Direct Video Menu Item

[HokiePerogi]

Is there a way to add a menu item to play a specific video title?

I'm about to put the finishing touches on my home cinema and will be purchasing a custom video lead-in. What I'd really like to do is easily create playlists where the first video in the playlist is my lead in the and second video in the playlist is my video file of blu-ray disc structure rip. However, it seems that you cannot had blue-ray disc structures to playlists, only single video files can be added to playlists.

So....I'm thinking I'll just have a menu button to play my custom video lead-in. Then when it is finished playing, I'll just find the movie my friends and family are going to watch with me. Not ideal, but it will have to do until (if ever) playlists support blu-ray disc structures or until I convert all my blu-ray disc structures over to single container files (e.g. mkv's).


Thanks for the help.

[Fuzzy]

Maybe not through sage, but you can likely launch a media title from the web interface. Would probably be able to set a shortcut to it and launch it from a smart phone, whatever.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by HokiePerogi

Is there a way to add a menu item to play a specific video title?

I'm about to put the finishing touches on my home cinema and will be purchasing a custom video lead-in. What I'd really like to do is easily create playlists where the first video in the playlist is my lead in the and second video in the playlist is my video file of blu-ray disc structure rip. However, it seems that you cannot had blue-ray disc structures to playlists, only single video files can be added to playlists.

So....I'm thinking I'll just have a menu button to play my custom video lead-in. Then when it is finished playing, I'll just find the movie my friends and family are going to watch with me. Not ideal, but it will have to do until (if ever) playlists support blu-ray disc structures or until I convert all my blu-ray disc structures over to single container files (e.g. mkv's).


Thanks for the help.

I'm pretty sure u can do something like this in the Phoenix UI with the menu cml files.. Would have to check with sean or Brian to be certain though.

[HokiePerogi]

I tried to discover the direct link via Sage Webserver, but it appears that the link to play in a given extender is actually a mixture of form submission and javascript method calls.

Does anyone have an idea of how I can deep link to force a MediaID to play on a given extender?

I appreciate the help.



I'd also be interested in going the direct menu link to a single video file to play it immediately. Can anyone help me there too?


Thanks again.

[Fuzzy]

It would likely have to be done via the Play() api call through the sagex http api's. The format required I'm not really sure of (as far as setting UI context and such). I haven't really used those calls before, but just am aware of their existence.

[HokiePerogi]

Thanks Fuzzy. I"m taking a look at these now.

What I'm not seeing is how to make playback start on a particular extender.

I'll keep looking.

[Fuzzy]

That's a part of the UI Context attribute of the URL. Not sure on the syntax though - would have defer to stuckless for help on that one.

[Fuzzy]

Did some messing around. Looks like for extenders, the UI_CONTEXT is the the mac address (without colons).

I did this progression to create a playlist and start it on an extender (well, placeshifter in this case, same procedure though).

http://sagetv:8080/sagex/api?c=RemovePlaylist&1=playlist:TestPlaylist
http://sagetv:8080/sagex/api?c=AddPlaylist&1=TestPlaylist
http://sagetv:8080/sagex/api?c=AddToPlaylist&1=playlist:TestPlaylist&2=mediafile:11253581
http://sagetv:8080/sagex/api?c=AddToPlaylist&1=playlist:TestPlaylist&2=mediafile:9503128
http://sagetv:8080/sagex/api?c=StartPlaylist&1=playlist:TestPlaylist&context=003067d032e1

make note of the playlist: and mediafile: prefixes, they set up the mediatypes to be passed to the api function, and are required in these cases. without them, they would be passed as strings, and the functions would not work.

[HokiePerogi]

Thanks Fuzzy. That was a big help.

I've been able to figure out, with your help, how to issue the command via the sagex api and a deep link (reversed engineered from the Sage Webserver form submission process).

However, now I'm stuck with what I believe is a Phoenix bug. When I use either one of these methods to start a video file, it only starts in the Phoenix preview window. It also brings up the mini/quick menu. I was expecting the commands to start the media file or playlist playing full screen.

