New DVB(T/S/C) Network Recorder

[svalmorri]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

<CA_Types>
   <CA_Type>2363</CA_Type>
   <CA_Type>256</CA_Type>
</CA_Types>

I haven't tried yet, will do tonite ... but are you sure it should be in decimal format? I'm asking because I see in the pre-built file that it's coming with a 0500 entry (which corresponds to Viaccess), and it's hex format.

Regards

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

I haven't tried yet, will do tonite ... but are you sure it should be in decimal format? I'm asking because I see in the pre-built file that it's coming with a 0500 entry (which corresponds to Viaccess), and it's hex format.

Yup pretty sure, as I'm comparing the value (string) in the xml to a string value converted from the CA types coming from the CAT (the CA type is an unsigned short, the formatted string is not using the hex format style)

[svalmorri]

Stephane,

still no joy!

Regardless of what I write into the .xml file I continue to get 0x919 decryption attempt instead of 0x93b which is specified into the cardclient.conf and returned by the newcamd server as you can see from the attached log. For some reason the program passes the 1st CAID it gets from the stream (in this case 0x919) - see CAID changed! from (0) to (919). This is just my guess ... but you can check the code to validate.

I have tried several cardclient capable plugins which are supposed to work with MDAPIfilter (emunation and acamd) but the results are the same.

Hope you can help with this.

Cheers,
Stefano

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

still no joy! Regardless of what I write into the .xml file I continue to get 0x919 decryption attempt instead of 0x93b

Sorry I was misleaded by the sample in the XML...

You should write this:

<CA_Types>
   <CA_Type ID="2363"/>
   <CA_Type ID="256"/>
</CA_Types>

Instead of

<CA_Types>
   <CA_Type>2363</CA_Type>
   <CA_Type>256</CA_Type>
</CA_Types>

And this should work.

Though I'm wondering why the MDAPI plugin doesn't do this automatically. I am no expert with encryption but the way I see it is this:

You have a CAT : this table list all PIDs needed for a CA system. And in a channel PMT you have the ID of the CA to use, as well as the PID needed for this CA so why the MDAPI Plugins does not put them back together...

I don't know if I'm supposed to do this myself or not (if yes, I wonder why the MDAPIProvID.xml is needed...), or if the problem should be handled manually because of a trick added by the provider themselves...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[svalmorri]

Hi Stephane,

thanks for your patience ...

However it's still showing the same issue, the log says: "CAID changed! from (0) to (919)" while I was expecting "CAID changed! from (0) to (93B)" ... I have restarted the recorder from the Services several times and any time I have done a change in the xml file.

I am stuck, no clue about why this happens. Normally the mdapi plugin can use a PMT file (in case of acamd it's acamd_pmt.txt) where the preferred or to be ignored caid's are specified (see attached file) but in this case this file is not read at all.

I used this plugin with different applications (dvbe4sage, dvddream) without any issue so I wonder whether it's the LM Recorder that handles something wrongly.

Regards,
Stefano

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

However it's still showing the same issue, the log says: "CAID changed! from (0) to (919)" while I was expecting "CAID changed! from (0) to (93B)" ... I have restarted the recorder from the Services several times and any time I have done a change in the xml file.

I checked the MDAPI Filter source code and two things:

1) this message "CAID changed!..." will only output the first CA found (there is an array, the displayed element is number 0) no matter what LM DSR can set.

2) this message is only displayed when you are currently using the MDAPIFilter as a card client (MDAPIFilter.ini / actAsCardClient=true)

So I guess this is the problem : you should not use the embedded MDAPI card client, and use actAsCardClient=false instead to use the Acamd plugin...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[svalmorri]

Stephane,

thanks! You were right, by disabling the internal cardclient and enabling the mdapi plugin I was able to connect to the server.

However I have a different problem now: FTA channels are shown without any issue, not the encrypted ones though. Screen is made of a few still pictures (no motion) and tons of glitches (e.g. dropped frames). The LM Recorder console logs several "Continuity error in PES Packet PID xxxx" per second and very few GET_FILE_SIZE succesfull updates (increasing in size). Most of the frames are dropped and not played on the screen.

For your info I am running acamd 6.1.8 plugin acting as a cardclient into a newcamd server. The same plugin with the same settings has been tested with DVBDream 1.4i and the result was a fluid playback on all channels, SD and HD, no glitches at all. This makes me think it's an issue of either LM Recorder or MDAPIFilter ...

Any idea?
Thanks so far,

Stefano

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

This makes me think it's an issue of either LM Recorder or MDAPIFilter ...

It's the MDAPIFilter... I'll surely drop it but this will takes time.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

Screen is made of a few still pictures (no motion) and tons of glitches (e.g. dropped frames). The LM Recorder console logs several "Continuity error in PES Packet PID xxxx" per second and very few GET_FILE_SIZE succesfull updates (increasing in size). Most of the frames are dropped and not played on the screen.

