MVP Client 1.3.0 (2005/08/16)

[Matt]

Originally Posted by DIBU

when i look a recording show and this comes to end, the client will use 100% of cpu power for some times. after 2 or 5 minutes all is ok

Are you using SageTV 2.2.7? Can you reproduce this reliably? I can't at all.

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

Just for the record, end of file (or hitting STOP once in a file) behavior does seem to have changed.

What exactly changed? The behavior of SageTV (in 2.2.7) or the behavior MVP Client (in 1.2.0)?

Originally Posted by DIBU

i see that the client is after switch out the mvp also some times 99% cpu power used.

I can reproduce this and will fix it. I take it this is not the same problem as the End-of-File problem from above.

-Matt

[jimbobuk]

I just brought a 2nd MVP today just to try it out..

I'd previously installed the sage client in its default directory (the same dir as SageTV server) .. I followed the instructions and copied sagetv to mvp1 and mvp2 directories (i probably didn't need mvp1 as i could of used the one that worked within SageTV but liked simplifying things a bit)..

My first MVP was out of action when i first tried the new MVP .. i ran both mvp1 and mvp2 (after altering the MVP=MVP1/2 in the cmd file) went to the mvp and rebooted it... it came up quickly and was into the sage menu.. great.

I operated the remote control and nothing happened.. I went back to the pc running sagetvclient and moved the selected menu item a few times, it wasn't working on back on the tv.

Further enquiries via my router showed that i assume the mvp had crashed.. if i looked at the attached devices page that lists LAN connected clients the MVP wasn't on the list. Rebooting it and refreshing this page and the MVP client appears on my router.. so i'm pretty sure its crashing.

Further tests showed that if i used the PC's window running SageTV CLient i could move the selection around and it would be reflected on the MVP screen. I finally decided it was possibly the software firewall blocking it, although bizarely i have it (Keiro) setup to ask me whenever attempts are made.. it showed up when i first ran the mvpclient on the PC in their new directories but wasn't showing up again when the MVP was sending remote control commands back to the PC.. I added bothways to the firewall rule and tried again and it seemed to work.

Thinking i'd fixed it i later got both MVPs working simultaneously just to see how it coped.. the first time i did this the 2nd MVP exhibited exactly the same problem of crashing/freezing on remote control input. Immediately rebooting and doing nothing and it then appeared to function fine.

Not a fatal thing if you only have to reset the MVP to get it to work.. wouldn't like it to happen mid-using the client.

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this.. are occasional MVP crashes still present in this setup?!

Both MVPs are E1 revisions, LOT 4703 if that helps.. i believe this is the latest version?

Hopefully i'll get it working on someone else's tv away from the PC and it'll get some testing... it does look nice so far.. great work... the slow response UI is the only minor niggle, and i can totally appreciate why its happening.. to be honest my integrated SKY+ hdd recorder is sometimes even slower and it doesn't have such an excuse (although i guess it does get some of its data off of a satelite stream, which is more impressive than my 15feet lan cable

Great stuff though, its going to single handedly start me using my SageTV setup even more, time for a new hdd perhaps

[pawn]

Hi!

Haven't posted in a while. I finally got around to purchasing a MediaMVP to try this out. My experience seems to match the plugin author's predicted experience: occassional video freezes, and a total loss of connection from time to time.

Other comments I would add:

- when first starting to watch a media stream, there are a few hiccups, pauses, strangeness, etc., until the client settles in.

- it took a lot to get this going. I had to upgrade to 2.2.7, upgrade my java RTE (only to run the new 1.2.0 MVP client, BTW), and play a bit with the sageclient.properties and mvp.properties files. A lot of this could have been made a lot easier, in my opinion, if the author provided a little more in the readme file, particularly related to properties tweaks available. But what am I gonna say, it was free

Overall, I'm not sure yet how useable this plugin is, due to the freezes, etc., but I thank the author for his efforts. I'm curious to know if freezes are normal when using the MVP's native software.

