What is missing from Diamond? We are listening....

[PLUCKYHD]

Title says it all just a simple thread to list what you think is missing from diamond and or would like to see added. Some of the best ideas of SMM and Diamond have come from users so wanted to open it up again ;)

thanks

Team Diamond

[panteragstk]

Guide favorites. Favorite channels, whatever you would call it.

[jmv]

touchscreen only friendly input...either a popup aka what was added to the SageMC skin, or buttons that cover all the required functions that are available in a standard skin...

[Cortopassi]

The ability to tie to radio streaming services, like radiotime, or to be able to manually tie to streaming addresses like:

http://player.streamtheworld.com/liveplayer.php?callsign=WGNAM#Main

That would 100% complete the system for me.

Great work on everything else, I've only been playing with V7 and Diamond for a couple days having just switched over from 6.6

[xred]

Title says it all just a simple thread to list what you think is missing from diamond and or would like to see added. Some of the best ideas of SMM and Diamond have come from users so wanted to open it up again ;)

thanks

Team Diamond

I'd like to see some consistency between the TV and Video / Media views. A specific example would be making the "Simplified" view from the Recorded TV view available as an option in all the other views. Having to learn to navigate different UI's for different media types is challenging to the wife, babysitters, transient guests trying to use Sage when they are at my house.

Oh and flat out steal the sort method for videos used by SageMC where Folders and files are listed as an integrated alphabetical list... not folders then files.

[PLUCKYHD]

I'd like to see some consistency between the TV and Video / Media views. A specific example would be making the "Simplified" view from the Recorded TV view available as an option in all the other views. Having to learn to navigate different UI's for different media types is challenging to the wife, babysitters, transient guests trying to use Sage when they are at my house.

Oh and flat out steal the sort method for videos used by SageMC where Folders and files are listed as an integrated alphabetical list... not folders then files.

We don't support folders so not sure what you mean by that? The issue with simplified view for movies is you can't/don't have banners for movies. But a unified view is on our list.

[Comitizer]

An enhanced music interface would be nice...the existing one is pretty horrible.

Perhaps you could consider taking some inspiration from XBMC (for music)?

[les_bloom]

I will second the "better music interface"

Other then that, I would love to be able to rate my movies (like on a 1-5 star deal) and then be able to sort with said ratings.

[ptzink]

An enhanced music interface would be nice...the existing one is pretty horrible.

Perhaps you could consider taking some inspiration from XBMC (for music)?

+1!!!! for the enhanced music interface/functionality. panteragstk is covering it in this thread (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52864), but I would love to see this rolled into Diamond. Thanks again for the great work!

[jptheripper]

Completely integration of styling with SMM ;)

[ptzink]

Oh, one other thing that would be nice. A la SageMC, it would be nice if while watching live TV, you could press the up/down navigation arrows to browse to the next/previous channel and see info about the program on that channel in the OSD. If you decide you want to watch it, you press enter and it tunes that channel. If not, it times out after "x" amount of seconds and you continue watching your current program.

[jorton]

Oh, one other thing that would be nice. A la SageMC, it would be nice if while watching live TV, you could press the up/down navigation arrows to browse to the next/previous channel and see info about the program on that channel in the OSD. If you decide you want to watch it, you press enter and it tunes that channel. If not, it times out after "x" amount of seconds and you continue watching your current program.

JREKiwi has made his miniguide plugin work with Diamond and we have included a Diamond style image for the pop up OSD for it in the current Diamond release. Just have to install the miniguide plugin from the repository.

J

[ptzink]

JREKiwi has made his miniguide plugin work with Diamond and we have included a Diamond style image for the pop up OSD for it in the current Diamond release. Just have to install the miniguide plugin from the repository.

J
Sweet! I will have to check that one out. I must have missed it.

[DigiTechRx]

+1 for the enhanced music interface/functionality. Absolutely.

[xred]

We don't support folders so not sure what you mean by that?

Then maybe a bug on my install? When I look at the folder view for videos I get;

Folder A
Folder B
File A
File B

as opposed to SageMC's

FolderA
FileA
Folder B
File B

[jorton]

Then maybe a bug on my install? When I look at the folder view for videos I get;

Folder A
Folder B
File A
File B

as opposed to SageMC's

FolderA
FileA
Folder B
File B

We only add the option to see BG fanart to the Title and Folder views the rest is default Sagetv.

J

[xred]

We only add the option to see BG fanart to the Title and Folder views the rest is default Sagetv.

J

Understood, that's why the original request was to steal SageMC's way of doing it =)

[reggie14]

I'd love to see an improved music interface.

[kingwr]

+4 (my whole family) for a better music interface.

Didn't Plucky have a music wall at one point that was a spin-off of his movie wall? A music wall would be great.

As usual, I suggest the Windows 7 Media Center's music interface as an example.

[Muchacho]

In SageMC there was a view in the TV section to browse through upcoming movies. I found this helpful for finding new movies being played on premium channels (HBO, showtime...). I would set this to list all upcoming movies by year and then scroll through to see if any movies that I have been waiting for were released. While not perfect, this method allowed to record all the movies that we wanted to see.

It would be great to have something to replace this feature. Some sort of a new movies released on TV view. If we could include/exclude channels in that view it would be an improvement- primarily to avoid listing movies being played on channels with commercials. Also, if it would allow for some preview, fan art, and metadata that would be useful to jar my memory about what movies I had wanted to see.

Thanks for listening!

[Comitizer]

There is an upcoming movies plugin. It works with diamond.

[jorton]

There is an upcoming movies plugin. It works with diamond.

Yup, I'm using JREKiwi's Upcoming Movies and it works well with Diamond. I also use his CMT plugin to edit my fanart / set default fanart from the UI.

J

[panteragstk]

An enhanced music interface would be nice...the existing one is pretty horrible.

Perhaps you could consider taking some inspiration from XBMC (for music)?

I will second the "better music interface"

Other then that, I would love to be able to rate my movies (like on a 1-5 star deal) and then be able to sort with said ratings.

+1!!!! for the enhanced music interface/functionality. panteragstk is covering it in this thread (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52864), but I would love to see this rolled into Diamond. Thanks again for the great work!

+1 for the enhanced music interface/functionality. Absolutely.

I'd love to see an improved music interface.

+4 (my whole family) for a better music interface.

Didn't Plucky have a music wall at one point that was a spin-off of his movie wall? A music wall would be great.

As usual, I suggest the Windows 7 Media Center's music interface as an example.

A music UI is in the works. Planning stage now. See this thread and add what you'd like to see. (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52864) It won't be included in Diamond, but will be compatible. We'll have to see about using themes in a similar way to SMM, but nothing is set in stone at all. Let me know what you guys would like to see in a revamped music ui in the above thread.

EDIT: I can't speak for jorton or plucky, but I don't think a music ui is in the works for diamond. The only one I know of is with phoenix, and even then I don't know what they are planning.

[ptzink]

Got another one that just came up over on this thread (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=495372#post495369). Could you make a TV series (or video for that matter) searchable in some fashion such that it could be directly linked to (via keyboard/remote/macro). That may be beyond the scope of Diamond, but I would love to setup soft keys on my Harmony remote for my favorite shows and use EventGhost to send a command to Sage to find them. Perhaps this is a long shot request but Skirge01 says if anyone can do it, you guys can. :)

[Zuhkov]

One of the things I really like about the movies views is the ability to pop up the alphabet bar at the bottom and seek by letter. I realize it's a different orientation, but would it be possible to do something similar for the simplified view for TV?

[PLUCKYHD]

Great ideas and feedback so far all. Really helps us find a path and go on it.

[Muchacho]

There is an upcoming movies plugin. It works with diamond.

Thanks! Will give that a look.

[wayner]

A TV Wall view where you see Fanart of all your TV series just like the current Movie Wall. Click on the series and then you go into another wall where you see all of the shows (or seasons) of shows.

An integrated Netflix/Hulu interface negating the need for PlayON. It may not be easily doable but would be totally awesome.

A web browser.
An improved music interface.
Dynamic pictures for menus allowing you to have your menu photo be any one of X pictures. Or seasonal-specific menu photos that change each month - if your daughter's birthday is in April then the April menu photo is her blowing out candles on a cake, Christmas themed photos for December, etc.
A sports score page like on MCE.

[LittleJohnny]

* A method to manage Diamond profiles.... for instance, I would like to be able to create a Diamond profile for the guest bedroom. It would only have a couple of menu selections. I would have a different profile for the children's bedroom, one for the home theater, etc.
* A currently on / upcoming Sports guidelist that would allow me to select the channels I want in the guide. For instance, during the fall, numerous college football games are on which I would like an easy method to see what is playing and change to that station
* Better integration / more consistent ui with TV
* Dynamic menus with ability to assign Diamond custom views to homepage.

[wayner]

Oh, I forgot - ability to have all clients use the setting inherited from a master rather than having to customize settings on all clients.

LittleJohnny brings up a good point - having a User selection would be ideal - you could have Guest, Mom, Dad, Johnny, Sally, etc and they would each get their own custom menu structure depending on their likes and dislikes and restrictions. Of course there would be optional passwords.

[matt91]

Oh, I forgot - ability to have all clients use the setting inherited from a master rather than having to customize settings on all clients.

Yes! my family is consistently confused by having the "kids" filter, for example, on the bottom of the list in the living room, but mid-way through the list in the bedroom.

It'd be nice to be able to setup one TV and have the setting propagate to the others.

[Comitizer]

One of the things I really like about the movies views is the ability to pop up the alphabet bar at the bottom and seek by letter. I realize it's a different orientation, but would it be possible to do something similar for the simplified view for TV?

Related to this, if you're sorting by release date (or whatever it's called) it would be cool if the alphabet bar would be come a year bar. That way, you could jump to a specific year for movies.

[ghost5]

Completely integration of styling with SMM ;)

Yes I would love SMM to use the same styling as Diamond (but maybe that is for SMM to sort out?)



Dynamic pictures for menus allowing you to have your menu photo be any one of X pictures. Or seasonal-specific menu photos that change each month - if your daughter's birthday is in April then the April menu photo is her blowing out candles on a cake, Christmas themed photos for December, etc..


+1 for dynamic pictures

[Bagal]

Guide favorites. Favorite channels, whatever you would call it.
I assume you're talking about channel groups, which I'd love to see in Sage. There is an old v6 plugin that does this, which I think partially works in v7 but I haven't tried it.

[alton987]

A "Click OK to play" for recored TV just like you have for movies.

[ptzink]

Listening to all of these feature suggestions and having recently helped a newbie set up SageTV, I am reminded of something that is confusing/intimidating to new users. That is knowing where to find the options to tweak/enable features for Diamond. Perhaps if there were a dedicated "Diamond Options" (like the current) in Detailed Setup that had all the options for all the screens, nicely organized into categories, that would be helpful. And if you could have screenshot thumbnails that represent how these changes would look, that would be a bonus. Of course, you would still keep the "Diamond Options" in the right click menus for the individual screens as well. Just a thought.

[Skirge01]

Perhaps this is a long shot request but Skirge01 says if anyone can do it, you guys can. :)

Man, turned in already?! :rofl:

[toricred]

Dynamic menus.

[Slipshod]

I think my biggest remaining gripe with the interface is the number of clicks it takes to do certain things. I *really* liked the SageMC method of "select" = play on a media item, "info" = detailed information, and "Menu" = right-click menu. I think my wife is slowly unlearning that but she was pretty pissed when I switched from SageMC to the default Sage7 STV. Diamond has gotten her back to being mostly happy, other than the music interface (which I'm +2 on, but somebody outside of Diamond is working on it I guess).

