sagetv client blank screen

[rjana]

Hi ,

I am very new to sagetv. But I've been playing with sagetv for several days now. I am trying to get sagetv client working with 6.0.14 beta and I am not able to get live tv and sagetv recordings to work. I just get a blank screen, not even the progress bar

Something tells me that the server is not even streaming the media. I've searched the forum and couldn't come across a problem similar to mine.

Any clues?

Thanks,
-Jana

[rjana]

I did some more trouble shooting by enabling debug console and this is what I get:

Sat 11/18 23:17:02.411 VideoFrame.timeSelected(Sat 11/18 23:17:02.390, true) cur
rFile=MediaFile[id=1102485 A[865877,865619,"Thirai Masala",31634@1118.22:30,300]
host=home-mce encodedBy=Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture Great format=MPEG2-P
S 0:00:00 0 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97 fps 720x480 4:3 3800 kbps interlace
d]#1 Audio[MP2 48000 Hz 2 channels 384 kbps]] C:\Documents and Settings\mce\My D
ocuments\My Videos\SageTV\ThiraiMasala-865877-0.mpg, Seg0[Sat 11/18 23:17:02.390
-Wed 12/31 16:00:00.000]]
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.419 Setting MpegDeMux NumBuffers to 32 to avoid PVR350 lockup
s
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.420 DShowPlayer setTimeshift=1 buffer=0
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.425 NATIVE Loading the source file
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.428 NATIVE Setting up the MPEG demux
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.439 DShowGraphFilters=SageTV MPEG2 Demultiplexer,C:\Documents
and Settings\mce\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\ThiraiMasala-865877-0.mpg,
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.441 Could not add specified hardware decoder filter to graph
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.442 Got Native Video Dimensions null
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.445 VideoFrame.timeSelected2(Sat 11/18 23:17:02.390, true) cu
rrFile=MediaFile[id=1102485 A[865877,865619,"Thirai Masala",31634@1118.22:30,300
] host=home-mce encodedBy=Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture Great format=MPEG2-
PS 0:00:00 0 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97 fps 720x480 4:3 3800 kbps interlac
ed]#1 Audio[MP2 48000 Hz 2 channels 384 kbps]] C:\Documents and Settings\mce\My
Documents\My Videos\SageTV\ThiraiMasala-865877-0.mpg, Seg0[Sat 11/18 23:17:02.39
0-Wed 12/31 16:00:00.000]] realDur=0
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.447 About to perform media time selection for 0
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.447 Exception from line: 115
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.449 VideFrame had an error loading the file. It must abort th
e file load.
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.450 Tearing down playback graph
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.450 NATIVE Deallocating the CPlayerData object
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.562 NATIVE Finished destroying the playback graph
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.566 VF processing job null nPlayin=false
Sat 11/18 23:17:02.567 VF thread is now waiting for 0:00:00.000

I checked that SageTV MpegDemux filter is present. I don't know why creating the graph failed. Just in case if this helps.

Thanks,
-Jana

[rjana]

Anyone care to help me with this? I've tried all possible things.

-Jana

[AngelofDeth]

You should probably send that log to sage support :

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=29

Is sage recording shows? Have you tried playing them in another player?

[Opus4]

It looks like you have a PVR-350 in the mix. I don't know how that is set up on your system & whether you are trying to get playback to go through the 350 or your video card... how do you have the 350 options configured in Detailed Setup? Is your TV connected to the 350 or your video card?

You could also save your log & file a report with SageTV to see what they can tell from the log.

- Andy

[mike1961]

AngelofDeth makes a good point. If you have a server and are streaming to a client, first check your file server and see if Sage is recording the show.

1. Can you watch TV on your file server or is it only a problem at the client?

2. Could there be a firewall blocking the stream to the client? I know that every time I've installed an update, zonealarm always asks my client if I want to allow the Sage transcoder to access the trusted zone (IP address of the server). Check your firewalls.

Mike

[rjana]

I am able to watch tv on my server. No problems. That's been working for a while now.

I don't think the sagetv server's ports are getting blocked. If it is then the connection from client wouldn't be successfull or would it?

As for the pvr-350, yes I have it on the server but I don't use it for tv-out. My Client runs on a seperate pc with Video going to monitor and not to TV and I don't have any tuners in my client.

[mike1961]

Originally Posted by rjana

I am able to watch tv on my server. No problems. That's been working for a while now.

I don't think the sagetv server's ports are getting blocked. If it is then the connection from client wouldn't be successfull or would it?

As for the pvr-350, yes I have it on the server but I don't use it for tv-out. My Client runs on a seperate pc with Video going to monitor and not to TV and I don't have any tuners in my client.

EDITED: Are you running SageTVServiceControl on your file server and does it say STARTED? This is most important of all.

Yes - the connection could still be just fine even though your firewall is blocking the transcoder. Like I said, I've noticed this in the latest versions where ZoneAlarm always asks me on every beta upgrade when I'm about to watch my first movie if I want to allow access to the Trusted Zone. Disable ALL your firewalls and test it. Go to the control pane and double click Windows Firewall and disable it and test it.

The fact that you can successfully watch TV on your server indicates that that your server and tuner cards are running just fine. I'm also going to assume that you ARE RUNNING SageTVClient on your workstation and not Sage on your workstations.

Also - please try the following:
On your Sage Client workstation (while you are NOT in SageClient) go into the C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV and delete the SageClient.properties.autobackup file. Then right click on the SageClient.properties file and click Edit. Search for autoconnect_server_hostname and delete that line. Start SageClient and then it should discover the server again. I want to be sure that your client workstation is finding the right server out there.
folder and by removing this property it will the "autodiscover" and look for sage server(s) again. I want to know if your workstation finds the correct server out there so you will need to know your server's IP address (which is easy to find by going to the command prompt and typing IPConfig on the server).

So, to summarize:

1. Close all firewalls and test.
2. If that doesn't work, remove the autoconnect_server_hostname on the client propertiies and see if the client rediscovers the server.
3. Can you try another workstation as a test?
4. Make sure you are running the SAME version for the client and server software.
5. Double Click SageTVServiceControl on your server and make sure it says STARTED. This is extremely important otherwise no clients will be able to connect. It's not the same as just running Sage on your server.

EDITED: By the way- you are running SageTVServiceControl on your server right? This is very important, otherwise, you will not be able to connect. Double Click SageTVServiceControl and make sure it says STARTED.

Mike