STV: Cayars17 Ultimate STV (Release 17 - Jan 18)

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by Cayars

Yes, actually this is true. It doesn't hurt to to set it either.

Well, I'll re-state my case, maybe we can come up with a compromise (I know I'm kidding myself here, in the end you are writing the STV so you have ALL of the power ). Either way, here goes. In the context of the delete menu I still think this is all you need, but I will add some more comments.

• Delete & Set Watched - Deletes Episode, won't record it again. Will record different episodes. If you think about it, we agree on this one, if you also want to clear the "Don't Like" flag that should be fine, as you said it doesn't hurt. Since it is implied by the "Set Watched", I don't think it needs to be mentioned in the title of the menu item.
  
• Delete & Set Recording Error - Deletes Episode, will record it again due to error.You could clear the "Don't Like" flag here too, as it is implied that if I want it to re-record, I must like the show.
  
• Delete & Set Don't Like - Deletes Episode, won't record anymore episodes.You could also have it clear the "Watched" flag, as it is implied.

To me these options are the most common for day to day useage of SAGE as it applies to the "Delete" menu. I think the titles are short and to the point, and it is pretty clear what will happen with the show, without adding a lot of extra verbeage (is that a word? ) or confusing the user with what's going on behind the scenes.

[turak]

It looks like the new delete options don't apply if you use the malore style sage recordings. I use malore recordings on all of my clients and I still have the "delete and set watched" and "delete and clear watched". As for the situation when I delete and clear watched without setting don't like, I could easily just manually clear watched then do a "delete".

[pengdahl]

Originally Posted by Cayars

If for some reason you did want the entry marked as "Watched" and "Don't Like" then you are going to have issues with IR since you're sending it "mixed" signals. i.e you watch show you don't like???

I can think of one situation where I'd like to tell Sage that I don't like - that is, don't want Sage to automatically record - a program that I've watched.

Football. Sports.

I like to watch football live. I don't want Sage wasting my hard drive space recording every game that comes on. So I've told Sage I "don't like" football, but I watch it all the time.

I suppose I could set both "don't like" and "not watched" and get the same effect, though.

[Hector]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

You caught me here, but I think there are reasons why TIVO is so popular and the 3 biggest ones that I can think of are

• [1] User Interface
  [2] User Interface
  [3] User Interface

It's not as pretty or customizable as SAGE, but most of the design decisions the TIVO developers made make a lot of sense, at least to me. Except for that whole 30 minute buffer, what were they thinking?!

I agree completly, if you look at the original Sage 2 STV it's clear they were paying attention. As far as computers and UI's go, Tivo's UI really was revolutionary.

I've had a Tivo since 99 and still prefer it for watching sports because of the smooth transport. There are quite a few things about the Tivo UI I'd really like to see in Sage. Biggest for me right now is filtering guide data which is something I think you've mentioned too.

Man, even when you insult someone you get all technical, quoting studies and such - what makes you think I'm a man?

Actually, I am a man and I am not color blind. Also, my fiance' complained about the same thing without any prompting from me (she does that alot ).

Hmmm. Was it an insult because I thought you were a man like me or color blind like me? Hey wait should >I< be insulted?

I was honestly curious because I get bit by this all the time and the few people I have asked have no problem with it. Sometimes I have to move the 'pointer' to 'find' it.

Color blindness aside, all we're asking for here is more configuration. Come'on Carlo, get on the ball. You haven't released anything new since like yesterday.

peace . . .

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

Well, I'll re-state my case, maybe we can come up with a compromise (I know I'm kidding myself here, in the end you are writing the STV so you have ALL of the power ). Either way, here goes. In the context of the delete menu I still think this is all you need, but I will add some more comments.

• Delete & Set Watched - Deletes Episode, won't record it again. Will record different episodes. If you think about it, we agree on this one, if you also want to clear the "Don't Like" flag that should be fine, as you said it doesn't hurt. Since it is implied by the "Set Watched", I don't think it needs to be mentioned in the title of the menu item.
  
• Delete & Set Recording Error - Deletes Episode, will record it again due to error.You could clear the "Don't Like" flag here too, as it is implied that if I want it to re-record, I must like the show.
  
