[Android MiniClient] Now in BETA

[scoful]

Well now I don't know what the hell's going on. Today my Windows clients won't work and the SageTV service won't stay running. It seems to shut down as soon as I try to play a file. There was a Windows update last night and I intended to note it, but lost track during the reboot after I removed it.

Not sure if this is all related to the prior problem or not - I'll update once I get my Windows clients working again!

[KryptoNyte]

The key is to see if the server runs without any clients connected. If you're running the SageTCPServer plugin, try disabling that temporarily and see if the server stays running. The clients won't function without the SageTV server.

Or it could be a problem media file, or an issue with Java ...

[scoful]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

The key is to see if the server runs without any clients connected. If you're running the SageTCPServer plugin, try disabling that temporarily and see if the server stays running. The clients won't function without the SageTV server.

Or it could be a problem media file, or an issue with Java ...

SageTCPServer was in fact the problem with the Windows clients. Sadly I still seem to have the same problem on the Fire TV - sound but black screen.

[KryptoNyte]

Was the FireTV working correctly at some point in the past?

[wawilmsn]

First, congratulations to the team for a great Android client. I have been using SageTV from the start, and have 4 SageTV set top boxes. Trying to set up a home PVR system for my daughter and her family -- having to use NextPVR and Kodi on Raspberry Pi. Works but no where close to SageTV.
My problem: I have two android phones. HTC One A9 running Android 6.0.1. So far, it seems to work perfectly. Menus are quick and video is good. Seems to be no transcoding on server but phone handles mpeg2 and H.264 without problems. BUT -- my Nexus 5X running Android 6.0.1 has problems. Video seem to work OK, but the menus are EXTREMELY slow. When a new menu comes up, it takes 5 to 10 seconds to "paint the new screen. The screen view starts too light to see, and then darkens -- almost in steps -- until you can see it. If there is a list, and you use arrows to move down the list, or tap the screen several entries lower, the highlighted entry moves down the list - taking over 2 seconds to move down each entry. Once you start the video - it work OK.

[scoful]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Was the FireTV working correctly at some point in the past?

Absolutely - worked great. Problem started immediately after FireTV OS update.

[KryptoNyte]

When I had the black screen issue on the S4, the last thing that I did before it started working was to upgrade to the latest SageTV miniclient release, and then I stopped the SageTV service, located the client properties file for that device and deleted it, restarted SageTV service and try again.

When I've been lazy, I will sometimes just cut/paste all the client properties files into a different directory, starting and stopping the SageTV service as needed.

The properties files are in your SageTV install directory > SageTV\clients

[scoful]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

When I had the black screen issue on the S4, the last thing that I did before it started working was to upgrade to the latest SageTV miniclient release, and then I stopped the SageTV service, located the client properties file for that device and deleted it, restarted SageTV service and try again.

When I've been lazy, I will sometimes just cut/paste all the client properties files into a different directory, starting and stopping the SageTV service as needed.

The properties files are in your SageTV install directory > SageTV\clients

Thanks for the suggestion, but no change after removing properties file for the client.

[bialio]

I've been putting the Android app thru it's paces this weekend - it works awesome. Well done stuckless.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by scoful

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).

Just to clarify, if you disable auto-compression entirely, do all videos play properly?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by bialio

I've been putting the Android app thru it's paces this weekend - it works awesome. Well done stuckless.

I'd love to take all the credit, but Jeff helped quite a bit He might not have coded anything, but I have 100s of emails back and forth on different things. It's still not perfect, but, it's good enough that I've retired 3 HD300s and use the Android MiniClient for all my viewing.

[fventura]

I have used SageTV for a number of years and it has just worked so I probably have forgotten many configuration steps.

I am running v7 server on Window7 and it is recently re-installed and has worked great for a year with extenders and the Kodi plugin. I recently got a Shield TV and installed this v1.04 mini client. It works well (minus some missing mapped keystrokes) but I get a 15 day trial message.

Do I need to upgrade to v9? I would rather not mess with the server if I don't have to. What am I missing ?

[scoful]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Just to clarify, if you disable auto-compression entirely, do all videos play properly?

No - the only thing that I've been able to get to play at all is HistoryHD will occasionally play on 'live' tv as long as I don't stop it while it's recording. It's more miss than hit.

[KryptoNyte]

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?

What stuckless is suggesting here is that you download and install a program called "MediaInfo." Once installed, you can right click on virtually any type of media file and select MediaInfo to retrieve the media file properties. You could check the properties of files that play against files that don't play to try and drill-in on the issue.

I assume all these files play just fine on the server.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by fventura

I have used SageTV for a number of years and it has just worked so I probably have forgotten many configuration steps.

I am running v7 server on Window7 and it is recently re-installed and has worked great for a year with extenders and the Kodi plugin. I recently got a Shield TV and installed this v1.04 mini client. It works well (minus some missing mapped keystrokes) but I get a 15 day trial message.

Do I need to upgrade to v9? I would rather not mess with the server if I don't have to. What am I missing ?

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong on this, but on my V7 server, I believe that I had to have a placeshifter license registered on the server to use the miniclient without the 15 day limit. On V9, I believe this is not necessary.

[fventura]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong on this, but on my V7 server, I believe that I had to have a placeshifter license registered on the server to use the miniclient without the 15 day limit. On V9, I believe this is not necessary.

Hmm,...I have Sagerecorder, Sageclient, and media extender license keys...Thought I had them all and also thought at one time or another place shifter worked...but can't locate a specific place shifter license key.

Is the media extender license key the same thing? I can't seem to figure out how to add a key like this to the server. Is it the same as adding a server v7 license?

[KryptoNyte]

If you mean MVP/HD100 license, then yes, I believe that is interchangeable with Placeshifter licenses. It's registered on the Server side from the Windows Start Menu > SageTV menu.

[fventura]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

If you mean MVP/HD100 license, then yes, I believe that is interchangeable with Placeshifter licenses. It's registered on the Server side from the Windows Start Menu > SageTV menu.

That did it! Thanks for the help.

[scoful]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

What stuckless is suggesting here is that you download and install a program called "MediaInfo." Once installed, you can right click on virtually any type of media file and select MediaInfo to retrieve the media file properties. You could check the properties of files that play against files that don't play to try and drill-in on the issue.

I assume all these files play just fine on the server.

I'll have to hook it up somewhere else in the house - it was the living room extender. It won't play anything except the rare exception of a recording in progress on HistoryHD so I'll have to see if I can get it to play and catch the resulting file (even though it doesn't play after it's done recording)

They all work fine on my Windows clients. Everything was fine until the Fire TV OS update.

[KryptoNyte]

Digging in to some release notes on that FireTV update might be worth a half hour at least to see what changed (if the release notes are available and in-depth enough).

You may want to consider disabling SageTV media compression until the issue can be resolved.

On the other hand, there is a camp out there that goes the other direction, saying that the file compression is essential to creating a uniform file type that can be handled on Android without issue. So you would be trying to determine why the FireTV can't play the encoded/compressed file.

Because the goal of the miniclient is to get it to run on a handful of powerful Android devices (understandably), you will need to do some testing on your own for any device other than what stuckless has been using in development.