Announcing SageTV/Phoenix Channel for Plex Media Server

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I purposely limit (via the menu file) the number of items that are loaded... I do this, because loading 1000s of items into a a device like the roku will kill it

There is no paging, since there isn't an easy way to do paging in plex... it is possible... just not easy

That's why I create views like "unwatched tv" and "unwatched movies", etc, since those are smaller views.

You can also use the "Search" to search the sagetv media files as well.

Feel free to add a bug/enh request on the issue site... If I get time, I'll add paging.

You mean kill the Roku ? ... because I have the same movies on regular plex and the Roku handles them just fine I have 878 Movies in Plex.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

You mean kill the Roku ? ... because I have the same movies on regular plex and the Roku handles them just fine I have 878 Movies in Plex.

I just know that when I was testing this... if I loaded all 2000 movies on my plex client on roku... it would crash plex.

You can create a custom main menu, and remove the "limit" field to have it load all movies, if you want.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I just know that when I was testing this... if I loaded all 2000 movies on my plex client on roku... it would crash plex.

You can create a custom main menu, and remove the "limit" field to have it load all movies, if you want.

maybe that is a limit with channels... I will test.

[brewston]

Now I have it working, I have a few questions if that's OK ?


o Any way to make the posters have the correct aspect ratio ? They are showing as squares at the moment.

o Will the plex view and sage ever be able to agree on the 'watched' status of a video file ?
ie watched on plex updates sage and vice versa

o Will the plex channel use Pix64's metadata scanner ?

Thanks

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by brewston

o Any way to make the posters have the correct aspect ratio ? They are showing as squares at the moment.

Which plex client? Basically I give the poster that we have in SageTV to the plex client... I have no control in how they display it.

o Will the plex view and sage ever be able to agree on the 'watched' status of a video file ?
ie watched on plex updates sage and vice versa

The Plex Channels have no concept of watched/unwatched (which is sad, really). So, no. There may be a "hack" that I can in the channel to let sagetv know that a video was watched... but it's a hack.

o Will the plex channel use Pix64's metadata scanner ?

I'm not sure I understand this one. The Plex Channel is simply a "view" into another system (ie, SageTV in this case)... so no media is actually imported into Plex. That being said, Pix64's Plex Metadata Scanner uses Phoenix/BMT metadata... and this Plex Channel also uses Phoenix/BMT metadata... so in that sense, yes, they use the same metadata sources.

It's actually quite surprising how limited a plex channel is I think that because the channels are typically used watch online videos, you have no control over watched/unwatched, or even providing contextual menus for media items. (ie, it would be nice to add a Set Watched, or Delete option to the media view, but I have no way to add that functionality... unless Plex decides to beef up the Plex Channel).

[brewston]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Which plex client? Basically I give the poster that we have in SageTV to the plex client... I have no control in how they display it.

I meant the android client but checking the web BUI via plex.tv that crops them too (Into backgrounds)

Originally Posted by stuckless

The Plex Channels have no concept of watched/unwatched (which is sad, really). So, no. There may be a "hack" that I can in the channel to let sagetv know that a video was watched... but it's a hack.

Thanks, just thought I'd ask.

Originally Posted by stuckless

I'm not sure I understand this one. The Plex Channel is simply a "view" into another system (ie, SageTV in this case)... so no media is actually imported into Plex. That being said, Pix64's Plex Metadata Scanner uses Phoenix/BMT metadata... and this Plex Channel also uses Phoenix/BMT metadata... so in that sense, yes, they use the same metadata sources.

Ah, I didn't realise that you were using BMT too, I looked at a couple of examples via the plex channel and I thought they just had the OTA description. That clears that up. Thanks

Originally Posted by stuckless

It's actually quite surprising how limited a plex channel is I think that because the channels are typically used watch online videos, you have no control over watched/unwatched, or even providing contextual menus for media items. (ie, it would be nice to add a Set Watched, or Delete option to the media view, but I have no way to add that functionality... unless Plex decides to beef up the Plex Channel).

Agree, it does seem like a bit of a bolt on

[mkanet]

I'm not very familiar with Plex.

I've been looking for a solution to extend my SageTV TV/Movie media file access (with fanart) to my Android device.

Can someone please post screenshots of what it would look like potentially on an Android device?

Thanks,
MKANET

[wayner]

I am an Apple person, but here is a screenshot from an Android tablet that is similar to what I see on my iPad http://www.droidsector.com/blog/wp-c...s-1280-1-7.jpg

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by mkanet

I'm not very familiar with Plex.

I've been looking for a solution to extend my SageTV TV/Movie media file access (with fanart) to my Android device.

Can someone please post screenshots of what it would look like potentially on an Android device?

Thanks,
MKANET

for extending your collection you may want to look also at the plex scanner and BMT agent that Brian and I wrote. Its fairly complete at this point and does several things that cannot be done with the channel.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57842

[mkanet]

Thanks Wayner, not really what I was expecting. Isn't there supposed to be "Browse SageTV Movies", "TV Recordings", "Currently Recording"? Maybe someone could post some more screenshots? Doesn't plex discern the difference between TV shows and movies?

Does Plex Media Extender take up any CPU resources when there aren't any actively streaming clients? Im hoping it's like sageTV's transcoder where it takes up resources ONLY when it actually needs it (like how sageTV executes a transcoder process when needed). I already have a ton of backend services (mostly Windows-only) running on my server; including my 4 R5000 network encoders, IIS .NET apps, etc.

