Android/AndroidTV Placeshifter client (Discussion)

[KryptoNyte]

I have the Sage server configured to run the media extender and placeshifter servers (SageTV V7), is there any additional Sage configuration that needs to be done to accept the connection from the android device (placeshifter password and such)?

I do recall trying out an earlier version, and having access to the SageUI, just not the video playback of course.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Here's a file. It claimed it was in the root of the primary device storage.

Still sitting at a black screen after launch. Alpha 5

It's interesting, because I can see it connecting and for some reason you log file is showing the app doing a "resize" twice... and after the second resize there is nothing... so I suspect this is why you are experiencing the behaviour you are seeing. Not quite sure why that is happening though

Originally Posted by nyplayer

It crashes when trying to play mp4 ... When started initially it goes to the end of the file I hit restart from beginning and it crashes. VLC will not work crashes instantly.

PS Disabling animations makes it much snappier ... (Nexus Player)

The mp4 and mkv playback will go to the end of file until the player finds the stream, and then it should start from the begging. If you let to go for a few seconds does it go back to the begging and start playing. ie, I think I need to not show the player controls until after I have a video working video stream.

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I have the Sage server configured to run the media extender and placeshifter servers (SageTV V7), is there any additional Sage configuration that needs to be done to accept the connection from the android device (placeshifter password and such)?

The connections are being made, I see that in the logs. I don't think this is your issue, I think it's a timing issue of some sort in the App.

[KryptoNyte]

S4 device specs.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

VLC will not work crashes instantly.

yeah, the nexus player is x86 so no vlc support for it.

[KryptoNyte]

You mention putting the playback control on hold until after the video is playing ... and after seeing that control on the first run, but I've never seeing it ever again on consecutive runs, even after a phone restart ...

EDIT: I take that back, I do see if after the phone sleeps and I pull it out of sleep. And can show/hide it, it would seem.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

You mention putting the playback control on hold until after the video is playing ... and after seeing that control on the first run, but I've never seeing it ever again on consecutive runs, even after a phone restart ...

EDIT: I take that back, I do see if after the phone sleeps and I pull it out of sleep. And can show/hide it, it would seem.

On a phone you can get the playback controls tro show up when you double tap the screen. On a TV they'll show when you pause/play.

I just know from experience that for mp4 videos, the player starts at 0, then jumps to the end, and then back to 0, and then starts playing... this can take 1-5 seconds. sometimes on the HD300... when I go to play a mp4 video i'll get a black screen for 1-5 seconds, and then i'll see the video and player controls.

[nyplayer]

AVI MP4 MKV will not play goes to the end then a blank black screen no sound no video. Play fine on HD300. Waited 10 minutes

[TechBill]

Downloaded the Alpha 4 tonight and installed it on Amazon Fire Stick. I am watching one of my recording right now on it and it play back pretty good. I tried both players and both playback pretty good.

I haven't play with it much other than to playback a recording but I do notice when I enter the Channel Guide, it would display the list of channels then a second or two it would black out and goes back to the SageTV server selection screen.

I do notice a flicker here and there in SageTV menu but still I am impressed the smoothness of the menu. It pretty good for an alpha stage. I will try to locate where the log are saved on Amazon Fire Stick and see if I can pull it out to post it here so we can figure out why it kicking me out of the channel guide back to the server selection screen.

Bill

[jm9843]

Alpha 5 is working again on Shield TV. My quick observations from limited testing:

• rendering quality is great aside from the occasional flicker when scrolling through menus. UI elements look sharper than on HD300 - I assume that it's rendering at the device's native resolution still?
• rendering speed is fast - at least on par with the HD300
• comskip interferes with video playback - make sure to disable autoskip in detailed setup/customize if this applies to you
• Interlaced video (MPEG2 .ts) is stutter/artifact free. Tested both 480i/1080i from broadcast. VLC disabled.
• Progressive scan (MPEG2 .ts) seems to be dropping frames and exhibits pixelation. Tested 720p from broadcast. VLC disabled.

Would logs help for the progressive scan video issues? Is 'Options' mapped to anything on the gamepad? I wanted to change default sorting on recordings but didn't have any luck.

Overall it seems like really good progress. Awesome job Sean!

[stuckless]

It's good to see all the posts (good and bad). I think eventually we'll build a good hardware list of what works and what doesn't. I have a feeling that the Shield TV will be "crowning device" and other other devices will work, but with some deficiencies.

The UI is being rendered at native resolution (for now), mainly because I'm having issue when I render it smaller and then upscale. I think some devices like the Shield can keep up, but some of the lesser powerful devices may struggle.

Are people using WIFI or hard wired connections? I think that wifi is going to be problematic in terms of keeping the stream buffer full.


