SageTV Android mini client on an android based TV: Viable?

[Slack]

I just disconnected my master bedroom HD200 / Switch / and TV etc.. in preparation for a carpet re-vamp.

This got me wondering if I replace the bedroom's ancient plasma with something modern. Could I then idle that HD200 for doomsday prep (there is another in the living room), and run SageTV client natively on a smart TV?

I gave away all my FireTV boxes - but I recall side-loading Kodi and other things on them. I assume this is possible with newer smart TVs??

The HD200's have been extremely reliable, as has the SageTV version 9 backend on Win 7.

Is there a make and model of TV that lends it'self to this easier than others?
I looked for an android only sub-forum - don't see that.

[NetworkGuy]

I have the mini client installed on NVIDIA Shield and Fire TV stick.

The biggest adjustment you will have to make is the remote. You no linger have 40+ buttons.

The only smart TV that will run the mini-client is a Sony. I tried installed it once but it was so bad, I gave up.

[wayner]

I have seen a bit of discussion on this and generally the response has been - don't bother as the performance sucks.

I have a MiBox Android box but I still prefer the HD200 or HD300 as it is more stable. The downside is that then you need another device if you want stuff like Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Prime, etc.

[stuckless]

I try it and see how you like it. I've retired all my HD300s a couple years back and I've never needed to pull them out of storage. I run 2 NVidia Shields (my primary TVs) and MiBox (on a lesser used TV).

[btrcp2000]

I replaced all boxes with shields a year ago. Family hates the shield remotes though, so i also got a harmony hub and companion remote for each one. If you're patient you can find them for $30-$50 on ebay, and everywhere on black friday. There's a learning curve, but I've been very happy. Logitech has no competition so their support sucks, but these have been great.

Only thing I miss is 5.1 sound. There are those for whom it works, but I haven't been successful. If it's a live sporting event broadcast OTA, I will just use the HDHomerun app to get 5.1. Feels like I'm cheating on sagetv, but I bought that receiver for a reason!

The irony is that although my primary goal was an all in one box that would support sage, the result is less sage usage since the streaming apps are so much easier to get to now. Sage is still the best way to control commercials and watch sports, so it's not going anywhere in our house. We still frequently use Playon to capture streamed stuff and watch in sage so we can comskip.

I have two mi boxes, but also noticed the stability issues, so they will probably hit craigslist soon. Also wasn't sure how to get the harmony remotes to work with them, but didn't spend much time.

[Telecore]

Your use case sounds like mine, but I've kept the HD300's along side the Nvidia Shields due to some minor issues with comskipping, remote issues, etc. in the miniclient. You may be able to get 5.1 audio with the miniclient by selecting the FFMPEG decode audio option + exoplayer - this makes 5 discrete PCM streams + S/W channel which are sent to your receiver.

[nyplayer]

I get surround sound using just using exoplayer... on my Shield and FireTV 4K.

[btrcp2000]

Originally Posted by Telecore

Your use case sounds like mine, but I've kept the HD300's along side the Nvidia Shields due to some minor issues with comskipping, remote issues, etc. in the miniclient. You may be able to get 5.1 audio with the miniclient by selecting the FFMPEG decode audio option + exoplayer - this makes 5 discrete PCM streams + S/W channel which are sent to your receiver.

Are you saying that in the mini client settings, you have both boxes checked for "use exo player" and "exo: disable audio passthrough"? Anything else?

Pretty sure I've tried that but I'll try again

[Telecore]

Yes sorry I forgot the terminology but use exo player and disable audio passthrough, then ffmpeg decodes the 5.1 AC3 into discrete PCM channels (5.1) which is just as good because the receiver would perform the same conversions anyways prior to sending to the DACs. When I do this, my receiver indicates 5 channels and 1 subwoofer channel of PCM being received. For me, this has been the most reliable way to watch MPEG-2 with 5.1 with the miniclient.

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65975

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by Telecore

Yes sorry I forgot the terminology but use exo player and disable audio passthrough, then ffmpeg decodes the 5.1 AC3 into discrete PCM channels (5.1) which is just as good because the receiver would perform the same conversions anyways prior to sending to the DACs. When I do this, my receiver indicates 5 channels and 1 subwoofer channel of PCM being received. For me, this has been the most reliable way to watch MPEG-2 with 5.1 with the miniclient.

