Android App: Phoenix for SageTV

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

OK, I guess in the next release I'm going to have to add some sort of troubleshooting log. I'm not sure I can solve this without logs (I log a bunch of stuff now, but unless your phone is hooked up to a dev environment, there's no way to access the log)

No problem. With everything going on with Sandy on the East Coast, I will not have time to play with this for a few days.

Thanks,
John

[stuckless]

I added an update to the G+ page about the state of streaming/downloading for this app.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/10088422...ts/VE4H6mPA6Pa

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

No problem. With everything going on with Sandy on the East Coast, I will not have time to play with this for a few days.

Thanks,
John

I'm not sure I asked... but do you have sagex services installed?

ie, in your browser, can you go to the url,

http://ip:port/sagex/api

And does it return a page?

[stuckless]

I've uploaded another beta.

This adds the
- ability to download media files to your device (work in progress)
-- Download happen over WiFi only (you can turn this off, but I wouldn't)
-- Downloads will automatically pause resume as you leave/enter wifi

- watched a streamed video (no transcoding -- may require MX Player or another Media Player)

You may be able to watch the file as it is being downloaded (I did using MX Player) but the timescale will only show a minute or so... but once it gets to the end of the time scale it will keep on playing (at it did for me in MX Player)

The use case here, is that you should transcode your video files on the server, and then download those transcoded files to the device. I won't be supporting on-the-fly transcoding.

http://code.google.com/p/sagephoenix...q=#makechanges

[sacrament055]

Outstanding work. I can now get files to play as you described. I'm not sure if the files that wont play are all mpeg2 but that seems to be the case.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Outstanding work. I can now get files to play as you described. I'm not sure if the files that wont play are all mpeg2 but that seems to be the case.

You might have better luck using different media players for different file types. Also, if you setup transcoding on the server beforehand, you can use a format (mp4) that should work on the device.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by sacrament055

Outstanding work. I can now get files to play as you described. I'm not sure if the files that wont play are all mpeg2 but that seems to be the case.

From my test, Mirage Beta will play MPEG2, while MX Video Player handles MKV of probably h264...

[stuckless]

I forgot to mention that the built-in download manager does support pause/resume, but ONLY with sagex-api 7.1.9.14. So, if you pause/resume without 7.1.9.14 installed, your files will be corrupt

[stuckless]

Forgot to mention that beta3 also added support for Default STV and Gemstone for the Play on TV feature. I never tested this, so if someone, not running phoneix, wants to try it for Default STV and Gemstone and report back, that would appreciated.

[bikesquid]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Forgot to mention that beta3 also added support for Default STV and Gemstone for the Play on TV feature. I never tested this, so if someone, not running phoneix, wants to try it for Default STV and Gemstone and report back, that would appreciated.

First attempt I got "failed to play" on device and on the tv (HD300) I got the window, blank window... and it took 15-20sec but the show did start to play, windowed, but it did start playing....
Subsequent attempts still show the 'failed to play' message on the android device, but it starts playing on the tv right away.

Let me know if I can test anything else to help.

Also a feature request - how about having the menu be a little more dynamic in terms of 'play on tv', could that be setup to be 'play on XXX' where xxx is the handle given to the client with the long press rename feature? Would make it easier to know which client I'm connected too, etc.

Finally, I know I said I wasn't interested in streaming to device... but this implementation is slick, very slick... tested playing a show via mxplayer and started right up, paused/started, etc,. no problems at all... simple, no setup required,... truly awesome! Thx.

[bikesquid]

forgot to mention, if I start playing on the HD300 while screensaver is active, screen saver stays active... I can hear, but can't see....

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by bikesquid

First attempt I got "failed to play" on device and on the tv (HD300) I got the window, blank window... and it took 15-20sec but the show did start to play, windowed, but it did start playing....
Subsequent attempts still show the 'failed to play' message on the android device, but it starts playing on the tv right away.

Also a feature request - how about having the menu be a little more dynamic in terms of 'play on tv', could that be setup to be 'play on XXX' where xxx is the handle given to the client with the long press rename feature? Would make it easier to know which client I'm connected too, etc.

Which UI are you are using... Phoenix, Default STV, or Gemstone?

As for the clients...
- When you connect to server, it auto connects to a client, if, there is only one connected client, and it puts that client name in the title of the application.
- If no connected clients, it should pop up a list of connected clients and you can choose which one
- If you want to play on another client, other than the one you are connected to, you will need to use the change client menu option before you play. Right now this option is only on the main screen, but I need propagate some of the menu items to other screens.
- I may (based on your requirement) add an option to alway show connected clients when you use play on TV (that way you can always select which client)

Originally Posted by bikesquid

forgot to mention, if I start playing on the HD300 while screensaver is active, screen saver stays active... I can hear, but can't see....

I've never seen this myself, but I'm guessing I need to somehow tell sagetv to turn off screensaver (I'm not sure how to do this).

[bikesquid]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Which UI are you are using... Phoenix, Default STV, or Gemstone?

Gemstone.

