[feature] Call video player directly

[Tharn]

Now that MPC-HC has a really easy youtube-dl integration (and youtube-dl can pull streams and VODs from hundreds of websites, including Youtube, Twitch, Mixer and Smashcast), it would be cool to have an option to send the URL to MPC-HC or another media player directly without calling Streamlink/Livestreamer.

To do this, LM would simply have to do "C:\Media\Player.exe" URL

Come to think of it, since we've been here before with altering command line arguments for LM, maybe making this configurable would be the way forward. So the user tells LM which executable to call and whether or not to append URL, streamlink arguments or whatever else.

If you're interested in trying this yourself, all you have to do is grab MPC-HC 1.8.4 from doom9 and put the latest youtube-dl.exe into the MPC-HC folder.

[laurencee]

Interesting, I didn't know that was a thing! Thanks, I'll take a look at it at some time.

I'll need to update the app anyway to start calling the newer twitch API as it's still on the outdated one which they'll stop support for sometime this year.

[Tharn]

Watching streams with MPC-HC directly works if I replace the executable (input * in file field to make other executables visible), then go into the settings.json and setting "FallbackQuality": "" and "TwitchAuthToken": ""

So this could work by allowing any .exe to be linked. As well as an option to leave auth tokens out of LM entirely, and the ability to un-mark Best/Worst stream quality selection and effectively leaving it empty would suffice. LM can already detect when no fallback quality is set - it'll show both buttons as un-filled. But once you set them, you can't un-set them without going into the config file.

LM auto-appends a hls passthrough command line argument to VODs, so these don't work.

[cinubu11]

hello, is this the same software like livestream monitor?
im not advance user, i usually depends on GUI,
my livestream monitor suddenly cant open, and i still searching for alternative for it.
i wonder if you could help.
i tried copying the youtube-dl.exe to mpc-hc folder but still cant load the livestream via link.

is there any tutorial for dummies somewhere?

[cinubu11]

just trying again, and it worked with youtube-dl,
but is there any way to select stream resolution and pop out the chat?
i really need GUI or tool like livestream monitor

[Tharn]

The answer is 3 years late, but you can set desired stream quality and video type in MPC-HC advanced options. All the fields with YDL*, like YDLMaxHeight which defaults to 1440, meaning it will load 2560x1440, or smaller as a fallback. There is also a config location that youtube-dl or yt-dlp looks for which is described in the documentation, I think you can use AppData or the executable folder among others, where you can create a config file. There is no GUI.

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Would still be cool to make LM a little bit more universal. yt-dlp is hugely popular now and handles Twitch with less fuss (imo) and a way easier and smaller install of just a single file and a minimal ffmpeg.

If not, disregard shameless bump.