# Can I play local radio stations (AM/FM) with Premiere?



## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

Is there an app that would make it possible to play local AM/FM radio stations through the Tivo somehow?

I have a Premiere on a home network and was wondering if anyone has been able to do this?

Please let me know. Thanks.


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## gonzotek (Sep 24, 2004)

atomarchio said:


> Is there an app that would make it possible to play local AM/FM radio stations through the Tivo somehow?
> 
> I have a Premiere on a home network and was wondering if anyone has been able to do this?
> 
> Please let me know. Thanks.


Not directly...but..RadioTime.com is an excellent directory of radio stations doing internet broadcasting, with a focus on local content. Many of the streams they present are compatible with TiVo, but it is important to know that they are just an aggregation service, if the broadcaster (for example Radio 104.5FM in the Philadelphia area) doesn't stream in a format that is compatible there isn't anything they can do about it. For listening on the TiVo, I check the RadioTime site for the stream address(es) and then place them into an m3u playlist and serve it with TiVo Desktop or pyTivo.

RadioTime has an API that seems like it could be integrated as a pyTivo plugin. Potentially, a user could enable the plugin, add their RadioTime credentials, and have the compatible streams they've saved as RadioTime presets show up as an item in Music, Photos and Showcases (e.g. "Radio Time Presets"). If there's some interest, I could look further into what it would take to implement.


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## ajayabb (Jan 12, 2007)

gonzotek said:


> Not directly...but..RadioTime.com is an excellent directory of radio stations doing internet broadcasting, with a focus on local content. Many of the streams they present are compatible with TiVo, but it is important to know that they are just an aggregation service, if the broadcaster (for example Radio 104.5FM in the Philadelphia area) doesn't stream in a format that is compatible there isn't anything they can do about it. For listening on the TiVo, I check the RadioTime site for the stream address(es) and then place them into an m3u playlist and serve it with TiVo Desktop or pyTivo.
> 
> RadioTime has an API that seems like it could be integrated as a pyTivo plugin. Potentially, a user could enable the plugin, add their RadioTime credentials, and have the compatible streams they've saved as RadioTime presets show up as an item in Music, Photos and Showcases (e.g. "Radio Time Presets"). If there's some interest, I could look further into what it would take to implement.


That could be really cool!:up:


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

gonzotek said:


> Not directly...but..RadioTime.com is an excellent directory of radio stations doing internet broadcasting, with a focus on local content. Many of the streams they present are compatible with TiVo, but it is important to know that they are just an aggregation service, if the broadcaster (for example Radio 104.5FM in the Philadelphia area) doesn't stream in a format that is compatible there isn't anything they can do about it. For listening on the TiVo, I check the RadioTime site for the stream address(es) and then place them into an m3u playlist and serve it with TiVo Desktop or pyTivo.
> 
> RadioTime has an API that seems like it could be integrated as a pyTivo plugin. Potentially, a user could enable the plugin, add their RadioTime credentials, and have the compatible streams they've saved as RadioTime presets show up as an item in Music, Photos and Showcases (e.g. "Radio Time Presets"). If there's some interest, I could look further into what it would take to implement.


Please keep me posted. I would be very interested in this.

Thanks!


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

There is an alternative to AM/FM Airwave radio. Look in the menu for Live365, it is radio from the internet, 100s of stations to choose from.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

I am looking for my specific local AM/FM Radio Stations to Clevelane. While Live365 is interesting, it's not what I am looking for.

Thanks for the suggestion though.


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## gonzotek (Sep 24, 2004)

OK, I will see what I can do to stick RadioTime functionality into a pyTivo plugin. No promises on how soon I can get to it...full time job demands trump hobby work. I'll post to this thread as soon as I have something worth trying. I haven't worked extensively with python or the pytivo code (beyond minor changes), but I've gone as far as creating a shell 'hello world' pytivo plugin. This project seems like a good learning exercise for me (I hope  )
Cheers!


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

gonzotek said:


> OK, I will see what I can do to stick RadioTime functionality into a pyTivo plugin. No promises on how soon I can get to it...full time job demands trump hobby work. I'll post to this thread as soon as I have something worth trying. I haven't worked extensively with python or the pytivo code (beyond minor changes), but I've gone as far as creating a shell 'hello world' pytivo plugin. This project seems like a good learning exercise for me (I hope  )
> Cheers!


I would very interested would think many others would be also.

Please keep us posted. Thank you.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Do you want the TiVo to actually record, or trick play, a specific radio channel? Or do you just want to listen to a specific radio channel through the TiVo?

