DVBViewer Recorder: Network encoder

[swift_gti]

Well I did some playing around this evening before sending the logs and I've managed to get it working!
Not exactly sure what was wrong, but I uninstalled DVBViewer cleared out the settings folder in App Data and then reinstalled and set everything back up again - and now it works!

I have to say - Superb work Stephane, TV now tunes so much quicker than when using the Sage TV engine.. even when playing it to a client over my network.

I do have one question though; Does anyone know how to enable more than stereo sound ?
I am receiving a DVB-T signal through DVBViewer and then using the recorder, but when playing in Sage I only get 2.0 channels at my audio receiver.. I am 99% sure that UK Freeview (DVB-T) broadcasts AC3, so should that not be 5.1 ?
I am recording to mpeg in DVBViewer as when using TS I seemed to get random audio drops..

Cheers

[Whitey]

Originally Posted by swift_gti

Well I did some playing around this evening before sending the logs and I've managed to get it working!
Not exactly sure what was wrong, but I uninstalled DVBViewer cleared out the settings folder in App Data and then reinstalled and set everything back up again - and now it works!

I have to say - Superb work Stephane, TV now tunes so much quicker than when using the Sage TV engine.. even when playing it to a client over my network.

I do have one question though; Does anyone know how to enable more than stereo sound ?
I am receiving a DVB-T signal through DVBViewer and then using the recorder, but when playing in Sage I only get 2.0 channels at my audio receiver.. I am 99% sure that UK Freeview (DVB-T) broadcasts AC3, so should that not be 5.1 ?
I am recording to mpeg in DVBViewer as when using TS I seemed to get random audio drops..

Cheers

Glad you got it working! Sorry but ac3 has never been broadcast on freeview

Whitey

[swift_gti]

Hmm.. after a bit of googling it seems your right!
I could have swore I read something about AC3 on freeview before, I must have been dreaming!

It does appear that freeview at least transmits streams with Dolby ProLogic Data to allow surround sound - Anyone have any idea on how I allow the DPL stream to pass to Sage untampered so that it can be decoded ?

/edit
Might also be another reason for me to look at Freesat as I'd presume that broadcasts with AC3 and also has some HD channels

Cheers

[Whitey]

DPL is mixed in with the stereo sound so you only have to select it on your amp. The only channels on Freesat that have ac3 are the HD channels.

Whitey

[swift_gti]

Thanks Whitey, I'll have a play around later today

[Flash69]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but can this be loaded on the Sage TV server? I would rather not have to have multiple machines running in order to record TV.

Thanks

[swift_gti]

Originally Posted by Flash69

Not trying to hijack the thread, but can this be loaded on the Sage TV server? I would rather not have to have multiple machines running in order to record TV.

Thanks

Yes it can, this is how I have it running at the moment and it seems to work well.. didn't need to configure anything special at the clients to get it working.

Whitey, thanks for the help earlier.. I managed to get 5.1 working for every channel by using AC3 Filter and setting it to output 5.1 with SPDIF, so it just upmixes the stereo signal - sounds sooo much better

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by swift_gti

I managed to get 5.1 working for every channel by using AC3 Filter and setting it to output 5.1 with SPDIF, so it just upmixes the stereo signal - sounds sooo much better

If you have an old version of Power DVD 7 (the version just befor the one that brought Vista Support), you can use the Cyberlink audio decoder to use Dolby Prologic II as the upmix method, this is much better than AC3 filter.

This is what I use, and it's great because when your source is 2.0 (wether it is MPEG or AC3) it will upmix, when your source is 5.1 it does nothing.

However if you have a newest version of PDVD the audio decoder will only do plain stereo (unless it is used with the Cyberlink demuxer and this isn't possible in SageTV).

[swift_gti]

Thanks Stephane, I will try that out as I have a copy of PDVD7 rolling around somewhere.

I have another question.. last one i promise

I was playing around with Sage some more over the weekend and scheduled Sage to record a program.
I had TV playing when the recording was due so Sage prompted to change channel - I let it change and watched the start of the program, seen as it was recording I figured I'd watch the rest later on so I pressed stop on my MCE remote (thinking it would only stop local playback).
It turns out it actually totally stopped the recording and seemed to treat it as a normal timeshift file as it totally deleted it..

Is this a bug with the recorder or is that just how Sage functions when watching a programs thats also being recorded ?

Thanks!

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by swift_gti

I had TV playing when the recording was due so Sage prompted to change channel - I let it change and watched the start of the program, seen as it was recording I figured I'd watch the rest later on so I pressed stop on my MCE remote (thinking it would only stop local playback).
It turns out it actually totally stopped the recording and seemed to treat it as a normal timeshift file as it totally deleted it..

Is this a bug with the recorder or is that just how Sage functions when watching a programs thats also being recorded ?

The recorder should not stop recordings by itself but only when told to by SageTV. I usually don't use "Stop" in the middle of a recording, but I often watch Live TV, acknowledge when SageTV needs to change channel in order to record, and then I press "Stop" and the recording will go through.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[brewston]

Stephane

I'm interested in implementing this and assuming the quality from DVB-S turns out better than DVB-T would give this encoder a higher merit, but I have one concern, if the network drops before or during a show - is Sage smart enough to try a different tuner ?

