MVP Client 1.3.0 (2005/08/16)

[redman]

OK. Based on this thread, I decided to finally get a MVP.
I have a some what unique setup though that is causing me some headaches.
Running Cayars(14) and A Sage Server in the lounge room. PAL and has been working great for a while (even after girlfriend shattered it the other week....)

Now, I have setup the MVP and the OSD and menu are working fine.
I can hear the shows, but no picture.
The issue is the TV in the bedroom is NTSC only.
SO I want to be able to view the PAL shows that are recorded in the Server through the MVP.
I can watch normally encoded MPG2's through the MVP app, but not the PAL encoded MPG2.

Is there any way to convert 'on the fly' these files?
I have tried mucking around with the mmc/video_format_code setting and even stuck a video converter bit of crap hardware in there.

Any ideas?

[TakeFlight]

This is not really a complaint because I think it's awesome that we now get the full SageTV client on the MVP. But, I figured I'd mention a problem I've seen. I have my MVP plugged directly into my wireless router. My HTPC is in another room with a wireless card in it. For months I've been streaming shows from my HTPC to the MVP using the factory default software that comes with the MVP. This works 99% of the time and I've had almost no problems with streaming the video over the wireless network. It seems since I've installed the MVP plugin that my wireless connection drops more often then before. I think this is just a coincidence and not related to the plugin. However, it has revealed a problem with the plugin (and if I understand how the plugin works, the problem makes sense). The problem is when the wireless network drops out and the MVP loses it's connection with my HTPC it will start looking for the MVP server again and then will reconnect. When I start playing the show that I was in the middle of playing before the connection dropped, it starts playing at the beginning of the show again. Before, if this happened with the regular MVP server running I was able to "Resume" where I left off before the connection dropped. Because the stream of video is (I believe) separate from the actual SageTV interface that we see on the MVP I guess this means there is no way to establish a link between the two that would allow a show to resume where it left off? Assuming I understand how the plugin works.

If there is no way to have this feature, is there some way I can skip forward quicker without changing the time attached to the skip and fast forward buttons? It kind of sucks being 45 minutes into a show and then having the connection drop and then have to hit skip a million times to get back to that part of the show. Of course, the solution is to find out why my connection is dropping. But, even if I do figure that out, wireless networks are never perfect and it would be good if I knew of a way to quickly skip forward.

[Menehune]

Redman, I ran into that problem when I wanted to watch some PAL encoded mpegs on my MVP when it was hooked to a NTSC TV. I would get a "unsupported file" error message. I wound up using a software converter (I think it was FX Video converter-I need to check when I get home) to resize the PAL file to a NTSC file. Once I had converted the file to 320x240 it played fine on the MVP.

*addition:
The program I use is Cucusoft AVI to VCD DVD MPEG Decoder Pro. It's not free, but it has a nice simple layout and seems to do the job fine for me. I've resized all my PAL encoded movies to NTSC sized mpegs and they have all played on the MVP.

[Matt]

Just returned from vacation, so here's a bunch of comments at once:

Originally Posted by pbennington

Is there anything that could be causeing the mvp not to get an IP, or is there a way of giving it a static ip?. The other thing os that if using the hauppage software every thing seems fine?

There is no way to give the MVP a static IP address. You have to have a DHCP server running the MVP can access to get its IP address (this might not be needed with the Hauppauge software).

Originally Posted by sixdoubleo

Basically LiveTV plays for about 7 seconds and then freezes.
Here is a snippet of the log at the time of the freeze.

Tue 11/16 18:13:39:540 17 SEVERE MediaServer.run
java.io.IOException: The specified server cannot perform the requested operation
	at sun.nio.ch.FileDispatcher.read0(Native Method)

Any ideas? Is there a minimum JVM I need to be running?

Never seen this before. I guess the MVP Client/Java cannot access the video file reliably for some reason. If you are not running Java 5 (1.5) yet, I would try to upgrade Java.

Originally Posted by srothwell

What's the technical reason that the MediaMVP can't show the video window on a menu?

I assumed that the dongle.bin software was simply porting over whatever was on the client "screen" through the network and displaying it on the MVP.

Jason was absolutely correct. The video file plays locally on the MVP and I can't change the size and position of the video (or support for aspect ratios would already be implemented ).

