SageTV Import Utility

[mvallevand]

The Recurring Recordings screen in Recordings. Update. The Advance Rules (sic) field is awkward to edit because there is no cursor so just backspace to the apostrophe and type. It might be easier to delete these rules and add new ones.

Martin

[PatM]

Does this not import the TV recordings from Sage? Just ran it and I have channels, favorites and Icons, no recordings.

DOH! I was looking at it wrong... Trying to use the import function. Copied over the db3 and they're there.

[PatM]

Ran into a big problem. When I first did the imports all the recordings from sage worked fine. I've had NPVR add recordings of the same series and now only the new recordings from NPVR will play. Imported Sage recordings bring up the play screen but the viewing area is black, no sound, and the timeline bar shows 00:00:00 at both ends as if the recordings were zero length.

I'm wondering if it's a path problem. THe sage recordings are all in the root directory while the new recordings are in directories based on the series name. Perhaps the existance of the directory makes NPVR look in the wrong place? I tried copying a sage recording to the series directory but no change. This was just before leaving for work though so I didn't have time to restart NPVR Services.

[mvallevand]

If the SageTV server and NextPVR server are the same box you shouldn't have a problem because all the paths are the same and NextPVR will use the stored filename from SageTV, the series name in NextPVR is optional anyway The fact that you are seeing black and not getting an error seems to indicate the file, and uploading your logs could confirm this. My guess is that the problem relates to SageTV's preference to store files as mpeg-ps (.mpg) and your system might need to have an mpeg splitter installed. (ie LAV or Haali) The logs would also show this.

Note when you run the Import utility the import xml file would have opened up in Notepad allowing you to change relative paths, if you were running from a separate server.

Martin

[PatM]

I have both LAV and Haali installed (newest CCCP pack) and configured. Both NPVR and Sage were on the same machine but I didn't see any notepad pop up after running the utility.

It's a db3 database and I believe that's sqlite isn't it? I can always install it and browse the database file to see.

Still seems odd that after the import and before having NPVR do any recordings the imported files worked fine. It's only afterward, when NPVR did some recordings, that we seem to be having problems. Might be just coincidence of course.

[mvallevand]

I have both LAV and Haali installed (newest CCCP pack) and configured. Both NPVR and Sage were on the same machine but I didn't see any notepad pop up after running the utility.

You would have had to tick Use Shares on the import.

It's a db3 database and I believe that's sqlite isn't it? I can always install it and browse the database file to see.

Yes it is , but if you compress and upload your logs, things would be apparent. You can also browse the import file used in DataDirectory\SageImport\SageIn.xml and look for

filePath=

Martin

[PatM]

Didn't have any time to experiment last night but this morning I did a quick check.

I can play all recordings, sage or not, on the server machine. I can only play NPVR recordings on the client. I had NPVR on my laptop as a client which I did a quick check with and it's the same as the other client - can't play sage recordings (mpg) but can play NPVR recordings. I didn't have time to check but I'm thinking I have CCCP on both clients and K-Lite on the server. Tonight I should have a lot more time so I can pack up logs and experiment more thoroughly.

[sub]

The client/server protocol is only designed to work with file types that NextPVR records, ie .ts files. If you're trying to watch other file types, like .mp4, .mkv, .mpg etc, then nextpvr wont be able to watch them. You'd need to watch them from the video library on a client PC.

When it comes to these other file formats, nextpvr just leaves it up to directshow to use whatever decoders and splitters it wants. Those components are typically only designed to work with files on a filesystem though, so have no concept of using TCP/IP etc to stream it from a client machine.

[PatM]

Ok, that explains it. I'll just toss the sage recordings.

I'm working on getting STBs to work with my hauppauge cards and when that's done we'll have much better quality recordings so that should mollify the wife about losing her shows 8)

[Beefstew83]

What formats does NPVR natively play? I haven't recorded anything yet. I have a bunch of SageTV and BeyondTV shows going back to the early 2000's (almost 2gb worth compressed as divx, etc). I need to figure a way for the wife to watch them if she desires from her laptop. It may be possible to convert them to a native NPVR format so they will all appear together (that may blow up their size though).