Meedio + SageTV

[wexsmith]

My one issue I've had with Sage is when you put it into sleep mode the START BAR, of all things, takes focus. Every other piece of software that minimizes to the system tray gives focus back to the last window that had it. Maybe it's the conjunction of Meedio and SageTV that just don't work well together at all.

1. Has there ever been a fix for this without third party software?
2. Will there ever be a fix for it?
3. Why do other programs that minimize to the system tray work fine?

[mostlyfodder]

i cant answer your question, but maybe you can try hiding the taskbar. user named reverson made a great prog to toggle the taskbar. try the meedio forums. if you want i can email it to you-

i've finally got the meedio & sagetv combo working well with girder..

[john f]

I had this problem as wll until 2.1 was released.
I now use Meedio to open the sage client, and completely close it upon exit. Then I use the Sage service mode so the recording keep going even when the UI is closed.

Only drawback to this is it takes 10 seconds or so to open the Sage client from meedio command.
But the focus issues are gone.

John

[jominor]

Originally Posted by wexsmith

My one issue I've had with Sage is when you put it into sleep mode the START BAR, of all things, takes focus. Every other piece of software that minimizes to the system tray gives focus back to the last window that had it. Maybe it's the conjunction of Meedio and SageTV that just don't work well together at all.

1. Has there ever been a fix for this without third party software?
2. Will there ever be a fix for it?
3. Why do other programs that minimize to the system tray work fine?

I still use the myHTPC with Sage. When I put Sage to sleep, I get the taskbar that appears over myHTPC. I hit the left mouse button on the remote and that gives myHTPC focus.

You have to hit the button, but hey, even the wife finds that acceptable!

[nielm]

3. Why do other programs that minimize to the system tray work fine?

Not all do... I have just tried a few programs, and several keep focus in the start bar (Windows messenger, Opera, ati remote wonder, whereas several others do return focus to the last app (GKnot, Windows task manager, AVG control center)...
The question is, have you logged this as a bug -- In general, the more people that say that something is a problem, the higher up the fix-list it becomes!

[mostlyfodder]

Originally Posted by jominor

I still use the myHTPC with Sage. When I put Sage to sleep, I get the taskbar that appears over myHTPC. I hit the left mouse button on the remote and that gives myHTPC focus.

You have to hit the button, but hey, even the wife finds that acceptable!

jominor-
have you tried setting up a girder action to occur 'ON ALL EVENTS' that will check if the myHTPC window is maximized (i think you can use ISFOCUS for this) and then set the focus on it? that way you won't have to hit a button to 'switch' your remote over to the myHTPC commands, and you won't have to make the user worry about focus.

[jominor]

Originally Posted by mostlyfodder

jominor-
have you tried setting up a girder action to occur 'ON ALL EVENTS' that will check if the myHTPC window is maximized (i think you can use ISFOCUS for this) and then set the focus on it? that way you won't have to hit a button to 'switch' your remote over to the myHTPC commands, and you won't have to make the user worry about focus.

No. I use the Remote Wonder plugin.

[holozaen]

I use meedio together with sage and have no problems getting the focus back to meedio so far, I think telling meedio to hide the taskbar does the trick. To do this, there is a plugin for meedio called Taskbar hider which you can dl here: http://www.getmygames.com/help/taskbar.shtml

hope this will help

holozaen

[k1114]

Not to go off topic, but why do you use meedio? I used it at first to tie in my dvd player and web browser, but you can easily add menu options to launch programs in sage using custom STV's. I just don't really see the point behind a frontend for a program that has a nice frontend

[Blue]

Personally, I find Meedio to be a highly customizable front-end that can be made to look and function however I want. With Sage, users depend on others who have Studio to accomplish a certain level of customization.

I also have the focus issue with Meedio and Sage, which currently only a left click resolves (using THR, not Girder). Depending on your remote, you may want to check out the ControlMee Meedio Add-in. The developer (EnemyWithin) resolved the focus issue.

Also, I'm using the HideTaskbar Meedio add-in, and it doesn't resolve the focus issue for me.

[littlerm]

I am also using Meedio+SageTV and I am running Sage as a service. I want to add an Exit menu item (using Cayars STV), but all I can find are the power commands which put Sage to sleep. What command can I use to exit Sage's GUI?

[john f]

I use Imon software to send alt-F4 command to close Sage UI...

Also......to the guy that wonders why use Meedio???? Cause it is a 100% reliable frontend that is USER ( not studio developer) customizable.

The Sage UI is just too flakey........heck, the NEW sage decoders in 2.2 lock up the UI for me.......and I have to close sage in the task manager.

And those are the SAGE decoders!!!


John

[mostlyfodder]

holozaen- that taskbar hider is the one i was referring to in my post a couple up from yours. i think it was written by "reverson1" - it's a great little program. he also wrote a mouse hider, but i'm using cybervillain's mousehider instead b/c it allows the mouse to reappear with mouse movement.

to the user who asked, "why meedio?" -- i'm using meedio for its MP3 database management, which is superior to sage's mp3 database. sage requires that you update all of your ID3 tags, and mine are not updated. (nor will they be?)...

my setup actually doesn't allow the user to see any menu from sage OR meedio. my remote has a 5-button LCD screen, and all screens are called up from there. it makes it harder to distinguish where meedio ends and sage begins.

i think sage has mastered PVR functionality, while meedio has mastered mp3 management database functions. meedio tv has a long way to go, and sage's mp3 system also has a long way to go...

blue- what is THR? works like girder?

-fodder

[Blue]

Originally Posted by mostlyfodder

holozaen-

i'm using meedio for its MP3 database management, which is superior to sage's mp3 database. sage requires that you update all of your ID3 tags, and mine are not updated. (nor will they be?)...

blue- what is THR? works like girder?

-fodder

That's interesting....I thought Meedio used ID3 tags as well. Apparently the latest release (1.15.27) will let you browse music by folder structure (see release notes).

THR = TotalHomeRemote
http://totalhomeremote.tv/

See a review here:
http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=thr_remote_1

Not quite as powerful as Girder, but much easier to work with.

[mostlyfodder]

Originally Posted by Blue

That's interesting....I thought Meedio used ID3 tags as well. Apparently the latest release (1.15.27) will let you browse music by folder structure (see release notes).

i use meedio's 'tag mask import' feature, which lets you specify which parts of a filepath and filename to use for song data. great since the real structure of my collection is based on folders named for the artists. so you browse the collection based on this data, but when a song is loaded in the player, it displays the additional ID3 tag data.

i think the new filebrowser module will do about the same thing.

don't know if this is too off topic but what i'd really like is for meedio to import the tag-mask data AND the ID3 tag data AT THE SAME TIME. that way, browsing the library would present all available song info. (would make for some very long and thus difficult to display song names, however.)

anyhow, i'm not sure why sage hasn't implemented a similar feature. i'm guessing some of the custom STV's do this. i'm using nielm's modular STV's right now..

thanks for the THR info, i'll check it out.

-fodder