CherryTV is a basic web page that works as a television remote control. It offers straightforward functionality to interact with a TV.
CherryTV is a user-friendly software that works as a simple TV remote, implemented as a Web page. This software came to my rescue after having a Bt878-based TV tuner for quite a while. Although it works great in both Linux and Windows, I was facing some hardware issues. My only PC that could take a PCI card is my file server, which is tucked away in a corner and lacks any kind of monitor, mouse, or keyboard. Consequently, watching TV there was not possible.
However, I sought out an obvious solution- a streaming video feed that could be accessed everywhere at home using my wireless network. After researching, I found that the simplest streaming server that could be accessed from windows and linux was VLC. While it is a bit tricky to get the right incantation, the VLC command that worked for me was "vlc -v --color v4l:/dev/video --sout '#transcode{vcodec=DIV3,vb=256,scale=1,acodec=mp3, ab=32,channels=2}:std{access=mmsh,mux=asfh,dst=:9998}'." After this, I was able to access it from windows using mms://192.168.1.2 and from Linux using mmsh://192.168.1.2, while keeping in mind that using different URLs for each OS is necessary.
However, there was a snag. How could I change channels? It seemed impossible, and so I wrote a CherryPy app, which I named CherryTV. The app was easy to set up, and I created a set of instructions for those who want to use it.
To use CherryTV, simply use xawtv to build a list of your TV stations through its channel editor. Copy your .xawtv file as xawtv in CherryTV's folder (one example included). Have v4lctl handy, and make sure it works by using the command "v4lctl setstation someStationName." After, start CherryTV and VLC streaming as mentioned above (change IP as needed). Change stream URLs in cherryTV.py, start cherryTV.py, and point your preferred browser to CherryTV's, choose whether your embedded video player works or not, and whether you use mms:// or mmsh:// URLs.
Overall, I found CherryTV to be a simple yet useful software that makes watching TV possible in places where it usually wouldn't be. It requires some technical know-how to set it up, but the instructions are straightforward and easy to follow.
However, I sought out an obvious solution- a streaming video feed that could be accessed everywhere at home using my wireless network. After researching, I found that the simplest streaming server that could be accessed from windows and linux was VLC. While it is a bit tricky to get the right incantation, the VLC command that worked for me was "vlc -v --color v4l:/dev/video --sout '#transcode{vcodec=DIV3,vb=256,scale=1,acodec=mp3, ab=32,channels=2}:std{access=mmsh,mux=asfh,dst=:9998}'." After this, I was able to access it from windows using mms://192.168.1.2 and from Linux using mmsh://192.168.1.2, while keeping in mind that using different URLs for each OS is necessary.
However, there was a snag. How could I change channels? It seemed impossible, and so I wrote a CherryPy app, which I named CherryTV. The app was easy to set up, and I created a set of instructions for those who want to use it.
To use CherryTV, simply use xawtv to build a list of your TV stations through its channel editor. Copy your .xawtv file as xawtv in CherryTV's folder (one example included). Have v4lctl handy, and make sure it works by using the command "v4lctl setstation someStationName." After, start CherryTV and VLC streaming as mentioned above (change IP as needed). Change stream URLs in cherryTV.py, start cherryTV.py, and point your preferred browser to CherryTV's, choose whether your embedded video player works or not, and whether you use mms:// or mmsh:// URLs.
Overall, I found CherryTV to be a simple yet useful software that makes watching TV possible in places where it usually wouldn't be. It requires some technical know-how to set it up, but the instructions are straightforward and easy to follow.
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Version 0.1: N/A