XBMC Script for SageTV Released 3/1/2006

[kricker]

Originally Posted by martini

hi - i've tried the latest 2.22b version and changing the language settings both ends (pc and xbmc) to US but still get 'unable to connect' error message. Is there anything else I can try to attempt locating the problem? Thanks ...

What does your settings file look like? Did you try it with the default settings file? The IP set at 0.0.0.0 and blank user and pass? It will ask you for the info when it first tries to connect.

[martini]

Originally Posted by kricker

What does your settings file look like? Did you try it with the default settings file? The IP set at 0.0.0.0 and blank user and pass? It will ask you for the info when it first tries to connect.

hi thanks for your response and apologies for my delayed response.

I've tried using the default settings and adding the ipaddress/port number/ etc. manually via xbmc. Also editing the values direct into the settings file. Both options fail to work.

An earlier post suggests the problem may be to do with the language settings. I've tried to change these (both at the pc and xbmc ends) but this doesn't fix the problem. Although having made the changes my date format on web browser still looks different from that given in the earlier post. My date format on a web page from the SageTV webserver is in the form:

Page generated at: 31-Aug-2008 16:32:42 [Refresh]

So the problem may still be something to do with the language setting.

I've tried some simple edits to the script which I think disable the date format checking but again this doesn't prevent the 'no connection' problem.

The SageTV webserver (v2.22) is definitely working ok so I guess the problem is something to do with xbmc end. Not sure what to do next - any ideas gratefully received. I would be happy to do some investigation on the script but have no experience of using Python. Can anyone point me to some resources that might help me get started? Is it possible to emulate the Python script on a pc to check that it is working ok before putting it onto xbmc?

[jhh]

Originally Posted by martini

An earlier post suggests the problem may be to do with the language settings. I've tried to change these (both at the pc and xbmc ends) but this doesn't fix the problem. Although having made the changes my date format on web browser still looks different from that given in the earlier post. My date format on a web page from the SageTV webserver is in the form:

Page generated at: 31-Aug-2008 16:32:42 [Refresh]

So the problem may still be something to do with the language setting.

It's not language settings but date and time - your page generated should look like:

Page generated at: Aug 31, 2008 6:50:14 PM [Refresh]

or it will never work.

Also if you use a newer build of XBMC you will need to switch to new version that Kricker posted (which I did).

[martini]

well, I've tried everything I can and haven't been able to change the date setting. It is almost as if it is 'hard coded' somehow?

To be clear I'm using Neilm's webserver v2.22 at the SageTV server end. I've tried changing the language and date format settings on the server (and on the pc I'm using to test the web server) but it has no effect on the display of the date format on the web page. I've even tried reinstalling the SageTV Webserver with the new language settings.

Any further suggestions gratefully received - thanks...

[jhh]

Originally Posted by martini

well, I've tried everything I can and haven't been able to change the date setting. It is almost as if it is 'hard coded' somehow?

To be clear I'm using Neilm's webserver v2.22 at the SageTV server end. I've tried changing the language and date format settings on the server (and on the pc I'm using to test the web server) but it has no effect on the display of the date format on the web page. I've even tried reinstalling the SageTV Webserver with the new language settings.

Any further suggestions gratefully received - thanks...

On the machine that hosts the webserver you need to set country settings to English (USA) - don't forget to stop and restart Sage (and thus the webserver) otherwise it does not pick up the changed format. Main inconvenience is that if you use the server to watch TV that your clock will look American which is a bit odd to us Europeans.

[martini]

Hi JHH thanks for your post and suggestions. I've tried that and it doesn't change the format displayed on the web page. Although changing the country setting updates the presentation of dates and times in the os it has no effect on the date format presented by SageTV. I've tried stopping and restarting SageTV and doing a complete reboot with the same result. It is almost as if the date format style is hard coded. I've looked in the sage.properties file but can't find any entry that might override the os format. The only strange thing I've noticed is that after resetting the webserver forces me to login twice before presenting the SageTV web page. I'm using SageTV 6.4.8 running on Windows Home Server with v6.22 of the webserver.

