MyHD Encoder for SageTV

[stanger89]

Recordings will be output via the video card, the MyHD will have nothing to do with playback in this config.

[lonndoggie]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Any info updates for us? I'm really curious how many of us are monitoring this. It would be really interesting to know how many people are waiting for MyHD support in Sage. Feel free to add your name!

1. Me! (AndyS).


Andy.

2. Lonndoggie (yes, you bet I'm excited!)

[salsbst]

3. salsbst

[salsbst]

Sorry it's taking longer than I hoped to get a beta out.

My real life is in the box for 2 minutes for interference.

Windows' terminal server quirks and the decision to refactor are also partly to blame.

The good news is that I got to the point where I can compile again now, after having ripped out a bunch of the foundation on the 13th.

I should be able to put in a good 3 hours on it tonight. I'll post back when I have something more interesting to say.

[brianblank]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Any info updates for us? I'm really curious how many of us are monitoring this. It would be really interesting to know how many people are waiting for MyHD support in Sage. Feel free to add your name!

1. Me! (AndyS).


Andy.

2. BrianB.

When I saw that SageTV and a few competitors had released HD support I got very excited, only to find out it is only for OTA. Count me in as one of the many excitedly awaiting QAM MyHD support.

[lonndoggie]

So, given that you're launching Terminal Services server, this'll require XP Pro or W2003--but not XP Home, right?

And apparently the nVidia decoders, if I followed that "how do I get Sage to play MyHD .ts files" thing a while back.

Anything else we should know about ahead of time?

I'm using XP Home right now; this may be what pushes me to "go pro".

[salsbst]

Even XP Pro doesn't support multiple remote desktop connections (unless you use a published hack).

The Terminal Server feature will allow you to run the MyHD encoder as a service. If you don't need to run the encoder as a service, the Terminal Server issue is moot.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by AndyS

Any info updates for us? I'm really curious how many of us are monitoring this. It would be really interesting to know how many people are waiting for MyHD support in Sage. Feel free to add your name!

1. Me! (AndyS).


Andy.

The first thing that does a good job with QAM will get my $$ for a card and plugin/stvi. I have a Fusion5 Gold and am infinitely displeased with it. The hardware seems VERY nice and capable. The drivers and software however seem to be done by a group testing the "Thousand monkeys pounding away on a keyboard" theory. (at least from a QAM perspective)
The latest Dvico "official" version has completely broken QAM for my cable provider (Comcast). The main reason I want QAM is to get the "in the clear" local networks and guess which ones the latest software can't find?

[thatdude90210]

No. 6(?) here waiting for this mod.

My QAM experience with a fusion 3 is similar to the above poster with his fusion 5. The hardware is ok, but the software ruins it. The software for the MYHD is perfectly stable, but it's no PVR.

[lonndoggie]

Originally Posted by salsbst

Even XP Pro doesn't support multiple remote desktop connections (unless you use a published hack).

The Terminal Server feature will allow you to run the MyHD encoder as a service. If you don't need to run the encoder as a service, the Terminal Server issue is moot.

Right, went back and re-read everything, and no, I don't have to run the encoder as a service (I do run Sage as a service, but I'm also always logged into the box, so that oughta work).

Apparently, I've got some RTFMing to do; I can't get Sage to even see the .tp files that MyHD produces, let alone play 'em...

EDIT: So I needed to change the file from .tp to .ts and rescan the imported media folder...now it plays.

[salsbst]

If you run Sage as a service, then I think you need to run the encoder as a service, or run it (and the MyHD card) on another box.

Reason being that when the Sage service starts, it will try to start recording, and if the encoder isn't there, it will fail.

[pvrnorth]

7? Hoping to hear good results! Trying decide between a Fusion and MyHD... this would clinch it!

[ajuhawk]

Originally Posted by salsbst

If you run Sage as a service, then I think you need to run the encoder as a service, or run it (and the MyHD card) on another box.

Reason being that when the Sage service starts, it will try to start recording, and if the encoder isn't there, it will fail.

so, for clarification, is it a problem to run Sage as a service while logged in and run the encoder as a service on the same computer under XP pro or ??

EDIT: oh, and make it 8

[lonndoggie]

Originally Posted by ajuhawk

so, for clarification, is it a problem to run Sage as a service while logged in and run the encoder as a service on the same computer under XP pro or ??

Yeah, I'm confused as well--salsbst, your previous statement had me thinking that whatever "I can only talk to certain processes" mojo that your lashup seems to be laboring under would work if you were in fact logged into the box that runs both:

Originally Posted by salsbst

It will work when Sage is running as a service, but if Sage is running as a service, and this encoder is running as an app, then you will still need to log a user into the box before Sage can begin to record via the MyHD. This defeats one of the benefits of running Sage as a service.

