MlbDude2 - Whats Next?

[mlbdude]

Just wanted to get a feel from people as to what functionality they are looking for from Sage. In the poll I am listing some of the items I know I want to work on, but I want to get a feel and a list of other items people are looking for.

Please post some suggestions here. :)

If you vote for Other, please leave a post detailing what Other is :).

Thanks!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for all the great input. Keep them coming. Just wanted to put an update of the items that I will be working on in order so you know what to expect.

1. Folder based Music Library - Done for 1.8.6
2. Weather Module - Done 1.8.7
3. Data output so user created MVP client might be possible. - In process
4. MPEG4 compressor. - In process
5. Completely new menu interface designed for Video Background

I will update with more as I complete these items.

[Fluffdaddy]

PVR/DVR wise SageTv has everything I could ask for except a ReplayTV like Ad skip feature. But I finally got it through my head that, that feature will never be added.

I'm not a Big music or Video Library guy. Video Library is what DVD's are for. 79 DVD's an counting ;)

So my vote is...............Weather module

[xzil]

A couple of other minor things....


1. On the upcomming / currently recorded viewer add the ability to see hard drive space.

2. On the 2 pane horizontal show recording menu. Change the color of the group title if it has new recordings. Also list the number of recordings in the group.

3. How about the ability to bring up a list of all show information for a favoriate. So you can go back through history and see what was recorded and watched. With ability to change its status also.

4. The ability to select an imprted video and "refresh" it. so that sage re reads all of it information. Help with the problem of people having to renem the file to ge sage to do this. This happens to me if sage reads a file when I am copying it, it then will not play correctly.

5. The option of listing a webpage with a favoriate, so you can open a web browser from sage to that page. Example would be gateworld.net for stargate. I think opera is a better browser for use on a htpc becuase of zooming.
This can open up a whole new feature arena as show portals like gateworld.net can include tagging and such that would be compatiable with HTPC. Show specific information could be brought up by episode ect ect. But that is beyond the scope of this post. :D

6. The ability to burn directly to dvd/cd. I think nero has a great API on this. Of course would require nero, but who wants to rewrite all the burning code.

To bad nero does not have an api yet on recode2, would make the recompressing eaiser, but would require nero again.

7. Not a commercial skip feature per say, but a way to add flags/bookmark sections to a show. Example - so I can mark the begining and end of a section. Enabling me to skip over that section when watching, or remove those section when reencoding. I imaging pressing a buttion on a remote to set the begining and end of these sections.

Ok well a few minor items turned into a wish list of sorts.

[meekell]

I would love to see a default/current playlist much like musicmatch where selecting songs queues them in the order of selection. I think this is an important feature that sage seems to be lacking. :D
________
CALIFORNIA DISPENSARIES (http://california.dispensaries.org/)

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by meekell
I would love to see a default/current playlist much like musicmatch where selecting songs queues them in the order of selection. I think this is an important feature that sage seems to be lacking. :D

This is what I am planning on. It would work just like the default Video Playlist I have setup in the Video Library.

[cgrey]

Most recently, the addition of .my file support is a huge one I was waiting for. I'd love to see it expanded in the following way:

I've got episodic TV shows saved on disk as follows:

SHOW (root folder)
SEASON 1 (sub folder)
episode1.avi
episode2.avi
SEASON 2 (sub folder)

etc...

I'd love to be able to assign a .my file to each of the existing episode.avi files, so I'm effectively using the STV menu to 'navigate' through my library (imported video files), and then when I select a show to get info for, read in the .my file. I could do this now with your existing setup, by creating a sub-folder for each episode, but it would be great to be able to keep my existing structure for ease of finding things in the file system, and have the STV recognize the multiple .my files in the same folder (maybe as long as the names match the AVI filenames: 0101.my would match up to 0101.avi).

Whether or not you implement this, thanks again for your GREAT work. With each new update, I'm losing interest in getting Studio, since you're adding all the features/tweaks I would be doing on my own!

[nielm]

Apart from the weather module (which would be great!)...

I would also like to suggest a generic external applications menu, allowing other apps to be started from Sage, with properties file settings defining the menu items, and the external apps:

ui/num_external_apps=5
ui/external_app_1/name=Web Browser
ui/external_app_1/path=C:\\Program Files\\Opera7\\Opera7.exe
ui/external_app_2/name=MyHTPC
ui/external_app_2/path=C:\\Program Files\\girder\\event.exe \-silent SwitchToMyHTPC
[etc]

Another suggestion...
Web bookmark browser: a generic file browser, pointed at the 'Faviourites' folder, displaying *.url files, grouped by folder, starting the (properties-file-defined) web browser when selected...
This could be used to start web-radio stations via the browser.


