MediaPlayer Plugin/STV Import: Winamp Media Player Plugin

[deria]

I have uploaded version 1.9 of this plugin.

1.9 (bug fixes) / 21-dec-2005

1. Temporarily removed code that handles international characters to rule it out as a possible cause of crashing.
2. In the free() method, the mediaplayer now explicitly releases its reference to the java.awt.file object that SageTV provides it.
3. Improved the diagnostic code such that all entry and exit into the java class is traced, as well as all entry and exit into the C++ .dll file.
4. The mediaplayer now creates one java.awt.dimension object during its construction and always returns that one instead of creating one each time getVideoDimensions() is called.
5. The code that was used to wait for a valid file duration in the getDurationMillis() function has been removed since it is no longer needed; the delay to wait for the file to be fully loaded is already present in the C++ .DLL function called by load().
6. Rather than only aquire a handle to Winamp once on startup, the plugin will now aquire a new handle any time it wants to communicate with Winamp (so if Winamp crashes for whateve reason, you can restart it without having to exit SageTV and enter it again).

Please let me know if this fixes the crashing issues you've been experiencing.

[deria]

Just a quick update; the next release of this plugin will manage Winamp for itself:

If Winamp is not running when SageTV starts, it will be started when it is needed.

If Winamp crashes, it will be restarted.

If Winamp hangs or becomes unresponsive (as it often seems to do on WMA files) the plugin will automatically detect the hang and terminate/restart Winamp.

I still need to hear from people if 1.9 solves their issues with SageTV going up in a puff of smoke though. I can't duplicate that problem at all on my system (and I've been abusing my plugin pretty hardcore today). If 1.9 doesn't solve your issue, please let me know.

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by deria

Just a quick update; the next release of this plugin will manage Winamp for itself:

If Winamp is not running when SageTV starts, it will be started when it is needed.

If Winamp crashes, it will be restarted.

If Winamp hangs or becomes unresponsive (as it often seems to do on WMA files) the plugin will automatically detect the hang and terminate/restart Winamp.

I still need to hear from people if 1.9 solves their issues with SageTV going up in a puff of smoke though. I can't duplicate that problem at all on my system (and I've been abusing my plugin pretty hardcore today). If 1.9 doesn't solve your issue, please let me know.

I'll download tonight, and see if I have any issues.

Question for you though.

Since the plug-in will be controlling Winamp for itself, what is the possibility that it can open and close Winamp when playback is started and stopped?

I realize this may add a slight delay to starting playback, but that feature would be nice for those that have a VFD or something, that monitors Winamp data. Right now, since Winamp is always open, I have a screen on the VFD that shows song information, even though nothing is playing. If Winamp isn't open, the screen is not shown.

I don't know, probably too much of a PITA to do, and others might not want the delay in playback...

[deria]

Originally Posted by geogecko

Since the plug-in will be controlling Winamp for itself, what is the possibility that it can open and close Winamp when playback is started and stopped?

This would be pretty trivial to do (it would be optional, and not the default though). Since SageTV explicitly tells the mediaplayer plugin when it should free its resources, I could very easily dump Winamp from memory at that time too. In terms of how much of a delay that would introduce, it would probably be about 5 seconds between tracks if you have a slow system, less if you have a fast system.

I definitely wouldn't want that to be the default mode, but I can certainly see my way clear to making it an option for you. Its only one or two lines of extra code.

[CyRex]

Originally Posted by deria

it would probably be about 5 seconds between tracks if you have a slow system, less if you have a fast system.

From what I understood of the request, it seems like you would only need to launch and kill WinAmp when starting to play for the first time. It may be a bit more work, but maybe you could have the plugin check for another song in the queue (or wait like 5 seconds) and then kill WinAmp, that way you wouldn't have to start / stop the application for each song, and no delay between tracks...

Not sure how feasible that is, just thinking out loud.

-Dan

[geogecko]

Originally Posted by CyRex

From what I understood of the request, it seems like you would only need to launch and kill WinAmp when starting to play for the first time. It may be a bit more work, but maybe you could have the plugin check for another song in the queue (or wait like 5 seconds) and then kill WinAmp, that way you wouldn't have to start / stop the application for each song, and no delay between tracks...

Not sure how feasible that is, just thinking out loud.

-Dan

Exactly what I was thinking. If it stopped for 5 seconds between EACH track, I think it would be too annoying to be worth it, but if it was just say, at the beginning and end of a playlist, that would be awesome!

[RedCoat999]

Originally Posted by geogecko

Exactly what I was thinking. If it stopped for 5 seconds between EACH track, I think it would be too annoying to be worth it, but if it was just say, at the beginning and end of a playlist, that would be awesome!

That would also help with my system so i don't have extra programs running needlessly.

