Sage Client Questions

[camus]

I am trying out Sage Client on my home office machine and have a couple questions. I am using a the Trial version of client with a licensed most recent version of SageTV.

1. Everytime I launch Client it asks for the the IP address/Name of the server, if I enter either it works, but will I have to enter this everytime or is this a result of using the Trial version?

2. I can playback SD files fine, HD doesn't playwell due to bandwith (I will fix that this weekend) I get picture but it freezes etc, plays fine locally from the client. DVD's play from the client's DVD drive fine, but if I try to play ripped ones from the server I get an error, no picture just an error, does client support playing ripped DVD's? Or is this the same bandwidth issue I am having with HD, I ask because with HD I get a picture.

[Apap]

1. You can specify your server address in Setup-Detailed setup-general-automaticly connect to server.

2. Yes it will support playing of ripped dvds, you do have to tell sage which directory your files are in.

Hope this helps,
Apap

[Opus4]

For ripped DVD playback on the client, you will need to use UNC paths for the import directories, since the client will need to be able to see the DVD files directly.

- Andy

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Opus4

For ripped DVD playback on the client, you will need to use UNC paths for the import directories,

Or to have drives mapped on your client such that the path is exactly the same as it appears to the server.

[camus]

"Or to have drives mapped on your client such that the path is exactly the same as it appears to the server."

How does one do that?

Understand I know little of UNC, mapped drives etc. and I don't think I want change to UNC.

I guess if I were to do this I would have to change the drive letter on the server to not correspond to one on the client? Then map it?

[stanger89]

Say you've got your DVDs on your server on drive Z.

Using UNC paths would mean you need to create a share for that drive, say call it "DVDs". Then in Sage you would specify the import directory as "\\server\DVDs"

For mapped drives, you would do the same thing (make the share), but you would (on the client PC) map drive Z: to \\server\DVDs and set the import directory in SageTV to Z:\

IMO UNC paths are easier, because mapping drives basically requires you to share the root of the drive (else the paths don't match). Also avoids the problem you run into if the drive on the server doesn't corrospond to a free drive letter on the client.

For me, I've got DVDs on \\server\DVDs and \\nas\DVDs, and have both of these UNC paths specified in my SageTV library imports and DVDs play fine from my client.

Oh, and using UNC paths doesn't require any changes to the PC, it's just a different way of specifying a path, one that's "pc independent" in that it works from any PC on the network.

[camus]

So, rather than have the video import directory on my SageTV system set to D:\DVDs

I should make a share of the DVDs folder which would end up being \\HTPC01\DVDs and specify that as the video import directory?


Edit:

Well that was simple enough. Thanks.

What do I do with the G:\DVDs? Or folders of similiar names?

[stanger89]

Make a new share. \\HTPC01\DVDs2 Add that as a directory.

[camus]

Okay, I got it working but I am not sure how.

Couple of questions. If you change a Video Recording directory or Video Import directory in the client, it just changes the the way the client it sees it and not the server correct?

I got DVD playback by doing this, on the server I set the Video Import directory to \\Htpc01\DVDs and the client to the same.

Now to get the client to recognize .edl files with recordings, do I have to change my recording directories on the Server to (for example) \\Htpc\L: and set the Client to the same?

Right now I have the the server Video Recording directories just set to Local Disks L:,M: which are shared. I get playback but it doesn't see the .edl files, I tried mapping the drives on the client and setting the mapped drives as Video Recordings directories on the client but it went berserk.

One more final question, I have my music mirrored on both the client and server, can the client machine play music from it's own drive rather than off the server?

[Opus4]

There is nothing to set regarding recording & import dirs on the client -- it gets that info from the server. (Well, unless they are mapped drives, in which case you will need to configure the mapped drives via Windows on the client PC, but that is a Windows setting, not a SageTV client setting.)

Using UNC paths (or mapped drives), if the client can access media directly, it will play it directly w/o streaming it through the server. The client PC has to have permission to access those network locations.

- Andy

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by camus

Couple of questions. If you change a Video Recording directory or Video Import directory in the client, it just changes the the way the client it sees it and not the server correct?

All those settings are done on the server (regardless of where you change them). Remember the client is just a, um, client for the server, it's not a peer, it doesn't have it's on recording/drive access settings. The client doesn't have any "smarts", it doesn't know where any media is, it doesn't know how to record anything, it just knows how to ask the server where things are, and to tell it what it should record. You can disconnect/turn off the client and it will have no effect on the functionality of the SageTV "system" beyond preventing you from using the Sage interface on that PC (because you closed it).

The only settings that apply to the Client, specifically, are the playback/interface ones (decoders, renderers, aspect ratio, overscan, STV, etc).

I got DVD playback by doing this, on the server I set the Video Import directory to \\Htpc01\DVDs and the client to the same.

You should notice that the Client will list the same

Now to get the client to recognize .edl files with recordings, do I have to change my recording directories on the Server to (for example) \\Htpc\L: and set the Client to the same?

Here's the basic rundown on how paths work. The client doesn't know where anything is, so whenever you need to access a file, the Client will ask the server where it is. Well the server only knows the path it sees it at, so that's all it can tell the client.

So if you have recordings going to L:\Recordings, when the client asks "where's recording x", the server will reply "L:\Recoridngs\x.mpg".

Now, here's the "tricky" bit. The client will then try and access L:\Recordings\x.mpg, and if it finds it, it will play it, if not, it will stream it through the server (which can see that path). The exact same thing happens for pretty much all media in Sage, recordings, imported videos, music (I assume pictures but I don't know).