Originally Posted by srothwell

However, if I also have Client running with the MVP software, the video playing back on the sage server (on the TV hooked up to the server's PC), has small jerks to it. About once every second or two, the video will back up a frame and keep playing.

If I close out the Sage MVP client *AND* re-boot, loading just save server, everything plays just fine again.

The MVP Client should be very nice on resources (probable too nice because you can get lost connections if you do heavy work on the PC running the MVP Client).

You might be able to identify the bottleneck using the Windows Task manager.

Originally Posted by redman

The issue is the TV in the bedroom is NTSC only.
SO I want to be able to view the PAL shows that are recorded in the Server through the MVP.
I can watch normally encoded MPG2's through the MVP app, but not the PAL encoded MPG2.

Is there any way to convert 'on the fly' these files?

Sounds like you need some sort of PAL->NTSC conversion or even transconding, nothing available in the MVP Client. Out of curiosity, can you play the PAL MPEGs using the Hauppauge software on the NTSC TV? I would go out and buy a new PAL TV

Originally Posted by TakeFlight

When I start playing the show that I was in the middle of playing before the connection dropped, it starts playing at the beginning of the show again. Before, if this happened with the regular MVP server running I was able to "Resume" where I left off before the connection dropped.

SageTV itself already has some sort of "resume" functionality. If you stop playing a show and restart the playback, it will continue where you were until the show becomes "watched". Resetting the "watched" also reenables the "resume". Unfortunately, this only works for recorded shows, but not for files in the Library.

-Matt

[TakeFlight]

I'm aware of that functionality but I assumed for some reason that it is lost in translation when using the MVP plugin for Sage. So, you are saying this is not the case? I'll have to do some more testing. But, I know for sure when the MVP disconnects and resets itself that the show I was in the middle of watching does not "resume" and it starts from the beginning. This has happened at least a half dozen times in the past week or two.

Originally Posted by Matt

SageTV itself already has some sort of "resume" functionality. If you stop playing a show and restart the playback, it will continue where you were until the show becomes "watched". Resetting the "watched" also reenables the "resume". Unfortunately, this only works for recorded shows, but not for files in the Library.

-Matt

[turak]

Originally Posted by TakeFlight

If there is no way to have this feature, is there some way I can skip forward quicker without changing the time attached to the skip and fast forward buttons? It kind of sucks being 45 minutes into a show and then having the connection drop and then have to hit skip a million times to get back to that part of the show. Of course, the solution is to find out why my connection is dropping. But, even if I do figure that out, wireless networks are never perfect and it would be good if I knew of a way to quickly skip forward.

You can assign the "time scroll" command to one the buttons on your remote. Then hit the time scroll button, use fast forward buttons to jump ahead on the status bar, then hit time scroll again to jump to the point on the status bar that you've selected. This allows you to quickly jump ahead in the show.

[JasonJoel]

I've had this happen to me too. It would be nice if the MVP client would execute a STOP command to Sage if it *loses connectivity*.

That way, when you reconnect and get back into Sage it would remember where you left off on the show, and you could cimply continue it where you left off...

Currently it simply drops off, and therefore does not mark the show you were watching as 'watched' up to the point you were in the show... Get my meaning? For instance, right now if I am 50% through a show and for some reason the MVP loses its connection to the Sage Client, next time I go back in the show is marked as 0% watched, not 50% like it should.

Executing a STOP to Sage on unexpected loss of connectivity should fix that though...

Jason Bottjen

Originally Posted by Matt

SageTV itself already has some sort of "resume" functionality. If you stop playing a show and restart the playback, it will continue where you were until the show becomes "watched". Resetting the "watched" also reenables the "resume". Unfortunately, this only works for recorded shows, but not for files in the Library.

-Matt

[turak]

Originally Posted by turak

I think I found a bug. I have skip forward set to 30 seconds and skip back set to the default 10 seconds. When I FF through the commercials it seems to get out of sync with the time on the status bar. So when I'm half way through watching a 1 hour show, the status bar says I'm at the end of it. It could posibly be only skipping 10 seconds in the mpeg, while jumping 30 seconds ahead in the OSD. I've only noticed this while watching a show that is currently being recorded. Probably because I use comskip on prerecorded shows. I'm using the Cayars STV.

