MPLAYER With GUI For Dummies FAQ!

[scanman0]

Here's the EASY way to play your Tivo on your Windows box, Over you Network with MPLAYER.

This will give you a nice GUI to just click and PLAY any video on your tivo
over your LAN connected PC :)

I am so PLEASED with the output of MPLAYER over DVI to my Sony HS-10 LCD Projector,
with Powerstrip creating the exact pixel resolution of my HDTV projector, that I have decided
to create an "*****'s Guide" for MPLAYER and MPLAYER GUI for Windows.

Hands Down, The video digitally extracted from my directivo streamed digitally to my pc,
and then yet again, still digitally sent out of my ATI card's DVI cable with NO analog
conversion and the upsampling of the content being done by my PC is by FAR the BEST way
to view a DTV Stream.

It's best to keep the stream totally digital, as any digital to analog and back to digital
conversion will degrade the already low resolution DTV stream even more....
This is called a/d and d/a conversion. This is EXTREMLY BAD :( for the already low bandwith
signal.

I pesonally spent mutch more time to figure out how to use the Java MPLAYER GUI than I
expected, and the fact that there is really no documentation AT ALL, made me literally
get upset enough to throw my cordless mouse at the wall and ALMOST give up!
Yes, I actually sacrifced a mouse! It didn't survive...


Unless you are a programmer, or an elite super Tivo Hacker, even the homepage of this project
seems a bit overwelming, and lacks the very simple basic tutorial for even a semi advanced
type hacker to even THINK about attempting this great viewing hack. Not to mention the
fact that the following MUST already be done:


1. Your Tivo must NOT be scrambling the video stream. (Kernal patch or Noscramble running)

2. You must already have you Tivo connected to your LAN with a static I.P. with
Tivonet or a TurboNet card or some other method....You cordless peep's might not have the
speed, if your too far away from the hub...Run the CAT-5 and get over it!!!

3. You need Telnet bash & FTP running to transfer files, my example is to the /hack dir.

3. You must run a server applet on the Dtivo, preferably within the rc.sysint file.

You must Download and install the Mplayer Windows PC application:

http://tivo-mplayer.sourceforge.net/

At this time: 10/04/03

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tivo-mplayer/MPlayer-0.90rc4-tivo-0.16-windowsinstaller.exe?download

Is the current download. You want the latest "Windows Installer Version"

Download & Install it like any other Windows Program.

NOW is where the "fun" comes in to play....

1. Download the attached Tivo server app. "vserver"

(If anyone has a link to a newer version, Post it please)

Place it in your favorite place on Tivo: (I.E. /hack)

Make it executable:
"chmod 777 *" is always a good thing with tivo...(all files in that dir will be happy to run :))

Now you must add this service to the end of your /etc/rd.d/rc.sysinit or other startup script.

(I.E. Add the following to the last line of rc.sysint:
"/hack/vserver > /dev/null &")

Reboot the Tivo....Thats the EASY part!!!


At this point, You now need to start thinking abount Windows, and on this side of the house,
The installed software has a default ip assigned to the value "tivo".

Now we all know you can hard code the value to an I.P., but after 3-4 apps use this
variable, it's about time we ACTUALLY ASSIGN IT, so Windows knows WHERE it is. Just give in
amd do the next step :)

Then if you change your Tivo's IP, or good god, your actually ALLOWING the DHCP from your router
to assign a dynaminc I.P address to the poor thing, (Another FAQ...)
You can change all the pointers on the PC with one edit :)


To do this, you need to edit a file on the windows PC to magically know:
"tivo" = your tivo's I.P.

Here's how you do this:

(Yes there are easier ways, but some anti-virus s/w have made me tell you this way)

Get a dos prompt by going "start", "run" ...Type "command" in the dialog box.

A Dos prompt pop's up.

Assuming your running your os on drive C: and assuming your os resides in the /windows
directory and not winnt or other path:
(I.E 99.9 % of you, if not...you'd know what to change)

Type:
"c:"
"cd \windows\system32\drivers\etc"
"attrib -r -a -s -h *.*"
"edit hosts"

A simple editor comes up in the dos window...
Just scroll down to the bottom with the down arrow key.
Add the following line to the end of the file.

"192.168.1.100 tivo" (Assuming that this is the I.P. where your Tivo lives :))
Click, file save...

[scanman0]

Your Windows box now KNOWS your Tivo by first name!!

You can test this by typing "ping tivo" from a dos prompt, and it should reply:
*******************************
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC>ping tivo

Pinging tivo [192.168.1.100] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.100: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.100: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.100: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 192.168.1.100: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.100:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
********************************
you should have already rebooted your tivo,
after you installed the "vserver" to your startup....

