HDHomeRun (HDHR) Prime + SageDCT

[sflamm]

The HDHR Logs are show a corresponding tune instance for each of the problems:

19700101-00:00:00 System: reset reason = restart command
19700101-00:00:01 CableCARD: M-CARD inserted
19700101-00:00:03 System: network link 1000f
19700101-00:00:05 CableCARD: Motorola card (0000:0625)
19700101-00:00:05 CableCARD: authentication status: authentication in progress
19700101-00:00:05 CableCARD: authentication status: authentication success, activation success
19700101-00:00:10 System: ip address obtained: 10.0.0.56 / 255.255.255.0
20120906-04:24:40 CableCARD: time changed from Thu Jan 01 00:01:00 1970 to Thu Sep 06 04:24:40 2012
20120906-04:24:48 CableCARD: Tuner1: vchannel 769 (765MHz-5068) access = subscribed
20120906-04:27:22 CableCARD: Tuner2: vchannel 795 (351MHz-5064) access = subscribed
20120906-05:00:00 CableCARD: Tuner1: vchannel 769 (765MHz-5068) access = subscribed
20120906-05:04:59 CableCARD: Tuner1: vchannel 769 (765MHz-5068) access = subscribed
20120906-05:29:59 CableCARD: Tuner1: vchannel 769 (765MHz-5068) access = subscribed
20120906-05:31:11 CableCARD: Tuner2: vchannel 702 (261MHz-2) access = subscribed
20120906-05:33:03 CableCARD: Tuner2: vchannel 746 (519MHz-5039) access = subscribed
20120906-05:59:59 CableCARD: Tuner2: vchannel 746 (519MHz-5039) access = subscribed
20120906-06:21:25 CableCARD: Tuner2: vchannel 733 (375MHz-5040) access = subscribed
20120906-06:59:59 CableCARD: Tuner2: vchannel 733 (375MHz-5040) access = subscribed

Each says subscribed... so why the "no matching channel"?

[teedublu]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Having issues since I upgraded to latest Prime beta 20120823beta1

I didn't have a beta firmware installed -- but a couple days ago, Comcast changed many of my channels to encrypted. Sorta random it seems.

I've since taken the Prime offline.

So you may have been hit by a bad Comcast setup.
I haven't called them yet to "re-hit" the beast. Figured I do some investigation first... so here I am.

I was running the latest HDHR official release. I've been pretty unsat with the prime with random stutter (I installed a gbE switch and new Intel NIC, but not really much improved) and the occasional recording that is glitched such that Sage won't play it, but WMP will.
So, I suppose I need to go the VLC route. So I'm installing the latest beta and will try SageDCT 2.5 or whatever the latest is (I'm running 2.2) -- after I get Comcast to fix this "bad hit".

TW

[phelme]

Originally Posted by sflamm

The HDHR Logs are show a corresponding tune instance for each of the problems:

Each says subscribed... so why the "no matching channel"?

If you use HDHomeRun Config or Setup, they can tune correctly? And ditto for the 'test' tab in ConfigureSageDCT?

[sflamm]

Correct - both HDHR setup / QuickTV and SageDCT test work fine


I manually soft-rebooted using the HDHR command line and it appears to be corrected for now (no messages in log file). Will wait a couple days and then report back.

Btw, the HDHR beta firmware does not fix the IGMP Snoop problem - needed to disable imp snoop to get everything to function correctly.

[jimz06]

Been through many of the posts here on SageDCT installation and Andy's blog, and based on the simplicity of the instructions I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, so would appreciate any pointers on what I may have missed before I resume tearing my remaining hairs out tonight:

1. SageTV 7.1.9 on Win7, Latest HDhomerun software (non-beta)
2. SageTV recordings are saved to //Mediaserver/blah/blah
3. QuickTV works fine tuning Comcast channels
4. Run SageDCT Configure. All tuners found. Copied config info into Sage.properties. Closed SageDCT Configurer.
5. SageDCT.exe set to allow in Windows Firewall
6. Prime Tuners show up as sources on SageTV. Set epg and channel setup.
7. Select channel on HD300. Sage reports No Signal. No tuner lights illuminated on the Prime.

