Charter HD questions

[dvd_maniac]

I'm sure this will be keeping me busy this weekend (if I get the firewire card from Newegg by then).

I also noticed that this STB has 2 tuners so I called SA and they told me that the one firewire cable connection would transmit the data from the two tuners. So, has anybody tried anything like this before?
Will Sage be able to control changing the channels on both tuners via firewire?

[Crowdx42]

Just reading this thread, is it possible to use both tuners in the Comcast DVR DCT 3412? Or is it a single tuner on each cable box?
Patrick

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by Crowdx42

Just reading this thread, is it possible to use both tuners in the Comcast DVR DCT 3412? Or is it a single tuner on each cable box?
Patrick

the word from the mega Firewire thread, http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...light=firewire , that introduced Firewire recording to Sage was that you could only record 1 stream from the STB, even it it had 2 tuners. Since you can only watch 1 stream at a time, why would the STB need to output 2 streams?

edit: it would be nice to see if dvd_maniac can get 2 stream recording to work. I'm just thinking if it is more cost effective to rent 2 single tuner STB's, or 1 dual-tuner DVR STB and have to pay the DVR service fee as well. I think it is the same price. I guess you try to could cancel the DVR service and just pay the rental on the STB.

[Crowdx42]

Well Comcast DVR will be ok when they add the TIVO part, currently I use it for HD content BUT the drive is WAYYYYY to small (120gig) and so it is a constant delete of content.
Even if there was a way to access and archive the content of the motorola box it would be cool (same as importing downloaded content).
Patrick

[dvd_maniac]

Well my firewire card will be here by Wednesday and I'll be hooking it up this weekend so I'll find out then.
I do not see why it couldn't record from both tuners since Windows new hardware detects and installs them both. The only resaon I could see it not working is firewire channel change limitation.

If it can not work then I will use the DVR features and see if I can transfer the archived content from DVR to PC....

I am also wondering if someone with an HDHomeRun could explain how it is setup and works.
If I hook one up to coaxial cables will they record both HD and SD?
Will it act like an analog tuner for channels 1-99 plus the local HD channels or will it recieve other digital channels that I subscribe to?

How does Sage interact with it and change the channels?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

Well my firewire card will be here by Wednesday and I'll be hooking it up this weekend so I'll find out then.
I do not see why it couldn't record from both tuners since Windows new hardware detects and installs them both. The only resaon I could see it not working is firewire channel change limitation.

If it can not work then I will use the DVR features and see if I can transfer the archived content from DVR to PC....

I am also wondering if someone with an HDHomeRun could explain how it is setup and works.
If I hook one up to coaxial cables will they record both HD and SD?
Will it act like an analog tuner for channels 1-99 plus the local HD channels or will it recieve other digital channels that I subscribe to?

How does Sage interact with it and change the channels?

Think of the HDHomerun as a Network Encoder. You run a small executable on your server in your system tray that talks to Sage and the HDHomerun. It is strictly digital ATSC-no analog is on the HDHomerun. It should receive all of your UNencrypted QAM channels. it changes the channel over the network. Look in the EPG forum and you can get an idea of how many channels some people are getting. There's a little effort involved in scanning with the HDHomerum and finding what channels you get and remapping the physical channel number in Sage. Follow the instructions and you'll get there.

Gerry

[dvd_maniac]

Well, I got my card installed, installed firewire drivers for the 8300HD and hooked up the STB.....NOTHING.....
Called Charter and after lengthy wait times I got hung up on 3 times.

They told me that the firewire ports were definitely open on this box and I tested the firewire card and cables on an exterrnal HHD...

HDHR, here I come.

[dflachbart]

Question:

if a channel is 5c'ed, will you just get a blank screen (when testing with VLC), or is a channel that shows a clear picture but stutters and has large pixelation/blocking areas (pretty much unwatchable) also an indication of 5c ?


Dirk

[Kirby]

If 5C is on, you wont get anything. No picture or sound. No increasing file size, dont pass go, dont collect $200!

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Kirby

If 5C is on, you wont get anything. No picture or sound. No increasing file size, dont pass go, dont collect $200!

Thanks Kirby, this is promising ...
Now I need some help:

I finally started to try HD myself, upgraded my Hardware (new ASUS mobo with AMD 64 3500+, nVidia 7600GT), and installed all the firewire stuff according to the pdf guide. Everything went fine, but here's the problem:

checking the channels in VLC (but it's the same when using the 1394 tuner in Sage), it looks like that I get a picture for most of my local HD channels including Discovery HD and ESPN, but as mentioned previously it stutters horribly and is interspersed with areas of large pixelation and block effects (CPU usage is only ~50 % during playback). I'll post a screenshot tonight if this helps...

Now - the only channel that comes in crystal clear and plays back smoothly - and this is the weird part - is HBO HD ! So if those other channels are not 5c'ed, what else could be the problem ? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dirk

[Kirby]

Hmm not sure. CPU usage is quite high though. It should be 10-15% I would guess on that setup. One thing that I prefer over VLC is to use CapDVHS (http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=CapDVHS) so that I can see the stream stats and capture a file to the hard drive for testing. You might give that a shot.

If I still had a cable box I would be of more help probably. Its been almost a year since I mess with setting up my cable box firewire. I might be wrong about 5C'd channels not transmitting. They arent supposed to, 5C channel shouldnt send anything if a 5C handshake cant be made between the two devices.

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Hmm not sure. CPU usage is quite high though. It should be 10-15% I would guess on that setup. One thing that I prefer over VLC is to use CapDVHS (http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=CapDVHS) so that I can see the stream stats and capture a file to the hard drive for testing. You might give that a shot.
.

Thanks Kirby, I will give this a try tonight !

Dirk

[dflachbart]

Just an update: I finally gave up on this, I simply ran into too many issues. My system became highly unstable, CapDVHS and VLC crashed, Sage hung after channel changes, even had Windows crashes and spontaneous reboots. Figured it's not worth all the trouble, and maybe will try something like the HDHR at some point.

The worst thing is that somewhere along the line Girder started crashing too, and it continues to crash even after removing the firewire drivers. Guess I have to reinstall the box again.

Dirk

[dvd_maniac]

I get no Picture from any channel here so I give up too.

Going into the box diagnostic screen shows all digital channels status and QAM status as locked. The tech that came out to pick the HD box up confirmed this even though the 800 number tech support denies it.

If all digital channels are 5C'ed then the HDHR will do me no good either, correct?

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

If all digital channels are 5C'ed then the HDHR will do me no good either, correct?

5C encryption is separate from unscrambled QAM.

unscrambled QAM are channels that are open to any QAM-tuner, such as a HDHR or QAM'ed TV.

FOr instance, in QAM I get just my digital locals and a few basic digital channels, but I get everything that I pay for out of the STB with no 5C. It varies from cable company to cable company, and from city to city.

[dvd_maniac]

Well looking at the diagnostic screen on my 8300HD it stated that every channel had a QAM status of Locked. So I guess I'm SOL???

I will be looking a little more into DirecTV I think...

[lobosrul]

Welcome to my world maniac

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by dvd_maniac

Well looking at the diagnostic screen on my 8300HD it stated that every channel had a QAM status of Locked. So I guess I'm SOL???

That sucks.

If you have a QAM TV or know a neighbor who does, it may be worth giving it a shot and seeing what the TV can pick up. I dunno, there is a chance the STB is inaccurate, doubt it, but possible.