[APP] iPlayer [v0.5 18/03/09]

[craftyb]

Browse and stream content from the BBC's iPlayer.



Features:
- Finger friendly UI including flick kinetic scrolling, swipe gestures and vibration feedback.
- Supports Nav Sensor and Stylus Removal (thanks koush)!
- Higher quality video/audio than Samsung User Agent hack (483x272 h.264 video stream).
- Browse content by Highlights, Popular, Channel/Station, Category or Date.
- Search for content and save history.
- Self updating and AppToDate support.
- Downloads video to device for later viewing (I download at home over wifi and then watch videos on the tube on the way to work).
- Video launched in your default player associated with '.mov' files.
- Radio shows launched in your default player associated with '.mp3' files.

This app works by impersonating an iPhone to access an unprotected mp4 file and then patching the index to allow immediate playback. Radio programs are downloaded as mp3s. Many thanks to the people who discovered this technique - see readme.txt for credits and further explanation. Note that this is in no way sanctioned by the BBC.

This is obviously a very data intensive application so I would recommend using over wi-fi or with an unlimited data plan.

Requirements:
- .Net framework 3.5.
- You also must be in the UK to use this. The BBC seem to block access over cellular data from some operators (e.g. Vodafone) . If this happens then please try over wifi & report your findings. Prelimanary proxy support has been introduced in v0.4. Edit the settings.xml to add a UK proxy.
- This app is only working for the VGA and WVGA devices at the moment. I may add support for other devices and screen resolutions in the future if there is enough interest.
- You need a video player capable of playing back the (h.264 + AAC) video. I use the commercial app CorePlayer which plays the files pretty well (benchmarks at 91%). You can also use this build of the free TCPMP which will play the files but benchmarks at around 61%. Either way you will need to associate '.mov' files with your player.

This has been a bit of a hobby project and is my first attempt at Windows Mobile development. I'm releasing it for free but if you find it useful then consider buying me a beer!

v0.5 cab attached below:

[craftyb]

To Do:
- QVGA (&WQVGA) resolution? For now check out myPlayer.
- Stability fixes
- A few more ideas...

Known Bugs:
- Cancelled downloads not deleted - you will need to manually remove them.
- Launching a 'Saved Search' breaks the top navigation controls - d'oh!
- Date view seems to be broken again by changes by the BBC.
- Incorrect AppToDate xml - causes ATD to always say there is a newer version.

Changelog:
v0.5 18/03/09
- Fixed parsing of programs, searches and day listings due to changes to BBC site
- Added new 'Feeds' view for easier choosing of feeds
- Now starts in 'Feeds' view and checks for updates in background for faster startup
- Added saved searches - currently saves every search term

v0.4 20/02/09
- Improved radio show integration
- Added more settings including changing save location
- Added 'auto buffer' mode or manually set
- Choose whether to begin playback after buffering (and set default)
- Double click pink 'headers' to scroll to top of page
- Fixed 'Related Programs' due to change in BBC site
- Initial proxy support - have to edit settings.xml
- *Hopefully* WVGA compatible

v0.3 03/02/09
- Added experimental radio show download/streams. Only accessible via search at the moment
- Added more options to Settings screen
- Added wifi icon
- Decreased download 'chunk' size - should reduce memory overhead.
- Added more error handling
- More logging (renamed to debug.txt to help attaching to posts).

v0.2 26/01/09
- Added a [very] basic settings screen. Only option is to enable debug mode. If you encounter any bugs then please turn debug mode on, replicate and then attach the file "debug.log" that is produced in the install dir to your post detailing the problem. Thanks!
- Forgot to update the readme.txt file but if the About screen says v0.2 then you have the latest.
- Did you notice the automatic updates?

v0.1 25/01/09
- Initial release

[chrisnash]

Nice!
Been waiting for this for a long time.
Many many thanks.
Cant wait to test

[hotrod101]

Testing in Canada, Will let you know how it works, if it works

[hotrod101]

Program wouldn't even start - Errors and closes. That's too bad.

[TrizO]

Works well, but im wondering...could you expand this to other sites? i like the layout it is intuitive.

[tboy2000]

Thought it would work on my Touch HD but alas poor yorick, it does not.

Any chance for WVGA support?

[leonatan25]

I get this exception:

iPlayer.exe
NotSupportedException

at System.Net.WebRequest.Create(Uri requestUri, Boolean schemeOnly)
at System.Net.WebRequest.Create(String requestUriString)
at iPlayer.Utils.CreateWebRequest(String pURL, Boolean pKeepAlive, String pUserAgent, String pCookie)
at iPlayer.ProgramDetails.GetFileSize(String url)
at iPlayer.ProgramDetails.LoadProgDetails()
at iPlayer.ProgramDetails.<Initialise>b__0()

Any help?

[craftyb]

Originally Posted by hotrod101 Program wouldn't even start - Errors and closes. That's too bad.

Sorry is Diamond only at the mo. Have updated first post to clarify.

[craftyb]

Originally Posted by TrizO Works well, but im wondering...could you expand this to other sites? i like the layout it is intuitive.

Thanks, yes i'd like to expand it to other sites at some point. I was considering some kind of plugin structure so others could add support to other sites?

I was thinking about adding revision3. Any other ideas?