Anybody have MLB.tv?

[poorboywilly]

I was able to watch the MLB.tv streams on March 31st with either the VLC Firefox plugin or with the Firefox MediaPlayerConnectivity plugin to open a stand-alone VLC instance. Since Tuesday, however, the streams have been all jumbled when I try to open them with VLC and then after 5-15 seconds either VLC or Firefox (depending on what route I went to open the stream) crashes. I can have the MediaPlayerConnectivity plugin open them with Mplayer and that works, but I would much rather use VLC because I can crop the stream to view it full screen or output the stream and watch it on my Linux box with real speakers and nice monitor.

Can anyone else with MLB.tv confirm or deny this behavior? Do you think they DRMed the streams?

--Jason

[Gianfy82]

I confirm what you say.
I use Firefox plug-in to start videos on VLC in a standalone window.
Audio is good, but video is corrupted.
Sometimes VLC crashes after some seconds.
I underline that MLB uses VC-1 codec, that is clamed to be supported only in the latest 0.8.6 VLC version. So maybe an early introduction bug.
Under Windows Media Player 11 everything goes well, except for the black frame all around...shame...
Thanks MLB.TV to have developed that stupid Silverslight interface... Strong CPU consumption, no HW graphic acceleration, no TV output redirection through nVidia drivers.

[Gianfy82]

I have read this, and it worked great for me!!!

by DJ on Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:39 pm

VLC 0.8.5 supported WMv3 and WVC1 through the Windows DMO codecs. VLC 0.8.6 on supports WMv3 and WVC1 through FFmpeg, but does not support WMap audio (5.1 surround format).

On Windows you could try adding --codec dmo to your command line to force the Windows .dll to be used for decoding WMV instead of FFmpeg which uses the VC-1 decoder (VLC 0.8.6).
DJ
Moderator

Just add the

Code: Select all

--codec dmo

before the

Code: Select all

%f

in the Firefox plug-in MediaPlayerConnectivity. Of course, the Windows VC-1 driver should have been installed. You can find it searching microsoft download site.

I hope this will fix your problem too!

[poorboywilly]

Oh great! Thanks guys!

As for the black frame, they are streaming all the video in a widescreen format, the Pirates game last night was actually filmed in widescreen, it was pretty sweet, but I don't understand why they letterbox the 4:3 video to widescreen as well. That's why I was using VLC, you can crop it to 4:3 and fullscreen it; unless I'm on my linux box w/ widescreen, but as stated, I needed to use VLC to stream it to Linux

Boy, I can just feel the love from MLB! I can't wait until they yank the rug out from under us and force us to use Silverlight.

Thanks again, jason

[lopbird33]

I have read this, and it worked great for me!!!

by DJ on Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:39 pm

VLC 0.8.5 supported WMv3 and WVC1 through the Windows DMO codecs. VLC 0.8.6 on supports WMv3 and WVC1 through FFmpeg, but does not support WMap audio (5.1 surround format).

On Windows you could try adding --codec dmo to your command line to force the Windows .dll to be used for decoding WMV instead of FFmpeg which uses the VC-1 decoder (VLC 0.8.6).
DJ
Moderator

Just add the

Code: Select all

--codec dmo

before the

Code: Select all

%f

in the Firefox plug-in MediaPlayerConnectivity. Of course, the Windows VC-1 driver should have been installed. You can find it searching microsoft download site.

I hope this will fix your problem too!

Where do I add the code? I could only find MediaPlayerConectivity.jar in my Application Data folder and I am unable to add a command line to it.

[bornyank1]

Hey guys, I'm trying to do the same thing you guys are doing, and use mediaplayerconnectivity to open up my 1.2M mlb.tv stream in VLC. I can use mediaplayerconnectivity to open the embedded video in WMP, but when I try to open it in VLC, nothing plays, and eventually, I get a message saying that it couldn't be opened. The same thing happens when I try to open it in Media Player Classic; I get no picture, and it tells me that it "failed to render file." What might be responsible for this? How can I fix it? Thanks.

[mglenbarker]

Re: where to put the code

In Firefox, select Tools-->MediaPlayerConnectivity-->Configure...
Check the "Expert Mode" checkbox
Enter the code before %f in the text box to the right of the Windows Media information

[Gianfy82]

Have a look at http://server54.integrityserver.net/~lg1400/mlbtvfix/, there is a good guide on how to get rid on the whole story!

You have just to add the "--codec dmo %f" line in caso of using VLC

P.S.
Someone please give me a good reason to recognize Silverlight as a good thing for MLB.TV

[poorboywilly]

I absolutely agree. Silverlight is atrocious, especially the player that MLB made/had made for them. The "full screen" mode? A joke. Trying to skip a commercial break on archived video? Nearly impossible, even with the most precise mouse.

I was rather irked that MLB's decision on opening day to default to Silverlight player unless Silverlight is not installed. It broke Linux support for my box at home, and I had just barely gotten 32-bit Flash plugin working in 64-bit Firefox, ARGH! You wonder if they even care what happens to Linux users. Frankly, I don't see why they even need a Flash or Silverlight interface in the first place.

[trence]

Hey guys, I'm trying to do the same thing you guys are doing, and use mediaplayerconnectivity to open up my 1.2M mlb.tv stream in VLC. I can use mediaplayerconnectivity to open the embedded video in WMP, but when I try to open it in VLC, nothing plays, and eventually, I get a message saying that it couldn't be opened. The same thing happens when I try to open it in Media Player Classic; I get no picture, and it tells me that it "failed to render file." What might be responsible for this? How can I fix it? Thanks.

Anyone figure this out yet? I have the same trouble.

[Vygotcha]

Hey guys, I'm trying to do the same thing you guys are doing, and use mediaplayerconnectivity to open up my 1.2M mlb.tv stream in VLC. I can use mediaplayerconnectivity to open the embedded video in WMP, but when I try to open it in VLC, nothing plays, and eventually, I get a message saying that it couldn't be opened. The same thing happens when I try to open it in Media Player Classic; I get no picture, and it tells me that it "failed to render file." What might be responsible for this? How can I fix it? Thanks.

Anyone figure this out yet? I have the same trouble.

I'm still having this same issue. I can play the 1.2M stream just fine in WMP, but not in VLC. Anyone have any luck fixing this?

[daftcat]

If you guys have the codec issue figured out, I have the connectivity part solved for Linux (and Windows users using cygwin.)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlbviewer/

It's a python solution that doesn't require firefox or media connectivity plugin and it will use a helper application of your choice for gameday audio and 400 and 800k video streams of live and archived games. Top plays and game recaps are supported as well. 1.2M stream is not supported since the 1.2M functionality requires the Autobahn aka NexDef Plugin.

This project is actively supported on a LinuxQuestions.org forum (just jump to the last page):

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... age41.html

Cheers!
daftcat

EDIT: I can confirm mplayer works just fine but seeing as this is a vlc forum, there's no reason why it shouldn't work except I've had garbled output in my testing.

[masonmike]

Facing Same issue as Vygotcha told. Can anyone suggest what should we do??