• Delete & Set Don't Like - Deletes Episode, won't record anymore episodes.You could also have it clear the "Watched" flag, as it is implied.

To me these options are the most common for day to day useage of SAGE as it applies to the "Delete" menu. I think the titles are short and to the point, and it is pretty clear what will happen with the show, without adding a lot of extra verbeage (is that a word? ) or confusing the user with what's going on behind the scenes.

But this still doesn't cover what pengdahl mentions in message 743. So I think we do need 4.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by turak

It looks like the new delete options don't apply if you use the malore style sage recordings. I use malore recordings on all of my clients and I still have the "delete and set watched" and "delete and clear watched". As for the situation when I delete and clear watched without setting don't like, I could easily just manually clear watched then do a "delete".

None of this has been added to the malore modules. I haven't yet decided if I want to make a lot of changes to malore, mlmdude while building my own off the original. So far it's mainly just the last option.

As it is, I have to upgrade all of my code if Narflex releases new code. I'd hate to have to do this to a couple of other too. I suppose some of the simpler things like the delete stuff we're talking about here could be added but I'd rather add functionality to the "TV Recordings" & "Live TV Guide" modules instead. If there are features in these other modules that aren't in my version let me know and I'll see if I can add them. I don't mind doing this.

I myself would prefer to focus my effort on one guide, one recording menu item, etc... and make this the best it can be.

[Hector]

Here's an idea. How about an option to NOT show channels that are showing 'paid programming'.

I know we've talked about filtering guide data before and this would have to include some logic about time blocks in the Live Guide. I don't know how the mini-guide relates to the Live guide programmatically but it would esp be useful and maybe easier ( a non data based assumption) to implement in the mini-guide.

Option: Do not show channels showing 'paid programming' in the mini-guide.

peace . . .

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by Hector

<snip>
I've had a Tivo since 99 and still prefer it for watching sports because of the smooth transport. There are quite a few things about the Tivo UI I'd really like to see in Sage. Biggest for me right now is filtering guide data which is something I think you've mentioned too.

Was this the thing were you could have a couple of channel filters setup and be able to switch between say "Movies Channels", "Sports Channels", "Shopping Channels", etc... while in the guide? You would be able to configure a couple/few different "guide channel filters" and switch between them by hitting the guide button or something similar?

<snip>
Come'on Carlo, get on the ball. You haven't released anything new since like yesterday.

peace . . .

Actually, to let you guys know what I'm up to. I'm actually concentrating efforts outside the STV with the exception of the "delete options" which we've been discussing here.

I'm jumping around but I'm looking at:
Trying to simplify a way to add all kinds of performance monitors with historical graphing that would be available in the STV or via a web browser. I can do this now but the setup (using open source software backend) is to difficult for most people.

I'm also playing around trying to see if I can "wedge" in a method to have a different recording quality for LiveTV versus your recordings.

I'm playing with some OSD changes and will probably take a look at the guide filtering by channel thing.

I'm looking at a number of open source software packages that we might be able to use to do things like MP3 ripping and CD/DVD burning. I'm also looking at a few HTPC frontends to see if we might be able to strip them down a bit and give them the same look and feel as the STV to add a good external music player that will work equally well from the server and client.

I doubt if I'll have any releases for a week or two this time as I'm in experimentation mode this go around.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by Hector

Here's an idea. How about an option to NOT show channels that are showing 'paid programming'.

I know we've talked about filtering guide data before and this would have to include some logic about time blocks in the Live Guide. I don't know how the mini-guide relates to the Live guide programmatically but it would esp be useful and maybe easier ( a non data based assumption) to implement in the mini-guide.

Option: Do not show channels showing 'paid programming' in the mini-guide.

peace . . .

I don't see these myself. I just went into setup and removed the channel altogether. This works for me in my location and based on the type of shows I watch. It might not work for others.

[MacDaddy]

Carlos - I'm trying to turn on the OSD transparency in the Detailed Setup/Interface options. It still has solid blue background. Any hints on what I might be doing wrong? Thx.

[srothwell]

Cayars,

Using your suggestions for getting rid of the dreaded black square.... I notices something strange in the OSD.....

Since the color keying is turned on which is supposed to render a semi-transparent blue background, similar to what you'd get with VMR9, On my TV it shows up incomplete.

