Setting up Sage 7

[vogelap]

I've been a long-time Beyond TV user. I recently bought a new machine to run my PVR, and decided I wanted to set up Sage 7 (registered) as well as Beyond TV.

The difference in setting up the two could not have been more dramatic.

Beyond TV was configured, running, and reliable within 30 minutes of installation.

Sage 7 still does not work.

I've got a couple directories that have recordings in them. I've got another directory that has ripped DVDs in it. I've got another directory with MP3s, and a final directory with photos in it.

I cannot figure out how to make Sage 7 recognize/import/display/play these items! It's really frustrating. Can anyone help?!

[GKusnick]

Detailed Setup > General > Media Center Import Directories

See also p. 182 of the manual.

If that's not specific enough for you, maybe you could describe exactly what sort of problems you're having trying to get this set up.

[vogelap]

Thank you very much for your reply. I appreciate your guidance.

My setup is as follows:

D:\PVR contains all my BeyondTV shows (television episodes and movies recorded from TV), for example:
D:\PVR\A Clockwork Orange.avi
D:\PVR\Buffy the Vampire Slayer-2008-08-08-0.wmv (can SageTV play WMV?)
D:\PVR\Top Chef-(An Offer They Can't Refuse)-2011-02-02-0.mpg
D:\PVR\Top Chef-(Covert Cuisine)-2010-08-18-0.mpg
(etc)

D:\DVD Library contains ripped DVDs, for example:
D:\DVD Library\Firefly\VIDEO_TS (and AUDIO_TS)
D:\DVD Library\Eat Drink Many Woman\VIDEO_TS (and AUDIO_TS)
(etc)

N:\Media\MP3 contains all my music, mostly in the format N:\Media\MP3\Artist\Album\Song.mp3

I've got all of those directories added to Detailed Setup->General->Media Center Import Directories, but then it doesn't seem to display ALL the files that are in those directories, nor does it make sense to me where/how the recordings/ripped DVDs show up within SageTV...

I'd like them to display like they do in the video on http://www.geektonic.com/2010/05/wha...ideo-demo.html (0:30-0:55 and 1:20-1:35) -- that looks like BeyondTV's "Display By Show" display (it shows the name of the show, then how many episodes you've recorded), which I prefer. How do I get SageTV to display shows/ripped DVDs this way?

I'd like my TV shows to show up under a main menu item called something like "TV Shows". For movies -- both recorded from TV and my ripped DVDs, I'd like them to show up in a main menu item called something like "Movies".

If it will help, I will be glad to perform the steps in http://www.geektonic.com/2008/01/how...hows-into.html to convert my BTV shows to SageTV.

Eventually, I would like to perform ShowAnalyzer commercial skipping on the recordings (both old recordings made with BeyondTV and any new recordings from SageTV), but that's a few steps down the road, I think.

I hope this additional information is useful to you, and I appreciate your time reading it and anticipate your reply!

Thanks!

[graywolf]

you might look into TVExplorer plug in. you can configure it to include your Import (ripped stuff) shows and also to group all Movies into 1 grouping.

you could also check out the Diamond plug in.

and for getting metadata and fan art, you might want to use BMT

[SWKerr]

I converted from BeyondTV awhile back and it is no big deal things are just different than what you are used to.

To avoid confusing things I would just start with adding all your BeyondTV shows into SageTV as TV shows. You can add the Ripped Moves later but I would get the TV working the way you like it before you add the Movies and Music. Importing the TV will be the most complicated part.

Remove the "DVD Library" and "Media\MP3" from the SageTV Media Center Import directories.

Map the "PVR" directory under "Video Recoding Directories"

When you are done with this you will see all you TV shows show up in the Sage Videos section and not to the TV section. This is because at this point SageTV does not know they are TV shows. At this point you need to refer to the Geektonic guide on converting BeondTV shows into SageTV shows.
http://www.geektonic.com/2008/01/how...hows-into.html

You will need to install a SageTV plugin to make this work. it is the SageTV Web interface mentioned in the Geektonic post. After you have imported your BeyondTV shows into Sage you may still want to reorganize them a little. So I would also recommend installing the "Batch Metadata tools" plugin. These are both browser based tools and the BMT plugin will help you manage fanart and movie information. It will also begin to monitor you Library and add movie info and Fanart automatically if you name them correctly.

