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

[jensen18]

Is anyone using the xcard plugin with SageMC?
The xcard plugin came with a plain background that reduced the rendering time. SageMC UI is great. I just had to turn off the animations in order for the plugin to render the OSD quickly. The only issue I have left with the OSD is that the default background in not smooth when down converted to 256 colors (I get colorbands). The setting for background image is not available in SageMC so I can't change the image.
If you are using SageMC and the xcard are you using the default theme?
or have you found one that works better?

Additionally - SageMC has the ability to run an external DVD app. Is this using the same concept that was in Cayers? I have configured it to start SkinGui and have set SageMC to sleep prior to starting the external player. For some reason Sage does not sleep nor am I able to get SkinGui to load. It appears that the xcard is still held by Sage. Should I be able to do what I am trying above? and if not is there another way (plugin?) to call the DVD app like was done in Cayers?

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by rsagetv99

OK, please don't take this the wrong way, and forgive me if I am being dense. I do not know the first thing about studio and I limited in my programming skills to batch files and kixtart scripts (if you even want to call that programming). I am still not sure you understand, that what we are asking for is already working in the core application. Without any custom STV or STVi's you can create a favorite, and specify which channel you want to record from - either ANY channel, or one of the other channels that you have in your channel lineup. All of the channels are there for you to choose from.

After loading the SAGEMC STV this functionality is broken, when you go to choose which channel to record from you can choose ANY channel, or ONE channel like USA, the rest of the channels from your channel lineup are not available for you to choose from. It only lists one or two channels and ANY. Does that make sense?

Sorry if you knew exactly what I meant from the beginning, to me it sounded like you thought we were asking for the list to be made up of only the channels that the show was on. This would be nice, but it is separate from the problem.

It is working as it is intended for now. My ideal choice is to have it list all the channels it can be recorded from. I do not want to just blindly list all the channels. Until Sage gets me a way to iterate though a list without using their Widget or I can figure out another way to iterate it will remain the same.

What I may do in the meantime is completely mimic MCE and only allow you to add a favorite from a specific airing. Maybe that would limit the confusion about the Any ane the single time it lists. Now it is possible to add a favorite other ways and it just lists the first time for the first airing it finds.

I am pretty much a stickler for the look and feel . Once I can get Sage to work out this issue it will work much better.

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by Stilgar7744

Long time user of SageMC first time poster. After I installed this STV I was finally able to talk my wife into trashing the old replayTV unit. Very happy and impressed with all of your hardwork.

Until this weekend I was running Sage 4.0 and the latest full SageMCE. Yesterday I downloaded and installed Sage 4.1.6 and the latest Dev build. At first after the Sage install I went to detailed setup and selected sagemc_169.xml as the new stv. Nothing happened. So I closed Sage and edited the properties file to point at the sagemc_169.xml vice sagetv3.xml. When I started Sage it froze on the loading screen at User Interface Manager is initializing. Or something to that effect. I went back and changed it to Sagemc_169.stv and all is well again. Any ideas?

I also have one other minor problem. I have searched all the forums looking for an answer to this and only seen one person who had something similar happen. When listening to music I noticed a flat note. It is kind of hard to describe but it is almost like the sound range is reaching it's maximum and stopping. It sounds horrible but the wife doesn't even notice. Anyway the only way I was able to get it to stop was to change the audio to default wave out. It sounds perfect but now I don't get any visualizations and the songs will end and switch to the next about 20 seconds early. So which is the lesser of two evils? BTW the sound problem does not appear when I play the same song in WMP. I am using a sound blaster Live 24 bit. Just let me know and I can let you know anyone config or hardware information.

Thanks for any help you can provide and once again, great job.

I have not tested the latest dev build with anyting later than 4.1.3 however there should be no problems loading it with newer builds. The fact that you loaded it from the UI and nothing happened lends me to believe something else is going on.

For the audio problem, are you using the WInamp plugin for music?

[jmoger]

Running on MVP client...

When I select a song in My Music a menu should appear for playing the song, adding song to queue, add to playlist, etc. This menu does not appear - only a small graphic anomoly in the center of the screen. This graphic glitch is the menu. If I navigate up & down I can get the menu to paint one item at a time.

