Multiple instances/multimonitor use of SageTV on same PC?

[nethawk]

You can't install it twice, it prompts you to uninstall it if you do. If you copy the directory it doesn't work either. Any ideas?

[tmd]

Maybe a crazy question but: Why do you want to run two sessions of SageTV?
SageTV will handle multiple tuners without effort.
If run as service - Sage Client allows local viewing. And is cheaper than second app license
If testing decoder PQ - SageTV V2 allows easy switching without restarting.

[nethawk]

I need to be able to watch multiple feeds at once. I'd rather not use SageTV Server at all, and run multiple versions of the client. My target number of client instances is 3 using 3 seperate capture cards.

[stanger89]

You can't do anything with SageClient w/o a Sage Server to connect to, you could however (probably I've never tried) run one copy of SageTV in the background and several copies of SageClient.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by nethawk
...run multiple versions of the client. My target number of client instances is 3 using 3 seperate capture cards.

Have you looked at the FAQ thread? Specifically this entry, which tells you how to use a command line parameter to run multiple instances of the client? You don't need to install it 3 times; just run it 3 times.

I'm not sure about how to play 3 videos at once -- overlay won't work for that. Perhaps leave it set to default?

Edit: I just tried it: yes, you can set them to default & it will work. I had to also select a differnt audio renderer for each, since for some reason my default audio renderer stopped working a day or so ago. No idea why... maybe its this old XP Pro installation that I refuse to wipe & re-install.

Edit2: Next, I'm not sure what you would do about the sound for multiple outputs at once. Do you have multiple 350s, so that each has its own sound output? Unless you have 3 separate outputs for sound, I'm not sure how you would control the volume for all those simultaneous videos.

- Andy

[nethawk]

Yeah it's a mess and a problem. That's why I'm trying to seperate the audio and video before I sent it into the computer, thus trying to avoid the problem by bypassing it. I'm having problems getting the audio and video to sync though. I missed the netry in the faq when I looked at it, I read just above it too, guess I must be tired or something. Thanks for the help, if anyone has a idea why the video would lag the audio by a couple of seconds please let me know.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by nethawk
if anyone has a idea why the video would lag the audio by a couple of seconds please let me know.

See your other thread -- the video is being recorded & then played; it isn't 'live'. If your audio is going straight to some other output device, they obviously won't match.

- Andy

[Opus4]

nethawk: I think I don't agree with some of your FAQ info regarding running on multiple monitors. I run my client on my 2nd monitor using overlay & don't have any problems like you are describing. I do have 3D acceleratio turned off, so that would meet your comment about turning DirectX off, but I am certainly not simply using Default all the time. And, I do not have 3D acceleration turned off because it makes the SageTV UI really slow -- some parts of the UI are actually faster that way, but I get a slight stutter when I bring up the OSD while playing a video -- unless that is all you meant?

When I ran those 2 instances, above, I had one set to use overlay & one set to use default. I ran both instances on my 2nd monitor -- I have a dual cpu system, but cpu usage was less than 50%, so not even 1 full cpu was in use.

I'm not sure which options you were using, so I don't know if the differences are due to our options or if I'm not reading your comments correctly.

- Andy

[xlr8shun]

about the dual mon thing. i think it has something to do with your video drivers.

a few months ago i noticed that i couldnt get overlay to work on my secondary monitor, updating my nvidia drivers now gives me overlay on one monitor, but not both at the same time.

vmr of course, never had this problem.

and depending on what dual monitor mode i was using, 2 seperate desktops, or 1 single desktop span, video would span across both monitors.

[justme]

See I was never able to get Video to span to monitors on my old Multimonitor(one was actually my videocard's TV out) setup. I'm not using a multimonitor setup right now so I currently have no firsthand info but...

I'd love to hear what different people have to say about multimonitor setups. Perhaps this would allow Nethawk to alter his post to include your experiences. As has been pointed out this is a very complicated(Videocard maker/model, driver version, renderer) area, so I doubt all advice will be totally universal. Still it would be great to get as much info as we can about this subject.

One question I have is that I always hear people say that with Sage's 3D acceleration turned off you running in overlay even if you have VMR9 as your reneder. Well what if your running Win XP and you've got the renderer set to default, wouldn't this result in VMR7(as this is XP's default renderer). Or is this incorrect? I understand that VMR7 is not worth using since overlay looks better and VMR9 is superior to VMR7, but could it be that some XP users are actually using VMR7 without knowing it. I know Sage defaulting(with certian settings/decoders) to VMR7 caused issues(active movie window) during private beta testing. Does Sage now lock out VMR7 or something else?

PS:Thanks to nethawk for the FAQ entry. Please don't interpret all this as criticism, this is just how we do things around here. I sometimes think each person's computer is intectionally acting different just to make things difficult.

