Android App: Phoenix for SageTV

[BobbyDing]

Originally Posted by JerryB

Interesting. I just tried using the actual IP address and port rather than a DNS name. It didn't eliminate the error I'm getting in the app but it certainly decreased its frequency. Now instead of getting the error every time I return to the app from watching a video, I only get it every second or third time. Of course using the actual IP address isn't a long term solution since my Internet provider changes this address.

That is curious. Have you tried "Adding" a second server, one using DNS and one using the IP? Just curious if the errors would increase/decrease dependent on the server used. Also try adding a local in network server and see what happens there.

[mkanet]

I'm using the same server. I've hit save, updated bmt configuration, re-copy pasted full vlc.exe path, updated to the latest java, completely restarted sagetv service and clients, reinstalled vlc using the current public 2.0.5 version, even the latest nightly. I've giving "everyone" full permissions to all objects in VLC directory.

I have both 32bit and 64bit java. I use. A specific 6.xx version of 64 bit java for something unrelated to sagetv.

My jetty based webserver is SSL capable; and currently using SSL in the phoenix android app.

I get the same result for all my tv shows; which are pretty much all mpeg transport streams.

Originally Posted by stuckless

I've considered it.. I have requests to put my other apps there well... I just haven't had the time to figure it out... I think I even have an Amazon account. My biggest hurdle is that I need to setup a dev environment for Amazon so that I can test and repackage the app. I don't want to just add the Amazon stuff my current environment, so I need to setup a new dev area for that stuff. (Same store goes for Blackberry 10, since they also support android apps)



Yeah, each device gets their own space... and I leave the files around (for now), so that I can use the directory for troubleshooting. ie, I can see the files being created, I can see the log file, if needed, etc. I do clean the directory before i start a new process, but I clean on start not on end. Eventually I'll do the clean up at the end, but for now, it's just more practical for troubleshooting.





@mkanet - I looked at your other log file, and there is nothing in there related to streaming... so either those logging changes didn't get saved (you don't need to restart bmt, just hit "save" after your click "add" in the logging), or you are not hitting the same server??? Java version is probably OK.

Sounds like I need to add more logging on the server (and maybe the client).

@tvmaster2 - did you try the channels=2 for the audio fix? If that doesn't work, then we'll need to see if someone else can offer some "tweaks".

[JerryB]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

That is curious. Have you tried "Adding" a second server, one using DNS and one using the IP? Just curious if the errors would increase/decrease dependent on the server used. Also try adding a local in network server and see what happens there.

I've gone back to using names rather than IP addresses for my server and the frequency of crashes has remained the same as when I switched to using the direct IP address, i.e. after every 2 or 3 movies. I've tried a local vs external address for the server since that's how I normally have it setup and that doesn't seem to affect the frequency of crashing. I'm happy that the app is crashing less and less but I don't like it when an error is intermittent and not consistently reproducible since it'll make it much harder to be certain whether removing the in app purchase code fixes the problem or not.

Also, thanks for the Avia media player suggestion. While it didn't fix the error, it did allow me to get transcoding working with the app on my Kindle Fire.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

That is curious. Have you tried "Adding" a second server, one using DNS and one using the IP? Just curious if the errors would increase/decrease dependent on the server used. Also try adding a local in network server and see what happens there.

the only server I am using to test is a DNS server, and it seems to be reliable (dyndns.org)

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by JerryB

I've gone back to using names rather than IP addresses for my server and the frequency of crashes has remained the same as when I switched to using the direct IP address, i.e. after every 2 or 3 movies. I've tried a local vs external address for the server since that's how I normally have it setup and that doesn't seem to affect the frequency of crashing. I'm happy that the app is crashing less and less but I don't like it when an error is intermittent and not consistently reproducible since it'll make it much harder to be certain whether removing the in app purchase code fixes the problem or not.