[Matt]

Please note: insomniac's and rickw's connection problems could both be narrowed down to Java 1.4.2_05.

Please make sure you use Java 1.4.2_07/08 or Java 1.5.0

-Matt

[Matt]

Originally Posted by pawn

if the author provided a little more in the readme file, particularly related to properties tweaks available. But what am I gonna say, it was free

I understand this very well, but only an installer application would really improve things for complex setup (for simple setups, unzip should work ok). But with Frey's announcement to deliver their own MVP Extender with 3.0, I'm limiting the time I invest into this project.

Originally Posted by pawn

Overall, I'm not sure yet how useable this plugin is, due to the freezes, etc., but I thank the author for his efforts. I'm curious to know if freezes are normal when using the MVP's native software.

Starting playback and skipping are both not perfect, but I'm not get freezes that would make it unusable.

Originally Posted by jimbobuk

Just wondering if anyone else has seen this.. are occasional MVP crashes still present in this setup?!

My MVPs (all three) run very stable. Disconnects are very rare. Known reasons for crashes/disconnects are:

Network: the MVP operates a 10 MBit/s half duplex. If network cards, switches etc. are forced to 100MBit/s or don't support 10 MBit/s half duplex otherwise, the MVP will be very unstable. Also, Hauppauge has posted some tweaks to tune the TCP/IP settings. I wouldn't be surprised if MVPs don't work well over wireless networks, but I have no experience with this.

PC: if the PC running the MVP Client is at its limits (CPU, RAM), the MVP Client will not be able to handle MVP requests in time and connections get lost.

MVPs: some of the early MVPs had lots of connection problems (I had to get my first one replaced because it didn't get a connection at all most of the time)

If you have lots of MVP connection problems with the MVP Client, please try the original Hauppauge software to see if it's a network or MVP problem or if its really the MVP Client. I'll try to fix MVP Client problems of course.

-Matt

[DIBU]

i switch to my old server, an all will now work fine. without problems.

older = better for sage


i'm happy now

[rickw]

Originally Posted by Matt

Please note: insomniac's and rickw's connection problems could both be narrowed down to Java 1.4.2_05.

Please make sure you use Java 1.4.2_07/08 or Java 1.5.0

-Matt

As Matt stated, upgraded my Java to 1.4.2_08 (from 1.4.2_05) fixed my problem the MVP client.

If you do upgrade your Java runtime and you use the Webserver plugin remember that the servlet.jar file needs to be in the java lib\ext folder. Took me awhile to track that one down, thought I had trade one problem for another.

Matt: A donation is on it's way.

Rick...

[insomniac]

Just wanted to say thanks for the help Matt! You made quick work of collecting feedback and pointing out the quick fix! I will get official Wife clearance on a donation tonight

FWIW, this release has not had any random skips(<1 second A/V like I have had on the last release), but then again it may be too quick to say for certain.

I.

[Matt]

Thank you for your help narrowing down the problem to Java 1.4.2_05 (a problem I didn't really expect).

-Matt

[Deadbolt]

Has anyone had luck with running a the SageMVP client over a wireless bridge (G or A)? I have tried two different Dlink models and have had disconnect problems. The video plays fine for about a half hour...then I have to reboot...it will drop.

Thanks in advance.

[jimbobuk]

a wireless bridge came today for me to finally play with the MVP away from the PC with the main tv. After some headaches setting it up i finally got it nailed and working downstairs.. the wireless G strength was about 80% according to my laptop connected to the bridge, so good speed should be present.. if the MVP really does use a 10mbit then the alleged 50mbit of wirelessG (perhaps more like 30-40mbit usable bandwidth) should be more than enough.

And so it seemed to be.. it works fine most of the time.

I've had about 4 or 5 freezes or drop outs.. I'm going to update java and get the latest version of the mvp sage client and see if they are resolved. I can expect possible wireless problems causing some of it though generally it does seem fine. I think my bridge crashed a few times in those 4 or 5 hours ( i couldn't ping it when it was done) but on the whole, it worked perfectly for 2-3 hours.. that it then all started to go pear shaped near the end brought to the fore another problem.

