Sage miniclient and the obnoxious Play Music app

[DarkWolf77]

So I hadn't used Google Play Music on the Shield TV before, but I did the other day, and ever since then when I press play on a recording in the Sage miniclient, Google decides that it needs to start blasting music at the same time. To be clear - I'm using the harmony remote with the native shield remote support, and not an ir blaster. This is pretty obnoxious because the only way to make the music stop is to exit sage entirely, go to the music app and stop it there. Now, I've noticed that it doesn't do that when I'm in other apps like Netflix or Hulu for example.

In further testing, I also found that in other apps, if music is playing and you start watching video the music stops, however in the sage miniclient, it keeps playing. I am guessing there's some 'video playing' broadcast event that is broadcast by other players but the miniclient isn't.

Unfortunately, the only work around I've found to keep this from happening is to disable the Google Play Music app entirely, but it's only a partial work around - if I had been listening to Pandora recently and it's still in memory, it will also do the same thing.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by DarkWolf77

So I hadn't used Google Play Music on the Shield TV before, but I did the other day, and ever since then when I press play on a recording in the Sage miniclient, Google decides that it needs to start blasting music at the same time. To be clear - I'm using the harmony remote with the native shield remote support, and not an ir blaster. This is pretty obnoxious because the only way to make the music stop is to exit sage entirely, go to the music app and stop it there. Now, I've noticed that it doesn't do that when I'm in other apps like Netflix or Hulu for example.

In further testing, I also found that in other apps, if music is playing and you start watching video the music stops, however in the sage miniclient, it keeps playing. I am guessing there's some 'video playing' broadcast event that is broadcast by other players but the miniclient isn't.

Unfortunately, the only work around I've found to keep this from happening is to disable the Google Play Music app entirely, but it's only a partial work around - if I had been listening to Pandora recently and it's still in memory, it will also do the same thing.

That is interesting. I have google play music as well, and I do use it, but I haven't noticed this. It's likely something with the remote and what it's sending. YOu can open a defect, but since I use the standard shield remote, not sure how I'll test that.

[DarkWolf77]

Originally Posted by stuckless

That is interesting. I have google play music as well, and I do use it, but I haven't noticed this. It's likely something with the remote and what it's sending. YOu can open a defect, but since I use the standard shield remote, not sure how I'll test that.

Actually, I may have found a way for you to test it! I tested it out, and I found that the behavior is easily replicated via this remote control app for android: Remote Android TV

Using the play/pause button on the main screen of that app will also do the same thing - SageTV video starts playing and google music will start playing at the same time - but only on the miniclient (so far, anyway).

I'll go ahead and add the defect, too.

[panteragstk]

I noticed this when I got my shield. If you press play or pause and it is mapped to android play pause command instead of sage play pause then any app that supports being in the background while playing (plex, youtube, play music) will start playing.

To get around this I have two different modes on my harmony. SageTV and everything else.

In sage mode all keys on the remote are mapped to sagetv keyboard commands. Works perfectly and doesn't do anything to the other android apps.

[DarkWolf77]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I noticed this when I got my shield. If you press play or pause and it is mapped to android play pause command instead of sage play pause then any app that supports being in the background while playing (plex, youtube, play music) will start playing.

To get around this I have two different modes on my harmony. SageTV and everything else.

In sage mode all keys on the remote are mapped to sagetv keyboard commands. Works perfectly and doesn't do anything to the other android apps.

Do you need an ir receiver for that?

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by DarkWolf77

Do you need an ir receiver for that?

I don't have one. I just have the harmony companion remote and it controls my shield via the built in IR.

[DarkWolf77]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I don't have one. I just have the harmony companion remote and it controls my shield via the built in IR.

Interesting, I didn't know you could do that with it. That would be a great solution if it was just me using it, but it doesn't sound too user friendly for the wife...

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by DarkWolf77

Interesting, I didn't know you could do that with it. That would be a great solution if it was just me using it, but it doesn't sound too user friendly for the wife...

If my wife can use it, yours can.

There are three activity buttons at the top. If you press TV then the TV, receiver, and Shield TV turn on and SageTV auto launches. If you press movie, then it goes back to the android TV screen and the android commands are mapped to the buttons. Or it goes back if you push exit. If you push exit the remote is still in sagetv mode, but the direction and select/ok buttons are always in Android mode.

It's actually REALLY simple.