Thoughts?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by jimz06

Been through many of the posts here on SageDCT installation and Andy's blog, and based on the simplicity of the instructions I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, so would appreciate any pointers on what I may have missed before I resume tearing my remaining hairs out tonight:

1. SageTV 7.1.9 on Win7, Latest HDhomerun software (non-beta)
2. SageTV recordings are saved to //Mediaserver/blah/blah
3. QuickTV works fine tuning Comcast channels
4. Run SageDCT Configure. All tuners found. Copied config info into Sage.properties. Closed SageDCT Configurer.
5. SageDCT.exe set to allow in Windows Firewall
6. Prime Tuners show up as sources on SageTV. Set epg and channel setup.
7. Select channel on HD300. Sage reports No Signal. No tuner lights illuminated on the Prime.

Thoughts?

Have you tried viewing Video on the win7 server first to make sure it is working? Also SAGEDCT does not work that well using UNC paths. I believe you can use replace path or convert to local paths.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by babgvant

There's a lot going on there that I don't understand.

Do you have virus SW running on the system?

babgvant,

I found out that I had to turn back on the firewall and allow VLC program access in the firewall... So I guess i should have listened when you said it is best to keep the firewall on. Now VLC and SAGEDCT are playing nice.

Thanks for your help

[sflamm]

SageDCT works great with UNC paths - been running 2 instances perfectly since SageDCT 1.8. And one with path rewrite for local storage.

Recommend turning on debug logging in SageDCT and check log for tuning request and subsequent events. That will give you a clear idea where the issue lies.


Btw I run SageDCT with FW off and service stopped - no issues on Win2003r2/XP

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by sflamm

SageDCT works great with UNC paths - been running 2 instances perfectly since SageDCT 1.8. And one with path rewrite for local storage.

Recommend turning on debug logging in SageDCT and check log for tuning request and subsequent events. That will give you a clear idea where the issue lies.


Btw I run SageDCT with FW off and service stopped - no issues on Win2003r2/XP

I have no issues the only issue I had was with VLC and creating a rule fixed that. So I finally got Sage the way I want it will not do any updating on my server except windows updates or java updates. I am running windows 7 and the firewall even if its turned off .. it is not completely off as the service is still running.

PS I prefer keeping the firewall on.

Now I can fully concentrate on Gemstone tesing.

[jimz06]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Have you tried viewing Video on the win7 server first to make sure it is working? Also SAGEDCT does not work that well using UNC paths. I believe you can use replace path or convert to local paths.

Verfied that SageDCT works when I turn Windows Firewall off and doesn't with Windows Firewall on. With the firewall on, in case SageDCT access had not been properly initialized for any reason, I tried disabling and reenabling SageDCT in the firewall settings with no effect. Are people using any of the advanced firewall settings? I would prefer not to leave the firewall off.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by jimz06

Verfied that SageDCT works when I turn Windows Firewall off and doesn't with Windows Firewall on. With the firewall on, in case SageDCT access had not been properly initialized for any reason, I tried disabling and reenabling SageDCT in the firewall settings with no effect. Are people using any of the advanced firewall settings? I would prefer not to leave the firewall off.

In the advance Inbound rules SAGEDCT is set to all.

[sflamm]

in advance setting also enable upnp framework.

[Sparhawk6]

Andy, have you had any issues running the latest beta firmware for the prime? I have seen reports in this thread that it causes problems.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by Sparhawk6

Andy, have you had any issues running the latest beta firmware for the prime? I have seen reports in this thread that it causes problems.

Nope

[teedublu]

Originally Posted by teedublu

I didn't have a beta firmware installed -- but a couple days ago, Comcast changed many of my channels to encrypted. Sorta random it seems.

I've since taken the Prime offline.

So you may have been hit by a bad Comcast setup.
I haven't called them yet to "re-hit" the beast. Figured I do some investigation first... so here I am.

