DVBViewer Recorder: Network encoder

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by gravis12

I have realized that when changing channels in stv the information is not transferred to dvb-viewer. If i select a channel in stv and then manually set the channel i dvb-viewer, the channel can successfully be viewed from stv. I have doublechecked the channelmapping and all is correct. What can be wrong? I also noticed that some channels gives me an error when trying to watch them (stv can not find a tuner that can tune the channel)?

You obviously have made a mistake somewhere either in the recorder or SageTV configuration.

If you want I can have a look at your config files : sage.properties and recorders.xml (send them to me zipped at lmgestion@hotmail.com) and also tells me how many tuner card you have in DVBViewer.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Otherwise, you may try on the DVBViewer forums. If you do, try to formulate your question like this : you do have a valid subscribtion card for satellite, unfortunately there is no CAM available and I'm forced to use NDSCAM. It works reliabily when recording one channel. However it doesn't seem to work on multiple DVB-Card. Is this a limitation of the plugin architecture or should it work with multiple DVB-Card?

Stéphane, this is not so simple - their rules is not fine with plugins!

Do not ask for or discuss plugins for descrambling/decrypting pay-tv or key-codes.
Although the DVBViewer Pro provides full pay-tv functionality it must only be used in combi*nation with a valid subscription of a pay-tv provider, a tv-card/box featuring a "common inter*face" (CI) and the corresponding "common access module" (CAM) with a smart-card. This applies re*gardless wether software-descrambling is allowed in your country or not.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by bjkiller

Stéphane, this is not so simple - their rules is not fine with plugins!it must only be used in combi*nation with a valid subscription of a pay-tv provider, a tv-card/box featuring a "common inter*face" (CI) and the corresponding "common access module" (CAM) with a smart-card.

Yes, but you should still try to ask for help. It may also possible to contact the NDSCAM plugin author...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Yes, but you should still try to ask for help. It may also possible to contact the NDSCAM plugin author...

Hello Stéphane,
I found interesting things, not yet undestand how to handle it. but it's look like what we need.

http://www.geocities.com/thereal_pikachu/

search for DVBVPlugin

[krikkit]

Originally Posted by bjkiller

Hello Stéphane,
I found interesting things, not yet undestand how to handle it. but it's look like what we need.

http://www.geocities.com/thereal_pikachu/

search for DVBVPlugin

the .dll from the link above allows me to make recordings with dvbviewer + softcam even when the audio/video is disabled...

...but not when doing the same via sage network encoder... can anyone approve this?

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by krikkit

the .dll from the link above allows me to make recordings with dvbviewer + softcam even when the audio/video is disabled...

...but not when doing the same via sage network encoder... can anyone approve this?

I installed the pickahu ComPlugin, copied ndscam.dll into ndscam1.dll and ndscam2.dll - i do not see any visible change in menu and behaivors.

[krikkit]

try this:

1. register the comPlugin .dll
2. start dvbviewer, select a encrypted channel
3. disable audio/video
4. hit the record button
--> recording works, file is playable in vlc

if you do the same without registering comPlugin, i only get 0 bytes files

[rtengvad]

Hi Stephane

I finally found some time to play with your enconder. Im very impressed with you work. A few findings though so far I hope you can help me with.

1) I see that others have posted about problems watching live tv. I have that problem on my Hauppauge MVP (rev 1.0). Not on eg. Placeshifter. If I wait 5-8 min before pressing play it works. But do I have to wait that long??

2) Some programs are very pixelated when watched on the mvp. Again placeshifter have no problems streaming the same file with no problems. I have set TS to true in Sage and DVBviewer is also set to record in TS mode.

3) Showanalyzer has great difficulties in analyzing many .ts files from this recorder. It hangs indefinitely. Anyone else seeing this?

4) I’ve experienced that the recorders was not on for some reason. Is there a way to enable service recovery as in Sage?



Rasmus

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

1) I see that others have posted about problems watching live tv. I have that problem on my Hauppauge MVP (rev 1.0). Not on eg. Placeshifter. If I wait 5-8 min before pressing play it works. But do I have to wait that long??

Yes, you have to wait that long . DVBViewer include a full PAT / PMT in the TS and it can confuse players. DVBViewer 3.9.3 to be released, will add an option to rewrite the PAT / PMT so as it contains only the references to the recorded streams only.

2) Some programs are very pixelated when watched on the mvp. Again placeshifter have no problems streaming the same file with no problems. I have set TS to true in Sage and DVBviewer is also set to record in TS mode.

Either it will be also fixed with upcoming DVBViewer 3.9.3 or you can submit a bug report to SageTV (also I don't think they can fix the MVP)

3) Showanalyzer has great difficulties in analyzing many .ts files from this recorder. It hangs indefinitely. Anyone else seeing this?

Same apply here. I switched from Showanalyzer to Comskip because of these same problems I was having but with the TS produced by SageTV.

4) I’ve experienced that the recorders was not on for some reason. Is there a way to enable service recovery as in Sage?