Personally, unless the recompresser leverages other more mature tools (such as AutoGK), I don't think it would be worth the effort... Even if it does, I find myself fine-tuning each recompression (removing top/bottom letterbox bars for wide-screen broadcasts etc), which would need user interaction.
I remember then Snapstream first started doing recompression, it did not work at all well with major audio/video sync issues :)

[GbrNole]

if anything i'd like to be able to expand the built-in dvd player functions just a little bit. add some presets to zoom windowed/letterboxed movies to fill screen if you feel so inclined and the ability to insert ffdshow independantly from the main application so i can get the benefit of ffdshow under dvd playback but revert to non ffdshow for tv playback.

ffdshow already inserts itself quite nicely when i playback xvid's through sage by the virtue of using *.avi preset selection inside ffdshow.

maybe selecting *.ifo will be sufficient to force ffdshow when playing back dvd's through sage?

as a side note i have no problem with folder.jpg format for both movies and music but my current stored images through MMJB don't show up right now for my mp3's. is this a limitation of your STV?

thanks for all the great work.

nick.

[mlbdude]

as a side note i have no problem with folder.jpg format for both movies and music but my current stored images through MMJB don't show up right now for my mp3's. is this a limitation of your STV?

I have not modified the music library so it should work if it works in OrigionalV2. If it only seems to not work in mine let me know.

I know the way Sage does the whole album cover thing now rarely works for me - hence the desire to do a new one. I also don't like to manage the mp3 tags on my files and generally setup my files using an organized file structure.

[DFranch]

Well since I've already added cover art to all of my mp3's, and I record the news to get the whether. I'll take divx recompression.

[kny3twalker]

I want separate video and video control for the library mcuh like DVD has
I want a wishlist, so shows that are coming up the fall I can add now since they are not being shown over the summer
I want MVP support
I would like to see better control of the video and audio decoders much like radlight has but intergrated
I would like to see the end of the properties file modifications and to be able to control all this in Sage
I want to get the music jukebox to work with more than just mp3 and do variable rate
I would rather see a DVD ripper added than a compresser but even that is not on the top of my list
but it would be very nice for pvr 350 users(they can still use their sound card for audio to get AC3 audio playback)

[sticky]

cover art:) Please oh please the folder structured library:).... please oh please..:)...:nod:

[Brett]

I am sure you realize that if you did DiVX it would not work with 350s out there :)

[lovingHDTV]

I think feedback from Sage that I can then use to display on my PPC via Girder/Netremote and see what is playing. Maybe something simple to start with, like sending out the text that is currently highlighted in the Sage window. Then I can pick my music to play without turing on my projector to read what Sage says.

:)

[justme]

While the .my support is cool. I'd love it if you'd add support for Malore's XML show metadada export file. I tend to edit and recompress many shows and then move them to the library. If you added these features from Malore's, or even just support his file format, it would make you library even better. IMO Right now I tend to use Malore for most normal SageTV duties and your STV for it's incredible library functions.

[mikejaner]

MlbDude,
Could we get you to add that little feature like laurenglenn did, where playback ends a couple of seconds early, so the 350output doesn't lockup on playback of recorded shows. This is the last bug I have on my system, and it would be greatly appreciated, cause I love your skin.

The symptom is very specific. Playback of recorded shows lockup if they run all the way to the very end. If I end them early, like a few seconds early, or I am watching Live TV, I have no problems whatsoever.

mikejaner

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by mikejaner
MlbDude,
Could we get you to add that little feature like laurenglenn did, where playback ends a couple of seconds early, so the 350output doesn't lockup on playback of recorded shows. This is the last bug I have on my system, and it would be greatly appreciated, cause I love your skin.

The symptom is very specific. Playback of recorded shows lockup if they run all the way to the very end. If I end them early, like a few seconds early, or I am watching Live TV, I have no problems whatsoever.

mikejaner

I checked with laurenglenn, he claims to no do anything special at the end of playback. I looked at his STV and don't see anything either.

While I don't want to put in a bunch of special 350 code that should become useless when the driver issue is nailed down in Sage, if you can get me a good list of actions that cause the lockup I will work with you to do some "trial and error" version to see if there is something that can be done.

[laurenglenn]

Originally posted by mikejaner
MlbDude,
Could we get you to add that little feature like laurenglenn did, where playback ends a couple of seconds early, so the 350output doesn't lockup on playback of recorded shows. This is the last bug I have on my system, and it would be greatly appreciated, cause I love your skin.

