Windows client API

kharlashkin

Hi all. Your team makes a great product, it's amazing!

My question is simple - does the client on the PC (Windows/MacOS) have any way to give the current state. I am interested in the name of the file being played and the current playback time. It would be just great if there was a documented API.
By the way is there a Linux client planned?

qzhsjz

You may need this shit bro, a reverse engineering of the SKYBOX‘s streaming protocol.

kharlashkin

qzhsjz
I wouldn't want to get into the protocol used - why?
Some functionality that can be pulled (optionally via a DLL) on the PC client would be sufficient for me.
For example on a VR device they start watching a video - I can get from the client which device, which file and its playback timeline, on the VR device they switch to the middle of the video slider - I get the timeline where switched.
I've seen requests here on the forum for PC client scripting, which is about what I need. I could of course try to do it with AHK or start reverse engineering the application, but decided to ask the developers first 😉

qzhsjz

kharlashkin
Well... So what you need is to script some customized handler of all synchronizing events between VR device and SKYBOX desktop client, and you're asking them for a hooking SDK or something just injects your logic into it?
Does that really make your things easier than reverse engineering and reimplementing the client as the way you like?🤣

kharlashkin

qzhsjz
Well they don't charge for the question, and I'm not the only one who asks for an interface to interact with the client.
I am currently using PLEX for one of my projects, but their VR application loses out to SKYBOX.

kharlashkin

Well I've cracked the PC client with some tricks. The question is whether I'm allowed to share my experience. Let's call the developers into the thread for an answer.
@Lucy, @Yum, @Jenny what do you think?

Lucy

kharlashkin
Hello!

Thanks for your feedback and sorry for the late reply.

Regarding "a documented API", "PC client scripting" and "an interface to interact with the client", could you please elaborate your feature request a bit further? Why do you want to add this feature?

Besides, do you mean that you've made a cheater/plugin? If so, you are not allowed to share it, of course.

BTW, developing a Linux client is not listed as one of the top priorities in the near future. We are working on a new version of SKYBOX Mac/Windows client now. And it will be available very soon.

Let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Best regards,
Lucy

kharlashkin

Lucy
As a hobby, I do integrations between VR and the real world (motion tracking suit, object interaction).
The main problem when playing videos via DLNA is the lack of control over the process. I tried using PLEX with their proprietary protocol, but as I wrote above their VR player for devices loses a lot to yours.
Your solution has both a "server part" to install on the PC and a "client part" to install on the device. This way videos can be sent to the devices and you can control the playback - see in the interface what devices are connected, what videos are playing, the current playback time.
To create interactions between the user and the video I write some scripts, which should track the playback time and send control signals to the real world (usually using MQTT) - turn on the light, the fan, etc. This is what I mean by API - I need to get existing events from the PC client. Although I already wrote above that I solved the problem ("electron" & selenium), but if you will support external scripting? then there is a higher probability that at the next update of your wonderful product my scripts will not break.

skyboxer12

@kharlashkin I have exactly the same request and I am wondering how you managed to tackle it. Hope you are willing to share some of it with me? At least the the way you took to get it working (methods / techniques)

My API requirements are pretty basic:

Status request: see what is playing and on what timestamp it is at.
or the other way around:
control player: start a video file, stop a video and optionally go to a certain timestamp.

It's definitely a feature request to have this in an accessible API. That way external programs can interact with it. In my case I want to control wind simulation on some timestamps in my video. So when it's at that point, I want to turn on some fans. Currently I do this by trying to start both at the same time. But thats far from optimal. Also I have some other ideas that I need to sync with the video. So I am in need of a way to monitor skybox vr and/or to control it.