[Android MiniClient] Now in BETA

[Denali]

Originally Posted by ThePaladinTech

The current android mini client is only for android tv. I believe version 4 was the last version to support phone and tablets. Stuckless intends to makes version for tablets, but for now get version 4. If my info is out of date someone please correct me.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...9&postcount=71

Originally Posted by stuckless

My last sentence wasn't clear... but, I pushed 2 entries to the play store, one for TV and one for Phone/Tablet. Google suspended the phone/tablet one, but allowed the TV one. When the suspension happened, I decided to combine the TV/Phone/Tablet in to a single release. So, I no longer needed the suspended entry. But I did want to clear it from my record.

So, long story, short, yes, the version in the play store is for TV/Phone/Tablet and it's been there since last weekend

[Denali]

The keyboard problem must be related to the ASUS ZenUI keyboard. Downloaded Google Keyboard and Username and Password entry works and can login as long as Automatically Login is not checked otherwise just hangs. Video & audio good.

Excellent job Sean.

[ptaylor]

I've been playing off and on with the mini client recently. I've been using MythTV for some time, but really would like to switch back to SageTV.

I'm using an HDHomerun Prime with Comcast with OpenDCT and running the mini client on a 1st generation FireTV (not upgraded to FireOS 5).

Some of my channels are in various flavors of HD (1080i and 720p have been confirmed to play back very well), and SD. The strange thing is that the SD content (looks to be 480i, with a 4:3 aspect ratio) seems to play back problematically. It's not smooth, and while it fills the screen from side to side, there are black bars at the top and bottom, squishing the video.

Are these known issues? Any workarounds?

I've also had issues with the client getting into a mode where it seems to refuse to play video until after the client is restarted.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by ptaylor

I've been playing off and on with the mini client recently. I've been using MythTV for some time, but really would like to switch back to SageTV.

I'm using an HDHomerun Prime with Comcast with OpenDCT and running the mini client on a 1st generation FireTV (not upgraded to FireOS 5).

Some of my channels are in various flavors of HD (1080i and 720p have been confirmed to play back very well), and SD. The strange thing is that the SD content (looks to be 480i, with a 4:3 aspect ratio) seems to play back problematically. It's not smooth, and while it fills the screen from side to side, there are black bars at the top and bottom, squishing the video.

Are these known issues? Any workarounds?

I've also had issues with the client getting into a mode where it seems to refuse to play video until after the client is restarted.

If you can make a video available, I can test it.

[scoful]

Originally Posted by ptaylor

I've been playing off and on with the mini client recently. I've been using MythTV for some time, but really would like to switch back to SageTV.

I'm using an HDHomerun Prime with Comcast with OpenDCT and running the mini client on a 1st generation FireTV (not upgraded to FireOS 5).

Some of my channels are in various flavors of HD (1080i and 720p have been confirmed to play back very well), and SD. The strange thing is that the SD content (looks to be 480i, with a 4:3 aspect ratio) seems to play back problematically. It's not smooth, and while it fills the screen from side to side, there are black bars at the top and bottom, squishing the video.

Are these known issues? Any workarounds?

I've also had issues with the client getting into a mode where it seems to refuse to play video until after the client is restarted.

I seem to be having similar symptoms. I use auto compression on favorites so those never have a problem.

[ptaylor]

Ok, here's a link to a few minutes of Food Network video:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...h-3064077-0.ts

When played through the Android mini client on my 1st gen Fire TV, it has a dark bar at the top and bottom of the screen, and the playback isn't smooth.

Edited to Add: In fairness, the actual recording from Comcast has the black bars at the top and bottom, but when using MythTV and the PVR client for Kodi, I can zoom it in to basically fill the screen. And the playback is smooth when I play it back via VLC.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by ptaylor

I've been playing off and on with the mini client recently. I've been using MythTV for some time, but really would like to switch back to SageTV.

I'm using an HDHomerun Prime with Comcast with OpenDCT and running the mini client on a 1st generation FireTV (not upgraded to FireOS 5).

Some of my channels are in various flavors of HD (1080i and 720p have been confirmed to play back very well), and SD. The strange thing is that the SD content (looks to be 480i, with a 4:3 aspect ratio) seems to play back problematically. It's not smooth, and while it fills the screen from side to side, there are black bars at the top and bottom, squishing the video.

Are these known issues? Any workarounds?

I've also had issues with the client getting into a mode where it seems to refuse to play video until after the client is restarted.

Originally Posted by ptaylor

Ok, here's a link to a few minutes of Food Network video:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...h-3064077-0.ts

When played through the Android mini client on my 1st gen Fire TV, it has a dark bar at the top and bottom of the screen, and the playback isn't smooth.

Edited to Add: In fairness, the actual recording from Comcast has the black bars at the top and bottom, but when using MythTV and the PVR client for Kodi, I can zoom it in to basically fill the screen. And the playback is smooth when I play it back via VLC.

I only get time to look at this stuff on the weekends (throughout the week I'm too wiped from my real job to do any testing/development). But I just tried this video on my phone and it played fine, and I didn't see any black bars.

Is your TV a 4:3 tv? And what device are you using play?

[ptaylor]

No, it's a Vizio flatscreen, 16 x 9. I'm playing it back on a jailbroken first generation FireTV, so it's not on running Fire OS 5.

[scoful]

My Fire TV updated this morning and now it just has a black screen during playback with audio. I was running 1.0.3 of the mini-client. I removed it and install 1.0.4 with the same result - no video, just audio.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by scoful

My Fire TV updated this morning and now it just has a black screen during playback with audio. I was running 1.0.3 of the mini-client. I removed it and install 1.0.4 with the same result - no video, just audio.

