Plex Scanner and BMT Agent for SageTV

[Halstead]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

Okay what are the CPU/GPU/OS specs/info for the Plex server and Windows clients?

I've got HDPVR/1080i recordings and I haven't had any audio sync issues, primarily on a Windows client, W7/QuadCore AMD/nVidia 8400GT.

Plex server and primary client are same as my SageTV server (see sig below). I'm recording @ 720p with AC3 audio.

One (possibly important) note- the sync issue seems to occur for me after a channel change. The way my system operates is:

• start recording
• change channel

In the 1-2 sec before the change, sync is fine. After the change, audio lags 1+ sec behind. This is true even if I stop the media and restart it after the channel change.

These same files show no issues in Sage itself.

[darcilicious]

One (possibly important) note- the sync issue seems to occur for me after a channel change. The way my system operates is:

start recording
change channel

Yeah, my recordings don't work that way at all. Any chance you test a recording that doesn't start until after the channel changes?

It sounds like a possible bug in Plex's playback to be honest. (Keep in mind the Windows client was just released this past fall).

[Halstead]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

Yeah, my recordings don't work that way at all. Any chance you test a recording that doesn't start until after the channel changes?

It sounds like a possible bug in Plex's playback to be honest. (Keep in mind the Windows client was just released this past fall).

Hmm. I didn't know I had another option. I'm using LMRemote and a MCE blaster to change channels, and that's just the way it seems to work. Is there another option that you're aware of, or a way to 'stall' the recording start?

Thanks very much for your help, by the way.

[darcilicious]

Not familiar with your set up so I have no idea -- my HD-PVR doesn't start recording until after the channel is changed (using the HD-PVR blaster to a cable set-top box).

[Halstead]

No worries, thanks for the effort. I've created a new thread in the hardware forum to see if I can keep the HD-PVR from starting up until after the channel change.

[wbarber69]

Originally Posted by wayner

Why? If you want Plex you have options like Roku, ATV, etc. The real problem that everyone is trying to deal with is to get Sage on other extenders.

i say this because my house is full of sage extenders that would be awesome if they ran plex, and im just not in the means to spend any more on my whole home setup, id buy a shit-ton of roku boxes i i could but its just not in the budget. There are thousands of extender devices out there that will soon be in need of some repurposing. It cant be that hard to figure out a workaround.

[wayner]

What can Plex do that Sage can't? Why not eBay your Sage extenders - you can buy several Rokus for each HD 300 or 200 that you sell!

[Halstead]

Originally Posted by wayner

What can Plex do that Sage can't? Why not eBay your Sage extenders - you can buy several Rokus for each HD 300 or 200 that you sell!

Let's see:

• Solid iOS and OSX clients

• Better integrated web media support

• fully integrated metadata management

• It's being actively developed

I've been with Sage since version 1.4, and I love this community. This isn't goodbye, I just need... more.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by wayner

What can Plex do that Sage can't? Why not eBay your Sage extenders - you can buy several Rokus for each HD 300 or 200 that you sell!

I have contemplated this idea myself. however I want to continue to use sage as long as possible. What I am doing is as i buy Roku's or Atv2, i am retiring my older hd200's and keeping them for backup purposes. right now i have 2 backups. soon to be 3.

maybe ill be nice and sell a few i dunno :-)

[wayner]

Sorry, the question I should have asked is what does a Plex client have on an extender that a Sage client doesn't have on an extender. I am assuming that you will continue running Sage at least as a backend server for recording TV. Therefore what advantage would you have for running a Plex client on an HD-X00 that you can't get from running that same HD-X00 as a Sage extender. Certainly the support of web media support is valid in that instance, but as the posts here indicate there still seem to be problems with playback on a Plex using ATVs or Rokus. I haven't played with this too much but can you get Netflix via Plex? Or does that even make sense as you can just use the "native" Netflix app on PCs, ATVs or Rokus.

I don't know that I necessarily agree about the fully integrated metadata management since that is done by a web page, not via the Plex UI. That is really no different than using BMT for Sage metadata - except you have to install the BMT plugin. And if you install a plugin you can actually change metadata in the Sage UI, perhaps you can do that in Plex but I haven't seen it. I prefer using BMT to the Plex Media manager but that may just be because I am more familiar with it.

I love Plex as well but so far it is missing one crucial component - the ability to record TV. I have not heard that they are even thinking about adding this capability. Until they do then it is not really a full replacement for Sage.