Try to import the TV recordings and setup the tuner card and guide then post pack to begin the next steps of importing movies and music.

[vogelap]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

I converted from BeyondTV awhile back and it is no big deal things are just different than what you are used to.

To avoid confusing things I would just start with adding all your BeyondTV shows into SageTV as TV shows. You can add the Ripped Moves later but I would get the TV working the way you like it before you add the Movies and Music. Importing the TV will be the most complicated part.

Remove the "DVD Library" and "Media\MP3" from the SageTV Media Center Import directories.

Map the "PVR" directory under "Video Recoding Directories"

When you are done with this you will see all you TV shows show up in the Sage Videos section and not to the TV section. This is because at this point SageTV does not know they are TV shows. At this point you need to refer to the Geektonic guide on converting BeondTV shows into SageTV shows.
http://www.geektonic.com/2008/01/how...hows-into.html

You will need to install a SageTV plugin to make this work. it is the SageTV Web interface mentioned in the Geektonic post. After you have imported your BeyondTV shows into Sage you may still want to reorganize them a little. So I would also recommend installing the "Batch Metadata tools" plugin. These are both browser based tools and the BMT plugin will help you manage fanart and movie information. It will also begin to monitor you Library and add movie info and Fanart automatically if you name them correctly.

Try to import the TV recordings and setup the tuner card and guide then post pack to begin the next steps of importing movies and music.

SWKerr... Thanks very much for your reply. I appreciate hearing from you, especially since you're a previous BTV user!

I will do what you suggested, but I've already done some of the steps you said, so I want to report back and see if that changes your suggestions at all.

I've gone through the steps in http://www.geektonic.com/2008/01/how...hows-into.html (including installing BMT and SageTV Web Interface) and have converted my shows from BeyondTV to SageTV, so I guess they're showing up in Sage Videos now. (I'm working remotely from my PVR right now, so cannot check -- sorry!) Does running the steps at GeekTonic's site (above) convert them to SageTV TV shows, or is there something else I need to do?

I will remove the DVD directory from Sage Media Center Import directory list and focus on getting the shows imported properly.

I've installed TVExplorer and Diamond, as suggested previously in this thread. I like them.

Side question: Do you know of any automated way to import my Recordings (shows/series scheduled to be recorded) from BeyondTV to SageTV?

[tmar89]

Posts like this make me not want to convert from BTV to Sage. BTV is so easy to set up with recordings and importing external recordings is as simple as dropping them into a folder. Sure, the glitter and glam of Sage with the fanart and fancy menus isn't there, but BTV is simple and works. Sage just sounds so complicating and when I did try it with my BTV records, I was all over the place trying to figure out how to import shows, organize them either as Recorded TV, Videos, Movie, watched, archived, and all these flags and options. Some people says Sage is simple to use, and they are probably right, but BTV is really simple and "wife friendly"

[bits]

Originally Posted by tmar89

Posts like this make me not want to convert from BTV to Sage. BTV is so easy to set up with recordings and importing external recordings is as simple as dropping them into a folder. Sure, the glitter and glam of Sage with the fanart and fancy menus isn't there, but BTV is simple and works. Sage just sounds so complicating and when I did try it with my BTV records, I was all over the place trying to figure out how to import shows, organize them either as Recorded TV, Videos, Movie, watched, archived, and all these flags and options. Some people says Sage is simple to use, and they are probably right, but BTV is really simple and "wife friendly"

I to am a BTV convert and my experience with Sage is that it was easier than BTV to setup and use. I used BTV for years and was mostly happy but when BTV starting putting most of its effort in DVD conversion and writing and not into other things I started looking around. I spent many hours trying to get BTV setup when I first installed it. And every so often I would need to delelete a source and start all over with setting it up.

I was also looking for a better network media player. The combination of the HD200 + SageTV clinched it.

I can see where SageTV may seem more complicated but I think that is primarily because it simply works differently than what you are used to. It also has a lot more functionality and support.

[vogelap]

Originally Posted by vogelap

SWKerr... Thanks very much for your reply. I appreciate hearing from you, especially since you're a previous BTV user!