Parental controls would be the next item. Being able to filter and password protect different views would be awesome. I think the filtering in the movies views is probably at the right level, but I'd need to be able to password protect the non-kids one. On the TV side, having views which could be filtered by favorites (your "favorite favorites"), and then passworded in a similar way would be great.

[crusing]

A Home movie view that would use the folder structure for navigation/sorting.

[wubdich]

Ability to mark some podcasts as favorites and to get information if a new episode of these podcasts was released (e.g. a widget on main page or a list of recently published favorit podcasts)

[PLUCKYHD]

Ability to mark some podcasts as favorites and to get information if a new episode of these podcasts was released (e.g. a widget on main page or a list of recently published favorit podcasts)

this not in the scope of diamond nor will it be. Check out toms podcast recorder addin. Not sure what all it does, but diamond doesn't nor will it handle podcast changes.

[PLUCKYHD]

A TV Wall view where you see Fanart of all your TV series just like the current Movie Wall. Click on the series and then you go into another wall where you see all of the shows (or seasons) of shows.

An integrated Netflix/Hulu interface negating the need for PlayON. It may not be easily doable but would be totally awesome.

A web browser.
An improved music interface.
Dynamic pictures for menus allowing you to have your menu photo be any one of X pictures. Or seasonal-specific menu photos that change each month - if your daughter's birthday is in April then the April menu photo is her blowing out candles on a cake, Christmas themed photos for December, etc.
A sports score page like on MCE.


Tv wall in the works already

Native Netflix/hulu not that it is hard it is impossible without play on on our end.

Music as of now we aren't touching music section might change at some point but not high on priority list

You realize you can change this images yourself pretty simple/easy why do we need to make them dynamic not seeing the point here

Web browser is out of the scroe of this project



* A method to manage Diamond profiles.... for instance, I would like to be able to create a Diamond profile for the guest bedroom. It would only have a couple of menu selections. I would have a different profile for the children's bedroom, one for the home theater, etc.
* A currently on / upcoming Sports guidelist that would allow me to select the channels I want in the guide. For instance, during the fall, numerous college football games are on which I would like an easy method to see what is playing and change to that station
* Better integration / more consistent ui with TV
* Dynamic menus with ability to assign Diamond custom views to homepage.

Confused all clients already keep their own properties or profiles os it is already per room?

Agree on the sports have something similar to wmc in mind here

Don't know what you mean by better integration?? It is hard if not sometimes impossible to use the same Layout for tv as movies because they function so differently. So really takes different view to use them both at least in my opinion.

Agreed ;)

Related to this, if you're sorting by release date (or whatever it's called) it would be cool if the alphabet bar would be come a year bar. That way, you could jump to a specific year for movies.

Doable and already do that code in smm so not hard. Good suggestion.

Yes I would love SMM to use the same styling as Diamond (but maybe that is for SMM to sort out?)



+1 for dynamic pictures

Takes a complete rewrite of smm to go beyond the current themeing in smm. But is on my thought list

Again you can change the pictures anytime you want I am still not seeing the value in this
A "Click OK to play" for recored TV just like you have for movies.

Doable for now play works in fact play works right from the show screen to play the next episode as well ;)

I think my biggest remaining gripe with the interface is the number of clicks it takes to do certain things. I *really* liked the SageMC method of "select" = play on a media item, "info" = detailed information, and "Menu" = right-click menu. I think my wife is slowly unlearning that but she was pretty pissed when I switched from SageMC to the default Sage7 STV. Diamond has gotten her back to being mostly happy, other than the music interface (which I'm +2 on, but somebody outside of Diamond is working on it I guess).

Parental controls would be the next item. Being able to filter and password protect different views would be awesome. I think the filtering in the movies views is probably at the right level, but I'd need to be able to password protect the non-kids one. On the TV side, having views which could be filtered by favorites (your "favorite favorites"), and then passworded in a similar way would be great.
You can change enter = play on diamond views just in case you didn't now. And info does equal info ;)

Parent control is coming the the form smm does it. Password protects and hides movies based on current access level.
A Home movie view that would use the folder structure for navigation/sorting.

On the list ;)

[Gunserotti]

I'm a huge fan of Diamond. Functionally it does everything I want. My main request would be the continued development of the eye candy. A few things I would like to see:

Here is a nice view that show cases the fanart.
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/7403/screenshot082.png

Another view that is less fancy: http://www.edho.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/06/aeon_movieshowcase.jpg

I also have idea for a theme whose back ground picture changes dynamically as a function of the time of day. I have a google theme that does this which I think is neat.

Anyway I look forward to what's next.....

[PLUCKYHD]

I'm a huge fan of Diamond. Functionally it does everything I want. My main request would be the continued development of the eye candy. A few things I would like to see:

Here is a nice view that show cases the fanart.
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/7403/screenshot082.png

Another view that is less fancy: http://www.edho.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/06/aeon_movieshowcase.jpg

I also have idea for a theme whose back ground picture changes dynamically as a function of the time of day. I have a google theme that does this which I think is neat.

Anyway I look forward to what's next.....

You more than likely won't see views like that on Diamond. Had some like that originally with SMM. While they are nice the extenders can't do 3d transformations. We like to keep diamond extender friendly :)

[Gunserotti]

You more than likely won't see views like that on Diamond. Had some like that originally with SMM. While they are nice the extenders can't do 3d transformations. We like to keep diamond extender friendly :)

how about a fanart view?

[alton987]

Tv wall in the works already



You can change enter = play on diamond views just in case you didn't now. And info does equal info ;)



On the list ;)

You can't do that for TV recordings can you? (Thats what I want)

[PLUCKYHD]

You can't do that for TV recordings can you? (Thats what I want)

No but play works for now. Add it a a a request on google code if you don't mind.

[SWKerr]

I really love the ability in TVExplorer to easily toggle between the recordings and scheduled content. Something similar would be great.

In general I really like have the quick links icon bar to the left of the screen in TVExployer as well.

... and of course Music and Dynamic Menus same as everyone else.

[Peter_h]

Man you opened up Pandora's box w/ this post. ;)

I'd like to see some diamond flare w/ some of the other non TV and Movie menus.

Music has been mentioned and put aside for now since someone else is working on it.

Online Services menu is another. Any way you guys could pretty that up? I've never been a fan of how things are presented there. The only other plugin that modifies that menu is Fuzzy's malore for online services. With many using Playon, some eye candy in these menu's would be awesome.

Oh and dynamic menus would be nice. :thumb:

[Muchacho]

A simplified delete options. All the delete options drive us nuts and are unnecessary as we never use intelligent recording.

[crusing]

A simplified delete options. All the delete options drive us nuts and are unnecessary as we never use intelligent recording.

+1

[wayner]

A simplified delete options. All the delete options drive us nuts and are unnecessary as we never use intelligent recording.I don't think this is just for intelligent recording. If you select Watched - Delete then it won't rerecord thata episode but if you select Delete -Wrong recording then it will. I occasionally have failed recordings for one reason or aother and select the second option, paricularly for TV series where I want to archive all episodes. But you may not care about that either.

[gveres]

* A method to manage Diamond profiles.... for instance, I would like to be able to create a Diamond profile for the guest bedroom. It would only have a couple of menu selections. I would have a different profile for the children's bedroom, one for the home theater, etc.


Or even just a way to configure one client, save that client profile so that I can then have all my clients setup the same way without having to reconfigure each new client. I found this painful to do for the 5 clients I have.

Thanks
Greg

[gveres]

A "Click OK to play" for recored TV just like you have for movies.

+1 if this is what I think it is.

SageMC used to allow you to go from a highlighted show to watching in a single click (the enter button on the remote). I miss this a lot. I hate having the options screen popup when I want to play. I know that the play button on the remote will skip past this screen, but that is asking for the UI to be inconsistent and for us to unlearn 5 years of learning.

I would love to have the option of "ok plays TV without info screen first" and then the info key would be used to bring up the info screen.

[gveres]

Listening to all of these feature suggestions and having recently helped a newbie set up SageTV, I am reminded of something that is confusing/intimidating to new users. That is knowing where to find the options to tweak/enable features for Diamond. Perhaps if there were a dedicated "Diamond Options" (like the current) in Detailed Setup that had all the options for all the screens, nicely organized into categories, that would be helpful. And if you could have screenshot thumbnails that represent how these changes would look, that would be a bonus. Of course, you would still keep the "Diamond Options" in the right click menus for the individual screens as well. Just a thought.

+1

[gveres]

One other request:

Movie sort by running time. My wife likes to pick movies by how long they are based on how tires she is. :)

Great work BTW!
Greg

[Fuzzy]

Make everything look/work like the Malore screens...

[panteragstk]

Make everything look/work like the Malore screens...

Couldn't you just use the malore menus? :eek:

[Fuzzy]

Couldn't you just use the malore menus? :eek:

Man, I've gotta figure out some way to type sarcastically...

[RonBoyd]

SageMC used to allow you to go from a highlighted show to watching in a single click (the enter button on the remote). I miss this a lot. I hate having the options screen popup when I want to play. I know that the play button on the remote will skip past this screen, but that is asking for the UI to be inconsistent and for us to unlearn 5 years of learning.

I would love to have the option of "ok plays TV without info screen first" and then the info key would be used to bring up the info screen.

+1

[graywolf]

Man, I've gotta figure out some way to type sarcastically...

<sarcasm> whatever </sarcasm>

:thumb:

[panteragstk]

Man, I've gotta figure out some way to type sarcastically...

That's why I put my smiley at the end. I knew what you meant though. :D

Maybe this will help.

How can I show sarcasm in typing?*? - Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090922084115AAoHHN4)

[Fuzzy]

I don't really WANT to make the sarcasm easy though... if you can't tell I'm being sarcastic, you don't deserve the pleasure of getting the joke.. ;-)

[Fuzzy]

For the On-Topic comment though, Malore does look very good with Diamond... One of these days I'll finish my Malore tweaks, and it will look REALLY good.. ;-)

[PLUCKYHD]

+1 if this is what I think it is.

SageMC used to allow you to go from a highlighted show to watching in a single click (the enter button on the remote). I miss this a lot. I hate having the options screen popup when I want to play. I know that the play button on the remote will skip past this screen, but that is asking for the UI to be inconsistent and for us to unlearn 5 years of learning.

I would love to have the option of "ok plays TV without info screen first" and then the info key would be used to bring up the info screen.

This option is in the next build. Overrides all plays on tv (already have it for custom diamond views). Enter = play on any show or movie with it on.

[Slipshod]

This option is in the next build. Overrides all plays on tv (already have it for custom diamond views). Enter = play on any show or movie with it on.

Thanks Plucky! This is the functionality I was talking about as well. I watch more TV than movies at this point, and it hadn't registered that it didn't work the same between the two.

[brianrent]

IMDB ratings for movies or some sort of movie ratings. By that i mean like 7 out of 10 stars not PG or R rated. Thats the only thing I miss about MYMOVIES now that i just use DIAMOND which ROCKS by the way. Thank you.

[pat_smith1969]

Can we get the menu slider on the side of where you list the recorded TV... Next to the TV Show banner... See pics... to be a bit darker/more obvious. It is nearly invisible.

P.S. Great work guys/gals

http://trollshome.dyndns.org:8080/pubpics/screencap.png

[pat_smith1969]

And I would like a MUCH simpler way of deleting shows (as posted earlier by someone). This whole Menu->Delete Show->Delete and set watched business is wearing out my expensive remotes (and my fingers).

