SlimPlayer Internet Radio plugin

[mzup]

Originally Posted by jorton

If you are using ADM I think you will have to read over in that thread (or checkout jusjoken's wiki) about adding in a menu item for it. Not all third party menu items show in ADM automatically but they can be added manually I believe.

J

Yea I went and disabled ADM and then they showed up. I then copied the menu items I wanted into my ADM custom menu, and then re-enabled ADM.

Took awhile for it to click, but that's what happens when you have something setup for so long and never need to revisit how you did it.

thanks

[marsh9man]

Just wondering if there is still any support for this? It looks like exactly what I want to play pandora.

Tried to test it, but ran into problems. Figure I won't pursue it if no one is able to help.

[mkanet]

My family uses this every day. There's no new development for this. But, it does work right out the box. I know if I can get it to work, most people can too. You probably want to get Logitech's Softsqueeze to work first. That's logitech's software based client for Logitech Media Server. If that works, this plugin will work too. If you want to read a little more about softsqueeze, you can read about it here:
http://softsqueeze.sourceforge.net/download.html

With the above, you should be able to get pandora, Sirius Radio, Spotify to all work in a universal radio channel list.. as long as you have a valid subscription. You can also get it to work in sageTV client on the server without any extra effort after you install the Slimplayer plugin.

If you want it to work on an extender, it requires a little bit more effort; but still pretty easy. You will need a spare analog TV capture card; which relays the audio to your extender.

I can try to help you if you have all the prerequisites installed and explain where you get stuck.

[marsh9man]

Ok...have logitch media server installed on same machine as sagetv.
I can play softsqueeze on a laptop on same network. I can get mysqeezebox browser to play on my server machine. I can even get the squeezeslave plugin to play on my HD200 just fine.
I have forwarded ports, queried to check if open, and even just turned off the firewall to test.
No matter what I do, I can't get the slimplayer to power on the HD200.

What am I missing?

[mkanet]

I had to read this post 3 times before realizing it's possible you might be mixing up two different sageTV plugins. When you're playing back music in Slimplayer, does your HD200 display on your TV similar to the below image? Your HD200 should already be on when you want to listen to radio channels; similar concept to how you select TV channels or movies to watch on the HD200. There is a Slimplayer "Autoload" feature, but, I dont think it's what you're asking.

Originally Posted by marsh9man

Ok...have logitch media server installed on same machine as sagetv.
I can play softsqueeze on a laptop on same network. I can get mysqeezebox browser to play on my server machine. I can even get the squeezeslave plugin to play on my HD200 just fine.
I have forwarded ports, queried to check if open, and even just turned off the firewall to test.
No matter what I do, I can't get the slimplayer to power on the HD200.

What am I missing?

[marsh9man]

Sorry, was pretty frustrated when I posted.
I know there are two different plugins...I am just saying that I can get the squeezeslave plugin to work on my HD200. I can also get "softsqueeze" to play on a laptop. I can also get "mysqueezebox" through a browser to play on the same computer that sagetv and the logitech media server is installed on.
To clarify my setup...I have a designated desktop with windows 7 and Sagetv installed, and that's it. I have now have installed logitech media server on that same machine. I am able to get "squeeze" functionality on basically every option on my network except for this F'ing plugin.
To further clarify what I have so far with the slimplayer plugin on my HD200... I have it as an option in the "Music" tab..when I select it, I can not get the "power" button to become active. Basically it is installed, but does nothing. I think someone earlier on had the same problem on their server system, and never posted a solution.
I also have an HD100 on my network which has the same problem...plugin shows up under "my music" but has no functionality.

Thanks for your time and help...any ideas how to trouble shoot this?

[mkanet]

This plugin only works "right out of the box" for your sagetv pc client on your server itself (local). If you want it to also work on your extender, its not as straightforward; and, requires you completely understand how audio is sent to your extender (using audio loopback on your sageTV server) before you can consider setting it up.

There are instructions for getting it to work somwhere on the forums (without using any extra hardware) but, I dont think anyone could figure out how to make that work.. hence, people use a dedicated TV capture card and sound card on the server to achieve the "audio loopback".

Below is how I did it:
1. First, you need to configure your Slimplayer on the extender to be in "Synch mode".

2. Then you need to to tell it what sound card to use on your server to feed the audio. You need a dedicated sound card for this on your server.

3. Then, you need a spare/cheap analog TV capture card on your sageTV server. It's only purpose is to record the audio output from the sound card mentioned in step 2 above. So, you need to physically have a short stereo audio cable that goes from the output of your sound card to the input of your TV capture card.

4. You can then tell Slimplayer which sageTV capture card to use mentioned in step 3 above; and, the respective "TV channel" it should tune into.

