STV: SageMC 16x9 Version 6.x (latest dev build)

[Necro]

Originally Posted by flachbar

The IMDB update will still update the show info in the Sage database, but it won't update the .my file since the code checks if the file already exists (you can verify this my deleting/renaming the .my file, it will then show the IMDB info). The check was mainly meant for the auto-generation and has been removed in the next version. I will also disable the auto-generation of .my files for video library files, since it seems to cause more problems than it is worth

Dirk

Ok, gotcha. That was what I thought but I wasn't sure. Definitely confusing. Thanks again.

[davephan]

I am using the default STV. I am thinking of trying SageMC 16 x 9 again.

The last time I tried SageMC 16 x 9, it was missing one important characteristic that is include in the default STV.

When searching for new recordings, the searches narrow on the fly as each letter is typed in with the following default STV menu items:

Schedule Recordings
Search
Title Search

Schedule Recordings
Search
Person Search

Do the SageMC 16 x 9 search results that are displayed narrow as each character is typed, or does the whole phrase need to be typed in before the search results are displayed?

Dave

[JREkiwi]

Originally Posted by Patilan

I have a little problem with my imported videos here...

After reverting back from SageMC to the default SageTV3.xml, all the titles of the imported videos are gone. Instead of the title, now i have the IMDB tagline displayed as a title.

Version 6 changed the use of the Show Episode field and it is now used "For imported videos, this will be the title of the file with the relative import path as it's prefix." and is used for sorting in the new browser views.

In SageMC the IMDB save function stores the movie tagline in that field which wasn't a problem in version 5, but as you have noticed, is a problem in version 6.

John

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by JREkiwi

Version 6 changed the use of the Show Episode field and it is now used "For imported videos, this will be the title of the file with the relative import path as it's prefix." and is used for sorting in the new browser views.

Actually, the docs for that API call seem to have been mistyped, since the Episode field is the title without the relative import path as it's prefix. The Title field is the full relative path to the imported video or photo.

I sent an email to have it changed.

- Andy

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by davephan

I am using the default STV. I am thinking of trying SageMC 16 x 9 again.

The last time I tried SageMC 16 x 9, it was missing one important characteristic that is include in the default STV.

When searching for new recordings, the searches narrow on the fly as each letter is typed in with the following default STV menu items:

Schedule Recordings
Search
Title Search

Schedule Recordings
Search
Person Search

Do the SageMC 16 x 9 search results that are displayed narrow as each character is typed, or does the whole phrase need to be typed in before the search results are displayed?

Dave

Yes, Title and Actor searchs are narrowed on the the fly. There is also a keyword search, but that does not narrow on the fly.

[BBCritical]

When I disabled the update music queue setting it stopped skipping tracks.. thanks

ALL of my tracks have the incorrect time.... so should I still send you one?

[dflachbart]

I just uploaded version 6.3.1 of SageMC.
Here is the list of new features:


RSS Ticker

The highlight of this release (a joint CT/Hawaii project ): you can now configure one or more of your RSS feeds to display the headlines in a ticker-like manner on the bottom of the Sage screen (either only on the main menu, or on all menu screens). The ticker has a lot (and I mean a lot) of configurable settings which should please everyones preferences, the main ones are:

• different display types: you can choose from fully animated (scrolling and fading in/out), partially animated (only fading), and non-animated (for less powerful clients)
• parameters for the display/wait/refresh durations
• an option to make the ticker bar selectable to trigger the ticker action menu
• an option to display only new items

The ticker can be enabled/disabled at the touch of a button press, and you can choose any of the Custom1-Custom5/Info commands to trigger this action. The same mapping choices are available for bringing up the ticker actions menu. The ticker actions menu currently has the following options:

- "RSS feed", which will jump to the RSS menu and display the details of the current RSS headline
- Enable/Disable only new headlines
- Change ticker options
- Disable the ticker

While the actions menu is displayed, you can scroll forward and backwards through the headlines with ffwd/backwd. The headline scrolling also works if you have the ticker button enabled and focused.

If you only have one button on your remote available, you can still get access to all ticker functionality with a single mapping: after the 'ticker actions menu' is shown, press the same button again, and it will enable/disable the ticker. So in order to bring up the actions menu, press the button once, to enable/disable the ticker, press the button twice.

The feeds for the ticker can be assigned from the regular RSS feeds menu. Bring up the options menu while the corresponding feed is focused, and choose 'Add to RSS Ticker'. The feed entry will be marked with a '(T)' in the title to indicate that it is now getting used in the ticker. Follow the same procedure to remove a feed from the ticker.

