Tubexx

Introduction
    ------------
    Tubexx is an ARexx script that enables the fruition of youtube.com contents
on your AmigaOS4/MorphOS machine.
    Youtube.com is a video storage, where anybody can upload his own videos and
share them with every
    Internet user in the world.
    Its main interface is web based, but video playback is handled via a Flash
applet, thus impossible
    to enjoy directly with the MorphOS technologies currently available.
    This is where Tubexx comes in handy, enabling you to search, download,
convert and play your
    favourite videos.

  
    Features
    --------
    The main Tubexx features are:
    - various search modes managed through the YouTube GData API calls
    - possibility to receive standard feeds localized for different countries
    - possibility to use an URL as a direct reference
    - result browser that formats the results nicely and handles frames
thumbnails
    - support of video description, and possibility to use URLs found there
    - a preferred video format can be set, including 3GP, FLV (SQ or larger) and
MP4 (HQ or HD)
    - support of video streaming with user definable cache size
    - video download and archived video manager
    - it is possible to convert videos into standard formats for common DVD
readers
    - it is possible to suggest a video via email
    - integrated automatic check and download of program updates
    - all functions are accessible via MUI4 GUI
    
  
    Installation
    ------------
    Tubexx requires:
    - MorphOS 1.4.5 or higher
    - ARexx (you might need to copy the rexxsyslib.library from AmigaOS 3.x in
MOSSYS:Libs/)
    - MUI4 + 4 external classes: MCC_BetterBalance, MCC_HTMLview, MCC_TheBar,
MCC_Urltext
    - RxMUI 42.2 or higher
    - MPlayer and MEncoder 1.0+
    - xsltproc 6.2
    - grep 2.5 (part of the MorphOS SDK)
    - wget 1.9.1 (also part of the MorphOS SDK)
    - HTTPResume 1.9
  
    Installation of Tubexx is very simple and straightforward, once you made
sure you already have all
    the software listed above: you simply need to unpack the archive and copy
the resulting Tubexx
    directory wherever you like it.
    The first time you launch Tubexx you will be asked to complete the
configuration.
    This can be easily accomplished by selecting the "tubexx" tab in the program
and filling the six
    fields in the "Tools:" section, so that Tubexx will know where to look for
wget, xsltproc, grep,
    mplayer, mencoder and httpresume.


    Usage
    -----
    The main Tubexx interface is divided into three tabs: Tubexx, YouTube and
Videos
  
    - In the first one you will have the possibility to configure the client.
      The "Tools:" section lets the user indicate the path of the six external
programs used by Tubexx.
      It is possible to insert those paths manually or to click on the icon at
the right of each text
      field that opens a requester.
      In the "Videos:" section you can choose where to store the downloaded and
the re-encoded videos.
      The "Preferences" section will allow you to adjust the behavior of the
client to meet your
      personal needs.

    - The YouTube tab enables the search and the retrieval and playback of the
videos.
      The higher part of the YouTube tab enables searching for your favourite
videos.
      The middle part of the tab shows the preview thumbnail of the chosen
video, the description of
      the video in the homonymous tab, the program log under the "session" tab,
and the possibility to
      copy the video URLs in clipboard and to visit the video webpage on
youtube.com under the "extra"
      tab.
      If the description of the video includes some YouTube URLs it is possible
to copy and paste
      them as direct references.
      The icons on the right side are used to suggest a video via email,
download the video (and also
      choose a title), stream the video directly from the net, and to stop the
current operation (for
      instance the retrieving of a search result).
      The lower part shows the search results, including a preview thumbnail,
and categories such as
      title, category, author, duration, date of publication, rating and view
count.
    
    - Finally the Video tab is used to manage your video collection locally.
      Downloaded videos will appear listed in the "original videos" subtab. It
is possible to archive
      them in different subdirectories that can be created via Ambient, that can
be invoked pressing the
      "file manager" button. Due to Tubexx limitations, it is not possible to
create a directory tree:
      only the first hierarchical level is supported. Selecting a title will
make all the informations
      appear in the right side of the tab; also a video frame will be extracted
'on the fly' from the
      source file and will be displayed at the top right side, unless this
function has been disabled
      by user to speed up management.
      The "play" and "convert" icons do exactly what they are supposed to do,
play the video from locale,
      and convert into a format specified by the options appearing in the lower
part of the tab.
      It is possible to choose the output format DIVX (AVI) or DVD compliant
(MPEG), video resolution
      conforming to 'quarter PAL' or 'regular PAL' standards, eventual crop
margins (giving you the
      chance to obtain an output file with 16:9 aspect ratio from video sources
containing black bands
      above and below the picture), the data rate of the video (in kb/s), and
the audio rate as well.
      If you select more than one title in the source list, the same settings
will be applied at each
      file in a single re-encoding session.
      Under the directory lister three icons are present: "reload" updates the
listers content,
      "file manager" opens an Ambient window for file management, and "delete"
deletes the selected items.
      The "re-encoded videos" subtab enables the same file management on
converted videos, and the
      replaying of said videos.

  
    Author
    ------
    Paolo Germano
    To contact me write to: pgermano()alice.it
    Tubexx web page is online at:
http://www.webalice.it/pgermano/tubexx/main.html
  

    Distribution license:
    This program is Copyright 2007-2009 by Paolo Germano, and can be distributed
free of charge.
    You are free to distribute Tubexx as long as the original archive is kept
intact. Commercial
    use or its inclusion in other commercial software package is prohibited
without prior consent
    from the Author. You CANNOT use the source code to release/distribute any
derivative code with
    the same name of the original program without authorization from the Author.
It means that you
    can use the sources for your LOCAL purpose or in projects with different
names. In any case,
    if any of the program source code is used, a note about the origin of said
code and its Author
    is mandatory.
    
    DISCLAIMER
    BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE
PROGRAM.
    IN NO EVENT WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY
AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE
    THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY
GENERAL, SPECIAL,
    INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO
USE THE PROGRAM
    (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE
OR LOSSES
    SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE
WITH ANY OTHER
    PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
    DAMAGES.
    
    The YouTube name and the YouTube logo are Copyright 2007 of YouTube, LLC
    All other trademarks are owned and copyrighted by the respective owners.