ANy way to Shut Down the PC from within Sage?

[kelemvor]

I don't record things very often and therefor don't really want my PC left on all the time. However since it's just a Sage box in by my DVD Player, I don't have a keyboard or mouse attached to it.

Is there any way from within Sage (v5) that I can have it shut down the PC completely for when I'm not using it? Currently I either have to press the actual power button, or use the remote to exit full screen, then use it to move the mouse pointer around and manually shut down the PC that way which is a pain.

I guess I could make a macro on my remote to do it but I wouldn't want someone accidentally pushing it and then killing the PC in the middle of something.

Thanks.

[Goodspike]

Not quite what you're asking for, but what I do is have the bios turn the computer on at 4:45 pm, and have a scheduled task turn it off at 1:xx am.

And really not what you're asking for, but try ditching the remote and using a long range mouse (e.g. a bluetooth or Gyration mouse).

[kelemvor]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

Not quite what you're asking for, but what I do is have the bios turn the computer on at 4:45 pm, and have a scheduled task turn it off at 1:xx am.

I'm just looking for an easy way that from within the Sage Menus I can choose "Power off this PC" or something and have it exit Sage and just shut itself down.

But I'm not finding a way to do that so I guess I'll just have to trly on the power button.

[nielm]

Using my dynamic menus, create a menu item that runs:

c:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe

with arguments

-s

With the dynamic menus, you could also pincode protect it, and/or add a confirmation prompt, and if you feel that you might still run it by accident, add a timeout in the arguments (-t 30 for 30 secs -- run shutdown in a command window to view full arguments)...

If you cannot figure out how to do this, post back and I will create a pasteable MenuItemLet....

[nielm]

Oh, and if you (or anyone) wants a menu item to put the PC into standby,
PsShutdown from SysInternals may be a useful program to install (-d argument)

[nielm]

Originally Posted by jds23

Not Sage bashing,

yes you are

but why something like this takes a third party program, a modification to the bios, or learning to use studio to add a button control set to Close/Suspend/Hibernate/Reboot the CPU/Sagetv (if that's even possible in studio)

Because 99% of Sage users don't want to shutdown/power off the PC from within the SageTV interface using only the remote?

(The bios mod was for auto power on; power off/reboot does not require a 3rd party program; and yes it can be done in studio by creating a button that executes "shutdown -s", but my dynamic menus plugin was released precisely for the purpose of easily allowing users to add custom tasks to the sage menus.)

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by jds23

Not Sage bashing, but why something like this takes a third party program, a modification to the bios, or learning to use studio to add a button control set to Close/Suspend/Hibernate/Reboot the CPU/Sagetv (if that's even possible in studio) to accomplish this simple task is beyond me. SageMC will allow you to close Sagetv and go to your desktop as an alternative, and I think you can add some custom exit commands (maybe one could include shutting down the PC), not sure on that one.

I guess my playing with Vista MCE for the last few days is making me a bit more aware of how simple things like this really should be.

It's a PVR. It needs to record programs. It needs to run all the time. It shouldn't be easy to shut if off accidentally. The program is protecting itself from the user. Because when that program doesn't record that's the first thing you're going to blame.

Gerry

[kelemvor]

Originally Posted by nielm

Using my dynamic menus, create a menu item that runs:

c:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe

with arguments

-s

With the dynamic menus, you could also pincode protect it, and/or add a confirmation prompt, and if you feel that you might still run it by accident, add a timeout in the arguments (-t 30 for 30 secs -- run shutdown in a command window to view full arguments)...

If you cannot figure out how to do this, post back and I will create a pasteable MenuItemLet....

I don't have the faintest idea how to create a new Menu option so if you could shoot me a link with some instructions that would be great.

Don't need to pincode but maybe an Are you sure? prompt would be nice.

Thanks.

[nielm]

Originally Posted by kelemvor

I don't have the faintest idea how to create a new Menu option so if you could shoot me a link with some instructions that would be great.

as mentioned, you need my dynamic menus plugin.

Once installed,

• RightClick/Esc/Options to bring up the popup.
• New->New External Program
• Program Name: "C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe"
• Arguments: -s
• Disable Fullscreen before running
• Menu Text: Shutdown (or whatever)
• Highlight the new 'shutdown' menu item
• RightClick/Esc/Options to bring up the popup.
• Edit Menu Item ->Set Confirmation Prompt
• Enter: Are you sure you want to shutdown (or whatever)
• File->Save

You can move the menu item around, copy and paste it using the Edit Menu Item options...