Any thoughts?


Thanks.

[Fuzzy]

No, that's normal... starting playback and switching to the playback OSD would be two different functions (even in the default STV). I'm not exactly sure what method would be best to bring up the OSD, but you can likely use the LoadMenuWidget call to bring up the OSD widget (whatever it is for Phoenix) as the last set in the process.

[HokiePerogi]

Interesting. So going on that, I ran the following:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=GetCurrentMenuWidget&context=0023a50000d6&encoder=xml

which returned:

<error>
<message>
<![CDATA[ Cannot Serialize Reply ]]>
</message>
<class>
<![CDATA[ tv.sage.b.c ]]>
</class>
<data>
<![CDATA[ default:ZOMHW-2366927|Menu:Phoenix OSD Video ]]>
</data>
<exception>
<![CDATA[
Cannot Serialize [Field: Result, Type: tv.sage.b.c ToString: default:ZOMHW-2366927|Menu:Phoenix OSD Video]
]]>
</exception>
</error>

I can't figure out what value to use for the LaunchMenuWidget argument though. The API calls for a Widget object to be passed. However, no matter what I've tried so far, i always get a cannot parse to int error.

For example, when I run:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=LaunchMenuWidget&1=Menu:Phoenix%20OSD%20Video&context=0023a50000d6

I get:

<error sagex-version="7.1.9.1">
<message>
<![CDATA[ For input string: "Phoenix OSD Video" ]]>
</message>
<exception>
<![CDATA[
java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "Phoenix OSD Video"
 at java.lang.NumberFormatException.forInputString(Unknown Source)
 at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Unknown Source)
 at java.lang.Integer.parseInt(Unknown Source)
 at sagex.remote.xmlrpc.RequestHelper.makeTypedArg(RequestHelper
]]>
<![CDATA[
.java:70)
 at sagex.remote.xmlrpc.RequestHelper.createParameters(RequestHelper.java:38)
 at sagex.remote.xmlrpc.RequestHelper.createRequest(RequestHelper.java:18)
 at sagex.remote.factory.request.WidgetAPIFactory.createRequest(WidgetAPIFactory.java:83)
 at sagex.remote.factory.request.SageRPCRequestFactory.createRequest(SageRPCRequestFactory.java:1283)
 at sagex.remote.api.ApiHandler.callSageAPI(ApiHandler.java:204)
 at sagex.remote.api.ApiHandler.handleRequest(ApiHandler.java:150)
 at sagex.remote.SagexServlet.doPost(SagexServlet.java:60)
 at sagex.remote.SagexServlet.doGet(SagexServlet.java:38)
 at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:707)
 at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:820)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.handle(ServletHolder.java:502)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.handle(ServletHandler.java:389)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.security.SecurityHandler.handle(SecurityHandler.java:216)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandler.handle(ContextHandler.java:765)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.ContextHandlerCollection.handle(ContextHandlerCollection.java:230)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerCollection.handle(HandlerCollection.java:114)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:152)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.rewrite.RewriteHandler.handle(RewriteHandler.java:230)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:152)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.Server.handle(Server.java:326)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection.handleRequest(HttpConnection.java:534)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection$RequestHandler.headerComplete(HttpConnection.java:864)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpParser.parseNext(HttpParser.java:539)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpParser.parseAvailable(HttpParser.java:212)
 at org.mortbay.jetty.HttpConnection.handle(HttpConnection.java:404)
 at org.mortbay.io.nio.SelectChannelEndPoint.run(SelectChannelEndPoint.java:409)
 at org.mortbay.thread.QueuedThreadPool$PoolThread.run(QueuedThreadPool.java:520)
]]>
</exception>
</error>

[Fuzzy]

The LaunchMenuWidget needs the UID of the widget, not the text. So in your case, try LaunchMenuWidget("ZOMHW-2366927")

[HokiePerogi]

Yeah...that's what I thought:

When I send:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=LaunchMenuWidget&1=ZOMHW-2366927&context=0023a50000d6

I get the following, but there is no change in Phoenix, I'm still on the main menu:

