MediaPlayer Plugin/STV Import: Winamp Media Player Plugin

[gplasky]

I'm having an issue with 1.4. I'm using it with SageMC latest dev and when I click play I just get the spinning Sage logo. I also notice the cover art in the lower left corner shows the pause button instead of play. If I use your 1.3 version it all works fine. Is it just me?

Gerry

[deria]

Originally Posted by gplasky

I'm having an issue with 1.4. I'm using it with SageMC latest dev and when I click play I just get the spinning Sage logo. I also notice the cover art in the lower left corner shows the pause button instead of play. If I use your 1.3 version it all works fine. Is it just me?

Gerry

Does it happen with the default STV? I might have messed up something in 1.4, but it all seems to work for me. Let me know if its working in the default STV. (Also check your CPU usage and see if its pegged at 100 percent or something wierd like that.) When you upgraded to 1.4, did you completely close down SageTV?

[deria]

Gplasky:

Two things:

1) does restarting winamp help? It needs to be running before Sage.

2) if you enable the consolewindow in sage tv, try sending me the log that you see after it locks up. The registry entry to activate the console win is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Frey Technologies\Common\consolewin

It is a DWORD, and setting it to 1 activates the window and 0 deactivates it.

All the changes in 1.4 were focused around making SageTV wait for Winamp to load the file. Perhaps on your system the file is never being loaded (though it should timeout after 6 seconds regardless).

So, questions from last post and suggestions from this one and we'll see where we are.

[sonoman]

Deria,

First of all, great work on this much needed enhancement for sage. Music playback issues were the only things holding sage back from being a complete home theater solution (imho) and this fixes them all. It is working great for me so far but I have one question for you. Is there a way to hold the track info (Artist, Album, Song ect.) and time status display in the "now playing" screen for the duration of the song instead of it going off after several seconds? Obviously I would not want to display this information continuously while watching video but it would be nice for music playback.

Thanks again Deria!

sonoman

[CyRex]

Originally Posted by deria

All of the playlist handling is done by SageTV. That being said, I was under the impression that SageTV had no trouble playing .m3u or .pls playlists. By default, this media-player doesn't even register to handle playlist types -- so it should be using the default player to do so. Two questions:

1) does it happen with the default STV?

2) does it happen with the default media-player?

3) if you create a playlist inside SageTV does that work?

You could try adding these lines to your sage.properties and/or sageclient.properties file:

media_player_plugin_class/m3u=WinampPlugin
media_player_plugin_class/pls=WinampPlugin

I wouldn't expect that to work though. Let me know the answers to the two questions above though and we'll see where we are.

I tried the playlists originally through Sage and it didnt do anything at all. I already tried adding the lines you suggested, and doing so gave me the current results I described before. It seems like it tries to play the file quickly, and then goes back to the pause icon. If I open the m3u or pls directly in WinAmp, it works fine.

Can anyone else comment on whether or not they can play these playlists via the WinAmp plugin?

-Dan

[deria]

Originally Posted by sonoman

Deria,

First of all, great work on this much needed enhancement for sage. Music playback issues were the only things holding sage back from being a complete home theater solution (imho) and this fixes them all. It is working great for me so far but I have one question for you. Is there a way to hold the track info (Artist, Album, Song ect.) and time status display in the "now playing" screen for the duration of the song instead of it going off after several seconds? Obviously I would not want to display this information continuously while watching video but it would be nice for music playback.

Thanks again Deria!

sonoman

Its totally possible. It would need to be done by the author of the STV you use, but theres no reason it couldn't be done. Right now it just times out after a few seconds. It would be pretty trivial to make a copy of the MediaPlayer OSD menu and then remove the timeout functionality.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by deria

Gplasky:

Two things:

1) does restarting winamp help? It needs to be running before Sage.

2) if you enable the consolewindow in sage tv, try sending me the log that you see after it locks up. The registry entry to activate the console win is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Frey Technologies\Common\consolewin

It is a DWORD, and setting it to 1 activates the window and 0 deactivates it.

All the changes in 1.4 were focused around making SageTV wait for Winamp to load the file. Perhaps on your system the file is never being loaded (though it should timeout after 6 seconds regardless).

So, questions from last post and suggestions from this one and we'll see where we are.

Here's where we are and my fault I didn't mention this first.

This is on my box running Sage CLIENT. Here is what I get when I first fire up Sage client. Followed all you suggestions and I am running the default STV. ( I renamed the STV WinAMpSageTV3.)

