Android TV Mini-client observations

[panteragstk]

Hey Sean. I've been using the Mini-client on my Sheild TV since moving to my new house and I can say it has mostly if not totally replaced my need for a dedicated HTPC in almost every aspect.

I do have a few questions about the way the Mini-client works. (this is for server v7.1.9. Not sure if these apply to v9 or not)

1. Why the need for an on-screen remote (press and hold select) as opposed to a plex like OSD remote (press select)?
2. Do normal sage commands work with the IR blaster and/or flirc? Like I press stop, playback stops. Things like that.
3. Have you noticed on the sheild remote that sometimes other apps will begin to play in the backgroud if a certain area is pressed? Also happens if I use a CEC remote and use the play button. Sage doesn't react, but background apps do.
4. Is it possible for the Mini-client to advertise what it is playing to the Shield or what has been recently recorded? What I mean is, I have a remote that shows me what is currently playing on my sheild. While the Mini-client is playing it thinks the sheild is idle.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I do have a few questions about the way the Mini-client works. (this is for server v7.1.9. Not sure if these apply to v9 or not)

1. Why the need for an on-screen remote (press and hold select) as opposed to a plex like OSD remote (press select)?

1. My goal would be to not require and OSD at all, and to be honest, it's close with what is there now. I use SageTV daily, and I use the shield remote exclusively. Pause/Play works nicely and skip forward/back works nicely. Some of this requires V9 server since I had to make changes to core sagetv to advertise that a "menu" or "osd" being shown, but the smart remote works quite well. I use gemstone and sure I need to go into the OSD to access the "Menu" or "Options" button but other than that, I never use the OSD controls.
   
   

   Do normal sage commands work with the IR blaster and/or flirc? Like I press stop, playback stops. Things like that.

   I would think so. But I avoided using an IR blaster/Flirc since there is a subtle but noticeable delay. I prefer the Shield remote since it's very responsive.
   
   

   Have you noticed on the sheild remote that sometimes other apps will begin to play in the backgroud if a certain area is pressed? Also happens if I use a CEC remote and use the play button. Sage doesn't react, but background apps do.

   Not sure I understand this... so no I haven't noticed anything like that.
   
   

   Is it possible for the Mini-client to advertise what it is playing to the Shield or what has been recently recorded? What I mean is, I have a remote that shows me what is currently playing on my sheild. While the Mini-client is playing it thinks the sheild is idle.

Advertise it to what? I don't understand this one... maybe you can explain this a little more. What is the "remote" in this case? I'm sure it's possible if you see other apps doing it, I just don't fully grasp it.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stuckless

My goal would be to not require and OSD at all, and to be honest, it's close with what is there now. I use SageTV daily, and I use the shield remote exclusively. Pause/Play works nicely and skip forward/back works nicely. Some of this requires V9 server since I had to make changes to core sagetv to advertise that a "menu" or "osd" being shown, but the smart remote works quite well. I use gemstone and sure I need to go into the OSD to access the "Menu" or "Options" button but other than that, I never use the OSD controls.


I would think so. But I avoided using an IR blaster/Flirc since there is a subtle but noticeable delay. I prefer the Shield remote since it's very responsive.



Not sure I understand this... so no I haven't noticed anything like that.



Advertise it to what? I don't understand this one... maybe you can explain this a little more. What is the "remote" in this case? I'm sure it's possible if you see other apps doing it, I just don't fully grasp it.

Thanks for the response. Looks like my transition to the unRAID docker was a good idea after all. Just need to finish up.

As for the odd playback of background apps. Basically what is happening is I'll be watching something in sage and if I turn up the volume using the shield remote (slide up the blank part in the middle) suddenly something like plex will start playing whatever I was last watching. Very odd and hard to reproduce. Not sure if that is a good explanation or not.

As for the last point I'm talking about the top row of recommendations (or whatever it's called). Hulu shows things I either just watched or "should" watch. Youtube shows video recommendations. Plex and google music show an icon (tile, album cover, video fanart) of what I paused before going to something else. That sort of thing.

The "remote" is another unRAID docker for home automation called Home Assistant. It will show what is currently playing on the shield. If plex is playing a movie, it shows what it is and I can control plex. If hulu or netflix is playing something, it shows up as well. Sage playing something shows as idle.

I think quite a lot of this has to do with me using v7 over v9 at the moment while I get my linux docker up and running so I'll test and report back.

Hope I clarified everything. Thanks for taking the time to look.

[panteragstk]

So I've been using v9 with the shield and I can say the experience is way better. The remote functions great. Like you said, I don't really need the OSD remote for the most part.

Thanks again for the great work.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

So I've been using v9 with the shield and I can say the experience is way better. The remote functions great. Like you said, I don't really need the OSD remote for the most part.

Thanks again for the great work.

That is good to hear. Btw, as for your previous post, I've never experienced the background playback issue, and I use the remote volume all the time. For the recommendation bar, I've had that working in another app, so it's that not that hard to do, but, the bigger challenge will be for me to get the miniclient to start and then play a video right away... Not sure how easy/hard that might be.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stuckless

That is good to hear. Btw, as for your previous post, I've never experienced the background playback issue, and I use the remote volume all the time. For the recommendation bar, I've had that working in another app, so it's that not that hard to do, but, the bigger challenge will be for me to get the miniclient to start and then play a video right away... Not sure how easy/hard that might be.

Yeah, if it isn't easy then I wouldn't want you to even mess with something that isn't really of any value. You do enough around here.

I really don't get the background playback thing either. Happens randomly, but it is usually when I pick up the remote, so there has to be some sort of gesture that starts playback. Since I have CEC enabled I can press the play button on my TV remote and the exact same thing happens.

