Media MVP Viewing LiveTV (Revisited)

[sixdoubleo]

Originally posted by IKK
I have a media MVP which works great but it has no Live tv capabilities yet. When and if Sage puts out a skin with all the capabilities as a client I will use that. but untill then I really have very few options for the bedroom.

Just wanted to get some feedback/suggestions on a way to get the MediaMVP to view Sage's LiveTV. A full-blown Sage-like interface would be nice, but honeslty if I could just change channels and view LiveTV I'd be happy for now.

I have been working on a way to let the MVP watch Live TV....I'm not done, but the major pieces are there. Details follow...

I wrote some Girder commands which will tell Sage to change the channel to whatever...Using Girder's "event.exe" I can launch the "ChannelChange" command and feed it into Sage.

Now, if Sage would name the current LiveTV recording as "LiveTV.mpeg" this would be a no brainer....but it isn't. So, I have another piece of code which checks the recordings directory and determines the most recent recording. This will be a problem in dual-tuner environments, by the way.

So using the above two elements, I wrote a very simple piece of HTML which will do two things....

1. Allow me to tell Sage to change to any channel

2. Stream me the current LiveTV recording

This works from a web-browser. All that is needed now is to integrate some links into the MVP interface to trigger this. I think what I may do is take what I have )essentially a backend component that would run on your Sage Server) and let one of the MVP interface experts tackle the interface aspect of it.

Anybody else have ideas on how to get MVP to view LiveTV?

[mikejaner]

Sounds good. This side of the PVR world is way behind when it comes to an MVP client. The users of BTV3 have a pretty good app running at this poing on the MVP. I wish I could help, but I have no skillz in the programming dept. Anyways, I look forward to anything you can come up with.

[sixdoubleo]

Originally posted by mikejaner
Sounds good. This side of the PVR world is way behind when it comes to an MVP client. The users of BTV3 have a pretty good app running at this poing on the MVP. I wish I could help, but I have no skillz in the programming dept. Anyways, I look forward to anything you can come up with.

Actually, the last I checked, the BTV "client" for MVP was merely a "skin". It didn't allow you to browse the program guide or change channels. Maybe I'm wrong.

Also, BTV uses a common name for the currently recorded Live TV feed which makes it easy to view the current recording.

[mikejaner]

Yeah, they have since upgraded it from your last visit then. Not only do they have LiveTV (I know they use one filename, which is easier) but they have a LiveTV Guide which lets them change the channel by selecting a show. http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13783

[sixdoubleo]

Originally posted by mikejaner
Yeah, they have since upgraded it from your last visit then. Not only do they have LiveTV (I know they use one filename, which is easier) but they have a LiveTV Guide which lets them change the channel by selecting a show. http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13783

Wow! That's VERY nice.... Too bad BTV doesn't work for what I need. MVP support is a big one for me.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the inner-workings of Sage to make that happen. Without any hooks into the application, the only things I can do at this point are to fake keys into the application just as if you'd used Sage yourself.

[jelder]

Check out GBpvr. (www.gbpvr.com) For scheduled recordings, managing recording conflicts, favourites, IR, Sage is still the best IMHO, but the MediaMVP integration with gbpvr is tops. There is also a nice weather plugin available and the net radio stuff is pretty cool. You can use both together, but you would need to make sure that Sage was not using your tuner if you wanted to watch live tv using GBpvr. The other downside of GBpvr is that you have to use XMLtv to get the listings, but from your posts above it looks like you are savvy enough to figure it out. Please resist the flames for recommending another product here, I am a big fan of SageTV and have been using Sage and following the boards for well over a year, but MediaMVP integration is way behind and is key to the WAF factor. Hopefully with 2.0 nearly finished, MediaMVP integration will get a high priority. There were posts back in December from either Jeff or Dan that they already had something working.

[sixdoubleo]

I have checked out GBPVR actually and it's pretty decent, for a free product. However, I have been using Sage now since November and it's a regular part of life around my house. To me, GB is very experimental still, and not ready to be the whole-house solution that Sage is.

I'm confident that Dan and Jeff see the enormous benefit in an MVP interface and will be on it soon.

In the meantime I will probably go ahead and implement my workaround for viewing Live TV.

[tbpub2]

I use my MVP to watch "live" TV all the time. Just use Sage to Tune to what you want, wait about 30 seconds, and then turn on the MVP.