I really see very little reason to move away from Sage until we have a new form of media that it can't handle - like 4K video. But that is likely a long way away. If I want to integrate more online streaming video then it is getting less expensive to buy something like a Roku. It is not ideal to have to switch inputs but I have Harmony remotes at all TVs so that really isn't too big a deal except it takes a few more seconds to switch.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by wayner

Sorry, the question I should have asked is what does a Plex client have on an extender that a Sage client doesn't have on an extender. I am assuming that you will continue running Sage at least as a backend server for recording TV. Therefore what advantage would you have for running a Plex client on an HD-X00 that you can't get from running that same HD-X00 as a Sage extender. Certainly the support of web media support is valid in that instance, but as the posts here indicate there still seem to be problems with playback on a Plex using ATVs or Rokus. I haven't played with this too much but can you get Netflix via Plex? Or does that even make sense as you can just use the "native" Netflix app on PCs, ATVs or Rokus.

I don't know that I necessarily agree about the fully integrated metadata management since that is done by a web page, not via the Plex UI. That is really no different than using BMT for Sage metadata - except you have to install the BMT plugin. And if you install a plugin you can actually change metadata in the Sage UI, perhaps you can do that in Plex but I haven't seen it. I prefer using BMT to the Plex Media manager but that may just be because I am more familiar with it.

I love Plex as well but so far it is missing one crucial component - the ability to record TV. I have not heard that they are even thinking about adding this capability. Until they do then it is not really a full replacement for Sage.

I really see very little reason to move away from Sage until we have a new form of media that it can't handle - like 4K video. But that is likely a long way away. If I want to integrate more online streaming video then it is getting less expensive to buy something like a Roku. It is not ideal to have to switch inputs but I have Harmony remotes at all TVs so that really isn't too big a deal except it takes a few more seconds to switch.

1) it is a fully integrated metadata client that uses agents and scanners by the core plex engine. the ui is built into the plex media manager and there is no "core plex ui" it is all done via the 1 consolidated web ui. calling it "just a webpage" it not accurate. the core python engine for plex is what is doing all of the heavy lifting and one of the things that makes the metadata so accurate and robust.

2) the main thin in my opinion that makes plex so attractive is the ability to extend your sage tv system, and get all the other cool stuff that you get in plex. hulu support is built into plex, as well as netflix, crackle, etc. you can also get all of this content on ANY device that you connect to your plex server (the device has to run a plex client of course)

3) Having used plex on the road with my ipad and iphone i can say that for me it has been awesome for viewing all of my content. while the SageTV Mobile Web ui is cool, it rarely works 100% for iOs devices. constant buffering, etc. Plex however i have experienced little to none of these issues.

4) While things like netflix, crackle, etc are built into plex, you can also use the native netflix crackle, etc aps on the roku device there are seperate channels for this.

5) Who ever said they were moving away from sage. I play and experiment with new stuff. Sage is dying. allbeit hasn't died yet, it is dieing. I have little hope that anything good will come out of Google...Let me clarify, I have little hope that anything close to a solution i want will come out of google. So for me Plex is a technology whicih is very flexible, has a heterogenous list of clients for your choosing, and does everything i need it to and more. As far as managing favorites, EPG, recording, or LiveTV well I highly doubt that this will ever be built into the core plex ap because thats not really their focus. For me i use the very slick mobile and stadard SageTV webui.

[Halstead]

Aaaaaaaand I'm back... with an update. Having the HD-PVR startup come after the tune-in didn't make any difference. However, switching from AC3 to analog in for the audio seems to have fixed the sync issue.


Of course I really want to record AC3, but I'm willing to live with 2 channel surround for a bit while I continue what PiX 64 accurately calls experimenting. I think I'll start a thread on the Plex forums to get some help with codec troubleshooting there, and report back if I get any useful advice.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by Halstead

Aaaaaaaand I'm back... with an update. Having the HD-PVR startup come after the tune-in didn't make any difference. However, switching from AC3 to analog in for the audio seems to have fixed the sync issue.


Of course I really want to record AC3, but I'm willing to live with 2 channel surround for a bit while I continue what PiX 64 accurately calls experimenting. I think I'll start a thread on the Plex forums to get some help with codec troubleshooting there, and report back if I get any useful advice.

sounds good -- please do report back.. While i try and follow both forums it gets a bit time consuming.

[wayner]

@PiX64 - I agree with pretty much everything you have said and I actually do really like Plex. My discussion on this was mainly relating to the request (or perhaps wish) that the Sage extenders be able to run Plex.

I haven't installed your Plex Scanner yet but I plan to do that soon and I think it will be very useful for Placeshifting as Plex seems to work better for streaming HD-PVR files to an iPad than the other solutions that I have tried such as Sage Mobile Web, TiSageTV and AirVideo.