If it's the former then a pyTiVo app isn't going to do that anyway. All it would do is play the station live. And if it's the later then it seems like it would be a lot easier just to buy a cheap radio at Wal-Mart and put it in the same room as your TiVo. (most home theater systems can also tune AM/FM)

Dan


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

I am just looking to play local radio stations live. That would be exactly what I need.


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## Gavroche (May 27, 2007)

atomarchio said:


> I am just looking to play local radio stations live. That would be exactly what I need.


Just a note that in my area my cable provider (Comcast) has this feature as part of all their digital packages. (I think they call it "Digital Music Express" or something like that.)

They have all sorts of music channels from MusicChoice, but they also have many of my local stations. This works with my cablecards, and since these are essentially regular tv channels you can even do trick-play and manual recordings!

If you're using cable TV with your tivo, check with your provider. I am guessing that many cable operators offer something similar (?)


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

atomarchio said:


> I am just looking to play local radio stations live. That would be exactly what I need.


If you have the TiVo hooked up to a home theater system then it most likely already has an AM/FM tuner. If it's just connected to a TV then it'll be a lot simpler, and waste a lot less energy, to buy a simple AM/FM radio. For the pyTiVo solution listed above you would have to have a PC on and connected to the internet, then you would need to connect the TiVo to the PC over a network, then have the TV on to play the actual sound. Seems a bit overkill to get the same function as a $10 radio.

Dan


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## gonzotek (Sep 24, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> If you have the TiVo hooked up to a home theater system then it most likely already has an AM/FM tuner. If it's just connected to a TV then it'll be a lot simpler, and waste a lot less energy, to buy a simple AM/FM radio. For the pyTiVo solution listed above you would have to have a PC on and connected to the internet, then you would need to connect the TiVo to the PC over a network, then have the TV on to play the actual sound. Seems a bit overkill to get the same function as a $10 radio.
> 
> Dan


That's true, however I can't receive my two favorite local radio stations over the air where I am at . Plus I'd like to play the streams of a few non-local stations I've heard while traveling. Internet delivery is my only option. I discovered RadioTime thanks to an excellent Roku channel, and have since installed an app that connects to it on my iPhone. The pc requirement for Tivo apps is a real PITA, all TiVos have honking big hard drives (for app purposes) and yet TiVo forces us to load all apps over the network. Roku's have just a tiny bit of flash memory and yet they have an on-box app platform that is more robust in many ways than TiVo's hme. I know I'm being a little anti-tivo here, it's just frustrating to know the potential that's locked up in their platform and not be able to take advantage of it.

/edit
On the way in to work this morning I was thinking it should be possible to offer this as a web service, in an HME app, instead of as a pytivo plugin, so that people don't have to leave a pc running locally all the time. I'd just host it (I already have a static ip server) and point people to it. Just thinking out loud right now .


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You might be able to host it at apps.tv. They have a server already setup to serve HME apps to TiVos.

Dan


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

No, apps.tv makes you host your own apps. (Granted some of the ones there now are his own and are thus hosted there, but he's not accepting apps from others for hosting AFAIK.) It's just a redirector.

But that works pretty well, at least for a Fios customer like me, even though my service is residential. Reversi is hosted on a Mac Mini in my living room off a DynDNS domain. Most of the bandwidth it uses goes to sending the stupid icon over and over. (It's requested any time a subscriber enters the "Music, Photos & More" menu. I wish the TiVos would cache the icons. On the other hand, this way, they do serve as crude status indicators.)

For a radio player HME app, the audio could stream directly from the station to the TiVo, as long as the station offered an MP3 feed, so it wouldn't necessarily be a bandwidth killer.


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## atomarchio (Sep 24, 2006)

gonzotek said:


> That's true, however I can't receive my two favorite local radio stations over the air where I am at . Plus I'd like to play the streams of a few non-local stations I've heard while traveling. Internet delivery is my only option. I discovered RadioTime thanks to an excellent Roku channel, and have since installed an app that connects to it on my iPhone. The pc requirement for Tivo apps is a real PITA, all TiVos have honking big hard drives (for app purposes) and yet TiVo forces us to load all apps over the network. Roku's have just a tiny bit of flash memory and yet they have an on-box app platform that is more robust in many ways than TiVo's hme. I know I'm being a little anti-tivo here, it's just frustrating to know the potential that's locked up in their platform and not be able to take advantage of it.
> 
> /edit
> On the way in to work this morning I was thinking it should be possible to offer this as a web service, in an HME app, instead of as a pytivo plugin, so that people don't have to leave a pc running locally all the time. I'd just host it (I already have a static ip server) and point people to it. Just thinking out loud right now .


An HME app would be awesome too because I am thinking it would be an easier to access the interface through an HME app than through Pytivo.

Either way would be great though...


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