Plugin: DVB Decrypter & Card Client

[sota]

Eddy,

I've been testing this plug-in for the last few days with a temporary line from a card sharing service. It works on a few encrypted channels and I can see OSCAM logging into the remote server. However, on most channels I get "No Signal" and nothing shows on OSCAM. I've e-mailed you the logs to see if you can spot anything. I'm using a Hauppauge Nova-S2 card.

Thanks,
Pat

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by sota

Eddy,

I've been testing this plug-in for the last few days with a temporary line from a card sharing service. It works on a few encrypted channels and I can see OSCAM logging into the remote server. However, on most channels I get "No Signal" and nothing shows on OSCAM. I've e-mailed you the logs to see if you can spot anything. I'm using a Hauppauge Nova-S2 card.

Thanks,
Pat

Hi Pat,

I haven't received any email from you as yet, however I must warn you about the Hauppauge Nova DVB-S2 tuner (which I have) and is related to a known bug whereby some DVB-S2 channels wont work until you install special Windows registry fix. Alternatively if you use the "DVB-S Importer" plugin it has special code that take care of the Hauppauges and updates the Windows registry for you as appropriate, also the plugin removes the 'pilot:0' from .FRQ files to allow SageTV getting the right value from the transport stream.

It might not be your particular issue, but thought worth letting you know.

Cheers
Eddy

[sota]

Ah, I wasn't aware of that problem. Can you share the registry fix as I'm trying out Dean's EPG plugin on the test server. I have attached the logs to this post, the first couple of channels I tune to give No Signal but th elast one works fine.

Thanks,

Pat

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by sota

Ah, I wasn't aware of that problem. Can you share the registry fix as I'm trying out Dean's EPG plugin on the test server. I have attached the logs to this post, the first couple of channels I tune to give No Signal but th elast one works fine.

Thanks,

Pat

Not that easy I'm afraid as they are calculated automatically depending upon the modulation bits and very prone to error. One of the reason I've made that plugin is to avoid doing it manually.

After looking at your .FRQ file I'll suggest to remove the 'pilot:0' column altogether as it is source of problems with the Hauppauges. Also from the DVBDCC-Tuner-xx.log it clears that SageTV doesn't tune correctly in the first place and that is because of the tuning parameters. Also make sure your logical channels map correctly with your physical channels in the .FRQ file, a one to one mapping is preferred. Also please make sure that all the tuners involved in the test have the same lineup and .FRQ

Cheers
Eddy

[routerunner]

If you have problem tuning a channel and you don't know whether is your tuner, your .FRQ files or SageTV having issues then the following guide might be quite handy.

-----------------------------------------------

SageTV has a special debug mode called native logging and its purpose is to identify and fix tuning problems. In order to activate the native logging mode you simply have to create an empty file called exactly (in attachment if you have problem creating one):

NATIVE_LOG.ENABLE

into the SageTV installation directory, typically <../SageTV/SageTV/>.

Then run SageTV as normal and you will notice a new file named Native.txt which contains in a quite detailed way what SageTV is doing with any of your native tuners. The file is very verbose and its content will grow quite rapidly, so it is not designed to be kept always on, but only to diagnose problems with your tuners.

Every time you select a channel to record/watch, SageTV will start tuning and will write everything is doing inside the Native.txt, it will also write all the information it founds whilst parsing the transport stream, very useful indeed.

Below a typical example of what you'll find inside the file when SageTV is attempting to tune into a particular channel. If everything is fine you'll typically see the "Parsing is Done!" message and the video stream appearing after few seconds, otherwise you have tuning issues which are always due to a wrong channel entry into the .FRQ file.

