Is anyone working on a GoogleTV/Android client?

[drhill26]

I read somewhere today that the Google TV update coming soon would add mpeg2 support. I never actually tried a mpeg2 file on my box so I didn't know it didn't have support. Anyway, I would guess that the rest of android would get it with the ice cream sandwich update coming October/November.

Just Google it. Current android formats: http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html

GoogleTv Honeycomb formats: http://code.google.com/tv/android/docs/gtv_media_formats.html
I should get my prime in the next day. I was intending to port the hdhomerunlib to Java so i could get it to work on my gtv box (mpeg2 handled in hardware). Unfortunately Saturday gave me some mold from a leaky shower which will require me moving up my renovation plans to now. Then hours later the drip pan on my AC rotted through into my downstairs bathroom ceiling. I will be a bit time strapped for a few weeks.

[xVoy]

I read somewhere today that the Google TV update coming soon would add mpeg2 support. I never actually tried a mpeg2 file on my box so I didn't know it didn't have support. Anyway, I would guess that the rest of android would get it with the ice cream sandwich update coming October/November.

Oh, good find, I will have to give it a try when I get the GTV emulator up...

[drhill26]

I believe I almost have libhdhomerun/libhdhomerun_config converted to java.

From libhdhomerun_config I've successfully tested discover, scan, status, and a few more things I can't remember. I just want to test save and and set /tuner?/target before I'm somewhat happy with it. I'm sure there is still a few bugs hanging around and I'm not entirely with all of the implementation. But I think it's a good start for using in an all java android app.

[grove]

that's great news - say the word, and I'm ready to give it a test drive

[drhill26]

I had everything working except the save command in a pure java build. I'm not sure why the save wouldn't work, but it didn't work for the regular libhdhomerun_config exe I built in C too, so I'm pretty sure it is just me not knowing how to use the damn thing.

I started working on an android app yesterday, but wasted about 6 hours figuring out I couldn't run network commands on the main UI thread in Honeycomb.

After that I got back into my other problem on my xoom. I can't get a consistant wifi connection on the device on either the 2.4ghz or 5ghz band. I get this while using the browser or streaming dlna media. My laptop doesn't exhibit this behavior so I don't believe it's my router. This makes it a real PITA to test the code on my xoom as trying to do a channel scan will require a decent amount of time connected.

I may just flash clear the setting on my router anyway. I noticed this problem started the same time I got the 3.2 update for the xoom and we had a bunch of power failures which gave my router some trouble for a day.

[grove]

After that I got back into my other problem on my xoom. I can't get a consistant wifi connection on the device on either the 2.4ghz or 5ghz band. I get this while using the browser or streaming dlna media.

What "wifi sleep policy" do you have on your tablet? Make sure it's set to "never" under wifi settings.

[drhill26]

It's been on never since day one.

[drhill26]

xVoy, would you mind pointing me to where you got the software library for video decoding, I was considering ripping up the alpha VLC and integrating it, but I'm lazy so if you could give me an easier way...

As of last night I have a full channel list from a device scan (no guide data as that seems to be a big adventure to undertake for now) and current channel displaying on my xoom in front of a empty screen. Now everything works as far as the prime is concerned. I have the app hard coded to target my laptop running VLC for testing. It works fine, channels change in at most 2-3 seconds, and I have tuner locks setup. I'm sure I have a few android lifecycle things to take care of (though it does release the tuner on exit already), but the only major thing is actually getting the video on the Xoom... which is kind of important.

I was thinking about the GoogleTV vs regular android thing. Briefly going though the SDK it seems that you have access to all of the GoogleTV channel listing (YEA!!!) so that won't be a concern. I also saw a youtube video of someone streaming MPEG2 to a revue with Honeycomb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fO44X2eAfQ) so that isn't a concern.

For GoogleTV we just need an app with the remote control intents (channel prev/next, manual channel # input, manual station name input, current channel info, and guide). The heavy lifting is done for that by the OS, thank god. So we don't need native code and I already translated libhdhomerun (and config) to java (minus knowing if the save feature worked, since I don't even know how to get the original working).

So the rest of android can use a separate apk with native code.

I guess I'll setup a git repo for my libhdhomerun work.

[drhill26]

https://github.com/drhill/libhdhomerun_java

If anyone wants to use this as a base.

[shaolinmonk]

There is a newly released app called Telly that does OTA streaming to iOS devices. According to its description, it works with most/all Windows compatible tuner so I guess it should work with HDHomeRun as well. I emailed the developer to see if there is any plan to support Android.
see www.telly-app.com

[drhill26]

Just to give an update on this. I received the Honeycomb update yesterday on my Sony blu ray box. I've been debugging my program on there and can control the HDHomerun Prime box, but I'm stuck on getting the video to display.

I know it will work as some one had it working on the 3.1 beta on a revue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fO44X2eAfQ), but I have no experience with video streaming so I'm not sure how to setup the VideoView (or if I should be using a MediaPlayer and surfaceview, which is what I believe a VideoView is anyway). Or if I should be using multicast instead of target IP. Anyone have ideas?

[djb]

Waiting on the Honeycomb update for my revue but in the meantime I'm working on my app using the emulator. Anyway, I wouldn't think you want to use a multicast IP. Sorry I cannot more offer help right at this moment as I'm also just starting to try to figure this out! In the next few days I'll report what I have learned if I make progress.

In the mean time I would think the VideoPlayer sample app would be helpful (haven't looked at it yet myself).

http://code.google.com/tv/android/docs/ ... mples.html

[drhill26]

Thanks, but the example uses a file location which is given by a remote server. Unless I'm missing how to use the Prime (which is likely) that won't work. I'm modeling it the same way you would pass VLC a udp ip (local) and port.

I'll keep plugging away on my end as well when I get home. My (ugly) interface doesn't even work right now for GTV as I had it setup on a tablet so I also have to take 20 minutes to get that hooked up to Menu/Enter keys.

The bigger problem (not that figuring out how to display the darned video isn't a big problem) is what to do for guide data. GTV has an API which gives you channels (which might be better then my current way of doing a 20 minute scan on the first boot and storing the info), but what I really want to do is pull current channel information as well as create a mini guide for a numerical/alpha channel list. Then maybe make the guide button take you to the What'sON/TV Movies app for a full guide.

I was very glad to see we can make our apps be the default intent handler for channel changes (or we would be screwed) and the user can pick the app that starts up on boot.

[Zaphod-Beeblebrox]

Just wanted to say thank you for your efforts on this.
I have some programming experience, but none with android or even media/video to be much help.

However, you are giving me hope (and a reason to go buy a Revue for $99.00 ) that I might be able to use this as a front end in my HTPC network

[djb]

@drhill Sorry I didn't know exactly what you were trying to do. Yeah I doubt the android video player will be able to listen to UDP packets because Google wouldn't think it would be useful in any of their use cases. Of course it would be useful for us. Perhaps I'm wrong though because I've never seen anything that says they don't support UDP.

I think it's likely you will need to have some server component between the hdhomerun and googletv. What I'm working on is just making an app that is a front end to my dvr server software. If this new honeycomb version can play raw video out of the hdhomerun then as a front end it would be very valuable, especially at $99. They claim it will do mpeg2 but they never mention bitrates and such. I'll believe it when I see it.

I've already written an app for the Roku that supplies this functionality but video is not viewable until after transcoding to mp4. Which takes time and CPU. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice thing to have but not having to transcode would make a big difference.