Or copy the following text and in the options popup of my dynamic menus, do New->Paste menu item from clipboard.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE sageMenu PUBLIC "-//NIELM//DTD SAGEMENU XML 1.4//EN" "http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm/nielm_modules/dynamic_menu/sagemenu_1_3.dtd">
<sageMenu version="1.4">
    <actionMenuItem title="Shutdown and Power Off">
        <confirmPrompt>Are you sure you want to shutdown this PC</confirmPrompt>
        <actionList>
            <sageCommand command="Disable Full Screen"/>
            <extCommand arguments="-s" command="c:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe" waitforexit="0" window="normal"/>
        </actionList>
    </actionMenuItem>
</sageMenu>

[kelemvor]

Originally Posted by nielm

as mentioned, you need my dynamic menus plugin.

Once installed,...

Thanks. I'll give it a try this afternoon.

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by nielm

Disable Fullscreen before running

Ha!

The lack of this in a couple of my dynamic menu selections has caused SageTV to crash..... I therefore disabled Fullscreen.

No, I can re-enable it!

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by gplasky

It's a PVR. It needs to record programs. It needs to run all the time. It shouldn't be easy to shut if off accidentally. The program is protecting itself from the user. Because when that program doesn't record that's the first thing you're going to blame.

Gerry

But other PVR programs will have the machine go into standby or hibernate when a recording is over. Personally I never found that useful, either because I was using multiple programs, or because not everything functioned property after coming out of hibernate or standby. That's why in my post above I mention a scheduled shutdown, and then reboot.

But having that as an option within the application is fairly standard.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Goodspike

But other PVR programs will have the machine go into standby or hibernate when a recording is over.

Just so you know: SageTV can also work with your power settings in Windows to allow the system to go into standby. SageTV will schedule the wake-up in time for the next recording. (It won't wake the system for Intelligent Recording items added to the schedule, but it will for Favs and Manual Recordings.)

- Andy

[rwc]

I like the idea for the 'client' that we have in our bedroom! (This way I can be lazy and not get out of bed turn off the (client) computer )

Horray for being lazy!
rwc

[nielm]

Jds23: please stop cluttering up these threads with irrelevant criticism. A user asked if he could shut down his PC from within Sage (not 'close Sage'). I gave him a way of doing it.

There is an entire thread devoted to criticising the Sage UI -- move your rants over there please.

PS: kelemvor: you're welcome

[jbarr]

Sorry to digress here....

I tend to agree with the "SageTV is a PVR, so it typically doesn't need to be shutdown" arument, but obviously, this doesn't satisfy 100% of the users. Just keep into perspective that the real power of SageTV is in its customizability. There are many features and functions that are not "core" SageTV that I and many SageTV users would love to see rolled into the core, but realistically I don't think that will happen. I believe that SageTV providing a solid, stable, extendible system is more important than providing every feature conceivable. Just look at what happens to so many other products when feature bloat takes over. I say, leave the nuances up to third-party developers.

Oh, and that nielm provided an effective solution to a niche problem just illustrates the effectiveness of this community!

[dlandrum]

Originally Posted by rwc

I like the idea for the 'client' that we have in our bedroom! (This way I can be lazy and not get out of bed turn off the (client) computer )

Horray for being lazy!
rwc

I use a program called Eventghost. I have it set to restart a 30 minute timer everytime I press a button on my remote. When the timer is up, it sends IR to turn off the TV, close Sage, and put the PC in standby; this usually happens when I have fallen asleep watching a show. When the PC resumes, it sends the TV-On IR and starts Sage.

I also use Eventghost to send Volume+- to the TV instead of using the PC volume.

[Opus4]

I think one point is that it doesn't do any good to just keep harping on the forum -- Niel answered the question of one way to accomplish what was desired. Arguing with him about whether that is the best way to do it is a bit pointless. If you have a suggestion for SageTV, submit it directly to them. There are no promises that it will be implemented, though.

- Andy

[mayamaniac]

jds23, I think your point is taken, and no, it's not that critical over the many other things that SageTV still lacks. For example, the ability to play a music CD without ripping it first. This feature has been requested like a thousand times and a large percentage of users want this more so then a shutdown feature.

I think the majority of power users here are aware of the competitions such as MCE or BTV, but they chose SageTV for a reason. Sure it lacks many little features that are available on other products, but SageTV also has some innovative features that are way ahead of the competitions. When you look the product as a whole, I don't think a little thing like a shutdown feature will deter people from using SageTV. Running a PVR on an HTPC is still for computer hobbyists, not for the average person. They should get a Tivo or a preconfigured MCE box, those are for the average person. SageTV is not there yet in terms of easy-to-setup and I'm not sure it will ever be. So using the dynamic menu isn't that complicated for the average computer hobbyist.

[stevech]

perhaps 1/3 of the shows we watch are recorded while we sleep.