The symptom is very specific. Playback of recorded shows lockup if they run all the way to the very end. If I end them early, like a few seconds early, or I am watching Live TV, I have no problems whatsoever.

mikejaner
Actually, mine doesn't end playback a couple of seconds early. It tries to stop the OSD from Refreshing the time bar after a show ends. What I told Mlbdude was that there is no 350 specific code, but that the slight changes I made had to do with a remote possibility of a division-by-zero error.

The newest fix seems to check for this. It doesn't appear to be an EOF bug that's causing this. Mine hasn't locked up or slowed to a crawl after hitting the EOF. If the current fix starts doing that, then I will have to implement the pause before EOF.

Thanks,
Lauren

[laurenglenn]

Originally posted by mlbdude
I checked with laurenglenn, he claims to no do anything special at the end of playback. I looked at his STV and don't see anything either.

While I don't want to put in a bunch of special 350 code that should become useless when the driver issue is nailed down in Sage, if you can get me a good list of actions that cause the lockup I will work with you to do some "trial and error" version to see if there is something that can be done.
Actually, laurenglenn is a "she"..... :nod:

There is no special code for 350UI, but you may want to look at the code for the TimeBar pointer's X-position. You may have taken care of this is since designing the one that comes with SageTV.....

Lauren

[meekell]

mlbdude, I just activated the custom2 button and the guide toggle works great! I think this "toggle" feature would work great for aspect ratios as well (at least between 4:3 and 16:9). We watch tv in 4:3 and have to switch to 16:9 to watch most of our movies. This would be nice to be able to toggle the ratios with the push of a button. By the way, is this right that I have to manually correct the aspect ratio, or am I missing a setting to have sage do this automatically.
________
WEB SHOWS (http://livesexwebshows.com/)

[pcuoco]

As a PVR-350 user I would like to see a better implementation of the Music Jukebox OSD. I want to continune to use Sage's interface so I can use the 350 output, but when I listen to music I have to keep the jukebox screen up. I have a tendency to let Sage randomly select songs while I do things around the house and the screen can sometimes stay up for several hours.

I don't like to leave it up too long for fear of burn in, but if I shut it off my fiance misses the interface. (She likes to see what song is playing when she doesn't recognize it.) If I go to visualizations what I get is a video still frame of the last show I watched. This doesn't help the burn in issue either.

What I'd love to see is screen saver or similar that plays in place of visualizations. It could display the current song information and float around the screen.

A simpler (but less fun) solution would be to change the visualizations to a plain black background for 350 users. This way it just displays video black, and the info button or transport controls bring up the song and track information.

I love your STV by the way. Keep up the good work!:goodjob:

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by laurenglenn
Actually, laurenglenn is a "she"..... :nod:

There is no special code for 350UI, but you may want to look at the code for the TimeBar pointer's X-position. You may have taken care of this is since designing the one that comes with SageTV.....

Lauren

Whoa, a girl that is technical. I like that. Sorry about that stupid assumption :).

[laurenglenn]

Originally posted by mlbdude
Whoa, a girl that is technical. I like that. Sorry about that stupid assumption :).
It's like what Trinity said in the Matrix:

Neo: "THE Trinity?! I thought Trinity was a guy."
Trinity: "Most men do... :)"

;)

Lauren

[kny3twalker]

Oh I got one more request
I had this happen with the Discovery Channel twice now
I set up a manual recording of a show
then the time slot occupied by that show was switched to another show without an notification from Sage
When it happened this time, the airing I had choosen to record was the last one and it was not replaced with another airing after the Discovery Channel decided they were going to air something else

If this was a problem with the guide info or a problem with the Discovery channel
I would like notification when a manual recording is changed from one show to another like this or for Sage to reschedule to another time slot (cause it was going to record the other show)

I hope this gets added
even though very small feature
I think it is important



quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's like what Trinity said in the Matrix:

Neo: "THE Trinity?! I thought Trinity was a guy."
Trinity: "Most men do... "



Lauren
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I was not sure myself (with Lauren) but did not assume you were a Guy
LOL

[laurenglenn]

Originally posted by laurenglenn
Actually, mine doesn't end playback a couple of seconds early. It tries to stop the OSD from Refreshing the time bar after a show ends. What I told Mlbdude was that there is no 350 specific code, but that the slight changes I made had to do with a remote possibility of a division-by-zero error.

The newest fix seems to check for this. It doesn't appear to be an EOF bug that's causing this. Mine hasn't locked up or slowed to a crawl after hitting the EOF. If the current fix starts doing that, then I will have to implement the pause before EOF.