Lets test it and make sure it's "active"

By installing the latest version of Mplayer for windows, back at the first
step, you should now be aible to run it and see the fruits of your labour :)

Do a "Start","Programs","mplayer-tivo","mplayer tivo list"

With the fact that the PC know "Knows" your Tivo, it should run a list:
Showing your now playing in a dos box....WITHOUT you editing ANYTHING
from the install...If it hangs.....Here is the dummy part....

REMEDY:
****************************************************************
If you don't get the list of now playing, you need to VERIFY that the
tivo app is ACTUALLY RUNNING!
type "ps -x"
If you don't see a line in there with something like:

" 304 ? SW 0:00 /hack/vserver"

You screwed up, and your NOT running the damed tivo portion from your startup!!

Heres how to manually run it for a one time test:

Go to the directory you placed it in. (I.E. /hack or wherever you placed it)
type:
"./vserver"

You Should get the following responce:
**************************
/hack# ./vserver
waiting for connections on port 8074
**************************
Now re-run:
Do a "Start","Programs","mplayer-tivo","mplayer tivo list"
If it still does NOT shows your "Now playing files, you need to go to step 1!
*******************************************************************

This is where I actually threw & Killed the mouse.....
I calmed down a few days later and recomposed myself enough to get it right.
This is where I left the train station....To this day, I cannot see
the posability of a mere mortal "figuring" out the next part, without a FAQ.

Now, Before I bounce off the wall, I still must give credit to Burriko for
making this fine Java Script! However, I really worked myself to get it going!

Ok, Here's how to get the nice GUI part working.

Download SUN's latest JVM at:

Go to:http://java.sun.com/webapps/getjava/BrowserRedirect?locale=en&host=www.java.com:80

Obviously, install it. (Web based...I agree, 3 times)

Once you have JVM installed, You should reboot the machine.

Your now ready to download the GUI for the MPLAYER:

You should get this from:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tivo-mplayer/MPlayer-0.90rc4-tivo-0.16-windowsinstaller.exe?download

The current version is:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tivo-mplayer//mplayerGUI-1.0.tar.gz?download

Once you downloaded this file, you need to break it down:

If you don't have and know how to use either WinZip or WinRar, your hopeless,
and need to go behind the barn before you shoot yourself in the head...

Open the tar archive and drill down to the actual files, past the sub-dirs:

Find:

Makefile
mplayerFrame.java
mplayerGUI.jar
mplayerGUI.java
nowShowing.java

Now drag and drop the five files into this directory:

"c:\program files\mplayer-tivo\"

Now you should have:
1. Java installed.
2. directivo defined as the proper I.P.
3. vserver app running on the tivo
4. JavaScript Installed in the proper place.

Cross your fingers & toes and type at a dos prompt in the
"c:\program files\mplayer-tivo\" or "c:\progra~1\mplaye~1\"
directory the following command:
c:\PROGRA~1\MPLAYE~1>java -jar mplayerGUI.jar

Note that you can make a desktop shortcut with the mplayer
directory, and this command as a shortcut!

I'm about dead making this FAQ, My Only request is that SOMEONE
find the bitmap of the "please wait", "Please wait this could..."
and the ring and arrows in the MFS and help me find a way to edit them ???

I'm really looking at a "skinning of the box, I'm 80% not thiers now!!"

Feel the Joy!

Scan

[scanman0]

I attached it last, as a reminder to read above, & As I said, if there is a newer version, Please correct me.

Scan
;)

[burriko]

lol, something i wrote caused physical damage to a mouse! sorry, i guess i shouldn't laugh. :D
seriously though, i thought the gui was pretty easy to use, and i'm sure i gave instruction in some post somewhere :). i guess the main parts that probably cause people problems are that it doesn't ask for your tivo's address, it just assumes you've added tivo to hosts, and the fact that mplayer needs to be either on the command path or in the same folder as the gui.
if the above 2 requirements are met then you should be able to simply double click on the .jar to run it.

cheers for writing a faq though, i'm sure it'll help out a lot of people.

[rd001]

I've installed everything as you described and done the checks ('ping tivo') as well.

When I run the mplayer.bat file, the DOS prompt opens and vserver delivers a listing of the NowShowing. At the end of the show listing, I get:

ty_streaming_start failed
Unable to open URL: tivo://tivo/list


Exiting... (End of file)

Any ideas? I tried with the 'tivo' name or with the raw IP address. Still the same thing either way.

So, I go ahead and invode the mplayerGUI. I get a listing. And I can start playing a show and it opens the player window and starts caching. But all I get is sound. The video is frozen on the first frame.

At any rate, it looks like the part you described does work properly. Nice job.