Fortunately the MVP can open locked files, so as long as you don't get too close to the end, it works just fine.

It gets the job done.

[sixdoubleo]

Originally posted by tbpub2
I use my MVP to watch "live" TV all the time. Just use Sage to Tune to what you want, wait about 30 seconds, and then turn on the MVP.

Fortunately the MVP can open locked files, so as long as you don't get too close to the end, it works just fine.

It gets the job done.

Yeah, that's currently what I do if I need to watch Live TV. I just wanted to add the capability of changing channels as well. When I get something working from the MVP I'll post it here.

[EJDeHaemer]

Did you check out the forums on shspvr? They have a section on MVP html mods and have been able to access external web servers to get weather and stuff. If you can execute your command from a web browser it should be doable from the MVP.

[sixdoubleo]

Originally posted by EJDeHaemer
Did you check out the forums on shspvr?

Yep....I check them ocaisionally. Lots of cool stuff going on over there with reporgramming the MVP.

Not much in the way of Sage integration though.

[Jason]

Having used Sage as my PVR solution and an MVP as my viewing client, I was very interested in 'modding' the normal Hauppague software to work with the Sage software...

Alas, I have not come up with any solutions in regards to the EPG as the wiz.bin file is encrypted and without breaking the law, it is not possible to use it as a source for the EPG. The BTV mod in question uses the BTV files to view the EPG... but it too may be changing as they are requiring keys for any 'client' use. Hmmm... something similiar to a Sage Client? :-)

In regards to the livetv function, Sage again does not use any persistant naming convention to view the file. It changes with each viewing, so it is difficult to 'view' any specific file... If anyone has a cohesive though on defining a function for this, I would love it...

In any case, I have been working with Splint and Greg on distributing the BTV mod. We now have a sourceforge page up, and I can honestly say, as a developer for it, I would relish the Sage community to work on a mod. There is the capability to work on sub-projects from within sourceforge and I would like to invite all the coders (with an MVP of course...) to possibly contribute their efforts. The graphics in the mod are BTV based, but are easily changed.

For those of you who are interested, try the following page...

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mvpbtv/

-Jason

[Jason]

Having released V2, I am sure that the focus will now shift to releasing 'Studio.'

However, is there an updated timeline on a client for the MVP? I am dying to basically leave my main server alone and do everything from the MVP!!!

While I thought the client would come with V2 (albeit later...), I would not be opposed to getting a client license... Without the EPG and the ability to schedule recordings from the MVP, it is still just a "viewer"...

-Jason

[sudipto]

Now that v2 is out the door, I too would be very interested in getting an official update on the MediaMVP support.

[Jason]

All-

Over on SHS's site, there are a few posts in regards to a front end for the MVP to control outside applications.

In thinking about this, it appears VERY possible to use the following program:

http://www.whirlywiryweb.com/q%2Flaunchinie.asp

.. to send windows messages:

http://www.freytechnologies.com/2_pa...wsMessages.txt

.. to control SageTV as per this post:

http://www.shspvr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4676

I think that with enough interest, we can use this to start our own SageTV 'mod' for the MediaMVP!

I am hoping that there are enough of us out here, with the experience to do it!

-Jason

[jelder]

Jason,

I would love to help, but alas, I don't know how to code. I can test, tweak, etc., etc....

I am really surprised that this topic is not getting more traction here. The MVP is a great client solution and I think could be a great new revenue source for Frey Technologies. I would be happy to pay for client licenses if the MVP client was fully functional.

Let me know what I can do to help.

[falchulk]

" wrote some Girder commands which will tell Sage to change the channel to whatever...Using Girder's "event.exe" I can launch the "ChannelChange" command and feed it into Sage."

Why not use this with an RF remote with the reciver on the sage box? Then there is no need to use html or involve the mvp. The only downside is that you would not be sure what channel you tuned.

[Jack_PVR]

MediaMVP usage with menus, guideoverlays etc, is about the only major thing lacking in SageTV.

GB-PVR and BeyondTV offer it, would be great to have it in Sage as well.

[mlbdude]

I would like to see it like BG-PVR did it (using the SDK for a true client). But I think an HTML like facsimile probably would not cut it for me.

[mikejaner]

I agree, the GBPVR one is the best one yet. I can't believe how fast and responsive it is with that software during playback. Even the hauppauge mvp software pales in comparison.