I have all three animation keys set to false. I've experienced this with all the 4.1.x versions and it occurs with the latest XML (Jan 13?) and an older XML (Jan 2?).

Perhaps this menu does not check the disable animation keys?

[Stilgar7744]

Not using the Winamp plugin. Do you think I should? Is it much better?

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by Stilgar7744

Not using the Winamp plugin. Do you think I should? Is it much better?

Depends on what you want.

More formats supported. Way better visualization than standard with Sage.

You can't run FSE if you plan on using the Winamp visualization, just as a heads up.

[gplasky]

Noticed this morning that when I try to add the IMDB info to my ripped DVDs it is not retrieving ANY cover art. All other info is showing up, but not the cover art. I imagine IMDB has probably changed something on their website. Is anyone else seeing this? Or do I need the latest dev build?

Gerry

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Noticed this morning that when I try to add the IMDB info to my ripped DVDs it is not retrieving ANY cover art. All other info is showing up, but not the cover art. I imagine IMDB has probably changed something on their website. Is anyone else seeing this? Or do I need the latest dev build?

Gerry

I am not using the SageMC STV, but I also noticed that the cover art is missing in the IMDB search. Glad to hear that I am not the only one, I thought I might have messed up something in my installation...

Dirk

[jan smit]

Yes, I noticed the same (since yesterday).
I use Sage 4.1.4.68 with MCE stv.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Noticed this morning that when I try to add the IMDB info to my ripped DVDs it is not retrieving ANY cover art.

Gerry

Along those same lines, and some of these may be just me, here are a few other issues. All of these are 'correctable' or able to be added via studio, but with one single repository, it would be easier for everyone.

1. The 'New Suggestions' button gets truncated (TV->Schedule)
2. The 'New by Category' button gets truncated (TV->Series)
3. The 'New by Keywords' button gets truncated (TV->Series)
4. The 'Parental Controls' button gets truncated (Settings)
5. The 'View by Album' button gets truncated (Music)
6. The title of recorded shows cuts into the 'Date' column when the title is very long. An example title would be 'City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (Recorded TV). In addition, the Watched/Don't Like icons cut into the 'Date' column on some titles as well - they may be a little shorter...
7. The description of the Recorded TV shows cuts off the Channel, Recording Time, and Category (the bottom of the screen...) depending on the length of the description.
8. Adding an 'Unwatched' selection to the 'Movies' screen. We have three selections right now (Upcoming/Right Now/All). A default selection could be added as well, just like the 'Recorded TV' screen.
9. Under 'Movies' the 'Sort by Title' button outputs a list of Titles, but the bottom indicator of movies still shows the Actual number of recordings available, rather than the number of titles.
10. The RSS newsreader 'fix' posted in this thread.
11. The IMDB cover art issue listed in this thread.
12. Maybe adding a STV/XML version string to the Settings screen would be helpful as well.

I am sure there are others, and with MLBDude being the sole/lone coder, there is only so much time in a day.

-Jason

[nielm]

well, the broken IMDB images is actually a change to my java IMDB parsing code -- when I fix it you only need to replace the JAR file from my plugin... However, I first have to find out what is broken! (I hate web site scraping!)
(PS: people images still work!)

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by Jason

Along those same lines, and some of these may be just me, here are a few other issues. All of these are 'correctable' or able to be added via studio, but with one single repository, it would be easier for everyone.

1. The 'New Suggestions' button gets truncated (TV->Schedule)
2. The 'New by Category' button gets truncated (TV->Series)
3. The 'New by Keywords' button gets truncated (TV->Series)
4. The 'Parental Controls' button gets truncated (Settings)
5. The 'View by Album' button gets truncated (Music)
6. The title of recorded shows cuts into the 'Date' column when the title is very long. An example title would be 'City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (Recorded TV). In addition, the Watched/Don't Like icons cut into the 'Date' column on some titles as well - they may be a little shorter...
7. The description of the Recorded TV shows cuts off the Channel, Recording Time, and Category (the bottom of the screen...) depending on the length of the description.
8. Adding an 'Unwatched' selection to the 'Movies' screen. We have three selections right now (Upcoming/Right Now/All). A default selection could be added as well, just like the 'Recorded TV' screen.
9. Under 'Movies' the 'Sort by Title' button outputs a list of Titles, but the bottom indicator of movies still shows the Actual number of recordings available, rather than the number of titles.
10. The RSS newsreader 'fix' posted in this thread.
11. The IMDB cover art issue listed in this thread.
12. Maybe adding a STV/XML version string to the Settings screen would be helpful as well.