Thanks

Tim

[StephaneM]

Hi Tim,

Originally Posted by brewston

but I have one concern, if the network drops before or during a show - is Sage smart enough to try a different tuner ?

I'm not sure about this. What I know for fact is: when SageTV notice that a recording doesn't grow anymore, it will restart this recording (it takes usually 5 min before the recording is restarted). However it may restart it on the very same encoder.

Though why would you expect a drop on your DVB-S source? From my experience small drop (lost packet) are fine: you may miss a few frames but your recording will continue. I have not experienced massive drops on satellite yet (like with a very big rain), so I don't know what to expect when this is the case.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[brewston]

It was more based around the fact that my router is also my cable modem and I sometimes need to reboot it - I guess it wouldn't happen that often but I wondered how Sage would cope

The other thing is that PC that I'd propose making a network encoder hibernates when not in use, I guess with this I'd need to leave it on 24x7 ? or do you think setting the NIC to wake on network traffic will be sufficient ? Realistically, I'd probably leave it on during waking hours and have it go to sleep at night

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by brewston

It was more based around the fact that my router is also my cable modem and I sometimes need to reboot it - I guess it wouldn't happen that often but I wondered how Sage would cope

Ok, I was way off. In this case, SageTV does notice that the network encoder is offline and should reschedule the show on another encoder. After some time, it will notice that the encoder is back online (5 min I guess).

The other thing is that PC that I'd propose making a network encoder hibernates when not in use, I guess with this I'd need to leave it on 24x7 ? or do you think setting the NIC to wake on network traffic will be sufficient ?

I would leave it on 24h/7. Setting the NIC to wake it on, will wake it too often (this is different from WOL with magic packet, I don't think SageTV supports waking up a network encoder with a WOL magic packet)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[brewston]

Thanks - You've answered my question. I will probably leave it on during waking hours and on the odd occasion when I record something late at night, Sage will use a local tuner

Cheers

Tim

[Carter7149]

I was wondering - How do I configure DVBViewer Recorder / DVB Dream / SageTV to select the H.264 channels when the satellite provider sends duplicate SD and H.264 channels?

For example, say that there is a channel called ZVID on channel 227 in the SageTV EPG. There is also a channel called ZVIDHD also on channel 227 in the SageTV EPG. If I go to DVB Dream, I can tune either channel by going to the channel listing and clicking on the appropriate channel.

With SageTV, whenever I try selecting the ZVIDHD channel, I always get the SD channel. Aside from the poorer video quality, I see the "ZVID" watermark channel logo in the lower right corner of the screen instead of the the "ZVID HD" logo, so I know that I am getting the wrong channel.

If there is only an HD channel, I get the H.264 channel fine in SageTV.

I figure that I may need to delete channels from somewhere, but deleting the SD channels from the DVB Dream channel listing hasn't helped yet.

Please help!

Thank you,

Carter

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Carter7149

I was wondering - How do I configure DVBViewer Recorder / DVB Dream / SageTV to select the H.264 channels when the satellite provider sends duplicate SD and H.264 channels?

I assume those two channels are to be found on the same lineup. Then you have to assign the a unique channel number (you can't have in the same lineup two channels with the same number).

For example, say that there is a channel called ZVID on channel 227 in the SageTV EPG. There is also a channel called ZVIDHD also on channel 227 in the SageTV EPG. If I go to DVB Dream, I can tune either channel by going to the channel listing and clicking on the appropriate channel.

In this example : ZVID should be 227 and ZVIDHD should be 228 (or 1227 if you want to group all HD channels)


The you have to make sure your XMLTV plugin will give a different channel ID for those two channels, otherwise SageTV will think they are the same.

It's easy if you use my XMLTV Importer : when you create your lineup, use the "Add Channels" button, then choose "From DVBViewer Recorder", pick your DVBViewer Recorder lineup and click "Ok", now you just have to pick the XMLTV data for each channel. You'll notice that the channel number / name and ID are populated correctly.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rtengvad]

I wonder if any one could help me here.

It happens from time to time that I have to restart the Sage service. But every time one of my two encoders (always the same one) is not functioning. In sage setup video sources it is listed as "functioning: false". Restarting the recorders or sage service (in either order) does not solve the problem. Only a full system reboot will.

Thanks for any help

Rasmus

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

It happens from time to time that I have to restart the Sage service. But every time one of my two encoders (always the same one) is not functioning. In sage setup video sources it is listed as "functioning: false". Restarting the recorders or sage service (in either order) does not solve the problem. Only a full system reboot will.

I don't have this problem (I have three encoders).

I use 127.0.0.1 as the IP address for all three, then port 9090, 9091 and 9092.

If SageTV says the encoder is not working this is because it cannot talk to him on the network (or received no response from the encoder). So if I were you I would investigate a network config glitch somewhere (if you type "netstat -na" without the quotes in a command prompt you'll see all the ports open on your PC, it is useful to know what ports are in use).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rtengvad]

Thanks Stephane

I was using the same ports 9091 and 9092 but it turned out that my encoders was competing over those ports with my slim server. I moved my encoders to 9095 and 9096 and that seems to have done the trick.

Thanks again!

Rasmus