I don't care about the set watched, or not set watched or whatever...

Can I get a simple Menu->Delete show-> then a simple dialog saying "Are you sure" Yes/No...

My remote keys woudl go form something like 8 strokes to Select, up, up, up, Select, Select.

Curently I do Select, up, up, up, select, Down, Down, Down, select

[wayner]

Can't you just hit the delete key on your remote while browsing shows? If you use a Harmony (or other universal remote) then just map a soft key to delete.

[raoul]

I would suggest a really stripped down theme for use on an HD100. It was just too much for the HD100 to handle. Or figure out a way so that I can use Diamond directly on my server (LOVE IT), but then just the standard UI on the HD100s.

[PLUCKYHD]

I would suggest a really stripped down theme for use on an HD100. It was just too much for the HD100 to handle. Or figure out a way so that I can use Diamond directly on my server (LOVE IT), but then just the standard UI on the HD100s.

You can disable any plugin independEnt on each extender and server. So you can run diamond on the server and not on the extenders. Simply go to installed plugins and disable on the extenders.

Also try the next version allot has changed performance wise use less posters on wall and sideways should work better ;)

[RonBoyd]

Can we get the menu slider on the side of where you list the recorded TV... Next to the TV Show banner... See pics... to be a bit darker/more obvious. It is nearly invisible.


+1 It is so "invisible," I didn't even know it was there until reading this.

[michaeldjcox]

+1 on Online video display - more space for meta data would be cool on that - potential for fan art perhaps.

I really want to get the wife off sageMC and Diamond is definitely the way forward.

In this respect it would really help if, instead of displaying an options popup clicking on an recording presented a full screen with recording detail, images, fan art and a set of buttons for play, delete, series settings, set watched etc. In other words - just as SageMC does it.

In the same vein also consider integrating the My TV plugin into diamond development. It too gives me that SageMC famiiarity and I believe that plugin is currently not compatible with Diamond.

Thats my tuppence worth - keep up the good work!

Michael

[SWKerr]

I like the My TV plugin. It is simple but very nice to be able to see the most recent recording and quickly navigate over to play them. This is great for News and sporting events that I watch semi live or soon after.

The Diamond Widget allows me to see them but not to play them. You are almost there. Just allow me to click to play.

Also: Maybe on the upcoming Recording Widget a shortcut to the default Recording schedule.

[ptzink]

I like the My TV plugin. It is simple but very nice to be able to see the most recent recording and quickly navigate over to play them. This is great for News and sporting events that I watch semi live or soon after.

The Diamond Widget allows me to see them but not to play them. You are almost there. Just allow me to click to play.

Also: Maybe on the upcoming Recording Widget a shortcut to the default Recording schedule.
+1. I agree.

[moothekow]

Here is a big +1 for being able to use folders navigation. I apologize if I'm missing something (just finished trying out Diamond for the first time - trying to figure out if I want to update to SageTV 7 and install this or stay with Sagetv6 and SageMC). Basically what I am currently doing is as follows:

I have a couple different folders for movies (movies I haven't watched, movies I have watched, movies for my kid) -- sorted into folders.

I also have a folder with TV shows in it (all sorted nicely like:
TV Shows\ShowName\Season#\somerandomfilename-S01E01-blah ..

I like to be able to just navigate my folder structure to find what I want to watch.. currently with SageMC it works nicely.. shows art.. uses metadata to actually grab/display the title i want for the show when showing the files in the folder i'm browsing (i.e. never see the weird/ugly filename..).

Anyways - So far as I can tell Diamond blows my current setup away in almost every way possible --- except that I can't figure out any good way to do the folder/file browsing thing I currently do. The 'folder' option under Video is very close -- but it displays the actual filenames instead of the title from the metadata..

So -- my wish list is a good solution to my problem... I really like the 'list' view so far.. if you added folder navigation to that I would be the happiest person ever :-).

[jorton]

Here is a big +1 for being able to use folders navigation. I apologize if I'm missing something (just finished trying out Diamond for the first time - trying to figure out if I want to update to SageTV 7 and install this or stay with Sagetv6 and SageMC). Basically what I am currently doing is as follows:

I have a couple different folders for movies (movies I haven't watched, movies I have watched, movies for my kid) -- sorted into folders.

I also have a folder with TV shows in it (all sorted nicely like:
TV Shows\ShowName\Season#\somerandomfilename-S01E01-blah ..

I like to be able to just navigate my folder structure to find what I want to watch.. currently with SageMC it works nicely.. shows art.. uses metadata to actually grab/display the title i want for the show when showing the files in the folder i'm browsing (i.e. never see the weird/ugly filename..).

Anyways - So far as I can tell Diamond blows my current setup away in almost every way possible --- except that I can't figure out any good way to do the folder/file browsing thing I currently do. The 'folder' option under Video is very close -- but it displays the actual filenames instead of the title from the metadata..

So -- my wish list is a good solution to my problem... I really like the 'list' view so far.. if you added folder navigation to that I would be the happiest person ever :-).

Create a custom TV view with the Simplified option and then using filtering set "only include imported tv", then turn on season option. All of your imported tv will be shown grouped by show and then by season when you drill down on the show. Set the sort for the shows (first level) to be alphabetic and you will have a nice alphabetic show/season listing with fanart.

Then for your movies create custom movie views (each based on the type of view you want :list, cover, wall) for each "grouping" of movies. One for "Kids" that only shows the movies in the folder you want to show (using folder filtering include/exclude) and then create another movie view based on the "Mom and Dad" folders you want to include (using folder filtering include/exclude)

As for moving movies to a watched folder just set the show watched filter to no and you don't have to move them around. Same in TV, filter out watched and they won't show.

Have a look at the wiki, jusjoken has put a lot of work into it.

http://code.google.com/p/sagediamond/wiki/DiamondInformation

Hope this works for you.

Cheers,

Jeremy

[setherd]

I'd love a way to launch an external program.
Ideally XBMC or Boxee. Minimize sagetv and run the application. Like the hulu option on the onlne menu.
I used to be able to do this in V6

[ghost5]

Can we have an option to hide the OSD options from the "option" menu? Once set I don't need to see them again and they clutter up the place?

Cheers

[PLUCKYHD]

Can we have an option to hide the OSD options from the "option" menu? Once set I don't need to see them again and they clutter up the place?

Cheers

That's a bit undoable...You don't ever wNt to hide an option that you admit you adjust....sorry it seems cluttered we could put it under another menu but then that is another menu to drill down too.

[moothekow]

Create a custom TV view with the Simplified option and then using filtering set "only include imported tv", then turn on season option. All of your imported tv will be shown grouped by show and then by season when you drill down on the show. Set the sort for the shows (first level) to be alphabetic and you will have a nice alphabetic show/season listing with fanart.

Then for your movies create custom movie views (each based on the type of view you want :list, cover, wall) for each "grouping" of movies. One for "Kids" that only shows the movies in the folder you want to show (using folder filtering include/exclude) and then create another movie view based on the "Mom and Dad" folders you want to include (using folder filtering include/exclude)

As for moving movies to a watched folder just set the show watched filter to no and you don't have to move them around. Same in TV, filter out watched and they won't show.

Have a look at the wiki, jusjoken has put a lot of work into it.

http://code.google.com/p/sagediamond/wiki/DiamondInformation

Hope this works for you.

Cheers,

Jeremy

Well - that comes a lot closer. I didn't even realize you could create the custom views. That makes the movies work pretty much perfectly. However - I'm still struggling with my TV shows I guess. Couple reasons:

1) I Utilitize SageTV as a DVR to record OTA shows - and prefer to keep those completely separate from the rest of my tv shows.

2) I can't get the imported tv shows to group right for some reason. Don't get why - but it is putting every single show in it's own series/season folder. So - if I have 14 episodes for a season.. it will show 14 entries on the main screen - each that drills down to a season showing a single episode in it. All the metadata for the episode seems to be there (the video details properly lists Episode X, Season X) ... so not quite sure what I'm doing wrong.

3) Is there any way to create custom views for the TV shows? For instance - would be nice to be able to separate out my kids TV shows from my TV shows.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[panteragstk]

I'd love a way to launch an external program.
Ideally XBMC or Boxee. Minimize sagetv and run the application. Like the hulu option on the onlne menu.
I used to be able to do this in V6

This can be done very easily in studio.

[Tomahawk51]

I don't have a screenshot handy, but I'm wondering if it is expected that the Video Preview for recordings sits over top of the timeline bar. On my setup (HD200) it overlaps and sometimes seems odd that way especially when there is comskip information in the bar or I want to see playback status.

Also, When I show the weather widgets some of the text is slightly clipped. It's as if there just isn't enough room to show it all. Maybe there is a font setting somewhere I haven't noticed?

Just wondering...

[jusjoken]

I don't have a screenshot handy, but I'm wondering if it is expected that the Video Preview for recordings sits over top of the timeline bar. On my setup (HD200) it overlaps and sometimes seems odd that way especially when there is comskip information in the bar or I want to see playback status.

Also, When I show the weather widgets some of the text is slightly clipped. It's as if there just isn't enough room to show it all. Maybe there is a font setting somewhere I haven't noticed?

Just wondering...

The first item is a known issue ... see this issue on the issues list (http://code.google.com/p/sagediamond/issues/detail?id=30)

The second item likely can be resolved by making the widgets wider using the Widget Control Panel. Or, check your setting in Detailed Setup, Customize, under Font size Limitation Settings and set it to something like "9".

k

[jorton]

Well - that comes a lot closer. I didn't even realize you could create the custom views. That makes the movies work pretty much perfectly. However - I'm still struggling with my TV shows I guess. Couple reasons:

1) I Utilitize SageTV as a DVR to record OTA shows - and prefer to keep those completely separate from the rest of my tv shows.

2) I can't get the imported tv shows to group right for some reason. Don't get why - but it is putting every single show in it's own series/season folder. So - if I have 14 episodes for a season.. it will show 14 entries on the main screen - each that drills down to a season showing a single episode in it. All the metadata for the episode seems to be there (the video details properly lists Episode X, Season X) ... so not quite sure what I'm doing wrong.

3) Is there any way to create custom views for the TV shows? For instance - would be nice to be able to separate out my kids TV shows from my TV shows.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Re #1 - Here is how I do it, I have three TV views that I use, one called "All Recordings" (existing with filtering changed), one called "Imported TV" (repurposed "Archived TV" with filters changed) and one called "Recorded Movies" (existing filters).

In "All Recordings" I only have recorded TV (no movies showing as then get lost in the listing of TV and I prefer them in their own view or in the movie views) showing and turn off the filtering in of any extra TV show sources like "imported", "Imported TV from Playon" (don't have queque in Canada), "Recorded Movies".

Here are the filter settings,

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12576&stc=1&d=1305124367

In "Imported TV" I only have the following set so that I only see my Archived/Imported TV, that I don't want all mixed in with my daily recordings.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12577&stc=1&d=1305124367

Re #2 - I think that based on your prior post you may be having issues with your storage method.

If you have archived stored like this,

C:\TV SHOWS\LOST\SEASON1\Pilot_S01E01.mkv

then BMT may be having a hard time figuring out what it is and as a result they are all treated like different shows in the main listing. BMT will have a hard time figuring out what to do with "Pilot_S01E01.mkv" as it doesn't read the folder structure for the show name that I am aware of. (unless I am missunderstanding your description...)