Thanks,
Lauren
OK. Well, after getting another reboot after hitting EOF twice, I put in a CloseOfFile request 5 seconds before the video ends. The CloseAndWaitUntilClosed request actually closes the file the instant it hits the EOF and jumps back to the recording menu.

Lauren

[mlbdude]

Well it seems the two hot items are a Weather module and Divx compression. Weather module is not hard to do, but the Divx project could be stopped by the fact that there are not good command line (or config file) encoders. I don't see anything on an API either.

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6103

If you know of any please post it in the thread above.

Now I see why BTV went with WMV so quickly. There is a full tool-set for that. But I will never go down that road, even if Sage adds support for that stuff.

[jglev]

First off I want to thank Mlbdude for his great work on this!!

In terms of wish list: how about a red "N" for a newly recorded show that hasn't been watched yet? It could disappear after it has been (or set to) "watched".

Also, I am not sure that Studio can do this, but a multi-speed/TIVO type FF/REW would be most welcome.

Thanks,

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by jglev
First off I want to thank Mlbdude for his great work on this!!

In terms of wish list: how about a red "N" for a newly recorded show that hasn't been watched yet? It could disappear after it has been (or set to) "watched".

Also, I am not sure that Studio can do this, but a multi-speed/TIVO type FF/REW would be most welcome.

Thanks,

Studio can't do FF/REW, that would be a core item.

What would be the conditions for the "N" to show? I could use a date compare I guess, for like 48 hours or something. Assuming I could get the date recorded from Studio.

I am also having an issue where to put these flags. Right now I have a "F" that shows up if it is a first run. Technically I don't have space to display it in the two pane views and it often gets overridden.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[jglev]

Originally posted by mlbdude
Studio can't do FF/REW, that would be a core item.

What would be the conditions for the "N" to show? I could use a date compare I guess, for like 48 hours or something. Assuming I could get the date recorded from Studio.

I am also having an issue where to put these flags. Right now I have a "F" that shows up if it is a first run. Technically I don't have space to display it in the two pane views and it often gets overridden.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for the info on the FF/REW. I figured that, but just wanted to make sure.

I was just thinking the "N" would be there for shows not watched yet (and disappear after the flag was set to "Watched"). Something similar to what TIVO and BTV have I believe (I think they use the word "New"). It would just be a quicker visual guide for shows not watched yet since I feel the italics/non-italics way that Sage does it now seems difficult to discern. I suppose if space is an issue, you could have an option to turn either "F" or "N" on or off, but not be able to turn both on at the same time. To me, the new flag would be more important than the first run flag.

Thanks again,

[SprDtyF350]

MVP support would be cool!!

Randy

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by SprDtyF350
MVP support would be cool!!

Randy

With Studio I could expose the data for the MVP, but the actual MVP side is done in something else.

I think BTV users have done it in dynamic HTML.

[SprDtyF350]

Oh well, it was just a wish.. That is such a neat box and sure would be nice if there was a real client for it.

Randy

[mlbdude]

If you can find some users willing to do the MVP side, I would be more than willing to dump the data they need. :)

[Brett]

I want a news/blog feed to be integrated... add some real functionality.

Also a red recording dot on the guide to indicate the show will be recorded would be nice. The whole highlighting of border idea doesnt work for me.

That Random Guy

[mrgibbysworth]

My biggest gripes these days are with the jukebox module, so how about considering some of these?

1. Some new visulizations or option to switch vis on/off? Option to show album/artist track info instead.
2. An "add (all) to now playing" option for filling up a queue while browsing tracks.
3. Tree based music browsing. I wish I could look at my music like this: Genre - Artist - Album (sorted by album year)
4. Listen to random tracks by genre.
5. Intelligent Artist sorting. Ignore "the" or "a" when sorting by artist. Use artist last name instead of first name if it is at all possible.

Nice job so far!
Dan

[White94Cobra]

Thanks for what you have already provided!

Some items I'd like to see...

1. Weather module (already mentioned)
2. E-mail module
3. DivX or Windows Media recompression (already mentioned)
4. Free disk space indicator on main menu (ala malore's)
5. Optional sound(s)for keypresses (like Tivo's bleep)
6. "Chapter skip" for skipping "chapters" you don't want to watch
7. Give the option for assigning functions to the navigation button's during video playback (like Tivo - pressing the right nav brings up the program description overlay, pressing the left nav button makes it go away)

[Brett]

1. Already happening
3. Not possible, Windows Media requires core modification
5. Not possible
6. Not likely, it would require extensive programming to create a function (either inside Studio or independent) that could find the commericals and mark them. Then it would require interpretting the chapters during playback

That Random Guy

[pcuoco]

5. Optional sound(s)for keypresses (like Tivo's bleep)


Actually, button clicks are already possible by modifying the irremote.ini if you use the Hauppauge remote. See this thread:

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5432&highlight=sound+irremote.ini

[kny3twalker]

the others are possible as well

also mlbdude you should talk with SHS if you want to do the MVP thing

He will probably be able to get it done

[cmaffia]

I want to schedule my shows remotely!
So I guess a web service would need to be built.
:nod:

[mikejaner]

Yes, web service!!

