HDHomeRun (HDHR) Prime + SageDCT

[sflamm]

\\server is NOT the loopback l0 interface. \\server is resolved by a NetBios call on windows. probably when you took down your router you took down your NetBios server. And \\server resolves DNS to a.b.c.d not 127.0.0.1 (again not the loopback). In order to do anything, \\server need to be resolved first.

SageTV has absolutely no idea how the OS file I/O is happening. I said I believe that the MSFT I/O is smart enough to handle this I/O by direct file I/O instead of using the network stack - an implementation optimization which is NOT externally observable.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by sflamm

\\server is NOT the loopback l0 interface. \\server is resolved by a NetBios call on windows. probably when you took down your router you took down your NetBios server. And \\server resolves DNS to a.b.c.d not 127.0.0.1 (again not the loopback). In order to do anything, \\server need to be resolved first.

SageTV has absolutely no idea how the OS file I/O is happening. I said I believe that the MSFT I/O is smart enough to handle this I/O by direct file I/O instead of using the network stack - an implementation optimization which is NOT externally observable.

FYI this was my results on XP NOT WIN7 so it may not be the same any more but:

Router providing DHCP in basement. SageTV server in Living Room. Using UNC paths to same PC. Simulate a network disconnect from that PC because the switch in living room fails. SageTV shows NO recording space available solid RED Menu Header Disk Space Bar. Recording in progress fails. Connect the PC back to the switch the Disk Space Bar displays space available and recording resumes with just a gap in recording where PC was disconnected.

Not trying to argue for either side since I don't know which side this would even apply to. Just providing my results when I did this particular test on XP. This was why I setup a loop back adapter in XP so that I could have a switch failure and NOT have recording problems. Had to get rid of it because SageTV would occasionally startup and default to using the loop back adapter as it's network interface and extenders and clients couldn't connect. I just put my switch in the living room on the UPS that the PC was on to minimize possibility of problems.

[sflamm]

windows has a lot of odd behaviors/dependencies when it cannot find its local gateway. no doubt that create a tremendous amount of angst/confusion that in no way has anything to do with the optimizations that the OS does to keep I/O as local as possible. In this case, it will avoid network traffic because direct file I/O is optimal - these optimizations are built in to the OS low level read/write calls. Even in the case that traffic truly goes to the loopback interface, the TCP/IP stack for the loopback is NOT on the NIC. The stack is held in memory and there is no network traffic usage and very little CPU as all the execution is DMA.

it should at least at an intellectual level make sense that MSFT has a couple smart guys around that wouldnt let their OS crater itself on simple optimizations

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Out of curiosity, are you doing that by streaming the unmodified TS to a separate running VLC process invoked with the right command line parameters?

Yes, for the most part. SageDCT tells VLC where to listen for an RTP stream and where to write the file.

Originally Posted by sflamm

I assume the remuxing is extremely fast since it is simply rewriting the transport layer - is the speed overhead just the cost of bringing up the new process?

Yes.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Btw, when you write to \\server\directory and the \\server is the local machine Windows is smart enough to do direct I/O. It doesnt use the network stack at all.

This isn't accurate. That's why you want to replace path if you use UNC targets.

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by Sparhawk6

Wow, well it's working now! The channels I previously could not see are now viewable. As you had said, tuning takes a little longer now. But it's worth it if I can view the channel. Great work babgvant!

babgvant, will the VLC capability work on WHS v1 (XP)? I have updated to SageDCT v2.5, installed VLC v2.0.3, and added VLS to my firewall exceptions list, but SageTV just freezes when I try to tun a channel.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by voorhees

babgvant, will the VLC capability work on WHS v1 (XP)?

It should.

[sflamm]

As a followup to the multi-case error/warning I was getting from Silicondust (see previous post) it turns out that the HDHDR Prime does currrently have a bug according to them that will be fixed shortly:

The HDHomeRun uses IGMPv2 to join groups, however the stock firmware does not respond to a switch checking group membership.

This issue was fixed in a recent beta release and will be included in the next formal release.

Until then IGMP snoop needs to be off as it checks group membership to determine how to optimize the multicast broadcast ports.

[sflamm]

Apparently there is a fix in one of the Beta releases for those who dont mind using less stable code:

Release 20120524beta1

HDHomeRun Prime Firmware:
* Fix problem with IGMP handling that could cause HDHomeRun to not be UPnP discoverable when used with multicast-snooping managed switches.

