STV Import: JRMC Media Explorer for SageMC

[cncb]

This import allows you to explore and play from your J River Media Center library, view schemes, playlists, smartlists, etc. inside SageMC. Note that it does not use JRMC for playback so you will have to import all of the media files into Sage to be able to play them.

A "Music Mix" screen is also included that allows you to play a mix of selected music genres with a specified number of tracks.

*Note that pressing "Play" on an item in the list/table gives you a playback menu that applies to all files under that item.

**Note that if you are using the Icon, Fixed Focus, or Dock menu styles the "Main Menu Popup Command" cannot be set to "Double Click" (Settings | SageMC | Main | Screen Specific Options). Otherwise, the import will lose its connection to JRMC which will be evident by a list of items where the text disappears as you highlight each item.

Download here

Version 1.2 - 12/21/2008

• Added new display style with no left-side buttons. You can toggle between display types with the "Change Display" button. The "Options" command will bring up a menu with the buttons when they are not visible (Options no longer brings up the Playback menu on a highlighted item).
• Title text now tracks current selection with additional information about view items (number of files and time).
• When viewing files as thumbnails a caption is no longer displayed (full caption is in title text).
• Sync command gets the MC version from the registry (compatible with any version now).
  

Version 1.1 - 08/02/2008

• DVDs are now handled like all other files (you can shuffle play them, add them to the current playlist, etc.).
• Added customizable details screen for each file type.
• Added customizable sorting presets.
• Now can set home library view/path from within Sage (no longer have to edit menu file externally and existing menu items will have to be reset with the new mechanism).
• Created MyMovies Data Importer to get detailed movie information into JRMC which you can then use for view schemes and the file details screen accessible in Sage.

Version 1.0b - 04/05/2008

• Pressing "Play" button on item now opens playback options menu.
• Now checks for selection of DVD file and allows playback (only single file selection).
• Some visual/display fixes for MVP extender.
• Added shortcut buttons to Music and Video Queues.

[BFisher]

Craig - this sounds great, and perfect timing for me as I just started planning to move my JRiver install to my Sage box!

A couple questions if I may:
- I almost exclusively use Smartlists for playing music. Does that functionality work here? Will picking a Smartlist play the appropriate music? I see your description says you can see Smartlists - does that mean you can play them?
- If I understand your documentation, I maintain everything in JRMC, and just select what I want to play in Sage?
- (Assuming Q1 above is yes) Do you see any issue with creating a list of smartlists on my main menu in SageMC that I can just select to play? No need to drill down... just boom and it's playing? (I ask because my audio is all homerun - so I plan on using MVPs controlled by my automation system, and the less IR signals the better)

Very cool - thanks!

[cncb]

Originally Posted by BFisher

A couple questions if I may:
- I almost exclusively use Smartlists for playing music. Does that functionality work here? Will picking a Smartlist play the appropriate music? I see your description says you can see Smartlists - does that mean you can play them?
- If I understand your documentation, I maintain everything in JRMC, and just select what I want to play in Sage?
- (Assuming Q1 above is yes) Do you see any issue with creating a list of smartlists on my main menu in SageMC that I can just select to play? No need to drill down... just boom and it's playing? (I ask because my audio is all homerun - so I plan on using MVPs controlled by my automation system, and the less IR signals the better)

BFisher,

You can look at this like using JRMC for everything but the actual playback of the files. Basicallly it passes a list of files generated by the view scheme, playlist, or smartlist you select for Sage to play. So, you can play your smartlists and they behave just as they do in JRMC (they will update every time you play them, etc.). You just have to make sure you have imported all the files in your JRMC library into Sage via the Sage import directories.

There isn't a mechanism to play a smartlist from a different screen so unfortunately you can't do exactly what you want. You could, however, put a link on your main menu to a playlist group that contains all your smartlists. It should only be an extra click to open that screen which would show all your smartlists, highlight the desired smartlist, Options, Play.

[BFisher]

awesome - great work.

It'll be a couple weeks before I can get back to this - but I'm looking forward to it. Thanks!

- Bruce

[Halstead]

Will this work on clients, or only a single SageTV machine?

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Halstead

Will this work on clients, or only a single SageTV machine?

Yes, it will work on clients as long as you have JRMC installed on your client machine. You also have to make sure that the paths to your files match in both your Sage library and JRMC library. You can do this by using network or mapped paths or by running JRMC on your server with the "Library Server" enabled and then connecting to the Library Server inside JRMC on your client machine.

[eruji]

what happens if you have files that are not supported on sagetv ie: ape

you have them in your JRMC media center library. will they show up in sagetv?

[cncb]

Originally Posted by eruji

what happens if you have files that are not supported on sagetv ie: ape

you have them in your JRMC media center library. will they show up in sagetv?

Yes, you will see them when exploring your JRMC library but any files not in your Sage library will be skipped over if you try to play them in a playlist, for example. Also, if you drill down to the file level you will get a warning if you try to select a file that is not in your Sage library.

[eruji]

nice job cncb...

will this work with the new jukebox 12? this might be a great free solution.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by eruji

will this work with the new jukebox 12? this might be a great free solution.

My understanding is that they just removed some things from JRMC for the Jukebox version so it should work but I'm not sure. I don't really have a machine without JRMC to try it on so please try it and let me know.

[eruji]

okay i have a recently formatted machine here at work with XP pro and a hauppauge pvr 150, latest sagetv setup with sagemc. I installed the free jukebox first, then tried a registered version of JRMC12.. same error in both scenarios.

when i select my jrmc sub menu item i get a black screen with jumbled text on the upper left and below it it says
"please check setup and specify a valid library path"

any ideas?

is the HomePath in the xml something i need to specify?

btw: my music plays fine with the sage music browser

[cncb]

Originally Posted by eruji

is the HomePath in the xml something i need to specify?

