Android/AndroidTV Placeshifter client (Discussion)

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

I'm able to connect again with alpha 16 (Galaxy S4) but I still get that black screen after it makes the connection to the server, I never did solve that problem rendering the UI. I've been firing up the Sage Web Interface on a PC while fooling with this, and seeing the S4 client make it's connection, and then the device sits at the black screen.

Tonight I decided to enter the web interface after getting the phone connected (without any UI capability on the phone) and force the S4 to play a recorded TV show via the web browser on the computer. The phone starts playing the file immediately. It would be slick to get the UI running correctly on the S4, but I realize this isn't really the target device.

Not sure if this matters, but here are my results with video performance on this device (wireless 2.4ghz connection to router);

16:9 aspect, 3000 to 12000 kilobits/sec, Dolby digital 5.1:

- TV recording, direct stream Mpeg2 (Time Warner), 1080i 30fps = plays perfectly

- TV recording, direct stream Mpeg2 (Time Warner), 720p 60fps = plays perfectly

- TV recording, H.264 TS from Original HD-PVR, 1080i 30 fps = video perfect, audio lags badly

- H.264 MKV or mp4, encoded Mpeg2 TV show from above, now 1080p 30fps = plays okay, mild video jitter

- H.264 MKV or mp4, encoded Mpeg2 TV show from above, 720p 60 fps = plays perfectly

- H.264 MKV or mp4, encoded TS TV show from above, now 1080p 30fps = plays but jittery video and audio lags badly

- H.264 MKV direct stream, 28000 kbits/sec 1920x1080p 24fps = renders but jittery - cuts in and out, wireless can't keep up I suppose.


Misc aspect, Dolby Digital 5.1:

- encoded video H.264 MKV, 5000 kbits/sec, 1920 x 800 progressive 24fps = plays perfectly but 2.40:1 aspect ratio stretched to fit screen (incorrectly)

- encoded video H.264 MKV, 6200 kbits/sec, 1920 x 1040 progressive 24 fps = plays perfectly, but 1.85:1 aspect ratio stretched to fit screen (incorrectly)

- encoded video H.264 MKV 7000 kbits/sec, 1920 x 800 progressive 24 fps = plays perfectly but 2.40:1 aspect ratio stretched to fit screen (incorrectly)

You should go into the Preferences, and use the Send Log to send me a log. Maybe I can see something in the log as to why you still get a black screen.

[KryptoNyte]

Time Warner Internet is down here in the Midwest. I'll get on that log as soon as we're back up.
... from my phone ...

EDIT: Okeedokee. Sent. I would probably keep the priority on the solid "Extender-like" devices, however. Although slick as heck, watching TV on my phone probably isn't super high on the daily activity list, priority = low.

[Gustovier]

Hey stuckless,


Any luck on the screen drawing issues I reported on the issue list?

[sageAfficianado]

how did you install the sagetv miniclient on the firetv? thank you

[sageAfficianado]

Sean, Thank you for developing this android client. Any chance of it working on GoogleTV devices such as the logitech revue or the netgear gtv100? I would be happy to donate a device to you if you can explore getting it to work on them. Thank you,

[thatdude90210]

Whoa. I'm trying Placeshifter mode on my Oneplus One, and it works. I'm playing a video from my server via LTE and it's smooth as can be.

I used a bluetooth keyboard and have auto login checked, so in theory I have Sage anywhere now. That's awesome.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

EDIT: Okeedokee. Sent. I would probably keep the priority on the solid "Extender-like" devices, however. Although slick as heck, watching TV on my phone probably isn't super high on the daily activity list, priority = low.

I think that log was corrupted I sent an email. It may not be a priority, but I'd still like to know why you get a complete blank screen on a S4... I would think that device would be sufficient. Something you can try, is to find the client properties (on the server) for that device, and delete it (make sure the server is down when you do it). And completely uninstall and re-install the app on the phone.

