SageMC: book of grudges :-)

[crusader]

Hi,

I've been using SageMC for a while and accumulated small list of grudges/problems. Maybe someone can help me fix them, pls?

1. How to integrate SageMC & comskip? Whatever I do -- they are independent and SageMC settings related to comskip have zero effect on it. (using comskipmonitor)

2. SageMC totally ignores "Reset watched flag when restarted"=No flag in SageTV. Every time I accidentally run/restart recording it gets "watched" flag removed.

3. How bookmarks supposed to work? they definitely have zero effect on playlist for audio (related option is enabled)


General SageTV stuff:
4. I have HDHomerun and for some mysterious reason XXXXXX-0 tuner is assigned id = 2 and XXXXXX-1 got id = 1. I tried to remove and add them in various orders, but they always end up like this. Is it possible to change their places?

5. How EPG gets built from lineups? In particular -- when channels from different lineups get merged into one entry on EPG? In my case I somehow ended up with two KETH (channels #14 and #14-1) and one KIAHD (channel #305) (I have OTA and Comcast ClearQAM sources).

6. what is .my file?

7. How parental control works? (especially in conjunction with intelligent recording)

8. which files in SageTV directory needs to be backed up regularly? (wiz.bin, what else?)

Thanks,
Michael.

[davephan]

No back arrow on all screens. There should be a back arrow on all screens, except for the first screen.

Dave

[jsonnabend]

No, "please wait" while the HD-PVR tunes (no indication at all that anything's happening).

Love SageMC, though.

- Jeff

[crusader]

Any help with original question? Please?

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by crusader

1. How to integrate SageMC & comskip? Whatever I do -- they are independent and SageMC settings related to comskip have zero effect on it. (using comskipmonitor)

Configure comskipmonitor external to sagemc.... Nothing special needs to be done by sagemc to use the .edl files comskip makes. Make sure the .edl files are being generated...

2. SageMC totally ignores "Reset watched flag when restarted"=No flag in SageTV. Every time I accidentally run/restart recording it gets "watched" flag removed.

where is this setting? I was quickly browsing the SageMC settings and could not find it...

3. How bookmarks supposed to work? they definitely have zero effect on playlist for audio (related option is enabled)

no idea... don't use them.. (actually dont really use sage for audio (yet...)

4. I have HDHomerun and for some mysterious reason XXXXXX-0 tuner is assigned id = 2 and XXXXXX-1 got id = 1. I tried to remove and add them in various orders, but they always end up like this. Is it possible to change their places?

not that im aware off...

5. How EPG gets built from lineups? In particular -- when channels from different lineups get merged into one entry on EPG? In my case I somehow ended up with two KETH (channels #14 and #14-1) and one KIAHD (channel #305) (I have OTA and Comcast ClearQAM sources).

14 is most likely comcast's version of 14-1 OTA (or the other way around)... AFAIK the channel numbers need to be identical for them to be combined... i would just disable the one you dont want to record from manually in channel setup if thats what you want...

6. what is .my file?

text files specific to sagemc that live alongside a mediafile (with the same name) that contain metadata. SageMC (if .my files were enabled) would display this metadata instead of the wiz.bin metadata.... thats about all i know about them.. I've never used them

7. How parental control works? (especially in conjunction with intelligent recording)

no idea... dont use parental controls or IR

8. which files in SageTV directory needs to be backed up regularly? (wiz.bin, what else?)

the wiz.bin is the only CRUCIAL, absolute most always be backed up file that i can think of... it contains all the metadata, favorites settings, recording history, etc, etc... the sage.properties, sageclient.properties, and \clients\MACAddress.properties files also contain settings for the service, client (on the server), and extenders which is good to back up...

I have a 7 day rolling nightly backup of my entire system partition.. that covers all my backup needs... I also make a backup before i modify my system (install/update software, perform big system maintenance, install windows updates, etc)

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by crusader

General SageTV stuff:
4. I have HDHomerun and for some mysterious reason XXXXXX-0 tuner is assigned id = 2 and XXXXXX-1 got id = 1. I tried to remove and add them in various orders, but they always end up like this. Is it possible to change their places?

Those are the HDHR hardware IDs, they're unique to (and fixed for) each HDHR device at the factory. There might be a customization to let you rename tuners though.

