X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/5929f131b6757fc7a547134944dedd6a92692be4..d3629bcaf36448c154f9049edfa5fda76512d11a:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 747427eef4..628f671909 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -6,6 +6,67 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + Add-on to control the projector from within Kodi + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Add_on_to_control_the_projector_from_within_Kodi.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Add_on_to_control_the_projector_from_within_Kodi.html + Tue, 26 Jun 2018 23:55:00 +0200 + <p>My movie playing setup involve <a href="https://kodi.tv/">Kodi</a>, +<a href="https://openelec.tv">OpenELEC</a> (probably soon to be +replaced with <a href="https://libreelec.tv/">LibreELEC</a>) and an +Infocus IN76 video projector. My projector can be controlled via both +a infrared remote controller, and a RS-232 serial line. The vendor of +my projector, <a href="https://www.infocus.com/">InFocus</a>, had been +sensible enough to document the serial protocol in its user manual, so +it is easily available, and I used it some years ago to write +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/infocus-projector-control">a +small script to control the projector</a>. For a while now, I longed +for a setup where the projector was controlled by Kodi, for example in +such a way that when the screen saver went on, the projector was +turned off, and when the screen saver exited, the projector was turned +on again.</p> + +<p>A few days ago, with very good help from parts of my family, I +managed to find a Kodi Add-on for controlling a Epson projector, and +got in touch with its author to see if we could join forces and make a +Add-on with support for several projectors. To my pleasure, he was +positive to the idea, and we set out to add InFocus support to his +add-on, and make the add-on suitable for the official Kodi add-on +repository.</p> + +<p>The Add-on is now working (for me, at least), with a few minor +adjustments. The most important change I do relative to the master +branch in the github repository is embedding the +<a href="https://github.com/pyserial/pyserial">pyserial module</a> in +the add-on. The long term solution is to make a "script" type +pyserial module for Kodi, that can be pulled in as a dependency in +Kodi. But until that in place, I embed it.</p> + +<p>The add-on can be configured to turn on the projector when Kodi +starts, off when Kodi stops as well as turn the projector off when the +screensaver start and on when the screesaver stops. It can also be +told to set the projector source when turning on the projector. + +<p>If this sound interesting to you, check out +<a href="https://github.com/fredrik-eriksson/kodi_projcontrol">the +project github repository</a>. Perhaps you can send patches to +support your projector too? As soon as we find time to wrap up the +latest changes, it should be available for easy installation using any +Kodi instance.</p> + +<p>For future improvements, I would like to add projector model +detection and the ability to adjust the brightness level of the +projector from within Kodi. We also need to figure out how to handle +the cooling period of the projector. My projector refuses to turn on +for 60 seconds after it was turned off. This is not handled well by +the add-on at the moment.</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + youtube-dl for nedlasting fra NRK med undertekster - nice free software http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/youtube_dl_for_nedlasting_fra_NRK_med_undertekster___nice_free_software.html @@ -412,80 +473,6 @@ repositories:</p> has mostly retired, but found it best to migrate the source to a good version control system to help those willing to move it forward.</p> -<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - - - - - Using VLC to stream bittorrent sources - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_VLC_to_stream_bittorrent_sources.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_VLC_to_stream_bittorrent_sources.html - Wed, 14 Feb 2018 08:00:00 +0100 - <p>A few days ago, a new major version of -<a href="https://www.videolan.org/">VLC</a> was announced, and I -decided to check out if it now supported streaming over -<a href="http://bittorrent.org/">bittorrent</a> and -<a href="https://webtorrent.io">webtorrent</a>. Bittorrent is one of -the most efficient ways to distribute large files on the Internet, and -Webtorrent is a variant of Bittorrent using -<a href="https://webrtc.org">WebRTC</a> as its transport channel, -allowing web pages to stream and share files using the same technique. -The network protocols are similar but not identical, so a client -supporting one of them can not talk to a client supporting the other. -I was a bit surprised with what I discovered when I started to look. -Looking at -<a href="https://www.videolan.org/vlc/releases/3.0.0.html">the release -notes</a> did not help answering this question, so I started searching -the web. I found several news articles from 2013, most of them -tracing the news from Torrentfreak -("<a href=https://torrentfreak.com/open-source-giant-vlc-mulls-bittorrent-support-130211/">Open -Source Giant VLC Mulls BitTorrent Streaming Support</a>"), about a -initiative to pay someone to create a VLC patch for bittorrent -support. To figure out what happend with this initiative, I headed -over to the #videolan IRC channel and asked if there were some bug or -feature request tickets tracking such feature. I got an answer from -lead developer Jean-Babtiste Kempf, telling me that there was a patch -but neither he nor anyone else knew where it was. So I searched a bit -more, and came across an independent -<a href="https://github.com/johang/vlc-bittorrent">VLC plugin to add -bittorrent support</a>, created by Johan Gunnarsson in 2016/2017. -Again according to Jean-Babtiste, this is not the patch he was talking -about.</p> - -<p>Anyway, to test the plugin, I made a working Debian package from -the git repository, with some modifications. After installing this -package, I could stream videos from -<a href="https://www.archive.org/">The Internet Archive</a> using VLC -commands like this:</p> - -<p><blockquote><pre> -vlc https://archive.org/download/LoveNest/LoveNest_archive.torrent -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>The plugin is supposed to handle magnet links too, but since The -Internet Archive do not have magnet links and I did not want to spend -time tracking down another source, I have not tested it. It can take -quite a while before the video start playing without any indication of -what is going on from VLC. It took 10-20 seconds when I measured it. -Some times the plugin seem unable to find the correct video file to -play, and show the metadata XML file name in the VLC status line. I -have no idea why.</p> - -<p>I have created a <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/890360">request for -a new package in Debian (RFP)</a> and -<a href="https://github.com/johang/vlc-bittorrent/issues/1">asked if -the upstream author is willing to help make this happen</a>. Now we -wait to see what come out of this. I do not want to maintain a -package that is not maintained upstream, nor do I really have time to -maintain more packages myself, so I might leave it at this. But I -really hope someone step up to do the packaging, and hope upstream is -still maintaining the source. If you want to help, please update the -RFP request or the upstream issue.</p> - -<p>I have not found any traces of webtorrent support for VLC.</p> - <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address <b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>