But I doubt that I will be switching my TVs at home in the near future since the family is very familiar with the customized Sage-Diamond UI that we have been using for the last year or so. However I will be playing with Plex on my PCs and particularly on my iPad.

Plex is likely the best solution for replacing a SageTV client. We don't really care about LiveTV in my house but I very much care about currently recording shows. What is the status of using Plex to watch currently recording shows?

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by wayner

@PiX64 - I agree with pretty much everything you have said and I actually do really like Plex. My discussion on this was mainly relating to the request (or perhaps wish) that the Sage extenders be able to run Plex.

I haven't installed your Plex Scanner yet but I plan to do that soon and I think it will be very useful for Placeshifting as Plex seems to work better for streaming HD-PVR files to an iPad than the other solutions that I have tried such as Sage Mobile Web, TiSageTV and AirVideo.

But I doubt that I will be switching my TVs at home in the near future since the family is very familiar with the customized Sage-Diamond UI that we have been using for the last year or so. However I will be playing with Plex on my PCs and particularly on my iPad.

Plex is likely the best solution for replacing a SageTV client. We don't really care about LiveTV in my house but I very much care about currently recording shows. What is the status of using Plex to watch currently recording shows?

Plex CAN watch currently recording shows if you have plex setup to monitor your recording directories in that way. Now that being said plex requires certain things to be present in the metadata object, one of which seems to be the duration. Obviously a currently recording show doesn't have the full duration, so this poses a bit of a problem. I am not 100% sure and still have to play with the scanner/agent but what will currently happen is say you are recording Simpsons and it is 15 minutes into the show. if you go to watch this show on plex, you will be able to watch 15 minutes of it and then it will stop...at least that is how it is on the Roku client. Not sure how it acts on other clients as i have not tested it yet. There may be a way for us to trick Plex into thinking the entire file is there, and then this will allow you to watch near live tv. its on my list of things to do and i will certainly keep working at it to try and find a solution for that scenario.

Anyone using pc clients or atv2, etc please chime in if your experience has been different.

[wayner]

Thnaks - that behaviour is consistent with what I have seen when trying to play currently recording Sage files with other applications.

I am wondering if there may be a point in splitting up longer recordings into smaller chunks to facilitate playback in other clients like Plex? I have thought about doing this in the past for uploading files to my Seedbox to allow me to get files from my Sage server at home to allow me to watch them while travelling - but that is a bit of a different issue.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by wayner

Thnaks - that behaviour is consistent with what I have seen when trying to play currently recording Sage files with other applications.

I am wondering if there may be a point in splitting up longer recordings into smaller chunks to facilitate playback in other clients like Plex? I have thought about doing this in the past for uploading files to my Seedbox to allow me to get files from my Sage server at home to allow me to watch them while travelling - but that is a bit of a different issue.

From a plex standpoint, that is certainly possible and it has the ability through the scanner to add mutliple files to one media object. What you are proposing is certainly doable, however i think there still may be an issue with it. If you break it up in 15 minute chunks, then you would have to set your plex server to scan every 15 minutes rather than monitor the recording directory. To be honest i may change mine to an hourly scan anyways, that way i avoid this issue. near real time is A-OK with me and by near i mean 1 hr lag

[panteragstk]

Are you guys converting all your dvd rips to .mkv's for use with plex? If so, I'd rather not convert 600+ movies. That would take way too much time.

[PiX64]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Are you guys converting all your dvd rips to .mkv's for use with plex? If so, I'd rather not convert 600+ movies. That would take way too much time.

I converted my entire video library 6 months or so ago to straight mkv no compression. ripped out all the menus, etc. From what i have read there is def the ability for the scanners to read bdmv and video_ts folder structures, and also the ability for plex to play back the files without a problem. As i do not have any video_ts or BDMV anymore i haven't tested it.

I have no plans to build this into the SageTV Movie Scanner which we are just about done testing. Its only purpose is to allow everyone to get their reorded movies into Plex. The built in plex movie scanner and metadata agents are GREAT for all of your movie files like dvd/bluray, etc..

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by PiX64

I have no plans to build this into the SageTV Movie Scanner which we are just about done testing. Its only purpose is to allow everyone to get their reorded movies into Plex. The built in plex movie scanner and metadata agents are GREAT for all of your movie files like dvd/bluray, etc..

I wasn't asking about that. Plex already has my metadata so it isn't an issue. I was just wondering if you guys had found a way around converting to .mkv. Looks like I'll have to take some (a lot) of time to get that done.