Android MiniClient v1.2.0 - Released

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by stuckless

but if you are running this on cheap/old phones/tablets... then it's going to suck...

I'm running this on a £25 ($30) Android box (Amlogic S905X), and it works really well... So no need to break the bank.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

I'm running this on a £25 ($30) Android box (Amlogic S905X), and it works really well... So no need to break the bank.

But that's a TV box... not a phone/tablet... the CPU and RAM in that box far exceends what a $99 tablet would have. But I agree, you don't have break the bank for a TV box... provided you don't mind the horrible user experience of running a tablet UI on a TV (I have that box along with "real" AndroidTV boxes, and it night and day user experience). Wilet the MiniClient runs on that hardware, I couldn't in good faith every recommend someone drop money on it

[rickgillyon]

Is it any different once you are in the Miniclient? That's all these are used for...

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Is it any different once you are in the Miniclient? That's all these are used for...

The miniclient UI would be the same, but if you are comparing a $30 Android box, to a $60 Android TV box, I'd spend the extra $30 every time. Even if you don't have a netflix or other paid service, Youtube itself ends up getting me to switch out of sage often enough that the out-of-sage UI seriously matters, and Android TV is excellent.

[rickgillyon]

Yeah, these users don't switch out of SageTV, so not a biggie.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Yeah, these users don't switch out of SageTV, so not a biggie.

One advantage of using SageTV on those boxes is that it would be possible actually replace the home screen with a customer launcher that starts sagetv automatically.

[rickgillyon]

Originally Posted by stuckless

One advantage of using SageTV on those boxes is that it would be possible actually replace the home screen with a customer launcher that starts sagetv automatically.

On mine? Any details of that? I use an app to launch at startup, but that sounds better...

[wayner]

Originally Posted by stuckless

When I looking at the pi, I was thinking more along the lines of building a relay station... ir receiver that could do ir / bluetooth sending using lirc... but the arduino seems like the right fit, and I think I have the IR receiver module (I have to check).... If you have something working, you send me an email, this would be a fun thing to get working.

Would it make sense to also have IP capability? You could use that for Sage and for many other modern devices, not to mention smart home devices like hue lighting, t-stats, blinds, garage doors, etc, etc.

I REALLY like my Harmony smart hub remotes that use RF to communicate from remote to hub. Not having to worry about LOS when using the remote is quite beneficial.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

On mine? Any details of that? I use an app to launch at startup, but that sounds better...

There is nothing built into the MiniClient to do this, since, on AndroidTV (real) you can't replace the homescreen. So, yeah, I was referring to use a 3rd party app to auto-start it.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

When I looking at the pi, I was thinking more along the lines of building a relay station... ir receiver that could do ir / bluetooth sending using lirc... but the arduino seems like the right fit, and I think I have the IR receiver module (I have to check).... If you have something working, you send me an email, this would be a fun thing to get working.

There are linux builds for the pi, however, that have full LIRC support, and it is just as easy to wire IR LEDs and recievers to it's IO as it is on the Arduino. Using LIRC is nice because of the ease of obtaining IR codes that are already available on the net.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

There are linux builds for the pi, however, that have full LIRC support, and it is just as easy to wire IR LEDs and recievers to it's IO as it is on the Arduino. Using LIRC is nice because of the ease of obtaining IR codes that are already available on the net.

yeah, that's what I was thinking there... basically it would be like building an open source remote hub. (it might already exist)... but yeah, I was thinking of using lirc, since it has the infrastructure and configurations available for receiving and emitting as well as the configurations for remotes.

[emveepee]

As a long time NextPVR user I am considering switching to Sage because of this mini-client. Not knowing HD300 functionality is it possible with the client to pause and navigate live TV and record the current TV buffer (if there is one).

Thanks

Martin

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by emveepee

As a long time NextPVR user I am considering switching to Sage because of this mini-client. Not knowing HD300 functionality is it possible with the client to pause and navigate live TV and record the current TV buffer (if there is one).

Thanks

Martin

Not sure I fully understand (but to be honest, I don't use LiveTV much, mostly just recorded). You an certainly watch and pause LiveTV... but are you asking if you can start watching LiveTV and then 15 mins in, record it, and it would recording starting the beginning of the show... That I'm not sure. The features in this cient, should be similar to what you can do with the Placeshifter Client and/or HD300, but not sure 100% sure about your question.