I store my archived shows like this,

C:\TV SHOWS\LOST\Lost_Pilot_S01E01.mkv
C:\TV SHOWS\LOST\Lost_Episode Name_S01E02.mkv
C:\TV SHOWS\LOST\Lost_Episode Name_S01E03.mkv
Etc...

I have never had a problem with BMT not getting the proper metadata and them being grouped in Sagetv with this method. I have more than one season in my "LOST" folder but the SXXEXX in the names makes sure that the right metadata is found for them.

Re #3 - Create a new TV view from the options menu slide out and call it "Kids" and then set the filtering to be the same as "All Recordings" but then add additional filtering by using the "Categories filtered in:" option at the bottom of the filtering options screen for the view. Select "Children" or whatever it is and make sure the option is to "include".

It will look like this after,

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=12578&stc=1&d=1305126246

Best of luck.

J

[moothekow]

Thanks for the detailed help Jorton, but in regards to #2 I don't understand how/why metadata would be the problem. I do actually have the correct metadata (I actually don't only use BMT for metadata... I used to use Windows Media Center/MediaBrowser in addition to SageTV -- I wrote my own windows service that actually scrubbed/created metadata which I stored in an SQL DB for MediaBrowser to use and generated .properties files for SageTV to use).

So - even though my files are:
Tv Shows\Lost\Season 01\Name-S01E02.mkv I have metadata with all the information for the shows.

I've attached a couple screenshots showing the information it has for Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2 -- as well as an example of how it separates them out into different groups for some reason.
12580
12583

12585
12586


Also - When you say 'Create a new TV view from the options menu slide' - can you elaborate a little further? I've been digging through all the menus I can find - and the only thing I've been able to find is ways to create new custom movie views.

[PLUCKYHD]

Thanks for the detailed help Jorton, but in regards to #2 I don't understand how/why metadata would be the problem. I do actually have the correct metadata (I actually don't only use BMT for metadata... I used to use Windows Media Center/MediaBrowser in addition to SageTV -- I wrote my own windows service that actually scrubbed/created metadata which I stored in an SQL DB for MediaBrowser to use and generated .properties files for SageTV to use).

So - even though my files are:
Tv Shows\Lost\Season 01\Name-S01E02.mkv I have metadata with all the information for the shows.

I've attached a couple screenshots showing the information it has for Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2 -- as well as an example of how it separates them out into different groups for some reason.
12580
12583

12585
12586


Also - When you say 'Create a new TV view from the options menu slide' - can you elaborate a little further? I've been digging through all the menus I can find - and the only thing I've been able to find is ways to create new custom movie views.

Right now BMT is the only option to get correct TV metdata into sageTV. MyMovies will be eventually once I get to it. Your metadata is not picked up by sage as it is not universal. So you must use BMT your metadata is your problem.

[PLUCKYHD]

Right now BMT is the only option to get correct TV metdata into sageTV. MyMovies will be eventually once I get to it. Your metadata is not picked up by sage as it is not universal. So you must use BMT your metadata is your problem.

I total missed you wrote your own properties files can I see one? You also might need to force a reindex if you did that after adding the folders to sagetv.

[Skybolt]

Reading through this thread I see an awe full lot of references to SageMC.

I for one would love to see a more simplistic approach to screens like SageMC did. For that reason I still use SageMC with sage 7.x.x. The colors do get a little boring though. I primarily use the HD300 for my clients.

-Skybolt

[moothekow]

I total missed you wrote your own properties files can I see one? You also might need to force a reindex if you did that after adding the folders to sagetv.

I don't actually have an example of the one for those Lost videos readily available at the moment - but here is an example of one for the show Mad Men:

Title=Mad Men - (03) 09 - Wee Small Hours
MediaTitle=Mad Men
Director=Scott Hornbacher;
Writer=Dahvi Waller;Matthew Weiner;
Description=There is trouble for Don and Sal in giving their clients what they ask for. Meanwhile, Betty hosts a fundraiser.
Rated=
UserRating=8
MediaType=TV
EpisodeNumber=9
EpisodeTitle=09 - Wee Small Hours
SeasonNumber=3
MediaProviderDataID=tvdb\:80337
ReleaseDate=2009-10-11

[PLUCKYHD]

I don't actually have an example of the one for those Lost videos readily available at the moment - but here is an example of one for the show Mad Men:

Title=Mad Men - (03) 09 - Wee Small Hours
MediaTitle=Mad Men
Director=Scott Hornbacher;
Writer=Dahvi Waller;Matthew Weiner;
Description=There is trouble for Don and Sal in giving their clients what they ask for. Meanwhile, Betty hosts a fundraiser.
Rated=
UserRating=8
MediaType=TV
EpisodeNumber=9
EpisodeTitle=09 - Wee Small Hours
SeasonNumber=3
MediaProviderDataID=tvdb\:80337
ReleaseDate=2009-10-11

Your title should just be "Mad Men" that is part of the issue. Also the episode title doesn;t need or shouldn't have the episode number in it.

[moothekow]

Your title should just be "Mad Men" that is part of the issue. Also the episode title doesn;t need or shouldn't have the episode number in it.

Note.d. I can easily change that.. Did that because SageMC didn't display fancy information for each file as i browsed through them - so needed that information in the title so I properly navigate things.

I'll let you know what happens when I change it.

[PLUCKYHD]

Note.d. I can easily change that.. Did that because SageMC didn't display fancy information for each file as i browsed through them - so needed that information in the title so I properly navigate things.

I'll let you know what happens when I change it.

Yeah that title is what diamond/sage are grouping by and why you have so many and they aren't gouped :)

ps if you want to share your tool other WMC converts I am sure would love it.

[jorton]

Also - When you say 'Create a new TV view from the options menu slide' - can you elaborate a little further? I've been digging through all the menus I can find - and the only thing I've been able to find is ways to create new custom movie views.

Here is a post that I did awhile back that explains it,

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=492260&postcount=2

J

[jusjoken]

Here is a post that I did awhile back that explains it,

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=492260&postcount=2

J

And I made an FAQ entry from JOrton's post as even though it is a default SageTV function it has been asked a few times...

FAQ for Custom TV views.... (http://code.google.com/p/sagediamond/wiki/DiamondFAQ?ts=1305148182&updated=DiamondFAQ#Q._Can_I_use_"Custom"_TV_views_in_Diamond?)

It is also mentioned breifly in the Wiki here... (http://code.google.com/p/sagediamond/wiki/DiamondInformation#Standard_Diamond_TV/Recordings_View)

k

[moothekow]

Yeah that title is what diamond/sage are grouping by and why you have so many and they aren't gouped :)

ps if you want to share your tool other WMC converts I am sure would love it.

Ok - so much closer now :-). Quick question - what is the difference between 'title' and 'mediatitle'? Should the 'MediaTitle' be the actual episode name Here is what I'm seeing now when i browse into a season. Note that all the entries just say 'Futurama' and then the SxEx. Also - it looks like I'm seeing each season listed on the main screen - is that intentional, a problem with my metadata.. or just a setting I haven't found yet?

12588

Here is an example of some metadata I am using for those futurama episodes.

Title=Futurama
MediaTitle=Futurama
Director=Mark Ervin;
Writer=Patric M. Verrone;
Description=Professor Farnsworth installs an empathy chip in Bender after the inconsiderate robot flushes Nibbler down the toilet. With his newfound emotions, a concerned Bender ventures into the mutant-infested sewers to rescue Leela's beloved pet.
Rated=
UserRating=7
MediaType=TV
EpisodeNumber=5
EpisodeTitle=I Second That Emotion
SeasonNumber=2
MediaProviderDataID=tvdb\:73871
ReleaseDate=1999-11-21

[PLUCKYHD]

Looks like you are missing the episodename= flag

Mediatitle is used by Phoenix to resolve the fanart folder. Ie mediatitle matches the fanart folder name.

[moothekow]

Looks like you are missing the episodename= flag

Mediatitle is used by Phoenix to resolve the fanart folder. Ie mediatitle matches the fanart folder name.

PluckyHD - you are fantastic. I really appreciate your help. What is the difference between 'EpisodeName' and 'EpisodeTitle'? Is there a document that explains the fields I can set in that properties file? I think I found one a long while ago when I originally wrote my metadata collection service - but I think it was pretty old even at the time I used it..

Also - so far as releasing my windows service.. I'd be happy to - not sure how useful it would be to the WMC crowd. MediaBrowser actually stored metadata by creating a bazillion files with random GUIDs as filenames.. I had actually changed the MediaBrowser plug-in to use an SQL database instead -- and that is what my service updated (well - in addition to also creating a bunch of .property files). I'll create a post a little later explaining what it is and what it can do (and how it works) and see if anyone around here has any interest though. (basically sits and monitors a pre-defined list of folders in real-time subscribing to the windows filesystem events for file created, renamed, and deleted).

[PLUCKYHD]

I would be interested in the windows service ;)

Come to think of it can't remember If it is episodename or episodetitle. Not at home and went of memory maybe someone else that uses bmt and has a prop file can chime in ;). Be sure in reindex to read the property files.

[jusjoken]

Is there a document that explains the fields I can set in that properties file? I think I found one a long while ago when I originally wrote my metadata collection service - but I think it was pretty old even at the time I used it..


I found 2 links to metadata listings that may be of help...

http://code.google.com/p/sagephoenix/source/browse/trunk/Phoenix/src/main/java/sagex/phoenix/metadata/FieldName.java

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=473023&postcount=1

k

[moothekow]

I found 2 links to metadata listings that may be of help...

http://code.google.com/p/sagephoenix/source/browse/trunk/Phoenix/src/main/java/sagex/phoenix/metadata/FieldName.java

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=473023&postcount=1

k

Great - thanks for sharing. You guys here in the forums are all outstanding - thanks.

Now - Given that information - still having problems. I set the EpisodeName and EpisodeTitle fields in the .properties file (since i didn't know which it was).. but still seeing the same results (and that was after doing a 'rescan imported media' in the advanced setup area.

Any thoughts?


Title=Futurama
MediaTitle=Futurama
Director=Mark Ervin;
Writer=Patric M. Verrone;
Description=Professor Farnsworth installs an empathy chip in Bender after the inconsiderate robot flushes Nibbler down the toilet. With his newfound emotions, a concerned Bender ventures into the mutant-infested sewers to rescue Leela's beloved pet.
Rated=
UserRating=7
MediaType=TV
EpisodeNumber=5
EpisodeTitle=I Second That Emotion
EpisodeName=I Second That Emotion
SeasonNumber=2
MediaProviderDataID=tvdb\:73871
ReleaseDate=1999-11-21


Also - you catch my question about showing all the seasons on the main screen as opposed to show... then season.. then episodes? Is that possible?

[PLUCKYHD]

You need to reindex not rescan. Stop sagetv service set the reindex property to true on the server then restart and rescan.

And as to your question no not sure why you would want that?

[jusjoken]

Also - you catch my question about showing all the seasons on the main screen as opposed to show... then season.. then episodes? Is that possible?

You can turn off the Season views in the diamond options and then it will list all the Series and the next screen will list all the episodes for all the seasons in one list... this is what I do. but mostly I watch episodes in order so I turn on the Diamond Play Options and on the Series screen I just press play and then play again and it plays the next episode that I haven't watched.

I agree with Plucky as to not understanding why you would want all the seasons on the Series list.... perhaps we are not understanding you :eek:

k

[moothekow]

You can turn off the Season views in the diamond options and then it will list all the Series and the next screen will list all the episodes for all the seasons in one list... this is what I do. but mostly I watch episodes in order so I turn on the Diamond Play Options and on the Series screen I just press play and then play again and it plays the next episode that I haven't watched.

