Wanted: Developer for Web Interface Mobile

[jreichen]

It's a Samsung A737. It's a decent phone, probably middle of the pack these days.

I'd like to use a video format that most phones support and doesn't require extra setup or purchasing another player.

The webserver uses VLC for transcoding, so the version of WMV would depend on what VLC produces.

[reggie14]

3gp is almost certainly the way to go. I kind of wonder if you should stay away from aac audio. I'm actually surprised it worked on my phone. I have some aac music files that won't play, but for some reason the 3gp/H.263/aac played back OK.

But, I still think you should make the encoding options as configurable as possible. I was hoping you'd be able to piggy back on the webserver's VLC streaming, but that won't be possible since it doesn't suppose 3gp streaming.

It would be cool if you got something working with ffmpeg, since then I think there's at least a chance you could get fast-forward and rewind working too.

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by reggie14

3gp is almost certainly the way to go. I kind of wonder if you should stay away from aac audio. I'm actually surprised it worked on my phone. I have some aac music files that won't play, but for some reason the 3gp/H.263/aac played back OK.

Amr would be the best choice for audio in order to support the most devices, but aac sounds a lot better. You might compare the aac bitrate and sample rate on your files. My phone only supports a few settings. But I agree with you on the configurability.

Originally Posted by reggie14

But, I still think you should make the encoding options as configurable as possible. I was hoping you'd be able to piggy back on the webserver's VLC streaming, but that won't be possible since it doesn't suppose 3gp streaming.

I think it does, but I find VLC to be unstable (not just on 3gp). Maybe with some more testing I could find some settings it handles reliably. There is a new version of VLC but it hasn't been released into the Ubuntu repository. Maybe they're waiting for the 8.10 upgrade next month. (I know I could install it separately, but prefer to manage all my software through the package manager).

I tried adding H.263/3gp settings to transcode.properties in the webserver but it didn't replace values in all the command line parameters I needed to use.

It would be nice to use the webserver's streaming, but since they run in different engines, some degree of integration would be necessary, whether it's on my part or on the user's part.

Originally Posted by reggie14

It would be cool if you got something working with ffmpeg, since then I think there's at least a chance you could get fast-forward and rewind working too.

I'm not familiar with ffmpeg's streaming, but wouldn't be against researching it. I think part of the webserver's problem with ff/rew is that it basically proxies VLC's output to the user, but doesn't listen for commands coming back in. Or, since it's HTTP and not RTSP, it could just be that the VLC client doesn't support it.

[geogecko]

Jason and crew, thanks for putting this together. I wish I had found it sooner than yesterday though!

I have this working on the iPhone 3G really well right now.

I would like to setup SSL, but had a few questions before trying it.

1. When entering the passwords for the keytool command line, these are just passwords for the certificate, not for any kind of access externally, correct?

2. If the default port for SSL is 8443, I assume that is the port we enter when trying to access the mobile web server, right? If so, if we are using both the web server, and the mobile web server, will these ports still need to be different as before? Or am I not understanding this correctly, and 8443 is just for the encryption, and the original ports (8080 and 8081) are still valid when accessing the web servers?

Thanks again for this great addition to SageTV.

[geogecko]

Okay, got everything with SSL figured out, which was fairly easy. It might be good to include the different ports thing in there, for the newbies. I used 8448 for the webserver, and 8443 for the mobile websever.

I had to make an exception to the certificate when using Firefox to accept that the domain name was different, when using the regular web server at home, on the same network that my HTPC resides on. It was easy, but the link was little, and took me a while to find on the error message. Once I did this, I was able to access the webserver on the same network.

Interestingly enough, I thought I might run into a problem when doing the same thing on the iPhone (it switches to WiFi when I get home, so is located on the same network). I used a local URL and did not have any problems with it accepting the certificate.

One other little tidbit, don't forget to change your forwarded ports on your router to match the new SSL ports.

So, I guess I don't need answers to the above questions anymore!

[geogecko]

Just thought I'd post some screenshots, as the screenshots that were mentioned in a blog are no longer in the blog post. This is on an iPhone.

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by geogecko

Jason and crew, thanks for putting this together. I wish I had found it sooner than yesterday though!

Welcome, and thanks for the pictures! It looks like you've answered most of your own questions, but I'll comment on a few things.

