SageTV transcoding

[KryptoNyte]

Getting our media remotely seems to be more and more important as time passes. SageTV placeshifter was pretty extraordinary in its day, some of the first of its kind. Of course with remote viewing skyrocketing since Sage was sold, it's pretty rough at this point. The transcoder needs a complete overhaul I imagine.

I'd be willing to dump some cash on any developer that's interesting in taking a shot at this. I would see up front if Jeff has a few tips to at least get you pointed in the right direction. I've never done it before, but I'd be willing to create a kickstarter to keep everything public in regard to paying the developer(s).

Anyone interested in SageTV Remote?

[jvl711]

I think this is the one area that would really help bring SageTV forward. Being able to transcode media in our libraries to newer formats as well as being able to transcode at higher resolutions for placeshifting would really be a big step forward. I am willing to throw my hat in the ring, but I need a lot of help.

Depending on the approach taken, my expertise is more in the Java side, not in the C/C++ side. I can hack together some C code.

I definitely would be willing to make any necessary changes to the Android Miniclient to accommodate any changes in how transcoding might work in the future.

Josh

[wayner]

I am in as well for financial support. Isn't the main issue the version of ffmpeg used and Jeff had to do a lot of customization to it to make it work for SageTV. So to use a more modern version of ffmpeg you need to redo all of these customizations.

The current version doesn't even work properly for 1080i files in PlaceShifter on your local LAN.

FYI - to play files remotely I use Plex and AirVideoHD (an iOS app). My unRAID server has dockers running Plex, AirVideoHD and SageTV. For movie and TV series files I use Plex. But for sports and other newer recordings that may not have metadata I use AirVideoHD to watch on my iOS devcies.

The other option that should work, although I don't know that I have tried this, is to use a VPN connection back to your LAN (I also have OpenVPN server running in a docker on unRAID). Then you should be able to use any video file player, even SageTV Placeshifter, assuming that it works for that type of file on your LAN.

Of course the downside to transcoding is that it wouldn't be as easy to skip forward through files. SageTV is better at this then pretty much any other software and I use this all the time as I primarily use SageTV for watching sports.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by wayner

Of course the downside to transcoding is that it wouldn't be as easy to skip forward through files. SageTV is better at this then pretty much any other software and I use this all the time as I primarily use SageTV for watching sports.

I did not consider that. This might be quite a project, both at the server and client end. I suppose it's at least worth kicking around.

[KryptoNyte]

I honestly thought there would be more SageTV users interested in seeing something like this move forward.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I honestly thought there would be more SageTV users interested in seeing something like this move forward.

I too use AirVideoHD and Plex for remote viewing, and while I don’t have any objections to donating a few bucks to ongoing support issues, I’m not sure how much I’d gain from this. For things I want to keep long term, I generally use Handbrake to convert stuff. The benefit of this development would be for the use of the Miniclient away from the home, yes?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I honestly thought there would be more SageTV users interested in seeing something like this move forward.

I guess if some are interested it is worth looking into it ... I personally do not need it use EMBY for remote access.

[hb4]

+1 wishing there were a better quality remote streaming option using Sage's UI. I am currently using an HD300 for remote viewing.

[phantomii]

i would also be very interested and would throw in a few bucks for a good improvement in remote streaming......

[trk2]

I'm also interested and can contribute financially.

[NetworkGuy]

I think there is two reasons why you are not seeing that much interest. First, with the pandemic, you can not travel not, so it is not a high priority. Second is the title of this thread. Change it to something like remote viewing and you will get more interest.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

I think there is two reasons why you are not seeing that much interest. First, with the pandemic, you can not travel not, so it is not a high priority. Second is the title of this thread. Change it to something like remote viewing and you will get more interest.

I tried changing it, but you can't really change the title it seems.

Maybe I'll start another thread pointing it back to this one.

[jvl711]

Hi,

I was playing with the SageTVTranscoder and placeshifting with the miniclient, and I was surprised by what I was able to achieve. I really though we were completely limited by the current version of ffmpeg. It looks like I might not be entirely correct. Here is what I did.