We were watching this show and already throughout the night we'd seen problem i)

i) PAL MVP/TV/Streams seem to have a messed up time during playback.. if you are watching a 30 minute show before its finished it reads 38 minutes or so.. by itself not too bad.. this seems to only be the case when the show is being recorded at the time, though i've not had chance to watch a recorded show for long enough to see if this is the case.

What was a harmless quirk began to spoil living room acceptance when whilst watching an hour long show after about 30minutes it locked up.. this was the 2nd time today perhaps that it did so.. i restarted the MVP and the bridge (very hard to say which was at fault) it all came back fine, Sage remembered where we were roughly.. for some reason later i decided to rewind the programme a little bit.. due to the confusion on timings a small rewind backwards actually took me 15-20 minutes backwards.. then trying to fast forward again we quickly reached what it thought was the end of the file even though it was definately 5-10 minutes before what we'd just been watching.

I don't know if this is a straight SageTV Client problem, as i've not used it on my PC in months, but i doubt it is as that config must surely be more tested.. i can only imagine its an MVP related issue, perhaps only a PAL MVP related one.

Other than though it mostly worked very well.. a few more trivia questions.

What are the actual controls of the remote!? Is everything possible on SageTV on PC possible on the MVP (fewer buttons so silly question) .. is there a page somewhere with the controls as they are (or even were) .. it'd be nice to know how to do everything i want.. fast forward/rewind wise is there a way to use the numbers on the remote to tell Sage to view the clip from the 45th minute for example.. with the normal ff/rw and the skip up/down doing a bigger fast forward jump of a few minutes you can move quite quickly through a programme but it would be good to be able to jump to a specific time, especially given that its not that responsive when using ff/rw.

Finally.. i've asked this in another thread with not much reply but i was wondering if anyone had tested the jukebox performance under MVP.. I asked about it here

http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...4805#post94805

Basically wondering if there was any dynamic range clipping going off as listening to music last night it felt like the volume was dynamically reducing as a song got louder to keep it at a particular maximum volume. Not as noticable today on another tv, perhaps it was my tv, though i struggle to see how it could of been.

Finally finally

But with Frey's announcement to deliver their own MVP Extender with 3.0, I'm limiting the time I invest into this project.

Completely appreciated and to be honest i'm baffled with how much you've managed to achieve with the mvp client as it is.. i'd love to see the code (or perhaps not) but on the whole you've shown Frey the potential and nearly pretty much completed the client to its fullest potential.. Well done, and great work.

I've not been as active as i could of been recently so just thought i'd ask here, but do we know when Sage 3.0 is due to hit with its MVP functionality?! Is it months or weeks?

[jimbobuk]

Originally Posted by Deadbolt

Has anyone had luck with running a the SageMVP client over a wireless bridge (G or A)? I have tried two different Dlink models and have had disconnect problems. The video plays fine for about a half hour...then I have to reboot...it will drop.

Thanks in advance.

As i posted above (at the same time as you posted here) ..

I've just been playing with a wirelessG bridge.. its the Netgear WGE111, again as already described its operating at near ideal range/strength of about 80-85%.

I'm using router wifi MAC access control and WPA-PSK, which the WGE111 seems to be working with now i finally set it all up, its running on its latest firmware.

Its been active since about 4pm and its now 1am the following day... critical viewing has occured from about 6:30 till midnight. In that time i've had 1 stuttery slowed down video, not been able to really reproduce that. A few minor framedrops, not that common, 1 early drop out where it all just hung and the MVP went back to endlessly searching for servers.

