, just an observation, imorted videos from AV2HDR don't play back from the HDR, but the same converted videos won't play from my HDD in VLC so it's no suprise.

Anybody know why VLC can't play AV2HDR converted .ts videos?

Thanks

Stacey
 
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Excellent addition, using firefox 9.0.1 and it worked first time!!. Should the full screen button work? It dosen't seem to on the videos Ive got on the HDD
It should do, but you can also try the alternative method of putting the player into full screen mode. Just double click anywhere in the video playback area. Same to exit full screen. :)
 
Anybody know why VLC can't play AV2HDR converted .ts videos?
I don't know the reason, but I have known about it since I wrote the first version of AV2HDR back in 2009. It wasn't a problem then as the output files from AV2HDR were intended for playback on the HDR, and it does this very well. With the release of the VLC player plugin I knew it would surface again, but the answer is still the same, I don't know. Ask the authors of VLC.
 
I don't know the reason, but I have known about it since I wrote the first version of AV2HDR back in 2009. It wasn't a problem then as the output files from AV2HDR were intended for playback on the HDR, and it does this very well. With the release of the VLC player plugin I knew it would surface again, but the answer is still the same, I don't know. Ask the authors of VLC.

No problem, best to keep AV2HDR working than tinkering and breaking it :D Come on then, what's the next rabbit from the hat??

Thanks
Stacey
 

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