Also, thanks for the Avia media player suggestion. While it didn't fix the error, it did allow me to get transcoding working with the app on my Kindle Fire.

Jerry, just for my clarification... because I haven't been keeping up... but your crashes are only happening on Kindle, correct?

[tvmaster2]

dumb question - when using 3G / 4G connections, how much bandwidth data will we eat up watching .ts (or other format files) movies on smartphones....is there a formula page somewhere here I haven't been able to find?

2 gigs of free data per month at T-Mobile, then shutdown occurs

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mkanet

I'm using the same server. I've hit save, updated bmt configuration, re-copy pasted full vlc.exe path, updated to the latest java, completely restarted sagetv service and clients, reinstalled vlc using the current public 2.0.5 version, even the latest nightly. I've giving "everyone" full permissions to all objects in VLC directory.

I have both 32bit and 64bit java. I use. A specific 6.xx version of 64 bit java for something unrelated to sagetv.

My jetty based webserver is SSL capable; and currently using SSL in the phoenix android app.

I get the same result for all my tv shows; which are pretty much all mpeg transport streams.

Michael, could you try the following url, replacing the hostort with your port and then replacing the mediafile # with a valid one from your system.

http://192.168.1.12:8080/sagex/streaming/request/test123?mediafile=2151189&profile=normal&network=wifi

Could you post the output reply. Thanks.

[JerryB]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Jerry, just for my clarification... because I haven't been keeping up... but your crashes are only happening on Kindle, correct?

Correct. I'm using the app on both my Android phone and my Kindle Fie. The app is working perfectly with no crashes on my Android phone. However, I'm experiencing intermittent crashes on my Kindle Fire, all with the error message that I've previously posted. The only issue is that, with various changes to my setup (switching to direct IP addressing, switching media player, etc.) the crashes on my Kindle Fire have become less frequent and predictable. However, if I keep using the app on my Kindle Fire, it will eventually crash.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by JerryB

Correct. I'm using the app on both my Android phone and my Kindle Fie. The app is working perfectly with no crashes on my Android phone. However, I'm experiencing intermittent crashes on my Kindle Fire, all with the error message that I've previously posted. The only issue is that, with various changes to my setup (switching to direct IP addressing, switching media player, etc.) the crashes on my Kindle Fire have become less frequent and predictable. However, if I keep using the app on my Kindle Fire, it will eventually crash.

Thanks... Next week I'll try to post a new build that you can try on the kindle to see if we can clean up those crashes... it's going to take a few days, since I'm currently rebuilding both my sagetv server and development workstation (replacing drives )

[mkanet]

URL:
https://localhost:8090/sagex/streami...l&network=wifi

Response:
{"reply":{"error":"Timedout waiting for stream to be created"}}

Originally Posted by stuckless

Michael, could you try the following url, replacing the hostort with your port and then replacing the mediafile # with a valid one from your system.

http://192.168.1.12:8080/sagex/streaming/request/test123?mediafile=2151189&profile=normal&network=wifi

Could you post the output reply. Thanks.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mkanet

URL:
https://localhost:8090/sagex/streami...l&network=wifi

Response:
{"reply":{"error":"Timedout waiting for stream to be created"}}

I was hopeing to see some sort of "Java" error...

I'm running out of ideas... I may have to add some extra logging in the Phoenix services in the next build.

[drewg]

Hi,

I've got a stupid problem. I upgraded to Java7, and now I get transcoded streams. But I have the "no sound" issue described earlier in the thread.

I went to http://192.168.200.2:8080/bmt/#configure, selected VLC options, and added 'channels=2' to all the audio sections. Eg, for Wifi HD, I have:

#transcode{width=1280,height=720,fps=30,vcodec=h264,vb=1000,venc=x264{aud,profile=baseline,level=30,keyint=30,ref=1},acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2}:std{access=livehttp{seglen=5,delsegs=false,numsegs=0,index=${PMS_PLAYLIST_FILE},index-url=${PMS_BASE_URL}${PMS_MEDIA_ID}-########.ts},mux=ts{use-key-frames},dst=${PMS_OUTPUT_DIR}/${PMS_MEDIA_ID}-########.ts}

But I still have no sound (nexus7, mx player).

