oviano

Sure Tom, I have registered on sourceforge and my username is "oviano". You have my email address if you need any more info or something.

So I've had a crack at making some more changes, including one that addresses the issue raised in this thread (jillefsky has already tested this one out) and a few other bits and pieces that I added to improve my streaming setup. Tom, once again you are welcome to integrate any of these changes into your project, if you so desire. Here's what I've added/changed: - "Channel Digits" setting. I've added a new setting for a Slingbox which deals with the issue raised in this thread, namely if channel numbers use more than 1 digit you can tell it to buffer these and only when the required number of digits have been typed does it issue the change channel command. [Default - Unbuffered] - "Quality" setting. I've replaced the Resolution and FPS controls with a Quality control which basically mirrors the web player, giving you an Auto, Minimum, Good, Better, Best and Best (HD) setting. I've also added keyboard shortcuts for these to allow switching while viewing which expands upon the simple SD/HD switch I had added previously. [Default - Auto] - "Bitrate" setting. I've added a new setting for a Slingbox which forces the lowest possible bitrate for the given Quality setting. So for example, if you set this and then set your Quality to Best(HD) it'll stream at approx 3.5mbps and not go above it (apart from a hundred kbps or so either side). The reason I added this was because I find that the automated algorithm isn't always the smartest when you have limited bandwidth - for example, I have about 5mbps available and frequently I see the algorithm trying bitrates above this, then I get video stutter, then the algorithm "realises' and drops back again. By turning this setting on, I prevent this irritating cycle from happening. Obviously the trade-off here is you will lose the benefit of any additional smoothness/quality at higher bitrates, so this is really a setting for limited bandwidth situations such as my own. [Default - Auto] - "Refresh Rate" setting. I've added a global setting which will automatically switch the display's refresh rate to either 50Hz or 60Hz depending on the FPS of the stream. This is useful where you have Slingboxes with different sources, i.e. one with 50fps, one with 60fps, and removes the slight judder you get when viewing a 50fps stream on a 60hz display and vice versa. [Default - Don't Change] Anyway, I've zipped it up and placed it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/52kf9c5lv7asrur/SlingFront%201.45%20%28Customised%202%29.zip Cheers Oliver

Check the settings page for the keyboard shortcut for 'StreamInfo'.

I'd use the official Sling minimum specs for the web player as a rough guide since SlingFront is built on the same ActiveX component. However, in my experience it possibly runs a bit less well than the web player, for example for me it struggles with 60fps streams whereas the webplayer doesn't, on the same machine, so maybe take the minimum spec and go for the next processor up or something , I don't know. I'm having success with running SlingFront on an Intel Core i3 with HD Graphics 4000 and 4GB of RAM, but I rent a US Slingbox which by default sends a 1080i 60fps stream and I had to ask them to put in a framerate converter to 50fps to make it work without hiccups...

You can hack the code alright, for example I currently have the following system butchered into the code:Four different quality settings each with a hardcoded resolution and videobitrate, and also different arrangements for different Slingboxes. eg for my box outputting 720p I have it setup like this: Q1 - 640 x 240 @ 800kbps Q2 - 640 x 480 @ 1600kbps Q3 - 640 x 480 @ 2400kbps Q4 - 1280 x 720 @ 3400kbps This is the optimum setup for me for streaming from a 720p output box from the UK to Istanbul, taking into account my achievable speeds between the two locations. So while i don't think you can intercept the automatic Sling system and 'cap' it as you suggest, you can insead bypass that system completely and implement hardcoded bitrates and resolutions, if you're prepared to get your hands dirty with the code (Visual Basic). In your case you would experiment with different resolutions and bitrates until you find the combination(s) you are happy with that doesn't overload your CPU. Note that the above system stops all automatic fluctuating of the video bitrate so it acts much more like a traditional IPTV system where a minimum stable bandwidth is required, but personally I'm not a really big fan of the way Sling's automatic system works, indeed with a 720p output from the remote STB I find that for some reason (and this is on multiple machines) it keeps trying ever-higher bitrates until it exceeds my available bandwidth and starts getting into a death cycle of stopping and starting from which it never recovers. That's why I hacked this system in the first place! i suppose a more generic solution would be integrated into the UI so that the resolutions and bitrates can be configured on a per-Slingbox basis in the settings, rather than be hardcoded as I've done it. If you think what I've done would be useful to you, and you've access to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 in order to adapt it to your needs then let me know and I'll zip it up and stick it in my dropbox.