Codec problem? Windows driver problem? (using a Radeon 9500 with certified drivers on WinXP).

[osetivo]

FYI, Burriko did a .18 "installer" version, it's not on cwingert's page, but it is in the mplayer thread, however, if we ask nicely maybe we'll get a new .19 compiled version.;)

EDIT: (Link added) .18 version (http://www.tait.nildram.co.uk/ty-mplayer-0.18.exe)

[mavrcksd]

Yes please

[imwhoim]

Hi! looks like this might be something I would be interested in but I am not sure which TiVo it is meant to run on... Can this run on the Phillips SA?

Thanks!

[RxMan]

I followed your steps exactly.

I can get the list fine. I can even play shows through the standard command line.

mplayer tivo://tivo/12345 (number of show I want)

So, I am getting the list and can manually select from the list, but, I get no java

at c:\progra~1\mplaye~1

I type java -jar mplayerGUI.jar

It just hangs and nothing happens.

Yes, I have vserver running.

Any Ideas?

[imwhoim]

Got mine to load and play too. But mine will play for about 5 minutes or so - then it hangs.

Any ideas?

[rd001]

RxMan:

I had the same problems. I could play a ty file from the hard drive or I could connect to the Tivo and play by FSID. But when I'd invoke the GUI, I'd get nothing for video. Just sound.

I recompiled the mplayer.jar file to include the pp=lb option. That made the difference and then it worked better. Still not flawless but it's a lot closer to the intended functionality.

So I decided I'd post this newer hand-rolled version. I suppose I should fuss a bit and include it in the GUI as a checkbox but I didn't know if anyone else would find it useful.

So here is my jar file if anyone wants to try it out.

[imwhoim]

Seems to have done the trick for me!

Video is smoth and clear... now, if only we had pause, fast forward and rewind!! (hint... hint... hint...)

Great Job! Thanks for all your hard work!

[rd001]

(blush) It's just a dumb little command line options change (-vop pp=lb).

I kind of wondered if it is related to a specific OS (WinXP) or a particular video card driver (ATI cards).

-----------------------------

I forgot to mention earlier that I also added the -double to the command line options for mplayer (from within the .jar file). On my setup, it took both to get it to work.

[scanman0]

I wrote and tested this while running:
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition.
( Tweaked to remove all the added unwanted services...Isn't this an oximoron thing to do?, LOL!)

I also tested it on my Windows Longhorn Build 4015 Hacked to stable version. I no longer have an XP/Mil/98 partition :)

I like to stay on the bleeding edge of added problems!

I've got an ATI Radion 9700 PRO video card. and Use Powerstrip to get a pixel perfect "1368 * 768) output over the DVI cable, so my projector does NO image conversion.

Scan.
:p

P.S. rd001
I'd be inerested if you could explain the switches you mentioned.

[rd001]

Originally posted by scanman0

P.S. rd001
I'd be inerested if you could explain the switches you mentioned.
The -double option invokes doublebuffering. I've seen many others mention that using it is pretty essential to getting their mplayer to work.

The '-vop pp=lb' invokes linear blend deinterlacing. Not sure why this option seems to help mine work. Probably any of the other deinterlacing options would do the trick as well; I just settled on this one because it worked for me and I read somewhere else that someone else needed it too. I assume that some glitch peculiar to my OS, installed codecs or video card is avoided by invoking deinterlacing. As you know, this is why they tell us to compile it for ourselves and not use the generic version. At any rate, if I don't use '-vop pp=lb', I get the very first frame frozen and somewhat garbled in its color and appearing to suffer some horizontal alignment error.

Anyway, it's like sex. I can't explain it. I just need it.

I'm interested in your HDTV rig. What monitor are you using? Does it help a TyDVD to look better on playback? Does using mplayer this way make a stream look much better on a HDTV monitor than a DTivo on a regular TV or a DTivo outputting to a HDTV? I've been thinking of buying a HDTV or HTPC rig.

[scanman0]

rd001.

I'm NOT using a monitor at all!!

I'm using a Sony forward projecting HTDV LCD PROJECTOR for ALL my viewing pleasure, be it PC or HDTV, or the low end video of the DTV's, tivo.

I'm typing to you off this HUGE display on my screen, hanging on the wall. (Approx 15 ft * 8 ft) Projected on the wall, and I'm sitting back about 20 ft from the screen!!

I'm a home theatre buff, you need to check out the forums at www.avsforum.com to get into the Home theatre scene...It's cheaper than you think! You can get a Sony VPL-HS10 like mine for just over 2 grand! and the price/entry point is dropping...