5. How EPG gets built from lineups? In particular -- when channels from different lineups get merged into one entry on EPG? In my case I somehow ended up with two KETH (channels #14 and #14-1) and one KIAHD (channel #305) (I have OTA and Comcast ClearQAM sources).

Stations with the same callsign are merged, stations with different callsigns are not. I believe the manual (in your SageTV install dir) covers this in more detail.

[MitchSchaft]

It does too have a back arrow option. You just have to turn that option on in the SageMC settings.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by MitchSchaft

It does too have a back arrow option. You just have to turn that option on in the SageMC settings.

I'll have to check out SageMC again and look for that back arrow option. The lack of the back arrow was highly annoying.

Dave

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Stations with the same callsign are merged, stations with different callsigns are not. I believe the manual (in your SageTV install dir) covers this in more detail.

for correctness, i believe it is actually the ChannelID being the same that triggers them to be combined, not the station name or logical number. If you want to make them combine, and you are sure that that cable 14 is broadcast 14-1, then you just need to remap the cable channel to the ID of the broadcast channel. then they will be combined (which logical number it decides to use I'm not sure, but that can also them be remaped).

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by davephan

I'll have to check out SageMC again and look for that back arrow option. The lack of the back arrow was highly annoying.

Dave

It's invisible in the upper left corner of the screen. I think on the main menu, it toggles fullscreen/window.

Aloha,
Mike

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

for correctness, i believe it is actually the ChannelID being the same that triggers them to be combined, not the station name or logical number. If you want to make them combine, and you are sure that that cable 14 is broadcast 14-1, then you just need to remap the cable channel to the ID of the broadcast channel. then they will be combined (which logical number it decides to use I'm not sure, but that can also them be remaped).

That might apply to OTA channels, I was thinking of non-OTA. I think Sage may do both/either depending on the lineups.

[Fuzzy]

i think in most cases, zap2it already combines comparable channels into the same channelID. (meaning KTLADT on the broadcast lineup from zap2it has the same channelID as KTLADT on local cable providers, adn DirecTV and Dish Network lineups). In this case, they will already be combined in Sage. Some smaller markets don't seem to be as correct on zap2it, such as a cable provider that only recently started carrying the HD broadcast is sometimes still having a seperate ChannelID for that than the HD broadcast. (KTLA vs. KTLADT).

[Opus4]

Channels are only merged in the guide if they are the same station; they are the same station if they have the same ID.

- Andy

[crusader]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

Configure comskipmonitor external to sagemc.... Nothing special needs to be done by sagemc to use the .edl files comskip makes.

It is not a problem -- comskip works, it is just not integrated with SageMC. I am referring to few options in SageMC settings that supposed to affect comskip, for example one that says "do not run comskip if SageTV is active" -- it seems having zero effect.

where is this setting? I was quickly browsing the SageMC settings and could not find it...

Check SageTV settings -- I think it is in "Advanced" section.

I have a 7 day rolling nightly backup of my entire system partition.. that covers all my backup needs... I also make a backup before i modify my system (install/update software, perform big system maintenance, install windows updates, etc)

What software you use for backups? I've just finished building my server and transferring SageTV there, next thing is setting up backups... never did that before.

Originally Posted by stanger89

Those are the HDHR hardware IDs, they're unique to (and fixed for) each HDHR device at the factory. There might be a customization to let you rename tuners though.

Well, in my case they are 10192F1C-1 (Cable) and 10192F1C-0 (OTA). Why SageTV prefers to list them in this order escapes me (maybe merits setting?). Every time confuses me when I try to figure what tuner #2 -- Cable or OTA.

Originally Posted by Opus4

Channels are only merged in the guide if they are the same station; they are the same station if they have the same ID.

