DVBViewer Recorder: Network encoder

[StephaneM]

Mike,

Originally Posted by iammike

when I try again Sage says the encoder isn't
working. At that point, I have to go back to the server and reset the encoder. One time yesterday, it wouldn't reset and I couldn't even end the process. I had to reboot the server to get it to work again.

For me, it sound like the recorder cannot stop the recording or has crashed during the recording or when stopping the recording.

You'll have to review the recorder logs to see if something is going wrong in there.

You can also do this: load the recorder monitor (it will output all the things the recorder is doing). Watch one HD channel, then stop viewing the channel.

Usually when you cannot stop the DVBViewer Recorder it is because DVBViewer is still recording somethings (the recorder failed to remove a timer in DVBViewer that it has created)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Well it depends...(it would be better), are you using a CAM on you TT card?

I don't use a CAM, the TT-2400 does not even support it, I guess you need a TT-3xxx device to use a CAM. Most German channels on Astra 19.2°E are free-to-air.
But I think I didn't understand the whole thing yet.
Are you saying that if I use the donator's version and add a second virtual tuner to DVBViewer recorder I am able to record one channel into several files/simultaneous recordings (unselect remove back-to-back padding in detailed setup)?
If not, what is the benefit of your example that you configure 4 virtual tuners for 2 physical tuners?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

I don't use a CAM, the TT-2400 does not even support it, I guess you need a TT-3xxx device to use a CAM.

I'm not sure but the Terratec / Hauppauge USB-CI can work with any DVB card.

Are you saying that if I use the donator's version and add a second virtual tuner to DVBViewer recorder I am able to record one channel into several files/simultaneous recordings (unselect remove back-to-back padding in detailed setup)?

Basically yes.

DVBViewer Recorder doesn't know how much tuner you have, it only forwards a recording request to DVBViewer.

So let say your tuner is currently busy with the first recorder. SageTV schedule another recording with the second recorder, the recorder forward the request to DVBViewer, at this point two possibilities:

1) The second recording request is on the same transponder as the first ongoing recording : DVBViewer will accept the recordings and will start producing data.

2) The second recording request requires another transponder. DVBViewer will respond "No Hardware", and the recording will fail. SageTV will see "No Data" and will back out and retries every x min. until the airing time of the recording is out or the recording finally starts (when the first one ends obviously)

I hope it's more clear that way.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

I hope it's more clear that way.

Yes, thanks a lot! Donation is on its way.
Oliver

[iammike]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Mike,
For me, it sound like the recorder cannot stop the recording or has crashed during the recording or when stopping the recording.

You'll have to review the recorder logs to see if something is going wrong in there.

You can also do this: load the recorder monitor (it will output all the things the recorder is doing). Watch one HD channel, then stop viewing the channel.

Usually when you cannot stop the DVBViewer Recorder it is because DVBViewer is still recording somethings (the recorder failed to remove a timer in DVBViewer that it has created)

Regards,
Stéphane.

Hi Stephane,

I did as you suggested and loaded the record monitor while changing channels in Sage. The problem I'm seeing appears to be related to a couple things, but I'm not sure if one could be a result of the other.

1) Whenever I change channels within the same satellite, at least on the same transponder, it seems to work okay. I still have audio issues on some channels but I'm just trying to get the basics working right now. The problem arises when I try to change to a channel that's on another satellite. The recorder is never sending the diseqc signal for the motor to change sats. I see the "START" command in the monitor, but nothing else and my GBOX (used for moving the dish) never clicks like it got a signal from the dvb card. Within DVBViewer, I can change channels all day long and it sends the signal just fine. I just tuned in channels on 4 or 5 sats this morning with no trouble within the DVBViewer program.

2) Sometimes when I change channels, I'll get the "No hardware available" message in the DVBViewer window even though there is a program currently playing. It's like DVBViewer thinks an internal recording has been kicked off and won't let me change channels. I've also seen recordings going on forever, or until the disk fills up, for channel changes in Sage that didn't work.

Any thoughts on how to correct the problem?

Thanks,
Mike

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by iammike

1) Whenever I change channels within the same satellite, at least on the same transponder, it seems to work okay. I still have audio issues on some channels but I'm just trying to get the basics working right now. The problem arises when I try to change to a channel that's on another satellite. The recorder is never sending the diseqc signal for the motor to change sats. I see the "START" command in the monitor, but nothing else and my GBOX (used for moving the dish) never clicks like it got a signal from the dvb card. Within DVBViewer, I can change channels all day long and it sends the signal just fine. I just tuned in channels on 4 or 5 sats this morning with no trouble within the DVBViewer program.

I'll need to see a commentend transcription of the Recorder logs (that is the output of what is in the monitor).

