New DVB(T/S/C) Network Recorder

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

I am a real big fan of you I use your XML TV importer and DVB Viewer Recorder at the moment.

What do I read here : You are NOT using LM Remote KeyMap?!?!? What a shame for a big fan

I played a bit with Smart Recorder and would really like to do some fieldwork test - to let it run for some days and see how it does.
But how do I connect it with EPG data? In DVB Viewer Recorder I could import a lineup from XMLTV importer. Is anything like this planned? What can I do until this is implemented?

Yes the Importer will at some point be able to read the LM DSR lineups.

For now you can proceed the way I have:

1) create an exact copy of your DVBViewer Recorder lineups in LM DSR. That is: create the same number of recorders, with the same name and the same IP and TCP ports (if you really want to play it safe you can even edit the recorders.xml file to have the same recorders IDs => this way "Add to SageTV" will not create new recorders in the sage.properties file but update the DVBViewer ones)

2) In LM DSR use the exact same channel numbers that you use in the DVBViewer Recorder (this is what the Importer is looking after => the physical channel number)

And now all you have to do is either run the DVBViewer Recorder service, or the LM DSR service to use one or the other.

Note: you can make test recordings from the LM DSR GUI, right click on a channel and you'll see a "Make test recording" menu entry.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

I uploaded a new version of the recorder (1.0r3)

* Added : Scanning Satellite from a KingOfSat ini file (you have to download ini files with frequencies in KHz)
* Added DVB-C support
* Added Hauppauge Diseqc support
* Added Diseqc support for some hardware that that supports setting Diseqc directly from the BDA drivers
* Fixed working directory for MDAPIFilter
* Improved the "Auto" write buffer algorithm
* Improved DVB-S2 support for Technotrend, Hauppauge, Digital everywhere hardware.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

What do I read here : You are NOT using LM Remote KeyMap?!?!? What a shame for a big fan

Nope, sorry... using EventGhost here.

Wanted to try your suggestions, but then the new version of XML TV importer arrived, to I tried that.

What I did:
- scanned and configured all my channels in Smart Recorder
- deleted unused but found channels from recorder.xml
- restarted Smart recorder and changed some names and configured my physical channel numbers
- started xmltv importer
- added a new lineup without mentioning a frq file
- Did "Add channels from "LM DVB Smart Recorder"
- physical channel numbers were there, I did not change anything
- logical channel numbers are all emtpy, I left it that way
- Did an "Update guide data"
- Now back in SageTV I went to configure my video sources
- removed the DVB Viewer Recoder setup
- added my Smart Recorder setup (127.0.0.1, port 9099)
- all my channel were there and enabled (green dot). Did a channel search because it was offered, but it did not find anything.
- went to epg guide and chose a running film and selected "watch now".

Did not work.
Live trace says this:

15:46:52.818 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - START DVB Smart Recorder Digitaler TV Tuner|3|2558748825472|D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts|Sehr Gut
15:46:52.820 - Recorder Service - Warning - DVB Smart Recorder - No channel with number '3' in recorder lineup
15:46:52.820 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - START = ERROR
15:46:52.922 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:46:53.867 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:46:54.946 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:46:56.113 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:46:57.250 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:46:58.349 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:46:59.450 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:47:00.553 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:47:01.660 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:47:02.742 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:47:03.862 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:47:04.947 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE D:\Videos\Ladykillers-mitAlecGuinnessGanovenquartierensichalsStreicherquintettgetarntbeieinerreizendenaltenDameein-7018995-0.ts = 0
15:47:05.455 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - STOP
15:47:05.458 - Recorder Service - Verbose - Current recording file is the one SageTV think is going on
15:47:05.461 - Recorder Service - Verbose - DVB Smart Recorder - STOP = ERROR

The key is " No channel with number '3' in recorder lineup".

Screentshot say more than 1000 words:


Any idea?
Oliver

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

15:46:52.820 - Recorder Service - Warning - DVB Smart Recorder - No channel with number '3' in recorder lineup
Any idea?

You have to check the checkbox in front of all channels you want to enable in the LM DSR Lineup (the fact that the Importer has loaded the channels from the lineup is not what it should have done : I'll fix this)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

all my channel were there and enabled (green dot). Did a channel search because it was offered, but it did not find anything.