I first tried just the "save" button. Then I tried re-starting the sagetv server.

I instrumented the cvlc script, and I can see its not getting the "channels=2" argument. Eg:

Mon Mar  4 10:11:19 EST 2013
-I
dummy
--mms-caching
0
/var/media/tv/TheMentalist-S05E15-RedLacquerNailPolish-3850824-0.mpg
vlc://quit
--sout=#transcode{width=1280,height=720,fps=30,vcodec=h264,vb=1000,venc=x264{aud,profile=baseline,level=30,keyint=30,ref=1},acodec=mp3,ab=128}:std{access=livehttp{seglen=5,delsegs=false,numsegs=0,index=/home/sagetv/server/userdata/Phoenix/streaming/fba139ca-7481-3c19-8184-244b9e49a352/3876419.m3u8,index-url=http://192.168.200.2:8080/sagex/streaming/files/fba139ca-7481-3c19-8184-244b9e49a352/3876419-########.ts},mux=ts{use-key-frames},dst=userdata/Phoenix/streaming//fba139ca-7481-3c19-8184-244b9e49a352/3876419-########.ts}

What am I doing wrong..?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by drewg

Hi,

I've got a stupid problem. I upgraded to Java7, and now I get transcoded streams. But I have the "no sound" issue described earlier in the thread.

I went to http://192.168.200.2:8080/bmt/#configure, selected VLC options, and added 'channels=2' to all the audio sections. Eg, for Wifi HD, I have:

#transcode{width=1280,height=720,fps=30,vcodec=h264,vb=1000,venc=x264{aud,profile=baseline,level=30,keyint=30,ref=1},acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2}:std{access=livehttp{seglen=5,delsegs=false,numsegs=0,index=${PMS_PLAYLIST_FILE},index-url=${PMS_BASE_URL}${PMS_MEDIA_ID}-########.ts},mux=ts{use-key-frames},dst=${PMS_OUTPUT_DIR}/${PMS_MEDIA_ID}-########.ts}

But I still have no sound (nexus7, mx player).

I first tried just the "save" button. Then I tried re-starting the sagetv server.

I instrumented the cvlc script, and I can see its not getting the "channels=2" argument. Eg:

Mon Mar  4 10:11:19 EST 2013
-I
dummy
--mms-caching
0
/var/media/tv/TheMentalist-S05E15-RedLacquerNailPolish-3850824-0.mpg
vlc://quit
--sout=#transcode{width=1280,height=720,fps=30,vcodec=h264,vb=1000,venc=x264{aud,profile=baseline,level=30,keyint=30,ref=1},acodec=mp3,ab=128}:std{access=livehttp{seglen=5,delsegs=false,numsegs=0,index=/home/sagetv/server/userdata/Phoenix/streaming/fba139ca-7481-3c19-8184-244b9e49a352/3876419.m3u8,index-url=http://192.168.200.2:8080/sagex/streaming/files/fba139ca-7481-3c19-8184-244b9e49a352/3876419-########.ts},mux=ts{use-key-frames},dst=userdata/Phoenix/streaming//fba139ca-7481-3c19-8184-244b9e49a352/3876419-########.ts}

What am I doing wrong..?

When you go into BMT do you see that the change persisted?

Aso, when you are testing... if the Phone/Table is WiFi it will use one of 3 wifi profiles... but if you are on 3g, it will use the 3g profiles. Also if it can't tell, then it will use the last profile, which is the default.

So, on the device when you are streaming, are you on wifi/3g, and are you selecting the profile (low, normal, hd) that you modified. Ideally all 7 profiles will need to be updated with channels=2. (the next phoenix build will set that as default)

EDIT: I see you have added it to ALL profiles (good). Do you have more than 1 sagetv server? Are you hitting the right server?