You can also try a different FFDecsa.dll it can also make things work better

[svalmorri]

Following further investigation I have noticed that the probable reason of the stuttering and of the Continuity errors is that the CPU utilization is close to 100% when decoding crypted channels, which is a bit weird for my setup, the pc is capable of running even HD streams (Core 2 Duo with 2 megs of ram etc etc.).

The high cpu load is probably due to the FFDeCsa.dll in use which is the MDAPIFilter stock one. Any other FFDeCsa library I try to use isn't loaded by the filter (the 64_MMX is the most performant one and I was trying to test that one) ... and this is the next strange bit. I downloaded a package with all the available ffdecsa builds but none of them is loaded as well.

What's the library pack you suggest to use?

Thanks!

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

The high cpu load is probably due to the FFDeCsa.dll in use which is the MDAPIFilter stock one. Any other FFDeCsa library I try to use isn't loaded by the filter (the 64_MMX is the most performant one and I was trying to test that one)

The FFDecsa.dll should be put in the "C:\Program Files\LM Gestion\LM DVB Smart Recorder" folder.

Also the MDAPIFilter.ini does have a setting for the FFDecsa.dll to load:

#FFDeCSA
ffdecsa=.\FFDecsa.dll

Then the MDAPIFilter.log shoud tell you what's going on when it try to load the FFDecsa.dll:

13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] CMDAPIFilter::InitFilter() Creating Decrypter
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] CMDAPIFilter::InitFilter() nr of plugins 1
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::Decrypter() Decrypter thread started
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::Decrypter() MDAPI Plugins known to decrypter ? 1 
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::Decrypter() DecrypterThreadID : 4124 
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::Decrypter() Loading FFDECSA
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::LoadFFDeCSAdll()
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::LoadFFDeCSAdll Attempting to load ffdecsa from ini file location (.\FFDecsa.dll)
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::LoadFFDeCSAdll() key size: 3232 parallelism: 64
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::LoadFFDeCSAdll() setting key
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::LoadFFDeCSAdll() dll loaded successfully
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] Decrypter::Decrypter() init done
13-08-2010 00:55:39 [INFO] [USB 2.0 BDA DVB-S Tuner #1 - 0] CMDAPIFilter::InitFilter() Decrypter initialized

... and this is the next strange bit. I downloaded a package with all the available ffdecsa builds but none of them is loaded as well. What's the library pack you suggest to use?

I don't know as I do not use MDAPI at all. Though you can use the test tool linked here

Regards,
Stéphane.

[svalmorri]

Yes, I did it the right way, dll is in the right folder. However all dll's I tested do not load successfully, the log file does not show the "Decrypter::LoadFFDeCSAdll() dll loaded successfully" message.

It only does with the ffdecsa.dll which comes with the MP mdapifilter but it's subjected to the issues I explained earlier (high cpu load and slow decryption bringing to stuttering and continuity errors). I had already tried all dll's versions included in the url you gave me but none of those were loading ...

I'll probably give another try from a clean installation, if it still does fail I will give up. It's a pity, the application was looking promising.

Thanks for your time
Regards

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

Yes, I did it the right way, dll is in the right folder. However all dll's I tested do not load successfully, the log file does not show the "Decrypter::LoadFFDeCSAdll() dll loaded successfully" message.../...I'll probably give another try from a clean installation

You really don't need to do a clean installation... What are the MDAPIFilter.log saying... what is the dll MDAPIFilter try to load?

Also make sure you set the MDAPIFilter logs to "Verbose"

[Main]

#Enable File Logging
logEnabled=true

#LogLevels: 1=Error/2=WARN/3=INFO/4=DEBUG/5=VERBOSE
logLevel=5

#Log File Location
logFile=C:\ProgramData\LM Gestion\LM DVB Smart Recorder\MDAPIFilter.log

#FFDeCSA
ffdecsa=.\FFDecsa.dll

#Activates global 184 mode
mode184=true

#Decryption is only attempted when a key is present
decryptOnKeyOnly=false

#Decrypts all scrambled TS Packets... Increases CPU Load!. Not recommended..
decryptAllTS=false

#Block scrambled TSPackets from reaching TSWriter - Can also be used to avoid scrambled detection.(Is a little too quick now a days)
blockScrambledTSPacket=false

#Raw dump TS Packets
rawDump=false

#The MDAPIFilter acts as CardClient
actAsCardClient=false

Stop / Start the LM DSR Service to be sure the MDAPIFilter.ini will be reloaded...

Regards,
Stéphane.

[svalmorri]

Stephane,

finally I did it! The issue with the stuttering and continuity errors was due to the LM DSR Monitoring tool with verbose logging set. It was consuming most of the cpu resources thus loosing many decryption packets. I disabled logging and now it plays smoothly. The cpu load is still huge but this is a test machine, when moving into production I guess it will be much better.

The only FFDeCsa.dll that loads successfully is the one coming with MDAPIFilter (mediaportal version) but I checked its performance and I saw it's even faster than the 64MMX version (larger bandwidth).