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65975

This is how I use it on my FireTV 4K and it works great.

[btrcp2000]

Does this work for Iive tv as well as recorded?

[wayner]

[QUOTE=btrcp2000;621438I have two mi boxes, but also noticed the stability issues, so they will probably hit craigslist soon. Also wasn't sure how to get the harmony remotes to work with them, but didn't spend much time.[/QUOTE]I have on MiBox but I don't generally use it for SageTV as I have an excess of HD200 extenders. But I had no trouble using them with a Harmony remote.

[Slack]

Thanks folks - if it's gonna be another box to run the client. I'll stay put. I have two small form factor PCs that could be relocated and they have the V9 client on them. I very rarely use them.

I'll cross the bridge when I have to.

[btrcp2000]

Tried checking both those boxes and get absolutely no playback at all, neither video nor sound. Receiver says it's getting pcm (although it always says that).

Telecore do you have your sources set to output anything specific?

[Telecore]

My sources are a Ceton PCIe6 cablecard Tuner and a HDHR Quatro - both go through OpenDCT (I don't use the HDHR software/drivers) - I use an OpenDCT profile to basically just re-mux (cleanup) the streams (no re-encoding) for both the cablecard and the antenna/OTA tuner. I think this is an important step because the Nvidia Shield video players don't like "dirty" streams and it seems that all cable and OTA tv streams have some minor issues. The HD300 is much more forgiving and robust as far as that is concerned. Besides that, I use exoplayer and disable audio passthrough. Here's an example of the OpenDCT profile for one of the HDHR Quatro tuners. Note: transcode_profile=<blank> means no transcoding (don't want that just, re-muxing).

consumer.dynamic.default=opendct.consumer.FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl
...
sagetv.device.-1474962137.always_force_external_unlock=false
sagetv.device.-1474962137.consumer=opendct.consumer.DynamicConsumerImpl
sagetv.device.-1474962137.delay_to_wait_after_tuning=0
sagetv.device.-1474962137.device_name=HDHomeRun HDHR5-4US Tuner 10703FE9-3
sagetv.device.-1474962137.encoder_listen_port=9000
sagetv.device.-1474962137.encoder_merit=0
sagetv.device.-1474962137.encoder_pool=atsc_10703fe9
sagetv.device.-1474962137.exclusive_server_address=
sagetv.device.-1474962137.fast_network_encoder_switch=true
sagetv.device.-1474962137.last_channel=24-5-1
sagetv.device.-1474962137.transcode_profile=

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

I have the mini client installed on NVIDIA Shield and Fire TV stick.

The biggest adjustment you will have to make is the remote. You no linger have 40+ buttons.

The only smart TV that will run the mini-client is a Sony. I tried installed it once but it was so bad, I gave up.

Do you have a link for Fire Stick installation method? Does anything need to be hacked, bypassed, etc? I assume the MiniClient is NOT in Amazon’s Play Store?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Do you have a link for Fire Stick installation method? Does anything need to be hacked, bypassed, etc? I assume the MiniClient is NOT in Amazon’s Play Store?

It is on Amazon's store. Look for SageTV you will find it.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

It is on Amazon's store. Look for SageTV you will find it.

Seriously? Cool! Last time I tried to find anything worthwhile for my Black Friday, 8” Amazon tablet, there was little there I wanted without some Play Store alterations...

[Telecore]

I just bought 2 Fire Stick 4K's during Prime Days and they appear to work very well with SageTV - also, tested streaming to both at the same time from the same router (over wireless-AC) and there were no glitches or issues at all.

[VCRUser]

I couldn't find it to install via the Fire Stick appstore, but easily found it on the web on my computer, and told Amazon to send it to my firestick, which worked. The one problem I'm having is that it doesn't play .mpg file video. It plays everything else. When I had the same issue on my MiBox I sideloaded version 1.35. The Fire stick version is 1.30, and when I tried to sideload 1.35, the install failed. I did find the setting to enable non-appstore apps, so that wasn't the issue. Has anyone had any success with this or with otherwise getting .mpg files to play on the Fire stick? All my recordings come in as .mpg and though I convert most of them within a day or two, as-yet unconverted recordings or recordings in progress are all mpg, so being able to play them would be a big help.