I'll see if the official sheild forums can help.

[panteragstk]

I figured out why things would randomly start playing on the shield. There is a remote gesture (not sure if that's what it's called or not) that if you double tap the middle of the remote under the physical buttons (the part that lets you control volume) it will send a play/pause command.

Funny thing is that this command does not work with sage and some other apps, but will start playing whatever is in the "now playing" tile on the top recommendations bar. Would be nice to disable that, but I haven't found a way yet.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I figured out why things would randomly start playing on the shield. There is a remote gesture (not sure if that's what it's called or not) that if you double tap the middle of the remote under the physical buttons (the part that lets you control volume) it will send a play/pause command.

Funny thing is that this command does not work with sage and some other apps, but will start playing whatever is in the "now playing" tile on the top recommendations bar. Would be nice to disable that, but I haven't found a way yet.

Could you turn on "show unmapped keypresses" in the miniclient settings... if this is sending a keystroke, then likely I can capture it to do "something".

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Could you turn on "show unmapped keypresses" in the miniclient settings... if this is sending a keystroke, then likely I can capture it to do "something".

Sure thing. I'll reply with results.

[NetworkGuy]

Just wondering if there is anyway to add the Skip Fwd 2 and Skip Bkwd 2 commands to the mini client?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

Just wondering if there is anyway to add the Skip Fwd 2 and Skip Bkwd 2 commands to the mini client?

Add them where? To the on screen nav?

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Add them where? To the on screen nav?

It would be nice if we could get more buttons mapped from the game controller if that's not too hard. An idea for some mappings in on the Github site .

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Add them where? To the on screen nav?

How about just implementing the keyboard commands from the full client? Could that be used to map to different controllers?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

So I've been using v9 with the shield and I can say the experience is way better. The remote functions great. Like you said, I don't really need the OSD remote for the most part.

Thanks again for the great work.

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

How about just implementing the keyboard commands from the full client? Could that be used to map to different controllers?

Are you using a keyboard? And do they not work? I'm pretty sure almost all keyboard keys are mapped through as is.

Maybe I'm not understanding the requirements/issue here. I'll be honest, I have a lot more sucdess with requests like "can you map CTRL+G to be SageTV Stop" or something like that, other than a really vague, "can you just have it work like windows client"

(I get the controller mapping, since that is mapping previously unknown buttons to sagetv actions).

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Are you using a keyboard? And do they not work? I'm pretty sure almost all keyboard keys are mapped through as is.

I did not have a keyboard attached, but I do now. I tried using the keyboard control keys from the manual. (Yes, I actually looked in it. )

It turns out that the Control and Alt keys are not mapped in the mini-client. (ALT_LEFT, ALT_RIGHT, CTRL_LEFT, CTRL_RIGHT) So the SageTV keyboard controls do not work. (FYI....numpad keys are also not mapped)

Work it be possible to map the ALT and CONTROL keys?

I could then program a remote using FLIRC to give full SageTV control in the mini-client.

Thanks

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

I did not have a keyboard attached, but I do now. I tried using the keyboard control keys from the manual. (Yes, I actually looked in it. )

It turns out that the Control and Alt keys are not mapped in the mini-client. (ALT_LEFT, ALT_RIGHT, CTRL_LEFT, CTRL_RIGHT) So the SageTV keyboard controls do not work. (FYI....numpad keys are also not mapped)

Work it be possible to map the ALT and CONTROL keys?

I could then program a remote using FLIRC to give full SageTV control in the mini-client.

Thanks

I thought for sure they were mapped, that's why I asked if you tried it. That being said, I don't really have a good way to test this.... I just checked the code and ctrl and alt meta keys should be working passing them along to sagetv.

The class that handles this is here..
https://github.com/OpenSageTV/sagetv...yListener.java

If someone wants to audit that and see where the problem is.

I think for the numpad keys I do have to manually map those to 0-9, which is not done, but would be pretty easy to do.

[wnjj]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I thought for sure they were mapped, that's why I asked if you tried it. That being said, I don't really have a good way to test this.... I just checked the code and ctrl and alt meta keys should be working passing them along to sagetv.

The class that handles this is here..
https://github.com/OpenSageTV/sagetv...yListener.java

If someone wants to audit that and see where the problem is.

I think for the numpad keys I do have to manually map those to 0-9, which is not done, but would be pretty easy to do.

Your 'androidToSageKeyModifier' function declares and builds 'modifiers' but then returns 0. Should it return 'modifiers'?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by wnjj

Your 'androidToSageKeyModifier' function declares and builds 'modifiers' but then returns 0. Should it return 'modifiers'?

That would likely do it Thanks.

[stuckless]

I've updated a 1.0.9 to Amazon Store, Google Play, and Bintray. It hopefully fixes the Ctrl/Alt issue and adds support for numpad 0-9 (although I have I no way to actually test it)

[Ryand833]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I've updated a 1.0.9 to Amazon Store, Google Play, and Bintray. It hopefully fixes the Ctrl/Alt issue and adds support for numpad 0-9 (although I have I no way to actually test it)

Just tested it - works great for me so far.

Thank you for your hard work in making this Android client work so well - it's awesome.

I'm now using it on my Xiaomi Mi Box with a FLIRC adapter for use with a universal remote - I'm now able to use all the Alt/Ctrl key mappings that the original Sage client uses.

**EDIT - maybe I spoke too soon? worked fine in my initial setup but now can't get the Ctrl/Alt key combos to recognize any more. Will do more testing and follow up with results...