I was running the latest HDHR official release. I've been pretty unsat with the prime with random stutter (I installed a gbE switch and new Intel NIC, but not really much improved) and the occasional recording that is glitched such that Sage won't play it, but WMP will.
So, I suppose I need to go the VLC route. So I'm installing the latest beta and will try SageDCT 2.5 or whatever the latest is (I'm running 2.2) -- after I get Comcast to fix this "bad hit".

TW

I loaded the latest beta firmware last weekend. A couple days later, I checked it and all (it seems) the channels are back to normal. No call to Comcast necessary.

[teedublu]

Got Prime working with VLC. I had to create a rule (inbound program if I recall) for vlc.exe

I also stumbled a bit on entering VLC path. You need the path including \vlc.exe (just copy the shortcut target and remove the quotes, which is what I started with but then out-thunk it after it didn't work, which was fixed by the firewall exception rule.

Windows 7 32bit

Thanks Andy for SageDCT!

TW

[sflamm]

Has everyone seen the performance of the native Win8 decoder for H264 and vc1 - impressive:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2...-platform.aspx

Any one successfully running SageTV client on Win8?

[reggie14]

Sorry about this, as I'm sure my search skills are failing me, but is there documentation anywhere telling me how to set up SageDCT? I just switched to FiOS and I'm setting up my Sage box again while I wait to see what happens with the Ceton Echo. In the meantime, I'd like to get my HDHR Prime tuner working with Sage. My Sage box is currently a Windows XP machine. My guess is I'll have to set up the CableCard tuner on one of my Windows 7 boxes first.

But, it would be really nice is there was some sort of step-by-step guide for doing all of this. I can't find it here or on Andy's blog.

[jbuszkie]

Originally Posted by reggie14

But, it would be really nice is there was some sort of step-by-step guide for doing all of this. I can't find it here or on Andy's blog.

It would be nice! when I did mine there was probably only half as many pages! Now I have to go back and see how to get the VLC transcoding working as I'm getting more and more "bad" recordings with the TS files.

[sflamm]

There have been a couple sets of instructions posted if you hunt around.

Here they are for your convenience:

Instructions #1

Setup the HDHomerun install:
1 - Turn off the SageTV Service
2 - Install the HDHomerun Prime software and let it download and install the latest firmware
3 - Let the Prime installer find the tuners
4 - There are tuner status screens in the HDHomerun install program - go to them for card ID data for activation. There is also a Cable Card activation number to call in its setup.
5 - Call that activation number and have them authorize (pair) the card based on the serial numbers and such that they will ask for. Make certain you give them the correct numbers.
6 - Wait an hour or so (for them to authorize the card) and for the guide/channel list to be seen in the HDHomerun install program.
7 - You *should* be able to see video on all the local and extended channels that you're provisioned for in the HDHomerun install "QuickTV" viewer. If not, don't bother with Media Center or installing SageDCT yet. I was getting messages like "You're not authorized to view this channel" and "the station is flagged copy-once" type errors. No first-tier support person could make it work even after hours on the phone with them over 3 days. They insisted I used Media Center to view them. The third Level2 person I contacted had a friend in a local office who reset a "DAK" and then everything started working. My locals were working with the Prime regardless of the bad DAK setting.

