Any interest in a plugin to support/control the Sony XL1B firewire DVD changer?

[Thraxius]

Cool... That is nice.
By the way I finally got the execute process to work.
It happened yesterday. I figured it out. Instead of spliting a string. I did a create array and pass it to execute process.

So I am on the last part which is starting the player and displaying it on the screen. This I hope won't take me more than a day. I will then post the STV. I will also look into that nas thing and see exactly how I can incorporate it into the solution. Which it might be really good to look at.

[Thraxius]

Well for the good and bad news.

Good News:
I have a working copy of the STV.

Bad News:
I don't know if I really want to continue down this path with the NAS thing that Stanger89 posted.

Give me some feed back on what you think I should do. I might just continue to modify and fix the current setup. There are a bunch of things that I think could be done to make it look nicer but I was just trying to get it setup for usage. I wasn't really going for pretty.

Please let me know what you think I should do? No reason on posting an STV learning how to make it into a STVi and then upgrading it if nobody will be using it.

[TerryMathews]

The NAS program really is the best way, since it's going to list the DVDs in a directory structure in the same manner that SageTV looks for ripped DVDs on your HD.

Played around with it a little bit before dinner today and it's pretty nice. I think another version or two and I'll actually deploy it.

[bwallis]

Any success with getting this STVi? I tried to install the Wunko NAS server for the XL1B. I was able to cache the DVD Changer but I cannot get the NAS Server to begin running. Has anyone had success with this? If it can be done on MCE, shouldn't we have an option for Sage?

[Cutty Shark]

The Wunko NAS so far works good. Some notes once its installed.

1. DHCP for your NIC has to be enabled. (Seems the Virt server Duplicates your NIC settings...so if its static...uses the same IP so its DOA...if its DHCP...it gets an IP address. To keep things simple I also killed Windows Firewall)

2. Once you have the app loaded follow these steps as it were.

-Click Refresh changer List
-Highlight your changer...then click Add to Virtual NAS
-At this point you can click on changer properties or click on Create cache.
-I did the create cache for a few discs and then canceled it. Seemed to act like it finnished for all intents and purposes.
-Now click start Virtual Server
Once this is running go to Network Places. If all is well then a folder should pop up called "Media on CIFSSMB (Wunkomedia)" Double click that and bam...there are your directories (From all discs Cached...click on a file and listen to the Changer purr).

So far has worked well. This thing rocks...wish I would have bought more then 1 Changer though...With this program it would actually make it a badass setup.

MP3's...the Nas Program has ALOT of promise.
Data Discs...Again ALOT of promise.
DVDs...as it sits now..unless you know what disc is in what slot...not there yet.

Anyways...

Finally posted on SageTV forums. (Only been trolling here for a year)

Anyways...peace.

-Cutty

[hemicuda]

Originally Posted by Cutty Shark

1. DHCP for your NIC has to be enabled. (Seems the Virt server Duplicates your NIC settings...so if its static...uses the same IP so its DOA...if its DHCP...it gets an IP address. To keep things simple I also killed Windows Firewall)

That screws me. I'm on static or MAC-specified IPs on the LAN. Unless I can get it to bond to the settings of the 2nd NIC I'm using for the HDHR. Still don't have 'clearance' to start bidding for the changer though.

[Cutty Shark]

The DHCP thing was just my observation. I maybe way off...but until I setup DHCP wasnt workin for me. Would have to talk to ZorroB on the AVS boards.

Though he did mention he wants to change how it works and let the Host machine handle the sharing instead of the Virtual NAS. Basically it would get a drive letter and by the OS be treated like a drive...even though its a Virt server.

[jwoycheese]

Originally Posted by Thraxius

I have noticed that it always comes down to a debate when people say they want to program this dvd changer to be used with sage. Pretty much I will repeat myself here. I don't want to rip all my dvd's.