Usually the "START" command should be followed immediately by the response to the START, something like "START = OK" or "START = ERROR"

2) Sometimes when I change channels, I'll get the "No hardware available" message in the DVBViewer window even though there is a program currently playing. It's like DVBViewer thinks an internal recording has been kicked off and won't let me change channels. I've also seen recordings going on forever, or until the disk fills up, for channel changes in Sage that didn't work.

Are you using a plug-in in DVBViewer that somehow control the Disecq? Or any other plug-in?

For the recordings not stopping: it's because the Recorder has not removed a timer when it should have (during a "STOP" command). The "STOP" should also be logged in the monitor window as well as its results.

This explains how you could get a "No hardware...": this should only happens if the tuner in DVBViewer is busy recording and the requested channel is on another transponder : as the recorder has not removed a timer, the timer will go on forever.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[iammike]

Hi Stephane,

I just sent you a PM with the log from the monitor. I found a little more info this time. I don't have any plugins installed. I'm just letting DVBViewer control the motor. The problem I'm seeing is that when using the Sage recorder, it won't let me change from one transponder to another. I can change channels all I want on the same transponder, but as soon as I try to go to another one the recorder stops responding to Sage. In the log I sent you, I selected a channel in Sage and it worked fine. Then I switched to another channel on the same transponder and it worked fine. I then switched back to the original channel with no issue. I then thought I'd be extra careful and clicked stop in Sage. The stop command was registered in the monitor, although in the DVBViewer window, the channel kept playing. When I tried to change to a channel on another transponder on the same sat, Sage just sat there until it timed out waiting for the recorder to respond. In the DVBViewer window, I got the "no hardware available" message.

The interesting thing is that even in the DVBViewer environment if I pull up the channel list, I'm seeing the same behavior now as Sage. When I change channels on the same transponder, no problem, they change fine. As soon as I try something on another sat or another transponder of the same sat, I get the no hardware message. I can force it to respond again by going into the hardware options and scanning for devices. This causes the "Recorder/Timeshift is active!" message to be displayed. If I click ok, it kills the recording and scans. After which, I can change channels between transponders and sats just fine again. In fact, as soon as I did my GBOX clicked and started moving the dish. If I'm not mistaken, DVBViewer tuned to the last channel I requested through Sage.

What do you think I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,
Mike

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by iammike

What do you think I'm doing wrong?

From you logs:

1) Not using the latest version of DVBViewer Recorder
2) Using MPG as the recording format

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

So let say your tuner is currently busy with the first recorder. SageTV schedule another recording with the second recorder, the recorder forward the request to DVBViewer, at this point two possibilities:

1) The second recording request is on the same transponder as the first ongoing recording : DVBViewer will accept the recordings and will start producing data.

2) The second recording request requires another transponder. DVBViewer will respond "No Hardware", and the recording will fail. SageTV will see "No Data" and will back out and retries every x min. until the airing time of the recording is out or the recording finally starts (when the first one ends obviously)

Hmm.. last night I got an idea: Using a second, virtual tuner has one disadvantage: I don't get any conflicts anymore, right? SageTV thinks that there are two tuners and does not show any conflicts if there are two recordings scheduled at the same time on different channels. Do I get this right?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

Hmm.. last night I got an idea: Using a second, virtual tuner has one disadvantage: I don't get any conflicts anymore, right? SageTV thinks that there are two tuners and does not show any conflicts if there are two recordings scheduled at the same time on different channels. Do I get this right?

Yes, as far as SageTV is concerned : you will have two tuners, so SageTV will make its schedule accordingly.

However, even if SageTV schedule something, it will not be able to record it and will know it. Because it will constantly restart the recording until the recording starts or the airing time is over, this lead to two situations :

* the tuner will not be released during the whole airing of the conflicting show. The recording will be a failure and be rescheduled.

* the tuner is released sometime before the show to be recorded ends. SageTV will have a partial recording at this point, either SageTV will keep it or delete it and reschedule it (I guess there is an option in SageTV for keeping partial recordings)

In consequence : for shows that can be rescheduled this is not an issue. For the other ones, you'll have to keep an eye on schedules.

To attenuate this kind of trouble you can very well define a "virtual" recorder that contains only some channels (just one if you want). The channels where you want to use back to back with paddings.

You should review all the channels you are using (live tv / recordings) on a regular basis and see how many of them are on the same transponder. This will give you an idea of how many conflicts you may have.

Purchasing another tuner would be safer, though you'll also have to look at channels frequencies / polarization etc... because if you only have one LNB, the LNB itself is limited regarding simultaneous tuning (If I remember correctly the LNB can tune at the same time frequencies with the same polarization / band => to be verified)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[iammike]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

From you logs:

1) Not using the latest version of DVBViewer Recorder
2) Using MPG as the recording format

Regards,
Stéphane.

