SageTV-OTG

[pez]

I'm looking for a solution to provide SageTV On-The-Go. I use a laptop as my Client which drives an HDTV. When traveling, I'd like it to contain a few shows to watch on the plane or in the care and for my WAF to have the same interface they use at home.

Ideally, the SageTV Client would have a selection to "make local" on the Options menu. When the Client is disconnected from the server it would have those shows available along with the DVD player.

I haven't found any information that would indicate anything I've mention exists yet. So, ...

Is it possible to do this with another Server license (as a client etc)? If so how would it work for OTG? Could I add a button to the Options menu to copy the show to the local drive?

I'm just about ready to buy another Client license for my wife's laptop (which will also be a client driving another HDTV.) And I'd buy a server license if modification is possible and probable.

Any help is much appreciated.
-pez

[GKusnick]

You're not the first to wish for something like this. Unfortunately SageTVClient is not designed to run standalone (disconnected from the server) and cannot easily be made to work that way.

I've tried connecting to the server back home by VPN, but the UI becomes very sluggish. Local files on the client can be played back reasonably smoothly using Browse Media Files, but navigating the menus to get there is excruciating, and there's a delay of several seconds each time you hit Pause or Play.

The best solution I've found is simply to install the full version of SageTV on your portable machine, and clone your wiz.bin along with whatever recordings you want to take along. If you still want to be able to run in client mode when at home, I believe you can do so by starting SageTV with -client on the command line, but I haven't actually tried that. You can also install SageTV and SageTVClient into different folders on the same machine, so long as you're careful to keep them straight when upgrading.

[pez]

Thanks for your replay.

Appendix G of the manual is a short description of Network Encoder (NE) usage. Is there any place that lists the feature difference between using a Server license a main server and a network encoder? Note I would not be using the second server license to record shows.

Question about using a Server license as a client are as follows:

Does starting the server with the -client option prevent it from being stand alone for road usage? (Possible WAF issues)

Will the main Server attempt to use the video directory on the NE?

Will copying files for the Server to the NE cause problem?

Can I transcode on the NE and store on the NE?

When away from the server, will the NE's wiz.bin be valid?

[GKusnick]

I don't quite see how setting up a network encoder helps with this. A network encoder is by definition part of a distributed SageTV installation, not a standalone instance of SageTV that you can take on the road. Also if you have no capture devices in your portable machine, then there's no reason to need network encoding. A network encoder doesn't have a wiz.bin of its own, and (as far as I know) doesn't transcode or perform any other SageTV server functions. It simply connects a capture device to the server over the LAN, and separately, provides a client UI to the server. Think of it as like an HDHomeRun, a Media Extender, and a NAS appliance all duct-taped together. None of those components does anything without a SageTV server to connect to.

What I'm suggesting (and have done) is to set up a full version of SageTV as a standalone system on your portable. When at home, use -client to connect to your server (I'm pretty sure you don't have to be a network encoder to do this) or install SageTVClient alongside the full version. On the road, bring a copy of your server's wiz.bin along with the shows you want to watch.

I'm trying to avoid saying "set up a second instance of SageTV Server on your portable" because you're not going to configure it as a server that clients, Placeshifters, etc. can connect to. You're going to configure it as a standalone instance of SageTV Media Center (the default SageTV setup) without enabling the server features. In other words, SageTV Server is a mode of operation, not the name of a software product.

[pez]

Ok, I though using the Server with -client might imply NE features whether an encoder is present or not. It does appear so with it not having its own wiz.bin.

This is not ideal. However, I might download a trial server license and see how painful your idea is.

So, copying the wiz.bin prevents loss of show information for the shows on the local drive? Also, how does Sage respond when 90% or more of the shows are missing? I'll only be copying 10 to 20 shows from a 1TB server that is filled.

Thanks,
-pez

[olyar15]

How badly do you need the Sage interface? It sounds like all you want to do is watch some pre-recorded shows on the laptop. I would think that it would be easier just to copy the files onto your laptop drive, and then open them with WMP. They are just Mpeg2 files, so any media player should work. I would think that this would be easier, especially with a keyboard and mouse/pointing device, than using the Sage interface without a remote. The only thing you lose with WMP is the inability to skip ahead a certain amount of time. You can do it with the mouse, but it is not as precise. Still, it is a small downside versus trying to trick Sage into doing this.

[pez]

It's the WAF factor. I currently use PowerDVD for this, but they have problems finding files and using the I/F. My 5 year old has no problem dealing with Sage but I really don't want him mucking around looking for directories, etc.

I think I'll check out Vista's MCE capabilities. I really don't want to go the Myth route, since I still need Windows for other apps.

What I don't understand is that this is such an easy feature and there has to be a lot of users with laptops. For WAF this is a much easier learning curve. The second I mention anything about connecting to the network (home, hotel or otherwise) all they hear is blah, blah, blah. It has to work exactly like Sage (which is what they are use to).

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by pez

So, copying the wiz.bin prevents loss of show information for the shows on the local drive? Also, how does Sage respond when 90% or more of the shows are missing? I'll only be copying 10 to 20 shows from a 1TB server that is filled.

It will delete the database entries for the files it can't find. But you don't care because you're going to throw away that copy of wiz.bin when you get home and go back to using -client mode with your regular server. Next time you go on the road, you'll start fresh with a new copy of your then-current wiz.bin to take with you.

Originally Posted by olyar15

I would think that this would be easier, especially with a keyboard and mouse/pointing device, than using the Sage interface without a remote. The only thing you lose with WMP is the inability to skip ahead a certain amount of time. You can do it with the mouse, but it is not as precise. Still, it is a small downside versus trying to trick Sage into doing this.

It's not that big of a trick. You're not fooling Sage into doing something it's not meant to do, you're just cloning a working SageTV installation onto another machine, leaving most of the recording files behind. Not much different than what you'd do when migrating your server to new hardware.

As for using the Sage interface without a remote, I do it all the time, even at home (and so do lots of other people, I'm guessing). Navigating the Sage UI with keyboard and mouse is straightforward (assuming your STV is set up for it, as the default STV is), and much easier (in my opinion) than trying to skip over commercials in WMP.

[pez]

Thanks for your comments. I'll try it this weekend.

I still think this would be a pretty useful feature for a client license.

I'm not to sure it makes sense to buy a full license every upgrade cycle just to support OTG.

[wbarber69]

Originally Posted by pez

Thanks for your comments. I'll try it this weekend.

I still think this would be a pretty useful feature for a client license.

I'm not to sure it makes sense to buy a full license every upgrade cycle just to support OTG.

You don't have to buy a new license every time you upgrade and you could use your current license OTG as long as the two machines never sync up which is why you would only need a client license when at home and the stand alone would just be an exact clone of your current server setup without all the shows all you would need to do is copy your current sagetv folder over to your laptop and take it with you with the shows you want to watch copied over as well then dump a new copy of everything over when you are traveling again and in the meantime you would connect with the client software when at home so you would only need to purchase a client license