On the top portion (title), the only portion that has blue behind it is the show's title. The description of the show only has blue behind it to the length of the show's title. The rest is completely transparent, making it hard to read.

Same goes for the bottom of the screen with the time bar. Only the bar itself has any blue behind it, the start time (0:00) and the end time (1:00:00) are transparent, as is the volume display.

Again, am I doing something wrong?

And..... on the commercial detect side, can you clarify when commercial detection occurs? Maybe it was under nielm's, but I remember seeing a menu somehwere that said something like "always commercial detect when recording is finished" or something.

Also on Comm Detect, how does one get the system to skip automatically while playing. I also remember a menu in an STV that turned that feature on.

And, last but not least, I did some more digging on something I brought up a while ago.... the Cayars STVs do not have he "Connect to Server" that the OriginalV2 has. This is not the Server enabled (which is not seen on Client with OriginalV2, but is always seen on client in Cayars), I'm referring to the choice that says which server to automatically connect to. I think it's under General or Advanced in OriginalV2. Without that, you have to either a) use OriginalV2.stv to set that parameter or b) input it into sage.properties.

Thanks again for all the work....

Stacy

[ptaylor]

Guys,

I just started using this STV a few days ago and think that I've found a bug. I tried setting a show as a Favorite tonight. I then went to the Favorite Options screen and tried to set it to First Runs, instead of "First Runs and Reruns". I can't get it to accept that option, though. It acts like it accepts it, but the setting remains "First Runs and Reruns". I can set it to "Reruns". After changing it to reruns, I tried setting it to "First Runs", but again, it failed to change anything...

Anyone else seeing this?

Paul

[Hector]

Originally Posted by Cayars

I don't see these myself. I just went into setup and removed the channel altogether. This works for me in my location and based on the type of shows I watch. It might not work for others.

It's either because you don't watch much late night or early morning tv or that you don't have DirecTv because maybe their time is sold differently. Or both.

I don't mean shopping channels or other wastes of bandwidth, I mean the same channels you watch during the day have paid programming on at night.

For example tonight all my local (ABC, NBC, etc) channels are showing blocks of paid programming for hours. Just starting at the top of the guide so is Court TV, Home Garden, Food Network, E!, USA FX, Comedy, A&E and tons more have only paid programming on.

So basically I would guess that around 25% of my guide shows nothing but 'paid programming' which is of course not the case during the day.

I got burned pretty bad on not having my mini-guide enabled so this time I am going to show pictures so at least we're on the same page

peace . . .

[turak]

Originally Posted by Cayars

None of this has been added to the malore modules. I haven't yet decided if I want to make a lot of changes to malore, mlmdude while building my own off the original. So far it's mainly just the last option.

As it is, I have to upgrade all of my code if Narflex releases new code. I'd hate to have to do this to a couple of other too. I suppose some of the simpler things like the delete stuff we're talking about here could be added but I'd rather add functionality to the "TV Recordings" & "Live TV Guide" modules instead. If there are features in these other modules that aren't in my version let me know and I'll see if I can add them. I don't mind doing this.

I myself would prefer to focus my effort on one guide, one recording menu item, etc... and make this the best it can be.

I wasn't complaining. I was just making sure that you were aware that malore recordings wasn't effected by your changes.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy

Carlos - I'm trying to turn on the OSD transparency in the Detailed Setup/Interface options. It still has solid blue background. Any hints on what I might be doing wrong? Thx.

In overlay mode you want to make sure you have 3D accel. turned on and Overlay Color Keying on also. How are these set?

[rsagetv99]

Originally Posted by srothwell

And..... on the commercial detect side, can you clarify when commercial detection occurs? Maybe it was under nielm's, but I remember seeing a menu somehwere that said something like "always commercial detect when recording is finished" or something.

Detailed Setup>Comercial Skip>Enable Background Comercial Processing, then you will see the options (While Awake, While Recording).

Originally Posted by srothwell

Also on Comm Detect, how does one get the system to skip automatically while playing. I also remember a menu in an STV that turned that feature on.

This one's a little trickier - Detailed Setup>Interface>OSD Options>Modify>Enable Malore options.