Does the rest of the UI work? Have you googled to see if other Amazon TV users, using other video players, have similar issues? Have you tried with switching players to see if that makes a difference?

[dranockcir]

Originally Posted by scoful

My Fire TV updated this morning and now it just has a black screen during playback with audio. I was running 1.0.3 of the mini-client. I removed it and install 1.0.4 with the same result - no video, just audio.

I just noticed that my Nexus 7 2013 has a black screen with audio when on the local WiFi. I had been using it on a trip this past week and it worked great over the Internet but not on local WiFi, I guess it has to do with transcoding. I use the IJKPlayer, the UI is there and the pop up controls work, just a black screen with audio when playing video. The Shield works great on the LAN and I use it every day not so much the tablet, just tried the Galaxy Note 4 phone and it works great as well, just the N7 2013 having the problem.

[scoful]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Does the rest of the UI work? Have you googled to see if other Amazon TV users, using other video players, have similar issues? Have you tried with switching players to see if that makes a difference?

I had seen someone say Kodi had a problem after the update, followed by a bunch of people saying theirs was fine after the update. Everything else seems normal except it seems to start playing faster after starting playback. (I'm assuming it's faster because it doesn't seem to even try to render video)

I tried switching to the other player but it tries to play for a few seconds and then flashes an error message up about not being able to play the file.

Is there anything I was supposed to install other than the mini-client apk?

Oh - and thanks for doing this whole thing!


UPDATE: On further testing I've actually found two recordings that seem to work. I thought that may give some clues but so far I haven't identified how those two files are different from the others. They're both 1080i and both appear to have a single audio track. Initially I thought that was somehow significant but other 1080i single audio track files won't play.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by dranockcir

I just noticed that my Nexus 7 2013 has a black screen with audio when on the local WiFi. I had been using it on a trip this past week and it worked great over the Internet but not on local WiFi, I guess it has to do with transcoding. I use the IJKPlayer, the UI is there and the pop up controls work, just a black screen with audio when playing video. The Shield works great on the LAN and I use it every day not so much the tablet, just tried the Galaxy Note 4 phone and it works great as well, just the N7 2013 having the problem.

Same here- I came to this thread looking to see if anyone got a Nexus 7 working. My Shield Tablet and Nexus 9 tablet work fine, and those are what I use 90% of the time anyway, so it's not a big deal.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Same here- I came to this thread looking to see if anyone got a Nexus 7 working. My Shield Tablet and Nexus 9 tablet work fine, and those are what I use 90% of the time anyway, so it's not a big deal.

Did it work, and now it's broken? I have a nexus 7 and it's working.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by scoful

I had seen someone say Kodi had a problem after the update, followed by a bunch of people saying theirs was fine after the update. Everything else seems normal except it seems to start playing faster after starting playback. (I'm assuming it's faster because it doesn't seem to even try to render video)

I tried switching to the other player but it tries to play for a few seconds and then flashes an error message up about not being able to play the file.

Is there anything I was supposed to install other than the mini-client apk?

Oh - and thanks for doing this whole thing!


UPDATE: On further testing I've actually found two recordings that seem to work. I thought that may give some clues but so far I haven't identified how those two files are different from the others. They're both 1080i and both appear to have a single audio track. Initially I thought that was somehow significant but other 1080i single audio track files won't play.

Do you know the mediainfo for these files.... are they h265? The shield will play those, but not sure about a tablet.

Could you post the mediafile for the file?

[scoful]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Do you know the mediainfo for these files.... are they h265? The shield will play those, but not sure about a tablet.


Could you post the mediafile for the file?

I'm using a FireTV second generation.
Interestingly the shows I was able to view were still recording. It appears it will play MPEG2-TS 1080i 29.97fps sometimes. It doesn't seem to like to play them if they're broken up. HistoryHD seems to be the only channel that will work at all so far. I use autocompress, so while the shows were recording they were TS files, after autocompress they became PS files and won't play.
If I start watching a 'live' show it seems it will play, unless I stop it and go back to the same channel and try to watch again (NOT set to record the show)

Not sure how consistent this is yet. American Pickers was one of the shows - there were two back to back episodes last night and the first one would play (until it was converted to PS anyway) but the second episode would not. Of further possible interest - I use a Ceton 6 tuner and the first episode was recorded on a different tuner than the second episode (same hardware - just different tuner).

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Did it work, and now it's broken? I have a nexus 7 and it's working.

I never tried until now. But, I'm running a third-party ROM, so perhaps that's the source of the problem.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I never tried until now. But, I'm running a third-party ROM, so perhaps that's the source of the problem.

I'm running cyanogenmod on my N7

[dranockcir]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Did it work, and now it's broken? I have a nexus 7 and it's working.

On a Nexus 7 2013 model it is black screen with audio when on local local WiFi

On a Nexus 7 2012 model it plays great, nice and sharp on the local WiFi

On a Galaxy Note 4 it plays great, nice and sharp on the local WiFi

All 3 devices work great on Internet, took them to a friends house and tried all 3 over the Internet. You can tell they are transcoding, slight blur etc, but they looked and sounded adequate for the purpose.

[nyplayer]

What are the Odds of being able to change the aspect ratio in the MiniClients as we can do in the regular Clients? Right now I have the 16x19 to Horiz stretch 140 Vertical stretch 140 for those videos that are letterboxed.