Which players are available to be driven by NR

General
1

Hi, actually I'm using node-red-contrib-kodi 0.2.8 and I'm not very happy, from one site NR suffers from crashes caused by this module, which is 9 yo and the author seams abandoned the project, from the other side from Kodi and bugs it keeps inside, for example loading a video when a photo is showed leaves the image on screen, while the video is running in backgound (I can hear only audio): I need to close then the image and load the video, it showes the interface of Kodi and it's not really beautiful.

So I'm searching if there is something better around, I need a player able to open (by http or samba) images and videos, by network commands. VLC seams able to do it, but I don't see a module for NR, neither MX player?
I need to run that on android TV..
thank you for your precious suggestions!

2

Since you have android tv, why not simply "cast" what you want to screen?

There may be more / others.

1 Like
3

If the android device has termux and node red running, then you could possible use the termux api to call Termux-media-player - Termux Wiki.
Or use the newer kodi json rpc http api https://kodi.wiki/view/JSON-RPC_API/v13
Not tried either but you can experiment.

1 Like
4

thank you mates, I'll have a look
I was trying to cast wth my phone using several apps, it didn't work somehow, it worked only when I installed kodi. Maybe is not supported by OS, I'll have a deeper look

5

Seams there are different ways to play something remotely on TV.
Kodi, which supports API commands to direct play a media file (may in the TV storage, may an http network source, may a samba path (but for me doesn't work on android, works only with Windows). Kodi also can work as DLNA player, which can serarch for a DLNA server on the network (or smply plays an http source), so I guess the DLNA control NR modul cand do the job.

Use the DLNA player embedded on TV (if there is any), controlling it with NR, to load an http source (I run small http server to serve files on the same LAN)

Use cast, which looks like similar to DLNA, but this time the server should be on the side of TV, the server il listening (and not connecting), listen commands, listen streams that can be seen on TV.

ViMu Media Player for TV which looks act as DLNA player, I'll test it

6

Hi, the first test didn't go as expected, I've installed Vimu and Cast server, the port 8009 isn't open on both so the node contrib-castv2 can't connect. I've then test contrib-dlna and specified IP, also didn't have any success :frowning: I'm trying deeper

7

Can't you also control VLC via NR?

Though not directly, but it has an input channel and you can send commands to it that way.

8

Maybe it's possible, bu I can't find a module to control VLC. I think better now to drive my efforts on DLNA and Cast, they are designed to load media on TV so their interface should be pleasant (for example fading effects, missing of loading logos, etc.)

9

No, you just send commands to it from the exec node.

Alas I don't have that machine turned on just now - alas it is kinda inoperative just now - but if you look in the commands, you can send it commands.

The docs do a fairly good job of explaining it. I worked it out. :wink:

10

Sorry, just to share:

Maybe not exactly what you want, but.....

11

Thank you for your sufggestion! This really can be useful to turn on a media without touching the remote!
Anyway, in my case it' s a bit different, I need to change an image every 10 seconds, I'm afraid that running vlc by exec every 10 seconds can create some problems in long run, and I may get a black screen between slides. So better for me now to find a way to just change images with fading, if possible)

12

Sorry, are you playing music, videos, or.....?

(Not having a go at you)

I must have missed what you want to do.

13

Finally I've managed to work with DLNA contrib module, you don't have to type nothing there as target address, you need to wait it discovers the DLNA players on the LAN, which is better call DLNA DMR. Also, this module has no examples, that was really bad idea, you cant guess how to input it. Here it is how:

let msg = {payload:
{
  action : "load",
  url : "http://url"
}
};
return msg;

ViMu is detectable but refuses to load any media, probably buggy.
Kodi is working when UPnP is activated, but it broadacast really rarely to be discovered, so you deactivate it and reactivate and it will appear.
air receiver lite is another app that works as DLNA DMR, but the free version is limited, it is possible to manage also with castv contrib module, but it fails to load the filesm with http and smb, with most probabilty because of buggy module castv, with my phone and airplay works, but not that great.

14

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