[stuckless]

I just wanted to add a plug for an REST api that I created a few weeks back. The api gives you complete access to ALL SageTV calls, remotely, using either a REST syntax, or java.

Something else that may be of interest to you, is that a part of the API project includes a generator. Currently I use it to generate a Java client API. Recently jriechen used it to create a set of jsp tag libraries. If you know a little bit of java, you could use this to generate a set of Python client libraries that wrap the REST calls.

[kricker]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I just wanted to add a plug for an REST api that I created a few weeks back. The api gives you complete access to ALL SageTV calls, remotely, using either a REST syntax, or java.

Something else that may be of interest to you, is that a part of the API project includes a generator. Currently I use it to generate a Java client API. Recently jriechen used it to create a set of jsp tag libraries. If you know a little bit of java, you could use this to generate a set of Python client libraries that wrap the REST calls.

I saw your REST api and figured something good could come of that and a better XBMC integration. Unfortunately I don't know really how to program (I don't even know what REST means ). I only bashed around in the script until I could get things working. Maybe jhh can do something with it.

[stuckless]

... I don't even know what REST means ...

REST is just a "fancy" term for what you are already doing In it's most simple way, you make an HTTP call using a url with parameters and you get back an XML document.

So, if you wanted to get a list off all the recordings in a Sage System. (see Sage JAVA Api)

http://mediaserver:8081/sagex/rpcXml/MediaFileAPI/GetMediaFiles/T

And you get back an XML document like...

<response>
<header>
</header>
<body>
<arrayRef ref="33088996" size="10"/>
</body>
</response>

Doesn't look to interesting, but basically it's telling you that there are 10 objects found and it gives you an "reference" to that array on the server side.

If you want to get the title for each object, you would use the following api call.

http://mediaserver:8081/sagex/rpcXml/MediaFileAPI/GetMediaTitle/33088996:0

and you would get a reply back, such as...

<response>
<header>
</header>
<body>
<value>Chaotic</value>
</body>
</response>

In the above case I asked for the media file title for the 0 element of array reference 33088996

The sage API is services based by nature and not object based, which is why when you call get media files, you don't get back an xml with all of the media file details, just a reference telling you how many. So calling a service for each operation, such a get title, can be tedious at first, but it can also be quite efficient.

In a case where you are returning 100s of objects, being serialized to xml, the resulting xml can be quite large to process and stream. Using a services based model, the xml files are very small and efficient to pass. In my testing, iterating over hundreds of objects making hundreds of https calls in the process, it still quite fast.

Hope this helps explain it a little better.

[jhh]

Originally Posted by stuckless

REST is just a "fancy" term for what you are already doing In it's most simple way, you make an HTTP call using a url with parameters and you get back an XML document.

....

Hope this helps explain it a little better.

Hi - that makes it a lot clearer. Unfortunately I have taken a different challenge - I want the plugin I did for XBMC that retrieves SageTV recordings to behave like a library.

This script and the plugin are now heavily based on the webpage layout so if someone updates the web page appearance then the script will be broken. At that point using the api makes a lot of sense. If it's not broken there is not too much pressure to fix it.

jhh

[kricker]

Latest script since XBMCscripts.com is down.

[Halstead]

Has anyone tried this script in Boxee?

[bipto]

Originally Posted by Halstead

Has anyone tried this script in Boxee?

Yes and No.

I am running Boxee on windows and was able to get the script installed and running but not running well. The script starts up and you are able to move the selection box around on the screen within the plugin, but thats about it. I am unable to actually select/enter any of the buttons, and unable to quite out of it without hitting Alt-F4 to shutdown boxee. Anybody else have any luck?

[jhh]

Originally Posted by stuckless

REST is just a "fancy" term for what you are already doing In it's most simple way, you make an HTTP call using a url with parameters and you get back an XML document.

