Android/AndroidTV Placeshifter client (Discussion)

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by stuckless

This build uses OpenGL rendering, which is faster, but the rendering is not 100% complete (you probably won't notice, because it's simple shapes that I will not render, yet)

3 Finger swipe down will activate Options (ie, sends CTRL+O)

The DPAD middle select should now work.

Added ability to manually add a New Server. NOTE: LOCATORID stuff is not working so you'll have to use IP Address.

While there is still lots to do, and clean up, on the UI rendering, I want to start the Video processing stuff next. I suspect that next phase will consume a lot of time, so hopefully what is released right now, will be enough for people to play with.

Rendering on my Nexus Player is good ... Scrolling down the recordings a bit slow .. I have Images with my recordings that might be slowing it down I use the Diamond Legacy theme... I am happy now that the left arrow on my Nexus remote brings up Options. I cannot find a way to get back to home screen once I am in the TV Guide.... the only way is closing the app and restarting it.

Overall works great just the recordings section is slow the guide and menu Items are very good.


Edit ... I did find a way to return hitting options then recordings then left.... Gets me out of the guide.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Not notice a huge speed different on my end, but also not seeing any fanart images in Gemstone - honestly don't remember what gemstone is using to render them, but apparently its one of the objects you don't have implemented yet.

99% of sagetv uses textures to render... ie, Gemstone would be using that as well. The only thing, from a rendering perspective that is not implemented is simple shapes like a solid color filled rectangle, or an arc. (lines and non-filled rectangles are rendering).

So my guess, is that there is a bug in the client code.

I think before I move to tacking video rendering, I'll look at implementing surfaces in the rendering UI rendering code. That should give a performance boost as well.

Sean.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

99% of sagetv uses textures to render... ie, Gemstone would be using that as well. The only thing, from a rendering perspective that is not implemented is simple shapes like a solid color filled rectangle, or an arc. (lines and non-filled rectangles are rendering).

So my guess, is that there is a bug in the client code.

I think before I move to tacking video rendering, I'll look at implementing surfaces in the rendering UI rendering code. That should give a performance boost as well.

Sean.

What's interesting, is the fanart did work fine in the 0.0.1 version.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

What's interesting, is the fanart did work fine in the 0.0.1 version.

I might have to install Gemstone and see what is going on. I tested this on my phone, and on ADT1 both with stock stv and phoenix. In those cases it wasn't dropping textures.

[FreshOne]

Originally Posted by stuckless

This build uses OpenGL rendering, which is faster, but the rendering is not 100% complete (you probably won't notice, because it's simple shapes that I will not render, yet)

Added ability to manually add a New Server. NOTE: LOCATORID stuff is not working so you'll have to use IP Address.

This work great with the ability to add a new server. Your Android app also works well on the Bluestacks Android emulator for those of you out there with no Android device.

As an iOS developer, I was very excited when Sage was open-sourced. But from the progress you are making, it looks like a much shorter path to use what you have cross-compiled to iOS using RoboVM (as you suggested).

I look forward to your progress on the video playback (however long it takes).

Great work !

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I might have to install Gemstone and see what is going on. I tested this on my phone, and on ADT1 both with stock stv and phoenix. In those cases it wasn't dropping textures.

It could very well be an issue with gemstone well. I did find it odd that everything was rendering properly except the fanart, which makes me think that if anything, it might be the cache system that gemstone uses being thrown for a loop with an otherwise unknown client.

[FreshOne]

Originally Posted by stuckless

This client should work with V7 as well.

I can confirm that it does work well with a v7 server.

It does however put up a big red "trial version" message that overlays the UI (I assume that is because v7 still has license checking code in it ? ).

The trial version text eventually goes away.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Trivial, yes, but also tedious, so to date, there are no direct key mappings like, letter X maped to sagetv letter X. That will eventually come, but for now, if you use a physical keyboard, and hit a letter, nothing will be sent to sagetv. Mainly because every single mapping has to be explicitly setup.

Would it be reasonable to somehow use the built in Android keyboard?

The STV is going to need work to get everything to work properly. I am thinking if there was a new core API IsAndroidOS() we could then bring up the built in Android keyboard from the STV instead of the various Sage keyboard implementations.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Would it be reasonable to somehow use the built in Android keyboard?

The STV is going to need work to get everything to work properly. I am thinking if there was a new core API IsAndroidOS() we could then bring up the built in Android keyboard from the STV instead of the various Sage keyboard implementations.

Probably the better call would be a 'HasNativeKeyboard()', and a function to 'GetKeyboardInput()'

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Would it be reasonable to somehow use the built in Android keyboard?

The STV is going to need work to get everything to work properly. I am thinking if there was a new core API IsAndroidOS() we could then bring up the built in Android keyboard from the STV instead of the various Sage keyboard implementations.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Probably the better call would be a 'HasNativeKeyboard()', and a function to 'GetKeyboardInput()'

The issue really isn't getting the keystrokes or launching the android keyboard, that's pretty trivial. The tedious part is mapping keys on the client (ie, Android in this case) to Java AWT keys that Sage can understand. keystrokes are not universal, so we'd have to create a table and manually put in the mapping from what an Android "a" is to what an Java AWT "a" would be. If the Android Mappings for for a-z and 0-9 are the same as ASCII (which is what Java AWT uses) then the mapping gets a little easier. Now this being Android, I'd put money on the fact that they created their own IDs.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

The issue really isn't getting the keystrokes or launching the android keyboard, that's pretty trivial. The tedious part is mapping keys on the client (ie, Android in this case) to Java AWT keys that Sage can understand. keystrokes are not universal, so we'd have to create a table and manually put in the mapping from what an Android "a" is to what an Java AWT "a" would be. If the Android Mappings for for a-z and 0-9 are the same as ASCII (which is what Java AWT uses) then the mapping gets a little easier. Now this being Android, I'd put money on the fact that they created their own IDs.