One thing I discovered is that acamd has an internal ffdecsa code, therefore if I do not specify any ffdecsa.dll in the mdapifilter.ini (using a dummy entry) then it uses the internal one which is not fast as the dll but it makes its job.

An issue I have sligthly noticed and that I will investigate further is that sometimes the mdapi plugin (acamd) hangs when changing from a FTA to a crypted channel. No decryption occurs and it's necessary to restart the service manually. Have you noticed this? Have you any trick to suggest? (please note that I have set the tickmark for the recorder to restart it).

Thanks and regards

[screwfox]

I have a sagetv setup using HD200 extender. I have a wintv 900h usb tuner. I do have lying about a WinTV-CI usb adapter.

I currently have my CAM and card in a toppy to enable me to watch ESPN. It would be great if I could use the CI adapter and watch ESPN through sagetv.

Can this software enable me to do this?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

finally I did it! The issue with the stuttering and continuity errors was due to the LM DSR Monitoring tool with verbose logging set.

The monitor live trace is always verbose, the log level only apply to what's written in the log files.

Though the live trace do eat CPU a lot as it features an animated list scroll (WPF). The monitor should only be used (with live trace or not) only in case of problems as it does slow down the recorder.

The cpu load is still huge but this is a test machine, when moving into production I guess it will be much better.

Be careful though with CPU use because as soon as the CPU is maxed out for a long time: you will drop packets (either from Directshow, from the recorder Directshow buffer or from the recorder write buffer)

An issue I have sligthly noticed and that I will investigate further is that sometimes the mdapi plugin (acamd) hangs when changing from a FTA to a crypted channel. No decryption occurs and it's necessary to restart the service manually. Have you noticed this? Have you any trick to suggest? (please note that I have set the tickmark for the recorder to restart it).

As I can't use MDAPI I don't have any tricks for you... The only thing I can tell you is what really do the "reset after use" option.

The "reset after use" option does release everything Directshow related (including MDAPIFilter, and consequently MDAPI plugins) when the recorder is done with a DVB card.

So when a recording ends on a DVB card, it will destroy the capture graph. However the release doesn't take place right away because of the smart buffer: when a recording stops, LM DSR will continue recording for 10 sec. in the smart buffer. So if a new recording start :

* on the same channel (or transponder), the recorder will pick up the content of the smart buffer and continue the recording on a new file

* on a different channel (transponder), the recorder stop the graph, tune to the new channel and goes on (so in this case the MDAPIFilter + MDAPI plugins are not unloaded)

So when the MDAPI plugin is not doing what it should : stop the recording, wait 10 sec. at least for the graph to be destroyed and try again.

In a few days I'll release a new version of the recorder that should get rid of some issues with some dvb cards. This version will force all Directshow graph manipulation to be done in a single STA thread (currently the recorder does handle the Directshow graph from multiple MTA threads and with some DVB cards => the recorder will lock because one of the Directshow filter is deadlocking one thread)

Then I'll study the MDAPIFilter to see what this filter is supposed to do and if it does it correctly (Though this will take some time as the filter is done in bare C++ and I'm not a specialist)

Regards,

[StephaneM]

Hi,

Originally Posted by screwfox

I have a wintv 900h usb tuner. I do have lying about a WinTV-CI usb adapter. I currently have my CAM and card in a toppy to enable me to watch ESPN. It would be great if I could use the CI adapter and watch ESPN through sagetv.

I do have some support for the WinTV CI USB, though you'll have to edit the config file manually for enabling it (in the recorders.xml you'll find for your capture card a usb-ci="" field, change it to usb-ci="WINTVCIUSBBDA SOURCE" and it should enable the CI, no guarantee that it will work though)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[svalmorri]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

In a few days I'll release a new version of the recorder ...

Keep the following as an improvement suggestion for the next releases: why not implementing the capability of capturing the weekly epg directly from the dvb stream that some providers like Sky do? From IEPG Data to xmltv format ...
It is also implemented in MP, Dreambox etc if you need a reference code.

Cheers

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

why not implementing the capability of capturing the weekly epg directly from the dvb stream that some providers like Sky do? From IEPG Data to xmltv format ...

Eventually but not in the near futur...

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by svalmorri

Keep the following as an improvement suggestion for the next releases: why not implementing the capability of capturing the weekly epg directly from the dvb stream that some providers like Sky do? From IEPG Data to xmltv format ...
It is also implemented in MP, Dreambox etc if you need a reference code.

Cheers

svalmorri, try this applications to extract EPG from DVBS. I do it for YES (Israel) and for Платформа HD - Platforma HD (Russia). but it take time you will see by growing size of .xml file.

you will find 'sample' configuration with .cmd/.ini files.

epgfromdvb.exe is original code from http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvbe4sage/ it's should support Sky (it's perfect support YES Israel)
epgfromdvb2.exe it's my modification that more generic support for Platforma HD