SageTV & Serial Control customization?

[IVB]

Forgive me as I only started learning Studio last night, but something here sounds a little too good to be true.

I just posted this thread (http://forums.freytechnologies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14467) that shows how I want to make the SageTV screens look like my other HT screens. I'm putting 2 of the screenshots here. They have some functionality [via CQC] to communicate bidirectionally with my Denon.

Are you telling me that if I can write a C#/VB module to get this data, that I can use Studio to put it on the screen?

Here's the Sage Screen:
http://www.amikadesigns.com/HomeTheater/Main-TV.JPG

And here is an example of another screen with that Denon info:
http://www.amikadesigns.com/HomeTheater/FR%20CD%20Art%20SelectionV2.JPG

[stanger89]

Forgive me as I only started learning Studio last night, but something here sounds a little too good to be true.

I just posted this thread (http://forums.freytechnologies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14467) that shows how I want to make the SageTV screens look like my other HT screens. I'm putting 2 of the screenshots here. They have some functionality [via CQC] to communicate bidirectionally with my Denon.

Are you telling me that if I can write a C#/VB module to get this data, that I can use Studio to put it on the screen?

Short answer is yes.

Longer one is, what do you mean? If you mean the communication part, I would look at using Java (if you can do C#/C++/C, you can do Java). The reason I say that is Java is pretty trivial to get working.

If you mean communicating with QCQ, that's possible also, COM communication has been done, but it can be rather tricky, depending on what you need to do, and how you do it (salsbst and I used the JACOB bridge and had some memory issues, but we never tried JNI directly).

[IVB]

Literally the only thing I want to accomplish is putting my Denon status & control widgets on the left side of my TV screens, just like the rest of my CQC screens.

The one sticky wicket is going to be that CQC currently takes control of the COM3 port that the Denon is on. Looks like these are my options:
1) I'd need to talk to those guys to figure out how to get CQC to talk to SageTV, or
2) Put SageTV in charge of DVDs & Music so there is no need for CQC to control the Denon.

I'm reluctant to do #2 b/c as wonderful as Studio is, it still doesn't give me nearly the ease nor richness of widgets that CQC does on the Interface Designer side.

Regardless, this is all very exciting stuff!

[stanger89]

Literally the only thing I want to accomplish is putting my Denon status & control widgets on the left side of my TV screens, just like the rest of my CQC screens.

That should definitely be doable :) Actaully I've got some interest in this also as I have a serial-controlable AVM 20 :D

The one sticky wicket is going to be that CQC currently takes control of the COM3 port that the Denon is on. Looks like these are my options:
1) I'd need to talk to those guys to figure out how to get CQC to talk to SageTV, or
2) Put SageTV in charge of DVDs & Music so there is no need for CQC to control the Denon.

Well technically all of this is out of my area of expertise, but communicating with CQC is way out :). But a quick check of the sun site, and it looks like this:
http://java.sun.com/products/javacomm/reference/docs/API_users_guide_3.html
Would be a good start :)

I'm reluctant to do #2 b/c as wonderful as Studio is, it still doesn't give me nearly the ease nor richness of widgets that CQC does on the Interface Designer side.

Ease I'll give you, richness... I think you need to look at studio more :) Just looking at your screenshots, most of that should be relatively easy to do with Studio. One question (OK two) I have though, is what type of music files you have, and how does CQC 'manage' them?

Regardless, this is all very exciting stuff![/QUOTE]

[IVB]

Just looking at your screenshots, most of that should be relatively easy to do with Studio. One question (OK two) I have though, is what type of music files you have, and how does CQC 'manage' them?


Today, CQC requires JRMC and the user to manuall run an export and then it reads that and allows for some pretty rich drag&drop widgets. Within a few months, CQC will work directly with JRMC, no XML export necessary. The only downside to the current state is if you update your music repository, you need to re-cut the XML.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about control over the Denon. SageTV has got a great solution in the making with this Java/C++/C/C#/VB stuff. But, it's either not enough or not easy enough for me to give up CQC. And, as CQC is an HA package, there's no way they're going to want to pursue a solution that involves opening up the API and handing off control to Sage.

That leads me to believe that I need to pursue using SageTV as the DVR engine and try and embed the Sage screens inside a CQC wrapper, so that CQC retains control. Perhaps if I read up on the java/C++ component usage, I can figure out how to use them bidirectionally and use them to send CQC what I want, so that CQC can render the screen.

Boy, talk about outside MY area of expertise :-)

[PGPfan]

Hi IVB,

For me personally, I've decided to let Sage handle all things media related and have CQC do everything HA related. CQC is indeed really powerful being distributed and all, but when I want to sit down in my theater and watch something, or listen to music there is nothing easier than having Sage control all. When I walk into my theater I touch a screen (powered by CQC) to turn on my projector, grab my remote and control Sage.

