OSTVan innovative, very lightweight, feature packed, extensible video/tv player for LinuxOSTV has a straighforward install, should work on just about any Linux system(playing hd video does require a
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system with moderate horsepower), has less than 50 kb of code and works with software you probably already have on your computer
Ubuntu users can now download and install OSTV from Synaptic!!All you need to do is add the OSTV Package Archive to your sources list. Go to the OSTV Launchpad page and click "Technical details about this PPA", then click "Read About Installing". In Karmic there is a new add-apt-repository command. To add the OSTV Package Archive is as simple as this
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:manzanitalacerationIssuesMajor Bug in MPlayer version in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty - Many dvb tuner devices do not work!https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mplayer/+bug/369349 This affects many, maybe even most dvb tuner devices. I'm sure this bug has caused frustration for people trying out OSTV. This bug was reported 2009-04-29 but never fixed! Fixes include reverting to an earlier or a later version of MPlayer. It was not present in Intrepid and has been repaired in Karmic. Users of other distributions will want to check out the MPlayer version #'s Read on for details
MPlayer shipping with Karmic has improved Keyboard Control, but needs a little tweakingIf you have a later version of MPlayer, such as 2:1.0~rc3, that comes with Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic), see http://code.google.com/p/ostv/issues/detail?id=1 to get your keyboard control working really good.
New version of OSTV, OSTV(0.6) is available on the Downloads PageNew in OSTV(0.6):
A simple and generic way to add web video programs and channels OSTV 0.6 downloads TV shows with bittorrent. OSTV Schedule. OSTV(0.6) extends the previous version's OTA Record(which automatically records OTA and unencrypted QAM) to also to update menus for web video programs and channels and to automatically download TV shows via bittorrent.
What can OSTV do?Plays your videos and will play the contents of directory as a playlist
OSTV accesses a vast quantity of streams of quality and popular programming, often in sumptuous High Definition (this is real HD, 740p or 1080i--not what the internet often refers to as HD, which is a mere 480p. That's lowest stream available here.) for free! These streams come in real time without ever a buffering... hiccup!
I'm being facetious about over the air(OTA) free TV. For all the hype about internet video, people overlook the obvious that OTA TV is still the best source for video. For as little as $30 for a pci card or usb device, a small antenna that usually is included AND OSTV you can watch, timeshift, pause live tv, flip through the channels and record OTA TV. OSTV also supports unencrypted QAM (Cable TV).
This is a still of the main menu of OSTV. OSTV's backgrounds are videos. Original is 1920 x 1080. More screenshots are in the Wiki. (Screenshots are from version 0.5, --in the new version, 0.6, the menus are a bit different.)
and...OSTV is about integrating the rapidly evolving world of video from the internet within the envelope of the traditional TV experience, slouching back on your sofa with your remote control. OSTV plays Web Video Programs like Democracy Now, Cranky Geeks and an infinity of choices from Youtube from a menu that can be set to update automatically.
OSTV also automatically downloads TV Shows via Bittorrent.
For Programmers, OSTV has a extensible plugin architecture. See the ExtendingOSTV wikipage for more info.
How is OSTV different?OSTV throws out the tired and derivative Media Center model. Why in the Linux world, where there is so much consternation concerning MS Windows, are there so many unoriginal Microsoft ripoff Media Center projects? What a stupid thing to imitate. Listening to music and viewing photos is not like watching videos or TV, why fold it into something that you do when you slouch back on your sofa with your remote control?
OSTV does not look or act like anything else. Every second you use it you are watching video. When OSTV is not playing something it maintains its interface with "Background Video". Whatever background you choose just takes saving a video to ~/.ostv/default_video/. And there is no reason to get tired of the same thing, you can put any number of videos there and one will be chosen randomly each time.
When you startup OSTV, it opens with the Watch menu, because that's what you do most of the time. Original is 1920 x 1080.
How OSTV does so much, so simplyThe developers of MPlayer, to which I bow down humbly, have created a comprehensive player with features for control and user interface that are uniquely leveraged by OSTV. MPlayer has a rich slave mode in which external programs can control it. MPlayer also has a little known about On Screen Display(OSD) menuing system. The cleverness of OSTV, is that it uses MPlayer's own OSD for control by it's own slave mode. With less than 50kb of bash scripts 1 hacker has achieved something that rivals programs by teams of developers with megabytes of code that are often invasive and intrusive on your system.
Now that you have read all the hype...let me bring you down a littleOSTV works with MPlayer, which most people who run Linux probably have installed. However the menu system has to be specially compiled with MPlayer. The standard Ubuntu packages of MPlayer have included this option but it is possible that you may have to compile MPlayer yourself. There is more info at InstallingOSTV.
OSTV can still be useful without OTA TV and a remote control, but users who wish to install dvb devices and remote controls can often encounter difficulty. Linux can do a better job here. Once these devices are physically installed, Linux knows they are there and there is no reason the system cannot make them work. That Linux and application developers do not make this happen is a failing of Linux. While basic hardware support is basically good in Linux, installing more specialized hardware, like dvb cards and remote controls that OSTV uses, is sometimes not friendly for less tech savvy users. This is somewhat due to a gulf between kernel developers, most of whom work on device drivers, and distribution creators, who work with the end users. It would be great if someday, OSTV, or Linux, could automatically install drivers, firmware and the software necessary to make dvb devices and remote controls work. This is something that is achievable.
Reportedly, but not verified, MPlayer's osd menu feature does not work with Vdpau. Vdpau is a feature in the cutting edge Nvidia drivers. It offloads video processing from the cpu to gpu and is a great development for linux.
OSTV is brand new, it works great where it has been installed. I would say it is in very advanced beta stage except that it has not been tested on many computers.
Things OSTV doesn't do...future possibilities?OSTV is a young project, here are some possible areas for future development and/or plugins
Overlay thumbnails for files and program descriptions
Guide data for OTA
Work over a network(see TipsTricksBlueprints )
DVD Support
Support for multiple dvb devices
What does OSTV stand for?Isn't that obvious? OSTV System for Television and Video [Less]
videoplayer