Originally Posted by wayner

I am an Apple person, but here is a screenshot from an Android tablet that is similar to what I see on my iPad

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Thanks Wayner, not really what I was expecting. Isn't there supposed to be "Browse SageTV Movies", "TV Recordings", "Currently Recording"? Maybe someone could post some more screenshots? Doesn't plex discern the difference between TV shows and movies?

Does Plex Media Extender take up any CPU resources when there aren't any actively streaming clients? Im hoping it's like sageTV's transcoder where it takes up resources ONLY when it actually needs it (like how sageTV executes a transcoder process when needed). I already have a ton of backend services (mostly Windows-only) running on my server; including my 4 R5000 network encoders, IIS .NET apps, etc.

Here's a series of screenshots I took on my phone...
https://plus.google.com/photos/10159...44572852719025

[Fuzzy]

So far, I'm liking this quite a bit. I love being able to use Phoenix views in it, and love the ability to use PlexSync to my mobile devices. However, the issue is, PlexSync's greatest feature is the ability to sync the next xx episodes of a show, which unfortunately, requires watched information - which as mentioned, is not available in Plex Channels.

The Plex media scanner plugin does support watched status (well, at least within Plex - not sure if that status is linked to sage), but it doesn't do Phoenix views - a non-starter for me with my elaborate view configuration.

Phoenix for android does a great job of displaying sagetv metadata, and integrates watched status - but doesn't support any syncing capability for offline viewing. Also, I've never gotten it to stream satisfactorily.

In the end, all the pieces are there in various projects, but no project actually fits my needs. I do think the plex route is the best method, as it has the most complicated part (the streaming) handled quite well - but getting the few missing features into one or the other implementation is not really that easy.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

So far, I'm liking this quite a bit. I love being able to use Phoenix views in it, and love the ability to use PlexSync to my mobile devices. However, the issue is, PlexSync's greatest feature is the ability to sync the next xx episodes of a show, which unfortunately, requires watched information - which as mentioned, is not available in Plex Channels.

The Plex media scanner plugin does support watched status (well, at least within Plex - not sure if that status is linked to sage), but it doesn't do Phoenix views - a non-starter for me with my elaborate view configuration.

Phoenix for android does a great job of displaying sagetv metadata, and integrates watched status - but doesn't support any syncing capability for offline viewing. Also, I've never gotten it to stream satisfactorily.

In the end, all the pieces are there in various projects, but no project actually fits my needs. I do think the plex route is the best method, as it has the most complicated part (the streaming) handled quite well - but getting the few missing features into one or the other implementation is not really that easy.

I would love to be able to incorporate the Phoenix views into the scanner / bmt agent.. but its not in the cards and not really supported.

What i could see is perhaps using the views during scanning to create collections in Plex.... If anyone is interested in that or think they would use it I can investigate doing it from a code perspective

[mkanet]

I just installed this plugin; and, got it all working. I have to admit, it is pretty nice.

Since everything I need to access is available to me via the PLEX client SageTV Channel view, it would be ideal if the default home screen for my PLEX client is the contents of the SageTV channel.

When I start my PLEX client on my android phone, the default is "ON DECK"; which is completely empty, then I have to switch to the MY LIBRARY screen, then to the Channels screen; and, finally click on the SagetV Phoenix channel icon to finally see all the items.

I'm basically try to configure my PLEX client in a way; so, it is as close as possible to a SageTV client (minus EPG and favorites).

BTW: Has anyone made any nice custom icons for the items under the SageTV channel? Mine currently all shows as a generic icon for TV, Movies, Home Movies, etc.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by PiX64

I would love to be able to incorporate the Phoenix views into the scanner / bmt agent.. but its not in the cards and not really supported.

What i could see is perhaps using the views during scanning to create collections in Plex.... If anyone is interested in that or think they would use it I can investigate doing it from a code perspective

Yeah, I'm aware there are problems with customizing hierarchies in plex plugins. That's probably the most frustrating part, is that it SHOULD be easy, but there are just some strange limitations involved (just like the lack of a watched status in channels).

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mkanet

BTW: Has anyone made any nice custom icons for the items under the SageTV channel? Mine currently all shows as a generic icon for TV, Movies, Home Movies, etc.

I'd be happy to update the plugin with icons... if people provide them... Sadly, I'm not a graphics person

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

(just like the lack of a watched status in channels).

I posted a wish list to the Plex team (on their forums) when I completed this channel plugin... including a wish item for tracking watched status... Sadly, they don't appear to be be willing to work with developers and enhancing the channel apis

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I posted a wish list to the Plex team (on their forums) when I completed this channel plugin... including a wish item for tracking watched status... Sadly, they don't appear to be be willing to work with developers and enhancing the channel apis

Yeah, I saw that after posting this here.

[mkanet]

That would be great!

Originally Posted by stuckless

I'd be happy to update the plugin with icons... if people provide them... Sadly, I'm not a graphics person

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Yeah, I saw that after posting this here.

It's too bad... because if the plex team actually were more engaged with their community in terms of "enhancing" the channel scripting, you could do some really impressive stuff. My goal originally was to really beef up this plugin with more integration to sagetv to create a "real" client, if you will... but after spending the 2 weeks it took me to create this, it became clear that using a plex channel, I'd never get close that goal.

On the other hand... I also looked at the Roku APIs which are much richer for creating Plugins.. I haven't had time to actually test it out, but I think using their APIs you could actually create a full client... Someday, I'll get around to testing that out