STV Import: JRMC Media Explorer for SageMC

[Skirge01]

As I'm getting closer to my WHS build, I'm looking into how I can get my media library going. I read about MyMovies, then I read about DVD Profiler, and now I just found this. I like the sound of the capabilities of the JRMC STVi, but I'm seeing that I'll need the STVi (non-issue), MyMovies ($$), and J River Media Center ($$). In spending money on the last two programs, I'm pretty much locking myself into this decision.

Since I'd hate to buy anything and regret it, would someone mind explaining the differences between MyMovies, DVD Profiler, and JRMC and why I would go with one over the other for use in SageTV? I've been reading and reading for the past week or so and while I've got a lot of information, nothing has really slapped me in the face to say, "Ah-HA! That's the right way to go!"

Thanks in advance...

[Apap]

What exactly are you looking for?
If you just want to have Info and cover art for your DVDs and movies then SageMC already has IMDB lookup built into it.(FREE!). There is a batch program you can use if you have a large existing collection.(FREE!) If you are looking for a different way to view your collection then you might have to spend money.

[Skirge01]

Sorry, my lack of understanding made my question more vague than it should've been. Here's what I'm thinking...

I'm looking to get all the info and high quality cover art for all my movies... easily. So, the batch program is probably the right way to go, which means I'd need DVD Profiler, right?

Then, if I want to also have this JRMC STVi functionality, do I need to purchase the MyMovies and JRMC? It would seem that I would not need DVD Profiler or the batch program at this point, since I'd be using MyMovies to catalog everything and JRMC would import that data, which would then pass it along to this STVi. Am I understanding correctly or am I (hopefully) making this more complex than it actually is?

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Then, if I want to also have this JRMC STVi functionality, do I need to purchase the MyMovies and JRMC? It would seem that I would not need DVD Profiler or the batch program at this point, since I'd be using MyMovies to catalog everything and JRMC would import that data, which would then pass it along to this STVi. Am I understanding correctly or am I (hopefully) making this more complex than it actually is?

If you are considering getting JRMC just for movie cataloging I'm not sure it would be worth it. I had to write a tool to import MyMovies data into JRMC so there really is no automated movie data retrieval yet in JRMC (they indicated that this may be in the next version 13). Where JRMC really shines is in music management, playlists, etc. If you are using DVDProfiler I would probably just use the built-in SageMC MyMovies "module".

[cncb]

MeInMaui was nice enough to identify what was causing the problem where the JRMC connection was being lost when using the Icon, Fixed Focus, or Dock menu styles (list text would disappear as you highlight items). The "Main Menu Popup Command" needs to be set to something other than "Double Click" as described in the first post.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by cncb

If you are considering getting JRMC just for movie cataloging I'm not sure it would be worth it. I had to write a tool to import MyMovies data into JRMC so there really is no automated movie data retrieval yet in JRMC (they indicated that this may be in the next version 13). Where JRMC really shines is in music management, playlists, etc. If you are using DVDProfiler I would probably just use the built-in SageMC MyMovies "module".

I'm not using anything at the moment. I have my entire music collection in MP3 format and properly tagged. I have 1 ripped HD DVD out of the 6 I own because I'm still building my server to house all the movies. I also don't currently record TV with Sage, but I do own an HD-PVR, which I intend to use once the server is complete.

In essence, I'm looking for the whole enchilada (to manage all media) and want to ensure I take the right path.

[tchapin]

Hi there,

So I decided that I would try this plugin again.

It works when I use the SageUI on my server. However, when I use it on a Placeshifter client, once I add the home view, no list of songs / artists appears.

When I have the SageTV service logged in as the same user that my server logs in as (tchapin), I get a message with Placeshifter and MVP: "JRMC connection error. Please check setup." It works on the server.

However, when I have the SageTV service log in as LocalSystem, I do not get that error with Placeshifter and MVP, but neither do I see any of my music library.

I have the latest version of JRMC (v12.0.534) installed and it runs Media Server when my server boots up. I have only 1 media library in the program. I can connect to and play music from another computer with JRMJ (music jukebox) with no problems.