12/03/2013 19:54:43 Tune channel (1) 1--1--1 on 'Hauppauge WinTV 88x TS Capture-0'. <<=======
12/03/2013 19:54:43 Select output format:1
12/03/2013 19:54:43 DVB:Get tuning Entry :(type:1) major:-1  minor:-1  physical:1 (index:-1)
12/03/2013 19:54:43 DVB-S Freq entry: index:1 onid:2 tsid:2045 sid:6301 frq:10773000 ctr:1 (skip:0) v_pid:0 a_pid:0 name:BBC.
12/03/2013 19:54:43  DiSEqc: Vol:8 Loc:LowBand Pos:A Opt:A 
12/03/2013 19:54:43  DVB-S: Hauppauge Setup 0 (support:3) for DVB-S hr=0x8007001f at Hauppauge WinTV 88x TS Capture-0
12/03/2013 19:54:43 Setup tuner InnerFECRate 0x6 hr=0x0 
12/03/2013 19:54:43 Sucessful Changing DVB-S tune request for freq 10773 symrate:22000 mod:20 fec_in:default fec_in_rate:fec-5/6(0x6) fec_out:default fec_out_rate:default pol:1 roll:0x00 pilot:0x00 hr=0x0.
12/03/2013 19:54:43 *********** Tune DVB-S Channel frq:10773000 mod:20 (ret:1)***********
12/03/2013 19:54:43 Tuning DVB-S channel '1' BBC (freq:10773000) successed.
12/03/2013 19:54:43 TS Parser Reset
12/03/2013 19:54:43 Tune Channel (slot:0) DVB onid:2 tsid:2045 sid:6301 (ch:0)
12/03/2013 19:54:48 *********** PARSER STATUS: STREAM START ***********
12/03/2013 19:54:48 *********** PARSER STATUS: PARSING STREAM ***********
12/03/2013 19:54:48 It's an DVB Stream, DVB PSI parser ver.1.0.2 is created
12/03/2013 19:54:48 Stream Type:DVB
12/03/2013 19:54:48 PMT-MAP Table is updated
12/03/2013 19:54:48 PAT-0:Program (total channel:9, tsid:2045 )
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x0100 program:6301
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x0102 program:6302
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x0101 program:6306
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x0103 program:6316
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x010c program:6341
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x010d program:6351
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x010e program:6361
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x0107 program:6390
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	PMT pid:0x0108 program:6391
12/03/2013 19:54:48 tsid 2045 is locked (9)
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	Channel:1 (tsid:2045) PMT pid:0x0100 Program:6301 PCR pid:0x1388 .
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Type:0x02 Pid:0x1388
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Type:0x03 Pid:0x1389
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Type:0x03 Pid:0x138a
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Type:0x06 Pid:0x138b
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Type:0x06 Pid:0x138c
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Pid:0x1388 descriptor(15) ID(1) PRIVATE_IND(4) USER DESC(4) 
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Pid:0x1389 descriptor(21) LANGUGAE(4) PRIVATE_IND(4) USER DESC(4) ID(1) 
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Pid:0x138a descriptor(21) LANGUGAE(4) PRIVATE_IND(4) USER DESC(4) ID(1) 
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Pid:0x138c descriptor(25) PRIVATE_IND(4) SUBTITLE(8) USER DESC(4) ID(1) 
12/03/2013 19:54:48 		Pid:0x138b descriptor(27) PRIVATE_IND(4) TELTEXT(10) USER DESC(4) ID(1) 
