Play (RSS) podcasting / podcast and videocast nativly in in XBMC
#16
So what's the verdic? Anyone think this is a good idea or not?
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#17
I have thought about this at length now, and if I understand it correctly, you're basically talking about building a podcast client into XBMC. From what I understand, a "Podcast" is basically just one or more media files wrapped up in an RSS feed. This is basically another one of those features that is already done somewhat well via Python scripts, but which CAN be done within XBMC itself and would make it more awesome. Its just a matter of finding the available development hours.
Anyways, I took a peak at the XML from one podcast I used to subscribe to, and found this tag used for each episode in the feed:
<enclosure url="http://blah blah blah" length="58839392" type="audio/mpeg"/>
I'm not sure, but I think you would be able to use this functionality for videos, audio, and even pictures if you got imaginative (Perhaps Flickr?)
I believe that all feeds of this type could be reasonably expected to use the same tagging since they are supposed to be compatible with the various podcast clients out there. I also believe the underlying functionality required is already present in XBMC:

-HTTP streaming & download
-XML download & parsing
-GUI making it easy to build dialogs & buttons to work with this
-maybe database back-end to keep track of what has already been downloaded.

As you pointed out, the actual setting up of your RSS feed URLs would be a job only practical on a computer, unless you could use a nice GUI to pull them off some web-based feed directory. Thinking on this made me consider something else: What if the current RSSFeeds file in UserData were extended a little and used for this function? I am fairly certain that the home page RSS displays could be fed Podcast XML if the user were so-inclined. Perhaps a simple RSS page could be added to Settings where you're given a listing of your current feeds, their refresh rates, how they are used, and maybe a "test" button to double-check and see if XBMC can access the given URL.

The main thing I am not sure about at this point is what the best way to handle this stuff is. Should the Podcast client be its own seperate window you can go to, or just a thing that can be accessed from the media sections? One of the big things people like about most podcast clients is that you can set them up to "subscribe" to a feed, and then the client automatically gets a new episode when it becomes available.

I for one find this stuff really interesting, and I think you're spot on in seeing this as one of those "just around the corner" media things that will catch on in a big way in the next year or so.
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#18
Hi

MediaFeedBrowser is a python script which does just what has been discussed on this thread: Stream media from RSS feeds.

As long as the feed contains an <enclosure> tag, the script will read it and attempt to stream the url (video or audio) defined within it.

http://www.xbmcscripts.com/index.php?opt...ser%20v1.0

However, with RSS being used more and more these days, it would be great to have such a functionality built into XBMC itself (even if only for stability and performance).

In theory, feeds like this...

http://video.google.co.uk/videofeed?type...output=rss

...could then be usable (although this particular one seems to cause trouble... probably due to the mp4 format used), and an amazing addition to XBMC.
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#19
I think it is a great idea. I use the revision3 and the ziff davis scripts so I can watch diggnation and dl.tv. If it was added to the main gui then I could add all of the podcast feeds there instead of trying to modify some .py script.
TV Mosaic on Windows 10 as PVR Backend |  1 RaspberryPI 3 Client (LibreElec) | Amazon FireTV box | 5 Amazon FireTV sticks | FireTV Cube | 2 Nvidia Shield TV
Tuners: HD HomeRun 4 ATSC (OTA) | IPTV
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#20
Yeah that is the point. Python Scripting is fine and all - but why not have an am .rss video/autio/image feed capability build straight into XBMC itself?

I haven't used Apple TV - but I imagine if it does it it would do it via some kind of web browser interface which would allow you to look for and add RSS feeds from a specific domain directly to the interface.

This is basically the ideal of IPTV. You build your own channels and watch/listen to what you want to watch/listen to when and wherever you want to watch or listen to it.

It seems that this would be a pretty natural evolution for a direction in which XBMC could go.
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#21
Yeah that is the point. Python Scripting is fine and all - but why not have an am .rss video/audio/image feed capability build straight into XBMC itself?

I haven't used Apple TV - but I imagine if it does it it would do it via some kind of web browser, which would allow you to look for and add RSS feeds from a specific domain directly to the interface.

This is basically the ideal of IPTV. You build your own channels and watch/listen to what you want to watch/listen to when and wherever you want to watch or listen to it.

It seems that this would be a pretty natural evolution for a direction in which XBMC could go.
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#22
Quote:Yeah that is the point. Python Scripting is fine and all - but why not have an an .rss video/audio/image feed capability build straight into XBMC itself?

I haven't used Apple TV - but I imagine if it does it it would do it via some kind of web browser, which would allow you to look for and add RSS feeds from a specific domain directly to the interface.

This is basically the ideal of IPTV. You build your own channels and watch/listen to what you want to watch/listen to when and wherever you want to watch or listen to it.

It seems that this would be a pretty natural evolution for a direction in which XBMC could go.

OK I'm quoting myself here. (Well actually I am just making some sneaky corrections to my text). However I read the developers thoughts on all kinds of things about XBMC - and one of the things that they have consistently said is that they won't do stuff that is not media player related.

Well hopefully .rss video/image and audio podcasts are, or can be classified as media player related - since a number of media players already offer the ability to add .rss type feeds to them. (Moreover this is likely to continue to increasingly be the trend for much of the foreseeable future).

It isn't just Google which will allow you to build your own personalised .rss feeds from their video/audio searches. Yahoo will allow this too, via their own native search api.