Additional button mappings: since the 'Info' button has been previously mapped to the Weatherbar/Diskbar, both bars can now also be configured to get enabled/disabled by any of the Custom1-Custom5/Info buttons. Note that if a particular menu screen already has a specific mapping for one of those buttons (e.g. 'Info' in the Program Info menu or Custom4/5 in the OSD), it will take precedence over the corresponding bar shortcut.

Note: I tried to adjust the ticker bar the best I could to not overlap with other menu widgets, but sometimes this wasn't easily possible (e.g. with some of the page up/down icons), so no need to report this as a bug.


New option for auto-compression of favorites

You can now auto-compress your favorites and keep your original video files instead of replacing them. This can be enabled on a per-favorite basis by setting the new 'In-Place Compression' setting in the Series options to false. The path for storing the compressed videos can be specified in the 'Paths' section of the SageMC options. If you leave this setting blank, the compressed files will be stored in the recording directory together with the original file.


Screensaver Slideshow

The screen saver can now display a picture slide show instead of the bouncing logo. The slide show screen saver will use the settings defined for regular slide shows, and can be enabled with the new 'Screensaver style' setting in the SageMC options. You can also specify an optional filter expression to select only specific pictures to be displayed. The expression is matched against any part of the file name including path, so e.g. "12_22_2006" would only show pictures in a similar named folder, or any picture that has this string in its filename.


Integration of 'My Music files'

The old 'My Music Files' view has been integrated into the 'My Music' menu as a new 'By Folder' view. There is not really any added functionality for this view, but being part of the 'My Music' menu should make it now much easier to use. If this view is not needed, it can be disabled in the options menu.


Dynamic weather map URLs

The URLs for the weathermaps can now contain placeholders %M, %D, and %Y which will get replaced by the current month, day, and year. So e.g. the URL "http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/charts/uk/ss_summary_%Y%M%D12.jpg" would be translated to "http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/charts/uk/ss_summary_06122312.jpg". Alternatively, you can now also specify a filepath as the URL, e.g if the weather images are being retrieved by some external mechanism. Any URL that does not begin with "http" will be treated as local filename.


Updated Diskbar code

The Diskbar code has been updated to the current version of the default STV (including the background update fix). It is now much more configurable (in the SageMC options), and the "Simple Diskbar" mode has been replaced by the "Free Space in hours" display type.


More mouse support

Menu items in the MCE-style main menu are now selectable with a mouse, thanks to Alon24 for the code suggestion. As a quick and simple solution for this release I also added functionality to get back from any menu screen by clicking on an empty area in the lower left corner of the screen. Note that you have to avoid the video preview and RSS ticker areas if those are present. These changes were a last minute addition to the release, so there might still be some quirks



Other new features and changes:

- mapped skip fwd#2/back#2 buttons in music lib to skip tracks
- added option to play all albums (options menu for an album)
- added menu items (in Options menu) to easily switch between main menu modes (standard/Dynamic Main Menu)
- added option to hide Temperature F/C symbol in weather bar
- added "picture only" view in picture library, moved title to top
- added current album title to top of music library screen
- added dialog to resume/restart DVD playback
- added setting for the display time of the cover art during visualization
- added option to specify a different background pic
- added comskip support for *.ts files
- added Audio languages selection for non-DVD content in OSD
- added watched bars to video library fon non-DVD content
- added setting for more detailed rec time formats (hr-min, and fractional hours)
- added option to disable visualization for music screensaver
- added highlighting of selected channel in guide
- added options menu for a group of recordings (watched/dontlike/delete)
- added ability to map any internal screen to a double press of the 'Home' button



Bugfixes:

- fixed icon half off main menu
- fixed stretched icons in dm options
- fixed missing volume display in now playing
- fixed Google Top 100 sometimes empty (99 item fix from default STV)
- fixed empty schedule problem (added check for NULL airings)
- fixed scrolling through shows in program info when show with .my file was selected
- fixed disabling of scaling insets
- fixed grid size in all 3 views (video, picture, music) to remain sticky
- fixed main menu selection when returning from side-menu screens
- fixed compression dialog not returning directly to Program Info screen
- fixed left-hand menu in Program Info, moved "Compress All" to SendTo
- fixed 'Archive' functionality in stop dialog
- fixed Volume OSD not updating on Mute


Installation:

- shut down the UI
- unzip *all* files in the download file
- restart the UI
- load the new STV
- restart the UI once more (important!)

