Http streaming and the Azbox

[putney]

I got this list from another site. You just ftp it into the DISK2 folder of your Az, and it shows up in your channel list!

All are russian feeds. Currently MTV Chillout on HTTP04.

No luck adding my own streams yet.( I must figure out how to find the stream on the other side of the swf first)

What I do know is that the '256, 512' etc = the buffer size.

This is WAY cool! :up:clap:clap:clap:up

#1,HTTP01,64,http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=7&user=1011968&pass=968108
#2,HTTP02,256,http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=8&user=1011968&pass=968108
#3,HTTP03,512,http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=6&user=1011968&pass=968108
#4,HTTP04,1024,http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=39&user=1011968&pass=968108
1,HTTP01,256, http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=7&user=146&pass=641
2,HTTP02,256, http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=8&user=146&pass=641
3,HTTP03,256, http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=6&user=146&pass=641
4,HTTP04,256, http://kartina.pristavka.de/new/stream.php?id=39&user=146&pass=641

 

[brentb636]

Cool! First example I've seen of formatting IP channel entries.

 

[putney]

For anyone trying this this morning, the streams appear to be down.

I'll post when they come up again.

 

[brentb636]

#1 & #2 are working for me, Putney.

 

[B.J.]

Thanks. This is interesting and encouraging.
I haven't tried it with the Azbox yet.
I'm curious though, is this file put on the Azbox with that http_streams.txt file-name? Seems like .txt is an unusual extension for a Linux OS.
I do see that it uses LF line termination rather than CR-LF.

I'll have to wait until the rain stops here to try it on the Azbox, but I played with one of the URLs with VLC via dialup, and after a long delay, that MTV stream started playing on my computer. Didn't play real cleanly, but still pretty neat. Supposely VLC is supposed to be able to stream anything it's capable of receiving, so it seems like I should be able to get VLC streaming on one of my LAN's computers, and play that on the Azbox, but I'm at a loss for how to get this to work.

I've tried before to do this via the remote {ie Settings/TV-Channel/IP Channel}, and got an IP_CHANNEL to appear in the channel list. I set this up with the address of one of my LAN's computers, and started VLC streaming in several different formats, using several different buffer sizes, although I THINK that all the buffer sizes I used were MUCH bigger than what I see in this txt file, so maybe that was my problem. In any event, I couldn't get ANYTHING to work.

However, even though I got this IP_CHANNEL thing to show up in the channel list, there is no file on the Azbox with anything like the filename above, but perhaps if I look through the files there I will find something with similar content.

I'd really like to figure out how to do this, because I think it might be a potential way of getting this Azbox to get around the 20,000 bitrate limit for playing back recordings. Ie it might treat a stream differently than a saved transport stream. From experience with other similar devices, it should be capable of handling faster bitrates with a stream than from playing back files.
Ie it might handle a stream over the network just like it handles live streams from the DVB-S/S2 tuner, and thus let us play high bitrate video. What would be really nice is if I could get TSREADER to send a 4.2.2 stream to the Azbox, and have it play it. TSREADER streams in HTTP mode, so you'd think this could work.

Anyway, thanks for the post. I'm glad that some people are starting to address this issue.

 

[putney]

Download the txt file and drop it right in.

Someone noted stuttering on the Az Premium. It was suggested to up the buffer for the wireless connection.

I've got nothing right now, but I had http04 playing for two hours last night with only two 'hiccups'. Picture was pretty good too!

Now if I can extract the streams path from justin.tv and enter the channels into the txt file, the wife would be very, very happy. The Az browser doesn't support flash at the moment.

 

[dougbrown]

BJ, that was my initial thought also. I had all the streams up and running in VLC in about 10 min. Great stuff, makes me wonder what else is out there? Have you ever played with the Shoutcast streams in VLC?

 

[putney]

All 4 up right now THT, russian southpark. etc.

 

[B.J.]

BJ, that was my initial thought also. I had all the streams up and running in VLC in about 10 min. Great stuff, makes me wonder what else is out there? Have you ever played with the Shoutcast streams in VLC?