The only imports that I have are JRMC and the Toolbar. I also have the Sage webserver installed.

I made sure that the jacob.dll was in the latest java\bin folder. I redid my menu file to remove the references to the old JRMC method. I installed the Microsoft C++ file that's linked to.

Any ideas on what to troubleshoot?

Thanks.

Todd

[cncb]

Todd,

It is a little tricky when using this with the service.

When the service logs in as tchapin and you get the connection error do you have JRMC already open? If so, you have to enable "multiple instances" in JRMC.

When the service logs in as the "Local System" account you need to set up the library in JRMC since it stores this information per user and will be using the Default, empty library. If you are using Windows XP, on your MVP navigate to a JRMC screen in Sage where you see the empty library. Then, select "Run..." from the Windows Start menu on your server and run "MC12.exe /Start". This should show the JRMC UI (run from the Local System account) where you can manage your libraries and add the one you're using in your tchapin account. If this doesn't work for you or you are using Vista let me know and I can tell you how to edit the registry so that your desired library is loaded.

[tchapin]

Hello.

Thanks for the reply!

The JMRC (center) is not open, but JMRS (server) is running. Multiple instances is enabled.

Windows is logging in as tchapin. Will running "MC12.exe /Start' when logged in as tchapin have the results that you desire? I'll try that tomorrow.

Thanks again.

Todd

[tchapin]

Ok. I've done some more testing.

It works on my server no matter what the username the SageTV service is logged in as.

I rebooted the server and tried accessing JRMC via Placeshifter or MVP w/ running the SageTV UI on the server (but the SageTV service and JRMC media server are running), then I get a "cannot connect to JRMC" message. The SageTV service was using LocalSystem. I've got some recordings going on now, so I can't reboot again to test with tchapin until later today.

BTW, when specifying the username in the SageTV service, it seems to make me enter it as .\tchapin . Is that valid?

When I run MC12.exe /Start w/ the MC Media Server running, the window pops up with my library already populated. If I go into the library manager in MC12, I see only one library.

I tried closing JR Media Server and then running MC12.exe / Start from the run... box and that didn't seem to do anything. I noticed a Media Center 12.exe task running in the task manager, but no UI popped up and the MC Media Server icon did not show up in the system tray.

I'm running WinXP SP3, BTW. I have Windows log on as tchapin. Do I need to make a LocalSystem account and run MC once in that to create and import my library?

Thanks.

Todd

[cncb]

I'm not sure what the effect of the JRMC media server is on this since I have not used it.

The .\tchapin is valid and seems to be how a specific user log in is displayed.

Have the service log in as tchapin. Go into Task Manager and make sure all "Media Center 12.exe" or "MEDIAC~12.exe" processes are gone (make sure you look at processes from all users including "Local System"). If the Media Server has a different .exe make sure this is killed too. Then try again from your MVP and it should start one "Media Center 12.exe" process and show the same library that is used when you run Sage locally.

[tchapin]

JRMC Media Server is like running SageTV in service mode. In the options menu, under Advanced, there's an option for "run media server when windows starts". It puts an icon by the clock that will let you bring up the

I run it in that mode b/c I share the library with the copies of JR Jukebox that I use on my other computers. It's great to have a centralized library. For a while I was running Hamachi and sharing my library over that, but Hamachi became unreliable for me.

In any case, here's what I've done (and in the order which I did it):

- set SageTV service to use tchapin as the user
- disabled the JR media server
- closed all instances of media center.exe or anything similar
- started placeshifter
- on placeshifter navigated to one of the JRMC menus (music mix)
- noticed that a media center.exe instance started on my server
- on the server, ran "mc12.exe /Start"
- this started a second instance of media center.exe in my task manager and popped up the JRMC UI
- clicked the "audio" icon of my library; my music is all listed there
- I closed placeshifter
- I closed the JRMC UI and killed the media center.exe process started by placeshifter
- I restarted placeshifter; the JRMC screens are still not showing my library

I guess I'm not sure why JRMC thinks that I have more than one library. I really have only one and it's not named anything funky or anything.