Well, after spending a day rescanning and regenerating my lineups it seems that I finally understood how whole thing works:
- every tuner gets a "lineup" associated with it
- lineup is essentially a list of channels (given tuner can potentially see)
- where every channel is: "Station ID" + "Logical Channel Number"
- Station Id is a number/integer (maybe country-specific) that is used to identify a broadcasted channel (and it's name, e.g. KIAHDT). Some station id could have the same channel name (I think I've seen smth like KHOU-DT listed twice in remap screen with different station ids)
- "Logical channel number" is just a convenience -- will be used by your EPG (along with station name). It can be anything
- also every channel has "physical channel number" -- this is something tuner-specific (contains enough information for tuner to tune to specific channel). Physical channel number gets filled in related channel of your lineup during scanning process. Somehow SageTV knows how to associate them (probably uses official channel names for OTA (2.3, 14.5, etc), and uses prefilled info in homerun setup utility for ClearQAM)
- every channel in lineup (associated with given tuner) can be switched off
- tuners can share lineups
- then after you have setup all lineups -- EPG will make a move and collapse same channels from all lineups into one line in EPG using Station ID (not name) as unique channel id (e,g, #85) and Station name & Logical Channel Number of the first lineup that contains (in enabled state) this channel (e.g. KIAHDT, 305). Order of lineups is defined by order of tuners in your Video Sources menu. In my case first tuner connected to comcast cable (ClearQAM), and since my lineups overlap ~70% most of my channels have numbers like 305, etc...

Hope this is correct and will help somebody. :-)

[Fuzzy]

Seems pretty close.. though that info is pretty much all in the manual, and the FAQs... As for tuner numbersing, That is not a SageTV thing, it's a SageMC thing. SageTV doesn't really care what tuner number it is.. it just works... the idea is to not worry about those things. I know moving from other systems makes you want to tweak and micromanage what sage does, but you really are best off just telling sage what you have available (lineups and tuners) and what you want (favorites) and let it deal with the management...

Also, It is usually best to stick with the stock product until you understand it, prior to moving to 3rd party customizations. SageMC is an old, bloated project, that, while it works, and is still partially maintained, it has many old broken parts in it.. like the comskip settings.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

SageMC is an old, bloated project, that, while it works, and is still partially maintained, it has many old broken parts in it.. like the comskip settings.

Ouch! That's brutally honest. The fact that it's true makes it hurt that much more.

BTW, the comskip settings aren't broken. They still work just fine, but they only work when SageMC directly calls comskip to run on a file. The external solutions (dirmon, comskip watcher, SJQ, etc.) have progressed so far that it is no longer recommended to have SageMC manage comskip.

Aloha,
Mike

[crusader]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Seems pretty close.. though that info is pretty much all in the manual, and the FAQs... As for tuner numbersing, That is not a SageTV thing, it's a SageMC thing. SageTV doesn't really care what tuner number it is.. it just works... the idea is to not worry about those things.

I do not remember seeing this in manual and for me (as any other newb) setting up everything first time was really confusing. Maybe somewhere in the FAQ -- try to find it now.

About tuners -- I care. I have shitty OTA Antenna and when my recording sucks, I really like to know which tuner was used in order to tinker with it or remove a channel on it's lineup.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Ouch! That's brutally honest. The fact that it's true makes it hurt that much more.

BTW, the comskip settings aren't broken. They still work just fine, but they only work when SageMC directly calls comskip to run on a file. The external solutions (dirmon, comskip watcher, SJQ, etc.) have progressed so far that it is no longer recommended to have SageMC manage comskip.

Aloha,
Mike

hehe... Sorry mike.. didn't mean to sound so brutal.. It was more of an explanation as to why it is sometimes confusing for new users to grasp, and why some things don't seem to make much sense at first glance. For a new user to jump straight into SageMC is certainly not recommended. Especially if one hasn't gotten the underlying core of Sage working fully yet.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by crusader

I do not remember seeing this in manual and for me (as any other newb) setting up everything first time was really confusing. Maybe somewhere in the FAQ -- try to find it now.

About tuners -- I care. I have shitty OTA Antenna and when my recording sucks, I really like to know which tuner was used in order to tinker with it or remove a channel on it's lineup.

I'll reiterate that you should really do this sort of setup/troubleshooting from the default STV, not SageMC. It takes very little to check detailed info for a recording and see which encoder it came from.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by crusader

Check SageTV settings -- I think it is in "Advanced" section.

SageMC is a complete replacement UI (STV). Therefore, some (alot) of the SageTV settings will not have any effect in SageMC.

What software you use for backups? I've just finished building my server and transferring SageTV there, next thing is setting up backups... never did that before.

Acronis and I love it