STV: SageMC 16x9 11/26/2005 Sage 4.x Version 5_10

[Jason]

Is there a way to disallow on-demand/ppv movies from showing up under the 'Movies' section? Also, while more a 'core' issue, when turning on IR, the on-demand/ppv channels always try and get recorded... Outside of disabling the actual channels, does anyone have a suggestion?

-Jason

[wheelrandolph]

Is it possible to specify what channels to use for upcoming movies as in Malore's stv?

Thanks, Randy

[mlbdude]

Why would the PPV channels be active in Sage at all? What do you use them for? I don't think I even get guide info for those channels in my lineup.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by mlbdude

Why would the PPV channels be active in Sage at all? What do you use them for? I don't think I even get guide info for those channels in my lineup.

I know... most lineups don't...

In any case, I have channels 801 - 822 in my EPG as in-demand. Their is/are data for what show comes on at what time and full descriptions... I know that most folks would kill for this... I just re-installed Sage and with the channels 're-set' they come on.

So is there a way to disable their use from IR and/or the 'Movies' section of 'My TV'? I like the data being available, but I would like to eliminate it's use in certain functions...

-Jason

[snoopy]

I love the little first run icons that have been added when you click play on a recent recording. That's enough for me and I may have missed them the first time around.

I seem to have lost the little ticki sounds that I was so impressed with initially. This is a clean install on 4.0 so I am not sure what I am doing wrong. How do I get the little ticki sounds?

I only really have one major issue and that is with the conflict manager.
1) Unless I look for them constantly, I am not always aware if conflicts exist that still need to be resolved.
2) When clicking on manage conflicts, I cannot see the entire text.
I posted screenshots below to illustrate.

[mlbdude]

I don't have any issues with those changes you proposed. The only issues are that in SageMC conflicts don't have a resolved or not setting. There are just recordings that will be recorded and those that will not. So I think the icon will alwasy be there.

Also, there is not first run icon that I know of . Not sure what you are seeing, how about a screencap of that?

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by mlbdude

I don't have any issues with those changes you proposed. The only issues are that in SageMC conflicts don't have a resolved or not setting. There are just recordings that will be recorded and those that will not. So I think the icon will alwasy be there.

Also, there is not first run icon that I know of . Not sure what you are seeing, how about a screencap of that?

I guess I'm wrong. The screencap shows it as a first run though and that's find I would prefer to have the 'option' of seeing it in the main list along with other icons that are available but if that's all I get it's ok with me. This is such a fantastic STV in nearly every sense. I wan't to use it so bad but I just know my wife isn't going to be happy. Still missing for me is conflict management. It's just too hard to figure out if there are going to be conflicts without looking for them. It's tough enough with the main STV as sometimes a show doesn't record and even with it, it's sometimes difficult to figure out why. TiVo did a horrible job of conflict management but at least after the fact, I could know why something didn't record. That's not your problem though because good conflict management isn't quite good enough with SageTV to begin with. You are only doing the best you can with what you have. I would like to at least know if there are conflicts that need to be resolved and be able to read enough of the screen (attached in the above post) to resolve it. You have done a fantastic job with this. I hope to see the good work continue. I look forward to every improvement with great anticipation.

[snoopy]

I know if they are confusing to me they darn sure will be to the wife. See attached. Self-Descriptive icons are absolutely necessary IMHO. For instance, what's a yellowdot vs reddot, and what the heck is that lock thing. 1st run icons are most important info to me and they don't even exist at all. I can tell what watched is. The blue square with a #1 in it is what SageTV came up with in their default STV. That seems descriptive. A red dot perhaps should have an R inside of it. I like the way you did the three Red Dots. That is very descriptive and a nifty idea. I'd get rid of the yellow one all together. Those conflict icons are nice but only one is needed to toggle back and forth between red and green and I don't see any of it unless I look for it.

[mlbdude]

The icons that are used are:
Yellow: Currently recording
Single Red: Single (Manual) recording
Multi Red: Series recordings
Watched, and Don't like are self descriptive.
The lock is for Archived shows.

The conflict management in SageMC is not going to change. When I first did SageMC that was one of the first things I redid since I did not like how it was done in Sage. I much prefer it the way it is and find it much more powerful.

Here are some things that maybe you did not know that could help.
Series (Favorites) in SageTV are recorded and scheduled using their priority to determine what is going to conflict. This is basically the order you have them in your series list. Simply doing that you will not have any uncontrolled conflicts. Also, in SageMC you always have views into all the shows that will not be recorded and all the shows that will be recorded instead.

It really is just that simple and does not need to be overcomplicated.

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by mlbdude

When I first did SageMC that was one of the first things I redid since I did not like how it was done in Sage. I much prefer it the way it is and find it much more powerful.

Here are some things that maybe you did not know that could help.
Series (Favorites) in SageTV are recorded and scheduled using their priority to determine what is going to conflict. This is basically the order you have them in your series list. Simply doing that you will not have any uncontrolled conflicts. Also, in SageMC you always have views into all the shows that will not be recorded and all the shows that will be recorded instead.