1. I turned on fixed as the streaming type in the Android mini client settings.
2. I modified SageTV so that the transcoder outupt format was hard coded instead of using the built in default. I used the settings below:

xcodeParams = "-f matroska -vcodec mpeg4 -b 4000 -s 720x480 -acodec ac3 -r 29.97 -ab 192 -ar 48000 -ac 2";

I was shocked that the andriod miniclient played it well with IJKPlayer and ExoPlayer. It worked well with live and converted content. Image quality was very passable. Skipping back and forth was acceptable on my server hardware in a VM!

I want to try and add the following options to be passed to SageTV as an option. You can already pass FPS, bitrate, and a number of other options. I think MKV seems to be much better supported by the miniclient.

1. Container format
2. Additional resolution options. 720p, 1080p
3. Additional audio formats. AC3

Users would need to set the resolution and bitrate based on their available bandwidth. Now we would be able to set much higher quality levels.

[KryptoNyte]

Great work, Josh.

That would be awesome to get 1080p working!

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Great work, Josh.

That would be awesome to get 1080p working!

I did not specifically test 1080p, but I just did the following...

-f matroska -vcodec mpeg4 -b 4000 -s 1280x720 -acodec ac3 -r 29.97 -ab 192 -ar 48000 -ac 2 -threads 4

I sent a live tv stream of 1080p transcoded to 720p with 4000 bitrate with 2 channel ac3. It work flawless to my pixel 3xl on at&t prepaid wireless. Looks fantastic, and there were no hickups. I was also using ExoPlayer

This is a game changer for me. I can use my pixel to stream live tv out of the house in HD to ExoPlayer. Pixel does not have native mpeg2, so being able to do 720p/1080p realtime transcode would be awesome!

I am using a VM of Windows 10 hosted on Hyper-v. $ VCPU on Xeon E5620 CPU @ 2.4 ghz. It used ~50% cpu. So this should work on modest hardware.

Now for a good bit of coding work. I will need to make some modifications to the SageTV core to accept a handful of new parameters, than I will need to make a new settings screen in the Andriod mini client to be able to change the new settings. Might take a few weeks depending on how much time I can find. I will also need to submit a pull request to the Sage core for the changes.

Josh

[KryptoNyte]

Is a kickstarter worthwhile if it's just 5 or 10 of us contributing, or is there better way?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by jvl711

I did not specifically test 1080p, but I just did the following...

-f matroska -vcodec mpeg4 -b 4000 -s 1280x720 -acodec ac3 -r 29.97 -ab 192 -ar 48000 -ac 2 -threads 4

I sent a live tv stream of 1080p transcoded to 720p with 4000 bitrate with 2 channel ac3. It work flawless to my pixel 3xl on at&t prepaid wireless. Looks fantastic, and there were no hickups. I was also using ExoPlayer

This is a game changer for me. I can use my pixel to stream live tv out of the house in HD to ExoPlayer. Pixel does not have native mpeg2, so being able to do 720p/1080p realtime transcode would be awesome!

I am using a VM of Windows 10 hosted on Hyper-v. $ VCPU on Xeon E5620 CPU @ 2.4 ghz. It used ~50% cpu. So this should work on modest hardware.

Now for a good bit of coding work. I will need to make some modifications to the SageTV core to accept a handful of new parameters, than I will need to make a new settings screen in the Andriod mini client to be able to change the new settings. Might take a few weeks depending on how much time I can find. I will also need to submit a pull request to the Sage core for the changes.

Josh

[cupp]

Thanks for working on this. I also would like to donate for all the hard work.

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Is a kickstarter worthwhile if it's just 5 or 10 of us contributing, or is there better way?

I was thinking of setting up a Patreon account for people to support what I am doing for SageTV. I think that might be easier than a Kickstarter. What do you think?

Josh

[wayner]

What about even getting 1080i H.264 content to play in Placeshifter on a local LAN? I find that Placeshifter works ok for MPEG-2 1080i content, like from OTA, but not for H.264 1080i content that is encoded by my HD-PVRs.