STV: SageMC 16x9 Version 6.x (latest dev build)

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

I'm not seeing this part. In the main IMDB info screen? I can't bring up the options menu at all while looking at the IMDB info.

Oops, sorry, I forgot that I am using my dev version. This will be in 6.12 ...

Dirk

[MeInMaui]

And they said I was the jedi master of tease.

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

And they said I was the jedi master of tease.

You still are! You used screenshots in your tease, Dirk merely stated he was using it, no pretty pictures!

[dflachbart]

Ok, no teasing any more, here is a new update.


Highlights:


IMDB cover art outsided of Program Info

I added options to show the IMDB cover art in the Guide and in the OSD info in place of the channel logo. The way it works is:

- if IMDB is enabled and channel logos are disabled, the IMDB picture will be shown if available
- if both IMDB and channel logos are enabled, the IMDB picture will be shown if available, if not the channel icon (if available) will be displayed

Note that the IMDB cover art in both new places does not trigger a new IMDB lookup, it simply retrieves an already existing pic from the IMDB cache and displays it.


Scrollable edit widget

Might not be a big deal for most of you, but I hated not being able to see what I type into a text field if the input is longer than the field itself. The Sage core does not offer such functionality, so I wrote my own. Have a look at the SageMC options (or Music/Video Library Seach) to see what I mean.


Custom Categories

You are now able to assign any category to any video library file. Bring up the options menu for the file in the video library in 'File System' view (or choose 'Edit Video Info'), then you can select a category from a list of names which are defined in the file "genres.txt" in the SageMCE directory. You can edit this file and add/remove categories to your liking. It will pick up the changes right away, a SageTV restart is not necessary. I left the recently added "alias" functionality in there, but I guess this new functionality makes it obsolete, and I might remove it in one of the following builds.

As requested it is also possible to change the category of multiple files at once by selecting the folder in 'File System' view and bringing up the options menu. In addition to changing the category you can now also create .my files for all files in the folder, as well as add them to a playlist.


Picture Library

I basically rewrote the picture library code from scratch and was able to achieve (at least on my system) a very noticeable performance improvement - I do not get any spinning icons any more, and the navigation through folders and pictures is snappy, even with > 4000 images in the library. This is of course assuming that you have generated thumbnails for all your pictures, so if you haven't already done it select it once from the Picture Library Menu.

In addition to performance, the following changes have been made:

- fixed sorting by date which did not work at all (same in the default STV). Folders will be sorted according to the newest contained picture.
- added sort order Ascending/Descending (options menu for sort button)
- added picture count indicator to folders
- speeded up thumbnail generation by only generating thumbnail if picture doesnt have one yet
- added picture navigation to full screen picture view, press up/down to cycle through all pictures of the current folder



Other changes include:

- added custom 'Exit Cmd' menu item which can be renamed
- added clock font size setting
- added "Unarchive" button for archived TV shows
- fixed "remove from custom group" which did not work
- fixed "delete custom group" which did not save correctly
- not generating .myfile for music files any more


Tip: I added

sagemc/exit_cmd=E\:\\Tools\\nircmd\\nircmd.exe
sagemc/exit_cmd_args=cmdwait,5000,exec2,show,"E\:\\Video\\SageTV\\SageTV","E\:\\Video\\SageTV\\SageTV\\SageTVClient.exe"
sagemc/exit_menu_name=Restart

as a custom exit command. Works perfect and is sometimes pretty convenient

Enjoy,

Dirk

[Morgan111]

Great! Can't wait to try it out tonight. I have fallen a few revs behind.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Ok, no teasing any more, here is a new update.

Dude, that is so unfair.

[geogecko]

LOL. Hmm...only one teaser left...

Gonna do something about that Mike?

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by geogecko

LOL. Hmm...only one teaser left...

Gonna do something about that Mike?

But what would you have to look forward to then? Life would be empty and devoid of meaning. I would hate to be the one who causes you to descend into a hopeless fit of depression. Ok, maybe I'm slightly overstating my importance. (but you still have to wait a little longer )

[alleghator]

Okey dokey ... just for clarification ...

When updating to a new version of MC, it is necessary to extract and install which files? Just the .xml and .jar? All files? I don't want to wipe out my other customizations to this point by wiping and rewriting more than I have to, but I do want to be thorough.

Thanks!

--Heidi

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by alleghator

Okey dokey ... just for clarification ...

When updating to a new version of MC, it is necessary to extract and install which files? Just the .xml and .jar? All files? I don't want to wipe out my other customizations to this point by wiping and rewriting more than I have to, but I do want to be thorough.

Thanks!