Originally Posted by Gustovier

Hey stuckless,

Any luck on the screen drawing issues I reported on the issue list?

I did take a quick peek at this. The first part of the issue wasn't apparent to me when I loaded up the Phoenix STV. Maybe you can take a screen shot. Either I'm not seeing it, or it's not happening for me. The second part about the video frame remaining, should be fixed.

Originally Posted by sageAfficianado

Sean, Thank you for developing this android client. Any chance of it working on GoogleTV devices such as the logitech revue or the netgear gtv100? I would be happy to donate a device to you if you can explore getting it to work on them. Thank you,

GoogleTV (while based on Android) is a different sort of beast, based on Android 3.x. This app requires 4.x at minimum just because there are media apis that I'm using that are not there in 3.x. Sorry (On the flip side, having owned a couple GoogleTV boxes myself, the Nexus player is 100 times better than any Google TV box I've used -- Maybe it's time to upgrade )

Originally Posted by thatdude90210

Whoa. I'm trying Placeshifter mode on my Oneplus One, and it works. I'm playing a video from my server via LTE and it's smooth as can be.

I used a bluetooth keyboard and have auto login checked, so in theory I have Sage anywhere now. That's awesome.

That's good to hear.

Originally Posted by sageAfficianado

how did you install the sagetv miniclient on the firetv? thank you

I'm not 100% sure how you do it on the FireTV, but typically, you need to enable untrusted sources in the settings (might be called something different). You then need to get the .apk to the device, so using USB stick is probably the easier way, and when you open it, it will ask to install it. I'm assuming FireTV has some sort of file explorer, if not, then maybe see if ES File Explorer is available.

[stuckless]

Just an update...

On Black Friday, I ordered the NVidia Shield TV ($225 shipped here in Canada... Not as great a deal as the Deal in the US, but still was $100 bargain given it was $50 off and it included both the game controller and the remote).

It came yesterday, so I hooked it up and last night and installed the MiniClient app.

Performance wise it blows the Nexus Player away (and to be fair, I thought the nexus player performed really well, especially on a wired connection).

But, having the unit was good to give me a perspective of how the "dumb" remotes work with the UI. I definitely see where the home button (circle) should be mapped to something, like options, etc, since I hit by accident a couple times, and it totally sent me back to the Android TV main menu. And there needs to be some sort of full keyboard support either built into the UI or into the app, since without the 0-9 keys you can't really enter data on many screens.

I also need to better handle the pause/resume for the client (ie, leaving the MiniClient and then returning). This is something the HD300 devices didn't have to worry about, but it needs to be handled on Android for sure.

I hit another issue where the first video that I tried to play, kicked me out of the app, but then when I went back, and tried it again it worked. Not sure what happened there, but, I wasn't about to reproduce it.

There is fair amount of screen flickering (which I have an existing bug for). I'm aware of it, but I haven't had time to dig into the UI rendering code to figure out why it is happening.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the Shield TV, but, I think I have a ways to go before I get to a point before I could use it as my primary viewing station... but it's getting closer with each new build.

[brewston]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I also need to better handle the pause/resume for the client (ie, leaving the MiniClient and then returning). This is something the HD300 devices didn't have to worry about, but it needs to be handled on Android for sure.

Agree, that's why I logged the enhancement to remap the home button to keep the user in the app until they use the STV's exit menu option


I'm pleased you have a Shield TV as I have one too

[Dargason]

Originally Posted by sageAfficianado

how did you install the sagetv miniclient on the firetv? thank you

You have several options:
http://www.aftvnews.com/sideload/

I actually used the "Apps2Fire" phone app method (not listed in the site above) where I install the app on my phone, then transfer to the Fire TV.

"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.koni.appstofiretv&hl=en"

I ran into some trouble installing the v16 update using this method last night, so I think I'm going to try installing ES File Explorer and using that method.

[Dargason]

Originally Posted by samgreco

So playback of video works well for you on the FireTV? On mine it's jittery and quality is not great. Mine is a first gen.