Sun 12/4 9:22:02.530 Succesfully setup system shell hook
Sun 12/4 9:22:03.143 ERROR Cannot find translation file for STV:java.util.Missin
gResourceException: Can't find bundle for base name STVs\SageTV3\WinAMpSageTV3_i
18n, locale
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.672 Initializing DirectX9
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.678 Creating D3D Device
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.711 Done Initializing DirectX9
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.833 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=600 h=450
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.875 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=78
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.885 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=95 h=58
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.898 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.912 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.927 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.950 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=586 h=47
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.963 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.980 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.994 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256

And when I start the music:

Sun 12/4 9:22:02.530 Succesfully setup system shell hook
Sun 12/4 9:22:03.143 ERROR Cannot find translation file for STV:java.util.Missin
gResourceException: Can't find bundle for base name STVs\SageTV3\WinAMpSageTV3_i
18n, locale
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.672 Initializing DirectX9
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.678 Creating D3D Device
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.711 Done Initializing DirectX9
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.833 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=600 h=450
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.875 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=78
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.885 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=95 h=58
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.898 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.912 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.927 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.950 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=586 h=47
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.963 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.980 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:22:07.994 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:25:16.967 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=161 h=44
Sun 12/4 9:25:17.181 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:25:17.197 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=26 h=25
Sun 12/4 9:25:17.205 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=27 h=25
Sun 12/4 9:25:29.150 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:29.167 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=256 h=256
Sun 12/4 9:25:29.348 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:29.544 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:29.738 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:29.933 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.129 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.326 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.523 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.712 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=32 h=32
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.718 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.823 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=32 h=32
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.918 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:30.941 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=32 h=32
Sun 12/4 9:25:31.050 Creating DirectX9 Texture from memory w=32 h=32
Sun 12/4 9:25:31.113 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:31.311 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:31.507 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:31.705 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:31.903 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f
or 200ms.
Sun 12/4 9:25:32.101 Winamp is not yet ready to report the duration. Sleeping f

And that goes on forever until I three-finger salute and end Sage client.

Your version 1.3 works fine. Any help would be appreciated. Also, just so you know, I use the MCE Remote and the alt-left doesn't let me get out of visualizations. I actually have to click the visual and hit escape. But one issue at a time.

Gerry

[sonoman]

Right now I'm using the default STV with only your plugin. I have not tried using studio yet as I know nothing about how to use it but perhaps this might give me a reason to start.

Thanks

sonoman

[deria]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Here's where we are and my fault I didn't mention this first.

This is on my box running Sage CLIENT. Here is what I get when I first fire up Sage client. Followed all you suggestions and I am running the default STV. ( I renamed the STV WinAMpSageTV3.)



And when I start the music:


And that goes on forever until I three-finger salute and end Sage client.

Your version 1.3 works fine. Any help would be appreciated. Also, just so you know, I use the MCE Remote and the alt-left doesn't let me get out of visualizations. I actually have to click the visual and hit escape. But one issue at a time.

Gerry

Ah, you're using the client. Hmm. Does it actually continue displaying the sleep messages forever? It should technically stop displaying those after 30 messages. I have the client, so I'll give it a try on that and see what happens.

[Keith]

OK - I must have done something wrong because I can't get visualizations to work at all. I have Winamp 5.11 and Milkdrop is set for fake fullscreen, and if I play mp3s directly from Winamp, then I get full screen visualizations.

I installed the plugin to the default Sage directory so the files are in the same directory with sage.exe. I modified the sage.properties file. I used Studio to replace the default visualizations with the winamp helper menu. I'm using the default Sage3 stv.

When I play an mp3 in Sage and click Visualizations, I get a completely black screen (unless I change the Milkdrop settings than I get a black window).

The debug output doesn't help, it seems to indicate things are working. [3784] The visualization is starting.
[3784] Checking if the visualization has ended.
[3784] Checking if the visualization has ended.
[3784] Checking if the visualization has ended.
[3784] Checking if the visualization has ended.
[3784] The visualization is stopping (at user request).
[3784] Forcing SageTV to the foreground.

I'm using an Nvidia 6600 card if that matters, with S-video going to an analog TV.

Originally I had both .net 1.1 SP1 and 2.0. I removed both and re-installed 1.1 and SP1 using Windows Update. I'm running XP Pro SP2.

Winamp is started at boot-up, and is running when I load Sage.

Should I post my sage.properties file? I'm at a loss what to do next. I'm sure I missed something, but what...? Any suggestions?

[CyRex]

Deria -

I just installed v1.4 and made sure that all my settings were correct. Now when I select a .pls or .m3u, Sage just hangs. When I close Sage I can see that playlist has been loaded into WinAmp, but it does not start playing. Is there some kind of interaction between Sage and WinAmp that is different when playing a playlist? Maybe they require a special case in order to play correctly...

- Dan

[deria]

Originally Posted by deria

Ah, you're using the client. Hmm. Does it actually continue displaying the sleep messages forever? It should technically stop displaying those after 30 messages. I have the client, so I'll give it a try on that and see what happens.

Hi Gerry,

I tried using the client on my system and I actually had the same problem as you. Its also the same symptoms as another user was having, but his problem is different and may be solved in the next release. The problem you're having is that when SageTV tells the MediaPlayer to play a file, it passes the filename as it exists on the server and a hostname to get the file from -- but it doesn't get the file itself. There are two solutions:

1) To properly solve this problem, I'm going to have to adapt some code I think to reach out to the server and get the file, store it locally, and start playback from that.

