[Watch app][SDK 2.0] VLC Remote - Remote control for VLC Media Player

NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
edited December 2013 in Pebble Watchapp Directory
Introducing VLC Remote for Pebble, a watch app that lets you toggle play/pause, seek, or change the volume for VLC Media Player right from your wrist! No companion app is needed on either the mobile device, nor the computer running VLC Media Player.

It uses PebbleKit JS to make HTTP requests to VLC's native web interface API.

image  image  image  image

Please comment with suggestions and feature requests!

The code is available here: https://github.com/Neal/pebble-vlc-remote


Update 1: Released v1.1. Options can now be configured with the in-app JS configuration.

Update 2: Released v1.2 with bug fixes and improved reliability with AppMessages.

Update 3: Released v1.3. Add fast-farward/rewind support, progress bars, menu icon and other fixes/improvements.

Update 4: Released v1.3.1 to fix the phone app crash/not loading webview because of configuration page being https and jQuery links being http.

Update 5: Released v1.3.2 that moves the configuration page to GitHub Pages instead.

Update 6: Released v1.3.4 to fix the "Unauthorized" error on some Android devices.

~ Neal
Post edited by Neal on
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Comments

  • EricEric Posts: 284Administrator
    Awesome app, looking forward to some lean-back video watching.
    Eric Migicovsky | Team Pebble | getpebble.com | @Pebble
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    @Eric: Thanks! :)
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  • ProtonusProtonus Posts: 1,801Member Regular
    Awesome idea, if only it worked with KM Player.  I suppose I'll give VLC another try just for this, I haven't in about a year.  Last time I could not find any way to get a good hardware CUDA GPU accelerated codec like Core Codec to work with it for x264 @ 1080p.

    My Pebble with Slickwraps Trilotac Band
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  • inbrissyinbrissy Posts: 39Member
    Excellent Idea. I am waiting for someone to create a Plex remote control. I know Remote Buddy works with the Apple Remote. It would be great to have an app that can mimic the Apple Remote. That would solve all remote control options in one go. 

    VLC is a good start though
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  • ProtonusProtonus Posts: 1,801Member Regular
    Waiting for a precompiled PBW that lets me specify my settings, have no way to build this.

    My Pebble with Slickwraps Trilotac Band
    Did I help you today, or you liked what I had to say?  If so, please click Like or Agree below this post!
    I don't work for Pebble nor am I affiliated with them. I beta test apps!
    f/w PebbleBits Custom • h/w V2R2  •  Verizon HTC Droid DNA  •  Android 4.4.2 KK  •  ViperDNA ROM v4.1.0
    Black Pebble (from Best Buy) + SlickWraps Black Carbon Fiber wrap & Screen Protector + Trilotac Paracord Band

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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    edited November 2013
    Protonus said:
    Waiting for a precompiled PBW that lets me specify my settings, have no way to build this.
    Going to be working on that tonight, stay tuned!

    Edit: You could use CloudPebble until then, if possible.
    Post edited by Neal on
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    @inbrissy: Thank you! Will look into Plex sometime.
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    Released an update with in-app configuration! See original post for more info. /cc @Protonus
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  • RichardRichard Posts: 171Member Regular
    Neal said:
    @inbrissy: Thank you! Will look into Plex sometime.
    A remote for Plex would be awesome.
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  • AmarusAmarus Posts: 47Member Pebbler
    edited November 2013
    Playing and pausing are working pretty good for me, but I can't seem to change the volume unless I hold down to mute or hold up to go all the way to max. Also, the display doesn't always update.
    Still, I'm definitely keeping this installed, even just playing/pausing is perfectly convenient for me. 

    I'm running firmware 2.0 Beta2.

    And on a side note, it took me a while to get this up and running. The Pebble 2.0 app on Android does not work very good for settings, and then it took a bit more till my brain started working and I noticed that my phone wasn't connected to my wireless network.
    Post edited by Amarus on
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    @Amarus: Thanks for the feedback. Can you send me the logs while trying to increase/decrease the volume? (`pebble logs`)

    About the display not always updating, it's AppMessage failing to send data back to Pebble (something I've read that also doesn't work very well on Android). I'll see if I can improve the way I handle AppMessage but might just have to wait for fixes in new betas.

    You can email me the logs (neal@ineal.me).
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  • DavidAlbergPetersDavidAlbergPeters Posts: 23Member Pebbler
    Great project! I would love for a more general app which would allow sending http requests (like smartwatch+) but without relying on an app running on the phone. 

    Don't you run into problems with the phone wifi disconnecting and the phone losing connection to a local (10.x.x.x) server?

    I will try to fork your code and see how far i get :)

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  • AmarusAmarus Posts: 47Member Pebbler
    @Neal: I would love to provide logs, however it might take a while. After a quick search I see that I'll need to use a PC to get the log, is that correct?
    If so then I'll need to dust off my linux install and figure out how to connect it to my pebble.

    Please correct me if there's an easier way.
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    edited November 2013
    @DavidAlbergPeters: Love that idea!

    You would, yes. However, (only speaking for iPhone since I don't know about Android), the phone leaves the wifi connection open in idle state, so it should connect back when the app needs to. But if it does disconnect, you could either connect it back or set up port forwarding on your router and connect via cellular data.

    Edit: Tested it last night while watching a movie and it worked the entire time!
    Post edited by Neal on
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    @Amarus: You do need a computer (OS X, Windows or Linux) to get the logs.