And never do the channel scan when you use a XMLTV Lineup. This will totally mess up the lineup: SageTV will found the channels, this time without their proper EPG linking, add them to the lineup and you'll end up with duplicates channels : ones with EPG, ones without.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

You have to check the checkbox in front of all channels you want to enable in the LM DSR Lineup

Arghh... me stupid. Works now. Will continue to test. Have some stutter on live TV, but recorded file seems fine. Seems like a 1 second pause before watching live fixes this.

But I got a crash on changing to another channel.

20100717 16:35:55.051 - Info - Stopping recording D:\Videos\FamilienimBrennpunkt-7017457-0.ts on channel 'RTL'
20100717 16:35:55.057 - Info - Average bit rate : 4,69 Mbits/s for D:\Videos\FamilienimBrennpunkt-7017457-0.ts
20100717 16:35:55.060 - Info - Started Smart Buffer on channel 12003
20100717 16:35:55.061 - Info - Signal Quality 100,00% on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner (0 wrong packets received)
20100717 16:35:55.062 - Info - DVB Smart Recorder - Recording stopped: D:\Videos\FamilienimBrennpunkt-7017457-0.ts
20100717 16:35:59.661 - Info - Stopped Smart Buffer on channel 12003
20100717 16:35:59.663 - Info - Stopping graph on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner
20100717 16:36:00.130 - Info - Graph stopped on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner
20100717 16:36:00.132 - Info - Starting new recording 'D:\Videos\TourdeFrance-13EtappeRodezRevel-7013650-0.ts' on channel 'Das Erste'
20100717 16:36:00.134 - Info - Tuning to channel Das Erste (SID : 28106) on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner
20100717 16:36:00.134 - Info - Tuning to channel with SID 28106 on frequency 11836000 on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner
20100717 16:36:00.532 - Info - TechnoTrend - Set Disqec Level1AA, antenna 1, toneburst 0, polarisation LinearH, hiband True
20100717 16:36:01.008 - Info - Running graph on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner
20100717 16:36:01.511 - Info - DVB Smart Recorder - Recording started: D:\Videos\TourdeFrance-13EtappeRodezRevel-7013650-0.ts
20100717 16:36:01.758 - Info - Channel PMT : Das Erste (SID : 28106)
                               PCR PID : 101
                               Stream #1(PID=101) : Video, Unknown descriptor tag 0x11
                               Stream #2(PID=102) : Audio, deu
                               Stream #3(PID=103) : Audio, 2ch
                               Stream #4(PID=2073) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0x6F
                               Stream #5(PID=84) : Other
                               Stream #6(PID=104) : Other, Teletext Home|deu|1|0
                               Stream #7(PID=106) : AudioAC3, deu  AC3
                               Stream #8(PID=2171) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0x13  Unknown descriptor tag 0x66
20100717 16:36:05.068 - Info - Disk Throughput stability 100,00% for channel 12003 (0 packets dropped, if not 0 : this means write buffer had overrun)
20100717 16:36:06.856 - Warning - Unexpected error when parsing PMT : Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
20100717 16:36:10.533 - Warning - Unexpected error when parsing PMT : Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
20100717 16:36:10.754 - Warning - Unexpected error when parsing PMT : Ein Element mit dem gleichen Schlüssel wurde bereits hinzugefügt.
20100717 16:36:10.875 - Warning - Unexpected error when parsing PMT : Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
20100717 16:36:11.929 - Warning - Unexpected error when parsing PMT : Ein Element mit dem gleichen Schlüssel wurde bereits hinzugefügt.
20100717 16:36:12.270 - Error - Unexpected error : Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
                                   bei LMGestion.DVB.SectionBuffer.AddToBuffer(Byte[] source, Int32 sourceStart, Int32 length)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVB.PESPacket.FromByteArray(Byte[] packet, Boolean start, Int32 CC, Boolean discontinuity, Int32 pid)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVB.PESPacket.FromTSPacket(TSPacket packet)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVBLibrary.Cards.DVB.TSWriter.Receive(TSPacket currentPacket)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVBLibrary.Cards.DVB.TSReadSate.ForwardToRecorder(Byte[] packet)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVBLibrary.Cards.DVB.TSReadSate.OnReadData()
                                   bei System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
                                   bei System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
                                   bei System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
20100717 16:36:12.273 - Error - Unexpected error : Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
                                   bei LMGestion.DVB.SectionBuffer.AddToBuffer(Byte[] source, Int32 sourceStart, Int32 length)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVB.PESPacket.FromByteArray(Byte[] packet, Boolean start, Int32 CC, Boolean discontinuity, Int32 pid)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVB.PESPacket.FromTSPacket(TSPacket packet)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVBLibrary.Cards.DVB.TSWriter.Receive(TSPacket currentPacket)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVBLibrary.Cards.DVB.TSReadSate.ForwardToRecorder(Byte[] packet)
                                   bei LMGestion.DVBLibrary.Cards.DVB.TSReadSate.OnReadData()
                                   bei System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
                                   bei System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
                                   bei System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
20100717 16:36:12.284 - Info - Signal Quality 100,00% on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner (0 wrong packets received)
20100717 16:36:12.288 - Info - Destroying graph on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner
20100717 16:36:12.290 - Info - Disk Throughput stability 100,00% for channel 28106 (0 packets dropped, if not 0 : this means write buffer had overrun)
20100717 16:36:20.350 - Info - Graph destroyed on USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner
20100717 16:36:20.355 - Info - LM DVB Smart Recorder Service Stopped