2) You could share a drive from your server with the same drive letter as the drive your music is actually stored on -- in which case, when SageTV told the mediaplayer to play the file it would do so and be able to find the file.

#2 is faster for you, but #1 will need to get done regardless.

[deria]

Originally Posted by CyRex

Deria -

I just installed v1.4 and made sure that all my settings were correct. Now when I select a .pls or .m3u, Sage just hangs. When I close Sage I can see that playlist has been loaded into WinAmp, but it does not start playing. Is there some kind of interaction between Sage and WinAmp that is different when playing a playlist? Maybe they require a special case in order to play correctly...

- Dan

There will be a version 1.5 soon that fixes some issues. I do not know if it will fix this issue in particular, but you should try it out (should be later today).

[coppit]

Great work on this plugin!

Quick slightly off-topic question: Does anyone know how to map "start/stop visualization" to a remote button? I don't see any command for it in the detailed setup...

[coppit]

I'd like channel up/down to go to the preview/next song. Right now I have that button on my remote mapped to "Channel Up/Page Up". How can I get this working?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by deria

Hi Gerry,

I tried using the client on my system and I actually had the same problem as you. Its also the same symptoms as another user was having, but his problem is different and may be solved in the next release. The problem you're having is that when SageTV tells the MediaPlayer to play a file, it passes the filename as it exists on the server and a hostname to get the file from -- but it doesn't get the file itself. There are two solutions:

1) To properly solve this problem, I'm going to have to adapt some code I think to reach out to the server and get the file, store it locally, and start playback from that.

2) You could share a drive from your server with the same drive letter as the drive your music is actually stored on -- in which case, when SageTV told the mediaplayer to play the file it would do so and be able to find the file.

#2 is faster for you, but #1 will need to get done regardless.

But here's the kicker. It worked from my Sage client in ver 1.3!
It was passing the music fie. It showed up in Winamp and the visualization would kick off. Something changed in 1.4 to break this. Please check it out and try 1.3 on your client.

Gerry

[deria]

Originally Posted by gplasky

But here's the kicker. It worked from my Sage client in ver 1.3!
It was passing the music fie. It showed up in Winamp and the visualization would kick off. Something changed in 1.4 to break this. Please check it out and try 1.3 on your client.

Gerry

Using 1.3 I get get same behaviour. The track filename is sent ("e:\music_stroage\some_artist\somefile.mp3") which is not a valid path for the computer SageTV Client is running on. The track name will appear in Winamp, but the duration is -16:-40. The only way my system would be able to play tht track is if I had a mapped drive to the server that shared the same drive letter, and I'm pretty sure you said you didn't have that. Am I just understanding you wrong?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by deria

Using 1.3 I get get same behaviour. The track filename is sent ("e:\music_stroage\some_artist\somefile.mp3") which is not a valid path for the computer SageTV Client is running on. The track name will appear in Winamp, but the duration is -16:-40. The only way my system would be able to play tht track is if I had a mapped drive to the server that shared the same drive letter, and I'm pretty sure you said you didn't have that. Am I just understanding you wrong?

All of my mappings are UNC paths. So they all appear the same as far as Sage is concerned. I'm just saying my Sage client machine is my test machine so I install and test everything there first. Your ver 1.3 worked, fienames were correct and the time in Sage stared at 0:00:00. Never showed a negative number. I'm not sure of the duration in WInamp. I'm burning a DVD on there and can't get to it.

Gerry

[deria]

Originally Posted by gplasky

All of my mappings are UNC paths. So they all appear the same as far as Sage is concerned. I'm just saying my Sage client machine is my test machine so I install and test everything there first. Your ver 1.3 worked, fienames were correct and the time in Sage stared at 0:00:00. Never showed a negative number. I'm not sure of the duration in WInamp. I'm burning a DVD on there and can't get to it.

Gerry

Ah, I see. How did you make it use UNC paths? Well, thats a different issue.

PM me your email address and I'll send you whats likely to be the next release. I've totally changed how files are loaded. It seems stable on my system, and I'm waiting on feedback from mlbdude (who was having an issue with files loading improperly). I suspect that the new version will work better for you too.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by deria

Ah, I see. How did you make it use UNC paths? Well, thats a different issue.

PM me your email address and I'll send you whats likely to be the next release. I've totally changed how files are loaded. It seems stable on my system, and I'm waiting on feedback from mlbdude (who was having an issue with files loading improperly). I suspect that the new version will work better for you too.

Sent.

If it works like 1.3 I'l be happy.

Oh-and by the way, thanks for all your effort on this. I know this isn't trivial work but you have made a lot of peope happy with this option to play music and visualizations. A well deserverd pat-on-the-back to you and keep up the good works.

Gerry