Portal

[keith_leitch]

Hello,

I have a TRF-2460 in Australia, which uses a similar TV Portal to this model. However, our TV Portal is now offline, probably forever. I would like to redirect my PVR browser to a TV portal that is still working. Is the one in Europe still active? Can anyone provide the URL for it?

[FireBird]

Hi Keith,

I don't think that there is a European model that is using the Topfield portal. SHOUTcast seems to work on my machine, YouTube does not.

Cheers,
Alex

[keith_leitch]

Thanks, Alex. There must be a browser that accesses some kind of a link for SHOUTcast. It is worth a try, if you can determine the URL.

[FireBird]

The player is compiled into the main application (called pvr) and even if it is possible to extract an URL, you can’t just patch it into your firmware and hope that the “portal player” will work. The Topfield portal and the SHOUTcast server expect different requests and have different responses.

The only idea I currently have is to use an older firmware that didn’t use the portal. Of course I do not know when Topfield has switched your firmware and if the older version has any bugs that make it unusable for you.

[keith_leitch]

Thanks again. I wasn't planning to patch the firmware, but to simply use the hosts file to redirect any request for the URL to a different one.

I understand what you are saying about the different requests and this is probably a barrier; however, the TRF-2460 software is not in the firmware, but a separate program called a "browser" on partition 0. Because it is called a "browser," I have some hope that it really acts like a browser... that is, that it will access whatever web page it is given.

I am probably dreaming.

[FireBird]

These are the URLs that I've found in the firmware:

Code: Alles auswählen

http://yp.shoutcast.com/sbin/tunein-station.pls?id=%d&k=%s
http://api.shoutcast.com/legacy/genresearch?k=%s&genre=%s&limit=%d
http://api.shoutcast.com/legacy/stationsearch?k=%s&search=%s&limit=%d

There are also some variations. I’ve traced some routines and extracted the following examples:

Code: Alles auswählen

http://api.shoutcast.com/legacy/genresearch?k=sh1-sdrOCUooAE2L

will return a list of all genres in XML format.

Code: Alles auswählen

http://api.shoutcast.com/legacy/genresearch?k=sh1-sdrOCUooAE2L&genre=Electronic

will return all channel details for the genre.

[keith_leitch]

Thanks so much. This is really helpful. It will give me something to play with.

You said that YouTube isn't working for you; what about the other apps (Weather, etc.)?

[DeltaMikeCharlie]

I have looked in the AU 2460 firmware and found the same URLs that Alex did.

[keith_leitch]

[quote=""DeltaMikeCharlie""]I have looked in the AU 2460 firmware and found the same URLs that Alex did.[/quote]

Hmm. This seems to suggest that the SRP must have a destination for some kind of "browser" after all. If the same URLs work on one box, but not on another, then we haven't found the difference.

[FireBird]

[quote=""keith_leitch""]what about the other apps (Weather, etc.)?[/quote]
The only apps on my SRP2401, which connect to the outside world, are YouTube and SHOUTcast. I’ve also tried on an older SRP2100 (has nothing to do with your 2100) with a firmware from 2014.

YouTube: no connection to server
flickr: no error message but a search never finishes. My guess: also broken
Weather: seems to work
SHOUTcast: broken on this firmware. A genre search lets the Toppy reboot.

[keith_leitch]

Thanks. The "browser application" I'm referring to is installed on Partition 0 of the 2460. It is not visible through Telnet, but only by removing the hard drive and reading it with a PC. It is not part of the firmware proper.

Based on my experiments, it seems to attempt an API call to tvportal.i-topfield.com , which, being down, causes it to produce a "Cannot Connect to the Network" error message. When I use the hosts file to redirect that URL to any working API call (e.g. api.shoutcast.com), the error message disappears, and the "portal" option behaves more normally (blanks and mutes Live TV, changes resolution to 720p, etc.) Of course, it only displays a blank screen, probably because the XML file that results from a different API call is not compliant with what the software expects. on a working system, I suspect that it reads from the links you and DMC found in the firmware; or, maybe, they are just leftovers from previous editions.

All of this is difficult to confirm or even test more thoroughly, because a hosts file can only redirect to an IP address associated with a top-level URL. However, if your SRP2401 uses a similar strategy, then there must be an alternative URL out there somewhere.

If you get a chance, could I ask for a screenshot of your main portal screen? This will allow a visual comparison, to see if they are similar or totally different from each other.

[FireBird]

I'm afraid, you will be disappointed.

[keith_leitch]

You are right! I am disappointed. Our TRF-2460 does not have separate menu options, but only one called "Portal," which then (I think) downloads an XML from an external source that leads to the other apps.

OK. Now I don't know what to do.

Thanks for all your efforts.

[FireBird]

Wasn't there a time before the portal? Did it have SHOUTcast back then? What will happen if you install this older firmware?

[keith_leitch]

If there was such a time, it was before my love affair with Topfield began. I do know that the problem with firmware from before January, 2016, is that it does not comply with the MP4 broadcast standard now used for HD stations here. It would not be worth having Internet radio on the box to give up reliable HD recordings.

[FireBird]

The question is if there is such a firmware still available and it still works with SHOUTcast, if you would be willing to invest into a cheap SHOUTcast-dedicated Toppy.

[keith_leitch]

No more Toppys in Australia! The distributor went bust.

If I am going to use a second box for SHOUTcast, I will just use a mini PC. This was more about keeping it all in one unit (and also rising to the challenge).

[FireBird]

It could even be one with a defective tuner from eBay or something like that. The solutions I’m seeing:

• Wait for the portal to come back
• Use another Toppy with an old firmware
• Convince someone to write a SHOUTcast TAP

Sorry, but in my opinion, there’s no reasonable chance to fix that problem with some kind of system hack.

[keith_leitch]

Now I HAVE to do it!

Just kidding. Now that I have seen your screenshots, I agree with you.