How-To: Firefox Media Center (WIP)

[lovinglinux]

Special Note: most of the functionality of this tutorial can now be achieved with my new FoxMediaCenter extension that you can download at http://foxmediacenter-extension.blogspot.com so this tutorial will not be maintained anymore.

There is also a new thread

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1024400

[lovinglinux]

The first version of the tutorial is ready. Please tell me what do you think about this idea and the tutorial itself. Also let me know if you have any suggestions on how to improve it or if you know any extensions that you think should be included. I will be glad to update the tutorial and give the proper credits for contributors.

I hope you like the "Firefox Media Center" the way I do. Have fun!

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

Looks great, can't wait to try it out. Any suggestions on how to run digital tv? Is it the same as for analog but with a different syntax? Also looking forward to TV manager accommodating UK channels.

[lovinglinux]

Looks great, can't wait to try it out. Any suggestions on how to run digital tv? Is it the same as for analog but with a different syntax? Also looking forward to TV manager accommodating UK channels.

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with digital TV cards, but I guess the principles are the same. Since I use external applications to watch, record and stream TV, you just have to tweak the configurations on those applications and use my instructions to launch them trough Firefox. If an application I suggest doesn't work with digital TV, all you have to do is find one that work's and follow the same procedures to integrate them into Firefox. For example, all you need to watch recorded TV is a Firefox plugin like gecko-mediaplayer or mozilla-vlc plugin and you probably already have one. To record you might need a different transcoder or command to start it, but the procedure to add "record" and "stop" buttons to Firefox is pretty much the same, so in the end you will have to change just a few commands and file paths.

Try it out and tell me if you find any difficulties. I will be glad to help you customize your setup. What program you currently use for watching and recording TV?

I have sent a suggestion to TV Manager designer about supporting xmltv, so users from other countries could easily adapt the extension for their local programming. He said this will be taken under consideration for future releases, but also said that they are already working on supporting other countries natively. Since UK is a major player in the entertainment industry and closely related to US studios, I bet you won't have to wait too much longer. I'm not so lucky, since in my country the best they can do is broadcast new US tv series with at least 2 months gap.

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

I use mplayer for dvb-tv. I have a channels.conf file in my ~/.mplayer directory that contains all the necessary info for selecting channels. Although I have scripts to make life easier the basic approach is:

 mplayer dvb:// BBC1

where BBC1 is the "name/label" for the configuration info for the BBC1 channel. This command runs dvb-tv in an mplayer window

[lovinglinux]

I use mplayer for dvb-tv. I have a channels.conf file in my ~/.mplayer directory that contains all the necessary info for selecting channels. Although I have scripts to make life easier the basic approach is:

 mplayer dvb:// BBC1

where BBC1 is the "name/label" for the configuration info for the BBC1 channel. This command runs dvb-tv in an mplayer window

Ok. Let's try to create a bookmark in Firefox that will open BBC1 channel

1. In the Location bar, type about:config, and press Enter.

2. Right-click anywhere in the grid, choose New, then String.

3. In the "Enter the preference name" prompt, type in "network.protocol-handler.app.dvb" and press OK.

4. In the "Enter string value" prompt, type "/usr/bin/mplayer"

Now open the bookmark manager and create a new link using "dvb://BBC1" as url. If Firefox prompts you to select an application to open that kind of url, browse the /usr/bin/ and select mplayer, even if it is already in the available list. Then try to open this bookmark and see if mplayer opens on BBC1 channel. If it doesn't work, try using just "dvb://" as URL.

Tell me if you succeed and we will proceed to next step.

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

Ok. Let's try to create a bookmark in Firefox that will open BBC1 channel

1. In the Location bar, type about:config, and press Enter.

2. Right-click anywhere in the grid, choose New, then String.

3. In the "Enter the preference name" prompt, type in "network.protocol-handler.app.dvb" and press OK.

4. In the "Enter string value" prompt, type "/usr/bin/mplayer"

Now open the bookmark manager and create a new link using "dvb://BBC1" as url. If Firefox prompts you to select an application to open that kind of url, browse the /usr/bin/ and select mplayer, even if it is already in the available list. Then try to open this bookmark and see if mplayer opens on BBC1 channel. If it doesn't work, try using just "dvb://" as URL.