Hey Stephane,

I found the problem. Some of my earlier attempts to get recordings going through the recorder had left recordings in the DVBViewer recording list. Every time it started up it was trying to tune back to the channel for the earlier program. Then it wouldn't let the recorder change sats or transponders because of the on-going recording. I did install the latest recorder and switched to transport streams, but that didn't have any effect until I cleared the old recordings. I'm still having audio sync issues on the one transponder that has several hd channels, but I've got others working without issue so it may be the source. I'll check on some satellite boards and see if others are seeing the same issue.

Thanks a bunch for your quick replies to my questions. You didn't hit on the exact answer, but you got me looking in the right directions though.

Mike

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by iammike

the recorder had left recordings in the DVBViewer recording list.../....You didn't hit on the exact answer, but you got me looking in the right directions though.

I should have been more clear, but this is what I'm telling you from the begining: the recorder hasn't properly removed a timer in DVBViewer when SageTV asked the recorder to stop the recording (if the DVBViewer timer is not removed : it will record forever)

This only happens if the file name produced by DVBViewer is not the file name SageTV has requested : usually this is because SageTV requested a .mpg file and DVBViewer has recorded a .ts file

Regards,
Stéphane.

[iammike]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

I should have been more clear, but this is what I'm telling you from the begining: the recorder hasn't properly removed a timer in DVBViewer when SageTV asked the recorder to stop the recording (if the DVBViewer timer is not removed : it will record forever)

This only happens if the file name produced by DVBViewer is not the file name SageTV has requested : usually this is because SageTV requested a .mpg file and DVBViewer has recorded a .ts file

Regards,
Stéphane.

Oh, and that might well have been the case. When I was experimenting with getting things working, as you noticed, I did switch over to program streams to see if it would help. Probably if I'd have been a little more knowledgeable about the product, I'd have caught on to what you were saying. I purchased it over a year ago, but never used it that much until recently when I found that MT wouldn't work with Sage 7. So I'm still a bit of a newbie.

It's all good now though. Next up is the Sage 7 upgrade.

Thanks again!

[owilsky]

OK, I did as you told me: I created a second virtual tuner, copied the lineup from the other one and disabled all but one channel for testing purposes.
However this new tuner is now my first tuner in "Setup/Setup video sources".

Result is that I have only this one channel in my epg, so I had to enable all of the channels.

How do I change the order of my tuners?

Regards,
Oliver

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

OK, I did as you told me: I created a second virtual tuner, copied the lineup from the other one and disabled all but one channel for testing purposes. However this new tuner is now my first tuner in "Setup/Setup video sources".

You should have done this, instead of handling the lineups in SageTV.

1) Create the recorder in DVBViewer Recorder (with one channel or all channels of your previous recorder). Add the recorder to SageTV

2) Load XMLTV Importer, create a new lineup for the new recorder. Load the channels from DVBViewer Recorder: select the only channel you want to be in the lineup. When setting up the channel (name / physical number (it is already the right value) / logical number / xmltv data) the only thing you have to do right is to assign the same ID as the already existing channel in the other lineup.

4) Proceed with XMLTV Guide Update (at this point it doesn't matter if SageTV guide update is forced or not)

5) Back in SageTV, add the new tuner, and assign it the newly created lineup in the XMLTV Importer.

Finally in the EPG, nothing should have changed. You should still have all of your channels just as before (this means that you will not see any additional channel in the Guide => the new channel from the new recorder is merged with the existing one)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[zzmystique]

I am using DVBViewer to export the epg to an xml file, but the xml importer doesn't find any programs in the xml file.

epg.zip

Am I doing something wrong?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by zzmystique

I am using DVBViewer to export the epg to an xml file, but the xml importer doesn't find any programs in the xml file.

This file is not an XMLTV file.... so the Importer cannot import it.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Ansy_74]

Hi

I have (finaly) got DVBViewer Recorder to work with my SageTV v7.0.11 and FireDTV S2.
All SD channels work fine but Sage has a problem with the HD-channels.
I can view the HD-channels in DVBViewer with NO problem.
But when I tune them in Sage, nothing shows but the "spinning wheel".
And the DVBViewer Recoder Service hangs and I have to restart the computer.
If I record the HD-channels in DVBViewer I can playback them in Sage so the codec should be ok.

Any ideas?
/Ansy

Windows 7 Pro 32bit, AMD Athlon X2, 2Gb, Nvidia 9500GT, DVB Viewer 4.2.1.0

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Ansy_74

Sage has a problem with the HD-channels.
I can view the HD-channels in DVBViewer with NO problem.
But when I tune them in Sage, nothing shows but the "spinning wheel".
And the DVBViewer Recoder Service hangs and I have to restart the computer.
If I record the HD-channels in DVBViewer I can playback them in Sage so the codec should be ok.

Use the "Adjust PAT / PMT" option in the DVBViewer Settings / Options / Recorder and it should make SageTV happy.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

Hi Stéphane,

I have a weird problem.
[...]

EDIT: Deleted. Error was because DVBViewer problems due to corrupted settings file. Complete reinstall of DVBViewer fixed it.