Still works for me. In fact, I have an older computer that I recently set up Ubuntu on just to play around with it. Following the instructions from the 1st page of this thread, I got it working except the video was distored, as others have said. Loaded up the w32codecs and now it works all the way. Hope everyone else has success and can get their baseball fix on.

I wanted to follow up with what is currently (Apr 2) working for me. I'm using Firefox natively using Firebug to sniff the mUrl. I then open that url (sans the mUrl: prefix) with mplayer.

If you get "garbled" video like this:
http://carpie.net/mlb.png
That is because mplayer is using FFMPEGs buggy WVC1 decoder. You need the win32codecs which you can get from:
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dloa...#binary_codecs
Untar the package and put the resulting files in /usr/lib/codecs (Fedora) or /usr/lib/win32 (Ubuntu) (don't know about other distros). Mplayer should pick it up automatically.

After that, if you get a big green bar like this:
http://carpie.net/mlb2.png
You might be using the "xv" video output module in mplayer (at least that was my issue.) I solved this by invoking mplayer with:
mplayer -vo x11

I can now (finally!) watch what I paid for! Thanks for all suggestions! I hope this helps someone else...

Wow. Was that complicated. But I did finally figure out Firebug, how to find the URL for the stream, and where to paste it in MPlayer. It worked, but the video was garbled. I fixed it by adding the updated codecs. For anyone using an Asus Eee, an easy way to update the codecs is to follow the instructions in the following wiki: http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:addmorecodecstomplayer

One last problem. After updating the codecs, the video was clear, but it was about 5-10 seconds out of sync with the audio. Did anyone else have this problem? It might just have been an MLB issue, because MLB soon posted a notice that the site was down for maintenance.

Thanks everyone. This was a complicated solution, but at least it's something. It'd be nice if MLB simply went back to whatever they had set up in Spring Training. With mediaplayerconnectivity, that worked with no fuss.

When I try this (using firebug to get the mUrl and playing it in mplayer) mplayer repeats the following over and over again and I never get any video.

Playing url
Resolving a1833.v108697.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net for AF_INET...
Connecting to server a1833.v108697.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net[216.151.132.87]: 80...
Cache size set to 320 KBytes

Playing url
Resolving a1833.v108697.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net for AF_INET...
Connecting to server a1833.v108697.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net[216.151.132.87]: 80...
Cache size set to 320 KBytes

...

This works for me but the audio and video are out of sync. I think I can mess around with mplayer options to fix this.

You guys have restored my faith in the can-do (and can-share) spirit of Linux users.

Anyone figured out how to get true full-screen? Not even my Windows machine using Silverlight can achieve that feat. :-(

Sorry I don't have an earlier post but if you've made it this far in the thread, please jump to page 40 or
click here.

Myself and jkr (mostly jkr) have written a python + curses based solution to viewing mlb.tv videos and listening to
gameday audio that doesn't require any wine or firebug tricks.

You can also visit the mini-Howto at http://www.eds.org/~straycat/mlblinux.php or the project page at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mlbviewer/

I think the problem is that they took a step toward wide-screen, by adding hardcoded black-bars to the sides of all 4:3 feeds. So, to get real widescreen back for 4:3 feeds on a 4:3 screen, you need to crop those sides off.

The only way I could think to do this is the messy way I mentioned earlier: running mplayer with the cropdetect filter:

and the output has

So then I quickly stop and run again, with -vf crop=288:208:58:10 instead of -vf cropdetect. (These numbers are all for 400, of course. Different outcome for better resolution.)

But at 400, I actually think that it will always have those cropping dimensions for 4:3, so you can probably skip the cropdetect stage. In any case, when you crop it like this, you can then, finally, play it at real full screen.

I solved the repeating connecting messages by using a user-agent but now it says

Authentication required.
Authentication failed. Please use the -user and -passwd options to provide your
username/password for a list of URLs, or form an URL like:
http://usernameassword@hostname/file
No stream found to handle url mms://

I have tried setting the user and passwd params to my mlb.tv credentials with no luck. Anyone have a way around this?

Yeah, I remembered reading that cropdetect line earlier in this thread so I added it, got the string, and added that string to my mlbplay script. It does work for all 400k streams. 400k is all I need for a 17" LCD across the room.

The last piece of the puzzle for me was that I run this on an old laptop, 750 Mhz/256 RAM, and Iceweasel + Flash was consuming a nice chunk.

I have kind of a complicated home setup but it's working beautifully now. I have two Thinkpads, one running XP and the other running Debian Etch. Etch laptop sits in a port replicator connected to my wall-mounted LCD and stereo system. The reason a DISPLAY line is in my script is now I can close down everything but the very basic gnome desktop (and may eventually move to something leaner like Blackbox) and type "xhost +" in a terminal. From the XP laptop, I get the url via firebug and paste that into a putty window. Now I don't even have to mess with the Etch laptop (physically) since it's more a part of my entertainment console than a usable desk space.

Because I can now kick off games remotely via a putty window, I have to say this is even better than having the flash player "just work" like it did during spring training. Not having to mess with Iceweasel at all also fixed the A/V sync problems.

I'm very happy now. No complaints. You guys rock!