No, never tried that. I only have WildBlue and a dialup backup, so I don't try too much internet media stuff. The Wildblue might be fast enough, but I have limited bandwidth, so I don't like to use up too much of my limit. I did try the channel 4 thing with dialup, and it seemed to be working and the problems were probably because of my dialup.

I'm mainly interested in streaming across my lan, to and from Azbox.

 

[Babadem]

This how I got to watch Karrina IPTV yesterday: Home Button > Settings > TV Channel > IP Channel;

Protocol = HTTP
TV Type = Kartina Tv.
Address= XXXX://kartina.pristavka.de/new/playlist.ph (replace xxxx with http)
Buffer Size =256
Username =146
password = 641

....and save. AZBox will download 4 channels. Reboot and go to channel list by pressing the "OK" key once and press "exit" button once and then select "SATELLITE" and IP_CHANNEL category will be there. Click on it, there should be 4 Russian channels. If you connection is fast enough, you should see video in a short time. I had to reduce my firewall to minimum security to view the channels.

 

[brentb636]

Playing with this, I haven't been able to get http streaming working to the AZbox on my local net, but streaming UDP from VLC works just fine. More tinkering to do.

 

[B.J.]

This how I got to watch Katrina IPTV yesterday: Home Button > Settings > TV Channel > IP Channel;

Protocol = HTTP
TV Type = Katrina Tv.
Address= XXXX://kartina.pristavka.de/new/playlist.ph (replace xxxx with http)
Buffer Size =256
Username =146
password = 641

....and save. AZBox will download 4 channels. Reboot and go to channel list by pressing the "OK" key once and press "exit" button once and then select "SATELLITE" and IP_CHANNEL category will be there. Click on it, there should be 4 Russian channels. If you connection is fast enough, you should see video in a short time. I had to reduce my firewall to minimum security to view the channels.

Now you got me convinced that I better upgrade the firmware in my Azbox. I've been waiting for some significant improvement over the 2371 I have in mine, and perhaps this is it.
WHen I do the "Settings > TV Channel > IP Channel" sequence, the page I have been getting is MUCH different than what's described above. I get a row for "Channel Name", "IP Sddress", "Port Number", "Buffer size", and that is ALL. There are two other rows, called Stream Type and PID, but neither of these can be changed.
I don't get ANY of the parameters listed above, which is why I was experimenting setting up streams in HTTP, UDP, etc, trying to guess what kind of stream it was looking for.
I'm assuming that the above menu is from some firmware later than 2371??

Playing with this, I haven't been able to get http streaming working to the AZbox on my local net, but streaming UDP from VLC works just fine. More tinkering to do.

I assume you were using a later firmware that also had the above parameter options too? I tried doing UDP several weeks ago, and had no luck, but I had no way of selecting UDP on the Azbox.

Anyway, I'm going to first do what I can to make a backup of all my sats/transponders/channels, etc, then I'm off to the new firmware. Funny, I've been waiting for one of the new firmware versions to list this as one of the improvements, but I never saw it mentioned. Perhaps some version came out that did this, and we never got the improvement list.

 

[brentb636]

BJ ,
My only experience with streaming is the latest firmware, 9.3877 . Haven't tried it much before today.

 

[Smith P.]

This how I got to watch Katrina IPTV yesterday: Home Button > Settings > TV Channel > IP Channel;

Protocol = HTTP
TV Type = Katrina Tv.
Address= XXXX://kartina.pristavka.de/new/playlist.ph (replace xxxx with http)
Buffer Size =256
Username =146
password = 641

....and save. AZBox will download 4 channels. Reboot and go to channel list by pressing the "OK" key once and press "exit" button once and then select "SATELLITE" and IP_CHANNEL category will be there. Click on it, there should be 4 Russian channels. If you connection is fast enough, you should see video in a short time. I had to reduce my firewall to minimum security to view the channels.

Now if you'll replace words "Katrina" to "kartina", it would be correct spelling.

 

[Babadem]

Now if you'll replace words "Katrina" to "kartina", it would be correct spelling.

:up Good catch.

 

[Smith P.]

I'm wondering if it require two way protocol ? I did try to play that stream by regular IE8 (thinking to see a request for install some plug-in) but got nothing - no video, no questions.
[That's when I discover the misspelling, thought it's the reason for my fiasco].