Originally Posted by stuckless

As for the clients...
- When you connect to server, it auto connects to a client, if, there is only one connected client, and it puts that client name in the title of the application.
- If no connected clients, it should pop up a list of connected clients and you can choose which one
- If you want to play on another client, other than the one you are connected to, you will need to use the change client menu option before you play. Right now this option is only on the main screen, but I need propagate some of the menu items to other screens.
- I may (based on your requirement) add an option to alway show connected clients when you use play on TV (that way you can always select which client)

My idea of 'intuitive' is often different than others... but I think it would be really slick if the app connected to the same client as last time (and if that client isn't available pop up a notice and options for which are available). then, when selecting a show to watch if I had changed the client's handle to something like 'livingroom', the long press menu option would populate that with 'play on livingroom'... or something like that just as a simple-stupid double-check... (my wife tends to only see what's directly under her finger,...) so if that's not what she wanted, she could simply go back and change selected client via the existing menu. The reason for this is that I expect to setup dedicated tablets in various areas of the house, and if they get moved around,... and someone tech-hopeless walks up, grabs a tablet, it would be great if the menu showed 'where'.... But I do see it listed up in the corner and that might work fine with a little user training. Thx.

Originally Posted by stuckless

I've never seen this myself, but I'm guessing I need to somehow tell sagetv to turn off screensaver (I'm not sure how to do this).

This should be as simple as sending a keypress,... but I think it depends on whether you want to start 'control' over the UI on the client. Sending any keypress to the client like 'home' or 'left' I think would work. If it's in screensaver mode, the first keypress does nothing. Did a quick search through the api helpers and didn't see anything that was a test for screensaver active or not, but it's gotta be there somewhere.... which seems like the first thing to determine....

I thought I remembered some conversation about screensaver, but now I can't find that either, sorry.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by bikesquid

My idea of 'intuitive' is often different than others... but I think it would be really slick if the app connected to the same client as last time (and if that client isn't available pop up a notice and options for which are available). then, when selecting a show to watch if I had changed the client's handle to something like 'livingroom', the long press menu option would populate that with 'play on livingroom'... or something like that just as a simple-stupid double-check... (my wife tends to only see what's directly under her finger,...) so if that's not what she wanted, she could simply go back and change selected client via the existing menu. The reason for this is that I expect to setup dedicated tablets in various areas of the house, and if they get moved around,... and someone tech-hopeless walks up, grabs a tablet, it would be great if the menu showed 'where'.... But I do see it listed up in the corner and that might work fine with a little user training. Thx.

I can change to code to automatically connect as the last known client, IF, that client is actually connected. (Similarly, I connect to the last known server now)

I can't add a long press to menu item (nor do I find it intuitive to do so). But, as i said, I can provide an option so that when you click play on tv, it will show all connected clients, and you select which one... which is what it is supposed to do now if there are no connected clients.

I've added this to the ever growing long list of enhancements

[bikesquid]

Originally Posted by stuckless

But, as i said, I can provide an option so that when you click play on tv, it will show all connected clients, and you select which one... which is what it is supposed to do now if there are no connected clients.

I've added this to the ever growing long list of enhancements

Can't speak for anyone else, but I prefer fewer buttons/options so knowing the connected client is listed in the top left corner is, for me, better than having it always ask where to play something... that just gets tedious, so prefer it the way it is!

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I'm not sure I asked... but do you have sagex services installed?

ie, in your browser, can you go to the url,

http://ip:port/sagex/api

And does it return a page?

It will be a while before I am able to test. I am on the East Coast and we are without power.

Thanks,
John

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

It will be a while before I am able to test. I am on the East Coast and we are without power.

Thanks,
John

Good Luck John... I've seen some of the pictures of the devastation....

[mechling-burgh]

I'll have to try the http://iport/sagex/api. I'm having the same problem as Network Guy. I can log on using the web browser but get connection failed when using the android app. Could windows fire wall be the cause I did not have time last night to try turning it off. I figured that the fact they used the same port that it would not matter.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mechling-burgh

I'll have to try the http://iport/sagex/api. I'm having the same problem as Network Guy. I can log on using the web browser but get connection failed when using the android app. Could windows fire wall be the cause I did not have time last night to try turning it off. I figured that the fact they used the same port that it would not matter.

Part of what I was seeing when John sent me a log, is that the GSON plugin doesn't appear to be updated to the latest version, even that should happen automatically when you updated to the Phoenix Core 2.3.52 release. Even though GSON was saying that it was updated in the plugins view, I can tell by the error that it is still an old GSON library in the JARs folder.

The only known fix for this (that I'm aware of) is to simply re-install the GSON library (which can't really be done easily, since sagetv has no "refresh" option -- you have to acutally remove and re-install it)

[mechling-burgh]

I uninstalled phoenix and it's dependencies then uninstalled gson.jar. Rebooted, checked jar directory gson.jar was gone. reinstalled all removed plugins and it reinstalled gson-1.7.1.jar again, not a newer version. Any ideas how to get around this?