Plugin: J. River Media Center / Jukebox Explorer

[cncb]

Take advantage of the powerful and flexible filtering, tagging, organizing, playlists, and dynamic smartlists of J. River Media Center for music, photos, and videos inside SageTV. This also works with the free, music-only Media Jukebox application (the default Pictures and Videos view shortcuts will not work in this case and need to be removed). *Note that the JRMC (or Jukebox) application has to be running in the backgound for this plugin but all playback is done within SageTV so this also works on extenders.

Your media files do not have to be imported into the Sage database (DVDs are the only exception). The media file paths in your JRMC Library just need to be accessible by your Sage Server (or client if running Client software).

** The JRMC (or Jukebox) application needs to be closed (not running) before installing or updating this plugin.

Features

1. Explorer: Allows you to browse and play your Library views/tree, Playlists, and Smartlists.
2. Shortcut Manager: Allows you to create multiple shortcuts into your Library views/tree and Playlists that can be accessed through the Explorer Home screen.
3. Now Playing: Shows currently playing track with customizable details as well as next track and progress bar. Content optionally shifts around screen. Links to Now Playing list.
4. Slideshow Player: Displays mixed photo and video slideshows with animated transitions, customizable captions, and music track change popup.
5. Volume leveling/replay gain: Keeps music playback at a steady volume.
6. Rate files easily with remote.
7. Create new Playlists and add files to Playlists.
8. Save and restore playback queues between sessions.

Usage Help

• All JRMC screens: SKIP FWD #2 - advances to next track in Now Playing.
• All JRMC screens: SKIP BKWD #2 - goes to previous file in Now Playing.
• Explorer: PLAY - brings up Playback options for selected item (file or all child files under view item).
• Explorer: INFO - shows all child files for selected view item (bypasses subview selection).
• Explorer: SETTINGS (ABC/123) - toggles number button behavior between jump to letter and jump to percentage of list (2 - 20%, 5 - 50%, etc.).
• Slideshow: CHANNEL/PAGE UP or SKIP FWD - advances to next file.
• Slideshow: CHANNEL/PAGE DOWN or SKIP BKWD - goes to previous file.
• Slideshow: INFO - shows/hides captions for current file.
• Now Playing & Slideshow: SELECT - shows options menu.

Version 1.2 - 08/08/10

• Added save and restore of playback queues between sessions (these are stored as playlists in JRMC).
• Added creating new playlists and ability to add multiple files at one time to playlists.
• Added Edit Mode enable/disable to prevent unwanted rating changes and playlist additions.
• Bundled SageJRMCServer with plugin download.

Version 1.1 - 07/06/10

• Implemented volume leveling/replay gain for HD100/200 (disabled by default - enable in Settings). Can now display current volume in Now Playing to see gain changes.
• Pressing number 0-5 buttons in Now Playing or Slideshow screens will allow rating current file.
• Can now add individual files to existing Playlists.
• Fixed some slideshow video playback issues.

Required One-Time JRMC/Jukebox Setup

1. Shut down JRMC (or Jukebox) if it is running.
2. Make sure you have the .NET Framework v2.0 installed.
3. Install the plugin through the SageTV interface. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to "c:\program files\sagetv\sagetv\jrmcserver" (or match your different SageTV install path).
4. Double-click the "install.reg" (or "install_64.reg" for 64 bit Windows) and allow it to add data to the registry.
5. Open a Command Prompt (*must 'Run As Administrator' if using Vista or Win7) and run the following command:
   "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\RegAsm.exe" /codebase "c:\program files\sagetv\sagetv\jrmcserver\SageJRMCServer.dll" changing SageTV path as necessary for your installation.
   It will give you a warning but the last line of text must say "Types registered successfully". If it doesn't then you will need to change the paths in the above command to match your setup and try again.
6. Start JRMC, expand "Services & Plug-ins" in the tree, select "Sage Server" and make sure it is running.
7. JRMC must be running at all times for this to work so you might want to have JRMC launch at system startup.
8. You can also install this on a remote computer running JRMC (the local computer won't even need JRMC installed). You can then use it by manually editing the "jrmc/host" entry in the Sage .Properties file. You will need to manually copy the "jrmcserver" directory to the remote computer every time there is an update (only need to perform the setup steps above once, though).

[cncb]

[GMan78]

Hey CNCB! This is VERY exciting, thanks for the JRMC plugin! I love JRMC but it simply does not do TV well at all...for that I am SageTV all the way. However, I am working diligently on creating a whole home audio solution using JRMC's ability to control multiple zones. IT WOULD BE SOOO COOL if your plugin could provide interface support of JRMC's internal multizone features. Any thoughts on taking a look at this...again, strong work on what you have...just a smidgen further and this plugin would create the perfect whole home media system! Thanks!