[mkanet]

Yeah, theres no way to know where to look without getting logging info. I wish I had at least a small hint about where the problem might be.

If the webserver, VLC, and 32bit Java 7 are all operating correctly independent of each other and my Android app can talk to sagex without issues, then.. what would interfere with VLC producing a stream? I'm guessing VLC is not even getting the command. One thing I haven't tried is running my sageTV service using the same user account I use to login on the server console/desktop. I'll try that when I get home.

Originally Posted by stuckless

I was hopeing to see some sort of "Java" error...

I'm running out of ideas... I may have to add some extra logging in the Phoenix services in the next build.

[Fredo44]

I just want to give a short unsorted feedback about my experience with version 2.01.

I am using phoenix-appp on my Asus TF700t. Updates are always manually downloaded. So, i don´t know if app is automatically updating via play-store. In-app payment and activation worked without issues. To be honest, i don´t know the difference between pro and non-pro. but i don´t care as it is really worth spending some bucks for such a valuable app.

Streaming:
------------
Everything works well. With-and without transcoding as long as is use MXPlayer or Archos-player.

MX-player does not like HW-decoding. But this is a minor issue that seems to be related to the player itself.

archos-payer does not interpret some 4:3 resolutions very-well and stretches the picture to full wide of screen.

VLC-player (beta?) suffers some audio delay on most steams. that´s why i do not use it anymore.

--> I can really recommend using mx-player if one does not mind S/W decoding. this payer is updated fequently and i am sure ne day also H/W decoding for network streams will work as it is supposed to do.


interface
------------
For some views i would like to have the option to change the sorting by-date to oposite direction. Currently i have to scroll-down to the very bottom to get the latest recording.

Fonts could be slightly bigger. On a 10" device with 1080p reolution the text is quite small.


download to device
------
this is one of the most exciting features, because it is downloading movies much faster than any other smb,ftp or whatever conection i have tried so far.

But if recrodings are split into 2 or more files (sometimes on different folders) then only the 1st file will be downloaded. . So i have to bypass phoeix-app and use HD-explorer instead.
Hopefully that can be fixed ? Or is there a way on Sage-server to avoid creating more than one file per recording ?

Selectable download-location would be great benefit for me as i like to have all media-files on external micro-sd card.


----

that´s it so far. I have many features in mind....but i have already voted the poll and looking forward to one of the listed features.

Well-done so far ! Great job ! Thanks

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Yeah, theres no way to know where to look without getting logging info. I wish I had at least a small hint about where the problem might be.

If the webserver, VLC, and 32bit Java 7 are all operating correctly independent of each other and my Android app can talk to sagex without issues, then.. what would interfere with VLC producing a stream? I'm guessing VLC is not even getting the command. One thing I haven't tried is running my sageTV service using the same user account I use to login on the server console/desktop. I'll try that when I get home.

I ran into an issue this weekend (on my server) whereby I had a permissions issue... the VLC command was running, and it was attempting to create the files, but vlc did have permissions to actually create files, and so I was getting the "Stream could not be created" message. I'd say that permissions is a good place to start. Because both sagetv and vlc will need to be able to create files in the userdata/Phoenix/streaming/ directory.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fredo44

To be honest, i don´t know the difference between pro and non-pro. but i don´t care as it is really worth spending some bucks for such a valuable app.

Currently "unlocking" the app doesn't have new features (unless you consider getting rid of that menu option a feature ), but eventually I will probably be moving many of the features behind the "unlock" license. Today, it's just a "thanks", but if you buy it, and I release an app with some features restricted, you will get those features.

For some views i would like to have the option to change the sorting by-date to oposite direction. Currently i have to scroll-down to the very bottom to get the latest recording.