Anywhere else in the house, like for background music, I just use the CQC touch panels. Easy, simple solution.

-PGPfan

[IVB]

Have you been able to have Sage display the receiver status and control? Also, are you doing anything with multi-zone/multi-source?

For me, the hugest PITA is making sure the receiver is set to the right inputs and volume level as all the equipment is in the next room, and the plasma/speakers are the only thing in the H/T room. I ran wires inside the wall to hook everything up. With just Sage/TT/myHTPC, I'm constantly guessing whether the stereo is on/off, what it's set to. Is there no sound cuz it's off? muted? volume too low? wrong input source?

Plus, when i'm in an alternate zone [i.e., living room], i need a mechanism to select/transport control a song, and make sure it's a different source then the F/R as someone might be in there watching TV.

[stanger89]

That leads me to believe that I need to pursue using SageTV as the DVR engine and try and embed the Sage screens inside a CQC wrapper, so that CQC retains control. Perhaps if I read up on the java/C++ component usage, I can figure out how to use them bidirectionally and use them to send CQC what I want, so that CQC can render the screen.

I see two "obvious" ways to tackle what you want to do:
1) Figure out how to export information from CQC to SageTV, this is probably the easiest way to do it.

2) Write a SageTV "plugin"/driver for CQC, with this (http://www.sagetv.com/2_papers/SageTVInputPlugins.txt), you can write and input plugin (basically Sage would see CQC as a remote control)
And with this (http://www.sagetv.com/2_papers/OSDPlugins.txt), you could render the Sage UI into CQC.

Both would be quite a bit of work though.

[IVB]

I see two "obvious" ways to tackle what you want to do:
1) Figure out how to export information from CQC to SageTV, this is probably the easiest way to do it.

2) Write a SageTV "plugin"/driver for CQC, with this (http://www.sagetv.com/2_papers/SageTVInputPlugins.txt), you can write and input plugin (basically Sage would see CQC as a remote control)
And with this (http://www.sagetv.com/2_papers/OSDPlugins.txt), you could render the Sage UI into CQC.

Both would be quite a bit of work though.

Dean/etc have already started down the route for #2, i'll see what I can do to help out there. That might be a better long-term strategy as I can then mix/match all A/V entertainment and any HA stuff I want to do in the same UI. Thanks for the links - should help the cause.

[Zanoryt]

While you're at it, maybe you should create a basic serial port layer API specifically for sage so we can all easily write RS-232 control modules for our receivers and dvd changers.

I'd REALLY like to get my DVD changer hooked into Sage.

Kevin

[AndyS]

While you're at it, maybe you should create a basic serial port layer API specifically for sage so we can all easily write RS-232 control modules for our receivers and dvd changers.

I'd REALLY like to get my DVD changer hooked into Sage.

Kevin

That's what CQC is for! :thumb: Serial control is much more than just protocol support - it needs system-specific intelligence in a virtual 'driver'. By the time you've worked out a solution that's generic enough to work with a variety of devices, and specific enough to implement everything you'd want from each of those devices, you'd have an HA solution anyway, so why re-invent the wheel?

Andy.

[IVB]

That's what CQC is for! :thumb: Serial control is much more than just protocol support - it needs system-specific intelligence in a virtual 'driver'. By the time you've worked out a solution that's generic enough to work with a variety of devices, and specific enough to implement everything you'd want from each of those devices, you'd have an HA solution anyway, so why re-invent the wheel?

Andy.

Yep, that's the route i opted to go down. The CQC dudes are writing a SageTV driver, and I already have enough half-finished projects. (he says as his feet are resting on the box for the RS232 controllable Aprilaire 8870 thermostat that he was supposed to install 2 weeks ago]

[IVB]

I posted this over in the webserver plugin thread, thought i'd update this as folks may be like me and not realize how totally powerful that plugin is.

I just realized that Nielm has solved this, and i'm just a year late to realize it.

I use CQC as my HA/HT automation package to control everything over serial. I just realized I could use an embedded web page inside CQC to pull up Nielm's webserver. This gives me RS232 control over my receiver and the ability to display it's current status [see the left/top wrapper], while navigating through Sage.

I'm still learning about the webserver, and i haven't figured out why i'm having issues actually playing a recording, but i'm sure that's user error :D

BTW, if you want to see the rest of my screenshots and how why I think this integrates so cleanly with the rest of my system, check out www.myhometheaterpc.com


http://www.myhometheaterpc.com/screenshots/vladstudio/VladStudio_Sage2.JPG