Messages

1

Users / Xine audio optimization

« on: February 11, 2009, 07:38:36 am »

I'm trying to get LMCE (Xine) to play high definition audio files without alteration. I'm trying to get LMCE to play the HRX fhigh definiton audio files correctly. The files have an HDCD flag coded in the lsb to the right hardware can detect if the files are passed through correctly. It seems to be truncating them from 24 bit to 16 bit. I think I have it set to properly do the pass through thing BUT they are not coming through complete. When I use aplay from the command line they do.

Does anyone here have a good low level understanding of XINE? Or at least knowledge of possible upgrading xine to the current version?

2

Users / Re: Squeezecenter upgrade knocks core unuseable

« on: February 11, 2009, 07:31:46 am »

I got it sorted out. The upgrade in place didn't work right. Who knows why. But a full clean remove of slimserver and squeezecenter and then a reinstall in sequence seems to work ok for now.

3

Installation issues / Re: Popcorn Hour Units

« on: February 04, 2009, 10:50:30 pm »

Things have changed some, if you look through the forum there it seems a lot of the underlying stuff has been cracked. And the owner of Syabas has expressed interest in LinuxMCE to me. He is caught in that tough world between proprietary and open software and can't just publish everything.

The Sigma platform isn't as powerful as a PC and the response is sluggish by comparison. And not just Syabas's implementation. The latest versions- 8634 and 8654 are much faster than the old 8622. Its the dominant platform for BluRay players. The competitive alternative is from broadcom, and that is even more closed (with an ugly pending lawsuit between the OSF and Cisco trying to open it up). The Tivo would be a great alternative if we could make it a Media Director of sorts.

Both platforms have better video with better software support than PC based solutions, just not accessible to open source developers or users.

4

Users / Re: Squeezecenter upgrade knocks core unuseable

« on: February 04, 2009, 05:48:55 pm »

I had been using Squeezecenter for 6 months with no problem. it was a "maintainence" upgrade that knocked me out. Its working again but occasionally mysql becomes unavailable.

5

Installation issues / Re: Popcorn Hour Units

« on: February 04, 2009, 05:45:32 pm »

The Popcorn Hour has a pretty open software and several server integrations have been done that point to a LMCE integration. One example is Swisscenter. I have installed Swisscenter on LMCE and got the PCH's to work with it. None of the control stuff is there but since the PCH sends essentially keypresses to Swisscenter, which is a web server running on the core it would be possible to device an enhanced web server that interprets the response from PCH and initialized commands on the core for all of LMCE's functionality.

The Popcorn Hour will play ripped BluRay content from LMCE. Here is where the Developer community for PCH hides out:  http://www.networkedmediatank.com/

I think the guys as Syabas would be supportive of an integration effort. They have indicated as much to me in the past. And a 15W Media director with very good media playback would be a nice thing to have. However the underlying firmware is mostly NOT open source, coming from Sigma designs.

6

Users / Re: Squeezecenter upgrade knocks core unuseable

« on: February 03, 2009, 06:06:23 pm »

It gets more mysterious. Today start of the core the core is working but squeezecenter isn't accessible. Mythweb is available. Swisscenter is available and working so Apache is working OK. The DHCP server started OK..


Here is the error message from Squeezecenter server log:
2009-02-03 08:27:06 squeezecenter_safe started.
[09-02-03 08:27:59.6539] Slim::Utils::PluginManager::enablePlugins (419) Couldn't load Slim::Plugin::PreventStandby::Plugin. Error: Plugin is incompatible with your platform.
[09-02-03 08:41:49.5451] Slim::Utils::Misc::msg (1122) Warning: [08:41:49.5442] Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/squeezecenter/lib/Template/Provider.pm line 604.
[09-02-03 08:41:49.5476] Slim::Web::HTTP::_generateContentFromFile (2496) Error: file error - /usr/share/squeezecenter/HTML/Default/index.html: not found
[09-02-03 08:41:49.6273] Slim::Utils::Misc::msg (1122) Warning: [08:41:49.6265] Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/squeezecenter/lib/Template/Provider.pm line 604.

The section refered to above is:
ub _load_compiled {
    my ($self, $file) = @_;
    my $compiled;

    # load compiled template via require();  we zap any
    # %INC entry to ensure it is reloaded (we don't
    # want 1 returned by require() to say it's in memory)
    delete $INC{ $file };
    eval { $compiled = require $file; };
    return $@
        ? $self->error("compiled template $compiled: $@")
        : $compiled;
}


The line starts with return $@

And the following  error seems to be in error because the file exists:
[09-02-03 08:41:49.6281] Slim::Web::HTTP::_generateContentFromFile (2496) Error: file error - /usr/share/squeezecenter/HTML/EN/settings/server/wizard.html: not found

 
if everything else is stable in my box I will leave it until 810 is ready enough to be explored. But any input will be very much appreciated.

7

Users / Re: Squeezecenter upgrade knocks core unuseable

« on: February 03, 2009, 07:38:08 am »

I'm looking forward to 810. I have been too busy working, and also not a little time with the mi casa verde stuff.