Setup SageDCT:
1 - If "UPNP Framework" under Windows Firewall "exceptions" isn't checked, as was my case, then check that box or the SageDCT Tuner discovery won't work
2 - Install SageDCT - I'm using 2.1.8 x.86 - you can find it here:
http://babgvant.com/files/folders/sa...s/default.aspx (Get the latest 32 or 64 bit version of SageDCT, Thanks Razrsharpe!)
3 - Unzip and run the SageDCT installer - and use Discovery Tab and press "Scan" and then "Generate Channel Assignments" to a file name like "Assignments.txt"
4 - Go back to the Windows firewall and add "SageDCT.exe" to the list of "Programs and Services" - you'll have to browse for its location -- by default mine was in "\Program Files\babgvant.com\SageDCT".
5 - Back in the SageDCT installer there is a Tuners tabs that will show you the port numbers the 3 tuners are using. Add these three port numbers under "Add port" on the "Exceptions" tab of the Windows Firewall - you can name it anything (but I used something like "SageDCT-6972", SageDCT-6974" and "SageDCT-6975" to match the assigned port numbers) - click the radio buttons that reads: UDP for each port added.
6 - I kept the default checks under the "Settings" tab. Static Tuners checked, but nothing else checked.
7 - Find and open Sage's Properties file (after you backup the old one) and are certain the SageTV service is actually still off. Take the contents of the "Assignments.txt" file from earlier and paste it into the bottom of the SageTV Properties file (mine was: \Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\Sage.Properties) on your SageTV server and save it.


Setup SageTV:
1 - Reboot after the steps above and let the SageTV service start up.
2 - Start the SageTV UI. Under Setup, setup the video source for each of the 3 Prime tuners - they will all have SageDCT in their names.
3 - Pick the channel list and select all the station numbers that were accessible in the Prime's "QuickTV" program. There is no need to scan for channels or preview them.
4 - I rebooted again after saving all of these tuner/channel assignments.

Things have been working fine since!

Observations:
1 - SageDCT uses little-to-no processor cycles even when handling 3 HD streams for me. I use an Intel I3. I've tested with 3 Prime tuners and 2 standard HDHomerun tuners all recording and the overall CPU was about 5%.
2 - The video is fantastic.
3 - The Prime was easier for me to setup than the original HDHomerun (and its method for channel assignments).
4 - I run Comskip (post recording) and haven't seen any problems yet.
5 - Files are stored in .TS format - easily moved to DVDs, VideoRedo, etc.
6 - Hopefully, Google won't be buying out SiliconDust anytime soon.

Instructions #2

Steps I used to get HDHR3CC to work in Sage. Note I got it to work in both w7 SP1 x64 and XP SP3. I reinstalled the OS several times in the past couple weeks. My setup consists of Sage using 2xHDHR and HDHR3CC. Sage server 192.168.1.50, HDHR #1 192.168.1.61, HDHR #2 192.168.1.62, HDHR3CC 192.168.1.63 - All set statically via my router.

1 - Install Windows
2 - Install Drivers (minus HDHR)
3 - Install Sage
4 - Install AC3 Filter
5 - Install ffdshow
6 - Install HDHR
7 - configure AC3 Filter
8 - configure ffdshow
9 - Setup HDHR for QAM. I also checked the CC, but dont know if that important.
10 - Setup Sage, minus HDHR3CC
11 - STOP ALL SAGE SERVICES!!!
12 - Install SageDCT
13 - Enable UPnP on the Firewall
14 - Add SageDCT and SageDCTconfigure as Firewall Exceptions
15 - run configureSageDCT. Discovery Tab, Scan. Then Generate Assignments
16 - Copy Assignments to Sage.Properties
17 - TURN OFF FIREWALL (or open ports in Firewall)
18 - Open SageDCT and verify connectivity of HDHR3CC
19 - Start Sage
20 - The DCT tunners will already be in the tuner list. Add correct EPG and set correct channels you plan to tune.
**NOTE - using XP, Channel Preview does work for me. In Win7 it does not**
21 - Enjoy

I am currently setup using XP, my Windows Firewall is turned OFF. Sage has been stable running for 7 days w/ 0 missed recordings

**Note - SageDCT is set to look for 127.0.0.1:Port for Tuner** Yes this is the local loop. I believe this should be the computer running SageDCT, NOT the IP of the HDHR3CC

Step 20, let me elaborate

EPG Lineup:null <-- select that (either with the mouse or arrows and enter)

That will take you through the setup wizard to add the epg lineup.
Use you zip code and select your digital cable provider
After getting to the lineup **DO NOT SCAN**
Just mark/enable the channels that you want Sage to tune.

Then add the same lineup to the other 2 tuners


There is no need to remove and re-add the tuner.