STV: gbOptions STV

[glbrown]

I have added functionality to Cayers 17 and invite the community to download and comment.

- Two Grid style 9 option menus cascaded from the Options button in the Media Player

The grid doubles the number of available options compared to a standard vertical layout. Both menus have user customizable menu choices so you can set them up to go to your favorite screens from the options menu.

Eliminate hard coded remote buttons and simplify navigation for everyday TV viewing tasks.

Options menus dynamically change according to the currently playing media type, either TV or DVD to further simplify navigation.

- QuickCut

Simple one button function that allows you to clip portions of the currently playing video. File management is automatic and a batch script is provided to process the clip files in VideoReDo.

- Aspect Ratio Options

Quickly change and modify the aspect ratio modes from the options button.

- Show History

Display Viewing History for the show you are watching from the options button.

- Cayers17 power

All the beloved functionality of the entire Cayers 17 STV is available from the options button.

http://www.clearanswer.com/sagetv

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

-gary-

[ToxMox]

Cool I'm looking forward to trying this.
I've been hoping for a feature like your AR options for quite some time. Does it dynamically change the screen size as you are changing the options? I have another thought too. It would be nice to use the Info button to switch between the Zoom and Offset windows.

[rsagetv99]

I have a question on the QuickCut, just so I understand it correctly, the portion that is cut is the portion that is discarded right?

[glbrown]

The screen size does change dynamically. I didn't write the code for it, I just exposed it. I had several buttons on my remote dedicated to AR modes that I no longer use because this way is more efficient and powerful.

I have noticed that the aspect ratio internal to the content is quite varied and it is easy to fine tune the ratio for a particular movie or such especially with a 16x9 display.

You might like it.

-gary-

[glbrown]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

I have a question on the QuickCut, just so I understand it correctly, the portion that is cut is the portion that is discarded right?

No, I actually implemented it in reverse. It probably should be called QuickClip

My reasoning is that I see a piece I want to save, so I mark the beginning and end of that portion and I am done. Anything not specificially marked is tossed. This is not meant in anyway to replace a full featured editor, it's just an easy way to save short clips of interest from the couch. Each mark is just one button press and you see the 'clips' on the OSD.

-gary-

[ToxMox]

Is this STV built off of Cayars 17 or 18c? In the top post you wrote 17 but on the linked web page it says 18c.

[ToxMox]

The AR stuff is very buggy. At least in VMR9 it is. When I go to the AR Zoom or Offset setup the video shrinks about 10-15% until I hit select it returns to normal size rendering the feature not very useful for me

[glbrown]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

The AR stuff is very buggy. At least in VMR9 it is. When I go to the AR Zoom or Offset setup the video shrinks about 10-15% until I hit select it returns to normal size rendering the feature not very useful for me

I run overlay here. I just switched to VMR9 and restarted as well as switching decoders and I don't see the problem. All it is doing is setting the property and refreshing. What is your video config? I am running a 9200 direct to an LCD.

I developed in 18c and rather than wait for a public release of 18, I imported my code into 17 so I could publish. There are several issues I fixed in 18c that I didn't re-fix in 17 because this is just a test.

I appreciate your time and comments.

-gary-

[glbrown]

I have included another function I call SageDVD.

Archive show now automatically creates an xml file with the EPG data for the selected show. You copy the files to DVD as data files, absolutely the fastest way to archive shows. Set up your DVD drives as import directories.

The DVD option can display the EPG data as well as discriminate between standard DVDs and SageDVDs and act appropriately.

My DVD collection contains both types of DVDs and this makes playing them pretty effortless and no more losing EPG data!

www.clearanswer.com/sagetv

[justme]

I have included another function I call SageDVD.

Archive show now automatically creates an xml file with the EPG data for the selected show. You copy the files to DVD as data files, absolutely the fastest way to archive shows. Set up your DVD drives as import directories.

The DVD option can display the EPG data as well as discriminate between standard DVDs and SageDVDs and act appropriately.

Excellent addition! I'm definitely going to have to give this a test.

Is there any chance that you will ever make your changes/additions into a import? I like a lot of Cayars features but not really enough to use it on a day to day basis. I tend to bounce back and forth between Maldude and the Default STV(which has most of Neilm's imports added). To be able to add(at least) your cut and SageDVD functions to the Default STV would be very valuable to me.

Anyway, thanks for the hard work.

/justme

[glbrown]

Originally Posted by justme

Is there any chance that you will ever make your changes/additions into a import?

I doubt it. I have modified media player and several other menus in an effort to reduce the number of button pushes required to manage tv and provide functionality with the absolute minimum user interface. These STVs are like the wild west and don't get along very well from an import/plugin perspective.