--Heidi

Heidi,

usually it is only necessary to extract SageMC_169.xml and sagemc.jar, unless otherwise noted. For 6.12 you might also want to extract SageMCE\genres.txt to get a template in case you want to use the catageory change functionality.

In defense of Mike, the sagemc.jar has only be added recently, so in the past it was only required to extract the xml file ...

Dirk

[MeInMaui]

Heidi,

I made some comments in the graphics thread. Hopfully that will answer your question.

Dirk,

This seems like it is going to be an ongoing issue. Would it be possible to split out all of the graphics included in your download into a separate zipfile (also containing the correct folder structure) within the download? Maybe something like this:

SageMC_169_v6.xx.zip
-->Default_Graphics.zip
-->everything else as usual

The Default_Graphics.zip file would end up harmessly in the SageTV folder. It would only need to be extracted upon first-time installation or if you ever wanted to restore the original graphics. Hope that makes sense. Any thoughts?

Aloha,
Mike

[alleghator]

OK, so I'm going with the .xml file, the .jar file and the genres.txt file. Gotcha!

--Heidi

[Kirby]

I have a better idea if its possible, for the graphics. How about creating and using graphics library files (some sort of archive) that contain all the images. Is that possible? Then you could just drop the whole image container (like a ZIP or CAB or whatever) into the directory, and have MC options point to the one you want, and then MC could pull images it needs from that image archive without actually uncompressing them, and having overwrite issues. Or would that create too much lag in the system, or not even possible? Just a hair-brained idea I had.. just ignore it if I am nuts (but please tell me if I am nuts so I can get myself some help).

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

The Default_Graphics.zip file would end up harmessly in the SageTV folder. It would only need to be extracted upon first-time installation or if you ever wanted to restore the original graphics. Hope that makes sense. Any thoughts?

Aloha,
Mike

Mike, good idea, I updated the current download file. In the long run I would like to put a new 6.0 base package together containing everything so that I ideally only have to include the .xml and JAR file in the future.

Dirk

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Mike, good idea, I updated the current download file. In the long run I would like to put a new 6.0 base package together containing everything so that I ideally only have to include the .xml and JAR file in the future.

Dirk

Thanks Dirk. Hopefully this will help alleviate some confusion. I like the Idea of the 6.0 base install also.

Mike

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

But what would you have to look forward to then? Life would be empty and devoid of meaning. I would hate to be the one who causes you to descend into a hopeless fit of depression. Ok, maybe I'm slightly overstating my importance. (but you still have to wait a little longer )

Okay, I think I have it figured out. What has to happen now, is that Dirk needs to tease us with some kind of new feature first, then Mike can release his graphics or something. This way, we always have something that we're just tapping our fingers for, how about that?

[alleghator]

Beautiful!

Mike, your genre icons look lovely now!



Thank you EVERYONE for all your help!
--Heidi

[alleghator]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Custom Categories

You are now able to assign any category to any video library file. Bring up the options menu for the file in the video library in 'File System' view (or choose 'Edit Video Info'), then you can select a category from a list of names which are defined in the file "genres.txt" in the SageMCE directory. You can edit this file and add/remove categories to your liking. It will pick up the changes right away, a SageTV restart is not necessary. I left the recently added "alias" functionality in there, but I guess this new functionality makes it obsolete, and I might remove it in one of the following builds.

It wouldn't be beyond me to have missed this explanation somewhere, but ... can we add more than one category to a file? I see that IMDB-searchable files can have multiple categories.

For example, I'd like some old Muppet Shows I would like to have both the Family and Comedy categories. But, when I use the new built-in category feature, one overwrites the other. Is there a properties or text file somewhere that can be edited for each video to add "slashes"? You know like, "family / comedy / animation" or whatever.

(am I just being picky, now?)

--Heidi

[GlennPT]

I don't know if it't me or what but I can never find the menu's that are posted about in here. An example is Flashbar writes the instructions for installing SageMC16x9 STV Latest build and says " SageMC_169.xml in Setup/Advanced/Load Application Package". I don't have any menus that say this and yes I am running SageMC. I just reinstalled and rebuild the whole thing following the instructions to the letter (or damn close). The only menu's I have close are settings/detail setup. Flashbar also talks about tons of settings. I don't seem to have those either. Can someone please,please point me in the correct direction here. Maybe screen shot, or detailed instructions for me. I would love to fix my problem with my ripped DVD repeating the previews. Thanks

Glenn

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by alleghator

It wouldn't be beyond me to have missed this explanation somewhere, but ... can we add more than one category to a file? I see that IMDB-searchable files can have multiple categories.

The Sage core supports up to two categories: Category / Subcategory

(am I just being picky, now?)

Not at all, you have a valid point. The current code can only set the main category, and always clears the subcategory. Wait for an update tonight ...

Dirk