Android MiniClient v1.3.0

[stuckless]

Happy to annouce a new MiniClient client. There is only a single new feature in this release and it bumps it from 1.2 to 1.3. The new feature is...

ability to configure the remote button and touch/swipe action for the application.

ie, with this change, you can map the Android remote buttons to sagetv button from the setting/configuration page of the application. (maybe you want the right button to do a FF2 instead of a skip??)

The best part of this change, is that I didn't do it Another user on the forum @jvl711 (Josh) did this work and submitted the Pull Request and I pulled it into it's own release. I've sitting on this for over a week now, I've tested it on my setup (everything appears to work).

In the Application Settings look for Touch Mappings and Media Key Mappings and configure away. If you were previously using the "Smart Remote" (ie, remote changes behaviour depening on if you are watching a video of not), then you might need to re-enable this in the Settings.

Another feature of this release is that the long press up/down/right/left will try to do a repeat instead of doing a single page up/down. I'm not seeing a configuration for the repeat rate, but, we should add that later (ie, to repeat faster).

Enjoy, and hopefully this change allows people to configure the remote actions to their liking. And many thanks to jvl711 for doing this change.

This release has been posted to bintray, google play store, and the amazon app store

[rickgillyon]

I've just updated to this version on my Android 5.1.1 box, and now in Sage some of my remote commands don't work. Such as: volume button used to just control the android volume, now does nothing; some commands learnt in Sage no longer work (e.g. I mapped F10 to stop).

The weird thing is, the volume buttons work if the long-press-select menu is showing, but not normally.

Is there a setting I can tweak to make this work, or should I restore the previous version?

Thanks!

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

I've just updated to this version on my Android 5.1.1 box, and now in Sage some of my remote commands don't work. Such as: volume button used to just control the android volume, now does nothing; some commands learnt in Sage no longer work (e.g. I mapped F10 to stop).

The weird thing is, the volume buttons work if the long-press-select menu is showing, but not normally.

Is there a setting I can tweak to make this work, or should I restore the previous version?

Thanks!

I am on vacation right now, but I will look into this when I get home. Did you try customizing the commands in the settings?

Can you give a little more info on your usage. Keyboard, remote or something else for input?

Thanks,
Josh

[rickgillyon]

Yeah, tried the defaults and "none", no difference. I think the use of system volume used to be covered by the "media_player_uses_system_volume" property, but that doesn't seem too be in any of the client ini files any more.

All of my other clients are still on 1.2.13 or .12 and are behaving as expected.

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Happy to annouce a new MiniClient client. There is only a single new feature in this release and it bumps it from 1.2 to 1.3. The new feature is...

ability to configure the remote button and touch/swipe action for the application.

ie, with this change, you can map the Android remote buttons to sagetv button from the setting/configuration page of the application. (maybe you want the right button to do a FF2 instead of a skip??)

The best part of this change, is that I didn't do it Another user on the forum @jvl711 (Josh) did this work and submitted the Pull Request and I pulled it into it's own release. I've sitting on this for over a week now, I've tested it on my setup (everything appears to work).

In the Application Settings look for Touch Mappings and Media Key Mappings and configure away. If you were previously using the "Smart Remote" (ie, remote changes behaviour depening on if you are watching a video of not), then you might need to re-enable this in the Settings.

Another feature of this release is that the long press up/down/right/left will try to do a repeat instead of doing a single page up/down. I'm not seeing a configuration for the repeat rate, but, we should add that later (ie, to repeat faster).

Enjoy, and hopefully this change allows people to configure the remote actions to their liking. And many thanks to jvl711 for doing this change.

This release has been posted to bintray, google play store, and the amazon app store

thank you and josh so much!
this has been the #1 usability issue for me.
i came back from vacation, absent mindedly updated all apps on my shield, then started to see 'unmapped' messages popping up.........after 60 minutes of annoyance (and actually watching commercials since the skip ahead didn't work), it hit me that i should look and see what the miniclient update was, and voila, this wonderful new functionality...........went into setup and it works like a charm.

kudos gents!

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Yeah, tried the defaults and "none", no difference. I think the use of system volume used to be covered by the "media_player_uses_system_volume" property, but that doesn't seem too be in any of the client ini files any more.

All of my other clients are still on 1.2.13 or .12 and are behaving as expected.

Would you mind doing some testing for me. I made some quick changes that I hope might fix the function key issue, and the volume issue. I can send you a link to a test build to give me some feedback.

I made a change so commands mapped to none or unknown should not try and send a command back to sage. I am hoping this should fix the volume issue.

