Network Encoder Question?

[Ralphjb]

I am not sure how to word this clearly, but let me try. I have a PC with SageTV setup as a network encoder. Hooked to that is an HDPVR. The PC is an Asus Aspire running XP.

My main PC is a Dell i7 running XP. I have SageTV 6 running (though I had the same issue with version 7, when I tried it).

My complete recording setup is an R5000 modded Dish VIP211 hooked directly to my SageTV server PC, an HDPVR hooked directly to my SageTV server PC, an HD HomeRun on the network, and finally, the SageTV network encoder with the HDPVR described above.

Here's my problem, my Sage is losing sight of the SageTV network encoding PC. What I mean by that, is when I first launch SageTV it will show the encoding PC on the parallel recording schedule view. But after a period of time, it will no longer show it on that list.

I have been sure that the encoding PC remains awake, including the NIC.

I am not sure what the issue is - is it the encoding PC, the server PC or something inherent in SageTV. Any advice on how to troubleshoot, or any settings to try would be must appreciated.

[Ralphjb]

Well, this problem persists.

I have a new PC as my SageTV server. It is running Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium edition.

The encoding PC shows up on the network and I can easily access the shared folders. But as I described above, SageTV seems to lose sight of the encoding PC.

Is there some other setting in SageTV to address this?

Thanks!

[PiX64]

Is the network encoder connected to the network via cable or wirelessly?

Is it possible that your network encoder has something running on it which is possbily causing it to lose connection with the network and therefore Sage Server is unable to see it after a period of time?

in the network connections on the network encoder do you see anything out of the ordinary in there??

I have never played around with network encoders before, but just trying to help you walk through some possible ideas...

~PiX64

[Ralphjb]

Pix64

Appreciate it.

This is a wired connection. That is the maddening thing. There is nothing out of the ordinary with the setup, at least that I can tell. When I browse the network from any networked PC, the encoding computer shows up in the list. Further, I can get to the shared files no problem.

Was wondering if there was some setting in SageTV (on either side of the connection) to force Sage to always "see" the encoding PC.

[Ralphjb]

Well it still confounds me.

Last night I redid the source connection within Sage to the encoder. Worked no problem. It showed up in the parallel recording source screen.

This morning, not listed.

I have two routers - a wireless router and a wired one. I have moved the connection of the encoding PC from the wired router to the wireless router (both linksys and of course connected by ethernet cable.

Maybe that will solve the problem.

[MacDaddy]

Not sure if this will help you, but thought I would share an experience with my HD HomeRuns. They are similar to your network encoder, but certainly not identical. I have a SageTV box and an unRaid box. I originally had both boxes connected to my old DLink router (can't remember model) with two HDHRs. The switch was only 100Mb. I upgraded the router to a DIR-655. Both the SageTV and unRaid were able to run at 1Gb, the HDHRs continued at 100Mb. I would find that the Sage box would "lose" the HDHRs over time. When I put a second LAN card in the SageTV box and set it for 100Mb with a direct switch connection to the two HDHRs it worked rock solid.

Not certain if it helps in your case, but thought it might possibly be food for thought.

[bigo93bronco]

If all else fails you might be able to install a second NIC in the server, and connect the two computers with a crossover cable. This would elimanate the network as the culprit if the problem continues.

[Mike]

I have a similar issue. I loose network drives. My music and pictures are on another computer and quite often I can access them with no trouble through Sage. Other times, they simply won't be there. I originally thought it was a windows problem, but windows explorer can still see the drives. Recently, I was using windows media 10 and it couldn't access the drives either, but explorer could.

I'm about to upgrade to Win 7 and Sage 7. If the problem persists then, I'll issue a trouble ticket.

I don't know if that's helpfull, but you're the first I've seen with a similar problem.

Good luck with your issue.

[Ralphjb]

I appreciate all the advice.

Well as a matter of face I do have one HDhomerun hooked up to the network. Is it possible that there is a conflict between the devices that is making the computer encoder disappear. If I set the port to something other than 6969, would that alleviate the problem?

I am in the middle of another operation and will have to wait for that to end. After that I will reboot all the PC's. I now have the encoder connected to the wireless router and I have changed the port setting from 6969 to 7171. I will report if any of this works.

Thanks!

[Mike]

I'm not a real great computer guy, but an idea just occurred to me. My computers do not have static IP addresses. Is it possible that they lose the ability to see the resource when the lease expires on the address?

[Ralphjb]

Well I appreciated all the advice, but simply never got this to work. Ended up buying a 40foot USB cable and IR emitter and hooking both up to my SageTV server.