For example these are some personalised streams I have made from both Yahoo and Google:

http://video.google.co.uk/videofeed?type...output=rss

http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=s...output=rss

http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?so...um&start=0

http://video.google.co.uk/videofeed?type...output=rss

http://today.reuters.com/tv/rss/default....804b8abd47

http://today.reuters.com/tv/rss/default....4fcae3c097

http://today.reuters.com/tv/rss/default....b63d086ef0

http://today.reuters.com/tv/rss/default....7e8a3524df

http://api.search.yahoo.com/VideoSearchS...ocumentary

http://api.search.yahoo.com/VideoSearchS...ery=Comedy

http://api.search.yahoo.com/VideoSearchS...uery=Music

Essentially they amount to TV channels that I made up on my own and which conform to my own predetermined set of criteria.

Again i think this is both the ideal and the future of iPTV. People are underplaying the value of .rss video and audio casting at the moment - but this really is a way that you can make and watch only the television shows that you want to make and watch and which only plays the content that you want them to play.

You could (in theory) add, edit, include and exclude all kinds of criteria in your search results, so that for example you could include a ratings system, with content/feeds that are suitable only for children, or adults, or which included a specific genre of music, or of movies, or of movies staring one specific actor and so on. The sky is virtually the limit (even if the technology still has a little way to catch up).

Anyway I digress. I just find this stuff really interesting and it would be neat if some element of native .rss streaming functionality could be included in XBMC.

I guess one way of doing this would be to allow for some kind of search functionality in XBMC that could use the Google and Yahoo .rss search API's to generate appropriate .rss feeds where you enter a few keywords and a number of other criteria, like duration, genre and so on and it would automatically add a feed to XBMC based on these selections. But again, I don't know how possible it is for a media player to do this.

What's really needed is a search engine that is dedicated to searching and finding .rss video and audio and image feeds and which allows you to define these using a wide range of criteria in the way I indicated above. That may indeed not be in the remit of XBMC - but noneleless I don't see how the ideal of a true IPTV based revolution could exist without it.
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#23
Mmm... well... After further invetigation, perhaps you guys should check out TVeristy...

It will download/transcode and stream these .rss feeds in a format of your choice to your Xbox without difficulty.

I also found that you can increase the number of items in a specific google feed just by changing the num= in the rss feed address as follows:

http://video.google.co.uk/videofeed?type...output=rss

http://video.google.com/videofeed?type=s...output=rss

http://video.google.co.uk/videofeed?type...output=rss

http://video.google.co.uk/videofeed?type...output=rss

So now instead of only getting the top 20 feeds in each of your chosen catagories, you can get 500 - or any random number you chose.

I am not certain how to do this with the Yahoo feeds however.

The problem of course is that you still need a computer to do this - and it's not really the same as having the channels added directly to XBMC.

I do hope that the developers consider this and perhaps find some way to add it in the near future.
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#24
At first, it doesn't even have to be that complicated. Just allowing us to add the rss feed into the sources.xml would work. I know the feeds that I want to add.

So, when you go to videos it would show up just like any other path. The feature could be expanded later, but that would be a start.
TV Mosaic on Windows 10 as PVR Backend |  1 RaspberryPI 3 Client (LibreElec) | Amazon FireTV box | 5 Amazon FireTV sticks | FireTV Cube | 2 Nvidia Shield TV
Tuners: HD HomeRun 4 ATSC (OTA) | IPTV
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#25
Well yes I could live with that. Particularly since XBMC doesn't play so well with TVeristy - it keeps locking up hard and is for ever bufferring...

Just so long as I don't have to type the feed addresses directly into XBMC.

The one thing TVersity does do is give you a flavour of what it would be like to have these feeds directly within the XBMC interface.

And in one word, the description is 'pretty neat.'
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#26
anyone from the development team has any input on this??
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#27
i second (third, fourth? what are we up to now) this. i have had nothing but problems with scripts and i don't think it would be very difficult to add this functionality.
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#28
Quote:i second (third, fourth? what are we up to now) this. i have had nothing but problems with scripts and i don't think it would be very difficult to add this functionality.

THEN IMPLEMENT IT. OR STFU.

rss in xbmc - definitely a scripts job.
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#29
why is it a scripts job? why cant it be implemented? xbmc does an excellent job in providing nearly all major media functions people do these days and as podcasts/rss gets more and more popular i believe any media player that intends to survive the competition will need this support. Now im not a whiner and my intent is not to whine as i am using scripts to do the job right now but it would be better performing and much more elegant built in im just chipping in my two cents in hopes that someone who is better at programming than me will notice and implement this

P.S. spiff, no need to tell me to stfu....you can very easily not read this thread

thanks
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#30
I also would love to see a podcast (audio/video) subscriber build-in to the XBMC. I do see it as multimedia. In fact, I am spending more time watching/listening podcasts on my laptop using itunes, but I would love to watch them on tv using xbmc controlled via my xbox remote.

There are some scripts that do this, but each channel of podcasts is coded as separate scripts. I cannot add my own subscriptions and the UI are implemented differently btwn each script. And many of them really are not that stable yet.

Podcast subscription software would be awesome, and likely rather simple feature to add (I would think?).
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Play (RSS) podcasting / podcast and videocast nativly in in XBMC0