[rickgillyon]

When you're watching live tv, if you hit record it will save the current show, from when you started watching (or the start of the show if you started before that) to the end of the show.

[wnjj]

Originally Posted by emveepee

As a long time NextPVR user I am considering switching to Sage because of this mini-client. Not knowing HD300 functionality is it possible with the client to pause and navigate live TV and record the current TV buffer (if there is one).

Thanks

Martin

If you're talking about 'channel surfing' where you jump between a couple of shows, like the above post said, you can push record before switching away and it will keep it recording when you jump channels. If you do that on the other channel, you can jump back and forth. You'll then have to delete the shows when you are done with them unlike normal live TV which deletes after the show is watched.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by emveepee

As a long time NextPVR user I am considering switching to Sage because of this mini-client. Not knowing HD300 functionality is it possible with the client to pause and navigate live TV and record the current TV buffer (if there is one).

Thanks

Martin

Yes, and unlike other DVR software, SageTV records shows, not to a buffer, even if you are watching LiveTV. Lets say you started watching a channel at 5:59PM, and a new show comes on from 6:00PM-6:30PM. If you hit record at 6:15, your recording will be from 6:00-6:30.
The one exception I can think of is if you create a Timed Recording, instead of recording with the TV Guide/TV Schedule.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Not sure I fully understand (but to be honest, I don't use LiveTV much, mostly just recorded). You an certainly watch and pause LiveTV..

Great I got the answers on recording, rewinding live tv is really what I want to do with the mini client ((without a formal recording)

Originally Posted by mikejaner

Yes, and unlike other DVR software, SageTV records shows, not to a buffer, even if you are watching LiveTV. Lets say you started watching a channel at 5:59PM, and a new show comes on from 6:00PM-6:30PM. If you hit record at 6:15, your recording will be from 6:00-6:30.

Thanks I will have to install STV again to try the mini-clent. . I consider what you describe as being a buffer and NextPVR does that too with PC clients but I am looking at other platforms

Originally Posted by wnjj

If you're talking about 'channel surfing' where you jump between a couple of shows, like the above post said, you can push record before switching away and it will keep it recording when you jump channels. If you do that on the other channel, you can jump back and forth. You'll then have to delete the shows when you are done with them unlike normal live TV which deletes after the show is watched.

No I don't surf. like that.

Martin

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by emveepee

Great I got the answers on recording, rewinding live tv is really what I want to do with the mini client ((without a formal recording)



Thanks I will have to install STV again to try the mini-clent. . I consider what you describe as being a buffer and NextPVR does that too with PC clients but I am looking at other platforms



No I don't surf. like that.

Martin

If you are using NextPVR you can install the SageTV server and just setup the NextPVR recording Library as a SageTV import folder. Some plugins are required but you NextPVR Library should import into SageTV pretty well.

You can then pretty easily test the Mini Client. I have found playback varies by source and device. Audio is usually the issue if you have playback problems.

[VCRUser]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Certainly it will run better with a v9 server... but if you are using this on $99 tablets... it's going to perform like a $99 tablet. This is a client that basically emulates the HD300 (for a lack of a better work), so it is meant for a TV. It can run on a Phone/Tablet, but the experience will be sub-par... On decent phones/tablets it'll run "ok"... but if you are running this on cheap/old phones/tablets... then it's going to suck...

Nope. I tried this on my fairly new LG G3, running Android 6.0, and I would say it doesn't even approach "OK," which I'd define as being able to tap on "recordings" and get a list of my recordings, even if it's a bit sluggish. Instead, I tap on "recordings" and either nothing happens at all, or some random command is executed, like playing live TV (which plays ok, but there's no obvious way to pause or stop it).

Haven't tried it on my brand new Galaxy Tab A, but since I'd previously tried on other devices, with similar (worse, really - couldn't even get an opening screen to display fully) results, I've begun to suspect that it doesn't work well with the Sage6 server, and was wondering if anyone had achieved even "ok" results with that server. I am starting to plan my update to Sage9, but am not there yet. I really want to do a test setup on another machine first, and that will take a bit of time to arrange.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Could you post a screenshot?

Yes, raw screenshots here;

<screenshots pulled by KN>