STV: Cayars17 Ultimate STV (Release 17 - Jan 18)

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by remmy925

I think removing the STV and addeding it back did it. Feel ashamed I didnt try that first. I get paid as an IT Analyst and help people with software problems all of the time. Two basic rules to try first if an app ever goes wrong. Reboot and try disabling a feature and re-enabling it. Should have done that in the first place. Someone shoot me. Thank you for the response Cayars. I've seen you been busy supporting people and I didnt want to add to the load. I needlessly did that. Sorry.

Not a problem, glad it's working for you now.

[Cayars]

I've got 2048MB of memory in my machine, I also have UltraVNC on my machine. I've got a full EPG lineup.

Come to think of it, I've only noticed this when it's recording. I don't know if this is true or not but I think it is. Even though I'm not having any tuning problems I think I'm going to install the new DLL Jeff posted and see if this does anything. Who knows.

BTW, this IS NOT STV related. I thought it might have been the comskip routines working in the background but I've experienced the same delay after switching to the OriginalV2.stv and doing a reboot.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by Hector

Yes I agree with pengdahl this is huge.

With hundreds of channels you need to be able to view AND persist them in different slices - by a saved list of channels, by categories et al. It would be really nice to be able to view all the football on a Saturday, or all the movies on in an evening. Or if you're watching 3-4 games or shows at once then 'program' those few channels as your favorites or 'jump list' as some systems call it. Useful for scanning news channels for example if something interesting is happening. Then the TV guide would show and mini-guide would cycle only between the slice you happen to have selected.

And ideally it needs to be relatively easy to change. It wouldn't be a configuration option as much as it needs to be something accessible that can be changed 'on the fly' with a few key presses. For example the way it works with Tivo is that you persist the filter and then set a toggle to enable it. While viewing the guide a key press enables the option screen. At the end of the day you could have several persisted guide filters that you could choose between. Show only movies, show only sports/football, show only these channels.

However it's implemented this would really be helpful. For some reason Sage out of the box isn't very friendly for those with a lot of channels.


BTW thanks for sharing your work, it's a first class effort.

peace . . .




At the moment the EPG ends up being cluttered with many channels that I never watch but I don't want to remove from my channel lineup because I can still tune to them.

The "Custom Guides" currently in this STV seem to provide a limited version of what I'd like to see, but they really don't quite do what I want.

Thanks for listening!

I'm going to look into this today. So my question is: What would be the best way to select one of these "Custom LineUps"? I'd question using the GUIDE key since we already have this assigned to the Mini-Guide.

I'm thinking of making it a choice in the options menu. Then after we get it working we could add a custom command to "flip" through them without the need to use the options menu. Does this sound about right?

PS. The Mini-Guide won't make use of the custom guide data until phase 2

[Cayars]

Here's an update on what I've done already for the next release:
* Checked to make sure Background video works in RSS and Weather (I think I fixed this previously but didn't log it).
* Changed all properties in "TV Recordings" so that the properties used are different then other "Recording" screens. This allows you to setup another listing like Malore or Two Pane view and have them set up with different options/sorting.
* Added the ability to sort TV Recordings by Original Air Date (oldest and newest). Caveat, shows without Orig-Air info always show up first.
* Changed Mini-Guide functionality so Up/Down arrows do not show mini-guide info when playing DVDs.
* Fix automatic channel change on 2/3 digit code (should work the same as the default STV (probably configurable)

I'm going to take a look and see if I can have both my Music Library and the original Library stuff both in the STV to see if this fixes one person's Visualization problems (maybe a test build). I'd also like to see what can be done to fix the foreign language (Hebrew I think) problem.

There is a problem at present with playing sounds, so sounds on menu changes is out for now.

Are there any other bugs/features not implemented that have been requested besides "New Series" and "Custom Channel Lineups" that I've missed?

[alon24]

I've posted on the ffmpeg thread but i'll post here too.
First of all thanks for caring for hebrew ( :-) ).


also when using compress you (they, who ever wrote this)create an xml file with ISO-8859-1 which is not good for hebew and so the ffmpgeg_picker cannot locate the file (I add description to file name, maybe I shouldn't?), also the .my file does not show the hebrew text correctly.

Sage already has support for hebrew (we use font arial and Cp1255 or iso-8859-8), so the tvguide and all other stuff work with it, so it's in the database.

please if you could use a coding that supports hebrew that would be great
ILAN

[Cayars]

Alon24, I believe it was you who reported problems with Hebrew in the STV. Could you give me an overview if possible of what I might need to do to fix this in the STV?

Can you tell me what parts of the STV have issues?

EDIT: Between the time I started typing this (break to fix breakfast for kids) and the time I posted this you "snuck" your message in here. Hebrew is something I want to see fixed if possible.

[Cayars]

OK, I think you might have answered part of my question already. Is it safe for me to assume that problem sections would/could be fixed by making sure the Arial font is used?