Go Dodgers! Go Royals! :-)

(Okay, a fast proxy would be nice to get around the local blackout but I can live with it for now. Only one more Giants v. Dodgers game left in this series. Then the issue is moot until the next time they match up.)

It's my experience that the urls expire very quickly.

1. Copy the mlbplay script I just posted and modify it with your favorite mplayer options.

2. Login before selecting your game by using the Login link at the top of the page.

2. Use the firebug method described a few posts up and open the console as soon as that window finishes loading. Grab the mUrl line and paste that as a single quote argument to my mlbplay script (my script will strip off the mUrl: string.)

3. If the url expires or you want to switch games or streams, you have to close the media player window and re-launch it.

You have to do step 2 quickly or the url you receive will expire. That url will have your login credentials. This is why I wrote the script so I don't have to burn up any time writing out options or editing the command-line.

Good luck!

Okay, so I've made some pretty cool discoveries.

First of all, every feed has an game id, which you can see here:

So the feed for the 400k Angels Twins game has ID #638090

That gives us this page:

Note the "mediaId=" part in the middle. That's where the game id comes in.

Now, put that url in a browser. It will ask you to log in. Do so, and in the source of the resulting page, you will find three (identical) mms links. Bingo.

I've written a quick python program, using its networking libraries to do all of the above without a browser. It's still a bit messy, and doesn't parse the schedule, but it works. You enter the game id, your user name, and pass word at the command line, and it plays a game. I'll share it in a couple of days when I've cleaned it up a bit, and added a step where it parses the schedule. I'm sure based on the above information, many here could write a better program in no time.

[One caveat -- because I finished it this morning, I've only tested it on archived games. But I see no reason why it shouldn't work on live games.]

By the way, if anyone knows anything about programming for MythStream or MythTV please get in touch -- I'll share what I have in its early state. Since the game schedule is available, and the information on there leads right to the game, it seems like it should be possible to have a pretty cool plugin. Unfortunately my perl is lousy and my C++ is non-existent.

I can get the firebug method to work for live streams but I always get the authentication required error for archived streams. Is this working for folks for archived streams?

jkr,

Amazing! I've always wanted a MythTV plugin for MLB.TV but have figured it to be a pipe dream, my not being a programmer at all. This would be incredible!

I've posted at the MythTV forums and I just sent an email to the author of MythStream directing them here. Hopefully, this can get done.

You should consider setting up a bounty. I would contribute to it and I imagine others might too.

I wrote a mini-Howto describing the firebug method. If you have other methods that work or other notes you'd like included, let me know and I'll add it to here.

I'm not sure if Linuxquestions.org will let me post a url yet. But if they do, you'll find the mini-Howto here:

http://www.eds.org/~straycat/mlblinux.php

Now that I've found this thread, I feel like I am so close to getting this to work. However, mplayer crashes. Any ideas?

$ mlbplay "mUrl:mms://a92.l1086917572.c10869.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/92/10869/v0001/reflector:17572?auth=ca.cUa2agaDbLbba3ccdacBa2cydgcdc4ad-bh9xkg-bA-1ehulKex-k7j7lbm7lkjalgmblal8jflhj7jcjfklk4jblbmclajalhmh&aifp=v0004&ct5=03-Apr-08&ct1=mlb&ct3=4281702&ct7=638721&ct4=mlb&ct6=76.119.147.186&ct8=1"
MPlayer 2:1.0~rc1-0ubuntu13.2+medibuntu1 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz (Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 6)
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.

Playing mms://a92.l1086917572.c10869.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/92/10869/v0001/reflector:17572?auth=ca.cUa2agaDbLbba3ccdacBa2cydgcdc4ad-bh9xkg-bA-1ehulKex-k7j7lbm7lkjalgmblal8jflhj7jcjfklk4jblbmclajalhmh&aifp=v0004&ct5=03-Apr-08&ct1=mlb&ct3=4281702&ct7=638721&ct4=mlb&ct6=76.119.147.186&ct8=1.
STREAM_ASF, URL: mms://a92.l1086917572.c10869.g.lm.akamaistream.net/D/92/10869/v0001/reflector:17572?auth=ca.cUa2agaDbLbba3ccdacBa2cydgcdc4ad-bh9xkg-bA-1ehulKex-k7j7lbm7lkjalgmblal8jflhj7jcjfklk4jblbmclajalhmh&aifp=v0004&ct5=03-Apr-08&ct1=mlb&ct3=4281702&ct7=638721&ct4=mlb&ct6=76.119.147.186&ct8=1
Resolving a92.l1086917572.c10869.g.lm.akamaistream.net for AF_INET6...
Couldn't resolve name for AF_INET6: a92.l1086917572.c10869.g.lm.akamaistream.net
Resolving a92.l1086917572.c10869.g.lm.akamaistream.net for AF_INET...
Connecting to server a92.l1086917572.c10869.g.lm.akamaistream.net[64.86.71.157]: 1755...
Connected


MPlayer interrupted by signal 13 in module: open_stream
- MPlayer crashed. This shouldn't happen.
It can be a bug in the MPlayer code _or_ in your drivers _or_ in your
gcc version. If you think it's MPlayer's fault, please read
DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports.html and follow the instructions there. We can't and
won't help unless you provide this information when reporting a possible bug.