If you did all of the above steps, Slimplayer have audio on you Extender.

You need to make sure that the sageTV Windows service is up and running on your server; and, logged in using the local system account. This is the default for most sageTV configurations that also have extenders.

Lastly, you can only have one extender to use this plugin. People have had issues trying to use more than one extender simultaneously. The only way to get another separate client is to usage Slimplayer on the server's PC client using Slimplayer "Exclusive mode".



a dedicated analog capture card where you can output the sound output of your server into your analog tv capture card's audio input: referred to as "audio loopback". Then, you can configure slimplayer on your extender to use your analog capture card and respective tv channel number the capture card is on and what audio output to use on your server. you can enable these options after you choose "synch" mode on slimplayer's settings on your extender.

Originally Posted by marsh9man

Sorry, was pretty frustrated when I posted.
I know there are two different plugins...I am just saying that I can get the squeezeslave plugin to work on my HD200. I can also get "softsqueeze" to play on a laptop. I can also get "mysqueezebox" through a browser to play on the same computer that sagetv and the logitech media server is installed on.
To clarify my setup...I have a designated desktop with windows 7 and Sagetv installed, and that's it. I have now have installed logitech media server on that same machine. I am able to get "squeeze" functionality on basically every option on my network except for this F'ing plugin.
To further clarify what I have so far with the slimplayer plugin on my HD200... I have it as an option in the "Music" tab..when I select it, I can not get the "power" button to become active. Basically it is installed, but does nothing. I think someone earlier on had the same problem on their server system, and never posted a solution.
I also have an HD100 on my network which has the same problem...plugin shows up under "my music" but has no functionality.

Thanks for your time and help...any ideas how to trouble shoot this?

[marsh9man]

Ok, so best to get it working on my local client/server first.

Which, as luck would have it, has the same problem.
I have the plugin screen similar to what you posted, except the button doesn't turn green.
In the option to enter what the server/hostname is, I put the name of the local pc (HTPC). I also have it in "exclusive" mode.
Is there anything else to get this working on the local machine?

[mkanet]

I mentioned this earlier, but you might have missed this. You need to get Softsqueeze to work first on your server. This should be very easy to do; and, only uses Logitech software; doesnt involve anything related to SageTV. You should download and the Java mp3 plugin for better audio fidelity for Softsqueeze.

Once you you're able to get Softsqueeze to work, Slimplayer in SageTV (on your PC client). You should have Slimplayer set for EXCLUSIVE mode and select Java mp3 Plugin for mp3 decoder. Your audio mixer would be the same one you used in Softsqueeze; in fact, your settings in Softsqueeze should carry over to Slimplayer since they're basically the same thing.

Originally Posted by marsh9man

Ok, so best to get it working on my local client/server first.

Which, as luck would have it, has the same problem.
I have the plugin screen similar to what you posted, except the button doesn't turn green.
In the option to enter what the server/hostname is, I put the name of the local pc (HTPC). I also have it in "exclusive" mode.
Is there anything else to get this working on the local machine?

[marsh9man]

I have "softsqueeze" working fine on host machine, as well as any other computer on my network.
I have used the same setting as in softsqueeze, and am in exclusive mode.
Same problem...power button won't do anything.

I installed this through the plugins option in Sage. Is it possible something hasn't installed correctly? I have uninstalled and reinstalled the plugin and the server. Are there some components to check for in Sage?

I can't think of what else could possibly be wrong.

[mkanet]

When you install the Slimplayer plugin, it's supposed to install all dependency program files. The Slimplayer plugin downloads a zip file from this URL and extracts all the program files into your SageTV\JARS directory. This definitely works if you have a reliable Internet connection and SageTV is running properly. You can manually download that zip file and make sure all the files were extracted to your JAR directory.

Also, you want to make sure you didnt get any SageTV system errors (you'll see a yellow exclamation mark at the top of SageTV's User Interface )... such as plugin failed to install or files missing. Also check in SageTV's Installed Plugins section to make sure there aren't any issues (shown in yellow) with plugins; such as Update available or Disabled

If all jar files were installed correct and there arent any error messages or SageTV plugin related issues then you have me stumped. There isn't a whole lot to getting this plugin to work at least in Exclusive mode.

Also, you want to make sure that when you make a configuration change in Softsqueeze (such as changing the sound card), the same setting shows up in Slimplayer (since Slimplayer shares the same registry settings as Softsqueeze). Softsqueeze and Sliimplayer's guts are basically the same exact thing (using Softsqueeze.jar). So, if all the program files were installed for Slimplayer, Logitech Media Server should think its actually your Softsqueeze player. That's why you dont want both Softsqueeze and Slimplayer to be running in memory at the same time on the same PC or they will conflict with each other.