    See https://developer.getpebble.com/2/getting-started/ for instructions on how to install and set up the Pebble SDK. Once done, you should be able to run `pebble logs --phone <PHONE_IP>` to get the logs.
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  • MorbydMorbyd Posts: 75Member Regular
    Neal said:
    @inbrissy: Thank you! Will look into Plex sometime.
    There is already a Plex controller out there http://www.mypebblefaces.com/apps/1936/7371/
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  • inbrissyinbrissy Posts: 39Member
    Morbyd said:
    There is already a Plex controller out there http://www.mypebblefaces.com/apps/1936/7371/
    I did see that one, but with 2.0 sdk and seeing things like SmartWatch+ I'm guessing someone could come out with something a lot more refined and functional. 
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    @Amarus try v1.2 - it should hopefully fix your volume issues. Let me know if it doesn't (and send logs when possible).

    Everyone else also update to v1.2! :)
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  • spangbornspangborn Posts: 30Member Pebbler
    edited November 2013

    Morbyd     said:
    Neal said:
    @inbrissy: Thank you! Will look into Plex sometime.
    There is already a Plex controller out there http://www.mypebblefaces.com/apps/1936/7371/
    @Morbyd: Yep, that's my app - just updated it to 1.2 to implement action bars, inspired by @Neal. Can't believe I didn't know about these before, so thanks to him for opening my eyes to them.

    @inbrissy: My Plex Remote is on 2.0. :) Unfortunately, the Plex remote can't use the "Now Playing" info without a PlexPass subscription (which is paid). Asininely stupid of the Plex developers. If you want, you should press them to enable /status/sessions for non-PlexPass users on Twitter: @plexapp.


    Post edited by spangborn on
    iPhone 5S (7.0.4), Red Pebble (2.0B2)
    My Apps: Plex Remote | Space Time | Real Salt Lake
    Github: spangborn Twitter: spangborn
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  • AmarusAmarus Posts: 47Member Pebbler
    Yep. I was able to change volume using v1.2. Great work!

    As you said AppMessage seems to be rather buggy on Android, so occasionally (mostly when I quickly mash a button on the Pebble) some commands are not reaching the phone. And for some reason, it seems that VLC isn't getting the commands if the phone's screen is off even though they do appear in "pebble logs" (phone's wi-fi is set to stay on during sleep, and it's evidently staying on since "pebble logs" is working).

    I'm at work right now, and I've only did a quick test before leaving my house. Once I'm back home, I'll test again see if I can replicate it and get you some logs.

    P.S. Even though the SDK has a getting started on Windows page, Windows isn't actually supported. That page basically says:
    1) Install Linux 2) Go to the getting started on Linux page.
    Which is why it took me a while to set up an environment for the SDK. 
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  • enuzzoenuzzo Posts: 3Member
    ...is it only me? 
    Got my Pebble today, updated to 1.3.0, everything else installed just fine.

    Followed the link for the compiled version on GitHub v1.2 - Open in Pebble:

    image
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    @enuzzo, you need Pebble SDK 2.0 BETA in order to use this app. More info here: https://developer.getpebble.com/2/
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  • enuzzoenuzzo Posts: 3Member
    edited November 2013
    Doh!

    Thanks!
    Post edited by enuzzo on
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    edited November 2013
    I've been working on adding a progress bar seek, and also one for the volume (because why not). Just having some trouble on deciding how to arrange things. Here's the current arrangement:

    image

    Suggestions? I left extra space on top since most file names are longer (and two lines are enough for that). I like the seek bar at the bottom. The volume progress bar is confusing where to put, but this is the best I could come up with. Thoughts?

    It also refreshes automatically every minute now, seems reasonable to me. This way the time progress bar would update to it's actual position.

    Oh and long click select button now switches the up and down buttons to fast forward and rewind, respectively. :)
    Post edited by Neal on
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  • drwrosedrwrose Posts: 339Member Regular
    I'd love to use this app!  Unfortunately, for whatever reason whenever I try to load the configure dialog my Pebble app immediately crashes.  Running 2.0-Beta2 on Android 4.3.  Oh well, maybe the next beta release will fix the crash.

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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    @drwrose: aww.. try reinstalling the Pebble app on the phone, factory resetting your Pebble and reinstalling the firmware. If that doesn't fix it, please email devsupport@getpebble.com with the details so they can fix it.
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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    Just released v1.3! Please let me know how you like it and if you have any suggestions.
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  • drwrosedrwrose Posts: 339Member Regular
    I've submitted the report to Pebble.  I note that your configuration page uses SSL, which is the first configuration page I've seen that does; and perhaps that's related.  I also note that your page references jquery via http:// URL's (instead of https://), which is technically questionable, since it mixes and matches secure and insecure elements.  Chrome, for instance, won't load the Javascript elements when you load it that way, but Safari will.  This might also be related to the crash on Android but not on iPhone.

    David

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  • NealNeal Posts: 190Member, PDR14 Regular
    Thanks @drwrose! Updated to v1.3.1 to fix the crash issue. All links are HTTPS now.
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  • dotardotar Posts: 56Member
    I love this app! Thanks for making it.
    Also, I just realized you're using the speaker icons I made. So cool to see them in use ;)
    image image image image image
    Paypal / 19XasqsSyij1sY37DLgjcgGYSUnyL31z6C
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