I also made a change to add the function keys as standard keyboard commands. Hopefully this will fix the issue as well.

Josh

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by cat6man

thank you and josh so much!
this has been the #1 usability issue for me.
i came back from vacation, absent mindedly updated all apps on my shield, then started to see 'unmapped' messages popping up.........after 60 minutes of annoyance (and actually watching commercials since the skip ahead didn't work), it hit me that i should look and see what the miniclient update was, and voila, this wonderful new functionality...........went into setup and it works like a charm.

kudos gents!

Thanks for the feedback! Hope this gives users some more flexibility.

Josh

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by jvl711

Would you mind doing some testing for me. I made some quick changes that I hope might fix the function key issue, and the volume issue. I can send you a link to a test build to give me some feedback.

Sure, not a problem, can do it today.

[KryptoNyte]

I also noticed the volume issue on the latest Play Store update (SageTV volume doesn't control system volume = no volume change even though the SageTV slider is moving). If you need any additional testing, please let me know.

[waynedunham]

First question : can the the mini client do remote access? I. E. Via a dns server like dyndns.

Second question assuming answer to one is yes: is there a way to send the uname /pword via the mini client.

I can use the webserver to do this although using the webserver via a browser I am prompted for the credentials whereas the mini client just times out trying to connect.

[btrcp2000]

Yes. I use duckdns on unraid to accomplish the same thing. You enter the user id/password with the same UI like Placeshifter. My only issue with doing it on my phone was getting the keyboard out of the way so I could make sure the cursor was on the password spot (hint: use the android back button)

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by btrcp2000

Yes. I use duckdns on unraid to accomplish the same thing. You enter the user id/password with the same UI like Placeshifter. My only issue with doing it on my phone was getting the keyboard out of the way so I could make sure the cursor was on the password spot (hint: use the android back button)

Not sure of the details on how you're doing this. I see nowhere in the mini client where I might enter the id/pword. In the old days there was a way to include them in the url using a browser. Honestly I can't recall the syntax if that would even work via the mini client.
And I've never used placeshifter so saying that you do it the same way as placeshifter means nothing to me.

So far the only times I've used the mini client was at home over my home wifi, so everything was inside the house without using the internet. Right now I'm out of town on vacation so I need to use the internet and my dns server to try out the mini client.

[btrcp2000]

My company recently made me switch to iphone so I don't have the miniclient anymore. But if i recall, I went into "configure servers" and put in my duckdns IPort. Then when I tapped that server to start the connection, it would come up with what looks like the Sage7 UI and ask for the username and password.

I did manually set up a user though in sage props, but Im not certain if that was required. I would suggest DL'ing placeshifter on a laptop, then taking it outside your network to connect it. Once you know that works, any problems you have with the mini-client should not be related to remote access.

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by btrcp2000

My company recently made me switch to iphone so I don't have the miniclient anymore. But if i recall, I went into "configure servers" and put in my duckdns IPort. Then when I tapped that server to start the connection, it would come up with what looks like the Sage7 UI and ask for the username and password.

That is how it works. A login screen pops up in the mini client You can also choose to remember the login so future connections from that device do not require the login. Do not put the login details in the connection URL. You probably need to configure your edge for top forward the port used by the mini client as well, (it does not use 80).

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

That is how it works. A login screen pops up in the mini client You can also choose to remember the login so future connections from that device do not require the login. Do not put the login details in the connection URL. You probably need to configure your edge for top forward the port used by the mini client as well, (it does not use 80).

I must be doing something wrong then. I see no login screen when I try to connect remotely. I am guessing that it is something wrong with me "address" I'm entering into the mini client. I just have the web address ( address : port). I am pulling this from the webserver (remote web menu) address I use. As I type that I'm thinking that is the wrong address to use?
What address are you using and can you give an example? Was there anything you had to configure on the SAGETV side?

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

I must be doing something wrong then. I see no login screen when I try to connect remotely. I am guessing that it is something wrong with me "address" I'm entering into the mini client. I just have the web address ( address : port). I am pulling this from the webserver (remote web menu) address I use. As I type that I'm thinking that is the wrong address to use?
What address are you using and can you give an example? Was there anything you had to configure on the SAGETV side?

If you're outside your home network you need:

1) The "public" Internet address of your network (sounds like you have)
2) The "private" local IP address of your SageTV server
3) Forward TCP port 31099 through your firewall/router from the public Internet to your private IP
4) (possibly) Configure the firewall on your SageTV server to allow TCP port 31099 though. If you can connect from your home network then you are OK.

