Ah, thanks for that. It works if I comment both lines out (not just line 1254). However, it was working intermittently this evening before that without that change (about one time in ten) so it might not be a complete cure. Let's hope it is!

Chris

Sigh. I now have "Sign on restriction error"

God only knows what's going on. Is no one else but us getting this?

Chris

short answer: you're not the only ones.

here's some more detail (which I'm guessing is the same as what Chris has done):

Trying to watch a game fails. Selecting the game in debug mode reveals an error at line 1254 of mlbtv.py, as detailed above. Commenting this out reveals another error, this time at line 1304 of mlbtv.py, which is of a similar nature to the original line.

Commenting that line out as well results in a "Sign-on Restriction error".

hmmmmmm... and now I try to sign on using the regular method (i.e. using the whizzy-but-inconvenient flash-based interface on mlb.com) and I'm told that I can't because "user signed on too many times within an allowed time frame".

I figure that might have something to do with the problem.

At a guess, if you comment out the session id cookie to make mlbviewer work, it causes additional log in attempts which annoys the server. The problem I have is that the "whizzy-but-inconvenient flash-based interface" gives poor video quality because it won't do hardware acceleration on my hardware.

How very annoying. In April I could take it!

The session key is used by MLB.TV to make sure you aren't sharing your account. By removing that code, you are likely triggering a red flag at the server--hence your sign on restriction error. What I would recommend is revert the changes you made to mlbtv.py. Easiest way to do this is just remove the file and do another "svn up" which will restore the file from the latest revision. Next, remove both ~/.mlb/sessionkey and ~/.mlb/cookie. If you're still getting a sign-on restriction error, just wait it out for 24 hours.

Thanks for that. Deleting the cookie file and letting it be rewritten did the trick. Presumably it got corrupted in some way.

Chris

Post-season
 

For international customers, MLB.TV is available as MLB.TV Post-Season allowing you to watch the games live or on-demand with no blackout restrictions. This is a one-time $19.95 subscription fee for the entire post-season.

For US and Canada customers, no such luck. The archived games will be available through your MLB.TV account at no extra charge. For a one-time $9.95 charge, you can subscribe to something called PostSeason.TV which is, in my unprofessional opinion, a hack job at best. The official offering (e.g. the Flash version) will be your choice of 10 fixed camera angles plus the TV broadcast audio and the option of multi-view. It's a poor substitute for watching the games on TV since the cameras don't follow the action. At best, you could pick a high home plate angle which is like having press box seats. Even then, if the ball travels outside the camera angle, the camera won't track it. If the TV goes to replay, you won't see it. However, if you pick an infield camera and Jeter is scratching himself between pitches, you'll see more of that than you ever wanted.

Since I'm not an international customer, I can't test MLB.TV Post-Season. Assuming they don't implement anything different between last week and this, international customers should be able to use mlbviewer as-is.

For US and Canada customers, I highly doubt I will make any effort to support Post-Season.TV.

Also, please don't ask for proxy support. I quote from the MLB.TV Terms of Service (their emphasis added)

Proxy support (e.g. blackout circumvention) would be a sure way to get this project shut down and possibly get me in a heap of trouble. So don't do it (and if you do, don't tell me about it.)

I am an international customer - and if it doesn't work I'll surely post my troubles here :D. But let's hope MLBAM keeps things the way they are...

Actually, in the Flash version you can split the screen and have up to four camera angles at the same time, though they sometimes drift out of sync with each other. In some ways it's kind of cool to be able to see the different angles at the same time, but it really makes you appreciate what a good director brings to the broadcast.

The Cincinatti-Philadelphia archive doesn't load for me with my MLB basic account. Debug reports this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./mlbviewer.py", line 1499, in <module>
curses.wrapper(mainloop, mycfg.data)
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/curses/wrapper.py", line 44, in wrapper
return func(stdscr, *args, **kwds)
File "./mlbviewer.py", line 1193, in mainloop
u = g.url()
File "/usr/local/src/mlbviewer/mlbviewer/MLBviewer/mlbtv.py", line 1264, in url
content_list = self.parse_media_request(reply)
File "/usr/local/src/mlbviewer/mlbviewer/MLBviewer/mlbtv.py", line 1129, in parse_media_request
if 'in-market' in dict['coverage_type']:
KeyError: 'coverage_type'

I am able to bring up the game using flash directly in the browser (not via mlbviewer). The condensed game works OK in mlbviewer. Curious.

The other two (AL) archives for yesterday work OK in mlbviewer.

Interestingly, as an international subscriber I was able to watch Texas-Tampa game live without a post-season account. I didn't try the late game live though.

Chris

chrisVV, I get the same error for this one game (which won't help you, but maybe it's good to know it isn't just you). I don't even want to watch this game, but it might happen to another postseason game soon, who knows.

If you are willing to help, please tell us how to help you debug this thing, daftcat.

Well great, now it's happening for two of yesterday's (October 7th) games...please help!

I get the same. Only the first Texas v TB game from yesterday is playable on the archive.

Do you (Mkomko) have a MLB post season account (I don't). I wonder if that is needed to watch the archive if you are not a premium subscriber.

Actually that can't be required as I can watch the games via the browser (but not via the 'f' key).

As you say: help!