[ckron]

I concur. Web service would be really great!!!

[ravenray]

Ok, Here are my suggestions.

1) Away to put my episodes in seasons.
2) Play VCD's.
3) A way to modify the UI's in all menus.

[tcdrake]

I voted Other...as in Web Scheduling!

[cmaffia]

Originally posted by tcdrake
I voted Other...as in Web Scheduling!

Do ya think people want to do remote scheduling???:p

[mlbdude]

Unfortunately I am not interested in that. I know Frey is though.

[mikejaner]

Anybody wanna take on the Media MVP? I would love to have mine work just like a client.

[timw]

In addition to the weather module, I would like to see a movie theater guide for theaters near my location (by zip code). Show the theater, the movie, and the start times.

[meekell]

In addition to the weather module, I would like to see a movie theater guide for theaters near my location (by zip code). Show the theater, the movie, and the start times.
This would be a great feature. I haven't seen this done before. Maybe it could be a mlbdude exclusive?
________
Weed bubblers (http://bubblers.net/)

[Bathman]

Allow *.ogg media to be recognised/play in Music Jukebox.

[tcdrake]

In addition to the weather module, I would like to see a movie theater guide for theaters near my location (by zip code). Show the theater, the movie, and the start times.

Along with this and Weather there are a few other features found in MyHTPC I can't wait to get integrated such as contact info imported from Outlook.

[GbrNole]

i stuck this in a seperate thread but should have stuck it in here really but i'd love to have a dvd catalog browser with information extracted from dvdprofiler and converted to .my files.

in a perfect world i'd be able to search my clooection by title, actors or genre, select the movie that i want to play and then a box would pop-up and ask to please insert disc #37 (or somesuch pre cataloged number) and then it would autoplay.

i pretty much do this right now by sleeping sage and opening up dvdprofiler so that i can figure out which binder (i keep all of my dvd's in 200 tab binder folders) a particular dvd is stored in. exit dvdprofiler, wake sage back up and play away :D

adding that catalog directly to sage would be awesome though especially from the WAF perspective.

[justme]

A way to simulate a Tivo's Wishlist functionality. I posted my idea for one possible way to do it here. (http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?postid=47330#post47330) It's an expansion of another users request. Their post remimded me I've been meaning to post/request this for a while. So I gave a rough listing of possible ideas/concepts I was looking at. Hopefully someone more skilled can carrying them thru all the way.

/justme

[falchulk]

I would love alphabetical "virtual" folders fot the library. Although, it seems impossible..............

[Crashless]

Originally posted by tcdrake
Along with this and Weather there are a few other features found in MyHTPC I can't wait to get integrated such as contact info imported from Outlook.

You CAN do Outlook contacts with myHTPC, but I can't seem to find the info on the myHTPC site. Must have been lost when they got hacked.

I have the files on my server at home. I can email them to you if you want. PM me with your e-mail, and I'll send them over Tuesday. (maybe earlier if I can find a broadband connection this weekend. VNC via dialup sux)

[mlbdude]

Updated the first post with the current work-list in case anyone is interested.

Keep the requests coming.

P.S. I am surprised no one took me up om my offer to expose the necessary data for the MVP :(.

[Crashless]

MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!

That would be sooo great.

[pcuoco]

Have you tried contacting sub or SHS about the MVP options?

[kny3twalker]

[list=1]
I want MVP support
I want a wishlist
I would like to see better control of the video and audio decoders much like radlight has but intergrated
I want to get the music jukebox to work with more than just mp3s, do variable rate, and have more visualizations
I would rather see a DVD ripper added than a compresser it would be very nice for pvr 350 users(they can still use their sound card for audio to get AC3 audio playback)
I would like to see member profiles so more than one person can watch a show before it is set to be deleted
I would like to see the end of the properties file modifications and to be able to control all this in Sage
Also a notification of when the guide data has switched and manual recording will be incorrectly scheduled
[/list=1]

Just thought I would clean up my list and add one thing to it

[mlbdude]

Any comments or suggestions before I get this ready for beta?