After further testing...It seems that when I'm watching a show with the MVP client that is still being recorded, the time on the status bar is moving too fast. Like 2 or 3 seconds for every real second. So it basically loses track of where it is in the show. Eventually the status bar will say I'm at the end of the show while I'm still watching it. When this happens I can no longer FF or RW. If I stop watching at this point, it will stop recording the show because it thinks it has completed the recording. I tested on one of my other clients (a computer) and I didn't have this problem. Has anyone had similar problems?

[TakeFlight]

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try.

Originally Posted by turak

You can assign the "time scroll" command to one the buttons on your remote. Then hit the time scroll button, use fast forward buttons to jump ahead on the status bar, then hit time scroll again to jump to the point on the status bar that you've selected. This allows you to quickly jump ahead in the show.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

I've had this happen to me too. It would be nice if the MVP client would execute a STOP command to Sage if it *loses connectivity*.

I already do this in 1.1b to free capture cards, but it looks like due to some timing issues SageTV does not pick up the correct play time. I'll try to get this fixed.

Thanks,
Matt

[JasonJoel]

You rock.

I don't get bumped off the MVP often, so isn't THAT big of a deal to me. Would be nice though.

Jason Bottjen

Originally Posted by Matt

I already do this in 1.1b to free capture cards, but it looks like due to some timing issues SageTV does not pick up the correct play time. I'll try to get this fixed.

Thanks,
Matt

[michpriv]

I picked up an MVP and have been using it happily with the client for several days. One difference I see from my server is that the FFWD and RWND is not very responsive. On my server I can press FFWD rapidly three times and it will quickly jump forward 30 seconds. On the MVP each press of the FFWD (or RWND) requires a pause of ~2 seconds before it will respond to another press of the FFWD. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure if this is an MVP limitation or something wrong with my setup.

Thanks for your efforts Matt!, this is really cool.

[TakeFlight]

Mine does the same thing. However, I don't think the delay is as long as 2 sec. I assume it's a hardware limitation of the MVP that is being pushed to it's limits with the Sage UI.

Originally Posted by michpriv

On the MVP each press of the FFWD (or RWND) requires a pause of ~2 seconds before it will respond to another press of the FFWD. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure if this is an MVP limitation or something wrong with my setup.

[Crashless]

Anyone else's client process running away with resources? Mine seems to go nuts and fluctuates from about 128-200 mb when the MVP is OFF! It starts off fine, but the next day it's out of control. Every time I check it, it's just climbing quickly (about 1 mb every 5 seconds.)

Is there any way to make Sleep work with the MVP? It doesn't have to be automatic, just be able to make it work, and wake on a button press.

Also, it seems like the client is always running around 20% of my CPU (amd2600) while the MVP is off, which seems kinda high considering the sage process uses around 2-10% while watching live TV (using 350 of course). I'm using the Cayars14 STV, but it also happens with the Meekell STV.

W2k SP4
1gb mem
amd2600+ @1830
pvr350, MVP
Sage 2.1 NOT as service, Client w/ own license on same machine.

Any additional info you need let me know.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Crashless

Anyone else's client process running away with resources? Mine seems to go nuts and fluctuates from about 128-200 mb when the MVP is OFF! It starts off fine, but the next day it's out of control. Every time I check it, it's just climbing quickly (about 1 mb every 5 seconds.)

Mine is very stable at 100-120MB (size probably depends on EPG size). I'm using Java 5 (1.5) which supposedly reduces memory usage a bit, BTW.

Originally Posted by Crashless

Is there any way to make Sleep work with the MVP? It doesn't have to be automatic, just be able to make it work, and wake on a button press.

Sorry, no idea. You can put the MVP to sleep by turning it off using the green RC button, but I don't know what has to be done to get the sleep working on the client/PC side.

Originally Posted by Crashless

Also, it seems like the client is always running around 20% of my CPU (amd2600) while the MVP is off, which seems kinda high considering the sage process uses around 2-10% while watching live TV (using 350 of course). I'm using the Cayars14 STV, but it also happens with the Meekell STV.

I guess those STVs have high refresh rates even when idle (no optimization is done yet to reduce the idle resource usage when the MVP is off). With the standard STV, I'm seeing 0-1% on a P4 3GHz PC even when watching a video. It only jumps up when navigating the UI or on skips.

