Direct xbian through SSH tunnel

[xtracold]

Hello,

I have a ssh tunnel in the UK that I use for watching UK TV. I would like to get the bbciplayer plugin working on xbian and when in use automatically connect through the ssh tunnel.

Does anyone have some advice on how to make this happen? If I set up an http proxy on another machine in the house that pushes everything through the tunnel would that work?

Thanks

JW

[IriDium]

I assume you have tried without the tunnel - I'm not too sure how cleaver the iplayer addon is.

However, the iplayer config does allow the use of a proxy, so i would try that first.

[xtracold]

(16th Nov, 2013 02:59 AM)IriDium Wrote:  I assume you have tried without the tunnel - I'm not too sure how cleaver the iplayer addon is.

However, the iplayer config does allow the use of a proxy, so i would try that first.

I'm embarrased to say that no, I have not tried without. I think I tried with raspbmc before reverting to the much faster xbian and have it in my head that i'll have to use the tunnel. I will try tonight via proxy in the house.

Thanks

JW

[mk01]

@xtracold

you didn't say if the machine you have ssh access to is providing routing for you or just port redirect.

but in general it is possible, also with the auto tunnel open mode.

[xtracold]

So I got it working, but not via a proxy connection to a machine that was connected to the tunnel.

It occurred to me that xbian should be no different to the laptop configurations I used where I redirected internet traffic using a SOCKS proxy that binded to a dynamic port redirect through the tunnel.

So, to get it working I ssh'd to the raspberry running xbian from a terminal

Terminal

> ssh xbian@194.168.1.104

Entered the password (raspberry) and then from the terminal started up a dynamic port redirect through the tunnel to the UK:

Terminal

> ssh -D 1080:username@mytunnel.IP

Then under the iplayer configuration I selected a SOCKS 4 proxy and entered "mytunnel.IP" for the IP address and "1080" as the port. I entered my username, password not required for SOCKS4.

Voila as they say. iplayer now routes itself through the tunnel, all other traffic uses my home connection here in canada. So I can get at UK TV now. Sweet.

Going to try and repeat using TVCatchup now. But struggling to get that plugin working.

Thanks all for making my brain think a bit more about what I was trying to do!!

[IriDium]

Glad you got it all working.
Are you having a problem with the actual TVCatchup addon, or trying to get it to work in Canada?

I have a feeling they check you username when you sign up - so you have to make sure you are proxied in the UK when you get your signon name. After that - they may not bother checking.

[xtracold]

(20th Nov, 2013 11:45 PM)IriDium Wrote:  Are you having a problem with the actual TVCatchup addon, or trying to get it to work in Canada?

The problem is getting the plugin to even appear. I installed it the other night via download and the install zip file link in xbmc, but it does not appear. I've checked under the video add-ons and the programs (which seems to be where some people find it) but nothing.

Perhaps the install did not work, I expect i'll have to dig a little deeper.

From what I know you are right about the username/password checking, i'll grab on from my UK IP if I can get the plugin to start appearing.

[IriDium]

I use repository.tvcatchup.addons-1.0.3.zip then in XBMC install from zip, then get add-on, then TVcatchup repository, Video addon, TVCatchup 2 with EPG.

[xtracold]

(21st Nov, 2013 01:51 AM)IriDium Wrote:  I use repository.tvcatchup.addons-1.0.3.zip then in XBMC install from zip, then get add-on, then TVcatchup repository, Video addon, TVCatchup 2 with EPG.

Ah, maybe that is my problem, I have only installed the repo and not the actual add-on. I will try tonight when I get home and let you know if it works.

[IriDium]

Yes that will be it - I fell foul of that one.

I think the EPG one is the best but.....

[IriDium]

@xtracold

Found this get_iplayer which you might find useful.

get_iplayer commands

Allows the downloading of BBC programs and works with a proxy. You can get listings, download and it even works as a PVR searching for programs. Best of all there is no retention period - just fair use and no pauses because of streaming.

I've installed it on Xbian and it works. I just did :-

Terminal

sudo apt-get -y install get_iplayer

If you also install ffmpeg, it will decode the files from flv to mp4.

Terminal

sudo apt-get -y install ffmpeg

Some of the basic commands.

get_iplayer "Programme Name"
i.e get_iplayer --get "Top Gear"
i.e get_iplayer --get xxx (Where xxx is the index number)

--tvmode=best (Gets highest quality)

--output=/media/FLASH (Output to external HDD)
--type=radio or tv
--channel="BBC Two"
--category=
Comedy
Leisure
Factual

get-iplayer --get xxx yyy zzz --tvmode=best --type=tv --output=/media/FLASH

get-iplayer --info xxx (Details of the program)

[Skywatch]

Hi Iridium,

I stumbled back on this and thought I'd give it a go.......Here's what I got......

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package get_iplayer

So i guess that something needs to be added somewhere, can you help?

Thanks

Skywatch

[Skywatch]

Tried again this morning and it worked first time, so a glitch somewhere.

Skywatch

[mk01]

Code:

get-iplayer

(not get_iplayer)

[Skywatch]

Now I have another issue.

What do I put in the --output"" to get it to download to a NAS?

I tried --output="smb://nasname/directory" but it just creates those directories on the SD card and it soon fills up!
I tried leaving out 'smb' and 'smb:', all with no luck.

Can anyone help me please?

Skywatch