Tips on playing ripped DVDs and network paths.

[Zone99]

Hi,

I downloaded SageTV and the SageTV Client as a potential replacement for Snapstream's BeyondTV.

So far, I've found that SageTV is much easier to set up, especially in regards to working with my HDHomerun box and I really like having some of the media center built in.

However, I've run into a problem with a couple of things:

1) Playback of DVDs ripped to VOB format. I have a TV series which I've ripped to my HTPC (local, not network) and SageTV can see the folder that the DVDs are in. It correctly identifes all the individual DVD folders and shows the name of the VOB file. However, when I try to play it, it comes back with an error: "There was a Playback Error in playback. Details: sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-3,0x80070057): There was a problem accessing the filesystem for playback.

In addition, if I browse 'Videos' instead of 'DVDs', then I see 5 VTS files. I have no idea where they are coming from since they don't exist in that directory. When I try to play those, I can see the video, I can hear sound effects and music but no voices. It's almost like it's trying to play it back in 5.1 (on a system that doesn't have 5.1).

All these ripped VOBs play fine in VLC.

2) Network paths. I am trying SageTV in two situations. A dedicated HTPC and another PC on my network (testing connections the HDHomerun box). In one case, I'm running the SageTV as a service so I'm trying to connect to my media but it won't. I know I can't use mapped drives so I'm using UNC paths but it still won't connect.

I type in \\servername\directory and it tells me that it doesn't exist and would I like to create it. Typing the same thing into 'Run...' in windows opens an explorer window.

Thoughts on both of these?

I'm about to rebuild my HTPC and I'm thinking of ditching BeyondTV (after years). The services keep crashing, they've never solved the media center problem (I've tried things like Meedio but it's a pain to setup) and I'm not sure I like where the business is going.

Solving these two problems and then adding in the Media Extender product would go a long way.

Thanks.

[gplasky]

1) Sage will play back DVDs ripped to the standard DVD format of VIDEO_TS folder and the .ifo, .BUP, .VOB, and .VTS format. (Look at and DVD disc) You'll want it in \\servername\directory\name of movie structure also. Sage will play VOBs individually if you browse to them.

2. Make sure you are using the same user and password that is running the service and that user exists on the PC where the files are being shared. Make sure you are using the share name in the path.

Gerry

[Zone99]

Originally Posted by gplasky

1) Sage will play back DVDs ripped to the standard DVD format of VIDEO_TS folder and the .ifo, .BUP, .VOB, and .VTS format. (Look at and DVD disc) You'll want it in \\servername\directory\name of movie structure also. Sage will play VOBs individually if you browse to them.

2. Make sure you are using the same user and password that is running the service and that user exists on the PC where the files are being shared. Make sure you are using the share name in the path.

Gerry

Gerry,

Thanks for the quick reply.

As a test, I went to my HTPC and tried playing the ripped DVD there instead of with the client or with the server on another machine. It played great. No problems at all.

However, on my client machine, I'm still getting an access error which is confusing.

If the client is a client, then it should be taking it's feed from the server which doesn't have an access issue. Is the client trying to access the network share on it's own?

As for #2, the HTPC where the VOB files are stored doesn't have a password. BeyondTV used to start as a service but somewhere along the way, it stopped doing that for me. I had to be logged in for it to start so I set the user up without a password on that machine.

Do I now have to add a password?

As a further test, I tried accessing music which I had configured and that works fine.

I took a look at my mapped drives on the client PC and I see that the music, recorded shows and photo directories all show up as 'Network Drive' while the 'Movies' drive shows up as a 'Disconnected Network Drive'.

Sounds like may have some sort of Windows problem? All drives are shared in the same way, I believe (which I'll check).

However, the follow on question is: Does the SageTV client try to access the drives directly or through the server. When I tried adding the Movies drive again, the client detected that I had added a new drive 'Y:' and tried to access it.

I would have thought that the server would have been looking for this change.

Thanks.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Zone99

Gerry,

Thanks for the quick reply.

As a test, I went to my HTPC and tried playing the ripped DVD there instead of with the client or with the server on another machine. It played great. No problems at all.

However, on my client machine, I'm still getting an access error which is confusing.

If the client is a client, then it should be taking it's feed from the server which doesn't have an access issue. Is the client trying to access the network share on it's own?

As for #2, the HTPC where the VOB files are stored doesn't have a password. BeyondTV used to start as a service but somewhere along the way, it stopped doing that for me. I had to be logged in for it to start so I set the user up without a password on that machine.

Do I now have to add a password?

As a further test, I tried accessing music which I had configured and that works fine.

I took a look at my mapped drives on the client PC and I see that the music, recorded shows and photo directories all show up as 'Network Drive' while the 'Movies' drive shows up as a 'Disconnected Network Drive'.

Sounds like may have some sort of Windows problem? All drives are shared in the same way, I believe (which I'll check).

However, the follow on question is: Does the SageTV client try to access the drives directly or through the server. When I tried adding the Movies drive again, the client detected that I had added a new drive 'Y:' and tried to access it.

I would have thought that the server would have been looking for this change.

Thanks.

Are you running Sage as a Service on your server? If you are, it is an access issue. Try this: Turn off the Sage Service on the server, then load up the Sage Gui as if on your server you were going to use it as a client. See if your clients can now playback. If that is the case, then you have access issues. There are many threads on how to get this fixed, but it boils down to you need to have the same users and passwords on both the client and the server and within the Sage server you need to tell it what user name and password to use.

[Zone99]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Are you running Sage as a Service on your server? If you are, it is an access issue. Try this: Turn off the Sage Service on the server, then load up the Sage Gui as if on your server you were going to use it as a client. See if your clients can now playback. If that is the case, then you have access issues. There are many threads on how to get this fixed, but it boils down to you need to have the same users and passwords on both the client and the server and within the Sage server you need to tell it what user name and password to use.

Paul,

Thanks. I'll start browsing around the forums for those threads.

The server was running Sage as an application and not a service already so the client isn't able to access with that setup. I'll try it as a service and see what I get and then start to look at username and password solutions.

Thanks.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Zone99

If the client is a client, then it should be taking it's feed from the server which doesn't have an access issue. Is the client trying to access the network share on it's own?

DVDs cannot be streamed through the SageTV server, unlike most other media. To play a hard-drive based DVD in a SageTV client, the client has to be able to access the DVD path directly. So, the import library path mst be a UNC path that the client has access to, or the drive letter must be mapped on the client.

BTW: The SageTV service can use UNC paths if you configure it log in as a user w/a password who is allowed to access the UNC pth, but a service cannot use mapped drive letters.

- Andy

[Zone99]

Thank you all for your help on this. The network issue seems to be solved.

Once I went in, as suggested and set a password on my user on the HTPC, rebooted and restarted the client, I was able to set the UNC path to the ripped DVDs and they play.

Now onto the other problem. Sound. the Ripped DVDs require me to go into the sound settings (in the client) and set the sound from 5.1 to stereo to get center channel sound. I would have thought that would have been automatic.

The same problem exists for a show I recorded in 5.1 last night although, with that one, I'm not able find the right settings to play it back in stereo.

I tried accessing it with just VLC and that worked fine. I also tried copying the MPG to my Beyond TV directory and BeyondTV Link was able to play it correctly as well.

It's odd that I can't find the right settings for the SageTV Client.

At any rate, I'll search some more (extra_mplayer settings didn't work) and post on a seperate thread.

Thanks again to all who helped.