Check which keyboard shortcut is assigned to the zoom - most likely it's Z, so press the Z key to cycle through. I'm guessing at some point you hit Z without realising.

It wouldn't put me out, it's my second box that I was renting out, but the person renting it just cancelled. You are welcome to it for few months until you get yourself sorted. I've had a lot of use out of SlingFront, so it's the least I can do. Anyway email me at ovcollyer at mac.com if you're interested.

Tom Does it need to be admin access? I may be able to give you guest access to a 350 connected to Sky+ HD in the UK for a while. Let me know if that would help. Cheers Oliver

SlingFront is based on the Slingplayer ActiveX component which makes it Windows only.

Nice one! In terms of the namings of the keys inside SlingFront, can we not just look to use the names as per the list I posted a while back? With regards to your issue, I've not seen that one but I have found that in general SlingFront can struggle with a stream (esp a 50/60 fps one) when the same machine can display it just fine inside IE. Tends to be an issue with 'borderline' hardware maybe. I had begun to wonder if it was something to do with the browser being 64 bit and running a tiny bit more efficiently than SlingFront 32 bit. Maybe we could add a 64 bit target to the project, though I don't know what changes that would involve.

You can email me at ovcollyer @ mac.com if you need any help compiling it and/or have any Qs and I'll try and help. I'm not a VB person myself, I'm from a C/C++ background but the principles are much the same. If you look through my customised code then you should be able to search for my comments and see exactly what I changed to add new keyboard shortcuts, including adding entries to the on screen menu and the place it loads and saves the codes to a config file so that it remembers the settings. Or just search for 'ExitKey' in the code to find the places.

Strange - I have been using the MCEKeyboard device with a Harmony Ultimate and it works flawlessly. Didn't have to change any device settings, delays etc. Which Harmony remote are you using? Also, which IR sensor? I am plugging in the USB IR dongle that comes with a RoseWill remote.

I think the Previous/Next keys are essentially meant to cycle backwards and forwards through your Slingboxes, presumably based on the order they appear in the menu. However, I don't use/haven't tried this functionality and I might be wrong! The ExitKey command works fine for me as a back/exit button on several different remote STB setups. It sounds like you need an additional mapping for the Cancel command, but I'm surprised the ExitKey doesn't at least produce one of the commands you need.

The Previous key I think switches to the previous Slingbox in the list. You want the "ExitKey" if you are trying to issue the 'Exit' command on the remote STB. The "Quit" key is intended to take you back to the SlingFront menu when streaming and then out of the app completely if you hit it again. I don't think there is a mapping for the remote 'Cancel' command - does this do something different on your STB to the remote 'Exit' command?

Heh, I edited my post above now as I realised I could use my DropBox account - I didn't know that I could share a link publicly like that, I assumed the recipient would need to have DropBox too.

Jethros Ok, here is the last code I pulled down: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5e5ljun5ep11rsl/SlingFront%201.45.zip ...and here is my customised version for Tom if he wishes to integrate into the main release or for anyone else who might find it useful: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l9op08qnwf7qjl6/SlingFront%201.45%20%28Customised%29.zip My changes are: - if the stream is taken over by another user/Slingplayer then tidily drop back to the menu system rather than just show a black screen - if the user is the administrator then automatically take over the stream when connecting rather than fail after a while with a login error - made it still show the View and Edit Slingbox menu options if no Slingboxes have been found. This addresses an issue where if SlingFront is launched before an Internet connection has been established (such as can happen if it's launched immediately after Windows boots) it means you have to exit and re-launch the app to get the list of Slingboxes - fixed a minor bug where the default mapping for Power (P) wasn't set correctly on a new install - added the following keyboard mappings: Play - B Stop - C Pause - D Rewind - H Fast Forward - J Record - K Page Up - L Page Down - O Quality - Q These are all editable in the same manner as the existing keys are. The Quality key will cycle through 640x480, 1280x720, 1920x540 and 1920x1080 each time you press it. If the current resolution is none of these four then it'll move it to the next highest one of these four. All my changes are commented with "Added by Oliver Collyer" so they can be found easily. Neither zip contains an executable, you'd need to build that yourself. I use Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Cheers Oliver

Ok, I just checked and you are right - it downloads an empty zip file now. Not sure if that is a sourceforge issue, or Tom hasn't uploaded it or something...

