Overview of installing an STV?

[steingra]

Can someone point me to a good source that explains the process of installing a custom stv? For now I could just use a quick overview.

I was reading a little bit about this one:Cayars17 Ultimate STV and my gosh it seems like it has a lot to it!!!

I dont know if I am ready to tackle something like that yet. :-O Seeing as I just purchased my official sagetv license a few days ago after my 2week trial. but I cant help myself, and wanting to tweak things.

It would be cool if the process is easy, and if I need to I could revert back to my current setup.

[stanger89]

Installing an STV is no more difficult than putting it in a folder, starting Sage, and then telling Sage to use it. The tricky bit is getting all the support stuff some STVs rely on setup. Unfortunately there's not much I can help you with that way. What I can say, is that, in general (I think) the STV "author" will usually zip up all the support files so that basically you just extract them where they say to.

I haven't used Cayars, but from what I've heard it sounds like it requires a LOT of support stuff. My advice would be this, start with one of the "simpler" STVs to get a feel for it, maybe SageMC, Meekell, etc.

Oh, and as for reverting back, it's just a matter of telling Sage to use the normal one. STVs are self-contained, such that "installing" a custom one won't affect the stock one*.

STV Imports are a bit different, as they modify the STV you're running, but AFIAK, the Default STV won't let you import into it.

[Crashless]

Every STV is slightly different, but they're all basically the same. Here's a link to instructions for installing my STV:

http://www.vinceanido.com/blog/installing-the-stv/

Please let me know if you have any issues with it in this thread:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12344

Yeah, there's a lot to the Cayars STV, but that's because it has the most stuff to it, and it hasn't been updated in some time now. The STVs have gotten slightly easier to setup since then.

If you really want to use Cayars, ajuhawk wrote a great manual. You can get it here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ghlight=cayars

Sorry for the shameless plug...I just can't help myself...

[steingra]

Thanks for the info. I am very interested in trying out another stv. I have been reading a few of the instructions and so forth. I didnt know if there is a current list of all the stv's that would work with 2.2 of SageTV?

Some of the things I would really like to add to my SageTV to increase the WOW factor, are
1. Weather updates
2. IMDB database to show actor information, etc
3. Commercial skipping
and probably more stuff too...just havent had enough time to figure out all the other cool things to do with it


And also a web server, so I can control SageTV from anywhere. I know there is an add-in out there. But what I dont know, is if I can just install that on its own, and then go about installing one of these custom stv's also?

Thanks!

[steingra]

Are .stv's and sage properties maintained separately? i.e. Im trying to understand what happens to my current setup ( i have a pvr 150 -> digital cable stb), and a (pvr-usb2 ->DISH 811 stb) that is working OK now along with a 43 button remote hauppuage control that wakes up SageTV, and controls it nicely.

Soooooooooo what happens to the configuration of my existing sageTV footprint, if I install a custom .stv? Would be nice if it retains it, and I dont have to redo the setup? But I am not sure at this point.

THANKS!

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by steingra

Thanks for the info. I am very interested in trying out another stv. I have been reading a few of the instructions and so forth. I didnt know if there is a current list of all the stv's that would work with 2.2 of SageTV?

I'd check the sticky in the Customizations subforum, but I'm not sure if Andy has separated them out by version or not. Of course ultimately, I'd just upgrade to 3.0 and run that. Speaking of which

Some of the things I would really like to add to my SageTV to increase the WOW factor, are
1. Weather updates

V3 has weather built in

2. IMDB database to show actor information, etc
3. Commercial skipping

Definitely give SageMC a try, it's got both. Actually, the Meekell (Crashless' STV) has DVD profiler importing in it. I think it's a V3 STV also though.

And also a web server, so I can control SageTV from anywhere. I know there is an add-in out there. But what I dont know, is if I can just install that on its own, and then go about installing one of these custom stv's also?

The webserver is basically a plugin, it gets run in the core, and is unaffected (and doesn't affect) STVs.

Are .stv's and sage properties maintained separately? i.e. Im trying to understand what happens to my current setup ( i have a pvr 150 -> digital cable stb), and a (pvr-usb2 ->DISH 811 stb) that is working OK now along with a 43 button remote hauppuage control that wakes up SageTV, and controls it nicely.

Soooooooooo what happens to the configuration of my existing sageTV footprint, if I install a custom .stv? Would be nice if it retains it, and I dont have to redo the setup? But I am not sure at this point.

Basically there are 3 (or 4 depnding on if you're running client/service or not) files that Sage runs on:
1) The wiz.bin, which is basically the database, with all the EPG/programming info and favorites config.
2) The sage.properties/sageclient.properties, which define your various options, eg decoders, renderers, lineups, misc other configuration items.
3) The .STV, this is what defines the UI. Basically you can think of the stv as a config file that defines how the UI looks/operates. Technically it's much more complicated than that, but practically that's kind of the purpose it serves.

So like any other config file, you can swap STVs in and out, and switch between them, usually without affecting any of the other ones.

[steingra]

Thanks for explaining that. Helps me understand more about how SageTV works. I spent a lot of time on here every night, just reading lots of stuff. I am very interested to get an stv applied...but I have not decided which one for sure.

The Cayars Ultimate STV seems to be the one that has everything I want, and will want soon. But the list of requirements seems steep and I am not even sure which order to install it all. The forum and help document seem to say that there is a bunch of *other* stuff I have to install (ahead of time???) or after installing the core stv.

Im just trying to weed it all out, and get a good working list of how to proceed with Cayars Ultimate STV. And all the proper steps to do it in.