DVBViewer Recorder: Network encoder

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Mark SS

The builtin DVBT support works very well. If you can I'd suggest using that for your DVBT cards and DVBViewer/Plugin for DVBS. That said, built in DVBS support works well for me as well, I'm using the plugin to take advantage of MDAPI.

Builtin DVB-T/S does work but :

* TS produced by SageTV are a little odd
* You can't use TTX subtitles with builtin DVB-T/S
* CAM Hardware is not always working with SageTV (with my TT S2-3200 and Aston CAM it was not always tuning, while this can be ok for LiveTV because you can always stop and retry, this is a no go for reliable recordings)

I was pretty happy with builtin DVB-T (never used builtin DVB-S, I created the DVBViewer Recorder to be finally able to use DVB-S in SageTV instead of using PVR150 + set top box), now that I'm using the DVBViewer Recorder for DVB-T I'm happier : with SageTV builtin DVB-T there was now and then some glitch in recordings, I don't have any with DVBViewer Recorder.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[PeterC]

Originally Posted by Mark SS

The builtin DVBT support works very well. If you can I'd suggest using that for your DVBT cards and DVBViewer/Plugin for DVBS. That said, built in DVBS support works well for me as well, I'm using the plugin to take advantage of MDAPI.

Both DVBT and DVBS are working very well for me, but I do like DVBViewer as it scans all the UK Freeview channels in 1 pass, even the part time ones.
I will have another test with the network recorder this weekend.
My first attempt worked fairly well but I was not able to play anything through the MVP.

[Whitey]

Had another week doing tests, now with two encoders. Schudule Recordings are very reliable, even H.264 HD DVB-S2 channels. Live TV though I still have a few issues, some that are related to sagetv rather than the DVBViewer

1) Audio, when I select the audio channel I want it doesn't always select it and when it does, it defaults back when I change channel and then back again. Probably a sagetv problem

2) I get a "video rendering error" on certain channels and they won't display, again probably a sagetv problem

3) Some channels still take upto 1min to display once selected, some are very fast (usually FTA channels), some encrypted channels take a couple seconds. I can't seem to find a pattern at the moment.

4) Inbetween two programs on the channel the picture freezes for a few seconds and then comes back, I assume because sage has created a new recording file for the new program and it's buffering.

Anybody else having similar issues?

Whitey

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Whitey

1) Audio, when I select the audio channel I want it doesn't always select it and when it does, it defaults back when I change channel and then back again. Probably a sagetv problem

Yes this is a known issue with SageTV. SageTV should select the primary audio stream (in the TS there is a descriptor for the primary audio stream and SageTV should select this stream). However SageTV can have some problems when selecting the audio stream or detecting audio streams in TS especially if there are non audio streams in the TS (for instance DVB subtitles / TTX subtitels) or blank stream.

If you have one recording where audio selection work and another where it doesn't, you'll find that the one that doesn't work is the one that starts directly in a show with DVB subs (or other streams like that). For instance when I make back to back recordings, the first one works (because it starts with promo and/or commercials) the second one doesn't (because it starts directly into the program)

You should submit a bug report to SageTV (also you may want to try 6.3.10 before)

2) I get a "video rendering error" on certain channels and they won't display, again probably a sagetv problem

With LiveTV only? If this is the case, stop the LiveTV viewing and quickly the recording and submit a bug report to SageTV (make sure first that this partial recording, once renamed and put in a SageTV import directory cannot be played, but can be with VLC / Windows Media Player)

3) Some channels still take upto 1min to display once selected, some are very fast (usually FTA channels), some encrypted channels take a couple seconds. I can't seem to find a pattern at the moment.

The only "delay" issue the recorder can be directly responsible for, is that sometimes when the recorder will restart the recordings it cannot delete the recording file (and it will say so in the logs) and it can take up to 1mn before the recording file can be deleted. Other than that, I don't know

4) Inbetween two programs on the channel the picture freezes for a few seconds and then comes back, I assume because sage has created a new recording file for the new program and it's buffering.

