Cant setup Video Directories

[steingra]

This is my third SageTV client now. Other 2 are working good. But for some reason, this SageTV client isnt working so good. It feels like a NTFS/Security type of a problem. I am going to attach a few screenshots so you can see the errors I am talking about.

I was running SageTV client just fine on this laptop. Until the hard drive took a dive off the deep end and stopped working. I have since reinstalled OS (XP PRO SP2) and everything else, and the system is working fine. Only thing that isnt working again is SageTV System has lots of RAM and ...IT WORKED BEFORE

From the laptop I can view the Program Guide and I can see all my previous Recordings too. And Archived Recordings. So all that stuff is working. At least I can see the information about all the shows. But viewing them is another story. In fact, I can even see all my Music Albums, and album art. But I cant play anything. I get errors something like error(-2) "file no longer exists".

But I can see the files from a Windows mapped drive on the laptop to the SageTV server, and I can even play the files from the laptop (across the network) using PowerDVD or Nero Showtime. And I can view the shows on the other two clients just fine.

On the laptop the Video Directories are all empty, and when I try to set them up, it just doesnt work. I dont get any errors, but when I enter in the directory name like \\vader\video3 and presss enter key,,, nothing happens.
On the other clients, it worked, and then \\vader\video3 showed up just fine.

So I am not sure why I cant seem to setup any Video Directories on this laptop. And it worked just fine on other clients. I am guessing it must be a quarrel between my laptop and the sagetv server (which is running XP PRO with simple file sharing) over the files/directories/user permissions

Anyone have this type of problem before?

PS
You can see in the attached screenshots, how the directories are setup on the server, and on one of the clients. They match. But on laptop...no such luck. It just inst accepting the UNC's

PPS
I emailed SageTV support too. Havent heard back from them yet, so I thought I would post here

Thanks

[gplasky]

Go into Network Places and drill down to one of the directories. Then look in the address bar and verify the UNC path. For example, my actual UNC path is \\Frontroom\data (f). For some reason it looks like your machine name is \\DELL Server (vader)\

Gerry

[steingra]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Go into Network Places and drill down to one of the directories. Then look in the address bar and verify the UNC path. For example, my actual UNC path is \\Frontroom\data (f). For some reason it looks like your machine name is \\DELL Server (vader)\
Gerry

That extra *fluff* is just part of the description of the Dell Server. The actual UNC is \\VADER\Video1 \\VADER\Video2 \\VADER\Video3 etc
And from my laptop, I can copy and paste those 3 UNC's into the Address bar, and it opens up to show me all the files there. Does that make sense?

PS
I just found another thread where someone was saying that because they had different versions of SageTV server and SageTV client installed on the server vs. a client pc, that caused them problems.
(at least thats how I understood it anyway) I am going to try the older 4.0.0056 or whatever version I am using on my other client/pc and see if that works.

Now that I think about it, when I was running SagTV client on my laptop before, I am almost sure it was the older version of 4.0.xxx
hmmmm

EDIT: OK I read an idea on another thread and...
Well, I took the idea and uninstalled version 4.1.3 and reinstalled original 4.0 version from back in november. And guess what, it worked great the first time. I didnt even have to change any settings. AND it was a lot faster connecting to the SageTV server. SO its running great on the laptop using the slightly older version. Does this mean I have to upgrade server to 4.1.3, and then 4.1.6...etc? I never planned on upgrading to all those interim versions. I figured if it was working good I AM NOT MESSING WITH IT!!!!

I am glad someone else tried this, and posted it here.

So there is something funky going on with 4.1.3 and my laptop. Have no idea what. I will have to discuss with SageTV support

[Opus4]

The client & server no longer have to be the _exact_ same version to be able to connect, but they do have to be compatible versions... and v4.0 & v4.1 are not server/client compatible. i.e.: v4.0 can only talk to v4.0.x and v4.1 can only talk to v4.1.x.

- Andy

[steingra]

Originally Posted by Opus4

The client & server no longer have to be the _exact_ same version to be able to connect, but they do have to be compatible versions... and v4.0 & v4.1 are not server/client compatible. i.e.: v4.0 can only talk to v4.0.x and v4.1 can only talk to v4.1.x.

- Andy

Well that makes sense. I guess I havent been around long enough to realize that

I will have to keep that in mind for future upgrading. So when new versions come out, how do you proceed to update your machines? How soon after a new sagetv version comes out, would you wait to use it/install it?

I know you have been using it a long time so I guess I am looking for best practices to follow.

ps
I didnt remember seeing that mentioned in the Manual (about compatibility...maybe I missed that section?)

Thanks!!!

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by steingra

So when new versions come out, how do you proceed to update your machines? How soon after a new sagetv version comes out, would you wait to use it/install it?

Since I do some work for SageTV, I pretty much install each version (and then some) as it becomes available.

When to upgrade is up to you & whether the new version fixes issues you've run into or has new features you want to use.

How I upgrade is to make a complete copy of each SageTV installation directory tree on my PCs & then simply install the new version on top of the previous version. That way, if something goes wrong, the new version can be uninstalled & the dir removed, the older version reinstalled, then the saved copy of the older version can be copied back into place to restore all settings.

- Andy