Because Xtreamer doesn't support watching direct HTTP streams (like Internet radio)
I choose only available method through build-in UPnP client. Because of this I
modified UPnP server ushare on Xtreamer itself (I recompile it). I add support for
reading M3U playlist files. All channels inside it shows in new folder under
UPnP menu on Xtreamer.
BTW: I added support for playing movie from splitted RAR file too.
And now how the whole thing works: Installation replaces original ushare UPnP
server with this new one modified by me. It also starts ushare program as daemon.
When the user like to watch IPTV just goes to UPnP menu and navigate to a folder
with TV channels. When he selects one channel the UPnP client on Xtreamer require
one HTTP stream which points to udpxy program. udpxy gets multicast address too and
registers on this address and sends back the video stream which is shown on TV.
The whole concept works and we have a lot of satisfied users. This my package
runs on other Realtek based players too (PlayOnHD, ...).
BTW: PlayOnHD will probably include this my package on theirs firmware.
That's why Xtreamer must have something better.
Whole concept has some limitations too...
The channel can only be changed next/previous. No random change.
The channel switch time is at least 5-6 seconds, which is way to much for
everyday usage.
Because modems from IPS have different network for Internet and IPTV the Xtreamer
can't be accesed from local network when is used for IPTV. That's why I add one
more script which enables ethernet when WiFi is used. Then WiFi is used for
local access, ethernet for IPTV.
So, what we (you) should do to be better?
The channel changing must be done like on TV. If user press random number the
channel should change to that number. In the case of two number channels is
should collect two numbers for small periode of time and then change. Like
watching ordinary TV.
The time between changing channels must be much lower. At least 2 (maybe 3)
seconds.
There should be some sort of EPG - Electronic program guide. The data could
be scraped from web pages and transform in required format. Maybe throug PHP
or something like that so users can modify according to their needs.
Maybe a recording solution also - PVR. I already made one prototype in PHP as
web page and a daemon in C programing language.
So, Xtreamer must support watching direct HTTP streams - unicast or maybe
multicast and channels should be read from M3U. This is not useful only for
IPTV but it can also be used for other purposes.
I know that you can't make STB like device but all what users would like is to
watch TV with random selection and fast change. I think this would make
Xtreamer much much more interesting device. The second thing is EPG.
If this two things works reasonly well then a lot of people will buy this
player because they can watch TV and movies with one device and one remote.
How can all this be tested without REAL IPTV?
Because at home I'm not a IPTV subscriber (SAT TV fan) I was using VLC
(
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/) for this because it can stream unicast and
multicast streams.
Installation files are here:
http://drop.io/Xtreamer_iptv/asset/xtre ... -0-4-1-zip
Archive must be unpacked to a Xtreamer on internal HDD or external HDD or USB stick.
You got folder iptv_install. Then open web browser (Opera, Internet Explorer, ..) and
navigate to this folder iptv_install. Then click on a script fakeshell2.php.
You get new window. Top left click on INSTALL_ALL and press Enter. After a while
everything is copied to flash. Maybe one reboot of Xtreamer can help.
ushare.conf file has one additional line USHARE_IPTV_LIST which has link to
m3u playlist file.
In VLC just open one movie file and set stream options. Then opens UPnP
on Xtreamer and select local_pc and then channel
"2 - VLC local PC through udpxy".