So this would only be an issue if I typically had the box logged off, but running--which I don't.

BTW, as for your "my service can't start a TS session at startup" issue, does it work when you start it after system startup has finished? If so, maybe you should instead start your service via a net start command in a bat file in the startup folder or in the registry run folder. I had issues with Rational ClearCase's three services having startup issues when attempting to let the services all start via "automatic" start. Putting them all in a startup bat file solved that.

EDIT: Ah, nevermind about the startup folder or run in the registry--you want this to run at boot time, not login time...but runservices (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices) might be worth a try.

[salsbst]

Machines that can do a background RDP session:
a) Win2k server
b) Win2k3 server
c) WinXP Pro + WinConnect Server XP ($259?)
d) early builds of WinXP Pro SP2

If you can't do a background RDP session on the machine with the MyHD on it, you cannot run the encoder as a service.

If you can't run the encoder as a service, you should either run SageTV on a different machine, or not run SageTV as a service.

I don't know how to say it any more clearly without saying it inaccurately.

I'd be happy to make this problem go away if someone can figure out how to run MyHD.exe as a service, how to make it work when there is no logged on user, and how to make it keep working when a user logs off.

lonndoggie, thanks for the tip on the service startup. I've determined that if I just sleep my service for 30 seconds before trying to launch the TS connection, then it works fine. That's good enough for me for now. I'll come back at some point to figuring out a more methodical way of determining when it's safe to try to launch the TS connection.

[briands]

My MyHD card was mothballed last year when it had compatibilty problems with the 5700 in my HTPC that I could not resolve. Long story short.... put it into my Sage server and made some recordings. These play GREAT on both of my clients (p4 2.8 NV5700 and 6600). There seem to be no problem with overhead on the server. Navigating to the files in the videos folder is not going to pass WAF so I was really looking forward to this plugin until the post pointing out the lack of service support. My only hope is that I can move the MyHD card back to my HTPC (w/ 6600 card now) and use it as a network encoder.

[AndyS]

I've been wondering about this issue of not being able to run the MyHD application as a service. Have you tried using something like FireDaemon? I know you mentioned something about the system-tray icon causing a problem, and FireDaemon can (I think) handle apps that normally run from the system-tray (although they say the icon can't always be seen depending on how the app has been written).

Andy.

[lonndoggie]

I'm starting to get the picture about the limitations of service vs. app, but allow me a few more naive suggestions/questions:

Your encoder is basically going to act like the MyIR app--which will start MyHD when it's time to record if MyHD is not already running. And if it is running, then it should just start sending messages to it. So the problem isn't so much startng MyHD as a service, its being able to do a winexec (or other process-launch API call) to get it running if it's not already. Yes? What happens if you have MyHD set to do background recording and you have your encoder try to start MyHD? There is that system tray icon, so maybe that's an issue, but other than that, it's pretty much silent.

In another line of (possibly faulty) reasoning, if one was running logged in, and had MyHD running, your service could find that instance of MyHD and simply start sending it commands--yes? And if not, if there is an API call to start a process thread logged in under the logged in user (instead of the service user), then that would do the trick. This is how I figured you could have Sage service running and MyHD on the same box, with the user always logged in. BTW, I have my HTPC set up so that it always logs me in upon bootup, so I am always logged in anyway.

If you did figure out how to run MyHD as a service, would that effectively tie MyHD up--I'd have to stop the service to use it to watch TV ouside Sage? Yeah, I know, why would I--well, I do like to use it to watch DVDs, too.

Or, I could just relax and stop running Sage as a service.

Thanks, and I hope you have that Eureka moment soon (and we get to start playing with it).

LDog

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by AndyS

I've been wondering about this issue of not being able to run the MyHD application as a service. Have you tried using something like FireDaemon? I know you mentioned something about the system-tray icon causing a problem, and FireDaemon can (I think) handle apps that normally run from the system-tray (although they say the icon can't always be seen depending on how the app has been written).

Andy.

I tried FireDaemon, along with, I think, 4 other similar utilities. MyHD.exe crashes with each one of them when a user is not logged in, as well as when a user logs out. As I said, if anyone can actually get it to work, I'm very interested in how they do it.

[valnar]

This may sound stupid, but do most people here run Sage, MyHD or in general have their HTPC on Windows 2000/2003 Server? I fail to see the big deal about running Salsbst's program as a service vs an application? I personally run XP and have it setup to login to the Windows desktop straight from bootup.

What am I missing here?

-Robert