I agree with Plucky as to not understanding why you would want all the seasons on the Series list.... perhaps we are not understanding you :eek:

k

I _dont_ want all the seasons in the series list. I want to select:
Season.. then be presented with a list of seasons available.. select a season.. then be presented with a list of episodes available.

It seemed that it was showing an entry for each individual season on the series list.. maybe I'm just still having trouble with the metadata right now though. I realized that it came across as the reverse of what I wanted in my last post.. think it was more clear in my original post :-).

So far as the rescanning -- I thought that was the whole point of the rescan thing? I thought that re-read all the metadata? Under Setup->Detailed Setup->Advanced->Rescan Existing Library Files. The info text along the bottom says 'Redetects File Format and Metadata Information For Imported Files.".

What does the reindex do that this doesn't?

[PLUCKYHD]

I _dont_ want all the seasons in the series list. I want to select:
Season.. then be presented with a list of seasons available.. select a season.. then be presented with a list of episodes available.

It seemed that it was showing an entry for each individual season on the series list.. maybe I'm just still having trouble with the metadata right now though. I realized that it came across as the reverse of what I wanted in my last post.. think it was more clear in my original post :-).

So far as the rescanning -- I thought that was the whole point of the rescan thing? I thought that re-read all the metadata? Under Setup->Detailed Setup->Advanced->Rescan Existing Library Files. The info text along the bottom says 'Redetects File Format and Metadata Information For Imported Files.".

What does the reindex do that this doesn't?
Reindex forces it to reread your properties files those are only reread on initial add,when a file changes or when reindex is set to true. Just rescaning will not reread the properties files.

[PLUCKYHD]

I _dont_ want all the seasons in the series list. I want to select:
Season.. then be presented with a list of seasons available.. select a season.. then be presented with a list of episodes available.


No you can have show--seasons of that show---episodes of that season

Or what jusjoken said.

[moothekow]

Ok - one last question for the night (sorry that I'm probably posting in the wrong place for this.. people are actually reading this though :-)). Using an HD300 extender with the diamond plugin -- and for no apparently reason I suddenly can't open any of the items on the main menu (tv, videos, setup, etc) without the entire interface just freezing. I can hit the power button and the unit will turn off - but nothing else seems to get a response. I can hit the options button and it will pop up the options menu - but anything else I do seems to freeze up the UI. I hav eno idea what I did/changed... I watched an episode of recorded tv.. (Well.. two :-)).. deleted them.. returned to the main menu.. went to setup->plugins to go look for new plugins to try... and it locked up as soon as I selected the option to view available plugins... (didn't even get a chance to select anything.. screen listing plugins never mad eit up.. looked like it locked up with it _just_ starting to fade in)...

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions? It isn't waiting/showing the progress spinner... UI just flat out locks up.

[PLUCKYHD]

Ok - one last question for the night (sorry that I'm probably posting in the wrong place for this.. people are actually reading this though :-)). Using an HD300 extender with the diamond plugin -- and for no apparently reason I suddenly can't open any of the items on the main menu (tv, videos, setup, etc) without the entire interface just freezing. I can hit the power button and the unit will turn off - but nothing else seems to get a response. I can hit the options button and it will pop up the options menu - but anything else I do seems to freeze up the UI. I hav eno idea what I did/changed... I watched an episode of recorded tv.. (Well.. two :-)).. deleted them.. returned to the main menu.. went to setup->plugins to go look for new plugins to try... and it locked up as soon as I selected the option to view available plugins... (didn't even get a chance to select anything.. screen listing plugins never mad eit up.. looked like it locked up with it _just_ starting to fade in)...

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions? It isn't waiting/showing the progress spinner... UI just flat out locks up.

If it were me I would delete the props file for the extender under the clients folder and start from scratch.

[jorton]

Ok - one last question for the night (sorry that I'm probably posting in the wrong place for this.. people are actually reading this though :-)). Using an HD300 extender with the diamond plugin -- and for no apparently reason I suddenly can't open any of the items on the main menu (tv, videos, setup, etc) without the entire interface just freezing. I can hit the power button and the unit will turn off - but nothing else seems to get a response. I can hit the options button and it will pop up the options menu - but anything else I do seems to freeze up the UI. I hav eno idea what I did/changed... I watched an episode of recorded tv.. (Well.. two :-)).. deleted them.. returned to the main menu.. went to setup->plugins to go look for new plugins to try... and it locked up as soon as I selected the option to view available plugins... (didn't even get a chance to select anything.. screen listing plugins never mad eit up.. looked like it locked up with it _just_ starting to fade in)...

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions? It isn't waiting/showing the progress spinner... UI just flat out locks up.

Are you using the latest beta firmware for the HD300?

If not at the firmware update page type "beta" on the remote keypad and install the latest.

And what Plucky says ;)

Jeremy

[bbwebb]

Is it possible to put Intelligent Recordings into a separate folder so that they are not mixed in with the stuff I know I want to watch?

[jorton]

Is it possible to put Intelligent Recordings into a separate folder so that they are not mixed in with the stuff I know I want to watch?

You may be able to create a TV view that filters out the manual and favorite recordings and only leaves the "intelligent" ones, then create another view for only the manual/favorite recordings you know you want to watch... You would need to use the opposite filters on each view.

I'm pretty sure that you can't specify the folder/drive of any recording. Kind of goes against the drive space and performance settings that sage uses to decide where to record on your recording drives.

Good luck.

J

[moothekow]

Ok - sorry for going all off-topic again still -- PluckyHD -- since you're mainly responding do you want me to just PM you from now on?

I am getting closer to tracking down my problem. I found out why it was showing separate 'seasons' on the main 'Series' screen --- the 'Title' field of the files were still incorrect. It was using the import path (like 'Tv Shows\Burn Notice\Season 04' instead of the title in my properties file 'Burn Notice'). So - since each season was in it's own folder - it had a unique title and ended up in it's own group.

I figured this out by installing the 'CMT' plug-in and actually editing the metadata for some of my files. I'm pretty baffled by the results at the moment. Two things in particular aren't making any sense to me:

1) It is using the file's import path instead of the 'Title' i specify in the .properties file for the Title.

2) It is using the series name (which I am storing in the 'Title' or 'MediaTitle') for the 'Episode' field in CMT (which appears to be the 'EpisodeName' when I have CMT generate a properties file).

I'm attaching two separate files. One is an example of a .properties file generated by CMT after I manually edited the metadata in SageTV (with CMT) to make the title and episode names correct. The other is an example of the output from metadata service (which I updated to match the CMT output). I edited the Sage.Properties file and set the force_rebuild_full_index=true (or whatever the property is).. also edited the Sage_clients.properties file and set the same field in there to true (just in case?). stopped/restarted the service... saw the little 'refreshing imported data' icon in the top of the screen... and it did actually run because it ended up overwriting the changes I had manually made to the file with CMT.. Still ended up with the same weird results I described above. Any thoughts? Is the sageTV .properties file import just somehow broken?

FYI - renamed the files to '.txt' because the attachment manager for the forum didn't seem to like the .properties file extension.
12591
12592

[PLUCKYHD]

You are supppose to stop the service before editing the properties files. From reading it looks like you stopped and restarted after editing?

[moothekow]

Sorry. I stopped the service, then edited the files and verified that the flag=true was set, then started the service.

[PLUCKYHD]

Yup that should have forced it to reread the properties files....There really isn't any other method short of bmt.

[moothekow]

Yup that should have forced it to reread the properties files....There really isn't any other method short of bmt.

Alright.. bizzaro.. I just don't get it. On a tangent for a new solution to my issue -- any idea if it is at all possible to programmaticly modify the wiz.bin file directly through C++/C#? Saw that most everything was done in java .. unfortunately that is a language I have approximately zero experience with :-). Wasn't sure if there was a good way to wrap the java calls or something... I've done virtually no digging into what is involved with doing dev work on SaveTV so far... but figured I'd ask in case there was something obvious out there I wasn't aware of.

[PLUCKYHD]

Alright.. bizzaro.. I just don't get it. On a tangent for a new solution to my issue -- any idea if it is at all possible to programmaticly modify the wiz.bin file directly through C++/C#? Saw that most everything was done in java .. unfortunately that is a language I have approximately zero experience with :-). Wasn't sure if there was a good way to wrap the java calls or something... I've done virtually no digging into what is involved with doing dev work on SaveTV so far... but figured I'd ask in case there was something obvious out there I wasn't aware of.

That method should be working if not I would bug it with sage and send some logs and see if they have any advice.

Editing the db directly is not possible. You can do it with the sage api and java.

[moothekow]

That method should be working if not I would bug it with sage and send some logs and see if they have any advice.

Editing the db directly is not possible. You can do it with the sage api and java.

Figured as much. Now to do some googling to see if there is any reasonable way to access the java API from a C# app....

[ghost5]

That's a bit undoable...You don't ever wNt to hide an option that you admit you adjust....sorry it seems cluttered we could put it under another menu but then that is another menu to drill down too.

Sorry I was hoping you could move them to somewhere in the Setup -> Detailed Setup menu

I like trying to keep only basic options in the options menu when playing a video.

Cheers

[PLUCKYHD]

Sorry I was hoping you could move them to somewhere in the Setup -> Detailed Setup menu

I like trying to keep only basic options in the options menu when playing a video.

Cheers

we are going to have a universal settings screen but not remove it from there as most like the options where they take place ;)

[Fuzzy]

That method should be working if not I would bug it with sage and send some logs and see if they have any advice.

Editing the db directly is not possible. You can do it with the sage api and java.

You can use the sagex API (http://code.google.com/p/customsagetv/wiki/SageTVapi) via HTTP calls from any language you want.

[moothekow]

You can use the sagex API (http://code.google.com/p/customsagetv/wiki/SageTVapi) via HTTP calls from any language you want.

Cool. Working on trying to figure out how this works. Got everything set up... am able to RETRIEVE metadata information using a command like:

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=GetMediaFileForFilePath&1=C:\Users\MartyG\Videos\Better%20Off%20Ted\Season%2001\Better.Off.Ted.S01E03.mp4

Now - I can't figure out how to SET media file information.. I can't seem to figure out what to pass in for the first parameter. If I put in a filename - it gave an error parsing an Int.. so I tried something like:

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=SetMediaFileMetadata&1=274&2=ShowTitle&3=TestVal
Also tried:
http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=SetMediaFileMetadata&1=mediafile:274&2=ShowTitle&3=TestVal

Where I got the 274 from the '<MediaFileID>274</MediaFileID>' field in the GetMediaFileForFilePath function.
And it didn't return any errors but nothing updates.

I also ended up trying:

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=SetMediaFileMetadata%28GetMediaFileForFilePath%28%22C:\Users\MartyG\Videos\Better%20Off%20Ted\Season%2001\Better.Off.Ted.S01E03.mp4%22%29,%22ShowTitle,%22TestValue%22%29

... unescaped:
c=EvaluateExpression&1=SetMediaFileMetadata(GetMediaFileForFilePath("C:\Users\MartyG\Videos\Better Off Ted\Season 01\Better.Off.Ted.S01E03.mp4"),"ShowTitle,"TestValue")

That also returned no errors (or anything) -- but also didn't seem to update the ShowTitle. Anyone have any suggestions?