What can I do if this happenes? Button "Restart Recorder" is greyed out.
I went to services.msc and restarted the service.
In respect for reliability is something like "restart service on crash" like the Sage TV service possible?

Oliver

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

And never do the channel scan when you use a XMLTV Lineup. This will totally mess up the lineup: SageTV will found the channels, this time without their proper EPG linking, add them to the lineup and you'll end up with duplicates channels : ones with EPG, ones without.

OK, I will try to remember. But this time no channels were found anyway.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

Have some stutter on live TV, but recorded file seems fine. Seems like a 1 second pause before watching live fixes this.

Make sure you select "Auto" as the Write buffer size in the options, this will adapt how quick data are written to disk based on the bit rate of the show.

What can I do if this happenes? Button "Restart Recorder" is greyed out. I went to services.msc and restarted the service. In respect for reliability is something like "restart service on crash" like the Sage TV service possible?

For now restarting the service is what you have to do. I'll add a service controller to restart the service when it crash (but I do want to avoid crash if possible)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

One more thing:
Sage TV does not tune any channel anymore, even after restarting the LM DSR service. Do I have to restart SageTV or will SageTV recognize the DSR service again after some time? I think I read something like that on the forums but I am not sure how these network encoders really work. Waited for about 20 minutes now but nothing.
After restarting SageTV all is fine.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by owilsky

One more thing:
Sage TV does not tune any channel anymore, even after restarting the LM DSR service. Do I have to restart SageTV or will SageTV recognize the DSR service again after some time?

If the recorder service has be down for more than a few seconds, SageTV may have noticed that it was down and as such will error out with a "No source is available to tune the channel" when trying to view a channel.

So, you have to either restart SageTV or go to the video source setup and go back to the SageTV home.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

If the recorder service has be down for more than a few seconds, SageTV may have noticed that it was down and as such will error out with a "No source is available to tune the channel" when trying to view a channel.

Exactly that error message occured.

Originally Posted by StephaneM

So, you have to either restart SageTV or go to the video source setup and go back to the SageTV home.

OK, so simply restarting the DSR service after a crash does not help. I guess your solution (simply no crashes!) will be better

Thanks for all your help!
I love beta testing...

[JohanDW]

Hi Stephane,

Finally some time to test your new baby!

I am using your latest release(1.0.3848.29399) in combination with FireDTV S2 tuner & CAM inserted. I have followed your instructions and have been able to scan 1 frequency succesfully. I now notice 2 problems:

1) I cannot add my lnb information, only the default lnb config is working. Whenever I add an LNB via 'Manage LNBs' I get the error message:

Unexpected error : Unable to cast object of type 'LMGestion.DVBSmartRecorder.Models.DVBLNB' to type 'LMGestion.DVBSmartRecorder.Models.Recorder'.

2) There is a problem with the CAM handling & FireDTV. (Note I am using FireDTV driver version 5.7)