[malbec]

babgvant ...

First I wanted to apologize, been off this for a while due to personal reasons as well as a full system crash requiring a rebuild and therefore couldn't help with the debugging as I had started.

Second, wanted to say THANKS SO MUCH .... the new version of DCT with VLC has made my system very stable now with no video recording errors at all for live TV or on my extenders. I sincerely appreciate your time and effort on patching this so Sage could have a little longer life.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

[sflamm]

Watching TV (SageTV/SageDCT) on a channel fine - the channel gets to the next time slot boundary and then the channel fails on re-tune.

The message I am seeing in SageDCT log is:

2012/08/26 18:18:51.92 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746
2012/08/26 19:00:00.18 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746
2012/08/26 19:00:00.70 : StartRecording 6972 - no matching channel found for 798
2012/08/26 19:30:00.05 : StartRecording 6970 - no matching channel found for 753
2012/08/26 20:00:00.28 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746


What is going on?!

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Watching TV (SageTV/SageDCT) on a channel fine - the channel gets to the next time slot boundary and then the channel fails on re-tune.

The message I am seeing in SageDCT log is:

2012/08/26 18:18:51.92 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746
2012/08/26 19:00:00.18 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746
2012/08/26 19:00:00.70 : StartRecording 6972 - no matching channel found for 798
2012/08/26 19:30:00.05 : StartRecording 6970 - no matching channel found for 753
2012/08/26 20:00:00.28 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746


What is going on?!

Log?

[phelme]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Watching TV (SageTV/SageDCT) on a channel fine - the channel gets to the next time slot boundary and then the channel fails on re-tune.

The message I am seeing in SageDCT log is:

2012/08/26 18:18:51.92 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746
2012/08/26 19:00:00.18 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746
2012/08/26 19:00:00.70 : StartRecording 6972 - no matching channel found for 798
2012/08/26 19:30:00.05 : StartRecording 6970 - no matching channel found for 753
2012/08/26 20:00:00.28 : StartRecording 6975 - no matching channel found for 746


What is going on?!

Have you checked your channel lineup on your cable card on the Prime? x.x.x.x/lineup.html?show=all

Looks like it hasn't been downloaded or its otherwise incorrect. You might want to reboot the Prime or take out the card and re-insert it to get it resync.

[sflamm]

log (attached).

should i turn on verbose logging? let me know what you need.

[sflamm]

Have you checked your channel lineup on your cable card on the Prime? x.x.x.x/lineup.html?show=all

Looks like it hasn't been downloaded or its otherwise incorrect. You might want to reboot the Prime or take out the card and re-insert it to get it resync.

http://10.0.0.56/lineup.xml show empty. But the log file (attached) for the prime show all the channels... not sure what to make of that.

Again the channels all tune correctly just not retune on the sage time boundaries...

Is there a way to remotely ask the Prime to reboot? (it is up in my attic)

[sflamm]

I used the following command to soft reboot:

"C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe" PRIME_ID set /sys/restart self

The channel lineup is now appearing under http://10.0.0.56/lineup.xml
(attached)

Is that expected to fix the issue? (not sure why it would but I will find out over the next hours....)

[phelme]

Originally Posted by sflamm

I used the following command to soft reboot:

"C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe" PRIME_ID set /sys/restart self

The channel lineup is now appearing under http://10.0.0.56/lineup.xml
(attached)

Is that expected to fix the issue? (not sure why it would but I will find out over the next hours....)

Well, maybe it's going down the wrong road in your case. But when I was seeing those errors a couple months ago, it was because the channel list on my CableCard would only be partially intact on occasion. It was a bug in the SiliconDust firmware that was the problem which they've since fixed.

[nyplayer]

Anytime I upgrade the firmware I do a full channel scan in the Prime web Interface... to make sure that all the channels are found. Then I compare to the channels enabled in Sage.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by sflamm

should i turn on verbose logging?

Yes.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Is that expected to fix the issue? (not sure why it would but I will find out over the next hours....)

I've never been able to successfully tune a channel not listed on that page.

The warning that you get from SageDCT is informational only, it still asks the DCT to tune it even if it's not in its list (the list is primarily used for "scanning" in SageTV).