I will do what you suggested, but I've already done some of the steps you said, so I want to report back and see if that changes your suggestions at all.

I've gone through the steps in http://www.geektonic.com/2008/01/how...hows-into.html (including installing BMT and SageTV Web Interface) and have converted my shows from BeyondTV to SageTV, so I guess they're showing up in Sage Videos now. (I'm working remotely from my PVR right now, so cannot check -- sorry!) Does running the steps at GeekTonic's site (above) convert them to SageTV TV shows, or is there something else I need to do?

I will remove the DVD directory from Sage Media Center Import directory list and focus on getting the shows imported properly.

I've installed TVExplorer and Diamond, as suggested previously in this thread. I like them.

Side question: Do you know of any automated way to import my Recordings (shows/series scheduled to be recorded) from BeyondTV to SageTV?

It seems that my BTV shows are showing up as SageTV shows now... That's great! Thanks for the guidance in this thread.

However, the TV->Show All Recordings is also showing Movies (recorded from TV, so probably technically TV shows in Sage's opinion). How do I modify those so they're filtered out of the TV shows and show up in Videos?

Next on my agenda:
1. Get my ripped DVDs showing up appropriately.
2. Get my MP3 collection into SageTV.
3. Get my Photo collection into SageTV.
4. Get BTV's scheduled recordings into SageTV (I really hope I can IMPORT them rather than typing them all!).
5. Commercial skip. I've got ShowAnalyzer (registered) and would like to get that implemented.
6. Do a final import from BTV, to capture any shows that were recorded since the initial import...
7. Make the switch! That means turning off BTV after 9+ years!

[nwboater]

Originally Posted by vogelap

It seems that my BTV shows are showing up as SageTV shows now... That's great! Thanks for the guidance in this thread.

However, the TV->Show All Recordings is also showing Movies (recorded from TV, so probably technically TV shows in Sage's opinion). How do I modify those so they're filtered out of the TV shows and show up in Videos?

Next on my agenda:
1. Get my ripped DVDs showing up appropriately.
2. Get my MP3 collection into SageTV.
3. Get my Photo collection into SageTV.
4. Get BTV's scheduled recordings into SageTV (I really hope I can IMPORT them rather than typing them all!).
5. Commercial skip. I've got ShowAnalyzer (registered) and would like to get that implemented.
6. Do a final import from BTV, to capture any shows that were recorded since the initial import...
7. Make the switch! That means turning off BTV after 9+ years!

Glad you are making progress. I'm sure that after 9 years using BTV anything different would feel strange. It's worth the struggle though. I converted a long time ago and sure haven't looked back!

The real reason for my post is re your photo collection. On the off chance that you use Adobe Photoshop Elements there is a wonderful plugin by cncb for it. By using it all of your tags and collections from Adobe will show up in Sage. So you can filter by tags, collections and dates. We have about 30, 000 photos in Adobe and can very quickly find whatever we want using this plugin in Sage.

Enjoy!

Rod

[vogelap]

@Rod... Thanks for the tip. I don't use Photoshop Elements, unfortunately.

Anyone... So, what should I tackle next in getting SageTV configured?

[SWKerr]

I believe the default behavior for Diamond is to filter out the recorded movies and to show them under the Movies\Videos section. If you still see them in the TV area they were probably not flagged correctly as movies during the conversion process. If the are recorded in Sage they should just fall into the Movies section automatically. You can change them manually in BMT.

BMT Documentation:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...Batch+metadata

BMT is a browser based and you will be able find the TV movies in question and look up their info on the imdb and download cover art etc. You will need to at least change the classification to Movie for it to show up in the Videos section.

Music:
Music should be easy.
Go into: Detailed Setup\General\Media Center Import Directories
Add a need directory and flag it only as Music.

Sage will scan it and add the music info imbedded in the file. Music is probably the weakest part of SageTV at this point. New navigation and visualizations could use some work.

I use itunes and converted everything the m4a but mp3 work as well. You can create playlists in SageTV but I have found it easier to mange those in itunes and export them out as m3u playlist files which Sage can read. Keep in mind if you change a playlist it in itunes you will need to delete the equivalent SageTV playlist before it will re-import the m3u file.

Hope this helps re-post with questions.