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Having setup a raspberry pi with openelec, I wanted a simple way to share my current XBMC library without having to rescan metadata or setup mysql.
I chose to use UPnP sharing and modify the default Confluence skin so that the main menu (and sub menus) link to my XBMC UPnP server.

Effectively the menus function as if you were using a local library.
This skin is only suited for use on a "client only" device, as the main menu items have been redirected and don't link to the local library (file mode still functions like normal)

You can downloaded the skin from:
https://code.google.com/p/xbmc-upnp-clie...loads/list

I have included a way to configure the skin for your unique UPnP address from the skin settings menu [SYSTEM/Settings/Appearance/Skin/-Settings/General Settings]
For setup instructions and more screenshots have a look at:
https://code.google.com/p/xbmc-upnp-clie...creenshots

Image

Working menu items which link to the UPnP server include:
-VIDEOS(UPnP Files)
-MOVIES(Recently Added, Genres, Years, Other)
-TV SHOWS(Recently Added, Genres, Other)
-MUSIC(Artists, Albums, Genres, Other)
Note: the "Other" sub-menu opens a list of all categories as seen when opening in Files View

I also found the XBMC UPnP server had a standard address structure, which I documented here:
https://code.google.com/p/xbmc-upnp-clie..._Structure

I have tested this using 2 different XBMC servers so far and all the links seemed to work.
Please note that this is my first attempt at skinning, so it might not work on all systems.

Unfortunately I don't have the time or the skill to develop this further,
and just wanted to post my experience as it may help others.
(or maybe encourage someone with more experience to develop a similar UPnP client for xbmc)

Google Code Page:
https://code.google.com/p/xbmc-upnp-client-skin/

-Matt
Nice! Thanks for sharing. I've come across multiple requests to have UPnP content accessible via the MOVIES and TV SHOWS options instead of having to go through VIDEOS > Files, and this does the trick.
Very cool. I'm going to try this out on the local Pi now. UPnP is the easiest answer to the ugly process of slow library updating on the Pi.

Edit: So not quite working. For whatever reason, for me clicking TV, Movies, or Music seems to go to a blank screen, then I click up a menu and see Video Library and Audio Library, and then I can enter the correct item. Each of these categories has a dropdown menu as shown in your instructions, and the only one of those that seems to work is Other, which takes me to the list of options. All the others lead me to the same blank page.
I've put together a page with some of the problems (i.e. blank screens) that I have experienced, check out this link:
https://code.google.com/p/xbmc-upnp-clie...onProblems

I've had 2 different types of blank screen come up with this skin, there are some screenshots and more details on the link above.

The only real suggestions I have are:
1. Check the raspberry pi has an active network connection before opening any menus
2. Check the UPnP address (in skin settings) looks like the image below (i.e. numbers and letters only, in groups separated by - symbol)

Image

Hope that helps
Thanks matt_ric for this skin, it works well on my R-Pi running OpenELEC 3.1.5 streaming content via UPnP from my main OpenELEC PC.

If anyone is interested, I have made some modifications:

1) Added shortcut to OpenELEC settings addon under "System"
2) Reverted to original Confluence background
3) Uses latest "Working..." busy animation for improved R-Pi performance

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ipm0zt
Does anyone know if it's possible to modify this UPnP skin to read from PLEX UPnP addresses instead of XBMC UPnP addresses? The maker of this skin uses this XBMC UPnP address structure. Does anyone happen to know if PLEX has a similar address structure we might be able to use and then modify this skin to take advantage of?