Tell me if you succeed and we will proceed to next step.

That worked fine! Excellent!

Still working my way through the base setup:

TV Manager was not available to me as an add-on (not doubt because I am UK based)

Have not bothered yet with the EPG or PVR as dvb recording may require a different approach to yours. or with streaming (slow broadband)

Do you know how to get music files to enqueue ( I use Audacious as my mp3 player) as opposed to just playing?

This is good stuff though

Cheers

Jose

[lovinglinux]

That worked fine! Excellent!

Still working my way through the base setup:

w00t

I just gave you the basic for creating a fake dvb:// association in Firefox, so when you get at this point in the tutorial you will be able to create a fancy thumbnail for each channel. You don't have to go to about:config again, just use the URL dvb:// with the channel ID you have configured for mplayer (BBC1, BBC2 or whatever) and you will be fine.

TV Manager was not available to me as an add-on (not doubt because I am UK based)

It is an experimental extension, not fully approved by Mozilla yet, so you need to register and login in the Mozilla extension directory to download. Just create an account there and you will be able to download it.

Have not bothered yet with the EPG or PVR as dvb recording may require a different approach to yours. or with streaming (slow broadband)

I'm not using streaming either, because it suck the processor power, but I included in my tutorial because some people might be interested.

DVB recording will definitively require a different approach, specially because my TV card receives a single channel frequency from the cable TV setup box, which is in other room. I can't switch channels on the PC, so a single button for recording is enough for me.

Do you currently use some software to record TV? Maybe we can figure out how to make a nice setup for you.

Do you know how to get music files to enqueue ( I use Audacious as my mp3 player) as opposed to just playing?

Do you mean adding to a playlist on-the-fly? I have to think about it.

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

FFMC:
The biggest problem in achieving a media center experience is when running FF in full screen with everything else loading up behind it. Anyway of getting FF to run at the "back". Fast Dial is a super extension and getting the "urls" working provides a useful interface for all sorts of things.

DVB:
As I said, I run a script to choose channels for watching and/or recording using zenity to make a gui for the choices. Have got this working from a thumbnail so I don't have to have a thumbnail for each channel.

MP3:
Yes, to enqueue to Audacious on the fly. Audacious has an option " -e or --enqueue" but it is about not setting this as a default for the whole system, simply for FFMC.

Thanks for your help

[lovinglinux]

FFMC:
The biggest problem in achieving a media center experience is when running FF in full screen with everything else loading up behind it. Anyway of getting FF to run at the "back". Fast Dial is a super extension and getting the "urls" working provides a useful interface for all sorts of things.Thanks for your help

You have two options. The first one is make sure all applications launched by FFMC startup as fullscreen. This is similar to MythTV behavior as far as I now.

The second option requires compiz. Open CompizConfig Settings Manager and scroll to "Window Rules" plugin. Then add "title=Mozilla Firefox" to the "Below" rule. This will make Firefox always below other windows, even when in fullscreen mode. The downside is that your regular Firefox profile window will be also below.

DVB:
As I said, I run a script to choose channels for watching and/or recording using zenity to make a gui for the choices. Have got this working from a thumbnail so I don't have to have a thumbnail for each channel.

In this case I recommend replacing the mplayer on your "dvb://" link handler inside FFMC (Preferences > Applications tab) to you custom GUI. So whenever you need to watch or record TV you can launch your GUI from FFMC. It will be much simpler to configure, because you just need one link to control channels and recordings. You still can create a link to the folder where you save TV recordings, so you don't have to leave the FFMC fullscreen to watch them.

MP3:
Yes, to enqueue to Audacious on the fly. Audacious has an option " -e or --enqueue" but it is about not setting this as a default for the whole system, simply for FFMC.

I need to test, but I guess it is possible to create a script for this. I will let you know about my findings.