XBMC Slingbox Client - Development Status

skunkm0nkee Wrote:Great work Harry! I've been hoping to be able to access SlingBox streams through XBMC for a while now and it's finally happening.

I'm able to view the stream but am having problems changing channels, I presume I have to sniff out the remote control codes for my system. Any pointers as to how I do that?

If you use an IR blaster from your Slingbox to change channels on a satellite box or other box, then yup, you'll have to setup the actual IR codes in the SlingboxSettings.xml file. The problem is that it seems like they are different depending on what you are controlling. Two ways of doing this ... either sniff out the communication between the official Slingbox Player and the Slingbox and then decode things ... fun ... or just do some trial and error testing. I'm recommend starting with 30 to 40 range. It's been a few months but for some reason I remember a lot of the boxes I tried being around or close to that range. Usually all the channel buttons are one after the other also, so you can setup the first SlingboxSettings.xml file with button 1, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, etc. and see if one of those does something and if it does, then narrow down the range. Shouldn't take more than an hour or so of playing around I would think to get the correct settings. If I get a chance in the future I might write up a tutorial on doing the "sniff the traffic" method, but it's quite involved since it involved decrypting the communication between the two after you capture it.

Thanks,
Harry

Well after almost 2 hours of trial and error I've managed to work out a number of different codes for my remote but bizarrely enough I haven't managed to find the codes for keys 2 to 7. I have found 0, 1, 8 and 9 which (by coincidence?) are the same keys you have specified in your example slingboxsettings.xml above!!

I went through all the codes from 0 to 256 and found about a dozen keys from my remote plus the four number keys. I also found that the hundred digit doesn't really seem to do anything - codes 10, 110 and 210 all represent the 8 key on my remote.

The values I found are as follows:


These codes are consecutive but it jumps from key 1 to key 8 and keys 2 to 7 don't seem to be anywhere in the codes 0 to 256.

BTW I have a Slingbox Solo and am controlling a SKY HD box with it.

Are you sure the codes go from 0 to 256 and are being passed through properly (I find it strange that codes 10, 110 and 210 all do the same thing)

I never found any codes higher than about 50 which did anything so would presume that if I only tested codes 200 to 256 then I'd have found all the possible key values as 100 to 156 and 0 to 56 are exactly the same as 200 to 256. (also 57 - 99 and 157 - 199 don't seem to do anything).

It could just be that's how my setup works but it seems pretty strange don't you think?

Great work on the streaming and I hope it makes it into the main trunk soon.

Thanks again

Your name obviously is either a joke or prank. That said. How do you compile using make? How do you compile into xbmc what do I copy and paste into terminal. Thanks!

skunkm0nkee Wrote:Well after almost 2 hours of trial and error I've managed to work out a number of different codes for my remote but bizarrely enough I haven't managed to find the codes for keys 2 to 7. I have found 0, 1, 8 and 9 which (by coincidence?) are the same keys you have specified in your example slingboxsettings.xml above!!

I went through all the codes from 0 to 256 and found about a dozen keys from my remote plus the four number keys. I also found that the hundred digit doesn't really seem to do anything - codes 10, 110 and 210 all represent the 8 key on my remote.

The values I found are as follows:

Code:

<one>9</one>

      <eight>10</eight>
      <nine>111</nine>
      <zero>112</zero>

These codes are consecutive but it jumps from key 1 to key 8 and keys 2 to 7 don't seem to be anywhere in the codes 0 to 256.

BTW I have a Slingbox Solo and am controlling a SKY HD box with it.

Are you sure the codes go from 0 to 256 and are being passed through properly (I find it strange that codes 10, 110 and 210 all do the same thing)

I never found any codes higher than about 50 which did anything so would presume that if I only tested codes 200 to 256 then I'd have found all the possible key values as 100 to 156 and 0 to 56 are exactly the same as 200 to 256. (also 57 - 99 and 157 - 199 don't seem to do anything).

It could just be that's how my setup works but it seems pretty strange don't you think?

Great work on the streaming and I hope it makes it into the main trunk soon.

Thanks again

Hmmm ... now you got me curious. If you're comfortable with supplying me your IP address and port and the Slingbox username and password, I might have some time tomorrow (Friday) to connect with the real SlingPlayer and analyze the communication. That way I could tell you for sure which codes are actually being sent. Just PM me the details if you'd like.

Thanks,
Harry

Harry Muscle Wrote:Hmmm ... now you got me curious. If you're comfortable with supplying me your IP address and port and the Slingbox username and password, I might have some time tomorrow (Friday) to connect with the real SlingPlayer and analyze the communication. That way I could tell you for sure which codes are actually being sent. Just PM me the details if you'd like.

Thanks,
Harry

I just realized what went wrong ... I totally forgot to mention that in the SlingboxSettings.xml file you have to put the button codes in hex. I programmed that piece of code months ago and it totally slipped my mind. I'm gonna update the post from a few pages back with this vital piece of info. But the good news is that I think I know what your button codes are now that I remembered the part about using hex ...

1 - 09
2 - 0A
3 - 0B
4 - 0C
5 - 0D
6 - 0E
7 - 0F
8 - 10
9 - 11
0 - 12

That fits perfectly with the two that you discovered. The codes 111 and 112 were probably misred by the code that reads the hex codes to equal 11 and 12. And in case anyone is wondering why they have to be put in hex it's cause when using the method of analyzing the communication to figure out button codes you're dealing with hex numbers.

So for anyone else reading ... the button codes are between 00 and FF in hexadecimal notation.

Thanks,
Harry

Excellent, that makes sense now. I'll have a got with the hex codes this weekend and let you know how I get on.

Thanks

Very interesting thread. I bought the apple TV the day it came out, hoping to use it as a sling catcher, as well as the other features. I was happy to install XBMC on it yesterday. Yet I can't watch my Decrypted DVD ISO files.

I am hoping I can watch sling over the xbmc over apple tv....or a native sling app.

Keep up the good work!!! I am subscribing to this thread.

Subscribing as well. To get this to work on an Apple TV 2 would be the ultimate win for anyone that travels as well as expats around the world. Keep up the amazing work (FYI I have a slingbox pro and apple TV 2 if you need any more testing)

HI, I cant get it to connect to my slingbox. i se it trying but without any succes. i have tested all combinations and nothing happens. please if you could explain more detailed for us newbies that would be helpful.
Thanks and keep up the good work.

piniata Wrote:HI, I cant get it to connect to my slingbox. i se it trying but without any succes. i have tested all combinations and nothing happens. please if you could explain more detailed for us newbies that would be helpful.
Thanks and keep up the good work.

Can you post a debug log to pastebin.com and post the link here ... I'll take a look.

Thanks,
Harry