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 TS:0 type:0x02 pid:0x1388 video      MPGV
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 TS:1 type:0x03 pid:0x1389 audio    eng  MPGA
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 TS:2 type:0x03 pid:0x138a audio    NAR  MPGA
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 TS:3 type:0x06 pid:0x138c subtitle eng  
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 TS:4 type:0x06 pid:0x138b teletext   
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 PCR:	pid:0x1388
12/03/2013 19:54:48 TS Dump program Data  pmt bytes:405 pmt data:0x611e000 (180).
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	*Select DVB channel (slot:0, media:16) onid:2 tsid:2045 sid:0x189d (3) post_ret:0
12/03/2013 19:54:48 PostProgram Data ret:5
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 ES:0:1 strmid:0xc0-0x0 esid:0x0000 audio     MPEG2    
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 ES:0:4 strmid:0xbd-0x0 esid:0x0000 private   MPEG2    
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 ES:0:0 strmid:0xe0-0x0 esid:0x0000 video     MPEG2   "open" 
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 ES:0:2 strmid:0xc2-0x0 esid:0x0000 audio     MPEG2    
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 AV:0:1 audio    MPGA		 (pos:1046972)
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 AV:0:3 subtitle SUB 		 (pos:0)
12/03/2013 19:54:48 	 AV:0:2 audio    MPGA		 (pos:1149808)
12/03/2013 19:54:49 DVB Channel Info (format:DVB total:3) (*)
12/03/2013 19:54:49 	channel 2-2045-6361 -- service:"Digital TV" ca:0 name:"BBC 1 CI" 
12/03/2013 19:54:49 	channel 2-2045-6390 -- service:"Digital TV" ca:0 name:"6390" 
12/03/2013 19:54:49 	channel 2-2045-6391 -- service:"Digital TV" ca:0 name:"6391" 
12/03/2013 19:54:49 	 AV:0:0 video    MPGV		 (pos:3154264)
12/03/2013 19:54:49 stream clock (GMT):UTC:01/01/1970 00:00:00
12/03/2013 19:54:49 *********** PARSER STATUS: STREAM READY (slot:0) elapsed time:0. ***********
12/03/2013 19:54:49 Main video at track:0; Main audio at track:1
12/03/2013 19:54:49 INPUT-AVINF|MPEG2-TS;br=1931000;[bf=vid;f=MPEG2-video;fps=25.000000;fpsn=25;fpsd=1;ar=1.777778;arn=16;ard=9;w=720;h=576;lace=1;cs=yuv420p;main=yes;tag=1388;pid=5000;index=0;];[bf=aud;f=MP2;sr=48000;ch=2;br=224000;main=yes;lang=eng;tag=1389;pid=5001;index=1;];[bf=aud;f=MP2;sr=48000;ch=2;br=224000;lang=NAR;tag=138a;pid=5002;index=2;];[bf=sub;f=dvbsub;cpgid=1;apgid=1;lang=eng;tag=138c;pid=5004;index=4;];
12/03/2013 19:54:49 Subtitle stream is added, es id:0xbd20 at 3
12/03/2013 19:54:49 system header, PSM (bytes:0x44), SageInfo was created, video_track:1 audio_track:2.
12/03/2013 19:54:49 OUTPUT:AV-INF|f=MPEG2-PS;br=1931000;[bf=vid;f=MPEG2-Video;fps=25.000000;fpsn=25;fpsd=1;ar=1.777778;arn=16;ard=9;w=720;h=576;lace=1;cs=yuv420p;main=yes;tag=e0;index=0;];[bf=aud;f=MP2;sr=48000;ch=2;br=224000;main=yes;lang=eng;tag=c0;index=1;];[bf=aud;f=MP2;sr=48000;ch=2;br=224000;lang=NAR;tag=c1;index=2;];[bf=sub;f=dvbsub;cpgid=1;apgid=1;lang=eng;tag=bd-20;index=4;];
12/03/2013 19:54:49 ****** Find AVINF (pos:6281080) ******
12/03/2013 19:54:49 Parsing is Done!