Yeah, that's why i had suggested a 'GetKeyboardInput' method, intending that it would actually return a string, not a keypress, and STV's could potentially call that. Not sure how well it would work, but it would be nice if it did.

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by stuckless

If the Android Mappings for for a-z and 0-9 are the same as ASCII (which is what Java AWT uses) then the mapping gets a little easier. Now this being Android, I'd put money on the fact that they created their own IDs.

You'd win that bet. But it seems that you can derive the ASCII value with KeyEvent's getUnicodeChar method.

int asciiKey = event.getUnicodeChar(event.getMetaState());

Credit.

[stuckless]

@jm9843 - thanks, I'll file that away... since it will be useful once we get to supporting native keyboard input (which I think we can do without any changes to sagetv core -- or maybe a "hint" from stv to show keyboard)

@Fuzzy - I think I'll have another build tomorrow. I rewrote the renderer yet again So, now I have 3 implementations of the renderer (Canvas, OpenGL, and OpenGL wrapper). The 3rd one is the latest. It's as fast as the opengl one, but without the complexities of OpenGL, and it has the shape rendering functions implementated. It'll be intesting to see if Gemstone likes this one or not. It's all working now, but I want to see if I can get surfaces working in this new renderer, which I'm hoping will improve the responsiveness of the app.

[trallyus]

Stuckless,
Can you add an option to delete the settings and start the setup program over again?

I tried tweaking my overscan settings and messed up so i quit on the second overscan option and now the text and settings that follow it are all hidden.

I tried stopping the app and clearing the cache and uninstalling it and then reinstalling it but that did not work.

I have yet to try redoing my device to factory settings and trying again which I hope is a last resort.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by trallyus

Stuckless,
Can you add an option to delete the settings and start the setup program over again?

I tried tweaking my overscan settings and messed up so i quit on the second overscan option and now the text and settings that follow it are all hidden.

I tried stopping the app and clearing the cache and uninstalling it and then reinstalling it but that did not work.

I have yet to try redoing my device to factory settings and trying again which I hope is a last resort.

The settings are stored in your server under sagetv\clients folder. You will see a properties file for any miniclients you have. for ex. HD300 and this miniclient. You can delete the properties file and the backup properties file. then it will create one when you restart the miniclient.

[trallyus]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

The settings are stored in your server under sagetv\clients folder. You will see a properties file for any miniclients you have. for ex. HD300 and this miniclient. You can delete the properties file and the backup properties file. then it will create one when you restart the miniclient.

Thanks so much nyplayer!!! I will look for it now

[jorton]

Total Android newbie...

I have managed to install the Alpha 0.002 after using the ES File Explorer File Manager and an FTP client to load the apk file onto the Nexus Player device.

Miniclient seems to load up ok and find my server on my local network (server has placeshifter enabled but I've never actually used a placeshifter client). Also can load up the Gemston STV but seeing some rendering issues with shapes like the playback time bar and shadows.

Playback does not work for me, just a long delay and a black screen or spinning Gemstone cirlce. I see the files but nothing when I start playback. Either MKV or H264 (Hauppauge HDPVR) files.

Is there something special I need to do on the server side I am missing?

Server is an i5 2500k with 16GB ram with Windows 10 so I think I'm ok there.

Thanks,

J

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Get "ES File explorer" then you can browse your network. I have my sideloaded Apps on a shared folder.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...gs.android.pop

This worked well, thank you. I installed ES File Explorer and Google Drive, works like a champ.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by jorton

Total Android newbie...

I have managed to install the Alpha 0.002 after using the ES File Explorer File Manager and an FTP client to load the apk file onto the Nexus Player device.

Miniclient seems to load up ok and find my server on my local network (server has placeshifter enabled but I've never actually used a placeshifter client). Also can load up the Gemston STV but seeing some rendering issues with shapes like the playback time bar and shadows.

Playback does not work for me, just a long delay and a black screen or spinning Gemstone cirlce. I see the files but nothing when I start playback. Either MKV or H264 (Hauppauge HDPVR) files.

Is there something special I need to do on the server side I am missing?

Server is an i5 2500k with 16GB ram with Windows 10 so I think I'm ok there.

Thanks,

J

Playback is not yet supported. Sean is putting in a Herculean effort to get the STV to render. Take a look at the first post in the thread and it will show what he's trying to achieve.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by stuckless

@jm9843 - thanks, I'll file that away... since it will be useful once we get to supporting native keyboard input (which I think we can do without any changes to sagetv core -- or maybe a "hint" from stv to show keyboard)

@Fuzzy - I think I'll have another build tomorrow. I rewrote the renderer yet again So, now I have 3 implementations of the renderer (Canvas, OpenGL, and OpenGL wrapper). The 3rd one is the latest. It's as fast as the opengl one, but without the complexities of OpenGL, and it has the shape rendering functions implementated. It'll be intesting to see if Gemstone likes this one or not. It's all working now, but I want to see if I can get surfaces working in this new renderer, which I'm hoping will improve the responsiveness of the app.

I installed the aplha 2 on the Nexus and it looks good There are rendering differences vs. the HD300, but I know it's a work in progress. If you want specific feedback let me know. Also, if you have any "grunt work" that needs doing I am more than willing to help.

I think what I will start looking into is how to detect from within the STV if it's running on the Nexus.