I am sure there are others, and with MLBDude being the sole/lone coder, there is only so much time in a day.

-Jason

Are you running with either larger fonts or a 4x3 resolution?

[nielm]

Originally Posted by nielm

However, I first have to find out what is broken! (I hate web site scraping!)

It was an easy fix... Until mlbdude updates his zip file, you can replace the nielm_sageimdb.jar in the JARs directory, with the one from my plugin's zipfile.. Restart Sage, and it should all work magically...

[jan smit]

Excellent!

Thank you Nielm.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by nielm

It was an easy fix... Until mlbdude updates his zip file, you can replace the nielm_sageimdb.jar in the JARs directory, with the one from my plugin's zipfile.. Restart Sage, and it should all work magically...

Thanks for your quick work in this matter. And glad it was an easy fix for you.

Gerry

[Stilgar7744]

I decided to re-download the latest dev build and try again... It worked! No idea what happened before. I also installed the Winamp plugin - wow. It completely fixed the audio problem, and I was happy with SageMC before... Now:

Thanks for your replies.

[Xsabre]

Originally Posted by Jason

Along those same lines, and some of these may be just me, here are a few other issues. All of these are 'correctable' or able to be added via studio, but with one single repository, it would be easier for everyone.

1. The 'New Suggestions' button gets truncated (TV->Schedule)
2. The 'New by Category' button gets truncated (TV->Series)
3. The 'New by Keywords' button gets truncated (TV->Series)
4. The 'Parental Controls' button gets truncated (Settings)
5. The 'View by Album' button gets truncated (Music)
6. The title of recorded shows cuts into the 'Date' column when the title is very long. An example title would be 'City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (Recorded TV). In addition, the Watched/Don't Like icons cut into the 'Date' column on some titles as well - they may be a little shorter...
7. The description of the Recorded TV shows cuts off the Channel, Recording Time, and Category (the bottom of the screen...) depending on the length of the description.
8. Adding an 'Unwatched' selection to the 'Movies' screen. We have three selections right now (Upcoming/Right Now/All). A default selection could be added as well, just like the 'Recorded TV' screen.
9. Under 'Movies' the 'Sort by Title' button outputs a list of Titles, but the bottom indicator of movies still shows the Actual number of recordings available, rather than the number of titles.
10. The RSS newsreader 'fix' posted in this thread.
11. The IMDB cover art issue listed in this thread.
12. Maybe adding a STV/XML version string to the Settings screen would be helpful as well.

I am sure there are others, and with MLBDude being the sole/lone coder, there is only so much time in a day.

-Jason

Originally Posted by mlbdude

Are you running with either larger fonts or a 4x3 resolution?

I have had similar problems but they were so minor to me that I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

I have my resolution as fill but I believe that 4x3 experiences the same problems.

Thanks in advance...

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by Xsabre

I have had similar problems but they were so minor to me that I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

I have my resolution as fill but I believe that 4x3 experiences the same problems.

Thanks in advance...

By resolution I mean what output resolution are you using? 640x480, 800x600, 1280x720? The STV is created and designed for a 16:9 reolotuion so I just want to know if any 16:9's are seeing this.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by mlbdude

By resolution I mean what output resolution are you using? 640x480, 800x600, 1280x720? The STV is created and designed for a 16:9 reolotuion so I just want to know if any 16:9's are seeing this.

Sorry about the long delay between posts... Work calls.

In any case, yes, I am running 4:3 as opposed to 16:9. In addition, I am running a resolution of 800x600. As far as the fonts go, they have not been changed from a default properties standpoint. I have not changed anything via studio either.

-Jason

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by Jason

Sorry about the long delay between posts... Work calls.

In any case, yes, I am running 4:3 as opposed to 16:9. In addition, I am running a resolution of 800x600. As far as the fonts go, they have not been changed from a default properties standpoint. I have not changed anything via studio either.

-Jason

I wonder if we could talk anyone into creating a fully compliant 4x3 SageMC? Anyone?