The full download file has also been updated.


Merry Christmas to all of you,

Dirk

[geogecko]

Good night, you guys....first the new Webserver, now new SageMC? I guess I'll have a lot to play around with the week after Christmas while I'm off work!

Thanks Dirk!

P.S., no screenshot of the RSS ticker?

Have a good Christmas!

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by geogecko

P.S., no screenshot of the RSS ticker?

Have a good Christmas!

I knew I forgot something...

Ok, here you go:









Dirk

[Kirby]

Did we ever get a fix for the bloodbath? Here is a picture of it. Had to capture the image through a VNC window because the stop dialog does not appear with a normal print screen capture.

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Did we ever get a fix for the bloodbath?

Nope, I can't reproduce it and have not much to go on...


Dirk

[Kirby]

Dirk, Mike, and everyone else who contributed:

excellent work on the new features! And Dirk, your SageMC RSS feed works in it! Very cool option!

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Nope, I can't reproduce it and have not much to go on...


Dirk

Ok. My HTPC is a clean install today. XP Pro, Nvidia 93.71, Purevideo 223, Java 1.6.0, Sage 6.0.18, and MC 6.3.0 (and then up to 6.3.1).

At least now you can see what it looks like. Looks like some sort of image stretching going on, dont think you saw a picture before right?

The good news is my DVD's and rips work again!

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Kirby

At least now you can see what it looks like. Looks like some sort of image stretching going on, dont think you saw a picture before right?

I think I've seen a VNC screenshot someone posted before... The thing is that it's certainly not any code that is causing this, but probably some weird interaction of some widget settings and certain specific environments. I'll come up with some things for you guys to try if I find some time, but it'll be a very tedious procedure. Would be so much easier if I could see the problem on my own machine...

Dirk

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by flachbar

I think I've seen a VNC screenshot someone posted before... The thing is that it's certainly not any code that is causing this, but probably some weird interaction of some widget settings and certain specific environments. I'll come up with some things for you guys to try if I find some time, but it'll be a very tedious procedure. Would be so much easier if I could see the problem on my own machine...

Dirk

Not a big issue obviously, so when you have time to work something thats cool. I was just surprised that it was there upon my clean install of everything today. I expected it to be gone.

[geogecko]

Thanks for the screen caps Dirk. Looks very awesome, and lots of options to configure. I love having the RSS feed in Firefox scrolling down at the bottom, problem is, most of it's just SageTV recordings! I'll have to find something else interesting to feed it, like the new SageMC posting...

[mdnttoker]

Dirk-

Thanks for the Christmas Present! Looks awesome!

One question-I've got the RSS news ticker enabled, but how do I add new RSS feeds to it? (I've never used Nielm's plugin, so I may be missing the obvious)...

Thanks again!
Dan

(When I click on the RSS bar and on 'news feeds,' I get the attached error screen)

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by mdnttoker

Dirk-

Thanks for the Christmas Present! Looks awesome!

One question-I've got the RSS news ticker enabled, but how do I add new RSS feeds to it? (I've never used Nielm's plugin, so I may be missing the obvious)...

Thanks again!
Dan

(When I click on the RSS bar and on 'news feeds,' I get the attached error screen)

Hi Dan,

check that you have nielm_getrssnews.jar in your JAR's directory. Before adding feeds to the ticker you have to add some feeds to the RSS plugin itself. The default dynamic main menu already has a menu item for the "RSS Feeds" menu (in 'My Menu'), but if you are using the standard SageMC main menu without dynamic menus then you will have to link to it via one of the Custom Menu entries. The internal screen name is 'Rss News Feeds -- nielm'. Once you added one or more feeds to the plugin you can add them to the ticker by bringing up the Options menu and selecting 'Add to Ticker'

Hope this is clear enough,

Dirk

[mdnttoker]

Originally Posted by flachbar

Hi Dan,

check that you have nielm_getrssnews.jar in your JAR's directory.

Hope this is clear enough,

Dirk

Dirk-

Yup, that was it. Is there any reason you didn't include that .jar file in the final 6.3.1 release?

Thanks,
Dan

(I downloaded this .jar, and it seems to work:
http://www.sage-community.org/index....mModuleRssNews
Did you make any changes to Nielm's .jar over this version?)

[Kirby]

The JAR was in the full 6.3.0 download.