[RELEASE] Free Cable - US station aggregator

I was working on something for ABC and FOX streaming sites when I decided to try to make a station aggregator. The current root list has a station list and an 'All Shows' item which will list all available shows:

It is still new. I am still adding stations to it. I also plan to add a master show cache so that 'All Shows' loads quickly. I also want to add an option to 'Full Episodes' where it is all shows with full episode available.

If you have an criticisms let me know. I am also not set on the 'Free Cable' name. It is just something that came to mind. if anyone has a better name, icon or fanart ideas please post.

Current stations:

1. A&E
2. ABC
3. ABC Family
4. AMC
5. Bravo
6. CBS(& startrek.com)
7. The CW
8. Food Network
9. History Channel
10. Lifetime
11. MTV
12. NBC
13. Oxygen
14. Spike
15. SyFy
16. TV Land
17. USA
18. VH1
19. Biography Channel
20. The WB
21. Game Show Network
    

Broken stations:[LIST=2]
[*]FOX - new streaming method
[*]FX - new streaming method
[*]Comedy Central - using swf verify 2
[*]TBS - Cable Wall
[*]TNT - Cable Wall
[*]Adult Swim - Cable Wall
[*]Cartoon Network - Cable Wall
[/LIST]

Stations to be added:[LIST=3]
[*]HGTV
[*]PBS
[*]Discovery
[*]Marvel
[*]Nickelodeon
[*]National Geographic
[*]Smithsonian Channel
[*]Link TV
[/LIST]

here is the repo where you can get it.

Known Issues
Spike - Some episodes report having 1600kbps streams that don't exist on the server. You can work around this by lowering the bitrate limit below 1600 so it will play a lower bitrate stream down. I am still working out a way to fix this.
ABC Family - clip playback is messed up. Full Episodes still work

Consider this beta. It still needs a lot of work.

I don't see free cable in the repo.

Also... FreeKable might be a good name.

fiddystorms Wrote:I don't see free cable in the repo.

Also... FreeKable might be a good name.

Just do a force refresh on bluecop's rep.

Quote:[/I don't see free cable in the repo.

Also... FreeKable might be a good name.

You must download the separate repo that he has posted in the link, install it in xbmc, access it through the addons manager, and add it from there.

This is great! If it will show full episodes and use station logos when browsing, this would be amazing!

How about:

XBM-Cable
XBMCable

igotdvds: I am going to add station logos and fanart when I am done adding stations. When the plug-in caches the master show list I want to also scrape metadata, icons, and art for the available shows from somewhere. I think it will look pretty in the end.

Also if anyone has any other US stations that stream full episodes please post them. I added FX and ABC Family to my to do list. I was thinking about PBS too but didn't want to encroach on stacked excellent PBS plug-in.

I might also add other sites that don't stream full episodes but they are the lowest priority so any suggestions for those would be nice too. I was going to add BBC American where I could watch doctor who confidential and HBO to watch bill maher's overtime videos.

In case you liked the name.

Like that logo. But I like this name better:

CableGator

Or

NetworkGator

...but there's just gotta be a (aggre)gator.

XBMC-Gator?

or not. Either way - looking forward to trying this out.

BlueCop Wrote:I also plan to add a master show cache so that 'All Shows' loads quickly

This is something more plugins should do, it seems wrong that browsing around sections should always have to reload / scrape the same content.

Good luck, it is a great idea.

Ok, tried it out. This. Is. Awesome.
<CableGator> is awesome!

ABC, CBS, NBC all work fine for me. No go on Fox tho'. I am on ATV2, Dharma 10.1, latest release (not a nightly). I can post a log if you want.

Suggestions:


A favorites folder within the add-on would be neat if that's possible (like Icefilms).

I am torn between wanting more networks & wanting to see it kept simple (for example so the All Shows section doesn't get out of hand.). Fortunately, I don't have to - or get to - make that decision. I would like to see PBS added. How about Crackle? Not a network of course but a good source for older shows. Food Network perhaps? MTV (shows)? Daily Show / Colbert?

This is great stuff. Keep up the good work. Who needs Hulu? CableGator FTW!