As a downside, I wrote the data extractor in C# so .Net will be required to use this. However, all the extractor does is parse the XML from an HTTP address and create a text file that I can easily read with Studio so we might be able to get someone to write a new extractor in C++ or even Java. If anyone is interested let me know and I will specify the format and other requirements.

[Jason]

Originally posted by mlbdude
Updated the first post with the current work-list in case anyone is interested.

Keep the requests coming.

P.S. I am surprised no one took me up om my offer to expose the necessary data for the MVP :(.

OK... I'm back. After getting a new motherboard (my EPOX took a cr*?) and 'lo and behold I start reading about someone unearthing (exposing, showing, allowing, ...) maybe the wiz.bin file for use with the MVP????? :jump: :jump: :jump:

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3516&highlight=jason

I thought that this was a dead deal...?

In any case, let's open it up! Having worked on the BTV mod for the MVP, I would love to start the offshoot for Sage!

-Jason

[mlbdude]

Once this current beta is done, I will start to work on that.

Here is what I can expose in XML, let me know if you need more...

Current Sage Recordings (this would include Title, Description, etc. as well as physical file location).

Upcoming recordings list, same details.

Currently recording/watching with details as to what type of recording it is (Favorite, Manual, Etc.).

I can also expose the data from the EPG but output format would probably be flat.

The hardest part will be changing channels from the MVP. However, I think I know a way to do this using HTTP :).

[Brett]

suggestion: change it from "weather menu" to just "weather" otherwise looking good.

That Random Guy

[Jason]

Originally posted by mlbdude
Once this current beta is done, I will start to work on that.

Here is what I can expose in XML, let me know if you need more...

Current Sage Recordings (this would include Title, Description, etc. as well as physical file location).

This would be nice as a sub menu to disseminate the Sage recordings from other mpeg/divx files. We can do this now on the MVP (sort of...) by using different directory structures.

Originally posted by mlbdude
Upcoming recordings list, same details.

Again... nice to see, but that is available currently (semi...) in a .txt format. I forget if the details is written in the .txt file. The implementation could be similiar to what is already in your skin on the main menu.

Originally posted by mlbdude
Currently recording/watching with details as to what type of recording it is (Favorite, Manual, Etc.).

Now we start to see the meat! With this info, we can implement the 'LiveTV function with greater ease!

Originally posted by mlbdude
I can also expose the data from the EPG but output format would probably be flat.

This is the difficult part, I'm sure... What we need is the ability to actually schedule upcoming recordings via the EPG... by 'Flat', I'm not sure what you are referring to. If the data is exposed...

Originally posted by mlbdude
The hardest part will be changing channels from the MVP. However, I think I know a way to do this using HTTP :).
With an ActiveX applet, we can send the commands via HTTP. In fact, the following post describes a relatively painless (albeit questionable insecure...) method that is pre-written for almost this exact use... and more! Without knowing the commands that can be called from within Studio/Sage, I cannot know.

http://www.shspvr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4676

I am shocked to see that we may be able to proceed on this! Shocked... but happy as hell! Up until this point, I was resigning myself to wait for the Frey bros to code out an app as opposed to allowing us to possible go after a 'mod.'

-Jason

[mlbdude]

by 'Flat', I'm not sure what you are referring to. If the data is exposed...

It would look like something like this...

<Airings>
<Airing>
<Title/>
<Descirption/>
<StartTime/>
<EndTime/
etc...
</Airing>
<Airing>
<Title/>
<Descirption/>
<StartTime/>
<EndTime/
etc...
</Airing>
<Airing>
<Title/>
<Descirption/>
<StartTime/>
<EndTime/
etc...
</Airing>
</Airings>

Might need someone to translate the data into something more usable.

[Jason]

Originally posted by mlbdude
It would look like something like this...

<Airings>
<Airing>
<Title/>
<Descirption/>
<StartTime/>
<EndTime/
etc...
</Airing>
.
.
.

Might need someone to translate the data into something more usable.

Unless I am mistaken (more than likely... :blush: ) all you would be doing is moving the relative wiz.bin data to another file format? How is this different from actually utilizing the wiz.bin file? In any case, bring it on! With all the talent here, we can make it happen relatively quickly! By splitting the Sourceforge BTV mod page into a seperate release, we can cut down the time even more!

-Jason

[mlbdude]

It seems pretty close. The only difference it that there is a LOT more in the wiz.bin than just the data that Frey wants to keep secret.

Malore asked about dumping recordings and epg data and we got the OK so we should be good :).