Yeah, this was pretty much my feeling. I have a Pioneer DV-F07 300-disk changer (actually, 301, but since the box is in a closet, that last slot is less useful), and wanted to control it via the computer. Happily, a) the unit has a serial port and b) I happen to have the command list.

I know that Stanger would be very unhappy, but I decided that it would be pretty cool to send the output from the DVD player to the input for my Hauppauge MCE-500; thus, I could view my DVD's without having to futz around with switching inputs, etc, on the TV and receiver. I foresaw several problems: 1) getting the commands to be passed from Sage to the player via the comm port, 2) having all the data in Sage (god bless stanger and his DVDPro2Sage, as this is a non-issue), 3) showing the appropriate channel after selecting my video, and 4) not recording the channel (also a non-issue, see below).

The first one was a bit troublesome, as I am somewhat of a java newbie and had trouble determining how I could communicate with the serial port from java. I got the javacomm package (http://java.sun.com/products/javacomm/index.jsp) and, after changing from version 3 to 2 (based on recommendations from elsewhere), copying a dll and another file to (it seemed like) 14 differerent directories (I mentioned the newbie thing, right?), and sacrificing a chicken at midnight, I resolved this issue.

Stanger's DVDPro2Sage package was a godsend, although I had to modify the version I had (1.8) to add some functionality. I included some functions to return the discs, with their respective slots and locations, for a particular DVD, or to return the first slot (or location) for a given DVD. (For those who are unaware, DVD Profiler allows you to associate multiple disks with a given DVD, like the Feature Presentation and Bonus disks, each of which can be assigned a particular "location" -- I used a player number -- and "slot" -- location in that player.) I now have a very ugly series of actions in my STV that change the action of the "Play" button for particular offline DVDs such that the button sends a command over the comm port to load and then play a particular DVD. Happily, the comm connection also allows me to verify the current state of the DVD player -- turning it on first, for example -- although I haven't yet implemented any of the feedback side.

The third and fourth issues were simple, as I just had to configure the input for the 500MCE in Sage, then add a couple of actions to the end of the widget chain for the play button. In particular, I used the WatchLive(CaptureDeviceInput, PauseBufferSize) command to prevent Sage from recording the DVD channel, where the first argument is a string that provides the name of the 500MCE input, and the second is 0 (i.e., tells sage not to encode the stream). I followed this with a reference to the media player widget. The only minor (very minor) gripe I have is that there is a minor delay of a second or so, which means that remote commands are not instantaneous. But, meh, I can deal with that, given that I don't have a 2-hour recording by Sage of a DVD I already have...

I have to say that it's pretty awesome to be able to select any of my videos or DVDs and have them play in Sage. It also allows me to listen to a movie (or watch it in a small window) as I surf the web, etc. It's the small things in life you treasure.

Now I just need to figure out how to make the Toolbar for SageMC buttons send different commands for channel 1 (the input channel) than for the rest of the channels. But that's an issue for another thread...

Cheers,
jpw

[solomonsok]

Hi,

Seems the progress with the CD/DVD Sony Changer in underway!!!

Where can I download the files needed to try the plugin?

Searched everywhere and can't find!

PS: The screen shots look great!

Look forward to testing.

Cheers
Sol

[Thraxius]

Well to be honest I never posted the STV.
The reason is because I thought that my work was not needed anymore.
I can say I have found some bugs I am working through at this time.

Don't get me wrong it works. I click on my dvd and it loads and plays.
I have started working on some of the bugs I have found. Just because I like the way my setup works and for me to spend that much time on it. I just don't want to abandon it.

Let me get my stuff together and I will pack everything up and make a post for it.

[solomonsok]

Hi,

Seems the plugin is on track... Bug fixes are always a good thing.

Have you tested the plugin with 6.4.x release code... As I noticed that some things especialliy in STV/STVi format no longer work.

eg. nielm, dynamic menu import.

Look forward to trying.