When you finished troubleshooting simply stop SageTV and remove the NATIVE_LOG.ENABLE file or rename it into something else (mine is NATIVE_LOG.DISABLE) and nothing will be written into the Native.txt any more.

Hope it helps, happy tuning
Eddy

[routerunner]

I've already mentioned my intention to decouple the need of running OSCAM on the same machine as SageTV server, as some of you are already running OSCAM on some Linux server or maybe thinking to build an inexpensive Linux server (Raspberry Pi?) to run OSCAM there.

I'm not sure whether is clear enough, but the reason why I need to run OSCAM on the same machine as SageTV is because I need access to the "oscam.server" file (which specifies all your local/remote card readers) in order to generate the right "oscam.user" and "oscam.conf" which are based on how many tuners your system have and also to keep possible configuration issues to the bare minimum. I do also understand that some people might like to use their existing OSCAM server with their existing configuration and willing to fiddle with those files by themselves.

What I like to gather here is a preference on whether you would like more a SMB share or FTP to perform such task, not both I'm afraid

Rest assured that for both methods I will require a read only access to get the "oscam.server" as the "oscam.conf" and "oscam.user" will always be produced locally anyway, but they will need to be manually integrated with the "oscam.conf" and "oscam.user" on your Linux server this way you will be able to keep your current customization as intact as possible.

Please share your view on the topic here.

Thanks
Eddy

[wubdich]

How about the following approach:

Simple Mode:
OSCAM is running localy - oscam.server can be read - no problem to generate oscam.conf and oscam.user - this is the current situation

Advanced Mode:
OSACM is running remote - oscam.server can't be read becaus file does not exist - oscam.conf and oscam.user are generated with variables / placeholders which have to be replaced when transfered to remote oscam server.

au = [replace with xxx]

Should not be a big issue for someone running a remote oscam server.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by wubdich

How about the following approach:

Simple Mode:
OSCAM is running localy - oscam.server can be read - no problem to generate oscam.conf and oscam.user - this is the current situation

Advanced Mode:
OSACM is running remote - oscam.server can't be read becaus file does not exist - oscam.conf and oscam.user are generated with variables / placeholders which have to be replaced when transfered to remote oscam server.

au = [replace with xxx]

Should not be a big issue for someone running a remote oscam srver.

Thanks for the feedback, however the problem with this approach is that the oscam.user generates as many accounts as the number of tuners times the number of readers and the username and password in the users are also generated based on that formula, so the question is not really whether I can access the oscam.server, but how, hence SMB or FTP.

Eddy

[routerunner]

Another year is quickly going and I would like to thank you all for the help and support to make this plugin a reality.

For me this project has been definitively the highlight of 2013 and looking forward to new challenges next year.

By tomorrow the 20th December I'll release the 2013 final version of the plugin before going on holiday, also whilst on vacation I'll have no access to the Internet or email so unfortunately I will not be able to provide support until early next year, sorry...

Merry Christmas everybody
Eddy

[jamesdisco]

Ive now been running this plugin since before xmas with the last update without any problems. My server is now running win 8.1 and the tuner is a TBS6984 the sat service is sky uk. Ive had a few problems with the the card share but not the plugin. Thanks again Eddy this plugin really does make the setup of encrypted services very easy.

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by jamesdisco

Ive now been running this plugin since before xmas with the last update without any problems. My server is now running win 8.1 and the tuner is a TBS6984 the sat service is sky uk. Ive had a few problems with the the card share but not the plugin. Thanks again Eddy this plugin really does make the setup of encrypted services very easy.

No problem and glad it works for you

So, considering your new DVB Sky S952 tuner are you being able to decrypt from 6 tuners simultaneously in full HD now? What about the CPU usage?

Cheers
Eddy

[jamesdisco]

Sadly I'll not be able to test that as my card sharer has stopped me using more than 1 tuner at a time.

[routerunner]

I never thought to mention it, but because this project started mainly for watching the Italian satellite channels in UK where I live and therefore making sure that the Italian's smartcard Tivusat being supported by day one, therefore I can provide customer support in Italian where needed as well.

-----

Non ci avevo pensato prima, ma quando ho iniziato questo progetto l'ho fatto principalmente per guardare i canali satellitari Italiani in Inghilterra dove vivo e mi sono sempre preoccupato di fare in modo che la smartcard Italiana "Tivusat" funzionasse correttamente in ogni versione del software, per questo motivo ho deciso di offrire supporto tecnico anche ai potenziali utenti Italiani e soprattutto in lingua Italiana.

Eddy

[routerunner]

I'm not sure how many of you are currently using the Tivusat smartcard with this plugin, however just wanted letting you know that there is a limitation which I need to find a solution for at some point.

Basically some of the Italian channels like RAI 1, 2 & 3 are most of the time clear and occasionally encrypted and the reason being is because some programs (typically American shows) haven't got the rights to be broadcast outside Italy or better, the Italian channels didn't pay the rights for some show to be broadcast outside the Italian borders, therefore those channels are switching from clear to encrypted on the fly.