Yes this is the expected behavior.

Note: DVBViewer will release version 3.9.3. In this version an option to rebuild the PAT / PMT in the TS will be available (PAT and PMT are tables that describes the content of the transport streams, when pulled directly from the broadcast streams, those tables contains all channels that the transponder carry, and initially SageTV had problems with full PAT / PMT => because only one channel is available in the recorded TS). This option will remove all streams not included in the recorded programs from the PAT / PMT. This way SageTV will not have to "test" the PAT/PMT to find the right (and only) one program to play. Though it will not necessarily resolve all issues...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[PGPfan]

I'm interested in trying this networked encoder, but I have a couple of questions first.

1) How can I get the trial version of DVB Viewer? I could find any way to download ANY version from the DVB Viewer website.

2) Will this work on SageWHS? Since it's based on Server 2003 I assume it will, but can anyone confirm this?

3) Will DVB Viewer work in NA with the necessary plug-ins?

Thanks for any help!

-PGPfan

[krikkit]

Originally Posted by PGPfan

1) How can I get the trial version of DVB Viewer? I could find any way to download ANY version from the DVB Viewer website.

there is now trial version of dvbviewer, you have to buy it (costs only 15 eur)

Originally Posted by PGPfan

2) Will this work on SageWHS? Since it's based on Server 2003 I assume it will, but can anyone confirm this?

can't confirm, but i had running dvbviewer on windows server 2003 so i'm pretty sure it will work on WHS...

Originally Posted by PGPfan

3) Will DVB Viewer work in NA with the necessary plug-ins?

NA ??? ..don't understand

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by krikkit

there is now trial version of dvbviewer, you have to buy it (costs only 15 eur)

You can download "Transedit" from the DVBViewer web site, it is an application that scan for channels on your hardware. If Transedit can scan (and eventually preview), then DVBViewer will work (I don't think though you can preview encrypted channels even with a CAM or SoftCAM)

You may also contact directly the authors: if you buy the software and it doesn't fit your needs, you may be able to get a refund (especially if you use PayPal...)

Will this work on SageWHS?

I don't know. Does WHS have special requirements regarding installation of software? Otherwise it should work (you can install the recorder, even if you don't have DVBViewer and verify that the installation is Ok and that you can use the tools to set it up)

Will DVB Viewer work in NA with the necessary plug-ins?

You should make a quick search on DVBViewer forums for this. Otherwise it should work with any DVB broadcast.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by krikkit

NA ??? ..don't understand

NA = North America

Thanks for all the input, guys! I'll have to check out their user forums. The multi-card support in DVD-Viewer seems better than the others so hopefully I can get this all worked out.

-PGPfan

[SyrA]

2) Will this work on SageWHS? Since it's based on Server 2003 I assume it will, but can anyone confirm this?

Consider it confirmed, im using it succesfully

[PGPfan]

SyrA,

Are you running DVB Viewer 'and' the network encoder locally from the WHS box?

-PGPfan

[gravis12]

Hi,
I have a problem when using the recorder plugin.
When running as a service I get following written on the monitor.
--------------
Service - 22:41:56.671 - Verbose - Encoder2 - START Encoder2 Digital TV Tuner|70-16-3008-131|2409506633338|C:\Documents and Settings\media\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\Eftersnack-7884943-0.mpg|Great
Service - 22:41:56.687 - Verbose - Encoder2 - START = ERROR
Service - 22:41:56.687 - Verbose - Encoder2 - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Documents and Settings\media\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\Eftersnack-7884943-0.mpg
Service - 22:41:56.703 - Verbose - Encoder2 - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0
Service - 22:41:56.703 - Verbose - Encoder2 - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Documents and Settings\media\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\Eftersnack-7884943-0.mpg
Service - 22:41:56.703 - Verbose - Encoder2 - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0
---------
If I instead start the application wo the service I instead get the following information written in the DVBviewer.log:
2008-03-05 22:41:46 EAccessViolation raised by instance frmMain of class TfrmMain at 005CBCA3:Zugriffsverletzung bei Adresse 005CBCA3 in Modul 'dvbviewer.exe'. Lesen von Adresse 00000057