It may just be me but I have found that the cute icons and pretty menus are neat at first but get old after you have seen them a few thousand times. I have been striving for maximum transparancy and minimum intrusion so I can do normal navigation and housekeeping while watching tv.

This concept may not be for everyone but it sure works for me.

-gary-

[justme]

I doubt it. I have modified media player and several other menus...

I understand, but hey, it never hurts to ask.

These STVs are like the wild west and don't get along very well from an import/plugin perspective.

Yeah interoperablity is a real issue. This is one of the reasons I stick largely to the default STV and use the supplied imports. Since they were designed for the default STV they have always worked, in my experience, at least. Of course up until now the imports have basically all come from one person. So I can see the issue you are talking about if several people start releasing their main functions as imports. I'm certian we'd have many conflicts between one STV import creator's work and another, it's just the nature of the beast right now.

...in an effort to reduce the number of button pushes required to manage tv and provide functionality with the absolute minimum user interface...
I have been striving for maximum transparancy and minimum intrusion so I can do normal navigation and housekeeping while watching tv.

I fully understand and agree with this concept. It's actually the reason why I don't use Cayars STV(except rarely to test new features). I generally find it a little too busy/power hungry for my client setup. My wife is generally very happy with the default STV(with many of Nielm's imports) and any major UI change would need major new usablity, and of course time, for her to accept it. This is a good reason for having a Client license. She gets the STV she wants and I get to play around with possible function additions on another machine.

Thanks for your work and time.
/justme

[glbrown]

The quick and easy way to archive TV shows to DVD in SageTV

http://www.clearanswer.com/sagetv/gbburn.htm

You see a show you would like to keep, just select archive. When you collect a bunch of archived shows you want to write to DVD, just run gbBurn. gbBurn wites the DVDs using Copy2DVD in the background while you are watching SageTV. All you have to do is take the completed DVD out of the tray and write the number on the DVD, insert another blank and continue.

The EPG data for each show is saved on the DVD and can be displayed in SageTV. The 'burn' directory on your computer has the contents of each DVD and the EPG data so, at your leisure, you can:

- make labels
- write the show names on the dvd
- enter the information into your favorite DVD library program.

This is an alpha and I am looking for comments. Regression testing requires a lot of time and a lot of DVDs but so far this is working well for me. This code is rough and includes comments and debugging statements. The code NEVER deletes anything so recovery from errors is relatively painless. I need to know what you think and thank you for your interest.

-gary-

[abasu2003]

Is there any way you can separate this out from the gbOptions. Not to criticize, but I guess I don't really like the huge options screen....but I really really like the idea of the way you are doing DVD burning. I'll try thie whole thing out today though. Nice work....

[glbrown]

If there is enough interest, I can create a setup option that will let you turn off gbOptions. The archive function appears in a couple of different places. Where do you want it?

Is it the size of the options menu or the concept? This can be easily changed, obviously. The more I live with it, the more I like it.

-gary-

[abasu2003]

let me play around with this some more. initially it was the concept-this massive menu system that seemed a little too unorganized for me-but I think I can come around as well.

but, just for modularity's sake, if you could turn it off and essentially run the archive part as its own entity, i think that would be the best. I would want to play aroudn witht his some more to figure otu where to put it.

[glbrown]

Originally Posted by abasu2003

this massive menu system

I'm old and this is hard work. I can see the big buttons better, sonny.

I guess I can see where it would irritate some. The object of the game is to make your selection and get rid of the menu as quickly as possible.

-gary-

[abasu2003]

I am having some trouble getting this up and running. I think the first problem is, how do I specify multiple Sage directories in the rungbburn.bat file? or is it that i setup multiple rungbburn.bat files for each drive? and does that mean that if two shows are on separate drives, then they can't be on the same DVD?

also, is there a way to see what shows I have selected for archive? I think I got carried away and pushed archive for a bunch of things.

And is there any compression done when moving to DVD?

[glbrown]

You can just copy the lines for as many drives as you want. I do a single directory at a time, it just depends how often you are copying and how big your drives are.

Shows are sorted by size so that smaller files can be used to fill a dvd. It is written to maximize disk usage. If you do this for very long, episodic shows are going to end up on different disks anyway. Use of library software is highly recommended. This is the current logic and could be changed. It wouldn't be too hard to search multiple drives looking for Seinfeld but do you really want to.

The quickest way to see the potential batches is to look for the xml files in explorer. This would be a nice enhancement though.

Compression could happen too, just not there yet however dvd's are getting pretty cheap so I'm not finding it as important as I used to.

-gary-

[abasu2003]

The quickest way to see the potential batches is to look for the xml files in explorer. This would be a nice enhancement though.

I have tons of xml files. Can you be more specific as to the name of them. I think all of my shows generate a <episodename>.mpg.xml file just from Cayars STV