Revision 276: Fixed coverage and *_follow bugs.

Here's an update on my experiences: A second call to customer service seems to have fixed the blackouts issue, at least for now. I can now play today's (4/4/2011) Diamondbacks-Cubs and Tigers-Orioles games, but when I try to play the Braves-Brewers game, it connects and then fails:

Here's a pastebin url with the output of test/stdnosoap.py, but it doesn't include the rtmpdump error message: http://pastebin.com/bVzRxZJT

I hope this doesn't mean they're changing things around...

Eeek, hopefully not. I know there is a new handshake protocol being used in some rtmpe streams, as I've read on the XBMC forum of developers trying to cope with it. But I just tried the MIN/NYY game (which is still in pregame) but I get video.

Thanks, this fixes the issues I was seeing!

Yeah, the Twins-Yankees game played for me, but I get the rtmp message from the Mariners-Rangers and Pirates-Cardinals games (although the audio is fine).

You are using rtmpdump-2.3, which I had difficulty with last year. Amongst other things, video archives played back at half speed (the audio was at full speed, so they didn't stay in sync that long). I have not tried rtmpdump-2.3 this year - I use either rtmpdump-2.2c or flvstreamer-2.1c1.

Before updating, it's important to know how to revert to a specific revision.

I cannot test the locationCannotBeDetermined code because MLBAM has a pretty good bead on where I am.

This revision does a couple of things that may or may not work correctly which is why I gave you the rollback instructions.

The first thing it's going to do is look for the <blackout> element in the media response. If it's present, it will return an error with the content. Something like:

If it's not present, it's going to look one level up for the blackout-status. If it's <successStatus/>, then proceed normally. If it is <locationCannotBeDeterminedStatus/>, then it will print something similar to above:

If you get this error, contact customer service and have them manually update your zip code to reflect your geographical blackout region.

I still haven't looked into why the session-key (ftmu) error is happening. Fortunately, although annoying, it seems to be temporary. Try again and you should get past it. I'll look at this another time.

Please tell me if this new code breaks anything for you. My minidom (XML parsing) skills have gone rusty in the off-season. Also, remember the rollback procedure above if this revision is truly disastrous.

The rtmp server requested close error is very annoying but it doesn't seem to happen with every game. It also doesn't seem to affect archived games. I'm going to blame this one on them unless it becomes more pervasive. If you find more of these, please report them here.

I'm getting a similar error on yesterday's (04/05/2011) archived Twins @ Yankees game:
NetStream.Play.StreamNotFound

I'm using flvstreamer, so it might be the same error as above. It happens on the home and away streams, but only at 1200K. The 800K stream is playing fine...

StreamNotFound is a different error. If 800K plays fine, my guess is that they just don't have an archive of the 1200K stream. That's going to happen more than a few times over the course of the season--either they don't have the archived stream, or there was a problem with archiving the stream--and there's nothing mlbviewer can do to fix that.

MLB.TV is really an amazing product but also amazingly complex. I'm surprised every season by how much of it works and how well it works. Maybe it's because I remember the earliest days of MLB.TV when the high quality stream was 300K: tiny and grainy.

Since it works now I guess you're right. I was just confused because last season the error message was different when the stream wasn't archived (yet). It didn't even get as far as getting an URL and trying to connect.

Yes I remember that too. It was only 6-7 years ago. At least back then the streams could be watched or downloaded more easily...

In a simplistic sense, there are two parts of the service: media location and content delivery.

Media location is finding the URL of the content.

Content delivery is requesting and playing the stream.

Last year, media location would return an error when an archive wasn't available (and it still might this year.)

What you saw was the servers knew the location of the media but the content delivery network didn't have the stream.

Same result but different errors.

This would be similar to looking up a phone number and finding the number in the directory, but when you call the number, you get a reorder tone or a "this number is no longer in service" recording. The number lookup was successful but the connection was not. Last year's error would be similar to not even finding the number in the directory.

mlbtv is failing for me today, for new reasons it appears. It will play once, but after that it rejects logins until the cookie file (~/.mlb/cookie) is deleted. Then it will play once more. This happens on archived and live games.

If I log into mlb mediacenter the games play OK.

This is without nexdef plugin, and it appears to happen at any selected speed.

The output from a game using test/stdnosoap.py for the TB v CWS game (a game I chose at random and is live at the moment) is at http://pastebin.com/iMAbiiYm

Daftcat,

I recall at one point last season you asking if anyone had interest in mlbviewer-like option for MiLB.TV (minor league streaming .TV). Did anything ever come of that? I'm in no way requesting anything, but if you were still throwing around ideas in your head about it and wondering if anyone else had interest, I'd like to express mine. Between wanting to watch Bryce Harper and wanting to keep tabs on all the Phillies' rehab assignments, I went ahead and ordered MiLB.TV. I'm watching it now through the browser with Flash and it's not terrible. It's really simple - one stream, no options, no high-def...just a "watch live" link next to games you can watch. It reminds me of MLB.TV from around 2004. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that there would be at least one person using it if you found a ton of free time on your hands and decided to work on it.

As an aside for anyone who hasn't been annoyed at MLB Advanced Media for a while: MiLB.TV for the entire season is $29.99. However, if you order MLB.TV you can add the entire season of MiLB.TV for just an additional $10. But, if you already have MLB.TV (because your account has been set to auto-renew your subscription for the past 4 years, for instance) and wanted to buy MiLB.TV, you can't get the $10 deal. It's only available as a package deal when you buy them together. I was on the phone for about a half-hour today trying to get the $19.99 difference refunded to no avail. I mentioned how they should really treat their loyal customers better (I get MLB.TV premium, MLB Extra Innings, MLB At Bat for Android, and now MiLB.TV), but I'm pretty sure all that did was prove to them that I'm a sucker willing to spend anything on baseball game delivery technology, not someone willing to take their money elsewhere. Oh well...

Hmm...call them back. I got an email with an offer code for the $10 rate because I was an existing subscriber.

There was an milbviewer project a few years ago but it looks like they've changed a few things around. Shouldn't be too hard to reinstate this. Probably the most work will be updating the teamcodes since minor league teams change their names and affiliations all the time.

Also, as I'm sure you are already aware, MiLB.TV has a limited number of available games each day and it's usually the same four to six teams and whoever they happen to be playing. More often A and AA games and fewer AAA games. Good for following Harper, not so much for rehab assignments.

I will look into this tonight. $10 isn't much and hopefully most of the code I'll need is already there.