Currently the plugin is not able to perform the switch in a clean way as it normally happens brutally after few minutes the show is started and the plugin has determined whether the channels is encrypted or not already, therefore a sudden encryption is not detected and consequently the channel will freeze for 1 minute until SageTV restarts the channel and everything will work as expected afterwards.

A part from the Italian channels, I'm not aware of other broadcasters doing this nasty switch on the fly and I know that the current handling is not particularly nice...apologies for the time being.

Thanks
Eddy

[routerunner]

I have a beta build that claims to fix the Tivusat issue whereby sudden transition from clear to encrypted and the other way round are now handled correctly. I've tested this on RAI 2 when watching TG2 -> LOL -> next program where LOL is being encrypted for few minutes only.

The transition from clear to encrypted is not 100% perfect, but very good indeed, without audio loss and a small video glitch, however the transition from encrypted to clear is completely glitch free.

If you want to try the beta version just send me an email and I'll reply to you with the filter

Eddy

[routerunner]

...how many concurrent encrypted channels are you able to decrypt with this plugin and by using one smartcard only? I'm currently on four channels and mainly because I don't have more feeds to test with, but what about you? Can you get more? I'll be interested to hear about your experience if you don't mind.

Many thanks
Eddy

[routerunner]

As part of the OSCAM distribution for this plugin I'm including the OscamLauncher application, but I personally don't use it and the reason being is because OSCAM can be happily invoked from a command line or from a scheduled task and has an option to run as a service too.

The reason I've originally added the application was to provide a simple way to launch OSCAM and too see the log, but if you think about it the log can be easily viewed by the webserver and the required option to run OSCAM are actually two, also because I'm swithing off the server overnight you cannot easily kill the OscamLauncher application when you want.

I have an Infinity USB card reader and one good thing about this reader is the fact that it has a command line interface as well, so is very easy to activate the card reader in the morning via scheduled task, then run the OSCAM server via scheduled task as well and deactive both in the reverse order late in the evening for the overnight switch off. I noticed that if you don't perform this operation cleanly, sometimes the card reader become unusable and a further power cycle of the server is required, so doing it properly and in a controlled way is crucial.

So, unless someone has a very good reason about having the OscamLauncher application present I'm going to removing it from the next release, which also has the benefit to reduce the release footprint

Also, if you're concern on how to run OSCAM without the launcher I'm happy to share my settings.

Thanks
Eddy

[wubdich]

Ok Eddy ... come on - share your settings with us !

[deanm]

Yes +1.

Do share

[routerunner]

This is what my SageTV server does every morning and evening in order to have the DVB decrypter working properly. The procedure is based around the Infinity USB card reader. Every individual action is performed via separate Windows scheduled tasks:

1. 07:00am: server wakes up, auto logins and SageTV service is up and running generating the oscam.conf and oscam.user files for the day.
2. 07:06am: INFUSB.exe -enablevcp -createcom:2 (quietly enables the Infinity card reader on COM2 and set the reader to VCP mode)
3. 07:07am: INFUSB.exe -disablevcp (quietly shutdown the card reader)
4. 07:08am: INFUSB.exe -enablevcp -createcom:2 (quietly re-enables card reader as sometimes the card reader is not mounted properly by OSCAM, but the second time always does)
5. 07:09am: oscam.exe -r2 -b (quietly runs oscam in background mode with autorecovery in case it crashes)
6. 00:57am: taskkill.exe /F /T /IM oscam.exe (OSCAM service gets properly shut down)
7. 00:58am: INFUSB.exe -disablevcp (quietly shutdown the card reader)
8. 00:59am: net.exe stop SageTV (SageTV service is properly shut down, the DVBDCC-tuner-xx.log will show every tuner being properly shut down via closing messages)
9. 01:00am: shutdown.exe -f -s -t 00 (the server is now properly shutting down)

Also, because all the above runs on the system tray you cannot logout and I don't want to leave console open, therefore I setup the Blank screen saver with On Resume, password protect tick box enabled this way the system is locked, but still logged in.

This is what I do, hope it helps

Eddy