I did a very quick review of a couple of files. It appears that files using this format play very well:

File Format: MPEG2-PS[MPEG2-Video 16:9 1080i@29.97fps, Dolby Digital/448Kbps@48kHz 5.1 eng, Dolby Digital/128Kbps@48kHz Stereo spa]

While files with this format are pretty blocky and basically unwatchable:

MPEG2-PS[MPEG2-Video 16:9 720p@60fps, Dolby Digital/384Kbps@48kHz 5.1 eng, Dolby Digital/192Kbps@48kHz Stereo eng]

I guess this issue is related to the MPEG 720p issues discussed a couple weeks ago?

[BobbyDing]

Hello, I've just installed Alpha .16 onto a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. I can connect on the home LAN. When I try connecting remotely, it wants my Placeshifter User/Pass, which I cannot enter as the keypad does not come up when tapping the screen. Is there another way to bring the keyboard up to enter these items?

Thanks very much, and great work stuckless!!

Bobby

[odledm]

I've been watching this thread for awhile, and finally got the time to try out alpha 0.16. Overall, very good for alpha status. Nice work Stuckless, and thanks for the time you've put into it.

I'm running Sage 7 standard ui and I do not have a placeshifter license. I have comskip enabled. I sideloaded the apk to my first gen firetv (latest os version). Both are on an Ethernet connection and the firetv is right next to my hd300 (same network switch).

Overall, the UI is not quite as fast as the HD300 but still usable and excellent for such an early build. I know button mapping isn't quite done but I thought I'd pass along a couple of quirks. First, sometimes (usually the first time I click the middle select button the options menu would come up. if I clicked back then clicked select again the normal behavior would happen (the watch video dialog would popup) The second issue which may just be an issue with the firetv. When I would click the play/pause button the song that I was listening to last night would resume playing. Again, that is probably just a firetv thing.

Video playback was a little sketchy and based on what I was reading up above and the fact that the firetv doesn't natively support mpeg2 deinterlacing it actually exceeded my expectations. First off, when selecting any recording to play it would continue to jump back to the beginning after about 10s and repeat. I could eventually get it to play by skipping ahead (I think I may have switched stream mode to pull, I definitely had the best success when I did that).

mpg2 1080i@29.something fps played fairly well but combing is seen. Granted I was right next to the tv, but I could still see it.

mpg2 720p@60 fps had the blockiness, where it would start playing, and blocks would disappear then come back and get back into to focus, and then repeat similar behavior.

mkv 480p dvd rip. Played and looked fine

mpg2 480i seemed ok but honestly I didn't spend too much time with it as the video quality was so so anyway.

I tried browsing the guide but the grid wouldn't show up (just the channel names on the left). If I would scroll, a box highlighting the show would appear (where I would expect it to for a few seconds before being hidden again behind the blue box).

The expected trial text was displayed on the screen as well, but I know to get rid of that I need to upgrade my server to 9.

I think that is all I have for now, if you'd like me to repeat some tests and send logs let me know. Again, I want to say how impressed I am with where you've gotten so far. I'm not sure if the firetv will ever be an HD300 replacement for me unless we resort to transcoding but here's to hoping Thanks again for all your hard work. I'd like to help with some of the programming, but I'm just juggling too many other projects right now.

[dranockcir]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

Hello, I've just installed Alpha .16 onto a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. I can connect on the home LAN. When I try connecting remotely, it wants my Placeshifter User/Pass, which I cannot enter as the keypad does not come up when tapping the screen. Is there another way to bring the keyboard up to enter these items?

Thanks very much, and great work stuckless!!

Bobby

You have to use a physical keyboard at the moment. You can plug in an OTG cable to the phone and then a USB keyboard or a wireless adapter from a mouse/keyboard you have laying around maybe or a bluetooth keyboard. I use this one

http://www.amazon.com/Rii-Smartphone...Keyboard%2FPad

[BobbyDing]

Originally Posted by dranockcir

You have to use a physical keyboard at the moment. You can plug in an OTG cable to the phone and then a USB keyboard or a wireless adapter from a mouse/keyboard you have laying around maybe or a bluetooth keyboard. I use this one

http://www.amazon.com/Rii-Smartphone...Keyboard%2FPad

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the info!!