Is there something that I've missed, or is it time to try the registry tweaks?

I appreciate your help. Thank you.

Todd

[cncb]

Todd,

Sorry you're having troubles with this. I recently had a problem (in Vista, though) where I could not see a JRMC warning dialog. This caused it to appear in Sage like I had an empty library when in fact it was just waiting for me to respond to a dialog that I could never see. This shouldn't be a problem in XP but I wonder if something similar is going on here?

You need to start the JRMC UI from the service before you connect through Sage so that you can see what is going on. Try this:

1) Make sure all JRMC exe's are killed.
2) Start up Placeshifter/MVP but do not go to a JRMC screen yet in Sage.
3) Add a menu item in SageMC that is an external program. Set the exe to "MC12.exe" and the arguments to be "/Start".
4) Select this menu item in Sage which should launch the JRMC UI on your server (run from the service account).
5) Go to your server and make sure no JRMC dialogs need to be responded to. Also check that your desired library is loaded and you can browse all your files in JRMC as expected.
6) Navigate to a Sage JRMC screen from your MVP and check the server to make sure that there are no JRMC dialogs and that there is only one JRMC exe running in Task Manager.
7) (Hopefully) browse your library in Sage.

Let me know how it goes.

[tchapin]

Hi Craig,

Thanks again. It now works! See below for details.

Originally Posted by cncb

1) Make sure all JRMC exe's are killed.
2) Start up Placeshifter/MVP but do not go to a JRMC screen yet in Sage.
3) Add a menu item in SageMC that is an external program. Set the exe to "MC12.exe" and the arguments to be "/Start".
4) Select this menu item in Sage which should launch the JRMC UI on your server (run from the service account).

I did the above steps and while a media center.exe process starts, the JRMC UI does not launch on the server. I don't see any JRMC dialog boxes. How did you detect that there was a hidden one on your system?

Also, since I have the SageTV service running under tchapin, the media center.exe process is also running under tchapin.

However, now it works!

But, when I go to start JRMC UI on the server, I get a message "The database is already in use by another user. It will be opened in read-only mode. Any changes will be lost when the program exits." Since I use JRMC as my primary media manager, that's not ideal, but I'll play around with it a bit and see if I can resolve it.

Thanks!

Todd

[cncb]

Originally Posted by tchapin

I did the above steps and while a media center.exe process starts, the JRMC UI does not launch on the server. I don't see any JRMC dialog boxes. How did you detect that there was a hidden one on your system?

I was issuing the MC command to reload my library as read only (so I expected to see the warning you are seeing) and the "MC13.exe" was hanging. Vista shows any UI launched from a service in a special window but I was never seeing it presumably because the JRMC main UI was never being shown. I did the steps I gave you to be able to respond to the dialog. I'm not sure why you are not seeing the main UI when launching it like this.

But, when I go to start JRMC UI on the server, I get a message "The database is already in use by another user. It will be opened in read-only mode. Any changes will be lost when the program exits." Since I use JRMC as my primary media manager, that's not ideal, but I'll play around with it a bit and see if I can resolve it.

You should be able to avoid this by still logging in the service as tchapin but disabling "multiple instances" in JRMC. When you run JRMC locally it should share the same process as Sage and vice versa so you will only have one writable copy of the library open.

[cncb]

I just posted a minor update that mainly has a new display style with just thumbnails and no left-side buttons.

[cncb]

Note that I have created a new import for JRMC that works differently than this one. The main differences are that it doesn't use Jacob anymore and doesn't require you to import your files into Sage. You can find here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...do=file&id=298

[tchapin]

Cool. I see that it now uses the JRMC screens directly. Will it work on placeshifter / extenders?

Thanks.
Todd

[cncb]

Originally Posted by tchapin

Will it work on placeshifter / extenders?

Yes, on extenders. I don't have Placeshifter to try it but it should work. By the way, there is a different discussion thread for it here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38669