Sage v9 Placeshifter on Win10

[rickgillyon]

Has anyone got Sage v9 Placeshifter on Win10 connecting to a v9 Server working well at all? Depending on the content being transcoded, it seems to either show a blank screen for video, or sometimes video with no sound. Is there a trick to getting it working?

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Has anyone got Sage v9 Placeshifter on Win10 connecting to a v9 Server working well at all? Depending on the content being transcoded, it seems to either show a blank screen for video, or sometimes video with no sound. Is there a trick to getting it working?

I use this set-up quite a bit around the house. However, the only way I've gotten reliable playback most all the time is to use the Sage built-in post-recording transcoding option. Most of my issues were with the inability to skip properly, but did occasionally get black screens. No audio I have seen a few times even with the transcoding, though.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

I use this set-up quite a bit around the house. However, the only way I've gotten reliable playback most all the time is to use the Sage built-in post-recording transcoding option. Most of my issues were with the inability to skip properly, but did occasionally get black screens. No audio I have seen a few times even with the transcoding, though.

Yeah, it looks like the real-time transcoding required just hasn't been updated to keep pace with changes in formats. A shame as my daughter wanted to use the system from uni, but all of the TV recordings are unworkable and only basic videos with 2-channel audio are usable.

Disappointing.

[wayner]

You can use other software to play back the Sage files for remote viewing. I use AirVideo HD on iOS devices and you can also use Plex if you install Plex Media Server on your SageTV server.

[rickgillyon]

Thanks. Do you have to pay for Plex?

[wayner]

You do, or at least did, have to pay for some features but I am not sure what you actually have to pay for. You can also run Plex in a docker on unRAID and point it to the same media files as Sage.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by wayner

You do, or at least did, have to pay for some features but I am not sure what you actually have to pay for. You can also run Plex in a docker on unRAID and point it to the same media files as Sage.

I've used AirVideo and tried other media streaming apps. IMHO, Plex is the most usable and feature rich. I used to regularly use the sync feature which is why I became a Plex Pass subscriber.

https://www.plex.tv/features/plex-pass/

The big things that Plex Pass gives you access to are device sync and the DVR/Live TV functionality. It apparently also allows you to use the mobile apps without requiring to pay to unlock. Although I've been a Plex Pass/Premium customer since before they did that so I was unaware of it. Looks like, at least on iOS, it's a one-time fee of $5.

So pretty much if you don't plan on using the premium features the one-time $5 fee is a pretty small thing.

Like I said, I've used other applications like Plex and they just don't compare very well.

[rickgillyon]

Thanks! If Plex works out then the £90 lifetime PlexPass would be a tempting offer.

Wish I'd found out about this sooner, would have saved hours of hassle...

[wayner]

But just to clarify - Plex isn't really a replacement for Sage when it comes to TV recording functionality. However it does perform very well in providing a platform for streaming content, either locally or remotely, and it can do so to many different types of clients including PCs, iOS, Android, Xbox, Roku, etc. Like Sage, and unlike Kodi, it has a client-server architecture.

So Plex can take the files you record from Sage, or other video or music files, and serve them up in a nice UI. It may not work so well for LiveTV or near Live TV or for content that doesn't have proper metadata - like sports. It will work best with video files that have been on your hard drive for a few hours so that it can scan them and load the metadata. There is a Plex SageTV scanner that I have used in the past and I think it is still running on my old SageTV server. But I am not sure if it is still supported or even if it still works.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by wayner

But just to clarify - Plex isn't really a replacement for Sage when it comes to TV recording functionality.

Yeah, I'm just concerned with distribution here. Seems to be choking a few files into my recordings folder though...

[Taddeusz]

Plex works best with SageTV recordings if you have the option to keep spaces in the recording filenames enabled.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Plex works best with SageTV recordings if you have the option to keep spaces in the recording filenames enabled.

Sorry, I can't see that option, where is it? I had it set to keep Episode Names in, but didn't have Ep and Season numbers, added those now. But I didn't realise it would only show TV shows in the library if it recognised them. Changing the library type to "Other Videos" it adds them as expected.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Sorry, I can't see that option, where is it? I had it set to keep Episode Names in, but didn't have Ep and Season numbers, added those now. But I didn't realise it would only show TV shows in the library if it recognised them. Changing the library type to "Other Videos" it adds them as expected.

I don't think there's an option in the UI. You'll have to shut down SageTV, modify or add the option extended_filenames=true in your Sage.properties file, and then restart SageTV. Then all your new recordings will have spaces in them. I believe it's defaulted to true now but if you've been running for a while it won't be set.

I also recommend enabling "Include season and episode numbers in filenames" along with the aforementioned property if you don't already have it enabled. With those two options enabled Plex will be able to figure out most recordings.

Basically given the example filename "The Good Doctor - S01E05 - Point Three Percent - 24470483-0.mpg", Plex will ignore everthing after the second "-".

[rickgillyon]

Thanks, will do.