No. The recorder always stop in a clean way to prevent nasty bugs. You can review the log files to see what errors make the recorder stop (it has to be during subtitles extraction), forward me the logs and I will try to fix it (you may need to also send me the partial recording)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rtengvad]

Thanks for the quick answer Stephane. Ill pass you the log file if I see the problem with the recorders again.

Another problem I've noticed with my .ts files is that Sage can't do fast forward/backward. If that’s a general problem I’m tempted to use the .ps instead since the advances of ts to me seems limited (subtitles seem out of sync most of the time)

Thanks

Rasmus

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

I've noticed with my .ts files is that Sage can't do fast forward/backward.

Mine don't but I guess TS can differ with each broadcaster. If you want you may try the DVBViewer 3.9.3 (I have not tried it myself) and see if the custom PAT / PMT fix this issue. Otherwise you can send your recordings to SageTV so that they improve the SageTV demuxer.

If that’s a general problem I’m tempted to use the .ps instead since the advances of ts to me seems limited (subtitles seem out of sync most of the time)

Yes you can use PS for MPEG2 channels. Subtitles should not be out of synch. However SageTV isn't able to correctly synch them, because the timeline in SageTV is wrong. If you want to verify that the subs are in synch :

* Install Haali Media Splitter
* In Windows Media Player, go to the Tools / Options menu, then choose "Security" tab, and check "Show local captions when present"

Then play one of your TS, and during playback in Windows Media Player, go to the Plays / Lyrics Captions and Subtitles and select "On If Available". You'll then see the subtitles and they should be perfectly in sync (well they can be 40 ms on or off)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

From what I can understand most of the problems I've mentioned is related to Sage (eg the timeline issue and pixilation) so Ill take it up with them.

Yes somehow. However there is no player that playback all TS with 100% success (fun fact: for me DVBViewer cannot play its own recording ).

The rule of thumb is : if you can play the TS in VLC or Windows Media Player using either SageTV Splitter or Haali Media Splitter or SageTV PlaceShifter, but not in SageTV Client : you can contact SageTV about the issue and forward them the "problematic" recording.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by bjkiller

Can I setup SageTV server and DVBViewer + DvbRecorder on different computers?

Yes you can. You have to use a IP that is not localhost for the recorders and make sure to use UNC path for you recording directory in SageTV.

As the recorder will have to write on network path, you'll have to change the account used for starting the DVBViewer Recorder Service (an account that does have access to network ressources).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

Sorry to bother you again but I have experienced twice now that my recording schedule suddenly was empty.A common problem?

Not common, never happened to me. When this happens can you verify that the DVBViewer Recorder Service is running. You can also check in SageTV videosources configuration if SageTV does think the encoder is running or not. If SageTV see the encoder as not running, then it will "unschedule" evertying (on the network encoder).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rtengvad]

Thanks again for a quick reply. I will try the new dvbviewer to see what that can do.

From what I can understand most of the problems I've mentioned is related to Sage (eg the timeline issue and pixilation) so Ill take it up with them.

Rasmus

[bjkiller]

Stephane,
Can I setup SageTV server and DVBViewer + DvbRecorder on different computers?

[rtengvad]

Hi Stephane

Sorry to bother you again but I have experienced twice now that my recording schedule suddenly was empty. It happened after Sage hasn’t been used for a while. When you start Sage the scheduler is empty. Forcing an epg-update solves the problem.

A common problem?

Rasmus

[rtengvad]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

The rule of thumb is : if you can play the TS in VLC or Windows Media Player using either SageTV Splitter or Haali Media Splitter or SageTV PlaceShifter, but not in SageTV Client : you can contact SageTV about the issue and forward them the "problematic" recording.

What about MVP?

I have both .PS and .TS files (from one channel in particular) made by your recorder that can be played on placeshifter and Sage client but NOT on the Hauppauge MVP without blocks and pixilation. I have written to Sage about it.

Rasmus

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

What about MVP? I have both .PS and .TS files (from one channel in particular) made by your recorder that can be played on placeshifter and Sage client but NOT on the Hauppauge MVP without blocks and pixilation.

If I understand correctly how the MVP is working, SageTV will not be able to do anything about it (except transcoding the files to be played on the MVP).

For the PS, you have some options in DVBViewer you can try (in Options / Recorder):

* DVD Packet Size
* All Audiochannels

For the TS, you can also try to remove DVB Subtitles.

You can also search for differences between a channel that works and one that doesn't : record a program on each of these channels and make sure you use TS and that you added a teletext page number. This way DVBViewer Recorder will try to extract ttx subtitles and will dump the content of the stream in the log files. So you'll be able to see if the streams are the same or not.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[thborchert]

I couldn't find answers to my questions - sorry if they have been asked before:

1. What is the advantage of this network encoder plugin over Anders Nolbergers SBDARecorder?

2. What is the advantage over Sage's built-in DVB(-C) support? How far along is that, anyway?

Thanks!

Thomas