Anyone use a VFD / LCD with Sagetv?

[beyond]

What I want to see about doing.. hopefully someone already has this done if its something that can be done..

Incorporate girder to be able and grab EPG data / channel data from sagetv...

for example..

When watching TV, have my VFD output the channel on line 1 and the show title on line 2..

When watching something recorded, have the VFD output the show title on line 1 and the remaining time / total time on line 2

When watching DVD's have the info be ported somehow to incorporate data like I do with TheaterTek..

When watching a divx or mpeg, have it show the name of the file and how much longer is going..

So, anyone do that yet? Or is it something that just cannot be done at all?

I'm trying my hardest to make this SageTV box im working on just blow the socks off anyone that comes over..

[SamVimes2]

I would also like Girder to be able to grab library data for similar applications; be able to retrieve a list of shows recorded in the last 24 hours, etc.

Perhaps DVDSpy integration?

[DFA]

I use LCDC but I have not seen any plugin for Sage yet. Probably sooner or later but nothing yet it seems. There is one for ZoomPlayer which is mostly an HTPC niche product so a plugin for Sage is not out of the realm of imagination.

If anyone finds one, please share!

DFA

[stanger89]

I'll throw in my interest in this. I tried DVDSpy but it seems to only work with certain applications, and Sage isn't one of them. I'm patiently waiting for Studio to see what's possible.

[FamilyMan]

I've done it (kinda) using the Sage property "scheduler_export_file" to output a file of the upcoming recording schedule and then writing a ton of girder scripts to parse the file. It wasn't very useful because no one could read the LCD display from the couch.

[SamVimes2]

Where can I find more info about that property? That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for...

[FamilyMan]

I don't know where you can find more info on the property but it is pretty easy to implement. Just shutdown Sage and then add then property to the Sage.properties file. Here is what the line looks like in my Sage.properties:

scheduler_export_file=E\:\\Program Files\\Frey Technologies\\SageTV\\sched.txt

It's a tab delimited text file so it's pretty easy to parse. Each line has nine "fields:"

Encoder - Name of encoder/tuner doing the recording
Start Time - Time show will start in ddd mm/dd hh24:mm format
Stop Time - Time show will end in ddd mm/dd hh24:mm format
Duration - Length of show in hh24:mm format
ChannelName - Channel call sign
ChannelNum - Channel Number
Title - Title of show
ManualRecord - "true" if show is a manual record, "false" if it isn't
Favorite - "true" if show is a favorite, "false" if it isn't

Those last two fields are important because this file lists IR recordings even if you have IR disabled. You can tell IR recordings because ManualRecord and Favorite are both "false." Parsing the dates are a little tricky because there is no year in the date string and girder does not have native date arithmetic (at least not in the version I use, 3.2.9) so figuring out show order can be tough. Fortunately the file is sorted in date/time order. What this file doesn't show you, and what I think is its biggest drawback, is what show is currently recording. The first line in the file is what show is coming up next in the schedule. Once that show starts, the file is updated and that line is removed.

[heffe2001]

Would you be willing to share the scripts you already have made FamilyMan?

[FamilyMan]

Sure! Here's the gml file. I'm no longer using the LCD to display Sage information and when I was using the file I was doing a lot of experimentation, so don't expect this file to work right out the box. The parts of the gml that you'd probably be most interested in are the Startup and UpdateRecLCD multigroups. In the Startup multigroup there is a command called DateTime Functions which contains the VMS for all the datetime functionality. In the UpdateRecLCD multigroup is the command called ReadRecSchedule in which I did all the LCD message creation stuff.

Have fun and if you improve upon what in this file (which I am positive you will) please post it.

P.S. One of the things I could not get to work consistently was programmatically determining when the scheduler export file was changed by Sage (no girder function to let me know when a file was modified). I ended up trying numerous indirect methods, none of which were optimal.

[DynamoBen]

I love the idea of installing and LCD/VFD display.

I agree with the first post about what the display should do. I have always wanted my display to show the name and channel of the show being record on tuner 1 on line 1 and the show being recorded on tuner 2 on line 2. During playback it would display based on the description in the first post, however it would have the time also. (IE 30mins into a 1hr show)

The LCD idea has been something I have wanted for a long time maybe Frey can do something to make this easier.

[AndyS]

I'm going to wait for Studio to be released before going down this road - perhaps there will be something in there that will help.

It would be really nice to have an API though that you could use to query Sage or the Client, and get back current status information...

Andy.

[jennyfur]

I've had a matrix orbital LCD for years (before they started making USB ones...darn) and use LCDC to run it on my main computer. I'm new to the whole HTPC thing and I'm currently in the process of building a very simple one out of old parts. I'd love to put the LCD in it and have it show info from SageTV!

I'm not looking to show the titles of shows or things that like that would be really long. I'd really only want it to emulate the functionality of the digital displays on my existing home theater components, such as: channels, chapter & time of a DVD, CD track # & time (or MP3 info), etc.

Lucky for me, there's no HTPC case out yet that's exactly what I want (which would include being able to install an MO LCD or VFD). If there was I'd actually upgrade to one of MO's USB VFD's...

Somebody's gotta be able to write a plugin for this considering digital displays seem to be getting more popular every year!

[Boxster_T]

Bump this one. It's been a year. Has anyone had any luck with Sage and LCDC?

[DynamoBen]

I've been using SageMon and LCDSmartie for months now and it works great.

[Naylia]

there's also this plugin for LCDSmartie...don't know if its' the same as SageMon, i don't see a name

http://www.nolberger.se/Sage/LCDSmartie/Default.htm

[DynamoBen]

You have to have sagemon to use the plugin. That is exactly what I'm referring to. Check out sage-community.org

[mightyt]

Does LCDSmartie or SageMon work with Silverstones LCD/VFD. They provide iMON softrware, but not sure how much effort it would be to set it up with Sage manually...

Thanks, T.

[Boxster_T]

LCDSmartie Looks perfect. SageTV and J.River mediaCenter support! Who could ask for more.

Thanks
Tom