Yes, see the setup instructions.

[eruji]

i think im missing something here...

i read the setup instructions.. i dont see you specifying anything for HomePath.

i see the View Scheme name that you need to specify ie: "Audio\\Artist/Album"

here is my xml code:

<internalScreenMenuItem screen="JRMC Library Explorer" title="JRMC">
            <evalExpression> 
            	AddStaticContext("HomePath","Audio\\Artist/Album")
            </evalExpression>
        </internalScreenMenuItem>

[cncb]

Originally Posted by eruji

i think im missing something here...

i read the setup instructions.. i dont see you specifying anything for HomePath.

i see the View Scheme name that you need to specify ie: "Audio\\Artist/Album"

The AddStaticContext("HomePath","Audio\\Artist/Album") is what sets the "home" library/view scheme path for the explorer screen (it has nothing to do with file paths if that is the confusion).

I think the problem is with the formatting in your xml file. You need everything on 1 line with no spaces or newlines inside the evalExpression element (see the examples in the setup instructions).

[eruji]

i removed the spaces and formatted like the example code

<!--                                   -->
        <internalScreenMenuItem screen="JRMC Library Explorer" title="JRMC">
            <evalExpression>AddStaticContext("HomePath","Audio\\Artist/Album")</evalExpression>
        </internalScreenMenuItem>
        <!--                                   -->

still same error. did you have to install any developer plugins to JRMC? im running a completely stock install.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by eruji

still same error. did you have to install any developer plugins to JRMC? im running a completely stock install.

No, you don't need to install anything special for JRMC. Some things to check:

1) Does JRMC startup ok by itself (no message boxes shown, etc.)? I assume there is a default view scheme named Artist/Album under Audio?

2) Did you get the jacob dll copied to the JRE bin directory?

3) Do you see Media Center running in the task manager after you get the error?

4) Did you reload the menu file after you saved it externally?

[eruji]

Okay...

1) Does JRMC startup ok by itself (no message boxes shown, etc.)? I assume there is a default view scheme named Artist/Album under Audio?

yes no problems. starts up and plays.. the library is the default installed library. Ive attached a picture of that View Scheme

2) Did you get the jacob dll copied to the JRE bin directory?

yes i did, just to be sure i copied it to the other Java version directory. my current is jre1.6.0_05


3) Do you see Media Center running in the task manager after you get the error?

no, MC does not start up in the task manager. i Have my JRMC installed in
C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12


4) Did you reload the menu file after you saved it externally?

yes i did

ive attached what the error looks like.. i cannot get out of it. I have to close sage and restart.

Thanks for all your help by the way.. ive been looking for SageTV and JRMC integration for years. I hope this works!

here is my xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE sageMenu PUBLIC "-//NIELM//DTD SAGEMENU XML 1.4//EN" "http://www.sage-community.org/~nielm/nielm_modules/dynamic_menu/sagemenu_1_3.dtd">
<sageMenu version="1.4">
    <menu title="Main">
        <internalScreenMenuItem icon="hover_my tv.png" screen="My TV" title="WatchTV">
            <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
        </internalScreenMenuItem>
        <!--                                   -->
        <subMenuItem title="Watch Videos">
            <menu title="Watch Video">
                <internalScreenMenuItem icon="hover_dvd.png" screen="Play DVD" title="Play DVD Disc">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
                <internalScreenMenuItem icon="hover_my videos.png" screen="Video Library Folder View" title="Watch Videos">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
            </menu>
        </subMenuItem>
        <!--                                   -->
        <internalScreenMenuItem icon="hover_my music.png" screen="My Music" title="Listen to Music">
            <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
        </internalScreenMenuItem>
        <!--                                   -->
        <internalScreenMenuItem icon="hover_my pictures.png" screen="Picture Library" title="View Photos">
            <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
        </internalScreenMenuItem>
        <!--                                   -->
        <subMenuItem icon="hover_my programs.png" title="Settings">
            <menu title="My Menu">
                <internalScreenMenuItem screen="Online Services Menu" title="Online Services">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
                <internalScreenMenuItem screen="EMail" title="@email">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
                <internalScreenMenuItem screen="Rss News Feeds -- nielm" title="RSS Feeds">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
                <internalScreenMenuItem screen="Video Conversions" title="Video Conversions">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
                <internalScreenMenuItem screen="Parental Controls" title="Parental Controls">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
                <internalScreenMenuItem screen="Setup Menu" title="Settings">
                    <evalExpression> </evalExpression>
                </internalScreenMenuItem>
                <!--                                   -->
            </menu>
        </subMenuItem>
        <!--                                   -->
        <internalScreenMenuItem screen="JRMC Library Explorer" title="JRMC">
            <evalExpression>AddStaticContext("HomePath","Audio\\Artist/Album")</evalExpression>
        </internalScreenMenuItem>
        <!--                                   -->
    </menu>
</sageMenu>

[cncb]

I am running it on my server, client, and extenders so I promise it does actually work .

You are using a 32-bit version of Windows, right? Make sure you copied "jacob-1.14-x86.dll" instead of the x64 one. Also try to copy the jacob dll to "Windows/system32" and see if that helps. If not, send me a PM and we will try to debug this.

[eruji]

PM sent

[cncb]

Thanks to eruji we were able to figure out the problems he was having. I forgot to include the gkusnick JAR file that is necessary for a successful import which is now part of the download. He also had to install the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable package for Jacob to work. This is supposedly already installed with most versions of XP, but wasn't in this case so if you are having problems getting this to work and have checked everything else you might need to install this (I added a link in the download/instructions page).