Multiple HDHR's Problem with 6.4.8

[aglennon]

When recording one HD tunner from my HDHomeRun to Sage I am seeing 40% network utilization on 100 meg ethernet. I was expecting about half that, is this normal?

QAM with Windows XP and Sage V6.

Thanks

* merged *

[QueOnda]

Not normal. You are seeing a bug. http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5620

Issue with PID filtering. I'm having the same issue.

[Conejo]

Please, this is not a 'bug'.

The current BETA versions of SiliconDust and SageTV software now offers DIRECT QAM tuning. That's an upside for people looking to receive more than 68 active channels. The downside is that the ENTIRE Transport Stream (TS), containing all of the sub-channel programs, is transfered over Ethernet to the SageTV HTPC.

SiliconDust and SageTV are said to be working together to utilize a FILTERED mode that will send just the selected Program Stream (PS) over Ethernet.

The previous Software Drivers from SiliconDust for the HDHomeRun utilizes a REMAP mode that also sends filtered Program Streams (PS) over Ethernet, but is subject to a 68-channel remap limitation.

They're working on it.

[tmiranda]

Over on the silicondust website somebody was having network problems when recording 3 shows at once. I believe the person in question saturated his 100 MB connection. Jafa replied that this was a "bug" in Sage because Sage does not support PID filtering, it just requests the whole channel instead of the specific sub channel needed.

Is this a bug in Sage, a bug in the HDHR, or a difference of opinion between SiliconDust and Sage? What is the liklely "resolution"?

I ask this because I have not upgraded to 6.4 because I do not want to mess around with going through the new HDHR remap process. At some point I will upgrade but if there is a "fix" coming down the pike that requires me to do the setup all over again, I will wait.

* merged *

[hemicuda]

I'd be tempted to try to roll back to remap manually until it's fixed, but I don't want to revert to an older Sage. I no longer have more than 68 clear QAM on the table since Comcast locked out the 2-78 SD simulcasts. They finally got around to locking the VOD as well.

My other option is to rebalance the recording drives and force each digital tuner to its own drive. I had to split up the HDHR merits already and make the 1800 record to a different drive due to stuttering issues awhile back. It'll be interesting to see what happens this fall if all 3 are active at once. SATA should be able to handle it, but maybe the sustained write speed of the drives is borderline?

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

I'd be tempted to try to roll back to remap manually until it's fixed, but I don't want to revert to an older Sage.

I *think* you can select the ATSC/REMAP as the application option in the Beta HDHR software and have it work as before.

It will even generate ATSC.scn files for SageTV to SCAN (after changing "Cable" option back to "Antenna Broadcast")

# Generated by HDHomeRun Setup
CH:1 major:80 minor:1 prog:2 phy:2 frq:55250000 mod:0 #:KCBADT
CH:2 major:80 minor:2 prog:3 phy:3 frq:61250000 mod:0 #:KIONDT
CH:3 major:80 minor:3 prog:1 phy:4 frq:67250000 mod:0 #:KGODT
CH:4 major:80 minor:4 prog:2 phy:5 frq:77250000 mod:0 #:KQEDDT
CH:5 major:80 minor:5 prog:3 phy:6 frq:83250000 mod:0 #:KQEDDT2
CH:6 major:80 minor:6 prog:11 phy:7 frq:175250000 mod:0 #:UNKNOWN
CH:7 major:80 minor:7 prog:1 phy:8 frq:181250000 mod:0 #:E
CH:8 major:80 minor:8 prog:7 phy:9 frq:187250000 mod:0 #:JWLTV
CH:9 major:80 minor:9 prog:21 phy:10 frq:193250000 mod:0 #:KQEDDT3
CH:10 major:81 minor:1 prog:23 phy:12 frq:205250000 mod:0 #:KQEDDT5
CH:11 major:81 minor:2 prog:1 phy:13 frq:211250000 mod:0 #:KNTVDT
CH:12 major:81 minor:3 prog:3 phy:14 frq:471250000 mod:0 #:KNTVDT2

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by hemicuda

My other option is to rebalance the recording drives and force each digital tuner to its own drive. I had to split up the HDHR merits already and make the 1800 record to a different drive due to stuttering issues awhile back. It'll be interesting to see what happens this fall if all 3 are active at once. SATA should be able to handle it, but maybe the sustained write speed of the drives is borderline?

I believe the Full Transport Stream saturating the local LAN is limited just to the Ethernet connection. The HTPC splits off the correct Program Stream before SageTV writes the file to disc. It's just an overhead load on the NIC, system buffers and CPU until it gets filtered.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Is this a bug in Sage, a bug in the HDHR, or a difference of opinion between SiliconDust and Sage? What is the liklely "resolution"?

I ask this because I have not upgraded to 6.4 because I do not want to mess around with going through the new HDHR remap process. At some point I will upgrade but if there is a "fix" coming down the pike that requires me to do the setup all over again, I will wait.

The best current solution to be able to keep 6.4 is to upgrade to gig-ethernet. The cost of a Gig-ethernet card and a small 4-port switch is negligable, and will solve the problem for at least 2 HDHR's.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The best current solution to be able to keep 6.4 is to upgrade to gig-ethernet. The cost of a Gig-ethernet card and a small 4-port switch is negligable, and will solve the problem for at least 2 HDHR's.

I have a gig network, that is not the problem. I do not want to go through the grief of setting up the HDHR once now and then again in a month because Sage and/or SiliconDust have released a "fix" that is incompatible with previous version of Sage.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The best current solution to be able to keep 6.4 is to upgrade to gig-ethernet. The cost of a Gig-ethernet card and a small 4-port switch is negligable, and will solve the problem for at least 2 HDHR's.

Yup. Throw money at the problem to make it work, instead of getting it to work correctly. LOL

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by QueOnda

Yup. Throw money at the problem to make it work, instead of getting it to work correctly. LOL

My point being, that I don't expect a 'fix' for what has been stated is not a 'bug', but the way the new scheme works. The way the DirectQAM tuning is set up, it sends the entire transport stream, instead of stripping it down to the single program stream. This thread DID start off talking about the network bandwidth issue, and the fact that a 100MBit network connection is being saturated by 2 HDHR streams. Gig-e IS the only way it will be fixed, unless they use a different method of talking to the HDHR (which, would probably mean going back to the channel count limitation). $10 for a Gig-e card, and $30 for a gig-e switch is not a lot of money, and would be advantageous for other media serving as well as the HDHR's.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

$10 for a Gig-e card, and $30 for a gig-e switch is not a lot of money, and would be advantageous for other media serving as well as the HDHR's.

Exactly. If you are using Sage a server serving several clients, then going GB is really the only logical way to go and most of us did a long time ago. This whole "throw money at it" bit is just rediculous. If you are using Sage as a standalone (meaning server and client all in one), then think of the exta 40 bucks as a cost for adding a second HDHomerun.

It is only about $40 people! I spent more than that every month on cell phones, cable tv, internet, car insurance, home insurance, eletricity, gas, going out to dinner, etc., etc., etc.......and this is a one time expense that does us all some good!