improvement/patches for sohu addon

There are few issues should be addressed to make this plugin usable
A.1) Videos are too slow for streaming. It keeps constantly in a state of 
buffering. This is fixed by official-url.patch attached (against r157)
A.2) Join up the small clips to form a single video file

B.1) A configuration setting should be created so the user can choose video 
quality setting globally.
B.2) User should not be allowed for input after pressed the play button on any 
video
B.3) A splash screen is needed to display info after user pressed the play 
button on any video
B.4) More info need to be added to listitem

Issues in category are important are key factors that prevent the plugin the 
function in a acceptable manner. Issues in category are to improve usability so 
the end user will find it easier to use.

A.1 is partially fixed. I did a tcpdump of flash version of souhu video 
playback (using the browser from a pc) and noticed the url link for the actual 
video files (mp4) differs greatly by the one given by the plugin. It looks like 
the plugin query the website "new.sohuv.dnion.com" for the actual url of video 
file but I could not find any entry in the tcpdump of the flash version. By 
change it back to the official url link the streaming is much much more smooth 
and I don't seem to get the constant buffering any more. I am sure there must 
be a reason that "new.sohuv.dnion.com" was used. Could you please enlighten me?

A.2 Sohu decided to split the video into tens of small clips of 4-5 mins 
length, which is really annoying as its impossible for the user to catch up the 
video at a later time. File stacking in XBMC only does support local files 
therefore to have a single video file/link we have to create a http proxy like 
interface so any request to the url/file should be handled by the http proxy 
which it then try to grab whatever file based on the position of the request.

Will update category B when A.2 is fixed.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by sam.ri...@gmail.com on 25 Oct 2011 at 11:28

Attachments:

official-url.patch

kingyiren / xbmc-addons-chinese

improvement/patches for sohu addon #6