Movie playback doesn't work at all from Sage Client...

[Biggen]

Just downloaded the latest Beta Sage TV Server on my Win 7 server and the latest Beta client version on my client Win 7 PC. I have never used Sage before so both of these installations are "fresh".

I'm considering moving my entire HTPC system to SAGE but am having second thoughts so far after playing with the betas. I have about a dozen DVD's I ripped with AnyDVD stored on my server. I can play them just fine from either my server or my client PC via WMC. However, getting them to play from the SAGE client is another story.

When I load up the client, it finds the Sage Server with no problem. I then click on the videos tab and I see all the DVD's I ripped (including a BD). But if I click on a video, the screen simply goes black and nothing happens. I can "right-click" to go back to the main menu and I get this error message from Sage:


There was a Playback Error in playback. Details: sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-3,0x80070057): There was a problem accessing the filesystem for playback.


Now, I can play them all back locally from the Sage Server just fine either via the Sage Server itself or WMC. The disk is working properly and (like I said) I can play them remotely from my PC via WMC with no problem right over the network. Any ideas or thoughts??

UPDATE - Well after I posted this, I tried again to play them again via the Sage Client and it seems the BD rip plays just fine. I had only been trying the DVD's at the time I posted this never thinking to try the the BD. I still get the error message when trying to play the DVD's however. I ripped them is the Video_TS form which I assume is acceptable...

[PLUCKYHD]

Just downloaded the latest Beta Sage TV Server on my Win 7 server and the latest Beta client version on my client Win 7 PC. I have never used Sage before so both of these installations are "fresh".

I'm considering moving my entire HTPC system to SAGE but am having second thoughts so far after playing with the betas. I have about a dozen DVD's I ripped with AnyDVD stored on my server. I can play them just fine from either my server or my client PC via WMC. However, getting them to play from the SAGE client is another story.

When I load up the client, it finds the Sage Server with no problem. I then click on the videos tab and I see all the DVD's I ripped (including a BD). But if I click on a video, the screen simply goes black and nothing happens. I can "right-click" to go back to the main menu and I get this error message from Sage:



Now, I can play them all back locally from the Sage Server just fine either via the Sage Server itself or WMC. The disk is working properly and (like I said) I can play them remotely from my PC via WMC with no problem right over the network. Any ideas or thoughts??

UPDATE - Well after I posted this, I tried again to play them again via the Sage Client and it seems the BD rip plays just fine. I had only been trying the DVD's at the time I posted this never thinking to try the the BD. I still get the error message when trying to play the DVD's however. I ripped them is the Video_TS form which I assume is acceptable...

What decoders to you have sagetv set to use? I would recomend the w7 decoders if you are using w7.

[stanger89]

You need to specify import directories as UNC paths, that or you need to map drives on your client exactly as on the server. Look at the detailed info for one of the rips that doesn't work and see if you can access that path from the client (I'm guessing not)

[Biggen]

What decoders to you have sagetv set to use? I would recomend the w7 decoders if you are using w7.

I set MPEG2 Video Decoder to Microsoft DTV-DVD and the DVD video decoder filter to Microsoft DTV-DVD. I get the same error message after doing this.


You need to specify import directories as UNC paths, that or you need to map drives on your client exactly as on the server. Look at the detailed info for one of the rips that doesn't work and see if you can access that path from the client (I'm guessing not)


Huh?

Where do I need to specify directory paths? And why will my BD rip play just fine but my DVD rips won't (they are located in the exact same directory on the remote Sage server) from the Sage TV client?

I didn't think setting up Sage would be this difficult for playing movies. I figured if the server was running, any client could connect and then, *wham*, it would work so long as the server knew where the movies were being stored...

[Narflex]

DVD playback is different because the DirectShow component used for it will only accept a file path; you can't create your own source filter for it like for playback of all other content types. So for DVD playback to work on a client from the server, the path must be universal between the two...which is why you want to use UNC paths for importing of DVD content on the server if you plan to use SageTVClient for DVD playback on another system.

[Biggen]

Alright, I got it working. I had to share the disk via Win 7 and then setup a UNC path in the sage server. That took care of it.

I had hoped not to share the drive but, for now, there is no way around with. Do I have to keep it shared when I have extenders too (i.e. HD300) or only for the Sage TV client?

[stanger89]

I don't believe so, Extenders work if it works on the server.

[paulbeers]

When it comes to Extenders, all data flows thru the server. No UNC paths are necessary.