[PLUCKYHD]

Cool. Working on trying to figure out how this works. Got everything set up... am able to RETRIEVE metadata information using a command like:

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=GetMediaFileForFilePath&1=C:\Users\MartyG\Videos\Better%20Off%20Ted\Season%2001\Better.Off.Ted.S01E03.mp4

Now - I can't figure out how to SET media file information.. I can't seem to figure out what to pass in for the first parameter. If I put in a filename - it gave an error parsing an Int.. so I tried something like:

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=SetMediaFileMetadata&1=274&2=ShowTitle&3=TestVal

Where I got the 274 from the '<MediaFileID>274</MediaFileID>' field in the GetMediaFileForFilePath function.
And it didn't return any errors but nothing updates.

I also ended up trying:

http://localhost:8080/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=SetMediaFileMetadata%28GetMediaFileForFilePath%28%22C:\Users\MartyG\Videos\Better%20Off%20Ted\Season%2001\Better.Off.Ted.S01E03.mp4%22%29,%22ShowTitle,%22TestValue%22%29

... unescaped:
c=EvaluateExpression&1=SetMediaFileMetadata(GetMediaFileForFilePath("C:\Users\MartyG\Videos\Better Off Ted\Season 01\Better.Off.Ted.S01E03.mp4"),"ShowTitle,"TestValue")

That also returned no errors (or anything) -- but also didn't seem to update the ShowTitle. Anyone have any suggestions?

The sagex thread would be the better place for this question ;) I use sagex api all the time but through a IDE and not the html so sorry can't help much there.

[moothekow]

The sagex thread would be the better place for this question ;) I use sagex api all the time but through a IDE and not the html so sorry can't help much there.

Noted.. thanks.. and was about to edit an update that I think I'm making progress... think I might have been using the incorrect property names in some places.

[JREkiwi]

1) It is using the file's import path instead of the 'Title' i specify in the .properties file for the Title.

2) It is using the series name (which I am storing in the 'Title' or 'MediaTitle') for the 'Episode' field in CMT (which appears to be the 'EpisodeName' when I have CMT generate a properties file).This is normal for reading properties files for imported media. It's supposed to change to be the same as for recorded videos in the next SageTV beta.

John

[mguebert]

I would love to see parental controls like SMM uses. With the ability to hide movies that a above a given rating level.

[jusjoken]

I tried to summarize all the feedback from this thread so far....


Guide Favorites, favorite Chanels (+2)
Touchscreen friendly
Radio Streaming
Consistency between TV and Movies views (+1)
Folders style Diamond view with folders integrated and not just listed first (+2)
Music Interface (+9)
Rate movies (star type personal or IMDB style) (+1)
Complete integration and styling from SMM (+1)
Jump to command from remote to favorite TV shows
ABC Jump bar added to TV views
YEAR Jump bar for when views are sorted by date
TV Wall View
Integrated Netflix/Hulu interface
Dynamic pictures for menus (+2)
Sports score page like on MCE
Diamond profiles/settings manager across all/any clients for all settings (+5)
Custom currently on / upcoming Sports guidelist
Dynamic Menus with ability to assign custom views to homepage (+3)
Parental Controls (+1)
Home Videos View
More Eye Candy
Toggle between recordings and scheduled content (like TVExplorer)
Quick links icon bar like in TVExplorer
More diamond like flare in other than TV/Movies views
Online Services menu ala Diamond style (+1)
Simplified delete menu options (+3)
Movie sort by running time
Lighter weight theme for HD100
More visible "slider/scroll bar" in the recorded TV view
Full screen details where you can launch/play the show and other functions
Widgets that list shows should allow click to play (+1)
Upcomming recordings widget - allow click to goto default Recordings schedule (+1)
Launch external programs
Hide the OSD options (reduce menu clutter)
More simplistic approach to screens like SageMC


Already available in another plugin that works with Diamond items...

Mini guide
TV - upcomming movies
MyTV compatible with Diamond (+2)


Out of Scope items...

Podcast handling
Web Browser


k

[cat6man]

hi,

i played around with diamond for a few days.
some things i had trouble with:
1. in tv recordings, single recordings of a show have a group structure that asked me to browse further when there was only one show and the default UI go directly to asking me to play.
2. i thought the large font was not attractive (compared with default UI which has slimmer/nicer looking display on main menu)
3. i couldn't switch between UI at all, as stuff from diamond hung around when i tried to switch back to default UI. i had to uninstall to get back to default UI.

cheers

[hdmkv]

+1 for Home Videos View

[PLUCKYHD]

hi,

1. in tv recordings, single recordings of a show have a group structure that asked me to browse further when there was only one show and the default UI go directly to asking me to play.

This was by many request we did this feature. You can simply hit play directly from the main shows screen to play it using the diamond play options (I recommend this even for grouped shows), but we won't be changing the fact it is grouped.


2. i thought the large font was not attractive (compared with default UI which has slimmer/nicer looking display on main menu)

This is changing either anytime soon. MKnat made a stvi for diamond that changes the font check that out if you want. However we don't support that plugin that is up to him.


3. i couldn't switch between UI at all, as stuff from diamond hung around when i tried to switch back to default UI. i had to uninstall to get back to default UI.
You can disable but there is not ondemand switching....

[tonysathre]

I think it would be nice to have more info on the info screens. Would also be cool if we could choose what info is being displayed. I like seeing star ratings, plot, run time, year, etc. Would be a very handy addition. I love Diamond, but sometimes I miss AMIS. I also really liked the tabbed info screen in SMM.

Also, I don't know if this a bug or feature, but when viewing a movie and selecting the option to show other titles that also have a specific actor, it will only show that movie because it's searching for the actors real name, and the person in the movie that they are playing. I believe it's probably just supposed to search by the actors actual name.

[PLUCKYHD]

Also, I don't know if this a bug or feature, but when viewing a movie and selecting the option to show other titles that also have a specific actor, it will only show that movie because it's searching for the actors real name, and the person in the movie that they are playing. I believe it's probably just supposed to search by the actors actual name.

That is the defalt we don't and won't modify the search so don't know honestly what is is suppose to do.

[graywolf]

Suggestions which caught my eye would be (in order of preference):

* Dynamic Menus with ability to assign custom views to homepage

* Launch external programs (and tie it in with the Dynamic Menus so they can be placed where wanted)

* Diamond profiles/settings manager across all/any clients for all settings (would this also end up having ALL Diamond option settings in 1 location? if so, then this would be tied for #1 instead of #3)

* Guide Favorites, favorite Chanels

* Integrated Netflix/Hulu interface (thought this was out of scope - or are you referring to integrated PlayOn? in which case this drops off my list)

[PLUCKYHD]

* Integrated Netflix/Hulu interface (thought this was out of scope - or are you referring to integrated PlayOn? in which case this drops off my list)

Yeah that is out of the scope. We already integrate with playon content.

[tonysathre]

Have you thought about porting the tabbed info screen from SMM to Diamond?

[cat6man]

Suggestions which caught my eye would be (in order of preference):

* Dynamic Menus with ability to assign custom views to homepage



i'd like this for main and submenus............i want to only show the submenu items i care about............2nd choice would be ability to at least order them

cheers

[carlgar]

I have read very little of the 14 pages of posts so this may have already been mentioned but I doubt it. I suspect they is verly little chance of seeing it anytime soom but you need to start thinking about what it would take to implement. I would like to see some support for people with vision impairment. Sage is currenly useless in this area because programs like the windows Narrator will only read text and not graphics. When I first started thinking about this issue I thought a text based UI was needed. I now realize that is backward thinking. I would like to hear speech from the UI. When I view the list of recordings, I want to hear the name of the show. I do not want to walk closer to the TV to read the screen. I believe the addition of speech would require new hooks in the extenders. I don't expect new week but I do expect it in the next 6 months :-) I know of at one blind person who has been waiting for 5 years to be able to try Sage. They spent 1 year trying to get a special version of Java to work that they thought would be able to read the Sage menus. If I had seen their early posts, I could have let them know it probably would not have worked and it did not.

[jusjoken]

I have read very little of the 14 pages of posts so this may have already been mentioned but I doubt it. I suspect they is verly little chance of seeing it anytime soom but you need to start thinking about what it would take to implement. I would like to see some support for people with vision impairment. Sage is currenly useless in this area because programs like the windows Narrator will only read text and not graphics. When I first started thinking about this issue I thought a text based UI was needed. I now realize that is backward thinking. I would like to hear speech from the UI. When I view the list of recordings, I want to hear the name of the show. I do not want to walk closer to the TV to read the screen. I believe the addition of speech would require new hooks in the extenders. I don't expect new week but I do expect it in the next 6 months :-) I know of at one blind person who has been waiting for 5 years to be able to try Sage. They spent 1 year trying to get a special version of Java to work that they thought would be able to read the Sage menus. If I had seen their early posts, I could have let them know it probably would not have worked and it did not.

I think the idea is intriguing but the audience is likely very small and the work to make it happen may be large... not sure. It might be cool to play with but I think the value would likely be in a SageTV plugin rather than an addition to Diamond specifically. But you would need to understand the approaches taken for these types of impairments as the likely answer is a combination of a change to the visual and audio approach. It would also take a commitment from one or more testers to provide feedback and guidance... overall a rather large task I think.... but interesting none the less.

In my opinion it's outside of what we would want to tackle within the Diamond Team. If users have suggestions for visual tweaks that may assist in reading the screen better feel free to make suggestions and we can look at what it would take to implement.

k

[wayner]

Does consistency between Movie and TV views include having a "Wall View" for TV? I would love to be able to have this to help my kids to find their shows - my eldest daughter is disabled and can't talk very well so she is more likely to point to things. The Banner view goes partly in this direction but displaying three rows of Banners, or Posters like on the MovieWall view would be ideal.

[mkanet]

Picture enhancement suggestions (sorry if they may have been requested before):

1. Zoom/Unzoom (lossless preferably) by using pageup/pagedown or channel up channel down in picture mode. [edit: moving left/right/up/down on a zoomed picture would be amazing!)

2. Add password protection for picture folders.

[Bagal]

Picture enhancement suggestions (sorry if they may have been requested before):

1. Zoom/Unzoom (lossless preferably) by using pageup/pagedown or channel up channel down in picture mode. [edit: moving left/right/up/down on a zoomed picture would be amazing!)

2. Add password protection for picture folders.
I like those suggestions, additionally I would personally find it useful to display some photo metadata when the screensaver is active, such as the date the photo was taken etc. (just displaying the folder path would be useful for me due to how I have my photos organised).

We quite often have the photo screensaver going and wonder when and where something was taken, I can bring up the info dialog but then that pauses the screensaver...

[PLUCKYHD]

Picture enhancement suggestions (sorry if they may have been requested before):

1. Zoom/Unzoom (lossless preferably) by using pageup/pagedown or channel up channel down in picture mode. [edit: moving left/right/up/down on a zoomed picture would be amazing!)

2. Add password protection for picture folders.

I like those suggestions, additionally I would personally find it useful to display some photo metadata when the screensaver is active, such as the date the photo was taken etc. (just displaying the folder path would be useful for me due to how I have my photos organised).

We quite often have the photo screensaver going and wonder when and where something was taken, I can bring up the info dialog but then that pauses the screensaver...

Good suggestions but FYI right now we don't modify the pictures or music section from the default and I don't see us doing that anytime soon. Our focus is vidoes and tv mostly.

