[lzoubek]

Hi,
I've been working on this for past few days, this is my first python/XBMC addon peace. Take a look if you are interested.

MPDClient is my attempt to control my remote MPD servers, which are streaming over http. Take a look http://wiki.github.com/lzoubek/xbmc-plugin-mpdc/ for more details.

MPDClient works (was tested) in Dharma and latest trunk XBMC builds (eden).

Install Instructions:
- MPD Client is available via Addon Browser in official repository, so it can be installed directly from XBMC.

or if you want most fresh/development version
- Get latest script source from github repo (http://github.com/lzoubek/xbmc-plugin-mpdc) Be sure to select right branch
- Place the script folder in <xbmc profile>/addons/ and name it plugin.program.mpdc.
Or linux users can use install.sh script instead

Thank you for any feedback.

[p3ngo]

Sounds great! I'm going to try it right now :-D

[Fuxx]

Many thanks for this plugin!
Is it possible to put this directly to the main menu "Music"? Because i use only MPD and not the XBMC Music Player.

My feedback to the plugin:
- The keys (play, skip, ...) doesn't work yet: Should work with default xbmc keys in the plugin
- With key right i can select the scroll bar in for example XBMC Video: Would be nice in the plugin

Regards
Fuxx

[AddictedToMetal]

Hmm... I have a slight issue and comment.

How the hell do I back out of the MPD Client plugin UI while music is playing? I hear the noise, but nothing. (i gotta be missing something stupid) Only way I can back out is to stop music playing. Which, I don't want to do since I have MPD streaming all the time. It would be nice to back out so as to use the visualizer and normal player controls.

Can the field for the "Stream URL" be changed so one can simply input an IP? This tripped me up for a bit till I added "http://" to the front of my MPD IP.


That aside, KILLER plugin man! This is a keeper for sure.

[lzoubek]

Many thanks for this plugin!
Is it possible to put this directly to the main menu "Music"? Because i use only MPD and not the XBMC Music Player.

My feedback to the plugin:
- The keys (play, skip, ...) doesn't work yet: Should work with default xbmc keys in the plugin
- With key right i can select the scroll bar in for example XBMC Video: Would be nice in the plugin

Regards
Fuxx

Thanks for your feedback,

- currently plugin is already in 'Music' category
- the only key that does not work now is STOP key
- thanks for suggestion about scrollbar, I'll put it into next release

Libor

[lzoubek]

Hmm... I have a slight issue and comment.

How the hell do I back out of the MPD Client plugin UI while music is playing? I hear the noise, but nothing. (i gotta be missing something stupid) Only way I can back out is to stop music playing. Which, I don't want to do since I have MPD streaming all the time. It would be nice to back out so as to use the visualizer and normal player controls.

Can the field for the "Stream URL" be changed so one can simply input an IP? This tripped me up for a bit till I added "http://" to the front of my MPD IP.


That aside, KILLER plugin man! This is a keeper for sure.

Thanks for your feedback too!

I don't understand. You can always leave client by presssing 'Esc' key (on my PC on keyboard) or corresponding button for closing windows/dialogs. No matter if MPD/XBMC is playing or not. Can you please provide exact steps to reproduce?

well, IMHO URL has to start with http:// or in common with protocol. My Stream URL looks like http://<ip>:<port>/stream.ogg. So it makes sense to me to let it called URL. But at least I should auto-append 'http://' to setting.

Libor

[AddictedToMetal]

Thanks for your feedback too!

I don't understand. You can always leave client by presssing 'Esc' key (on my PC on keyboard) or corresponding button for closing windows/dialogs. No matter if MPD/XBMC is playing or not. Can you please provide exact steps to reproduce?

Hmm... seemed to be something transient. I cleared out my ~/.xbmc folder and started new. Now, things work as I expected. Killer.

But, just like when I listen to MPD as a stream, (not started through this plugin) once the song changes, I no longer hear my stream.

Also, is there a way for it to grab album art locally? As most services (iTunes, Amazon) frankly suck. I know gmpc can do this but I'm unsure how it does it.

[lzoubek]

Same happens to me, when I stop MPD for just a second. Try explore your mpd server configuration, it should be related with gaps between tracks. MPD guys should IMHO implement not to END the stream when nothing is playing, but play 'silence' instead.

Grabbing album art does not seem to be possible for me.

[Balthazaar]

Izoubek - what a great idea. I was keen to try this and have it working - sort of.

Mpdclient starts and connects but if I use the mouse once it starts, xbmc segfaults. So I tried without the mouse (just using a remote) & I was able to queue & play files OK and navigate within mpdclient OK. As soon as I try to leave the client while playing, mpdclient disappears and xbmc segfaults soon after.

Izoubek, should this add-on work with Dharma beta 1? (running Ubuntu 10.04 with Alsa). I'm not asking for help just yet - I need to test some more and try a few minor changes to confirm it's not maybe something I'm doing...

[lzoubek]

Izoubek - what a great idea. I was keen to try this and have it working - sort of.

Mpdclient starts and connects but if I use the mouse once it starts, xbmc segfaults. So I tried without the mouse (just using a remote) & I was able to queue & play files OK and navigate within mpdclient OK. As soon as I try to leave the client while playing, mpdclient disappears and xbmc segfaults soon after.

Izoubek, should this add-on work with Dharma beta 1? (running Ubuntu 10.04 with Alsa). I'm not asking for help just yet - I need to test some more and try a few minor changes to confirm it's not maybe something I'm doing...

Thanks for testing,

Add-on should work with Dharma beta 1,2,3. Athough, there are some issues. I know about segfaults, this has been AFAIK fixed in b2 or b3. Another problem is in beta 3, which deadlocks when opening settings from add-on. I am in touch with XBMC devs. We need to wait 'till they fix it I am building it myself, so I have 'fresh' build.

Hope it's gonna be useful for you soon.

[Balthazaar]

Izoubek, I ugraded to Dharma beta 4 and MPDClient 0.9.7.

it's working great! Both mouse and remote work fine - no segfaults or other problems so far. Thank you! MPDClient is exactly what I have been looking for to play my hi-res audio via MPD. I can't thank you enough!

[lzoubek]

I am glad to read this :-) you're welcome.

I've been quite busy .. b4 is already out? :-) huurey, I'm gonna try it too.

[Balthazaar]

I don't know if you're willing to implement requests, but two things I'd like to see if possible are:

1. Clear (delete) individual tracks from the queue
2. A progress bar (of currently playing track)

Cheers!

[Balthazaar]

I don't know if this is pertains to MPDClient or all add-ons - the xbmc screensaver doesn't work properly when MPDClient is on screen. I have the screensaver set to 'black', but the screen only dims in MPDClient. To get the screensaver to work as expected, I have to return to the home menu. The screensaver then works while MPD is playing.

Any ideas?

[lzoubek]

I don't know if you're willing to implement requests, but two things I'd like to see if possible are:

1. Clear (delete) individual tracks from the queue
2. A progress bar (of currently playing track)

Cheers!

Thanks for suggestions.

1. definitely yes
2. this one is not easy. It would have to run another polling thread checking current song time and updating progress, I'll think about that.
3. I'm gonna do some searching

Once I have some time, it will be in 0.9.8 version ;-)