I "solve" this today by using custom views for different purposes. For example, on my device, I have a "TV Not Watched" view that lists ONLY unwatched tv shows grouped by series, ordered by newest first. I'd be happy to share the view if you want it.

I agree it would be nice to provide some operations, like filtering and sorting in the app, but until I can actually persist those features, and provided an easy way to allow people to build up views, I've stayed away from it. ie, this is a fairly large task, and the same function can be achieved by creating a custom view on the server with the options that you want.

Fonts could be slightly bigger. On a 10" device with 1080p reolution the text is quite small.

Probably enter an issue for this... I haven't done much with tablet support... and I don't have a 1080p 10" tablet, so it would be hard to test... but if you enter an issue, it won't get lost, and it may be fixed in the "issue" queue as opposed to the "feature" queue

https://code.google.com/p/sagephoenix/issues/list

But if recrodings are split into 2 or more files (sometimes on different folders) then only the 1st file will be downloaded. . So i have to bypass phoeix-app and use HD-explorer instead.

Enter an issue for this... because I agree, it should download all parts.

Selectable download-location would be great benefit for me as i like to have all media-files on external micro-sd card.

I leverage a download manager that I use in another application, and I agree, having the ability to select the location would be preferred. Enter an issue for this as well, since fixiing it here would also solve it in the other apps that I have that use this downloadmanager

Fyi... when you go to the "Downloads" and use the Settings menu you can change the download location for your files (I think)... You just can't change it, per download.

[drewg]

Originally Posted by stuckless

When you go into BMT do you see that the change persisted?
<...>
EDIT: I see you have added it to ALL profiles (good). Do you have more than 1 sagetv server? Are you hitting the right server?

I think the change persists in BMT. At least, it seems to be there when I open a new tab, and navigate back to the video streaming prefs.

Where in the actual filesystem is this configuration stored? I assume there must be an xml file, or an sqlite database or something.. Is there some way that I can verify from the command line that BMT stored the config how it was expected?

Yes, I only have a single SageTV server. And I know I'm hitting it, because I've instrumented the cvlc scrip to log its arguments..

Thanks,

Drew

I'm thinking to just re-write the wrapper script to parse the VLC args and add the "channels=2"...

[mkanet]

Stuckless, It looks like my problem is revolved around file permissions on my C:\ drive. If its permissions issue, its my own fault. I had "hardened" the security of my C:\ drive a while back; which may be the cause.

If I execute sageTVservice.exe using my personal user ID, "Michael", vlc.exe starts using >50% CPU; and, creates small .ts files in the C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\userdata\Phoenix\streaming\8e3ff885-a64a-3c34-ab13-f82a8d45eb69 directory. I think it's supposed to do that; which it wasn't before when sageTVservice.exe was using the Windows local system for authentication.

If you, or anyone, know what permission dependencies sageTVservice.exe, java, etc needs... please let me know. I would like to put it back to using the local system for authentication. I will eventually reimage my machine with an older image which should correct any permissions issues; but, maybe I can make this work for now.

Anyway, now, I'm running into another issue... shortly after the video tries to stream (after I select the respective video streaming profile), I get the error message:
"Sorry, this video cannot be played". Is this a player issue? I have MX player installed; but not sure where it's failing now.

I've attached the log files. Maybe they mean more this time around...

Originally Posted by stuckless

I ran into an issue this weekend (on my server) whereby I had a permissions issue... the VLC command was running, and it was attempting to create the files, but vlc did have permissions to actually create files, and so I was getting the "Stream could not be created" message. I'd say that permissions is a good place to start. Because both sagetv and vlc will need to be able to create files in the userdata/Phoenix/streaming/ directory.

[Dargason]

Sounds like progress... those video files (each about 4-5s long) are normal. or at least I'm getting them too.

You might try a different video player, but first you should look at the settings in MX Player. You can enable and disable SW and HW+ encoders and you might find something that works. (I think it's device dependent... the achilles heel of Android.)