Native RSS support

[deadelvis]

The basic idea is, that a rss feed has enclosure and/or link elements which point to media (typically a mp3, video or torrent file).

The enclosure elements could them be streamed on demand, or alternatively the feeds read every X hours and the content collected and saved "automagically".

I know that this can be done with a python script, however it would be great to have such a functionality built into boxee itself (even if only for stability and performance).

[vulkan]

well - you are right. and ..... surprise! - no python script needed.
you can add rss feeds as sources to boxee and they will all appear under your "internet video" and "internet music" sections.

currently - there is no simple way to do it from UI (will be added in coming versions) because not all rss feeds are supported the *right* way.

so - at your own risk - you can manually edit the "sources.xml" file under your profile and add links in the form of "rss://" (e.g. rss://tedtalks.blip.tv/rss).

you can find the sources.xml file in your home directory under "Library/Application Support/BOXEE/UserData/profiles/[your name]/sources.xml"

if you are a little familiar with xml format this file will be self explanatory. if not... well... you better wait for us to implement it on the client :)

[vulkan]

hmmm i just caught a tsella explaining that in a different thread.
checkout http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=52

[thelaughingman]

When you add a feed like this and it has enclosures, say a video podcast, what does it do? Does it automatically download new entries on the feed when it refreshes the feed, or does it start streaming the file?

Right now I use Juice to automatically get video podcasts, and then it automatically deletes the files after they are 4 days old. This ensures that new episodes will be available for me and i don't have to worry about streaming if my internet goes down or my network is congested. It'd be great to be able to do this with Boxee.

[sant0sk1]

When you add a feed like this and it has enclosures, say a video podcast, what does it do? Does it automatically download new entries on the feed when it refreshes the feed, or does it start streaming the file?

This brings up a good point, and a discussion worth having. The ability to manage how boxee handles rss feeds will be key going forward. Here are some feed settings which would be nice to support:

1) How to download new files from rss feeds (automatically, manually)
2) How many to download ([x] newest, only unwatched, etc)
3) When to delete (after watched, [x] days old, when feed has [x] unwatched files)
4) mark certain files as 'saved' even if they become ready for deletion by rules applied in #3.


I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking of, but that's a decent start.

[vulkan]

right now it will always go to the rss and present you with the items it contains.
when you "click" an item it will start streaming it (not downloading).

we do plan download support and enhancing RSS functionality in coming releases.

[lladnaar]

I have been using Boxee now for just over a week, and this is the main thing that is missing for me. With automatic RSS download support, added to everything else in the 20 Oct release, I should be able to stay in Boxee full time and no longer need to pop out to AppleTV for podcasts.