It really is just that simple and does not need to be overcomplicated.

Thanks for explaining that. I'm still having difficulty wrapping my brain around how it's different and how I can tell what is to be recorded and what isn't. Given that you have managed to change it, my hat is off to you. I just need to wrap my brain around it so that I understand. Do you now have any abilty to go and figure out why something didn't record and what recorded instead?

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by snoopy

Thanks for explaining that. I'm still having difficulty wrapping my brain around how it's different and how I can tell what is to be recorded and what isn't. Given that you have managed to change it, my hat is off to you. I just need to wrap my brain around it so that I understand. Do you now have any abilty to go and figure out why something didn't record and what recorded instead?

That is the one thing that I could not bring over from MCE - recording history. The SageTV core just does not support it.

When you look at your upcoming recordings if you see a conflict the show that will record instead is right next to it.

Now that I think of it I think I will add some text to the programs description in the bottom to show what is being recorded instead. That should be possible.

[geogecko]

I also like the way conflict management is done, with the little icon on the show that will not be recorded. It seems easy enough, and my wife asked for the first time what that meant (first time we had a conflict, since we have a PVR-500), and after that, she knew how to resolve it.

As for the problem with the little "tick" sounds, I found this to be an old reference in the Sage.Properties file.

What you have to do, is open your properties file (with Sage closed, of course), and do a search on "OriginalV2" and do a find and replace with "SageTV3" and that should fix the problem, provided it was unzipped correctly. There may be one, two, or three of these in there, and they will seem to have nothing related to sounds, but they do.

[IKK]

I have a question about hitting the record button. I setup the record button on my remote but nothing seems to happen. Is there any indication that I am recording once I hit the record button. Sorry I am new to this STV and there are to many post to go through.

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by mlbdude

That is the one thing that I could not bring over from MCE - recording history. The SageTV core just does not support it.

When you look at your upcoming recordings if you see a conflict the show that will record instead is right next to it.

Now that I think of it I think I will add some text to the programs description in the bottom to show what is being recorded instead. That should be possible.

Outstanding.... I look forward to that change. Are you saying that "everything" that won't be recorded or is over-ridden by a higher priority will be visable? From what I can discern, the higher priority is taken into account so strongly that I won't ever be able to tell. In the default STV, the higher prioity was "automatically adjusted" by my choosing something over another. This way I could tell when my priorities needed fine tuning. Now I never know. It's still lacking something IMHO and the wife just doesn't understand. I will admit that I don't either currently.

[snoopy]

I did a short ditty on what I think is difficult about the current icons and how they could be made a tad bit clearer. These are only suggestions. Keep up the good work mlbdude. I sure do like this STV.

[blade]

Can this STV sort by original air date now? That's the only feature it was lacking the last time I used it. Unfortunately it's one of the most important for me.

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by snoopy

Outstanding.... I look forward to that change. Are you saying that "everything" that won't be recorded or is over-ridden by a higher priority will be visible? From what I can discern, the higher priority is taken into account so strongly that I won't ever be able to tell. In the default STV, the higher priority was "automatically adjusted" by my choosing something over another. This way I could tell when my priorities needed fine tuning. Now I never know. It's still lacking something IMHO and the wife just doesn't understand. I will admit that I don't either currently.

This is already how it works now. Everything that is going to and not going to be recorded is visible in the schedule. This way you can just go to the schedule and say "hey my episode of House is not going to be recorded!". Even if you adjust the priority by managing the conflict you will then be able to go back to the schedule and say "Hey! my episode of Friends is not being recorded!" and you can see that it is because House is being recorded right next to it at the same time.

The difference is that normal Sage would hide that information from you. Other than that visual difference they work identical and conflicts are handled identically when you manage them.

What I want to add is some info to the detailed information text at the bottom of the screen. When you highlight the recording it will say not going to be recorded since xyz is being recorded. Since the xyz recording is in the same list as the conflict show it should be obvious.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Jason

I have channels 801 - 822 in my EPG as in-demand. Their is/are data for what show comes on at what time and full descriptions...

-Jason

Here is a yahoo link that shows my lineup... I know that SageMC uses the data provided for each show to see if a show is actually a movie, but could we add a filter to show All/Free/PPV from the Movies section, with a selectable default of Free?

http://tv.yahoo.com/grid/?lineup=us_TX42914d&zip=76180

I see where there are certain other channels that do not show the upcoming events as well (Chans #986, #987, etc).

-Jason

[geogecko]

It appears that there is more use of transparancy in Sage 4.1. Does this mean the transparancy problem you spoke about earlier has possibly been fixed?

I think this was in reference to making the main menu selections fade at the top and bottom, above and below the selector bar. That sure would be cool.

I like the fade transition that happens now between screen changes...

[banmj]

Are there any settings to keep the restart window from popping up after a video is finished?