@jm9843 - if you press and hold the CENTER button (or A on the Controller) it should send the OPTIONS command (ie, longpress ENTER is OPTIONS)

I'm actually quite surprised that either the FireTV or Shield work at all.

My next steps will be to get Skip FF/REV working. This is probably going to be as much a challenge as just getting basic playback working

[cncb]

Originally Posted by stuckless

My next steps will be to get Skip FF/REV working. This is probably going to be as much a challenge as just getting basic playback working

Just to make it even more challenging , it would be great if you could consider allowing skipping while paused with the static video image updating after skip. I guess this might be limited by whatever player is being used, but this is my preferred commercial skip technique.

[Fuzzy]

Have you looking into the server side transcoding features yet?

[Fuzzy]

Also - I see mention of options, or settings.. how does one access those?

Nevermind - found it on the connect screen..

[dinki]

Great progress! I've managed to get this working on my phone (Moto G) and Nexus Player. Both play SD content well over wifi for LiveTV. I did, however, have issues trying to play recordings. The UI seems to freeze up on both devices and I am unable to move from that screen. I guess I should enable logging

Also, it seems that full screen video plays behind all menus/epg.

HD content on both devices played audio fine but video was pixelated in high motion scenes. I tried watch a football game and had weird pixels all over the motion areas.

[trk2]

No luck on playback on my 4 year old touchpad running Android 5.1.1. Navigation is quite good after I disabled animations. I see the progress indicator go to the end of the file, back to the beginning but playback never starts. I also tried to play a wav file, in this case the progress indicator goes to the end and stays there. Log attached. I tried VLC and IJKMediaPlayer, the log is for VLC since the Touchpad is arm.

[gclayto]

All I can say is WOW, for an alpha product to work this smooth on a FireTV stick is amazing. The vlc option works very poorly, with it turned off its performance is more than acceptable. One question, "how do you get rid of the TRIAL bug that scrolls down the screen"? I look forward to seeing this progress into a mature product.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by trk2

No luck on playback on my 4 year old touchpad running Android 5.1.1. Navigation is quite good after I disabled animations. I see the progress indicator go to the end of the file, back to the beginning but playback never starts. I also tried to play a wav file, in this case the progress indicator goes to the end and stays there. Log attached. I tried VLC and IJKMediaPlayer, the log is for VLC since the Touchpad is arm.

Log is very helpful... There is a "windows bug" (not a bug in windows, but how I process a windows path) that I need to fix Now, I can't say that fixing this issue will fix your issue, but, there log does show an error that I need to fix.

Originally Posted by dinki

Great progress! I've managed to get this working on my phone (Moto G) and Nexus Player. Both play SD content well over wifi for LiveTV. I did, however, have issues trying to play recordings. The UI seems to freeze up on both devices and I am unable to move from that screen. I guess I should enable logging

Also, it seems that full screen video plays behind all menus/epg.

HD content on both devices played audio fine but video was pixelated in high motion scenes. I tried watch a football game and had weird pixels all over the motion areas.

Yeah, I don't ahve the "preview" video mode working yet, so if you are playing a video and jump to a menu, it'll play the "preview" fullscreen.

BTW, are you wifi or ethernet?

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Have you looking into the server side transcoding features yet?

No... still working on basic playback... SageTV should auto transcode if I set the correct device supported containers/formats. For now, I'm telling sagetv that the device can play pretty much everything, since the player is ffmpeg.

Originally Posted by gclayto

All I can say is WOW, for an alpha product to work this smooth on a FireTV stick is amazing. The vlc option works very poorly, with it turned off its performance is more than acceptable. One question, "how do you get rid of the TRIAL bug that scrolls down the screen"? I look forward to seeing this progress into a mature product.

"TRIAL" is probably coming from the sagetv server... This is nothing to do with the Android client. (I'm sure others know how to get rid of it... I've never seen it, personally)

Originally Posted by cncb

Just to make it even more challenging , it would be great if you could consider allowing skipping while paused with the static video image updating after skip. I guess this might be limited by whatever player is being used, but this is my preferred commercial skip technique.

I think i'll be happy to get skipping working... We'll have to make a list of nice to have feature once the basics are there.


FYI... I'm going to try and push out an ALPHA-6 tonight, if I can get time. I've fixes a number of smaller issues and a HUGE memory leak.

[nyplayer]

Is it possible to add a long press to bring up options menu?

[trk2]

Originally Posted by gclayto

One question, "how do you get rid of the TRIAL bug that scrolls down the screen"? I look forward to seeing this progress into a mature product.

I get the "TRIAL" if I connect to a Sage 7 server. I don't get the "TRIAL" if I connect to the Sage 9 server. Pushing my powers of deduction to their utmost, I have concluded that it has something to do with the server revision

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Is it possible to add a long press to bring up options menu?

Does long pressing "A" or CENTER button do that? (I thought it should).