SPARK Web TV Distribution

Spark now supports channel groups & server side files for WebTV. This allows users and distributors to provide WebTV channel lists in categories and to automatically update channel names, URLs and picons. Multiple servers are supported for different WebTV deployments. The end result is a very nice and very clean looking system.


System Setup –
1. WebTV Server file. This is similar to a normal WebTV file, contains the groups/categories tells the STB where to look for the other WebTV files containing the channels.

2. WebTV channel files. These are normal WebTV files located on a server.

3. Web server for file distribution. STB Setup –
1. Spark 7111 or 7162 STB.

Designing the WebTV Server File
 
Although similar to a normal WebTV file, the server file supports new variables. Let’s look at example code.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<webtvs>
<webtv title="AMIKO AMERICAS GENERAL CHANNELS" urlkey="0"
url="http://www.yourwebserver.com/general/webtv_usr.xml"
description="General channels grouping." iconsrc="/root/plugin/webtv/icon/generalpicon.png"
group="0" type="0" server="1" />
<webtv title="LIVE EVENTS" urlkey="0"
url="http://www.yourwebserver.com/events/webtv_usr.xml"
description="Live sports, concerts and other events." iconsrc="/root/plugin/webtv/icon/eventpicon.png"
group="0" type="0" server="1" />
</webtvs>

Variables
webtv title= This is the display name in the list.

urlkey= This is for encryption support, leave it as-is

url= This is the location of your server side webtv_usr.xml for the category

iconsrc= Path to the group picon on the user’s STB. This is optional. If not used leave as iconscr=”” More will be explained for this variable below.

group= Leave as-is

type= Leave as-is

server= This needs to be set as “1” per the example. This tells Spark that the entry is a group rather than a live channel URL.

Once you have built your WebTV server/group file save as “webtv_usr.xml” and install to 7111/7162. This is the file you give to your end users. What we did with ours was to start with a bunch of categories, even if we are not using them. This way the 7111/7162 owners only need to load one file one time and automatically get updates without ever having to load update files.

The WebTV Channel File
 
As previously noted these are just normal WebTV files and are located on your webserver. Here is the structure we use for simplicity.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<webtvs>

<webtv title="FRANCE 24 ENGLISH"
urlkey="0"
url="http://somestream.com:16482"
description="24 hour news channel from France."
iconsrc="/root/spark/AppRes/pic/webtv/napicon/france24_english.png" type="0" />

<webtv title="RUSSIA TODAY"
urlkey="0"
url="rtmp://someserver.net/rt:25555"
description="RT English news channel."
iconsrc="/root/spark/AppRes/pic/webtv/napicon/rt_america.png" type="0" />

</webtvs>

Variables
webtv title= This is the display name of the individual channel in the list.

urlkey= This is for encryption support, leave it as-is

url= This is the direct link for the stream. It cannot be the page URL, player URL or anything else.

iconsrc= Path to the group picon on the user’s STB. This is optional. If not used leave as iconscr=””

type= Options are “0” for a live stream, “1” for a static file like a MP4 or FLV.

When you have completed the WebTV channel files, upload them to the locations on your server that you specified in your WebTV server file. Be careful that the locations are correct for each file or the user will get a fail message when trying to view the channel lists.

Picons
It seems that several people have had issues making this work. It is very easy to do. Since some people are confused on making this work here is an overview. Please note that the picons are optional. If they are not specified, Spark will display the default webtv_h.png picon from within Spark.

Each picon should be around 60x40. We use 59x40 because for some reason they scaled better. Save each picon in .png format with a unique name.

For every channel or group where you want to use a picon you need to specify its location on the STB with the iconsrc variable. Since we are a distributor and produce customized Spark updates we put these within the updates starting with Spark 1.2.70. For end users and dealers this is not practical to do so there is a different recommended location. It is already included in Spark:

Code:

/root/plugin/webtv/icon/

FTP all your picons to this folder. For distribution there is a better way outlined below.

Distribution
Once you have designed your files and placed the appropriate ones on your server you’ll need to distribute your WebTV server file to your users. If you are not using the picon feature this is very easy, simply give them the webtv_usr.xml file with the servers/groups in it.

If you want to use picons for a nice looking distribution and make it easy to install, distribute as a “plugin”. No special skills for the distributor or end user are required to make this work.
1. Create a folder called “plugin”. NOT “Plugin” ; “plugins” or anything else, it must be exactly “plugin”.

2. Place the entire contents of the WebTV system into this folder. This would include your WebTV server file and the icon folder, exactly like is it setup within the Spark system. The required contents are located at:

Code:

/root/plugin/webtv/

3. ZIP up this package and give to your users.

4. The will unzip this and place the “plugin” folder on the ROOT of a USB flash drive. When plugged into 7111/7162 Spark will see this folder and prompt to upgrade the plugin. When done, Spark reboots with the WebTV file and picons installed.

Download : webtv_usr.rar [330 Bytes]