-Matt

[Stuntman]

I recently heard from Hauppauge that they are developing a wireless version of the MediaMVP.. anybody have any info or inside news about this? As it stands now, for me to use the MVP I'd have to buy a Ethernet to Wireless bridge, and that isn't cheap!

[srothwell]

OK..... here's a brainbuster for you Matt......

Up until yesterday, the MediaMVP client worked just great. Every aspect worked fine.

Now, it will not watch live TV anymore. If you select a program that on right now (either by EPG or "Live TV") it will remove the menu, show the OSD and just have black with the time counter not moving. The time counter will show how much of the live program has past (time bar being RED).

However, it WILL playback shows that have already been recorded --- unless the show was told be recorded from the MVP (i.e. from the MVP I told ER to record). If I try to look at that, it will still show only the black screen. But, if I go downstairs and tell a different machine (PC) to record ER then the MVP will play that back fine while it's still recording.

Two notes:

1. I installed nielm's webserver plugin yesterday.
2. In reference to #1 (above), the MVP client is NOT on the Sage Server. It is on a completely separate PC, so no components of web server have been installed on the MVP client PC.
3. A third PC's client software works just like it's supposed to.... no problems with Live TV.

I tried cold-booting the MVP to no avail.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Stacy

[Matt]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Now, it will not watch live TV anymore. If you select a program that on right now (either by EPG or "Live TV") it will remove the menu, show the OSD and just have black with the time counter not moving. The time counter will show how much of the live program has past (time bar being RED).

However, it WILL playback shows that have already been recorded

Looks like the MVP Client cannot access some media files. Do you have multiple video folders? Did you play with permissions?

What does the mvp\mvp_0.log say? Also see Troubleshooting item 2.

Originally Posted by srothwell

--- unless the show was told be recorded from the MVP (i.e. from the MVP I told ER to record). If I try to look at that, it will still show only the black screen. But, if I go downstairs and tell a different machine (PC) to record ER then the MVP will play that back fine while it's still recording.

The only thing I can imagine is that this is random selection of one of multiple video folders and the MVP Client can access only some of them.

-Matt

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by Matt

Looks like the MVP Client cannot access some media files. Do you have multiple video folders? Did you play with permissions?

What does the mvp\mvp_0.log say? Also see Troubleshooting item 2.

The only thing I can imagine is that this is random selection of one of multiple video folders and the MVP Client can access only some of them.

-Matt

Matt, Does the MVP treat playing a recorded file and a live file differently? Isn't Live TV just playing back a file before it's done recording?

Also, I only have one directory for video files. The only permissions I messed with was actually opening up permissions for all users to access the video directory so the webserver could access the files. MVP plays recorded TV shows just fine.... no live tv.

Here is a snippet of the log0 file. It is 845K and it all looks like this portion, over and over again..... any idea?

--- log0 file ------
Fri 12/03 11:02:20:890 18 SEVERE GuiServer.sendMessage
java.io.IOException: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine
at sun.nio.ch.SocketDispatcher.write0(Native Method)
at sun.nio.ch.SocketDispatcher.write(Unknown Source)
at sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.writeFromNativeBuffer(Unknown Source)
at sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.write(Unknown Source)
at sun.nio.ch.SocketChannelImpl.write(Unknown Source)
at ch.streams.mvp.guiserver.GuiServer.sendMessage(GuiServer.java:87)
at ch.streams.mvp.guiserver.GuiServer$1.run(GuiServer.java:151)
at java.util.TimerThread.mainLoop(Unknown Source)
at java.util.TimerThread.run(Unknown Source)

[Matt]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Matt, Does the MVP treat playing a recorded file and a live file differently? Isn't Live TV just playing back a file before it's done recording?

They are handled exactly the same.

Originally Posted by srothwell

Also, I only have one directory for video files. The only permissions I messed with was actually opening up permissions for all users to access the video directory so the webserver could access the files. MVP plays recorded TV shows just fine.... no live tv.

Strange, maybe the files are locked for reading somehow by background processes or you have limited the concurrent access to files or shares?!

Originally Posted by srothwell

Here is a snippet of the log0 file. It is 845K and it all looks like this portion, over and over again..... any idea?

These are just "normal" disconnects, e.g. if the MVP loses connection or if the MVP is powered off. There must be something else in there. Please check your PM.

-Matt