I came back up to the normal PCs and looked around, i was expecting perhaps the sage server machine to have crashed, but it was fine.. I was unable to ping the wireless bridge so it was dead, possibly... these bridges took a bit of getting used to, that they dont want to exist themselves (well for MAC access control on the router you DONT add the bridge's MAC, you have to add the wired MAC of the device you connect to the bridge via wire.. this wasn't obvious initially and caused some failing to connect headaches [the biggest headache come from assuming i could connect the bridge via wire to my router, it appears to require direct pc connection via wire for initial setup... just a tip, would of saved me 30 mins earlier today ]) more you have to have something being bridged to exist on the network makes me wonder if an MVP crash would make the bridge not pingable, probably not possible as the MVP was still running searching for servers.

Anyways came back downstairs and rebooted the MVP and the bridge and up it came..

Fine again for an hour or so and then we had a couple of dropouts in reasonably quick succession along with the other MVP quirks outlined in my post above..

On the whole not ready for the big time but not at all bad (the crashes/hangs not the MVP client functionality as it is, which i think is real close to being ready, with only slight unresponsiveness to the UI being apparant) .. its worked for 4 or so hours with a big 2-3 hours of working fine. I plan to get the latest version of everything and then try to put in some more time over wire to see if the problem is the wireless, the mvp (i can use a different MVP), or the client.

[for full details: my router is a netgear DG834G running firmware 1.03.07.. which isn't the latest as it had some wierd quirks - to do with the ADSL connection if i remember correctly - which caused me to sit at this version]

[Matt]

I can't add much about your wireless experience. All I know is that the networking part of the MVP very sensible to network quality and if it is not close to perfect (something hard to achieve with wireless, even with good signal strength), you will have disconnects. If the wireless bridge also dies, it only gets worse

Not sure if someone remembers that Hauppauge announced/demonstrated a wireless MediaMVP at CeBIT 2004 (!) and it's still not available. Reason could well be that it's not stable enough yet...

BTW, a good source for general MVP informations is SHS's MVP forum.

jimbobuk, once you have your system at the SageTV 2.2.7/MVP Client 1.2.0 level and the timing problems persist, please let me know via private message and I'll try to analyze what's going on. Must be a problem determining the bitrate of the video and it could well be in the MVP Client.

-Matt

[DIBU]

Originally Posted by Deadbolt

Has anyone had luck with running a the SageMVP client over a wireless bridge (G or A)? I have tried two different Dlink models and have had disconnect problems. The video plays fine for about a half hour...then I have to reboot...it will drop.

Thanks in advance.

i use all my mvp with wlan gameadapter from belkin without problems

[jcato]

Originally Posted by evalentine

Update:
I forced the IP & Mac Address in the configuration for the MVP.Properties and it came right up
_______________________________________________

I installed the SageTV MVP new release, and I'm getting
Loading Application on MVP and then it stops and goes back to
Looking for DHCP or BootP Server.

Any thoughts?
Thanks
Eric

I have the same probelm. How did you solve it? I put an IP and MAC address in the MVP.properties file. I'm not sure what to put for the MAC address, though. I have Java 1.4.2_08 installed. The MVP connects with the Hauppauge software, but not with this client. The log file has this:

Sat 04/02 10:40:03:250 12 SEVERE BootpServer.read: MVP doesn't have an IP address. Make sure a DHCP server is running and accessible by the MVP or fixedIP is configured.

over and over again.

Thanks!

[jcato]

Okay, I think I have it working. I figured out the correct MAC address and it appears to be working. And it looks great!

One more thing, when I turn the MVP off and back on, it says Failed to locate GUI server. I have to exit the SageTV client and restart it for it to come back. Is this normal? I guess it's not really problem, though. I just won't turn off the MVP.

[jimbobuk]

Originally Posted by jcato

Okay, I think I have it working. I figured out the correct MAC address and it appears to be working. And it looks great!

One more thing, when I turn the MVP off and back on, it says Failed to locate GUI server. I have to exit the SageTV client and restart it for it to come back. Is this normal? I guess it's not really problem, though. I just won't turn off the MVP.

If i put the MVP into standby and then back on again it quickly (2-3 seconds) locates server and is back to the sage menu... unplugging and pluggin it back in causes it to reload itself and then get the server. This "Failed to locate GUI server" problem doesn't appear to happen on my setup.