[Jason]

Originally posted by mlbdude
It seems pretty close. The only difference it that there is a LOT more in the wiz.bin than just the data that Frey wants to keep secret.

Malore asked about dumping recordings and epg data and we got the OK so we should be good :).

Well, I'm waiting on you! :nod:

-Jason

[sticky]

I think the next horse to kill would be the folder based music library:D...

Great work guys.... Sage is shaping up beautifully...

I don't see what the big deal about studio not being out.. These guys are doing the hard work.. ;)..

Cheers to all the hard working beta testers.

[mlbdude]

That was done for 1.8.6 :).

[mikejaner]

I have an idea which is kind of familiar to the Tivo owners out there.

How about implimenting the ability to have a short Mpeg video play in a loop as the video background when nothing is playing, or in the main menu. This might help us 350 owners, who have no problems when video is playing. This way, at the end of a show, there is an immediate switch to this video of an animated background.

Here's a short list of suggestions:

On startup, this video is started in a loop, as long as "Video Background" is enabled.
Upon completion of playback of a file from "Sage Recordings", immediately switch to a looped playback of the background video. Kind of like switching channels in "Live TV".
Enable an option to have the looped background video enabled or disabled for the main menu, for those who would still like to have TV play in the background when on the main menu.

[SprDtyF350]

You guys seem to have a blast writing all of these really cool additions for Sage... Kind of how I enjoy working on cars. I don't know much about computer programming but I sure am glad you folks do. Sage is really becoming a great program and the hard work all of you put into it are what does it. I have been wishing for a client for the MVP since I bought the 2 of them and it sounds like there may be potential for it to happen. That would be awesome.. The additions in MlbDudes skin are great, makes using Sage much more fun.

It's great to be able to check out the forums and find new cool thing to add to Sage.

Thanks again,

Randy

:)

[jazzup]

I would love to be able to sort my recordings by original airdate so that I could easily watch the episodes in a series in the order they were aired.

Thanks for all the great work so far - the skin really adds to sage's usefulness and functionality!

[Opus4]

Originally posted by jazzup
I would love to be able to sort my recordings by original airdate so that I could easily watch the episodes in a series in the order they were aired.I believe you can do that now in the MlbDude STV -- go to the SageTV Recordings screen & use the Options command (or right mouse click) to choose the sorting style. Original Airdate is in there.

Alternatively, in the malore listings, you can have it sort by ShowID, which should correspond to original airing date. (You can alos us ethe malore listing styles in the MalDude STV.)

- Andy

[jazzup]

Nice - missed that options menu before.

Thanks!

[mlbdude]

Looking for a volunteer for the MPEG4 compression project.....

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?postid=48526#post48526

[gotuitdan]

Hi mlbdude,

I have a (probably) rather simple and powerful suggestion for your STV...

The ability to select and record an MPEG directly to a normal DVD. Some folks at myHTPC.net have put this together in such a way as to simply run a command line with a target file to burn. It puts a background image in front of the screen and the user simply waits until the file is converted, encrypted, and burned. See:
http://myhtpc.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7030

Ideally, I imagine this could be a simple command-line executing function placed under the media and DVD library menu.
The command line, though, would need to be executed on the list of Sage Recordings available for burning, so I presume the user would select "burn DVD", see a list of recordings, and select one to burn...

For that matter, I could see pretty nice value in having a couple of extra customizable menu options that simply launch a command of the user's choosing. This would be in addition to the external media player, music jukebox or dvd player. The hope would be that the user could name the item anything and attach it to some external software.

just a thought...

Thanks again for the great and extensive work!

dan.

PS (editing here). I just thought another way to implement the burning would be in the left column of the screen after selecting a recording. Somewhere in the list that includes "watch", "set watched", "delete", etc, could be "burn". Burn activates the external program with the file name as the target... THAT would be way, way cool.

[justme]

That would be awesome. There are several SageTV users who are part of that thread and were involved in the apps evolution, so I know it would have a good SageTV following. Also CutterMaran(a free Mpeg2 editor) now supports a CLI interface using XML. So you can even edit out the comercials before burning the DVD if you want. This feature(CutterMaran) has not yet been added by CyberVillian, but he says he plans to. Also, it's amazing how flexable DVDAuthor is considering it's an opensource project. It can do some pretty complex things using XML to designate the DVD menu structure, backgrounds, etc.