[Bagal]

Good suggestions but FYI right now we don't modify the pictures or music section from the default and I don't see us doing that anytime soon. Our focus is vidoes and tv mostly.
Fair enough, never hurts to ask though, especially with you guys spoiling us with those tv and video mods already ;)

[mkanet]

Yeah, honestly, thats why I hesitated before posting. There is only so much you guys can focus on. Maybe once you guys get TV/Video to the point where you guys feel its very polished with only minor enhancements, diamond can move onto Pictures/Music. Everyone has been waiting for phoenix/BMT music fanart support; which would really help the Music area (and also music videos). Keep up the great work! You guys seem to have gotton diamond so good that I've ran out of things to suggest (and you know how picky/critical I am!!).

Good suggestions but FYI right now we don't modify the pictures or music section from the default and I don't see us doing that anytime soon. Our focus is vidoes and tv mostly.

[panteragstk]

The reason threads like this exist is because the devs want opinions on what to do next. I started a similar one for my music ui mod for the simple fact that I have no clue what everyone would want from such a mod. I know what I want, but if I'm going to put this much time and effort into something I might as well have many people benefit from it as possible.

Oh, and BTW Ortus supports music fanart. ;)

[PLUCKYHD]

Oh, and BTW Ortus supports music fanart. ;)

I get a kick out of post like this about ortus and phoenix and people suggesting using them when they aren't released yet. They will both be great alternatives I am sure of it but funny people recommend it or say things about it when it isn't released.

[wayner]

That may be true for Ortus but Phoenix has been in beta for a little while now - it may be private but it is out there.

[PLUCKYHD]

That may be true for Ortus but Phoenix has been in beta for a little while now - it may be private but it is out there.

Private being the key word and I know it is out there but as I said above RELEASED :)

[mkanet]

Not only they aren't released; but I personally prefer the idea of having a stock SageTV STV foundation; benefiting from new sageTV 7 STV features as they are released; instead of hoping for a proprietary equivalent. Also, proprietary plugins need to be developed for the respective proprietary STV; unless somehow, the STV is can accommodate standard SageTV 7 plugins. (I'm presuming Ortus is an STV replacement like sageMC). Also, I'm not a big fan of running external databases/apps unless I REALLY can't do without them (for use in plugins for sageTV). I would rather wait for the most popular/widely used fanart system; and respective management (BMT/phoenix) to provide music support; mainly because it works so well for TV/Movies already.

I get a kick out of post like this about ortus and phoenix and people suggesting using them when they aren't released yet. They will both be great alternatives I am sure of it but funny people recommend it or say things about it when it isn't released.

[PLUCKYHD]

Not only they aren't released; but I personally prefer the idea of having a stock SageTV STV foundation; benefiting from new sageTV 7 STV features as they are released; instead of hoping for a proprietary equivalent. Also, proprietary plugins need to be developed for the respective proprietary STV; unless somehow, the STV is can accommodate standard SageTV 7 plugins. (I'm presuming Ortus is an STV replacement like sageMC). Also, I'm not a big fan of running external databases/apps unless I REALLY can't do without them (for use in plugins for sageTV). I would rather wait for the most popular/widely used fanart system; and respective management (BMT/phoenix) to provide music support; mainly because it works so well for TV/Movies already.

Agreed STV's can create segregation but also give the developers like Phoenix more control over things it is a catch 22.

Ortus is a stvi I believe for what it is worth.

[wayner]

Not only they aren't released; but I personally prefer the idea of having a stock SageTV STV foundation; benefiting from new sageTV 7 STV features as they are released; instead of hoping for a proprietary equivalent.Agreed, although with Sage6 (and earlier I assume SageMC was the UI that I used and it seemed to get most of the enhancements first and seemed to be the default.

I do worry about the splintering of the development which leads to sub-optimal results for the end user. If Ortus has a wonderful music UI but doesn't have all of the features of the stock UI, Diamond or Phoenix then you have to make trade-offs.

I am no Linux expert but it seems like the divide betwen Gnome and KDE which caused me problems when I tried to use Linux.

[panteragstk]

I get a kick out of post like this about ortus and phoenix and people suggesting using them when they aren't released yet. They will both be great alternatives I am sure of it but funny people recommend it or say things about it when it isn't released.

True enough. It was more to let people know that it does support music fanart.

Agreed STV's can create segregation but also give the developers like Phoenix more control over things it is a catch 22.

Ortus is a stvi I believe for what it is worth.

Also true.

I do worry about the splintering of the development which leads to sub-optimal results for the end user. If Ortus has a wonderful music UI but doesn't have all of the features of the stock UI, Diamond or Phoenix then you have to make trade-offs.

I think that phoenix will show the music fanart, but won't get it automatically, but ortus (as of right now) doesn't have a replacement ui for music. If phoenix doesn't have one I think I might be the only person working on one.

[wayner]

SageMC used to show music fanart and I am pretty sure that there is a file here in the downloads section that contains a lot of music fanart - not just album covers but also pictures of artists, bands, etc.

[clayfree]

What about a homescreen widget for recently added media. It would look just like recent recordings but would display Movies/Media.

Wrems just wrote some code for BMT:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55589

[Dingdul]

...is the only function I'd suggest is missing, well, at least to satisfy the often unpredicatable nature of my TV library.

Are there any plans to introduce this?

Cheers

[QueOnda]

Good suggestions but FYI right now we don't modify the pictures or music section from the default and I don't see us doing that anytime soon. Our focus is vidoes and tv mostly.

My movies! I know you have said it's on hold but don't know if that has changed?

[ldl72]

I don't know if this is currently possible, but I have been wishing to see the Combined Folders View viewable in Diamond Video section. I am currently using the default SageTV v7 Folder view.

[PLUCKYHD]

I don't know if this is currently possible, but I have been wishing to see the Combined Folders View viewable in Diamond Video section. I am currently using the default SageTV v7 Folder view.

Most are using the folder filters in diamond to setup views for their folders. That is how I do it ;)

[clayfree]

Would it be possible to add an option to group recorded movies together. SageMC had that function and I got hooked on it. Maybe it's already possible and I'm just missing it.

Thanks!

[SWKerr]

My recorded Movies all show up in the "Movie" group under Category Flow. I would like the option to ignore the "Movie" genre and just use the next available Genre. This is mostly necessary since I can't seem to make anything but "Movie" the Genre option in BMT if it is a Recorded Movie.

[PLUCKYHD]

Would it be possible to add an option to group recorded movies together. SageMC had that function and I got hooked on it. Maybe it's already possible and I'm just missing it.

Thanks!

Yup just setup tv views ;) There is use one to filter movies out and another to filter them in. Or include them in a videos/movies view if you want them out of tv ;)

My recorded Movies all show up in the "Movie" group under Category Flow. I would like the option to ignore the "Movie" genre and just use the next available Genre. This is mostly necessary since I can't seem to make anything but "Movie" the Genre option in BMT if it is a Recorded Movie.

My bad on that meant to fix that but forgot can you log it for me so we can make sure we fix it in the next build.

[ldl72]

Most are using the folder filters in diamond to setup views for their folders. That is how I do it ;)

Is it possible to setup multi-level folder structures?

How do you setup movie collections?
Ex. Videos
-----Harry Potter
---------H1
---------H2
---------H3
---------etc.

[Tomahawk51]

Yup just setup tv views ;) There is use one to filter movies out and another to filter them in. Or include them in a videos/movies view if you want them out of tv ;)

This makes me wonder if there is a case for something slightly different than having a "main level" recordings list to show movies. What about incorporating a "sub-folder" in the recordings list? For some, this might work better as the navigation isn't super great to go from one list to another. Something like this:

(folder) All Recorded Movies
--HBO Movie 1
--Starz Movie 1
--SyFy Movie 1 (probably Mansquito)
(folder) Fraggle Rock
--s1e1
--s1e2
--...
(folder) The Real House Wives of Pompeii
--s1e1
--...

Just thinking out loud...might well be over-engineering...

[PLUCKYHD]

This makes me wonder if there is a case for something slightly different than having a "main level" recordings list to show movies. What about incorporating a "sub-folder" in the recordings list? For some, this might work better as the navigation isn't super great to go from one list to another. Something like this:

(folder) All Recorded Movies
--HBO Movie 1
--Starz Movie 1
--SyFy Movie 1 (probably Mansquito)
(folder) Fraggle Rock
--s1e1
--s1e2
--...
(folder) The Real House Wives of Pompeii
--s1e1
--...

Just thinking out loud...might well be over-engineering...

Yeah don't see the pupose in that much...

[Tomahawk51]

What about this (and forgive me if it's been discussed):

Right now, all shows show up in folders. This makes sense when there is >1 show. What about when there is 1 and only 1 show? Is there any UI improvement to show more detail or treat it differently? I do look at the show count as "1" in the label and just feel like it might not be the best way to go.

I'm not exactly sure what to suggest to show...maybe more details (but that could = clutter).

I personally just click Play on the folder level, so this may be another poor idea. This will be my last poor idea posting for the day at least...

[PLUCKYHD]

What about this (and forgive me if it's been discussed):

Right now, all shows show up in folders. This makes sense when there is >1 show. What about when there is 1 and only 1 show? Is there any UI improvement to show more detail or treat it differently? I do look at the show count as "1" in the label and just feel like it might not be the best way to go.

I'm not exactly sure what to suggest to show...maybe more details (but that could = clutter).

I personally just click Play on the folder level, so this may be another poor idea. This will be my last poor idea posting for the day at least...

Already been discussed ;) It use to be this way but everyone complained and wanted consistency (ie singles being grouoped as well) so that is probably how it will stay for now.

[Brent94Z]

I've got a suggestion! :D

I use the Diamond Info view. I think this gives it nice polished look. However, maybe about 30% or so of my recordings are not the more common type recordings so in the filmstrip area on the right, instead of getting the small portrait style banner, it is totally blank. With the Diamond Info view not enabled, for these shows, I do get a thumbnail of the recording. What I'm wondering is if it would be possible for you guys to do a check to see that IF no portrait style banner exists to change the layout slightly and use the landscape style thumb instead? This would make it so 70% of my recordings showed the nice pre-made portrait banner and 30% would have the "non Info View" thumbnail instead. This might be a bit tricky because the preferred one would be portrait and the secondary one would be landscape but figured I'd throw it out there.

I like the Diamond Info View enough that the blank filmstrips don't bother me hugely but do think it would be cool to always have a "picture" here :D

Thanks!

[wado1971]

I have a suggestion on the widget feature. I like this feature alot but don't want it always showing on the main menu. Can you add an option called 'hidden' under the "Show Widgets" option which would typically keep the widgets 'off' but allow the menu to slide into view with a left arrow key from the main menu. The menu could then be on a timer which slides it back out of the way or simply keeps it up until a menu refresh.

Keep up the great work!
rob

edit: To give you a better idea of what I mean, take a look at an old "flyout" stvi I did in v6. I always thought the left arrow key was a bit underutilized on the main menu.

[PLUCKYHD]

I have a suggestion on the widget feature. I like this feature alot but don't want it always showing on the main menu. Can you add an option called 'hidden' under the "Show Widgets" option which would typically keep the widgets 'off' but allow the menu to slide into view with a left arrow key from the main menu. The menu could then be on a timer which slides it back out of the way or simply keeps it up until a menu refresh.

Keep up the great work!
rob

edit: To give you a better idea of what I mean, take a look at an old "flyout" stvi I did in v6. I always thought the left arrow key was a bit underutilized on the main menu.

Good idea except the left arrow key is also used for back on the main menu and it would kill that function. I actually use that allot from the main menu myself not sure about others

[ghost5]

I have been trying the "Always Show SubMenus" plugin by Fuzzy but it doesn't seem to work too well with Diamond. The TV menu shows no options, all others work fine. Would it be possible for you to include something similar to this as an option?