Originally Posted by geogecko

1. When entering the passwords for the keytool command line, these are just passwords for the certificate, not for any kind of access externally, correct?

They're just for the certificate. Passwords for the web pages are stored in SAGE_HOME/jetty/etc/realm.properties. The certificates are compatible with nielm's webserver since they're both created by Java's keytool.

Originally Posted by geogecko

2. If the default port for SSL is 8443, I assume that is the port we enter when trying to access the mobile web server, right? If so, if we are using both the web server, and the mobile web server, will these ports still need to be different as before? Or am I not understanding this correctly, and 8443 is just for the encryption, and the original ports (8080 and 8081) are still valid when accessing the web servers?

Nielm's webserver and the mobile web server must be on different ports. Nielm's web server can only listen on one port at a time (either SSL or non-SSL, but not both). The mobile webserver can listen on both.

[jreichen]

While I'm here in the thread, I thought I'd give an update. I finished up video conversions and conflict resolution. Support has also been added to confirm media file deletion and favorite removal. And the listings can be filtered by category.

The last thing I'm working on before releasing an update is searching for tv recordings. The user interface is in pretty good shape, but I have yet to start work on the backend.

That will pretty well round out the most common tv features (aside from watching video). Feel free to make suggestions if I overlooked something, or add your comments on the general appearance and flow.

I mostly use this for the tv scheduling features. How much interest is there for the other media types (music, video, dvd, pictures, playlists)?

[Brent]

Originally Posted by jreichen

How much interest is there for the other media types (music, video, dvd, pictures, playlists)?

I'd be interested in the other media to be included eventually - especially if there was hope to stream that media to some of these devices in the long run. I use this plugin fairly often to check the tv EPG and upcoming recordings while on the road - It's a winner already in my book

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by geogecko

...It might be good to include the different ports thing in there, for the newbies....

Done. I added information to the step for configuring the port.

[jreichen]

Version 1.4 of the Jetty plugin is now available on the downloads page. This update is not required at this time. It will be required if you configure the Sage RPC APIs to run in Jetty (not available yet).

Changes in this version:

• Change package names from net.sf.sageplugins.* to sagex.*. Be sure to follow the instructions on the wiki upgrade page to update Sage.properties.
• Provide access to Jetty configuration objects. Provides APIs for web applications to find server, port, etc.
• HTTP compression headers were set even when compression filter streams were not used. This happened when an invalid URL was requested and an HTTP 404 response was sent by Jetty. On the client, the browser displayed a message about invalid compression rather than an HTTP 404 error.
• Ensure HTTP compression headers are set. Somehow they are not always preserved after the filter chain finishes, and the client will display garbage in the window.

[voorhees]

Fantastic plugin...really love it. Thanks so much for the great work. It works great on my BlackBerry 8800 with Opera Mini. I updated the Wiki with my device info.

Oh yeah, I am unable to get it to work on my BlackBerry with the standard browser. I get a "HTTP Error 500: Internal Server Error." It does work great on Opera Mini however. Has anyone gotten it to work on the BB Browser? If so, how?

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by voorhees

Has anyone gotten it to work on the BB Browser? If so, how?

I tried it on a Curve and didn't have any problems. Check sagetv_0.txt and SAGE_HOME/jetty/logs for errors. You can increase the amount of logging by uncommenting the DEBUG property in JettyStarter.properties and restarting Sage. Feel free to post your logs and I'll look through them.

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by jreichen

I tried it on a Curve and didn't have any problems. Check sagetv_0.txt and SAGE_HOME/jetty/logs for errors. You can increase the amount of logging by uncommenting the DEBUG property in JettyStarter.properties and restarting Sage. Feel free to post your logs and I'll look through them.

I am recording something right now, so I can not restart SageTV. And, I was unable to find a file named sagetv_0.txt. Where would this file be located? However, I did look though the logs, and since I am not sure what I am looking for, I did not see anything that stood out. I have attached the most recent log where I played with the settings in the BlackBerry Internet Browser but never got it to work. I always got the same 500 Error. I then used Opera Mini and it worked fine as always. I would really like to use the BlackBerry Internet Browser, since I only use Opera Mini to access the SageTV Mobile Web. Once I get the DEBUG property uncommented and get more logging, I will post an updated log.

