External volume controller for Multiple Sage instances?

[nethawk]

Does anyone know how to be able to control Sage's volume without having to do it through Sage? How about with multiple instances? Could you refrence the specific Sage instance you'd want? Is this something that needs to be done with Studio?

[Opus4]

You can simply change Windows' volume... but that doesn't get you any closer to controling the volume of each individual SageTV instance. I still don't know how to do that, or if it is even possible.

- Andy

[nethawk]

Yeah, even if you wrote a program that would refrence each individual Sage instance, how would it do it? Through Process ID I guess? That would SUCK.

[Opus4]

But even if you did that, I believe (could be wrong though) SageTV changes one particular system volume setting, so changing the volume in one ends up changing the volume for everything. If I'm right about that, it is the part I don't know how to get around.

Edit: I'm not sure if the volume control method changes if you select a different audio renderer.

- Andy

[nethawk]

Well, looking at the ye olde faq, you could send windows messages to do it, but I don't know how you'd reference the individual instance. Basically, mute/unmute would be sufficient.

[Opus4]

By playing with various audio renderers I was able to mute them separately. Volume control is still shared, though. Still wondering about a way to talk to each instance separately though...

Edit: obviously, using the mouse/keyboard to do this works. Do you need message capability?

- Andy

[nethawk]

I would rather do it with as little keystrokes/mouse usage as possible. My having to run the audio through the computer basically sucks enough, it wont be so bad if I had some sort of way of being able to switch which feed was 'active'.

[Opus4]

Currently, SageTVClient has no internal way for use to differentiate between the multiple instances that are running. However, I wrote a small test program to change the window name from SageWin to SageWinA and that worked -- it will no longer receive messages for SageWin, but it will for SageWinA. I'm currently trying to find out if that causes any adverse side effects inside the program.

If it turns out that there are no problems with this method, you could change all the window titles & go from there. A simple program could be written to automatically look for all instances and give them unique names. Can you write this? (Use the WM_SETTEXT message to change the window name.) If not, I can do it within a day or 2 -- it is really a simple modification of my SendMessage utility. I would just create a very simplistic RenameAllSage program.

Then, you could set your remote to control 4 separate devices, each one a separate instance of SageTVClient. What kind of remote are you using?

- Andy

[nethawk]

I'm not using one currently. I could get one if it would help me switch audio feeds. It would be great if you could have it switch channels in each instance as well. I code, but it's scripting for linux and some javascript. So if you could do that it would be great. May be useful to a few of the people that have use multiple instances at once.

[Opus4]

Before I do this, though, I want to clarify how you are going to control it before I take the time to write the program. If you are not using a remote, are you using some sort of program/script to control each instance? You said you don't want to use the keyboard/mouse much, but if no remote is in use... ?

(Also, remember: I still haven't verified that changing the window name won't cause internal SageTV problems.)

- Andy

[nethawk]

I'm currently not using anything to control it really. Just using the window. A remote is the best way to go, which do you recommend? Would it be possible to use one of the remote interfaces (streamzap or whatever) on the computer end and a regular universal remote to send commands to it? By regular I'm not thinking like Radio Shack $10 special, but one of the higher-end home theater remotes?

[Opus4]

I don't remember which encoder cards you are using. Do you have the Hauppauge IR receiver? If so, it will get the job done, espcially with a new/replacement remote. See the links in my sig lines for dealing with the Hauppauge remote/receiver. That's what I use with an MX-700, but you can spend a lot less & get a JP1 capable remote & program it much easier.

Since you want to be able to send messages, I think you will either want to simply use the Hauppauge IR software with its receiver or use Girder with just about any IR receiver. Using either of those will allow you to send messages to any window you want -- no need for the window to have focus & they can be configured how you want them to be. Girder has a LOT more functionality.

Either way, I would imagine that you would dedicate 4 devices on the remote: 1 to control each instance. Or, simply dedicate 4 buttons to switch between the instances you wish to control & the rest of the buttons continue as before. You could even do that with the original silver Hauppauge remote & then use the 4 colored buttons as your app switchers.

Again... don't forget that this is all dependent on that name change not causing problems. I'm still not 100% sure about that part.

- Andy

[nethawk]

I actually have 2 Roslyn's (with a 3rd being RMA'd, grrrr) and no remote capabilities right now. Which remote do you think would work best with your utility? BTW, thanks for taking to time to write it.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by nethawk
Which remote do you think would work best with your utility?

Remotes seem to be such a personal preference that I don't think I can answer that too well. A lot of it comes down to how much you want to spend & how fancy a remote you want. With Hauppauge's latest IR softare update, it would work with this quite well, but then you'll need to buy a 250 or perhaps a pvr-usb2. The cheaper cards don't have an IR receiver.

In that case, you should be able to use the StreamZap along with Girder (another expense if you want the latest version). That remote doesn't have a large number of buttons, but maybe you don't need it to have a lot. You could use its 4 colored buttons to tell Girder which instance to control.

Just about any remote can be used with the usb-uirt receiver + Girder for this.

Sorry to be a bit vague, but there is no single 'right' answer.

One thing to keep in mind is that this method of control will be a bit experimental. I can't verify that SageTV will run w/o problems after changing its window name. Therefore, you'll have to PM your email address to me & I'll email it to you when it is done. I'm not going to upload it to the forum, since if it does cause problems, I don't want people to try it & then think there is a SageTV bug. You'll be able to test the thing before buying a remote to verify that your multiple instances don't crash after changing the names.

You could then create a few test batch/script files to at least control the mute setting on the various instances -- using the 2 Mute ON & OFF commands.

- Andy

[Opus4]

I forgot to say: you mentioned wanting to use the live preview when/if that becomes available in SageTV: that means you don't want to use the Hauppauge tuners with a remote, since I don't believe any of the older ones with the remote can do that. If that is incorrect, I'm sure someone will let you know.

- Andy

[nethawk]

I will end up with 3 Roslyn's at some point so no Hauppauge remotes for me. I'm reading on that best remot for SageTV thread and am thinking that airboard/pronto will be a great way to go. I need to find something that uses RF and plugs into the computer though. IR isn't pratical for the conference room I am in.

[Opus4]

Just make sure whatever receiver you will use works with Girder, then... unless its software is quite configurable. I better let others recommend RF remotes/receivers. I have a cheap remote (~$6 Lola from x10 when they did their 'free' offer) that I believe is RF... works fine.

- Andy

[nethawk]

I could do some sort of crazy IR repeater setup. But that's kinda dumb.

[Opus4]

Check your email. I send the first version of RenameSageTV. It renames the window for all instances from SageWin to SageWinA, SageWinB, SageWinC, etc. I am not posting it publicly due to the highly experimental nature of doing this with SageTV, but if someone else has been silently watching all this, needs to control multiple instances separately, and wants to try this method, please send me a PM with your email address. Just remember that using it this way is AT YOUR OWN RISK and is not supported by Frey Tech. (I do not work for Frey!) I'e been running 2 instances with their window names changed w/o problems so far, but who knows...

So far it works to have my remote control each instance separately. It is kind of funny, though... I only changed a few commands for testing purposes. The rest of them continue to control both, which can have interesting results.

- Andy