Getting ready to setup a HDHomeRun...

[padre]

...and I have a question about the Ethernet connection. Does it have to be connected to an Internet-reachable segment? Here's what I'm thinking of doing; Installing a 2nd 100mb card in my server and connecting it to the HDHomeRun. Then directly connecting the two systems to each other. That way there is no other traffic on the segment. The server will have its 1st Ethernet connected to the net.

Basically, does the HdHomeRun need internet access? (When operating under SageTV).

Thanks!

Kevin

[carlgar]

No, the HR does not need internet access. However, I believe it does need access to a DHCP server. I don't know why you would be concerned about other internet traffic. I have two networks on my system. One network is for computers that need internet access. The other network is for my local access such as the HR's and MVP's. For my local access I use the Tfpd32 program as the DHCP server.

[padre]

The reason I'm thinking of a separate network connection just for the PC to HDHomeRun is I have 5 other LAN-attached computers (mostly for my business), and I don't want them to impact the video recording over the LAN.

[camus]

FWIW, I use the HDHR and even with to HD shows recording while watching 1 prerecorded show on my client I haven't run into any issues with my other networked PCs (2 laptops) ie connecting VPN to work etc.

Also they have instructions on the HDHR website for doing what you are asking.

[padre]

Okay, got my HDHomeRun today and I'm already stuck (figures). I guess I'm missing something. Here's what I've done so far:

- Setup the HDHomeRun (hardware and software).

- Went through the HDhomerun config gui and discovered my QAM channels that were unencrypted. I'm only interested in a few - found them

- I Was able to view the channels in the VLC viewer (except the High Def ones, my machine locked up every time I tried to view an HD channel. Didn't know if that was to be expected or not).

- I went through the Sage setup, telling it about the HDHomeRun, etc.

- I have a .frq file, and to make it simple I just put in one channel:

; WTXF-DT
121-1 2 qam256:747000000 2

That's all, just the Local Fox HD channel.

- I remapped the channel in Sage channel setup to point to 121-1

To me, everything looks setup right, but no LiveTv. And the HomeRun Manger says "SageTV: Recording 121-1", and the Channel says qam:121 then to the right there is a "1" (I take it that's the program #)

But there is no signal (strength or quality).

What am I missing? ideas?

[padre]

Okay, I think I have most of it working now. I tried something, and put in the real channel # in the .frq file, instead of a fake one:

; WTXF-DT
116-1 2 qam256:747000000 2

and now the HomeRun Manger says "SageTV: Recording 116-1" and I have great signal strength and quality

But the output is choppy. I suspect it is defaulting to Program Streams, how do I change it to transport stream (.ts)? It generated a MPEG file as output, I was expecting a .ts file.

Thanks!

[carlgar]

I do not understand why you are doing any manual editing of a .frq file. If a .frq file is needed then Sage should generate the data.

For network encoding the HDHR only outputs a .ts file. You can control the type of extension with the mmc/encoders/XXX/100/0/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream parameter in the properties file. Set to true will give a .mpg extension, set to false will give a .ts extension.

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by carlgar

I do not understand why you are doing any manual editing of a .frq file. If a .frq file is needed then Sage should generate the data.

For network encoding the HDHR only outputs a .ts file. You can control the type of extension with the mmc/encoders/XXX/100/0/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream parameter in the properties file. Set to true will give a .mpg extension, set to false will give a .ts extension.

In my recent testing of that switch it doesn't matter how it's set, used as a network encoder, it will always output a file with a .mpg extension and it will always be a transport stream. I couldn't get it to do anything else.

[carlgar]

Was SageTV shutdown when you changed the properties file? I was getting files with the .ts when set false with the latest beta. Support had me change it to true to try correcting an issue I had when I switched to the BDA support.
Did you change both (1 for each tuner) entries for each HDHR you have. I have 2 HDHRs, so I had 4 entries to change.

[padre]

I got it working, didn't realize there were multiple locations in the file that had "encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream". Getting .ts files now for the HDHR output, and .mpg from my Hauppauge output. All is well! Thanks!

FYI, I'm not using the 2nd HDHR tuner yet, just wanted to start with the 1 for now (crawl, walk then run!

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by carlgar

Was SageTV shutdown when you changed the properties file? I was getting files with the .ts when set false with the latest beta. Support had me change it to true to try correcting an issue I had when I switched to the BDA support.
Did you change both (1 for each tuner) entries for each HDHR you have. I have 2 HDHRs, so I had 4 entries to change.

Yes it was shut down. I'm running 6.1.9.143 though. I didn't know there were multiple lines in the properties file, the only one I was aware of is the one below,

mmc/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream=false

Are you saying there's multiple entries in the properties files? Have I been adjusting the wrong line?