OK, so how do comskip files and DVDs, and certain other files?

Well, for comskip files, the Client's STV reads the files directly, this is an addon, and operates at runtime, the server doesn't know, nor does it have the capability to deal with these "extra" files. The Client STV uses the path returned by the server to know how to look for the comskip files, eg when it plays recording "x" (at L:\Recordings\x.mpg), the STV knows the comskip file will be at the same path (ie L:\Recordings\x.edl).

It's because the client must ask the server for the path, that the recordings need to be at the same path on both systems for the comskip files to be seen. If you map them as different drives (eg you have them on D:\Recordings on the server, but that drive was taken so you had to map it to L:\Recordings on the client), then when the client won't know to go to L: instead of D:, and will think the file isn't there.

The easiest way to make paths match across machines is UNC paths, because these are absolute paths that specify machine and path, and will work from anywhere, and will be the same anywhere. So if you change your recording directory to a UNC path, the server will see the files at the same path the client needs to see them at, and everything is happy.

You can also diligently map drives so that the drive letters and paths are the same on every machine, but this basically requires sharing/mounting drive roots.

Now, what about DVDs, and things like Windows Media files, these are somewhat like comskip files in that they must be directly accessed by the client. DVDs need to be directly accessed because they're made up of numerous files some of which can't be streamed (IFOs, etc). Since they can't be streamed the client needs them to be at the same logical path the server sees them at. Similar with WMVs and some others, but those are because of limitations in the way the files must be played.

Right now I have the the server Video Recording directories just set to Local Disks L:,M: which are shared. I get playback but it doesn't see the .edl files, I tried mapping the drives on the client and setting the mapped drives as Video Recordings directories on the client but it went berserk.

If you map L: and M: as L: and M: respectively on the client, you should see the comskip stuff fine. No need to change the directories, in fact you shouldn't probably.

But the paths must match exactly, you can't map L:\Recordings to L:, or L: to D: or anything like that, you have to map L: to L:.

One more final question, I have my music mirrored on both the client and server, can the client machine play music from it's own drive rather than off the server?

Well in the strictest sense, yes, you can share and add the client's collection as an import (it will be imported by the server), and the client will access it directly when it plays them.

But to answer the spirit of your question, no you can't have a "local" music collection to the client. Remember the client's dumb, it doesn't know anything the server doesn't tell it. The server has to see anything you wish to play.

[camus]

Thanks for the detailed info stanger89. That made things much clearer.

I just mapped the drives in windows on the client and it worked, were previously I was trying to add the mapped drives from within Sage. Whoops.

Now you mentioned sharing the root of a drive a couple of times, will that cause problems? Or just a preference? Is there an advantage to record to, for instance L:\Recordings rather than just the Drive L: ?

The reason I didn't use UNC paths is that it just seemed odd. On my server, which is my main HTPC, I just specified drives L and M as recording directories, L also contains \DVDs, so it seemed odd to have a share for both L and a folder on that drive as well. I can see the advantage of not having to map drives to each client especially since I plan on moving to a dedicated media server this summer. Would using UNC help with migrating my recordings etc?

Thanks again for the reply it was very helpful.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by camus

Thanks for the detailed info stanger89. That made things much clearer.

I just mapped the drives in windows on the client and it worked, were previously I was trying to add the mapped drives from within Sage. Whoops.

Now you mentioned sharing the root of a drive a couple of times, will that cause problems? Or just a preference? Is there an advantage to record to, for instance L:\Recordings rather than just the Drive L: ?

Nothing technical, but I can see where depending on environment (what's on the drives and who's around) that one might not feel comfortable sharing a whole drive (ie if Sage recordings aren't the only thing on the drive and/or you've got people around who you don't want to have access to other stuff).

It's just one of those things, probably from my days in college where sharing whole drives is considered a bad thing.

If you're at home, well, what's it matter

The reason I didn't use UNC paths is that it just seemed odd. On my server, which is my main HTPC, I just specified drives L and M as recording directories, L also contains \DVDs, so it seemed odd to have a share for both L and a folder on that drive as well.

You can do it the same way you do it now, just instead of using "L:" as the import, you use \\HTPC\L\ as the import.

I can see the advantage of not having to map drives to each client especially since I plan on moving to a dedicated media server this summer. Would using UNC help with migrating my recordings etc?

Only if the path stayed the same, if your media server has the same name you're using now for your current server, then it would be easy to change, otherwise it doesn't really help.

[DRB]

I am now running sff computers to replace extenders. I am havin some problems playing ripped dvd files off my server. I know it's a file path problem. I played a little with mapping the files but feel UNC path would be better.

I am trying to use UNC paths for my server and clients. I am not sure what the path should look like. My server is WHS V1 on a HP homeserver. My client is running W7 with an I3.

One of the paths to my DVD files on my server is; "D:\shares\Movies2TBWD" which is also how the Sage import directory is set to. My question is how should the new path look? Should it be \\HOMESERVER\D:\shares\Movies2TBWD or just \\HOMESERVER\shares\Movies2TBWD? Also, I would just specifly this new path in sage set-up, there would be no need to change the name of the folder to include "HOMESERVER" in the path, correct?

Thanks any help is appreicated.

[gplasky]

What folder is actually shared? Based on what you have the path should probably be \\HOMESERVER\Movies2TBWD. If you have the standard WHS v1 shares the rest would be \\HOMESERVER\Music, \\HOMESERVER\Pictures, etc.

Gerry

[DRB]

Got it, \\HOMESERVER\Movies2TBWD works. That was to easy.

Thanks
DRB