Cheers

[mkanet]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I would love to see TV Recordings group settings for the below items (compatible with other sorting views such as Intelligent and Category. For example, when I have my grouping settings set by "title", I still see TV shows such as Jay Leno, David Letterman, Hawaii Five-0, same name TV shows (imported videos TV shows) listed under two separate groups; even though grouping is set as "title". I'm guessing some shows have names which are slightly different (confusing diamond); but they are definitely the same shows (using the same fanart banner). Movies grouping would be an exception:

Force grouping of shows using the same banner in ONE GROUP and a movies group.:

Movies
Shows with same title
Timed Recordings


Sorry if I didnt explain this that well, but I'm sure bottom line, people know what I'm talking about (having 2 banners/groups for the same show and TV shows/Timed recordings in separate groups).

[Tomahawk51]

I have been trying the "Always Show SubMenus" plugin by Fuzzy but it doesn't seem to work too well with Diamond. The TV menu shows no options, all others work fine. Would it be possible for you to include something similar to this as an option?

Cheers

+1

[PLUCKYHD]

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I would love to see TV Recordings group settings for the below items (compatible with other sorting views such as Intelligent and Category. For example, when I have my grouping settings set by "title", I still see TV shows such as Jay Leno, David Letterman, Hawaii Five-0, same name TV shows (imported videos TV shows) listed under two separate groups; even though grouping is set as "title". I'm guessing some shows have names which are slightly different (confusing diamond); but they are definitely the same shows (using the same fanart banner). Movies grouping would be an exception:

Force grouping of shows using the same banner in ONE GROUP and a movies group.:

Movies
Shows with same title
Timed Recordings


Sorry if I didnt explain this that well, but I'm sure bottom line, people know what I'm talking about (having 2 banners/groups for the same show and TV shows/Timed recordings in separate groups).

That's a metadata issue not ours. We are not going to group by fanart storage that would be a huge mess. All my imported and recorded group together properly once the metadata was correct in bmt.

[wayner]

From my experience it seems like this is a SageTV grouping issue rather than a Diamond issue. One of the problems seems to be that SageTV is case sensitive when it comes to grouping.

I record a Children's show named Ni Hao, Kai-Lan - it shows up twice in my recorded TV, once as "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan" and once as "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" and this is due to inconsistent naming in the EPG.

[mkanet]

Thanks for explaining. I guess eventually metadata issues which cause the same TV shows to be grouped under different groups will be addressed; since they affect very popular primetime TV shows. It looks like some recordings dont get Season/Episode metadata; hence, get put into a different TV recordings group with the same name/fanart banner.

BTW: I also mentioned another grouping feature enhancement request which doesnt look like it's related to metadata. It's probably more important to me than the above mentioned-issue:

to have a "Movies" group under TV recordings. That would really make TV recordings much more organized/neater IMO; even when sorting TV show by date (sageMC used to have this as an option). Having a "Manual Timed Recordings" group would be nice as well.

Thanks for your consideration.

That's a metadata issue not ours. We are not going to group by fanart storage that would be a huge mess. All my imported and recorded group together properly once the metadata was correct in bmt.

[PLUCKYHD]

Thanks for explaining. I guess eventually metadata issues which cause the same TV shows to be grouped under different groups will be addressed; since they affect very popular primetime TV shows. It looks like some recordings dont get Season/Episode metadata; hence, get put into a different TV recordings group with the same name/fanart banner.

BTW: I also mentioned another grouping feature enhancement request which doesnt look like it's related to metadata. It's probably more important to me than the above mentioned-issue:

to have a "Movies" group under TV recordings. That would really make TV recordings much more organized/neater IMO; even when sorting TV show by date (sageMC used to have this as an option). Having a "Manual Timed Recordings" group would be nice as well.

Thanks for your consideration.

yeah or you could just create a view that shows only recorded movies that is what I do ;) but we have thought of that before.

[mkanet]

Yes, there is a recorded movies view; which me and my wife have tried; but simply cant get used to switching back and forth between views. We try to keep things simple with just one All Recordings view. Anyway, I'm hoping that it wont be too much trouble to add a Movies group and a timed recordings. It would be really nice if the Movies and Timed Recordings groups were always at the top; even when sorting by date for all TV recordings. Thanks again for your consideration.

yeah or you could just create a view that shows only recorded movies that is what I do ;) but we have thought of that before.

[PLUCKYHD]

Yes, there is a recorded movies view; which me and my wife have tried; but simply cant get used to switching back and forth between views. We try to keep things simple with just one All Recordings view. Anyway, I'm hoping that it wont be too much trouble to add a Movies group and a timed recordings. It would be really nice if the Movies and Timed Recordings groups were always at the top; even when sorting by date for all TV recordings. Thanks again for your consideration.

We don't adjust any of the default sorting and probably won't but we have discussed a recordings group.

[Fuzzy]

Yes, there is a recorded movies view; which me and my wife have tried; but simply cant get used to switching back and forth between views. We try to keep things simple with just one All Recordings view. Anyway, I'm hoping that it wont be too much trouble to add a Movies group and a timed recordings. It would be really nice if the Movies and Timed Recordings groups were always at the top; even when sorting by date for all TV recordings. Thanks again for your consideration.

Yet another great reason. I stick with the malore screens. I have 5 views (my favorites, my wifes favorites, my kids favorites/categories, recorded movies - grouped by category, and uncategorized, which catches everything else - mostly intelligent recordings). Switching between them is a simple press of the FF2 or RW2 buttons.

[alton987]

Would this be possible for Diamond?

Airplay for SageTV Plugin Request (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55949)

[wayner]

A separate RecordedTV view for team sports that would facilitate a different fanart structure - ie. team logos that would be displayed on the screen. I will try to do a mockup in a day or two.

[mkanet]

I've been meaning to ask this for a long time; but keep getting sidetracked. It would be nice to have the option to specify a custom background (overriding the general theme background) for any Diamond menu (when BG Fanart=Off).

[jorton]

I've been meaning to ask this for a long time; but keep getting sidetracked. It would be nice to have the option to specify a custom background (overriding the general theme background) for any Diamond menu (when BG Fanart=Off).

That's already on the issue/enhancement list I believe, or something like it ;)

J

[emotionnotion]

Automatic disable of recording favourites that have no future viewing in the EPG.

Not sure if this can be achieved in Diamond UI alone but its a feature I would like. I know you can enable/disable favourites but, what about series favourites disabling themselves when there are no future airings in the EPG?

[jorton]

Automatic disable of recording favourites that have no future viewing in the EPG.

Not sure if this can be achieved in Diamond UI alone but its a feature I would like. I know you can enable/disable favourites but, what about series favourites disabling themselves when there are no future airings in the EPG?

I might be missing something, but if the EPG is only 14 days ahead all the time and there are often breaks in seasons with a couple weeks of reruns and a favorite disables itself, how would we know that there still weren't new shows coming beyond that? Wouldn't want something prematurely disabling a favorite and missing shows beyond 14 days. Also what about the "next" season after Summer hiatus, you would have to always remember to add the favorite back again if it had disabled itself.

Thoughts???

J

[Spectrum]

I might be missing something, but if the EPG is only 14 days ahead all the time and there are often breaks in seasons with a couple weeks of reruns and a favorite disables itself, how would we know that there still weren't new shows coming beyond that? Wouldn't want something prematurely disabling a favorite and missing shows beyond 14 days. Also what about the "next" season after Summer hiatus, you would have to always remember to add the favorite back again if it had disabled itself.

Thoughts???

J
Yeah I agree J unless we are misunderstanding emotionnotion's request. If there are no future airings, what harm is there in having the favorite still there? It's not like it is harming anything.... IF (IFF?) the request is asking for Diamond to disable favorites if the show has been canceled, that may make a little more sense, but I leave the favorite hanging around after a show gets canceled if it's was show I liked. Family Guy has gotten the axe and been brought back how many times now? One can always hope they'll bring back Firefly :D

[doncote0]

I am using the Diamond Simplified Tabs and love it except for one thing.

It is hard to see the scroll bar.

If the scroll bar were another color or had a highlighted outline it would be great. As it is seeing transparent dark blue on a dark blue or black background is difficult.

Otherwise I love everything.

If this is a setting I can control myself in sage.properties or otherwise, please let me know.

Thank you.

[jorton]

What theme are you using?

I'll send you some images to add the the theme folder that are more visible.

J

[doncote0]

SELECT THE USER INTERFACE THEME: Diamond Simplified Tabs

Thanks for the help! :D

[doncote0]

One thing that I would like to see in as an option for most themes would be an exclusion time or "prohibited recording time". This period would be a blacklisted time unavailable for any recordings except manual (maybe).

This would be great to allow things like AntiVirus actions, backup, restarts, defrag, etc during the prohibited time. If it is already available, please let me know.

[mkanet]

Hi Pluckyhd, I'm not sure if this is something that JREkiwi plans on doing or you guys; but, it sure would be nice to see our downloaded music fanart in the stock music menus. I could have sworn that JREkiwi said he was going to update the "Phoenix Fanart for SageTV" plugin to display music fanart. Maybe you guys will do this instead?

Anyway, needless to say, I can't wait to see the next release of Diamond!!

Good suggestions but FYI right now we don't modify the pictures or music section from the default and I don't see us doing that anytime soon. Our focus is vidoes and tv mostly.

[wubdich]

A fullscreen EPG would be great - details of a show / movie (currently show in the upper area of the screen) could be shown on demand after preesing the info-button

[Fuzzy]

A fullscreen EPG would be great - details of a show / movie (currently show in the upper area of the screen) could be shown on demand after preesing the info-button

EPWhat? I'm just glad ADM has allowed me to remove the guide from me system.. :-)

[wubdich]

ADM ... :confused:

[wayner]

WTF - don't you know your TLAs. It is Another Dynamic Menu which allows you to customize the Sage menus: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56395

[doncote0]

ADM ... :confused:
Another Dynamic Menu (ADM - a plugin for SageTV)

[wayner]

On recent recordings and upcoming recordings would it be possible to show the Episode? When it just says "NHL Hockey" it isn't as useful as "NHL Hockey - Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs"

[18Scoobz]

I have wanted to move away from sagemc but my wife will not give up the way the recordings are displayed. The simple list with sort by date, tile, etc. and the ability to jump to A-Z on the right. I have no clue how to mimic this. Nothing is working anymore on sagemc like weather and so forth and I want to move on. I need the basic recordings menu...

[stuckless]

I have wanted to move away from sagemc but my wife will not give up the way the recordings are displayed. The simple list with sort by date, tile, etc. and the ability to jump to A-Z on the right. I have no clue how to mimic this. Nothing is working anymore on sagemc like weather and so forth and I want to move on. I need the basic recordings menu...

I Think sometimes... it's just time to move on :(

Sage7 Phoenix, or Gemstone, or ADM, (or some other flavour of a plugin) should be able to fit that bill.

(Even though the title says, 'we are listening'... this thread hasn't been posted to in over a year... so I'm guessing no one is actually listening, here... but head over Phoenix and Gemstone, where there is still active development)

[Fuzzy]

I have wanted to move away from sagemc but my wife will not give up the way the recordings are displayed. The simple list with sort by date, tile, etc. and the ability to jump to A-Z on the right. I have no clue how to mimic this. Nothing is working anymore on sagemc like weather and so forth and I want to move on. I need the basic recordings menu...

Gemstone does not do this specifically, it can instead, filter down the list of recordings with what you type in.