Also, I think it was the big HDHR thread where someone posted that that switch was disabled recently, although I'm not sure which version of Sage or when, I'll have to look back through the thread.

[carlgar]

It looks like you are. I believe the line you are editing is from the first time the line was added to the properties file. It was replaced in a later version because the parameter was needed on a per tuner basis. You should search for encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream and see if there are entries for each tuner. If so, then just delete the line you have been editing.

[GTwannabe]

Setup is pretty straight forward. You should set up dependencies so that the following services start in the correct order:

1. DHCP (so you computer can see the HDHR)
2. HD HomeRun Manager (so SageTV can use the HDHR)
3. SageTV

The irritating thing is that every time you upgrade Sage, the installer removes the SageTV service and reinstalls it, killing the dependecy.

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by carlgar

It looks like you are. I believe the line you are editing is from the first time the line was added to the properties file. It was replaced in a later version because the parameter was needed on a per tuner basis. You should search for encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream and see if there are entries for each tuner. If so, then just delete the line you have been editing.

You're right, there are 2 other lines further down. They're both set to "true" but I still get transport stream instead of program stream.

Nick at SiliconDust said that the HDHR will always output transport stream files regardless of any setting in Sage. Are you certain the files you're getting are "program" instead of "transport"? Both will playback within Sage, as far as I know, but other devices/software will sometimes balk if the file is a transport stream.

I've used VideReDo to convert the files, and every file I've made from the HDHR has been transport stream, at least according to VideoReDo.

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by GTwannabe

Setup is pretty straight forward. You should set up dependencies so that the following services start in the correct order:

1. DHCP (so you computer can see the HDHR)
2. HD HomeRun Manager (so SageTV can use the HDHR)
3. SageTV

The irritating thing is that every time you upgrade Sage, the installer removes the SageTV service and reinstalls it, killing the dependecy.

How do you do that? I'm really not having any trouble with everything running right, but this is a subject that might help me with something else I'm having a bit of trouble with.

[carlgar]

Originally Posted by Keenan

Nick at SiliconDust said that the HDHR will always output transport stream files regardless of any setting in Sage. Are you certain the files you're getting are "program" instead of "transport"? Both will playback within Sage, as far as I know, but other devices/software will sometimes balk if the file is a transport stream.

This is my understanding for when using the network encoding. It is also my understanding that using the BDA drivers should correct this. I did see a difference with this parameter when I switched to BDA and set the parameter back to true. I do not know if the files I am getting are "program" but they are supposed to be. I may be seeing more problems than most people because I am using Vista. Vista has known problems with TCP, so I cannot be 100% sure that Vista is seeing all of the data from the HDHRs.

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by carlgar

This is my understanding for when using the network encoding. It is also my understanding that using the BDA drivers should correct this. I did see a difference with this parameter when I switched to BDA and set the parameter back to true. I do not know if the files I am getting are "program" but they are supposed to be. I may be seeing more problems than most people because I am using Vista. Vista has known problems with TCP, so I cannot be 100% sure that Vista is seeing all of the data from the HDHRs.

I'm still setup as a network encoder, in fact that's why I've been following this thread, hoping that BDA support will allow for program stream output, but so far, it looks as if BDA is somewhat buggy.

BTW, there was just HDHR software update posted a few minutes ago at SiliconDust.

[carlgar]

Originally Posted by Keenan

BTW, there was just HDHR software update posted a few minutes ago at SiliconDust.

I made the mistake of upgrading to the 7/20 release. It was a very BIG mistake. It screwed up my tuning and wasted 2 hours of my time! I ended up going back to network encoding to insure proper tuning. I can no longer recommend Silicondust until they start providing documentation for their releases. I am so tired of tring to figure out how their software is suppose to interact with Sage.

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by carlgar

I made the mistake of upgrading to the 7/20 release. It was a very BIG mistake. It screwed up my tuning and wasted 2 hours of my time! I ended up going back to network encoding to insure proper tuning. I can no longer recommend Silicondust until they start providing documentation for their releases. I am so tired of tring to figure out how their software is suppose to interact with Sage.

Sorry.

I DL'ed it but haven't installed it yet. I have never really had any problem with SiliconDust software or firmware, of course I'm still running network encoding. I suspect that the biggest problem is getting BDA to work properly with the HDHR/BDA/SageTV and so far, it doesn't look so good.

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by Keenan

How do you do that? I'm really not having any trouble with everything running right, but this is a subject that might help me with something else I'm having a bit of trouble with.

Start -> Run -> Regedit

Browse to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SageTV

You need to click New -> String. Name the String "DependOnService". Set the value of the string to the desired service name (DHCP, HD HomeRunManager, etc)