George

[tchapin]

I was using this plugin for a while with V6, but found it to be kind of slow, so I stopped. Was that something widespread, and if so, is it any faster for v7?

Thanks.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by GMan78

IT WOULD BE SOOO COOL if your plugin could provide interface support of JRMC's internal multizone features. Any thoughts on taking a look at this...

Hi George,

Sorry, I don't have any plans to have JRMC do the actual playback. My "multizone" setup is multiple Sage HD200s around the house. I'm not sure how you planned to control it but you might want to look into a device with a browser to utilize the new "WebRemote" functionality in MC15 or Theater View to control different zones if using a PC.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by tchapin

I was using this plugin for a while with V6, but found it to be kind of slow, so I stopped. Was that something widespread, and if so, is it any faster for v7?

I never found it to be painfully slow but I did improve the speed this time around. For example, in the default "Albums" view for Images I have 725 albums. Before it took ~14 seconds to load the list and now it takes ~3 seconds. You should just try it and see (be sure to "install" the new SageJRMCServer attached above). You can also try some grouping in the JRMC view to improve speed.

It uses network communications so that is why it is a little slower than other methods. I tried Jacob (Java/COM bridge) with the very first version of plugin which was faster but brought about other complications and instability. In any case, the advantage of using network communications is that with the latest version you can run and connect to JRMC on a PC other than your Sage server if you are so inclined.

I should also note that some slowness can be attributed to JRMC generating thumbnails on the fly if it hasn't already for files you are viewing.

[tchapin]

Hey Craig,

Thanks. I will definitely try it out when I upgrade to V7.

Will it still work with JRMC v12? I purchased that version but was not planning on upgrading.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by tchapin

Will it still work with JRMC v12? I purchased that version but was not planning on upgrading.

They may have changed the automation model since then but it might still work. No harm in trying.

[jdamore]

This is great! Thank you! I'm going to try this out tonight.

Is it possible this will work for J.River Media Jukebox (free/music only)? I would love to set this up for my father who runs this...

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by jdamore

Is it possible this will work for J.River Media Jukebox (free/music only)? I would love to set this up for my father who runs this...

It would seem one of the "upgrade" features of the Media Center is it's support of plugins (this uses a plugin on the JRMC side), so I would say this will not work with the free version. This kinda bums me out because as much as I would like to to use plugin, I would probably use it mostly just for the music.

[cncb]

Yes, I would guess that Media Jukebox probably doesn't support plugins and the SDK/automation but I don't have a spare PC to test it. Sorry.

[Halstead]

So, i've got this working great on my server, but can't seem to find the jrmc/host entry in either the sage.properties file on the server or the sageclient.properties on my client. I note there are a bunch of sagetv_core_plugins/jrmcexplorer/ entires, but nothing that looks like it would work there either. Anyone have some install advice?

TIA.

[cncb]

It should be there with all the other "jrmc/" entries in SageClient.Properties. You have to bring up any one of the JRMC plugin screens and then exit Sage for it to appear.

[Halstead]

Originally Posted by cncb

It should be there with all the other "jrmc/" entries in SageClient.Properties. You have to bring up any one of the JRMC plugin screens and then exit Sage for it to appear.

Thanks, i see it now. How should I express the JRMC server URL? Does it need to include the port number?

I tried typing it in as http://192.168.1.131:11009 (also without the port #) and no joy.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by Halstead

How should I express the JRMC server URL? Does it need to include the port number?

Just the IP address or computer name: 192.168.1.131 in your example.

[Halstead]

Originally Posted by cncb

Just the IP address or computer name: 192.168.1.131 in your example.

Awesome - that worked like a charm. Great plugin! Seems to work just fine with MC 15.

[cncb]

I just posted an update that implements volume leveling/replay gain, file rating, and adding files to playlists. An update to the SageJRMCServer is required. See first post.

[cncb]

Originally Posted by jdamore

Is it possible this will work for J.River Media Jukebox (free/music only)? I would love to set this up for my father who runs this...

I finally got around to trying this and it works! I installed Media Jukebox 14.0.166, installed the SageJRMCServer, and the Sage plugin works just as expected (minus pictures and video of course).

[cncb]

I have confirmed Media Jukebox v12 also works with the plugin so I have updated the description.

[Brent94Z]

Excellent! When I get a couple days off I'm going to give this a try. Thanks much!