<Result/>

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, it looks like passing the widget type isn't working in the sagex api (probably requires a widget: prefix, which isn't coded). You can, however, wrap it in an EvaluateExpression command like so:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=LaunchMenuWidget("ZOMHW-2366927")&context=0023a50000d6

and it should work by auto-negotiating the string.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Yeah, it looks like passing the widget type isn't working in the sagex api (probably requires a widget: prefix, which isn't coded). You can, however, wrap it in an EvaluateExpression command like so:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=LaunchMenuWidget("ZOMHW-2366927")&context=0023a50000d6

and it should work by auto-negotiating the string.

For proper encoding the url may have to be...

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=LaunchMenuWidget(%22ZOMHW-2366927%22)&context=0023a50000d6

Also instead of issuing the Play and LaunchMenuWidget yourself... you could try to use the phoenix play method...

c=EvaluateExpression&1=phoenix_umb_Play(%22TestPlayList%22)

In Phoenx the Play() method takes care of showing the media menu if the playback starts.

I am a little confused because earlier you asked about doing this using "menus" but this looks like you are using an external program to do this.

[HokiePerogi]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I am a little confused because earlier you asked about doing this using "menus" but this looks like you are using an external program to do this.

I'm trying to do it two different ways. I am creating a web app to control my lighting via my phones and iPad. I'm ALSO trying to add direct links in some media files on the main menu of Phoenix. It's all in the name of getting to a particular video file and playlists as quickly and automated as possible.

I'll give your suggestions a try and see how I make out. Thanks.

[HokiePerogi]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Also instead of issuing the Play and LaunchMenuWidget yourself... you could try to use the phoenix play method...

c=EvaluateExpression&1=phoenix_umb_Play(%22TestPlayList%22)

In Phoenx the Play() method takes care of showing the media menu if the playback starts.

I gave this a try, but it didn't affect my UI at all. The playlist didn't start on my extender. Actually, I added a context paramenter to the end of it so that it knew which extender to begin the playback on. Is this right?

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=phoenix_umb_Play(%22CinemaDTSthxDD%22)&context=0023a50000d6

[HokiePerogi]

Looks like the phoenix_umb_Play api call can take two parameters. So I tried:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=phoenix_umb_Play(%22CinemaDTSthxDD%22,%22001e52c7d870%22)

This resulted in a "true" response, but playback did not start on my extender with this context. Looks like I"m still missing something.



I also tried the following:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=StartPlaylist&1=playlist:CinemaDTSthxDD&context=001e52c7d870
http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=LaunchMenuWidget("ZOMHW-2366927")&context=001e52c7d870

This behaved like I wanted it to. It started the video and switched to the video OSD. However, when I stopped the video, it just hung there at a blank screen. It didn't go back to the Phoenix menu. But I'm getting closer. Do I need to issue another command so that I'm returned to the Phoenix menu after the video is done?


Thanks.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by HokiePerogi

Looks like the phoenix_umb_Play api call can take two parameters. So I tried:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=phoenix_umb_Play(%22CinemaDTSthxDD%22,%22001e52c7d870%22)

This resulted in a "true" response, but playback did not start on my extender with this context. Looks like I"m still missing something.



I also tried the following:

http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=StartPlaylist&1=playlist:CinemaDTSthxDD&context=001e52c7d870
http://sagepc:8009/sagex/api?c=EvaluateExpression&1=LaunchMenuWidget("ZOMHW-2366927")&context=001e52c7d870

This behaved like I wanted it to. It started the video and switched to the video OSD. However, when I stopped the video, it just hung there at a blank screen. It didn't go back to the Phoenix menu. But I'm getting closer. Do I need to issue another command so that I'm returned to the Phoenix menu after the video is done?


Thanks.

Is ZOMHW-2366927 the Pheonix Menu widget?

[stuckless]

btw the Play() method above probably didn't work because we didn't code in support for playing Playlists

I assume that CinemaDTSthxDD is the playlist name, but I doubt the code supports looking up the playlist name.