[nethawk]

By all means, feel free to chime in with your experiences, the whole dual-monitor thing seems to be taboo in the HTPC world. Let's work together and figure it out. I'm going to go over and screw with the settings right now.

[nethawk]

Well, some further findings. Turning off 3d acceleration seem to help with menu lag just like opus mentioned. xlr8shun: how can you change the setting so it spans the desktop? Also, I am using the latest catalyst drivers from ATI for my video card. VMR9 is still super slow. I'm having some trouble getting video overlay to work so I can verify that it works ok when using different video renderers.

[Opus4]

I don't really think the subject is taboo -- multiple monitor is often how SageTV is used, except that the 2nd monitor happens to be the TV instead of an actual 'monitor'.

With nVidia drivers, I believe you can set it to horiz/vert Span mode insted of Dualview; ni idea about ATI. Also, I thought VMR9 would take more cpu time, or at least more card resources, so it may not be the best option for mutiple video playback windows.

I just think that some of what you wrote in the FAQ is not the case for everyone. A lot depends on the drivers you are using and the setttings you choose -- while some of what you wrote may apply to your situation, it doesn't apply to mine... and such inconsistent results make it difficult to make a FAQ entry on the subject that is useful to everyone.

- Andy

[xlr8shun]

i dont know how to get ati's cards to work in multimonitor mode. besides just taking the defaults.

nvidia is leaps and bounds ahead of ati with nview built into their dets. it offers multi monitor users tons of features (and single monitor users also).

afaik, ati doesnt have anything like nview *shrugs*

[kny3twalker]

http://www.ati.com/companyinfo/gloss...=14&submit.y=4


Yes ATI does

[nethawk]

So THAT'S what hydrovision is for. DUH to me. Thanks for the link.

[Christopher 67]

I had a similar question about playing multiple MPEG2 streams at once.

Am I allowed to talk about other complimentary products from another vender on this forum?

If so, I was able to put together a configuration using Sage.TV for recording and using another product for viewing which works great.

If not, I can state that the other product works through the use of VMR9. Once using VMR9 I run multiple instances on the same or dirrerent monitors. The fact that it is using multiple screens is of no real importance.

It has no issues with mixing the audio from multiple sources. And I can control the volume on each instance through the software.

(I use an Nvidia 5600 and use NView to use two monitors. One monitor is a 19"CRT and the other is a Sharp LCD Projector on a 90" wall screen. It works fine for my use.)

[justme]

As a general rule, Frey is very liberal about disscussions about competing software. It's only polite to bring up a posible solution in a case where you can help. If you know something is possible with other software that maybe can't be done with Sage, feel free. If it's more of a "you shoudn't use Sage because this other software is always better" post, then just put it in the general forum and use common sense.

/justme

[Christopher 67]

Using the NVDVD decoder with the basic version of the Zoom Player seems to work quite well for me.

I believe that Zoom Player works with all of the dvd decoders. (That way you can use the one with the best PQ for your setup.) The basic version is free, but comes with some limitations. One limitatation is that you can't play the MPEG2 stream until it is done recording. The pro version gets around this limitation, and it costs about $20. (So if you want to watch "live" video feeds, you will need to pro version.)

Using that, it is possible to watch 4 separate MPEG2 streams on one screen if your monitor can support 1280 x 960 (and you are recording in 640x480). Or you can watch two streams on different monitors. (To watch 4 "live" feeds you would need 4 encoders.)

If it works for you, then great. Its a free download for the basic version, and I think the pro version has a free 30 day trial. For me, its a good companion to the Sage program.

Of course, it does not have the great ui that sage does. But if you want to watch multiple movies or clips at the same time, it works. The biggest drawback is that you are playing the files from the hard disk, and not from Sage's live TV interface. Sage always plays "live feeds" from the hard disk too, but Sage also tracks channel changes, etc.

It kinda makes watching sports fun. Put ESPN on one monitor to watch updates on around the leage on other games. And put the game your interested on the big screen. (assuming you have two encoders...)

It won't work for everybody, but it fits my needs.

[Grey_Goose]

Originally Posted by Opus4

When I ran those 2 instances, above, I had one set to use overlay & one set to use default. I ran both instances on my 2nd monitor -- I have a dual cpu system, but cpu usage was less than 50%, so not even 1 full cpu was in use.

- Andy

I'm trying to do this, and have on/off success. Typically one window plays fine & the other either freezes or stutters badly. Looking at my CPU, it's pegged.

I tried turning on HT & the results were even worse, even though one virtual cpu was practically idling, so I'm guessing it was only using one CPU instance.

I'm trying to get a 9800 Pro to run my 65" @ 1776x1000 and a 17" LCD @ 1280X1024, one client running live TV on each.

I'm using a 2.8 & 1GB RAM, what were you using on your test? My gut feeling is this is more of a hardware issue than Sage issue.

Thanks!