20100718 10:49:56.597 - Info - Recorder 'New Recorder' listening on 127.0.0.1:9090
20100718 10:50:04.963 - Info - Starting new recording 'C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts' on channel '2BE'
20100718 10:50:04.986 - Info - Tuning to channel 2BE (SID : 12772) on FireDTV BDA Tuner DVBS2
20100718 10:50:04.986 - Info - Builing graph on FireDTV BDA Tuner DVBS2
20100718 10:50:05.031 - Info - FireDTV - CAM detected
20100718 10:50:05.036 - Info - FireDTV - CAM Name : 'Canal Digitaal'
20100718 10:50:05.036 - Warning - FireDTV - GetDriverVersion Failed 0x8007007A
20100718 10:50:05.037 - Info - FireDTV - Driver version :
20100718 10:50:05.040 - Info - FireDTV - Firmware version : HW: 01.34.04, FW: 01.05.02 build 30740
20100718 10:50:05.046 - Info - Tuning to channel with SID 12772 on frequency 12721000 on FireDTV BDA Tuner DVBS2
20100718 10:50:05.452 - Info - Running graph on FireDTV BDA Tuner DVBS2
20100718 10:50:05.935 - Error - CAM - Error sending PMT to CAM : Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
20100718 10:50:05.937 - Info - Channel PMT : 2BE (SID : 12772)
PCR PID : 8190
Stream #1(PID=942) : Video
Stream #2(PID=922) : Audio, dut
Stream #3(PID=902) : Other, Teletext Home|dut|1|0
Stream #4(PID=208) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0xC6 Unknown descriptor tag 0xC2
Stream #5(PID=250) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0xC2
Stream #6(PID=224) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0xC2
Stream #7(PID=226) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0xC2
Stream #8(PID=227) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0xC2
Stream #9(PID=228) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0xC2
Stream #10(PID=229) : Other, Unknown descriptor tag 0xC2
20100718 10:50:06.074 - Info - New Recorder - Recording started: C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts
20100718 10:51:01.470 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:02.489 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:03.506 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:04.522 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:05.539 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:06.557 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:07.578 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:08.597 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:09.614 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:10.633 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:11.650 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:12.670 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718 10:51:13.686 - Verbose - New Recorder - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\Johan\Videos\SageTV\2413_4_0718_1050-0.ts = 0
20100718

Hope this is sufficient info for you.

Johan

[StephaneM]

Hi All,

I uploaded version 1.0r4 of the recorder:

* Added : Stopping recording if no data has been received for 30sec. after the recording has started (this allow SageTV to restart properly the recording, otherwise the Smart Buffer doesn't allow a graph reconstruction)

* Fixed : Adding a new LNB

* Fixed : Error when decrypting with FireDTV CAM (to be verified)

* Improved : if the graph cannot be run for a scan / recording, destroy the graph (previously the graph was left in an inconsistent state)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by JohanDW

1) I cannot add my lnb information, only the default lnb config is working.

Ok I fixed it in 1.0r4

2) There is a problem with the CAM handling & FireDTV. (Note I am using FireDTV driver version 5.7)

Ok, it should be fixed in 1.0r4. Though I don't know if decrypting will work and how stable it is (for TT cards I close the CAM after a recording, I'm not doing it for Floppy/FireDTV while it may be useful for added stability)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Hi All,

I've introduced a serious bug in 1.0r4 : the acquisition thread and writing thread may not start. So if you installed this version it may not work at all (it will not record anything)

I'll post 1.0r5 tonight.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Hi All,

I uploaded version 1.0r5 that fixes the threads bug I introduced in 1.0r4.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[kwallin]

Hi,
Excellent work, FireDTV-S2 CAM works now, thx.

I have not been able to get the subtitles to work though, there is no .smi file created... UPDATED: Subtitles works now, I'm HAPPY!


Regards Kenneth

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by kwallin

I have not been able to get the subtitles to work though, there is no .smi file created... UPDATED: Subtitles works now, I'm HAPPY!

Ok, just a precision you have to select the subtitle stream you want to extract for a channel in the lineup editor : there are two drop down list in the table: one for TTX subtitles and one for DVB subtitles.

Once selected the recorder will only produce a SMI or ISUB file when it detect subtitles, otherwise the file are not created.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Hi All,

I uploaded version 1.1 of the recorder:

* Added : Service controller for restarting the service if it has crashed or doesn't respond anymore

* Added : all missing features, Online database, Update scan

So this is the first feature complete release, web site has been updated accordingly.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[owilsky]

OK, took the plunge and switched from DVB Viewer Recorder to your LM DVB Smart Recorder 1.1 - just donated for DVB Viewer Recoder four weeks ago *sigh* . Well, you deserve it for your great software and great support.

Two questions:

1.
Would it be possible in a future version to optionally write program streams instead of transport streams? I guess not but asking does not hurt...
Reason is that Placeshifter does not really like TS files... see my post in DVB Viewer Recorder thread.

2.
Which audio channels are saved into the TS file, all that come down from the satellite from that particular channel? Wouldn't that be a waste of disk space?

Well let's see how this one does its job for the next days, I hope to miss no recordings