I had installed it some time ago and all was working fine. Then I noticed that mythtv had crashede. I restarted everything and all was working but I went to the KDE desktop to check settings on myth and noticed the upgrade notice on the desktop, which indicated three upgrades were available including a new version of squeezecenter. I told it to go ahead and upgrade. I didn't pay attention to the other two upgrades since they seemed very minor. The upgrade worked and squeezecenter work but about a day later I noticed that the DHCP server had stopped. And then it was downhill. I restarted an all seems pretty sick. I can't open the admin panel from inside or outside the box, it cannot connect to DCErouter on bootup etc. Perhaps when they setup the reviced UI for Squeezecenter they mucked up something that LMCE uses in apache? I'm not sure what happened but its all screwed up for now.
Before I blow it away and start over (what a pain that may be) I want to check all the easy fixes.

8

Users / Squeezecenter upgrade knocks core unuseable

« on: February 03, 2009, 06:25:06 am »

I should know better. I upgraded Slimserver to Squeezecenter and it all seemed to work except I found later that the DHCP server was dead. Then I discovered as I was trying to restart the system that a lot of other stuff was not working. I think its a permissions problem. I know very little about permissions and access rights in linux and I do know enough to make a big mess of things. Can anyone direct me to correct settings etc. to get the low level stuff working right so I can the box running? On boot it reports that the UI is unable to connect to DCErouter.

9

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Way to specify ALSA master volume control name

« on: October 13, 2008, 06:44:41 pm »

Alsa is one of the most difficult to work with interfaces. There are several ways to talk to the mixer but that should be handled at a pretty low level. The driver abstracts those issues from LMCE as near as I can see. I have used audio cards from motherboard level to the Hammerfall without problems in terms of the mixer. And you can create an .asoundrc file (look at this for guidance for each card that is supported http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main ). The format is as non-intuitive as any I have ever seen and many have complained about it.

There are also interactions between the players (Xine, Mplayer) and Alsa that need to be accounted for. Mostly documented in several places.

Linuxmce shouldn't need to get involved with this unless you want custom setups or autoconfiguration of special cards. Its possible with Alsa to have a number of independent cards and audio streams in the same box but LMCE's architecture doesn't really support that in one box. I suspect it would be very complex to manage even if not difficult to program.

I hope this is close to what you wanted to know.

10

Users / Re: VOIP infrastructure questions

« on: August 14, 2008, 08:08:00 am »

I'm using the little Grandstream ATA (488 I think) in scenario 1 with Inphonex and getting fine results. I also use a nokia e70 w/ sip in the house with fine results (except the battery life with WiFi on the cell phone isn't good). I'm using their cheapest service with a "DID" number so I can receive calls. I think its $8.00 a month plus some call costs. I don't use it much, mostly I use cell calls. You can get good DECT wireless phones today that may be all you need, unless your house is the size of a shopping mall. It would be neat to get an orbiter running on one of those-http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/Phones-Fax/Telephones/DECT-6-0-Phones/model.KX-TG8231B.S_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection with a color screen.

11

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: RAID Alerting

« on: July 10, 2008, 05:24:10 pm »

I think an e-mail alert would be useful for a number of applications and reasons. If the system isn't local (vacation home) or the maintenance is with a third party (like a number of the people on this board would want to be) then e-mail alerts for things like raid problems, system problems etc. could be helpful. Not to mention the really important use case- the wife getting pissed or upset by scary warnings on the TV. If those only went to the "informed user" and not to the screen these exotic systems may be more tolerable. It could also be helpful to have a remote problem tracking system to identify problems across the user base.

12

Users / Re: Your system is running low on disk space!!!!

« on: July 06, 2008, 08:16:08 pm »

In my experience this is usually associated with out of control logs. if you check the logs you may see some that are gigantic. you can delete them and nothing will break but they may come back quickly. I have seen some grow to gigabytes in a few days.

it can also happen with big HD video files quickly.

13

Users / Re: Zwave or Insteon

« on: June 30, 2008, 08:40:47 pm »

There is an improved ZWave driver almost ready for LMCE that should fix a lot of the issues with the current driver. It will probably be closed source etc. because of Zen-sys restrictions. The Leviton people and Controlthink have both confirmed that the serial codes for the Leviton module are different from the actual ZWave commands. (The ZWave chips take rs232 commands directly.) This means that code for the Leviton module won't necessarily work with other ZWave devices. ControlThink doesn't support the Leviton module yet.
The 2-way communications between light switches and the controller is covered by a Lutron patent and they have sued Leviton (and I think Cooper)  over infringement. Leviton worked out a settlement but I don't know about Cooper. I know that Intermatic and the others are legally on thin ice with active 2-way communications.

Syner- If you need assistance getting an LMCE box up I can help. PM me if you want to discuss it. I have lots of hard won experience.

14

Users / Re: linuxMCE is still not ready for real life!

« on: June 30, 2008, 08:24:05 pm »

Try looking in from another system, run top ans start the process that's locking the system. It may just be stalled as it trys to catch up, or it could be an xorg failure- usually shown by 100% xorg in Top.
However you may just be asking for more than it can do at once.
Check the memory available for video if you are using an internal graphics controller. It should be at least 128MB and for 1080p it should be 256MB for reliable performance.

15

Users / Re: linuxMCE is still not ready for real life!

« on: June 07, 2008, 06:19:35 am »

Newest driver and another round of bugs to discover. But it may be better. Try it and let us know if it works. I'll try it  next week if time permits.