Cheers
Sol

[Thraxius]

I have not tested it on 6.4.
Hopefully the STV will work with 6.4 until I can cut the menus out and put them in the 6.4 STV.

I will probably be upgrading my work for myself on a regular basis and will provide it to the community. There are a lot of things I either need to figure out or fix.

Tonight I will be free to upload and put all my information in a single thread. I will also post instructions on how to get it to work. I am trying to clear out some personal setup stuff now so that it will work generically.

I really was hoping someone else would have taken this on. Because I feel so out of place trying to do something like this.

[bcjenkins]

So new in 6.4 studio is the ability to diff your work and generate an stvi. You should be able to do a plugin once you move to 6.4 with no issue at all.

B

[Thraxius]

That would make it really easy. I am happy to hear that.

Here goes the link to the STV. Enjoy. Comment and if it does not work I will try to help you as much as I can.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...116#post281116

I will be keeping a running list of things I am working on next in the STV.

[tahoebob]

Originally Posted by Trauncher

After weeks of messing around with all of the known utilities that claim to allow control of the Sony 200 Disc DVD (XL1b that ships with the Sony Digital Living system, A Media Center PC) changer on a Macintosh, I actually have it working perfectly.

Its simple! first, acquire from 1 to 5 XL1b libraries (from $125 to $300 bucks all over the internet including amazon.com)

Set them up by daisy chaining them with firewire 400 cables and connect the main unit to your MAC.
NOTE: the first unit in the chain (the one actually connected to your mac) MUST be he LOWEST serial number... then connect them in ascending order by serial number.

Load your DVDs... You can use the undocumented bulk load feature by pressing and holding the LOAD button on the front of the unit for two seconds and releasing.

Next download MediaFinderX for Mac OSX from:
http://www.portents.com/mediafinderx

This application is no longer supported, and was written for the PowerFile 200 changers (SONY OEM) This page also includes 5 activation codes so that you can bring from 1 to 5 libraries online. The codes that they list as freely usable on the page are:

# 22-023100-WWG8KWPP
# 22-023101-2K24S2GG
# 22-023102-CP2GKS88
# 22-023103-2S28S4GS
# 22-023104-WW22K422

Make sure to download the MFX 2.0 Beta for MacOSX 10.4 which supports both powerPC and Intel Macs on OSX 10.4 and above.

If you are running OSX 1.03, download their version 1.0.6 and use these codes to activate your libraries:

# 21-023100-S268PKG4
# 21-023101-C84CK8PS
# 21-023102-42VGCS82
# 21-023103-PC2K8PG4
# 21-023104-4KQ822PW

Install MediaFinderX and reboot.

then navigate to your Applications>Utilities folder, and run the MFXAdmin application and add the activation codes. NOTE: at this point, you should see your libraries in the MFXAdmin tool. When you have loaded the activation codes, your library(s) will start reading and cataloging your DVDs.

A side note: When DVDS are in transit IE: being loaded in the drives, you will not be able to access any of your local or network mapped disc drives, and anyone mapped to your mac cannot access them either. so be paitent while the discs are cataloged.

When this process is complete, download DiskTracker MFX from the same download page:
http://www.portents.com/mediafinderx. Version 1.0.6 works with MediaFinderX 2.0 and 1.0.6.

This is your Manager for your libraries...

You may also want to download RipMonkey which allows CD ripping in bulk from the libraries. The Rip Monkey activation code that they supply on this page is:
31-023100-W4P22G2K

This software was released to the public domain by the author when they stopped supporting it. I don't know if the source is available, but thus far, I have had absolutely NO problems with it on my macbook pro and on my MacPro 8 Core with 5 libraries installed and fully populated with 1000 DVD movies.

I hope you find this info useful.

Regards,
Trauncher...

I have 2 xl1b's and have tried the suggested programs, but the programs crash my system. I am running a MacBook Pro 15" (2010) with Snow Leopard. Do you have any suggestions? Or are you still using Tiger and your older MacBook Pro?

Thanks