Any ideas of what's wrong?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by gravis12

Service - 22:41:56.671 - Verbose - Encoder2 - START Encoder2 Digital TV Tuner|70-16-3008-131|2409506633338|C:\Documents and Settings\media\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\Eftersnack-7884943-0.mpg|Great
Service - 22:41:56.687 - Verbose - Encoder2 - START = ERROR

2008-03-05 22:41:46 EAccessViolation raised by instance frmMain of class TfrmMain at 005CBCA3:Zugriffsverletzung bei Adresse 005CBCA3 in Modul 'dvbviewer.exe'. Lesen von Adresse 00000057

Any ideas of what's wrong?

Yes, that means your channels in SageTV are not mapped correctly to the encoder lineup.

1) When you set up the encoder, you must assign a channel number to each channel you want to be on the encoder. For instance, for channel "ABC", you assign channel number n°1 (can be any number you want)

2) In SageTV when you configure the video source that will use the encoder, you must use a lineup that will have for the channel "ABC" a channel number that is the same as in the encoder lineup, that is n°1. You have two options : if you use XMLTV, this is the XMLTV Plugin that let you choose a number for each channel, if you use other non XMLTV lineups you can assign the channel numbers manually.

Note: the DVBViewer access violation is when my plugin attempt to delete / create a recording with a non existent channel (it should not happen but I guess I missed one code branch that could still do it)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Whitey]

Originally Posted by PGPfan

SyrA,

Are you running DVB Viewer 'and' the network encoder locally from the WHS box?

-PGPfan

I would like know this too, as I'm thinking of migrating my sage setup to WHS

Whitey

[PGPfan]

Well, I went ahead and ordered DVB Viewer. I'll probably be asking a bunch of setup questions as I've never used DVB-S before. Any comments on the overall stability of DVB-Viewer compared to MyTheater or DVBDream?

-PGPfan

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by PGPfan

Any comments on the overall stability of DVB-Viewer compared to MyTheater or DVBDream?

I don't know how it compare to MyTheatre or DVBDream (neither MyTheatre or DVBDream was working with my hardware), but DVBViewer as a recording engine has never failed to record for me since I use it.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[gravis12]

Hi again,
Thanks for the input. I now have a file created that is constantly increasing in size. No errors are written to the log files. However when i select the channel in Sagetv i can see in the log file that the file is created succesfully but in stv the screen is black.
Thanks in advance.
/Thomas

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by gravis12

However when i select the channel in Sagetv i can see in the log file that the file is created succesfully but in stv the screen is black.

Before using LiveTV, schedule a recording and wait that the recording is done (a 5 min rec. is Ok). Then try to play this recording in SageTV / Windows Media Player / VLC to see that the recording is Ok.

Also you have to make sure that DVBViewer is recording in the format SageTV is waiting. For instance, if you do not have selected Transport Stream format for the encoder, SageTV will request a MPG file to be created, but DVBViewer can very well create a TS file (it will do for H.264 channel for instance). So you have to make sure that the file created is the one requested by SageTV (from your previous log it seems that you set it up so that SageTV will request MPG files)

I would recommend to record in TS format (and also to use the latest version of SageTV)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[bjkiller]

tried to configure - getting strange errors:







anybody can advice?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by bjkiller

tried to configure - getting strange errors:.../...anybody can advice?

The "BUFFER" error is ok. DVBViewer Recorder network encoder doesn't support the SageTV BUFFER command that is used when you scan for channels.

That's why you cannot scan for channels with DVBViewer Recorder, you have to either load a XMLTV lineup or manuall set up the lineup in SageTV (using channel numbers you set up in DVBViewer Recorder Config).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[bjkiller]

Do I need uncheck 'disable video/audo' when I use NDSCAM with dvbviewer?