TV Framework - Bartsidee TV Framework App

[bartsidee]

BartsideeTV: v2.0

BartsideeTV is an app that makes it easier to integrate tv channels, shows and episode from internet streaming sources. It is a framework based on the boxee api and a fixed gui to display content for people who do not have the skills to make their own app. Bartsidee tv modules are loaded using external repositories. These repositories are like boxee repositories, but instead of apps they contain modules. The modules are external python scripts to process/load a specific streaming source in a standardized manner.

The bartsidee tv main repository is opensource and the source of the modules can be found here.

I you want to create your own module please have a look at the documentation here.

BartsideeTV offers:
- integration of a wide variaty of stream sources in a single app.
- a global search over all modules
- static stream lists (depending on the module)
- genre section (depending on the module)
- episode view (depending on the module)
- subtitle support (depending on the module)
- database: fast searching and url caching
- module api: build your own module
- supports all platforms

Supported source modules:
TV:
- American channels ( Hulu ) – only free to watch shows!
- Britisch channels (BBC, iTV)
- Belgium ( een, canvas)
- Dutch channels ( sbs, rtl, uzg, nl24, tmf)
- Swedish Channels ( svt , tv3, tv6, tv8)
- Canadian Channels (CBC )
- German Channels (Zdf, ARD)
Internet:
- Youtube
- Navi-x (limited support)
- AnimeFreak TV
- Chinese TV

How to add BartsideeTV to your boxee:
- Please look at my site for more instructions

You will see a new line on your screen "Bartsidee Repository". When you open it it will show all the apps in my repository including BartsideeTV.
For easier access to the app you can add it to your favorites. You do this by clicking the app once and select the "add to favourite icon".

How to enable source modules:
When you open the app for the first time no modules are enabled. You have to set them up for first use. BartsideeTV will save your settings so you will only have to do this once.
- Open BartsideeTV
- Choose the tab "Settings" on the top.
- Scroll to the list of modules and enable the ones you like by clicking on them.

The framework will directly load the module when enabled and you will be able to use the streaming sources from the main search tab or use static lists from the module tab

For performance increasements in the search function please disable the modules you don't use in the settings section.

You can get more information on my blog www.bartsidee.nl

[Automate]

Looks interesting. So is this a Boxee app or a stand alone Python app that you point Boxee at?

[bartsidee]

It is a native boxee app written in python and xml using the boxee api.
I made a simple diagram scheme to clarify my ideas more:



Of course there is the boxee api, but this is somewhat complicated for the regular user and it will cost time to develop an app. The general idea is to make adding custom streams to boxee a lot simpler so you do not have to worry about developing an app yourself (if you have the knowledge or time)

Now the framework will do all the communications with boxee and will present the results in a nice gui. You only need to pass a simple list/array to the framework from a custom module.

Example of such a list would be:

array = [('National Geographic', 'http://streamingurl'),
            ('BBC', 'http://streamingurl)]

Now there is already a possibility to add streams in a simple way by putting them in a rss file. That's right, but my aim is also to address the more complex websites. A lot of international content suppliers (tv stations) have a there content available for watching. But not all provide a clean list of the streams. The content is dynamic and changes every day, new episodes are added and others are removed.

The framework will provide a simple way to add these streams to boxee and a way to search them all at once!!

Some content providers have a list of tvshows available and this hardly changes. As a developer you can cache them in framework database so that this list only updates every 2/3/4 days . Other content providers offer a direct search option which you can directly integrate in the framework (like the youtube example in the video)

My aim for the framework is to merge all of the video content in a single app! There are 2 ways to view it: 1 the more familiar static list or 2 an overal search.

Because the framework has a modular setup it is easy to add or remove content. A module will house at least a thumbnail of the content and a small python file that contains a streaming list or passes this list form a particular website (scraping).

The framework would support static stream lists, but more important a back-end database and dynamic search results. I further want to include an option for nested episodes.

No specific eta for the initial release but I hope you like the idea

[shadowmelded]

looks good.

How are youre thoughts on module management ?
Not everyone can see what modules provide due to country restrictions.

[bartsidee]

the modules can be enabled/disabled inside the app, you can have a look at www.bartsidee.nl for some protype screenshots

[shadowmelded]

Looks really nice.

Have you looked into supporting rtmp and rtmpe mp4 streams in the app ?
One could use flowplayer flash video player to play these streams since boxee does not yet fully support them. Im doing so in my svtplay app. however im using a remote page with it on.

Maybe it is possible to package a flash video player inside an boxee app.

[fperrotta]

how do I add this app in boxee??

[bartsidee]

The app supports all file formats boxee does. In essence the framework just passes the url path to boxee when playback starts

I've been looking into flash and was able to include the flash page from local source, but I haven't looked very well into the javascript controls. I will be keen to have a look at your page containging flowplayer and the control js if you agree. Do you have a url?

I will launch the framework probably somewhere next week. Also I will try to release some api documents for the modules so others can start developing it.

At the moment it has mostly dutch channels, but after that I will try to focus on adding:
bbc itvplayer
swedish channels

and more

[fperrotta]

but how do I add this app in boxee?? Is it possible yet? I run Boxee on a mac mini 2010 OSX 10.6.6

[bartsidee]

I will release it somewhere next week initially in my own repository. You can add it on you boxee by adding the repo boxee.bartsidee.nl

The app will be compatible with all boxee platforms (windows, mac, linux, box)

After some time when I feel the app is stable and I won't get anymore bugs from the users I will try to add it to the main boxee repo. (unfortunately application time for boxee repo is usually a bit long)