Project Idea on XBMC-Remote

Hi

I am a 3rd year student of Computer Science & Engineering from India and new to XBMC development. I want to apply for GSoC 2012 with XBMC.

I am interested in working for android remote client project idea mentioned in the wiki at http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Goo...erver_area I have been using the XBMC-Remote android app for quite a while now.

Can I get some more details about the project idea and how can I get started? I have already explored the Google Code site for xbmc-remote and read the wiki pages (detailing usage of MVC model, etc.) but there doesn't seem to be much activity in recent time (moving to github a possible reason).

I have some experience with web development (which includes MVC model), good experience with C, and object oriented concepts in C++ and good familiarity with Python. Also, I have hands on experience on UNIX sockets API, message passing mechanisms in Linux, etc (due to my Networks and Operating Systems Labs) - I mention these since they seem to be related to the idea mentioned in the wiki. And since I have my summer vacation starting early May, I hope to catch up with other requirements before official coding period starts.

I would also like to know whether a beginner (like me) can make it to a successful XBMC GSoC project?

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Kartik

Hi there,

I suggest you drop the authors of the xbmc-remote a line first and foremost. I'll also give them a nudge this way.

And yes, a beginner can make a successful XBMC GSoC project if they're willing to work hard

What ideas did you have of your own for the remote? What in particular do you want it to be able to do?

Cheers,
Jonathan

Hiya,

How about implementing remote streaming from XBMC to the device? You would need to implement some kind of transcoding API using ffmpeg on XBMC's side and grab the stream on Android's side. This would really be a kick-ass feature and gives you the possibility to touch a load of different technologies.

Jonathan, your thoughts?

Also Montellese and topfs2 are probably good people to answer API related questions.

(2012-03-26 23:33)jmarshall Wrote:  I suggest you drop the authors of the xbmc-remote a line first and foremost. I'll also give them a nudge this way.

And yes, a beginner can make a successful XBMC GSoC project if they're willing to work hard

What ideas did you have of your own for the remote? What in particular do you want it to be able to do?

Thanks for your suggestion Jonathan, I managed to contact freezy of xbmc-remote and gained a lot of information about the direction of the project. In particular he informed me that JSON-RPC transition is already completed in the latest sandbox of the project.

As for ideas, as freezy mentions I am considering media streaming to remote device from the server and also including a way to download the media file itself to mobile device (e.g. my Galaxy S has 16 GB of memory and huge screen, can be a great feature for users on the go), this should also include all the meta info about the media file.

(2012-03-27 17:44)freezy Wrote:  How about implementing remote streaming from XBMC to the device? You would need to implement some kind of transcoding API using ffmpeg on XBMC's side and grab the stream on Android's side. This would really be a kick-ass feature and gives you the possibility to touch a load of different technologies.

Thanks for showing a way forward freezy, I am looking forward to hear what Jonathan, Montellese and topfs2 have to say in this regard.

--
Kartik

(2012-03-27 18:54)k4rtik Wrote:  As for ideas, as freezy mentions I am considering media streaming to remote device from the server and also including a way to download the media file itself to mobile device (e.g. my Galaxy S has 16 GB of memory and huge screen, can be a great feature for users on the go), this should also include all the meta info about the media file.

Just as an FYI concerning the download functionality: xbmc's webserver already allows downloading files but obviously only over HTTP. So you'd primarily need some logic on the remote which pulls the media file and it's metadata from xbmc.

Do you already have any plans concerning how to implement the streaming? Over HTTP or some other more stream-specific protocol like RTP?

(2012-03-27 17:44)freezy Wrote:  How about implementing remote streaming from XBMC to the device?

Sounds indeed as an awesome idea!

(2012-03-27 20:10)Montellese Wrote:  Just as an FYI concerning the download functionality: xbmc's webserver already allows downloading files but obviously only over HTTP. So you'd primarily need some logic on the remote which pulls the media file and it's metadata from xbmc.

Okay, I wasn't aware of that. Thanks. But I think it will be even easier if the download functionality can be made available through the remote client's interface itself (since it already provides a way to browse through the whole connection). Being able to remember what files were downloaded, an additional option can be directly play them through xbmc-remote using the meta data from stored cache.

(2012-03-27 20:10)Montellese Wrote:  Do you already have any plans concerning how to implement the streaming? Over HTTP or some other more stream-specific protocol like RTP?

None currently, busy with some of my tests/evaluations these days. I hope to come up with an idea soon, will need at least a day of research. On second thoughts, http streaming might be easier (both for implementation and clients), not very sure though. Any comments?

--
Kartik

(2012-03-27 17:44)freezy Wrote:  How about implementing remote streaming from XBMC to the device? You would need to implement some kind of transcoding API using ffmpeg on XBMC's side and grab the stream on Android's side.

I was thinking, but would be a right approach extend the UPnP server capabilities with transcoding support?

Fair question. Protocol-wise it's still an open question for me. If there already are protocols that allow the setting of bandwidth, resolution etc, we should make use of them.

(2012-04-05 00:18)freezy Wrote:  Fair question. Protocol-wise it's still an open question for me. If there already are protocols that allow the setting of bandwidth, resolution etc, we should make use of them.

How about DLNA support (which again uses UPnP) on XBMC? I tried streaming to my DLNA-supported phone through XBMC, I was able to browse the media collection through Samsung's AllShare app but for some reason the streaming failed to work. Was it simply because media streaming (other than through http) is missing in XBMC or did I miss something here?

I am preparing my GSoC proposal currently, would be grateful if I can get an idea on this.