Adding Flash Support: Idea

[phillipsmn]

Hey, before Boxee came out, I previously hacked my ATV. I installed a plugin called Couch Surfer. It is a Webkit based internet browser. One of the things it was able to do was load flash videos (it just couldn't make them full screen). Maybe one of the developers can connect with the author of Couch Surfer and see about integrating flash (although I'm sure someone is trying already).

Here's a link to the download and the author's site:
http://www.brandon-holland.com/software.html

[agentlame]

sorry... i should have been more clear in the other thread.

at them moment boxee/xbmc can decode flv (flash video) without issue via ffmpeg... that's how the YouTube channel works.

also, more recent builds of xbmc (but not yet boxee) natively support RTMP (the protocol over which one streams flv video, from a server to a local player)

the way the YouTube plug-in works is that YouTube's player has long since been reverse-engineered, as a result it's all but trivial to scrape videos. (same goes for GoogleVideo, and a few other sites)
all said, it's semi-easy to use the YouTube API and ffmpeg to get videos from YouTube.

what native RTMP means is that it's simpler to stream videos from other sites (ie: Hulu) that use RTMP.

now, there is ANOTHER streaming protocol called: RTMPE--E meaning encrypted--which boxee/xbmc do not currently support. any sites that use it are off-limits, until it is cracked.

what all this means is that: adding support for other flash-based sites is simpler, but not trivial. :(

as-far-as WebKit/Gecko integration is concerned, there is a HUGE--and i mean HHUUGGEE--usability problem; as flash-based-video sites will not properly respond to remote/mouse/keyboard input consistent with how a novice user would expect boxee to behave.

there is a lot of work to be done in this arena and i have a lot of respect/admiration for the teams that work on boxee/xbmc/ffmpeg, etc...

i expect--and hope---there will be a lot of progress, but i'm also not holding my breath for proper support of any/all flash sites, using a simple plug-in based system, anytime soon. :(


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@team-boxee: please correct me if i screwed-up any of the details about how flash video works in boxee/xbmc.

[phillipsmn]

ahhh...I see. I still think that CouchSurfer may provide some insights into the Webkit integration piece. The author has done a good job with it, and has made it more stable since it's inception.

Here's how to enable flash for CouchSurfer incase anyone is interested: http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/WebKit_Browser

[infernix]

I haven't looked into it much yet, but with the latest nspluginwrapper version (might be SVN) you can actually invoke the flash 10 plugin from commandline without a browser on a 64bit box. I can imagine that the same can be done in a regular 32bit env. If that would work, it should just be a matter of parsing the html/xml and feeding the right URL to the flash plugin this way. I might look at it when I'm more familiar with the inner workings of boxee/xbmc but it's worth a look.

[agentlame]

i have a good feeling you're right... :)