So, if you wanted to get a list off all the recordings in a Sage System. (see Sage JAVA Api)

http://mediaserver:8081/sagex/rpcXml/MediaFileAPI/GetMediaFiles/T

hm - thought the new webserver would trigger the need for a rewrite and it would make a lot of sense to use Stuckless' work for that but Nielm and friends have been nice to us and the script still works with Webserver version 2.23

BTW: thanks for your efforts on the webserver!

[kricker]

Weren't you working on a plugin version?

[jhh]

Kricker,

I did that a while ago and posted that. I no longer use the script but only the plugin - it looks like the screenshot in the attachment. I had to switch to library mode so in the Mediastream skin my movies are in the Movielibrary and SageTV recordings are in the Video section. On average I have about 200 SageTV recordings. It takes a couple of seconds to load the list but then it's nice. The icons come from the webserver - I have the favourite-id.jpg files which I retrieve and a default for manual recordings. I made a directory to host all the thumbnails and the advantage of this method is that they are always the same per favourite so it looks consistent and the kids understand.

As EPG I'm using BBBs MyTV script with SageTV as a source where I also can set the occasional manual recording. Favourites I set using the Webserver.

Videos and movies are now perfectly integrated and follow the XBMC skin - only the EPG is a bit less polished.

Jan

[kricker]

Originally Posted by jhh

Kricker,

I did that a while ago and posted that. I no longer use the script but only the plugin - it looks like the screenshot in the attachment. I had to switch to library mode so in the Mediastream skin my movies are in the Movielibrary and SageTV recordings are in the Video section. On average I have about 200 SageTV recordings. It takes a couple of seconds to load the list but then it's nice. The icons come from the webserver - I have the favourite-id.jpg files which I retrieve and a default for manual recordings. I made a directory to host all the thumbnails and the advantage of this method is that they are always the same per favourite so it looks consistent and the kids understand.

As EPG I'm using BBBs MyTV script with SageTV as a source where I also can set the occasional manual recording. Favourites I set using the Webserver.

Videos and movies are now perfectly integrated and follow the XBMC skin - only the EPG is a bit less polished.

Jan

It's a pretty good setup. I am going to try the same thing with my win32 XBMC setup. I haven't tried BBB's myTV plugin since I made him the new icon. I might need to look at that again. I was wondering if you made any updates to the plugin or if you were still using it since the above post read as if you are still using the script version.

[jhh]

Originally Posted by kricker

It's a pretty good setup. I am going to try the same thing with my win32 XBMC setup. I haven't tried BBB's myTV plugin since I made him the new icon. I might need to look at that again. I was wondering if you made any updates to the plugin or if you were still using it since the above post read as if you are still using the script version.

hihi - thought I would test the script to be nice to the community. I did make a small change to the plugin I'll check and post my latest version. Programs which are being recorded are given the http streaming version for finished recordings I use the SMB version. I only use the plugin now as the script does not look too nice in Mediastream.

Also there is a bug where the pluging crashes when the recording is split over multiple files but that is so rare I did not bother to fix it.

edit: I'll need to send you my MyTV then as the newest is broken because it is using a new http lib which does not like passing the usre id and pwd in the URL

Jhh

[kricker]

Originally Posted by jhh

hihi - thought I would test the script to be nice to the community. I did make a small change to the plugin I'll check and post my latest version. Programs which are being recorded are given the http streaming version for finished recordings I use the SMB version. I only use the plugin now as the script does not look too nice in Mediastream.

Also there is a bug where the pluging crashes when the recording is split over multiple files but that is so rare I did not bother to fix it.

Jhh

Ahh nice mod. I can't wait to try it out. I think I am notified of that threads changes, so if you make a post there about the update I should get it. I rarely use the script now because of the same reason. I was hoping the other script that is being worked on will change to a plugin in order to integrate with XBMC better. Now I simply switch between XBMC and Sage, but I think I would prefer your setup.

[aaronb]

I am very interested in this as well, that would be great if you could post your version of the plugin jhh.