I must confess, I haven't used the compress features in the STV. This is Malore's (I believe) code and as far I'm concerned untested. I suppose I'll add this to my list of things to setup and test. I've actually been looking for a simpler method of transcoding that I could drop in here to replace the cumbersome setup required at present for the transcoding.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by alon24

I've posted on the ffmpeg thread but i'll post here too.
First of all thanks for caring for hebrew ( :-) ).


also when using compress you (they, who ever wrote this)create an xml file with ISO-8859-1 which is not good for hebew and so the ffmpgeg_picker cannot locate the file (I add description to file name, maybe I shouldn't?), also the .my file does not show the hebrew text correctly.

Sage already has support for hebrew (we use font arial and Cp1255 or iso-8859-8), so the tvguide and all other stuff work with it, so it's in the database.

please if you could use a coding that supports hebrew that would be great
ILAN

As stated above, I haven't played with this at all. Let me ask you a question. If you manually create one of the XML files but use ISO-8859-8 instead of 8859-1 and then manually kick off the process as the STV would do. What happens? Does everything work correctly from that point? If so this should be an "easy" fix.

[alon24]

Since I am not at home currently I will run down some of the tihings I;ve seen not working correctly.

we import the hebrew in reverse order so alon24 becoms 42nola (just for reference) this is done because sage does not support RTL only LTR, we also use font Arial or something other than Theoma, so we can view the hebrew.
also we use Cp1255 as the encoding (I think iso-8859-8 is also good but I haven't tried it realy).

1. Where there are options to set font size, is there a possibility to add font name also, so we don't have to change sage.properties?

2. miniguide - since this is a custom class can you enable RTL and reverse the order of the data (we reveresed it entering data into the DB, so now if we can use real BIDI and RTL we could use it correctly).so now it will be from right to left (right justified).
also can u add a "more" button so if we have more then say 4 lines, we can view the "more" lines in the miniguide.

3. selection in favorites seem to work well, but in reverse, if u can fix it so that we can select a show correctly from RTL , that would be great.
also if there was a way to add a "Shift" button to switch the buttons to whatever font (hebrew letters), that would be great.
in the past I said that selection in hebrew by just typing hebrew is not working, but this is woring, it seems I have a problem with ultraVnc and hebrew, and when I do it on the actual computer, it works.

4. ffmpeg - create xml using iso-8859-8 or Cp1255 not iso-8859-1 (which does not support hebrew), maybe add a property for creating the xml with which encoding.
currently if I add episode name to file and its in hebrew, it does not find it (since it does not write the name correctly in the xml) and also the .my files are in giberish.

of course I am not going to talk about the fact that for the Tvguide we have to use reverse order, this, I know is not in the domain of Studio holders.

I would love to help code these changes but it seems that sage has enogth beta testers for its studio, maybe you can infulence them???

thats all I remeber right now, hope this isn't too long a list, and I do thank you for all of your help and your wonderfull STV.

ILAN

[Cayars]

I know nothing of this stuff, so you're going to have to be patient with me as I come up to speed on this. For starters I don't know what BIDI and RTL (right to left?), LTR (left to right?) are, or even what that stands for (this is going to be fun )

Can you point me to any other threads or discussions here or elsewhere that may be of help?

Yes if this is going to help, I can add font selection along with size to detailed setup. I'll probably make it a pure text field with no checking so you'll have to make sure you type the font name correctly or else...

Let me learn a little bit more before even commenting on the other things here so I have a "clue" what I'm talking about.

BTW, do you do any computer programming at all and if so at what level are you (beginner, advanced, etc...)?

[alon24]

Originally Posted by Cayars

I know nothing of this stuff, so you're going to have to be patient with me as I come up to speed on this. For starters I don't know what BIDI and RTL (right to left?), LTR (left to right?) are, or even what that stands for (this is going to be fun )

Can you point me to any other threads or discussions here or elsewhere that may be of help?

Yes if this is going to help, I can add font selection along with size to detailed setup. I'll probably make it a pure text field with no checking so you'll have to make sure you type the font name correctly or else...

Let me learn a little bit more before even commenting on the other things here so I have a "clue" what I'm talking about.

BTW, do you do any computer programming at all and if so at what level are you (beginner, advanced, etc...)?

LTR = left to right
RTL = right to left
Bidi = Bi directional writing - combining LTR and RTL so that if an english sentance is withing a right justified hebrew paragraph, it will still look ok.

I am an advanced java programmer for 7 years now.