 

[pedrogarcia]

BJ , does this help

How to stream stuff from your PC with XP to AZbox HD
​

With Windows XP it's dead simple to make various folders visible, to your AZbox HD!

Start your Windows Explorer > go to the main folders or even whole partitions you want shared > right click on them -> Sharing and Security, then gave the rights -> Allow to be shared. I also went to > Customise and > Apply the template to all sub-folders -> Apply and -> OK.

Then - just in case - I went a bit "lower" and repeated the whole thing to the Music, Video and Photo folders, one by one, and – lo & behold - NTFS or not, firewall or not, who cares - all the movies and other media files are playable, in AZbox HD, using its Multimedia Player!!!

How do you do it? If you press the HOME button on your remote and go to -> Movies, for instance, you will be able to navigate to the folders you just enabled to be shared and watch a movie on your AZbox HD. Or listen to the Music in your music Menu or pictures in your Photos Menu...

We are still waiting for various limits to be removed - for all multimedia files, mind... Photos have the max resolution of 1920 x 1080 and so on... Apparently, a new Chief Programmer should focus Opensat engineers' attention to various bugs, in the bid to finally get the FW 1.0. Ahem...

Streaming from PC/Laptop with Vista -> to AZbox HD
​

Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows Features on or off -> here I added/installed anything even remotely connected with whatever I need to use for AZbox HD and Multimedia [Telnet Server & Client, TFTP Client, Services for NFS and whatever else you find interesting...],

Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Centre -> then, here allow:

Network Discovery
File Sharing
Media Sharing

So, those to ON!!!!
The rest to OFF.

At the bottom of that page click on
"Show me all the files and folders I am sharing".

Now, go to a partition or a folder or a file you wan to "share" -> right click -> Properties -> Sharing -> Advanced Sharing -> Share This Folder -> Permissions -> Everyone [only "Read" is enough, from all the options there] -> Apply -> OK.

Security -> Everyone.

Customise -> All items -> choose/tick "Also apply this template to all subfolders" -> Apply -> OK or Close, whatever's there...

AZbox HD remote: HOME -> Movies -> .. -> Network -> find your Home Network, then your PC, then the partition/folder where your films are stored and choose...

The same for Music -> find your music or Photos -> find them [not all will work, mind, as there are some limitations still... waiting for the good programmers to sort it all out... and to stop stretching our photos, too...].

 

[B.J.]

BJ , does this help

How to stream stuff from your PC with XP to AZbox HD
​

With Windows XP it's dead simple to make various folders visible, to your AZbox HD!

Start your Windows Explorer > go to the main folders or even whole partitions you want shared ....
....
How do you do it? If you press the HOME button on your remote and go to -> Movies, for instance, you will be able to navigate to the folders you just enabled ....
.....

....

Thanks, but no... I've been doing the above all along. My terminology might be a bit off, but I didn't consider that as true streaming, or at least it wasn't the kind of streaming I was interested in. I sort of considered that as playing from a share, which from what I have seen on other devices has lower bitrate ratings than playing a stream. It could be that with the Azbox, that there is no difference, but I keep hoping.

For example, with my ROKU HD1000, if I play from a share, there are some very fast bitrate feeds that won't play properly, but if they are streamed, either from TSREADER or VLC, and the ROKU is set up to play a network stream, they play fine.

ANother reason for wanting to stream rather than playing from a share, is to be able to play live streams from TSREADER rather than from a file. {Although I COULD save the live stream, then PLAY it as it's recording I guess. }


Sorry for small print.... just my warped sense of humor.

 

[zamar23]

What B.J. pointed at looks like software only limitation to me, which can be fixed, and possibly was fixed in recent ROKU firmware upgrades.

pedrogarcia

Thanks for the detail instructions, helpful for many new AZBox users. Now you need to explain in a similar detail fashion, how to continuously write (save) a decoded Sat TV stream from AZBox to a share network drive or folder, thus bypassing an attached to it USB or SATA drive entirely, and what network speed is required (i.e. Gigabit Ethernet, etc). Btw, what network speed is supported by AZBox network controller, and what's the model number of that controller?

 

[Covack]

Are the http streams still active
I was attempting to get this working, the http streams show up in my channel list,
but that is about it.