Looking for some help with the Mac client

[nspindel]

Longtime user of Sage on Windows, but I've just picked up a Mac and am trying to get the client working. I've installed and purchased it, and got the basic stuff working.

My Windows server has an HDPVR and I also have an HDHR. I'm able to watch HDHR content, but not HDPVR. HDPVR recordings just show up as a green screen. But I do hear the audio. Any suggestions? I find that there's little to configure in the Mac app...

Also, can the mac client run SageMC? I'm sure that question's been asked before...

Thanks!

[nspindel]

Another question - is there any way to get a Mac client to play Bluray content that I store on my Windows server? I realize there's no Bluray support on the Mac, but not sure if that applies to being able to play files on a hard drive, as opposed to using physical bluray discs in the apple drives.

[nspindel]

I put up another thread earlier asking for some help, but haven't gotten any replies yet.

I have recently changed my home over to Macs, thinking incorrectly that I should have no problems since Sage works on the Mac. Or so I thought....

First off, I have a Sage setup that is working fine. Server is running Sage 6.6.2 on XP Pro, it's a 2.8ghz quad-core with 4 gigs of ram, and sata ii drives. 1 HDHomeRun, 1 HDPVR. I have just updated the firmware on the HDHR and HDPVR. Gigabit networking throughout the house. 2 HD100's and 1 HD200, as well as pc clients all work just fine.

I downloaded the latest Mac client from here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44611

I have tried the Mac client out on the newest spec Mac Mini as well as the brand-new spec 13" MacBook Pro. On both there are massive sync issues, stuttering, skipping, pausing, green screens, etc. The MacBook Pro seems a little better, but not by much. Both are running Snow Leopard 10.6.

Both Mac's behave perfectly on the network. I've been able to download from the net at 1.5MB/s, and I've been able to move big quantities of data across my network at about 400MB/s. I'm using the same network port that a PC client running Sage works just fine on.

I'd blame myself and say I need to do some configuration work, except there's barely anything to configure in the Mac client.

Getting ready to contact Sage and ask for my money back, and then I'll have to explain to the family why Sage doesn't work any more on the brand new shiny Macs that I just bought. Any suggestions???

[SprDtyF350]

I don't use the HDPVR, just HD Homeruns. My Sage server runs Windows Home Server. The Beta Mac client 6.6.2 works ok on my Intel Mac Mini but it is not as stable as my Windows clients. I don't know about playing the other stuff but I am not real impressed with the Mac version.

[nspindel]

Has anyone tried running the Windows client from inside Parallels?

[nspindel]

I have requested a refund for the Mac client. It is terrible...

[SprDtyF350]

Originally Posted by nspindel

I have requested a refund for the Mac client. It is terrible...

Can't say I blame you. Hope you find something that works.. I sure would like too... I can't complain about my Windows clients, but the Mac client really doesn't cut it..

[jpwegas]

Originally Posted by nspindel

Longtime user of Sage on Windows, but I've just picked up a Mac and am trying to get the client working. I've installed and purchased it, and got the basic stuff working.

My Windows server has an HDPVR and I also have an HDHR. I'm able to watch HDHR content, but not HDPVR. HDPVR recordings just show up as a green screen. But I do hear the audio. Any suggestions? I find that there's little to configure in the Mac app...

Also, can the mac client run SageMC? I'm sure that question's been asked before...

Thanks!

My setup is a little different than yours (Ubuntu Server, iMac running 10.5, and I don't have an HDPVR), but I am able to use both the Sage Client and Sage Placeshifter on the Mac, both live and recordings, without any trouble. I have 2 QAM tuners on the server, so I know that I can view HD content without trouble on the Mac Client and Placeshifter. Although using the Mac is not the primary viewing mode in our house, usually we watch via HD-200s.

Some other comments/suggestions:

Did you send a report to Sage support? (Although this forum is helpful, technically this is just a user forum.)

It's only the HDPVR content that doesn't play on the Mac Client? I wonder if the Mac Client is missing some codec support for the format that is being used for recording by the HDPVR? I don't have an HDPVR (yet) so I can't test this myself. Can you run Placeshifter on the Mac and see anything?

The Mac client should be able to use SageMC, although I believe that there are a few features (DVD ripping, maybe?) that assume you are running on a Windows box and launch external programs and may not work on the Mac.

I don't know about Bluray on the Mac Client (I don't have any Bluray discs), but you can view DVDs on the Mac Client so it should be similar, but there's a trick - the DVD content is not "streamed" by the Client - you have to mount the share where the DVD content is stored on the server, and make it appear in the same "path" on the Mac as it is on the Windows box. There are some posts on the forum about this.

--John

[nspindel]

It's actually not just HDPVR recordings. I'm having problems with HDHR viewing as well. And there is a codec doing something for HDPVR, I have been able to get some choppy video to play.

I've emailed Sage and they've responded, so hopefully we can figure out how to get this fixed.

[nspindel]

Bit of an update....

Still haven't gotten anywhere with the Mac client, although Sage did send me instructions on diagnostics they want me to run and dump to a file for them to evaluate, I should get to that this weekend.

But I did get the Windows Client running on the Mac in Parallels! I'm amazed, I didn't think it would work. So far I've only tested with HDHR recordings, because I still need to install Arcsoft into the virtual machine before that would work. I'm extremely impressed with Parallels so far...

[nspindel]

Update on Windows under Parallels. I've installed Arcsoft TME into the virtual machine, and now HDPVR is working perfectly. So HDHR and HDPVR both stream into Windows virtual machine running Windows Sage client, perfectly. Bit more involved to start up, but it's working flawlessly. Need to play around now and see if I can get BluRay to play. Wouldn't that be cool, considering the Mac has no BluRay support?!?!?

Still planning on trying to diagnose the issues with the Mac client, but meanwhile I am in business!

[merneric]

nspindel,

Have you downloaded and installed divx for mac on the system that you are trying to play the video on?

I seem to remember that this solved some of the issues I had with it.

[nspindel]

I haven't, no, but thanks for the tip. Right now I have the pc client running just fine under a windows virtual machine on the mac, so that's holding me over for now. I think I'm going to wait until Sage 7 is released and then try to get the Mac client working (I noticed in the geektonic article that there's not even a Sage 7 mac client ready for the beta).