grep audio_player ~/.mlb/config returns
audio_player=mplayer -cache 64 -really-quiet

Now, when pressing the a key to play audio, I get this error message:
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory


I have rtmpdump installed.

Not sure where that would come from, but I know that one trick with mlbhls is that you have to use the experimental branch rather than the main branch.
should yield the following: "URL: https://mlbtv-hls-nexdef.googlecode.com/svn/branches/experimental". If it doesn't you might want to delete the source directory you have, do
and try again...

Please remove the "-really-quiet" from the audio_player= line. It's possible those errors are not really errors (I get messages like that related to LiRC) and can be ignored. But we won't know until we see all the output.

I see that it takes about 10 seconds or so on my system because I think the -cache is too low. Let's see what errors are really happening when -really-quiet is removed.

Also, if the GUI is returning to listings before you can see all the messages, you can use mlbplay.py instead.

Do you get the same error if you use mlbplay.py (e.g. mlbplay.py j=03/31/14 v=bos n=1)?

nexdefdl.py does not use the MLBviewer library so it's possible that it is out of sync with the official code. Basically, the scripts in the test directory are hacked together whenever the network code needs to be debugged or changed before it goes into the official code in MLBviewer. But it's not guaranteed to remain updated if I can fix any bugs directly in the MLBviewer code first.

Am I crazy, or does it appear that MLB.TV over-sharpening the video this season? It looks pretty awful, the haloing artifacts from what seems to be overuse of a sharpening filter...

http://i.imgur.com/rRIuE8P.jpg

After removing the -really-quiet, I now receive this error:

Requesting media: ('WTMJ', u'158', '31696699', '14-380563-2014-04-02')MPlayer2 UNKNOWN (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.
Playing -.
Reading from stdin...
Cache fill: 0.00% (0 bytes)
Invalid seek to negative position fffffffffffffff8!
Failed to recognize file format.
Exiting... (End of file)


I'm running this on a Raspberry Pi using Raspian, if that matters.

And here's what I get when using mlbplay.py


pi@raspberrypi ~/mlbviewer-svn $ ./mlbplay.py a=pit j=03/31/14
MPlayer2 UNKNOWN (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing -.
Reading from stdin...
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Invalid seek to negative position fffffffffffffffc!
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Cannot seek backward in linear streams!
Seek failed
Failed to recognize file format.


Exiting... (End of file)
pi@raspberrypi ~/mlbviewer-svn $

Strange. Try increasing the -cache to 256 or 512. Maybe it's just getting garbage at the head of the stream.

So if RTMP streams are not being used for video anymore (I'm going to keep using them as long as they are available), are they also switching to HLS for audio too? I guess I can bust out the Wireshark later and check.

With mlbplay.py and mlbviewer.py I was getting no error messages, but my cache was filling at about 4096 bytes per 3 seconds, presumably with junk/errors rather than actual video.

I managed to fix my problem by installing a kitchen sink full of CA certificates (makes you really appreciate how ridiculous this SSL "trust" model is) but it would have been nice to get a useful error from mlbviewer/mlbplay.

mlbviewer is merely a broker between the mlb.tv service and the stream retrieval and playback software. If the airline loses your bags, you don't blame the travel agent. The fact is, that is the first time I've even seen that error and it came from mlbhls not mlbviewer. The best I can do is attempt to redirect (or duplicate) stderr to a log file so that you can see errors from the helper applications more easily.

In general (unless you messed up your video_player= line), if you got a URL and it started launching the streamer and the player, my work is done. Short of building a dictionary of all possible errors and their meanings from mlbhls and mplayer, I am not sure how mlbviewer/mlbplay could have provided a more useful error. Sorry.

But I'm glad that it's fixed now.

I'm glad to read that I am not the only one who had to re-learn what I did the previous year to make things work the way I wanted them to, and that I'm not the only one who groans out loud when I read how they are changing things again (which will make me have to re-learn something ELSE).

All this and I'm still a Cleveland fan. Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment.

I think I shall bury my head in the sand until my current set up stops working.

I've read back through the last few pages and the answer still isn't clear to me. I'm using current versions of mlbviewer/mlbplayer together with version 67 (current version) of mlbhls. When I try to retrieve a game (specifically Yankees Houston of April 1 and 2) with NextDef activated, it just hangs. No response of any kind. Toggling off the high def retrieves the game.

Is this because MLB is no longer offering the games in high def except as a part of their new flash player? Does it mean that mlbhls is now obsolete and those who want to watch high def will simply not be able to use the mlbviewer/mlbplayer?

I actually prefer mlbviewer over the MLB web site feed anyway, but I want to know if I should keep trying high def or just forget about it.

I have to say, I'm a little baffled by the problems people have been having -- aside from keeping my mlbviewer svn up-to-date, I'm still running exactly the same setup I had last year and so far haven't had any problems with either mlbhls or rtmpdump streams. The 800K rtmpdump stream seems to be gone (which is slightly annoying) but other than that everything behaves exactly the same so far. (I don't think I've tried audio, so not sure about that.)

randcoop, have you tried running mlbhls manually? Its output might give you more information about why it's hanging?...

No problems here either. I changed very little from last season and everything just worked at Opening Day. So flawless, I quietly uploaded the first Sourceforge release of the season 2014-sf-1 yesterday.