Carlo, I'm all for giving Marlore props, but you might get less questions about this if it had a different name and if it was in the Comercial Skip screen.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Cayars,

Using your suggestions for getting rid of the dreaded black square.... I notices something strange in the OSD.....

Since the color keying is turned on which is supposed to render a semi-transparent blue background, similar to what you'd get with VMR9, On my TV it shows up incomplete.

On the top portion (title), the only portion that has blue behind it is the show's title. The description of the show only has blue behind it to the length of the show's title. The rest is completely transparent, making it hard to read.

Same goes for the bottom of the screen with the time bar. Only the bar itself has any blue behind it, the start time (0:00) and the end time (1:00:00) are transparent, as is the volume display.

Again, am I doing something wrong?

And..... on the commercial detect side, can you clarify when commercial detection occurs? Maybe it was under nielm's, but I remember seeing a menu somehwere that said something like "always commercial detect when recording is finished" or something.

Also on Comm Detect, how does one get the system to skip automatically while playing. I also remember a menu in an STV that turned that feature on.

And, last but not least, I did some more digging on something I brought up a while ago.... the Cayars STVs do not have he "Connect to Server" that the OriginalV2 has. This is not the Server enabled (which is not seen on Client with OriginalV2, but is always seen on client in Cayars), I'm referring to the choice that says which server to automatically connect to. I think it's under General or Advanced in OriginalV2. Without that, you have to either a) use OriginalV2.stv to set that parameter or b) input it into sage.properties.

Thanks again for all the work....

Stacy

You're stuck in a bad place. I tried and tried to work around this and just can't find a solution. The matte50%png file (small file) will work with Color Keying turned on, but if you drop a larger size png file in for some reason it doesn't work until you turn color keying off. This is probably a bug in SageTV but I'm pushing the envelope on this so I hesitate to file this as a "bug" since you can't reproduce it in the originalv2.stv.

So your choices are at this point:
1) Live with the black square and use the larger matte file.
2) Live with the transparency not fully covering the entire fields but not having the black box.
3) Use the larger matte file with color keying off but also turn off Closed Captioning.
4) Switch to VMR9 mode
5) Fire me and get someone who can fix the problem

Concerning Com Skip: The bottom menu choice in Detailed Setup gives you a bunch of com skip settings. To turn on the auto skip make sure the following setting is enabled, detailed setup->Interface->OSD Options->Show Malore Options. Then go into the OSD and bring up the options and you should see a setting for this.

I should probably make this setting adjustable directly in the OSD Options in detailed setup.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by ptaylor

Guys,

I just started using this STV a few days ago and think that I've found a bug. I tried setting a show as a Favorite tonight. I then went to the Favorite Options screen and tried to set it to First Runs, instead of "First Runs and Reruns". I can't get it to accept that option, though. It acts like it accepts it, but the setting remains "First Runs and Reruns". I can set it to "Reruns". After changing it to reruns, I tried setting it to "First Runs", but again, it failed to change anything...

Anyone else seeing this?

Paul

I just gave it a quick try and it's working for me on my system. Just for kicks, switch back to the originalV2.stv and see if you experience the same problem.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by Hector

It's either because you don't watch much late night or early morning tv or that you don't have DirecTv because maybe their time is sold differently. Or both.

I don't mean shopping channels or other wastes of bandwidth, I mean the same channels you watch during the day have paid programming on at night.

For example tonight all my local (ABC, NBC, etc) channels are showing blocks of paid programming for hours. Just starting at the top of the guide so is Court TV, Home Garden, Food Network, E!, USA FX, Comedy, A&E and tons more have only paid programming on.

So basically I would guess that around 25% of my guide shows nothing but 'paid programming' which is of course not the case during the day.

I got burned pretty bad on not having my mini-guide enabled so this time I am going to show pictures so at least we're on the same page

peace . . .

OK not what I was thinking. I see your point. However if I were to filter these out based on a couple of hours what would happen if you wanted to record a show at 10AM on a channel that is presently filtered out? You wouldn't be able to unless of course we make it a toggle. I'll take a look at this for you.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by turak

I wasn't complaining. I was just making sure that you were aware that malore recordings wasn't effected by your changes.

I didn't take it as a complaint. I just wanted you to know my intentions so you didn't get your hopes up.