Do you see anything weird in the attached file?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: The time stamp for each of the lines in the log file seems to be off. The last item has the time stamp [21/Oct/2008:03:11:23 +0000], but actually took place at 9:11pm on 20 October 2008. Is there any way the difference could be the problem? Any idea why the time stamp in the log file is off by +6 hours?

[jreichen]

Are you recording the Broncos getting smoked right now?

I don't see anything too weird. Just for comparison, your log says "BlackBerry8800/4.2.1 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100", whereas mine says "BlackBerry8330/4.3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/106".

I need to see your sagetv_0.txt log to get more details. It is in your SageTV installation directory (C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV on Windows).

I noticed the time difference. Mine log is the same. The time in your log is GMT, so it's going to be 6 hours ahead of you. I'm not sure if it can be changed. I'll look into it sometime.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by voorhees

I was unable to find a file named sagetv_0.txt. Where would this file be located?

Check for Debugging in the SageTV FAQ Thread on the forum menu at the top of the screen (i.e. here).

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by jreichen

Are you recording the Broncos getting smoked right now?

I actually was recording the Broncos getting spanked. What was up with that.

Originally Posted by jreichen

I need to see your sagetv_0.txt log to get more details. It is in your SageTV installation directory (C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV on Windows).

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Check for Debugging in the SageTV FAQ Thread on the forum menu at the top of the screen (i.e. here).

rickgillyon, thanks for the pointer. No wonder I could not find the file.

OK, I shut down SageTV, turned on debugging, uncommented the DEBUG property in JettyStarter.properties, and restarted SageTV. Then I tried going to the mobile web page using my BlackBerry Internet Browser, and I got the 500 Internet Error. I tried with Opera Mini, and it worked fine. I tried again with the BlackBerry Internet Browser, and I got the 500 Internet Error again. I then tried going to the mobile web page with IE 7 on my computer and it worked fine. I then shut down SageTV. So, it looks like I have no problem getting to my SageTV mobile web page as long as I do not use the BlackBerry Internet Browser. Very strange. I have attached the sagetv_0.txt log and the jetty log. Do you happen to see anything that points to a culprit? Any ideas?

Thanks so much for your help.

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by voorhees

I actually was recording the Broncos getting spanked. What was up with that.

lol, I had to ask.

OK, I think I know what's going on. I actually found this recently and it's fixed in the Jetty plugin version 1.4 (directions for downloading and installing it are a few posts back). It assumed the client will always send an Accept-Encoding header and throws a NullPointerException if it doesn't. There are other NullPointerExceptions in the log, but look for the one near "CompressionFilter".

Since I changed the Java package names, you'll need a new version of the SageWebApp.zip to be able to use it with the Jetty plugin 1.4. The zip file now exceeds the 750K limit for attachments, so I created a download page for it. This next update is not quite finished, but should be pretty stable. The search page doesn't do much yet, but everything else should work.

Anyone else interested in the update can feel free to download it, too.

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by jreichen

Since I changed the Java package names, you'll need a new version of the SageWebApp.zip to be able to use it with the Jetty plugin 1.4. The zip file now exceeds the 750K limit for attachments, so I created a download page for it. This next update is not quite finished, but should be pretty stable. The search page doesn't do much yet, but everything else should work.

Couple quick things. First, the new web app is working great for me with Jetty plugin 1.4 Second, during installation, I really struggled to find a central place that has exactly what I need to install. The wiki was great, but I couldn't find anywhere a reference to the need to download the webapp. Just a suggestion, but it may be beneficial to update the first post in this thread with a link to each of the download pages and also a quick list of a change history. I know this plugin is new and is a work in progress, but it would be great to get that at some point.

Keep up the great work!

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

...Second, during installation, I really struggled to find a central place that has exactly what I need to install. The wiki was great, but I couldn't find anywhere a reference to the need to download the webapp. Just a suggestion, but it may be beneficial to update the first post in this thread with a link to each of the download pages and also a quick list of a change history. I know this plugin is new and is a work in progress, but it would be great to get that at some point.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks for the feedback. I added a list of applications that run in Jetty (just the mobile web interface for now) to the Jetty wiki page. The mobile web interface install and upgrade wiki pages already have instructions for installing the Jetty plugin and nielm's web server. All the wiki links as well as post #6 now reference the new download page for getting the mobile web interface. Feel free to point out anything that might still be missing.

Since Brent created this thread, he'll need to make any changes to the first post.