Downloading the snapshot worked for me when I tried a few weeks ago (when Tom released 1.45). The zip contained everything needed to build using Visual Studio. I'll try again tomorrow and let you know.

The ones I have added to my custom build are: Play - B Stop - C Pause - D Rewind - H FastForward - J Record - K PageUp - L PageDown - O But IMO you may as well just provide the means to map all 81 in the list I posted, even if you only actually provide a default mapping for a subset of them, though the UI needs some work as the menu containing the functions that can be mapped doesn't scroll.

Two things here: 1. When SlingFront tries to connect to a Slingbox, if the box is busy it just eventually times out and doesn't connect. I fixed this by passing (1) into the Player.Start() call which forces the connection to take over the stream. A possibly more elegant solution would be to mirror what the website does and prompt the user to kick the other user off, although personally I prefer the aggressive force connect by default. 2. When viewing a stream in SlingFront, if another user/Slingplayer takes the stream the screen just goes black without notification. You can hit the stop key to recover, but it's not elegant. I added some code to replicate the stopkey behaviour if the stream disappears, thus returning to the main menu. Happy to share this code change with you if you want.

Further messing about shows that I can force the 720p60 to stream correctly if I set the resolution to 1920 x 1080 and the FPS to 60. This means you correctly get a 1280 x 720 resolution at 60fps. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but choosing 1920 x 1080 and 60fps is the only way I can get it work, ie choosing Auto for either resolution or FPS or both, or choosing 1280 x 720 and 60fps doesn't work.

To be honest I'd be inclined just to add the remaining commands to the existing list of key mappings, otherwise won't there be two levels of mapping, one for choosing which keys control these custom commands, and another for what these custom commands do (ie from the list of 81 functions)? Seems maybe a bit overcomplicated. Apologies if I've misunderstood.

Search for an existing supported key mapping in the code and basically do the same for the one you are adding.

I get the task bar appearing on one machine too - it appears when the stream starts, and remains until you stop the stream, at which point it disappears. Once it appears it seems impossible to get rid of it while the stream plays, I.e. clicking on the SlingFront icon in the task bar or on the stream doesn't help. The most obvious difference is this machine is running Windows 7 Enterprise, the others I've tried where the task bar doesn't appear are Windows 7 Home Premium. I've only seen it happen on this one machine.

Ok, I did a bit more digging and found a list of the 81 standard Slingbox preset buttons and their corresponding codes: Power = 1 Power_On = 2 Power_Off = 3 Ch+ = 4 Ch- = 5 Vol+ = 6 Vol- = 7 Mute = 8 Num_1 = 9 Num_2 = 10 Num_3 = 11 Num_4 = 12 Num_5 = 13 Num_6 = 14 Num_7 = 15 Num_8 = 16 Num_9 = 17 Num_0 = 18 Enter = 19 100 = 20 Last_Ch = 21 TV/VCR = 22 External = 23 Play = 24 Stop = 25 Pause = 26 Rewind = 27 FFwd = 28 Record = 29 Skip+ = 30 Skip- = 31 Live = 32 Menu = 33 Setup = 34 Guide = 35 Cancel = 36 Exit = 37 Up_Arrow = 38 Down_Arrow = 39 Left_Arrow = 40 Right_Arrow = 41 Select = 42 Page+ = 43 Page- = 44 Fav = 45 Info = 46 Format = 47 SAP/Subtitle = 48 Surround = 49 Slow = 50 Eject = 51 Random = 52 PIP = 53 PIP_Format = 54 PIP_Freeze = 55 PIP_Swap = 56 PIP_Move = 57 PIP_Source = 58 PIP_Ch+ = 59 PIP_Ch- = 60 PIP_Multi = 61 Custom10 = 62 Custom11 = 63 Custom12 = 64 Custom13 = 65 Custom14 = 66 Custom15 = 67 Custom16 = 68 Custom17 = 69 Custom18 = 70 Custom19 = 71 Custom20 = 72 Custom21 = 73 Red = 74 Green = 75 Yellow = 76 Blue = 77 White = 78 Custom27 = 79 Custom28 = 80 Custom29 = 81 Most of these are defined in SlingFront (the exceptions are the PIP ones and the Custom ones), although not all have a key mapped to them so don't get used.