Bobby

[Gustovier]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Just an update...

On Black Friday, I ordered the NVidia Shield TV ($225 shipped here in Canada... Not as great a deal as the Deal in the US, but still was $100 bargain given it was $50 off and it included both the game controller and the remote).

It came yesterday, so I hooked it up and last night and installed the MiniClient app.

Performance wise it blows the Nexus Player away (and to be fair, I thought the nexus player performed really well, especially on a wired connection).

But, having the unit was good to give me a perspective of how the "dumb" remotes work with the UI. I definitely see where the home button (circle) should be mapped to something, like options, etc, since I hit by accident a couple times, and it totally sent me back to the Android TV main menu. And there needs to be some sort of full keyboard support either built into the UI or into the app, since without the 0-9 keys you can't really enter data on many screens.

I also need to better handle the pause/resume for the client (ie, leaving the MiniClient and then returning). This is something the HD300 devices didn't have to worry about, but it needs to be handled on Android for sure.

I hit another issue where the first video that I tried to play, kicked me out of the app, but then when I went back, and tried it again it worked. Not sure what happened there, but, I wasn't about to reproduce it.

There is fair amount of screen flickering (which I have an existing bug for). I'm aware of it, but I haven't had time to dig into the UI rendering code to figure out why it is happening.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the Shield TV, but, I think I have a ways to go before I get to a point before I could use it as my primary viewing station... but it's getting closer with each new build.

Glad you picked up the shield the performance of the box rocks and I think it's faster than an hd300.

Getting keyboard support (with user mappable commands even better) will be great. Kodi has this and i believe people have used this feature to get their remotes (that support windows media center profile) and Bluetooth keyboard remotes to have a button for everything.

I'm glad you see the screen flickering as well, next to the other screen draw issues this is a big one.

Below is a photo of the issue I see with the original Phoenix stv using the horizontal view. That big black vertical bar and horizontal black bar is not supposed to be there. It's supposed to be transparent and then all you can see is the text. Almost like its a transparent shape drawing that's not working

http://imageshack.com/i/p3ymllaoj

http://imageshack.com/i/p3ymllaoj

[TechBill]

Alpha 16 - Nexus Player

It seem to be loading it as a placeshifter because I am getting a 15 day trial message when I started it up instead of "Setup Wizard"

Is there a way to force it to play as a Client not as a placeshifter? The placeshifter is horrible and all choppy.

Bill

[TechBill]

This is the bluetooth keyboard I am using with Nexus Player, It thin and about the size of a remote control also it have a functional mousepad so if you touch it then a mouse pointer will appear on screen.

http://www.amazon.com/Rii-Smartphone...words=rt-mwk02


I have the older model which I purchased in 2012 but still the same thing


Also I installed ES File Explorer on the Nexus Player then set up DropBox plugin so it easy for me to just grab the latest Alpha and drop it in my Dropbox. Take a remote and open ES Explorer to install mini-client


Bill

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by TechBill

Alpha 16 - Nexus Player

It seem to be loading it as a placeshifter because I am getting a 15 day trial message when I started it up instead of "Setup Wizard"

Is there a way to force it to play as a Client not as a placeshifter? The placeshifter is horrible and all choppy.

Bill

I'm not sure I understand. I just "connect". I don't tell SageTV what you are, it just knows. I think it always connects as a client, unless, you are on a different network.

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I'm not sure I understand. I just "connect". I don't tell SageTV what you are, it just knows. I think it always connects as a client, unless, you are on a different network.

That what strange about it, the nexus player is on the same LAN network because it does detect the SageTV server at start up but once I connect to it. It goes into placeshifter mode. Not the client mode

Bill