If need be I do want to help

Ilan

[oshapir]

Hi Carlo,

I think I can sum up the problems we Hebrew speakers have in SgaeTV:
1. Right to Left - every line/paragraph of text (in the Guide, favorites, mini-guide, upcomming movies etc.) is written in reversed order (instead of : "The spimpsons" - we get "snosmips ehT").
what we both did is make our own XMLTV grabber that FLIPPS the strings in the XMLT file - so in SgaeTV we can see it OK.
BUT! it works OK when we have ONE line of text, but with multiple lines, we must read from the bottom right to upper left (should be from TOP right to bottom left), in many cases when we can't see the whole text (like in the mini guide) the text is being cut from the START to the middle and not from the middle to the end (so we don't even get the begining of the description just the end...).
Lack of Right to Left support also mean we see all of the folder names and file names that are in Hebrew - reversed (Imported video file, music & pictures).
2. XML files - every XMLT file we read in to SageTV or go out from SageTV MUST use ISO-8859-8 and not ISO 8859-1 in the title - so the Hebrew letters won't become gibrish...
3. Other - small changes like using Hebrew only, or both Hebrew and English letters on every screen there is an OnScreenKeyboard (mostly in searches...) instead of english - will help alot - we'll be able to search when using a remote.

In my opinion, fixing RTL problem just in one or two places and not in all the screens won't be a good solution, we must find a simple way to imlement RTL in all the String fields in SageTV.

Hope this helps!

Keep on the great work on this STV!
thanks,
Oren.

[Cayars]

Got ya oshapir.

I previosly that hebrew worked well in all parts of the system except for a few parts. But now I think I get that it really doesn't work at all in SageTV but you have "tricked" it in many places by importing you're own data in the "reverse" order.

Is this accurate?

If so, this really is something that should be an "easy" fix at the core level. Basically the low-level function that writes data to the screen should be able to check a global variable/property setting, and write everything from RTL and bottom to top. Is this a correct assumption assuming you can control the font (i.e. arial) being used?

If this is correct, let me know and I'll see if I can "lean" on Jeff to implement this in the base/core code. I would think it's not a big deal at the core level.

[alon24]

Yes - it is a core problem
No - just changing the font is not enogth.

Since sage reps are relactent to answer our pleedining about RTL issues, we are force to introduce "cirumventing", we reverse the lines, we read from down up, we do all this for the other greate qualities in sage.

If sage at the core level supported this, like beyondTV does, all would have been nice, but since it doesn't, we relay on nice people such as u'r self (we, again, do not have studio) to heed to our needs and do the coding for us.

This, again - if sage is litening, is something I would be happy to do my self and contribute.....

I hope I wasn't too obvious with my winks at sagetv stuff

ILAN

[oshapir]

I must agree with Ilan, a core change - supporting RTL as in other PVR/DVR programs and as in almost ANY Windows software there is - is the only way to go.

Oren.

[Cayars]

I'm not sure this can actually be handled easily at the STV level. Certainly in certain parts the "strings" could be reversed, but this would certainly slow things down doing it everywhere at the STV level. It certainly should be a core change.

I don't know if I have any more "weight" then you guys in the "request" department, but I have made a request to Jeff about this too.

BTW, what i requested didn't have anything to do with keyboard input or the like. For now (starters) I requested a change to the output methods that would do RTL based on a property setting.

[alon24]

Thanks !!! :-)

[oshapir]

Thanks!!!

[Hector]

One way would be to tighten the relationship (from the user POV) between the mini and full guides. Both guides could share the same 'guide options' screen which allows you to toggle between the two guides and select which filter you want to use. Of course the filter selected applies to whichever guide you have selected.

For me smaller slices (the games I am watching, or my few favorite channels) the mini guide works best, for larger slices the Live guide does so it would be nice to be able to easily toggle between to the two guides, or maybe even better have a command for each.

Phase 2? Sounds like that iterative development incremental delivery nonsense. Surely it's better to just jam all the code you can write today into the next version, put it up for download, go on vacation and check back in a few weeks to see how things worked themselves out

peace . . .

Originally Posted by Cayars

I'm going to look into this today. So my question is: What would be the best way to select one of these "Custom LineUps"? I'd question using the GUIDE key since we already have this assigned to the Mini-Guide.

I'm thinking of making it a choice in the options menu. Then after we get it working we could add a custom command to "flip" through them without the need to use the options menu. Does this sound about right?

PS. The Mini-Guide won't make use of the custom guide data until phase 2

[Hector]

Definetly NOT STV related as it happened all day yesterday to the Original for me as well. I also thought it might be comskip (CPUwise) so I've disabled it too.

I had a pretty stable system until I added my satellite STB. Guide data (bigger database) or serial is all I can think of but serial seems unlikely since it doesn't seem to be related to channel changes.

Originally Posted by Cayars

I've got 2048MB of memory in my machine, I also have UltraVNC on my machine. I've got a full EPG lineup.

Come to think of it, I've only noticed this when it's recording. I don't know if this is true or not but I think it is. Even though I'm not having any tuning problems I think I'm going to install the new DLL Jeff posted and see if this does anything. Who knows.

BTW, this IS NOT STV related. I thought it might have been the comskip routines working in the background but I've experienced the same delay after switching to the OriginalV2.stv and doing a reboot.