Originally Posted by marsh9man

I have "softsqueeze" working fine on host machine, as well as any other computer on my network.
I have used the same setting as in softsqueeze, and am in exclusive mode.
Same problem...power button won't do anything.

I installed this through the plugins option in Sage. Is it possible something hasn't installed correctly? I have uninstalled and reinstalled the plugin and the server. Are there some components to check for in Sage?

I can't think of what else could possibly be wrong.

[marsh9man]

Well sadly, I think is just wasn't meant to be. For whatever reason, it just doesn't work on my system, and I have run out of ideas and patience.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by marsh9man

Well sadly, I think is just wasn't meant to be. For whatever reason, it just doesn't work on my system, and I have run out of ideas and patience.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated.

After you tried the squeezeslave plugin did you remove it completely and did hard power cycle the extender? Just a thought

Eddy

[mkanet]

Installing it on the server is as basic as it gets; without any external dependencies except for the Logitech server itself. Eddy has an excellent suggestion; there might be some lingering remnants from the squeezeslave plugin (after it was uninstalled) that might interfere with Slimplayer.

Originally Posted by marsh9man

Well sadly, I think is just wasn't meant to be. For whatever reason, it just doesn't work on my system, and I have run out of ideas and patience.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated.

[marsh9man]

I had completely removed sqeezeslave, but now that I have removed everything including the logitech software, I think I will try it again from the start and see what happens.
Thanks for the inspiration!

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by marsh9man

I had completely removed sqeezeslave, but now that I have removed everything including the logitech software, I think I will try it again from the start and see what happens.
Thanks for the inspiration!

Out of curiosity and with all due respect to SlimPlayer plugin, can I ask you what you really looking for and why Squeezeslave plugin wouldn't fulfill your requirements? Have you ever considered a synced multi-room application using all your extenders or a mix of Logitech SqueezeBox and extenders? This is something you'll not be able to achieve with SlimPlayer alone...

Thanks
Eddy

[marsh9man]

Well, I have made some progress. I can get it to work on my host/server machine now, but only if the logitech server software is running on a different machine on my network.
Is this a prerequisite that I missed somewhere? It would be nice not to have to have two separate computers running to make this work.

And routerunner...your plugin is great, I just didn't like the idea of having to power my extender off to listen to music...I like something that is just built in to the menu, and ready to play...especially for the other members in my family to use.

[mkanet]

Hi, I haven't heard of anyone needing to install LMS on a different PC than SageTV server. In fact, everything will work right out of the box (LMS+Java+SageTV server+SageTV client+Slimplayer Exclusive mode) on a clean PC. So, try to think what you might have installed/configured that could prevent LMS and SageTV server and SageTV client from running on the same PC.

What happens when you try to use Slimplayer on the same PC as SageTV server and LMS?

Originally Posted by marsh9man

Well, I have made some progress. I can get it to work on my host/server machine now, but only if the logitech server software is running on a different machine on my network.
Is this a prerequisite that I missed somewhere? It would be nice not to have to have two separate computers running to make this work.

And routerunner...your plugin is great, I just didn't like the idea of having to power my extender off to listen to music...I like something that is just built in to the menu, and ready to play...especially for the other members in my family to use.

[marsh9man]

OK, I have worked out most of the bugs. I am using an old hauppage pvr-500 in my server, and have the extender able to tune to pandora stations...still working on the sound.
Is there any way to get around installing a second sound card? I have an optical cable going to my from server to receiver that carries the main sound for my system.
Should I just be able to use the speaker audio out on my system with a 1/8" to stereo cable to feed the wintv card?

[mkanet]

Yes. There is supposedly a way to do it without any extra hardware (mentioned in the original zip file download of slimplayer 6.x download). However the instructions appeared to be missing a critical step; which made the non-hardware approach only possible if you were the guy who made Slimplayer. Nobody, including myself, could that method out. I just used the super easy old-school hardware loopback approach since I had a spare old analog haupauge tv tuner available to me.

I know you probably dont want to hear this; but, on a clean PC with java, LMS, sagetv server, extender, and a spare analog video capture card with respective stereo loopback cable, the whole solution should install just fine without any significant issues. It seems like the issues you had, had to do with whatever you configured/installed prior to trying to install slimplayer. I am guilty of causing my own problems in unrelated circumstances; luckily not with Slimplayer. Im curious if you get it to work on the extender, since thats actually a bit more involved to setup than Exclusive mode.

Originally Posted by marsh9man

Should I just be able to use the speaker audio out on my system with a 1/8" to stereo cable to feed the wintv card?