[jlabrue]

Matt,

Thanks for all the hard work on the MVP client. It is awesome and gotten me very close to chunking my Tivo. My wifes still holdin on pretty tight :-)

Could you provide a little detail on the MAC bindings for the mvp.properties file. I have two MVP's to configure. How do I set those entries. Do I put one MAC in MPV1's file on the MVP1 line and on the MVP2 file put the other MAC on the MVP1 or 2 line. Or do I put both MAC's in each file and put MVP1 on the MVP1 line and 2 on 2.... I seem to still keep getting a random client instance each time I power off and on. I have also tried setting up each MAC in each config file on the the MVP1 line.

# Set fixedIp if your MVP cannot reach a DHCP server (fixedIp is ignored if it can).
# Set MVC mac address (like 00:0d:fe:12:34:56) to create a fixed binding between MVP and MVPClient.
MVP1.BootpServer.fixedIp=
MVP1.BootpServer.mac=00:0d:fe:00:xx:xx
MVP2.BootpServer.fixedIp=
MVP2.BootpServer.mac=00:0d:fe:00:xx:xx


Any help would be great
Thanks!

[Matt]

Originally Posted by jcato

Okay, I think I have it working. I figured out the correct MAC address and it appears to be working. And it looks great!

Setting the IP would have been enough. Setting the MAC address is only of interest in setups with multiple MVPs running with different configurations (different STVs, different remote controls etc.) as it allows the binding of one MVP with one specific MVP Client.

Originally Posted by jcato

One more thing, when I turn the MVP off and back on, it says Failed to locate GUI server. I have to exit the SageTV client and restart it for it to come back. Is this normal? I guess it's not really problem, though. I just won't turn off the MVP.

This is a bug. In some setups, the MVP Client sometimes uses 100% CPU for about 30 seconds when turning off the MVP, but it should automatically recover from that. I'll upload a fix sometime this week.

Originally Posted by jlabrue

Could you provide a little detail on the MAC bindings for the mvp.properties file. I have two MVP's to configure. How do I set those entries. Do I put one MAC in MPV1's file on the MVP1 line and on the MVP2 file put the other MAC on the MVP1 or 2 line. Or do I put both MAC's in each file and put MVP1 on the MVP1 line and 2 on 2.... I seem to still keep getting a random client instance each time I power off and on. I have also tried setting up each MAC in each config file on the the MVP1 line.

In the case of MAC addresses, only mvp.properties of the "MVP1" MVP Client matters, but there are no easy rules for all properties so it's best to keep all mvp.properties files exactly the same.

The MVPx prefix defines which MVP Client (as defined in StartMVPClient.cmd) is affected by the setting. So your example above is correct:

MVP1.BootpServer.mac=00:0d:fe:00:xx:xx
MVP2.BootpServer.mac=00:0d:fe:00:xx:xx

Don't forget to restart the MVP Clients after changing mvp.properties.

-Matt

[Matt]

Originally Posted by jimbobuk

What are the actual controls of the remote!? Is everything possible on SageTV on PC possible on the MVP (fewer buttons so silly question) .. is there a page somewhere with the controls as they are (or even were) .. it'd be nice to know how to do everything i want.. fast forward/rewind wise is there a way to use the numbers on the remote to tell Sage to view the clip from the 45th minute for example.. with the normal ff/rw and the skip up/down doing a bigger fast forward jump of a few minutes you can move quite quickly through a programme but it would be good to be able to jump to a specific time, especially given that its not that responsive when using ff/rw.

You can map the RC buttons to whatever you like. See FAQ 1.

Most SageTV functionality will also work with the MVP Client.

Checkout the SageTV documentation for "Time Scroll Playback Mode" for an alternative way to navigate within a media file during playback. Haven't tried this myself but it should also work with the MVP Client.

-Matt

PS. I have updated the FAQ & Troubleshooting section with what has been discussed here lately.