Daily podcasts

Description

The Daily podcasts plugin allows you to add video/audio RSS feeds directly in the UMSP server without the need for a specific plugin. You can add your subscriptions in an XML file and view them in the UMSP GUI

Prerequisites

• You will need to create an XML file that will list the feeds you want
• The feeds that you may add must have direct links to content playable by WDTV. For example, such feeds will have a Media File section while viewed in Firefox.

Configuration

• Enable the plugin in the web interface, under UMSP
• Create an empty XML file in a path convenient to you (for instance in /conf/daily-podcasts.xml):

touch /conf/daily-podcasts.xml

• Point the plugin's configuration variable to your file

config_tool -c DAILY_PODCASTS_XML='/conf/daily-podcasts.xml'

• Save the configuration

config_tool -s

• Add content to the file, by using this format (example for two feeds, the first is just for test, the second is genuine). Add as many item sections as you need:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<list>
   <item>
       <description>Menu Entry 1</description>
       <image>http://link.to/thumbnail.jpg</image>
       <item>
           <description>Menu Entry 1</description>
           <url>http://video.feed/1</url>
           <limit>number of items to display</limit>
       </item>
   </item>
   <item>
       <description>GeekBeat.TV</description>
       <image>http://geekbeat.tv/wp-content/themes/thesis_17/custom/images/cali-app.gif</image>
       <item>
           <description>GeekBeat.TV</description>
           <url>http://feeds.feedburner.com/calismall</url>
           <limit>48</limit>
       </item>
   </item>
</list>

• If you see your feeds in a reversed order (oldest entry is first/newest entry is last), then you can add a negative value to the limit tag. This feature will reverse the sort order and will get your newest feeds first in the list.
• If for some reason the feed does not mark the media correctly (for instance, the NASA JPL feed [1] has video content, but it is marked as MP3), you can override the detection mechanism and set (hardcode) a media type for the whole feed. Use the class tag (with one of the values: object.item.videoItem, object.item.audioItem, object.item.imageItem):

<item>
     <description>NASA JPL</description>
     <image>http://probews2.arc.nasa.gov/images/JPL_Logo.gif</image>
     <item>
         <url>http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/rss/podfeed-hd.xml</url>
         <class>object.item.videoItem</class>
         <limit>-48</limit>
      </item>
</item>

• Get an idea for what content can be used from UMSP Content

Complex example

• You can nest item tags and create complex navigation menus. You can add images to your menus so that they are pretty when viewed from Thumbnail Mode:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<list>
       <item>
               <description>Leisure</description>
               <image>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Neelkanth.jpg/120px-Neelkanth.jpg</image>
               <item>
                       <description>Marine podcast</description>
                       <image>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Muchroom_coral.JPG/220px-Muchroom_coral.JPG</image>
                       <item>
                           <url>http://feeds2.feedburner.com/WeeklyMarinePodcast-hd</url>
                           <limit>-96</limit>
                       </item>
               </item>
               <item>
                       <description>Natural world in HD</description>
                       <image>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Neelkanth.jpg/120px-Neelkanth.jpg</image>
                       <item>
                           <url>http://www.scenerystation.com/podcasts/ipodiphone/podcast_ipodiphone.xml</url>
                           <limit>-96</limit>
                       </item>
               </item>
       </item>
       <item>
               <description>Educational</description>
               <image>http://neptune.podbean.com/image-logo/0/16971_logo.jpg</image>
               <item>
                   <description>TED Talks</description>
                   <image>http://ted.streamguys.net/TEDTalksvideo_tile_144.jpg</image>
                   <item>
                       <url>http://www.ted.com/talks/rss</url>
                       <limit>-48</limit>
                   </item>
               </item>
               <item>
                   <description>Discovery Science</description>
                   <image>http://neptune.podbean.com/image-logo/0/16971_logo.jpg</image>
                   <item>
                       <url>http://www.discovery.com/radio/xml/sciencevideo.xml</url>
                       <limit>-48</limit>
                   </item>
               </item>
               <item>
                   <description>Discovery News</description>
                   <image>http://corporate.discovery.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/discoverynewslogo.jpg</image>
                   <item>
                       <url>http://www.discovery.com/radio/xml/news_video.xml</url>
                       <limit>-48</limit>
                   </item>
               </item>
               <item>
                       <description>Hidden Universe</description>
                       <image>http://www.hiddenuniverse.org/images/covers_thumb.jpg</image>
                       <item>
                           <url>http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/resource_list/6-Hidden-Universe-NASA-s-Spitzer-Space-Telescope?format=xml</url>
                           <limit>-48</limit>
                       </item>
               </item>
     </item>
</list>

Troubleshooting

• Make sure the DAILY_PODCASTS_XML variable is set
• Make sure the XML is valid. Use this link to validate your XML if in doubt (warnings are fine): http://validator.w3.org/#validate_by_input

Developer/Changelog

• Developed by PaulF
• Discussion thread: http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=725