I just love it when something can be done by using totally free*, and in this case, mostly opensource applications.:thumb: About the only downside to this idea is that it does involve chaining ~5 programs together to get the DVD. Still that's just a matter of automating the handoffs. The only other downside is that even with deleting each intermediate stage after it's been passed, still requires a good amount of slack space. ie to burn a 3GB DVD takes about 9GB of free space to get the finished project. Of course all this space can be reclaimed once the DVD is done. I keep a 12GB partition on my system as a temp area for video processing jobs like this. It comes in very handy to always have the free space availiable in a continous segment. It all to easy to fill up your drive otherwise and make this type of process difficult. ;)

*I've donated to almost every app used in that process and so should anyone who uses them. These great resources will only exist as long as we support them. :)

/justme

[timw]

mlbdude -

Great work! I really enjoy the improvements you have made to the ui.

We live on the coast of Oregon, and it would be great to have a module - similar to the weather module - that displays the tide tables for our area, perhaps in graphical form. I have a program like this for my Palm. It lets me know what the tide at the beach is like when I take my dogs for a walk. The configuration is similar to weather, just enter the zip code, then select from a list of known measurement sites.

[Alex0230]

Originally posted by timw
mlbdude -

Great work! I really enjoy the improvements you have made to the ui.

We live on the coast of Oregon, and it would be great to have a module - similar to the weather module - that displays the tide tables for our area, perhaps in graphical form. I have a program like this for my Palm. It lets me know what the tide at the beach is like when I take my dogs for a walk. The configuration is similar to weather, just enter the zip code, then select from a list of known measurement sites.

Something like this is already possible, it just depends on where the weather data comes from. I know the weather data I got mine from didn't have tide information. Nielm's gets his from weather.com and I tried looking around for tide data, not sure if he has access to that.

It's definitely possible....we'd just have to get a feed from somewhere. It would work now, we would just add these two params to the file we generate:

~DAY~Low Tide~
~DAY~High Tide~

[srothwell]

I find it very frustrating that I can search by an artist, but I have to manually scroll down some 400 items in the list. I'd love to have the same search window that Title has.

Also, how do I search by Genre? I don't think you can?

Playlists: I can't move the position around of individual items in Playlists.

Random: It looks like Randomize Playback doesn't work with the active playlist, it starts playing back the ENTIRE library.

Visualizations: Yuk. I'd like to use some of the ones you can get for Media Player.

Video Import: Want to be able to create individual folders so I can separate all of my son's "Clifford the Big Red Dog" and other childern's programming from "Las Vegas" and other stuff I don't want to wade through.

So, is this the kind of stuff Studio can be used to enhance or is too much a core thing that we'll have to petition for v3.0?

[x[corwyn]]

I am stoked to see this. MVP support would absolutely rock. That is one of two things that I would love to see. Guess none of you guys can figure out how the 350 is outputting the UI and then get the xcard to do it?

Also what about Pinnacle's Showcenter? The heart of that is the xcard...I would much prefer to use the showcenter as a client , but seeing as how myc programming experience is nil I'm not in a position to do it myself :(

[mlbdude]

Anyone interested in doing some beta testing the MPEG4 compressor?

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?postid=50032#post50032

This also includes the first items needed to develop for the MVP - including current activity. If anyone wants to try this let me know and I will tell you what you need to know.

[Jason]

Originally posted by mlbdude
Anyone interested in doing some beta testing the MPEG4 compressor?

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?postid=50032#post50032

This also includes the first items needed to develop for the MVP - including current activity. If anyone wants to try this let me know and I will tell you what you need to know.

Count me in...

-Jason

[mlbdude]

Originally posted by Jason
Count me in...

-Jason

Using that beta I posted in the Cmd Line Divx forum, enable this property:

mlbdude/data_dump=true

Whenever something changed in SageTV (recording start or stop etc.) two files will be generated in your SageTV folder.

recordings.xml - List of all recordings with meta information.
current_rec.xml - List of currently recording shows with meta information.

That should be enough to get started.

[mjryan86]

My vote would go for some sort of dvd burning options through sage. Also I'm not sure what the deal is with an ad skip function like replay tv has but that would be great.

[roco]

M3U playlist importing and internet radio would be very nice...

[nelis]

I have a stupid question ... On these forums, I see everywhere people asking for MVP support ... But what is a MVP ? ;-)

[kny3twalker]

http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_mediamvp.html

[ukmgranger]

More functionality on both the mp3 player and the DVD player.

These parts of sage still feel like an 'add-on' to me (they always heve). The ideal mp3 player (for me) would function like iTunes. It is simple but brilliant. The visualisations are also second to none in iTunes.

The DVD player simply lacks functions such as 'resume'.

Both the players generally look feel a bit clunky.

I have been using the mlbdude2 STV which is totally awsome.
Keep up the good work mlbDude :)

[roco]

MVP SUPPORT!!!!! PLEASE