On my home network my SageTV has a static IP set to something like 192.168.0.3. I can get my public IP by going to something like http://whatismyip.com/ from a browser on my home network. This is something like 68.24.154.69. In my router/firewall I forward TCP port 31099 to 192.168.0.3.

In Placeshifter when away from home I just tell it to use server 68.24.154.69.

To make things easier, I also have a dynamic DNS service like you asked about. Some routers/firewalls have dynamic DNS clients built-in and can update things for you. Otherwise you can install one on your SageTV server. Back when I was using DynDNS I could enter karylstein.dyndns.org into Placeshifter and it would connect. There is no need to specify a port.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

If you're outside your home network you need:

1) The "public" Internet address of your network (sounds like you have)
2) The "private" local IP address of your SageTV server
3) Forward TCP port 31099 through your firewall/router from the public Internet to your private IP
4) (possibly) Configure the firewall on your SageTV server to allow TCP port 31099 though. If you can connect from your home network then you are OK.

On my home network my SageTV has a static IP set to something like 192.168.0.3. I can get my public IP by going to something like http://whatismyip.com/ from a browser on my home network. This is something like 68.24.154.69. In my router/firewall I forward TCP port 31099 to 192.168.0.3.

In Placeshifter when away from home I just tell it to use server 68.24.154.69.

To make things easier, I also have a dynamic DNS service like you asked about. Some routers/firewalls have dynamic DNS clients built-in and can update things for you. Otherwise you can install one on your SageTV server. Back when I was using DynDNS I could enter karylstein.dyndns.org into Placeshifter and it would connect. There is no need to specify a port.

Your example of karylstein.dyndns.org is basically how I get to my SageTV webserver pages when I'm away from home, although I have mine set up as one of their dvrdns addresses, but I do have to specify the port which then prompts me for the Uname/Pwd.

You, and a couple others keep mentioning the placeshifter, do I need to set that up to use the Android MiniClient? I've never set up/used placeshifter and just relied on dyndns for my remote access to the webserver.

At any rate, your message was much more detailed than some of the others and gives me things to check into now that I'm back home and can make any necessary changes/settings on both the remote and local ends.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

You, and a couple others keep mentioning the placeshifter, do I need to set that up to use the Android MiniClient? I've never set up/used placeshifter and just relied on dyndns for my remote access to the webserver.

No, Placeshifter is not required to use Android MiniClient. Placeshifter and the Android MiniClient are just two different mini-clients for Sage (Placeshifter runs on Windows or Linux, the other runs on Android).

The Sage Server software was built to support 2 main types of user interface: A "full" client, and a "mini-client".

The mini-client is the core software that is used for the Placeshifter, the HDx00 Extenders, and the Android Mini-Client. They are all built on the same basic code (each with some modifications). They all connect to the Sage Server in basically the same way (using the same protocols), and the server treats them all pretty much the same.

The main difference between the mini-client and the full client is that the mini-client relies on the server to do many of its tasks (each mini-client that connects uses-up some of the server computer's memory, and the server does some of the work of rendering the UI for the mini-client, and accessing the recording files for playback). In some cases, the server will also do on-the-fly transcoding to allow the mini-client to play back files that it couldn't otherwise play natively.

This is not the case with the full-client (the full client is responsible to do pretty much anything related to the user-interface and video playback on its own with no help from the server).

Since the different mini-clients work the same way, do most of the same things, and look pretty much the same to the Sage server, you can use one to help troubleshoot another. This is very similar to how you might try Chrome or Safari if you are having trouble accessing a website with Internet Explorer.

[KryptoNyte]

I ended up rolling back to the previous version apk to get the volume working again [on my phone's volume up/down buttons]. The Play store keeps bugging me to update to the latest version, and when there are 10 or 20 apps to update, I do them individually so I don't accidentally update the miniclient. Is there a way that I can;

1) Tell Android to stop updating the miniclient, or,
2) Go ahead and update, and tweak the latest version so the volume buttons once again control SageTV volume?

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I ended up rolling back to the previous version apk to get the volume working again [on my phone's volume up/down buttons]. The Play store keeps bugging me to update to the latest version, and when there are 10 or 20 apps to update, I do them individually so I don't accidentally update the miniclient. Is there a way that I can;

1) Tell Android to stop updating the miniclient, or,
2) Go ahead and update, and tweak the latest version so the volume buttons once again control SageTV volume?

The fix for the volume issue is in GitHub. It should be in the next release.

I also added support for switching audio tracks to both video players.


Josh