[geogecko]

Had a strange lockup problem last night, although I don't know all the details, as my wife was the one to find it (she seems to be good at that...)

Had an album playing, with visualization running. From what she said, she paused it, to take a phone call, and then she started playback again, by hitting play. Then she (ALT+LEFT) out of the visualization (which did go away), but up in the top left corner, it had something written over the UI that said "Visualization Running" or something similar, even though it wasn't shown. The "transport" buttons still worked, i.e., pause, play, FF, REW, etc., but no other buttons would do anything (including ALT+LEFT, guide, menu, nothing). I had to 3 finger salute to get out...

I'll see if I can duplicate tonight.

[hkarpf6045]

Originally Posted by geogecko

Had a strange lockup problem last night, although I don't know all the details, as my wife was the one to find it (she seems to be good at that...)

Had an album playing, with visualization running. From what she said, she paused it, to take a phone call, and then she started playback again, by hitting play. Then she (ALT+LEFT) out of the visualization (which did go away), but up in the top left corner, it had something written over the UI that said "Visualization Running" or something similar, even though it wasn't shown. The "transport" buttons still worked, i.e., pause, play, FF, REW, etc., but no other buttons would do anything (including ALT+LEFT, guide, menu, nothing). I had to 3 finger salute to get out...

I'll see if I can duplicate tonight.

I have the same problem, this will happen whenever it changes songs in the visualization. Except i have no keyboard, so i can not do the alt left, so the back button on my keyboard just doesn't work, and the visualization keeps on running and running.

[deria]

Originally Posted by hkarpf6045

I have the same problem, this will happen whenever it changes songs in the visualization. Except i have no keyboard, so i can not do the alt left, so the back button on my keyboard just doesn't work, and the visualization keeps on running and running.

Hmm... I'm not sure I understand. You're saying that if you start a playlist, and then immediately do ALT_LEFT it will work, but if you wait for a song to end and a new one to start, ALT_LEFT won't work anymore? That's pretty odd. Am I understanding right?

[hkarpf6045]

Originally Posted by deria

Hmm... I'm not sure I understand. You're saying that if you start a playlist, and then immediately do ALT_LEFT it will work, but if you wait for a song to end and a new one to start, ALT_LEFT won't work anymore? That's pretty odd. Am I understanding right?

That is exactly what the problem is. Works on the first song, but not after it switches to the next.

[deria]

Originally Posted by hkarpf6045

That is exactly what the problem is. Works on the first song, but not after it switches to the next.

Thats really odd. I'll try it out on my system and see if I can replicate it.

What STV are you using? If its not the default, does it happen with the default?

[hkarpf6045]

I am using SageMC the latest one, haven't tried it with the default. Will try and let you know later.

[taco1991]

1.9 worked for me and the crashes I was having where Sage would vanish without any error dialog. Way to go! Keep up the good work!

[deria]

Originally Posted by hkarpf6045

I am using SageMC the latest one, haven't tried it with the default. Will try and let you know later.

I can't reproduce this on my system with the default STV. If you experience this problem while using the default STV, please let me know and I'll keep trying.

[deria]

Originally Posted by taco1991

1.9 worked for me and the crashes I was having where Sage would vanish without any error dialog. Way to go! Keep up the good work!

Thats good news!

[hkarpf6045]

Originally Posted by deria

I can't reproduce this on my system with the default STV. If you experience this problem while using the default STV, please let me know and I'll keep trying.

I couldn't get it under the default one, but still under SageMC, which i really prefer usin, and would love if this would work 100% with it.

[henk99]

I am sorry if i sound like an idiot, but i have a very basic question....:
Can this plug-in be used on the MVP (Sagetv version 4.1.4 beta)?

I don't understand all of the discussion above. I read some things that MVP can't do that, but some others say you have to copy something from the sage.properties to the client.properties.default

This has gotten me confused i'm afraid..

Hopefully somebody is willing to clear this up for me. If it IS possible, what needs to be done? I would love to use it through the MVP!!!

Cheers,
Henk99

[CyRex]

No, you can't use this plugin through the MVP. The MVP uses an internal audio decoder and only supports playback of .mp3 audio files.

On the other hand, this plugin allows you to play music through WinAmp. The MVP does not have the capabilities to run other programs, such as WinAmp. The only option you have on the MVP is to use its internal hardware decoders.

I believe that if you attempt to use this plugin with an MVP client, the system will (try to) play the file using WinAmp on the system where you have Sage server installed.

[deria]

Originally Posted by hkarpf6045

I couldn't get it under the default one, but still under SageMC, which i really prefer usin, and would love if this would work 100% with it.

If you cannot reproduce the problem in the default STV, but can in SageTV, you should bring this to the attention of mlbdude as it would be a SageMC issue in that case. I know he did a bunch of custom stuff in his STV with regard to the visualizations, so I would suggest starting there.