2.0 Trial - no interface!?

[TheRealStyro]

Just downloaded the new SageTV 2.0 for a trial. The installation went without a hitch. But when I start the app I get click for trial, then the splash/init screen appears, then all I'm left with is a big empty (black) window. No interface. Clicking around randomly with the mouse has no effect. Right clicks have no effect. The remote works to go to full screen and back, and to minimize the window, but that is it.

Any idea what is going on here? I've installed/uninstalled/reinstalled several times (with and without background apps) just to be sure. I there an install/run logfile I can check? I like the feature set of this version and want to get it running.

My spec: XP Pro, PVR250, P4 1.6, 512MB, plenty of free drive space, SageTV 1.4 works fine (reinstalled to check).

[stanger89]

Do you have DX9 installed? it sounds like 3D accelleration is enable (It's not supposed to be though).

One thing you can try is to open the sage.properties file (in the SageTV dir) and change this line to false:
ui/accelerated_rendering=true

Make sure you close SageTV first, completely not just sleep. And I'm only guessing if that property does what I think it does.

[TheRealStyro]

I don't have a sage.properties (or anything like it) file. I only have the following files in the sage directory...

SageTV.exe
Sage.jar
EULA.txt
Sage.dll
SageTV Setup and Configuration.pdf
and a subdir called STVs which contains "OriginalV2.stv" and some png images.

A "common" subdir parallel to the "SageTV" subdir contains some DLLs and AX files (as well as some Dscaler stuff and config files for remotes).

Thanks for the help.

[stanger89]

That's weird, Sage must not get that far. Just to be sure, you do have Java and DirectX 9 installed?

edit
Actually, how do you close Sage? If it's a 3D accelleration issue you should be able to Alt+F4 it and it should write you a sage.properties file. If you end task it, then it probably never tries to write the file.

[Opus4]

To add a tip to what stanger89 said -- if it goes to the sys tray after alt-f4, right click the icon & choose "Exit SageTV".

Also, when you check Java, make sure it is the latest one available.

- Andy

[TheRealStyro]

I checked directx and it reports "DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0b (4.09.0000.0902)". I had three versions on Java installed, so I removed two and did an update. I now have two versions of Java - J2RE SEv1.4.2 & SEv1.4.2_04. I suppose I trim that down again, but they are both pretty current.

I uninstalled/reinstalled SageTV with no change - still black interface window. I can close with alt-f4, clicking close icon, minimize and select 'exit sagetv' - it all doesn't make any difference and no additional files have been created in the 'Frey Technologies" dir tree.

Thank you for all the help.

[ToxMox]

Did you install the Intervideo Non CSS Video/Audio decoder from Hauppauge or another codec that supports VMR9? Have you tried the sage.properties edits mentioned above? I would maybe also try the property for turning off video in the menus.

[Opus4]

That's part of the problem -- no properties file has been created yet, so there's nothing to edit.

I would definitely get rid of all Java installations & only install the latest one. The updates tend to leave the previous version installed too, for some reason. Don't know if this will actually solve anything, but it can't hurt to try, right?

- Andy

[TheRealStyro]

Thanks Opus4. I'll try uninstalling all Java versions and install just the latest version. Shouldn't hurt too much.

Does anyone here know whether both sagetv v1.4 and v2.0 use the windows installer? I've had some trouble installing another app and I wonder if the windows installer could be corrupted somehow.

Thanks for all the help...

[dkardatzke]

It sounds like the download got corrupted. Try uninstalling SageTV, deleting the Frey Technologies directory and then download and install the software again.

[TheRealStyro]

I'll try these tips after I get done with this 'work' thing I'm supposed to be doing.

Maybe use a spare system to download, just in case something is interfering with the download process.

[ben_gb]

Also it might be worth checking the size of the OriginalV2.stv file. It should be some 570K.

I was getting black screen on startup problem, and found that the .stv file has been truncated on only 1K.

[TheRealStyro]

OK. Downloaded a fresh copy. Installed latest JRE. Installed SageTV 2. Checked size on "OriginalV2.stv" file (578K). Tried running and - black window!

I have no idea what is going on here. Maybe it is about time to refresh XP with a fresh install, patch it, and try to install this (and NAV) again. At the least it would clean out the cobwebs...

[TheRealStyro]

For those wondering...SageTV 2 works like a charm now. There are a few nagging doubts about the interface design, but looks like I'll be registering this after the trial.

TheRealStyro
"When at first you don't succeed...reinstall windows and you'll find success..."