It would be nice to have a skin that automatically pulled the PLEX movie/tv library into the XBMC movie/tv library section.
Hi All,

Thanks matt_ric for creating this skin - love your work! I am currently running the gotham beta on my raspberry pi, taking media from the living room Mac Mini's main library via uPnP. The clumsy default way you have to navigate to uPnP content has always been a bit offputting to me, so when I saw this skin it sounded like just what I wanted. In order to get it working on Gotham, I basically took the latest version of Confluence from Gotham, and using a diff between the default Frodo version of confluence and matt_ric's version to identify the changes, I ported across the modifications you've done to the Frodo version, to the Gotham version. I also added the option to show items by "Title" to the main "TV Shows" and "Movies" menus as I tend to use those quite a bit & didn't like going in via "Other". In case anyone wants it, I've uploaded my Gotham modified version to sendspace:

Gotham Version

Not tested it particularly much but so far it seems to work pretty fine on my Mac and my Raspberry Pi. Obviously Gotham is still in beta so note that things can change that break this skin before it becomes an official release... Enjoy!
Good work mrbounce, thanks.

With all the UPnP improvements in Gotham and the increasing push towards UPnP as the preferred media sharing method, I predict that this functionality will start being added to skins this year.

It's the final piece of the puzzle and essential for a complete UPnP experience.
(2014-03-15, 11:07)mrbounce Wrote: [ -> ]Hi All,

Thanks matt_ric for creating this skin - love your work! I am currently running the gotham beta on my raspberry pi, taking media from the living room Mac Mini's main library via uPnP. The clumsy default way you have to navigate to uPnP content has always been a bit offputting to me, so when I saw this skin it sounded like just what I wanted. In order to get it working on Gotham, I basically took the latest version of Confluence from Gotham, and using a diff between the default Frodo version of confluence and matt_ric's version to identify the changes, I ported across the modifications you've done to the Frodo version, to the Gotham version. I also added the option to show items by "Title" to the main "TV Shows" and "Movies" menus as I tend to use those quite a bit & didn't like going in via "Other". In case anyone wants it, I've uploaded my Gotham modified version to sendspace:

Gotham Version

Not tested it particularly much but so far it seems to work pretty fine on my Mac and my Raspberry Pi. Obviously Gotham is still in beta so note that things can change that break this skin before it becomes an official release... Enjoy!

Would love to get this but struggling to download the file
hi rterblanche - on the sendspace page, ignore the "download" and "play now" links and go straight for the "click here to start download from sendspace" link...

If you have no joy let me know & I'll find somewhere else to upload it to.
Hi all and thanks matt_ric for the great work!

I have been looking for exactly that for my RPi whose only source would be UPnP served by my XBMC installation.

However, I'm currently enjoying XBian on RPi which I am very happy with (tried Raspbian but never Openelec).
The thing is, the xbian skin is also a customization of the confluence skin and installing your UPnP confluence skin would mean I would have to forgo xbian/raspi-specific customizations of the xbian skin

My question: how easy would it be to port your changes to the standard Confluence skin into the Xbian skin? (I have zero skinning experience)

Thanks!
Many thanks! I cannot find any other skin that does this (and rather well I might add). Kudos. I have three XBMC boxes sharing via upnp, and having to go through files, upnp, video library, movies ... is a bit clunky. Honestly I expected Gotham to have better support for skins to do this.

I really appreciate your work.
(2014-06-02, 01:02)ReverendOlaf Wrote: [ -> ]Many thanks! I cannot find any other skin that does this (and rather well I might add). Kudos. I have three XBMC boxes sharing via upnp, and having to go through files, upnp, video library, movies ... is a bit clunky. Honestly I expected Gotham to have better support for skins to do this.

I really appreciate your work.

I have the same deployment as you but have a thread hijack question before raise a bug request.

Are your numbers of unwatched shows also wrong between the main xbmc install and the client upnp instances?

Also found hiding watched TV shows also hides TV shows that has some unwatched episodes.

Raised this once before with devs but nobody has yet confirmed it as a bug.
@matt_ric Any objections to me stealing some of your code for CCM, I'd like to play around with UPnP for a little while
I don't filter out watched shows, but I do see the check marks for watched shows/movies. My upnp clients seem to lag the main (server) xbmc instance, thus they may have a false negative (watched shows/movies can look unwatched). I haven't noticed the opposite, but again my setup is a bit different (I don't filter watched in either TV or movies).
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