Here's where I bought my projector DIRECTLY from Japan, and have bought 3 projectors from them in total, and SWEAR by them!

www.pricejapan.com

The Mod's at AVS forum won't allow me to mention the site, as it's so undercutting the US market, they won't allow me to "say their name!"

Cheers,
Scan

[scanman0]

Hell, now that I checked it....The HS-10 is gone, So I'm ready to upgrade to the HS-20....Mabe I'll sell my HS-10 for a deal....

[imwhoim]

Hey rd001

You were wondering if it had something to do with the oprating system or sound card and thought I would give you my statsin case you are keeping track.

I am running Windows XP fully updated with all Microsofts updates, a Sound Blaster Live Audigy Platinum and an ATI Radeon 9600 Video Card, 8x AGP, 128MB DDR. My Motherboard is an AMD Athlon 2600 running at 2.06 Gig, 8x AGP and 512 Meg Memory.

Thanks for your support!

[rd001]

scanman, nice rig. Wish I had enough room for a projector. I've been looking at monitors and am waiting to let the prices fall a little and try to find something that will last a few years. The home theater market is in flux and will be for a while yet, I think. I'm thinking about a Monivision 30" direct view as an interim solution.

imwhoim, you and I have very very similar PC rigs. I think that's why we have the same problem with the Win distribution mplayer. From what others have said on other threads, I think that if we installed the compiler and handrolled our own mplayer, it would all work much better for us. Probably we're lucky to get it to work at all. Mine still crashes when it switches video/audio modes, like at the beginning of a PPV or 5xx channel movie. After the opening ratings screen, there's usually a change in the stream and that crashes my mplayer. But I can use the 'skip' button and jump past it. So the problem is when mplayer tries to switch while playing the stream, not that mplayer can't play either kind of stream. It just can't seem to switch while streaming.

[RxMan]

I still can't get mine to work even with rd001's changes.

I am running Windows XP Pro and have a NVIDIA GeForce2 graphics card (fairly old).

Anything else to try?

[Dank]

Originally posted by RxMan
I still can't get mine to work even with rd001's changes.

I am running Windows XP Pro and have a NVIDIA GeForce2 graphics card (fairly old).

Anything else to try? I'm also in the same boat... The GUI runs if it isn't pointed at the TiVo (or if vserver isn't running on the tivo), but as soon as its actually aimed at the correct spot, it won't launch. May be time to install the Java debugger...

[amphion]

I copied over the vserver file in this thread and chmod 777 but evertime I try to execute it, I get "./vserver: cannot execute binary file"

Any ideas?
Amphion

[TheWickedPriest]

Originally posted by amphion
I copied over the vserver file in this thread and chmod 777 but evertime I try to execute it, I get "./vserver: cannot execute binary file"Have you been mindful of the Series 1 / Series 2 difference?

[amphion]

I must have missed the s1/2 difference. I have a S2 DTivo.

Amphion

[A.C.]

I'm getting an error that I just can't understand when I try to run the java app for mplayer. mplayer works fine, but that app doesn't. I'm working on a fresh install if FC3, and I've installing java. Here is the error. Thanks



[root@localhost mplayer]# java -jar mplayerGUI.jar
libgcj-java-placeholder.sh

This script is a placeholder for the /usr/bin/java
master link required by jpackage.org conventions. libgcj's
rmiregistry, rmic and jar tools are now slave symlinks to these
masters, and are managed by the alternatives(8) system.

This change was necessary because the rmiregistry, rmic and jar tools
installed by previous versions of libgcj conflicted with symlinks
installed by jpackage.org JVM packages.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: method javax.swing.JPane l.setActionMap was not found.
at _Jv_ResolvePoolEntry(java.lang.Class, int) (/usr/lib/libgcj.so.5.0.0)
at mplayerFrame.jbInit() (Unknown Source)
at mplayerFrame.mplayerFrame(java.lang.String) (Unknown Source)
at mplayerGUI.mplayerGUI(java.lang.String) (Unknown Source)
at mplayerGUI.main(java.lang.String[]) (Unknown Source)

[alldeadhomiez]

This script is a placeholder for the /usr/bin/java
master link required by jpackage.org conventions. libgcj's
rmiregistry, rmic and jar tools are now slave symlinks to these
masters, and are managed by the alternatives(8) system.

This change was necessary because the rmiregistry, rmic and jar tools
installed by previous versions of libgcj conflicted with symlinks
installed by jpackage.org JVM packages.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: method javax.swing.JPane l.setActionMap was not found.

Did you try the Sun JRE? I would expect a lot of useful classes to be missing from the open source clones.

[malfunct]

Did you try the Sun JRE? I would expect a lot of useful classes to be missing from the open source clones.

In this case it seems to be Swing that is missing.

[A.C.]

Sure did...straight from java.com