PrimeNetEncoder - HDHomeRun Prime Network Encoder

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by sundansx

OK, a stupid question that I likely know the answer to, but will ask anyway. Lets say you have a cable company in Beaverton, Oregon and their name is "dbag-fios-asstier" and they think it is funny to 4C/"Copy once" every channel except maybe broadcast channels (this is not just the HBO's and Showtime). I presume that this solution won't work with this unfortunate setup? Anyone have an update on "dbag-fios-asstier" in Beaverton, OR?

nyplayer,
are you using Comcast with this? I might just move to Comcast if they are able to update their quality game with mpeg4.

Yep Comcast but if they ever Copy once every channel I just will move to WMC fully and then the upcoming HDHOMERUN DVR... Which I am currently testing. I am not using SageTV for my recordngs but others in my household are so I maintain it for them. I am using KODI on RPI with the PLEX Plugin to bring it all together in one interface .... PLEX Plugin in Kodi allows comskip to work. On my Server I Have SageTV, WMC, ServerWMC, and plex running.

PS on Comcast Portland the only ones they Copy Protect is NBATV HBO STARZ SHOWTIME ENCORE. Al others are copy freely.

[jgsouthard]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

I use keepalivehd to make sure my drives are always ready .... you can give it a shot it might help.

https://keepalivehd.codeplex.com/

I'm now running KeepAliveHD on my hard drive, and I have fully defragmented the drive using Raxco Perfectdisk v13. I'm still getting numerous "Halt Detected in Recording" errors, and they started at the same time that I removed SageDCT and switched to PrimeNetEncoder. It there anything in PrimeNetEncoder that could be causing this, or any parameters that can be adjusted to correct?

In PrimeNetEncoders.properties, I have ffmpeg.delay=2000. Could a different value here make a difference?

It seems like even though SageTV can see the tuners, when it's trying to access a tuner there is some kind of timeout that causes SageTV to think that the tuner is no longer accessible; and it appears that PrimeNetEncoder increases the likelihood of that happening.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by jgsouthard

I'm now running KeepAliveHD on my hard drive, and I have fully defragmented the drive using Raxco Perfectdisk v13. I'm still getting numerous "Halt Detected in Recording" errors, and they started at the same time that I removed SageDCT and switched to PrimeNetEncoder. It there anything in PrimeNetEncoder that could be causing this, or any parameters that can be adjusted to correct?

In PrimeNetEncoders.properties, I have ffmpeg.delay=2000. Could a different value here make a difference?

It seems like even though SageTV can see the tuners, when it's trying to access a tuner there is some kind of timeout that causes SageTV to think that the tuner is no longer accessible; and it appears that PrimeNetEncoder increases the likelihood of that happening.

This is what I have and I get no halts.

I have autologon to my server enabled.
windows 8.1 pro 64 bit

ffmpeg latest 64 bit

primencoder properties
ffmpeg.delay=1000

sage.properties
delay_to_wait_after_tuning=10000 on my prime tuners

allow ffmpeg.exe through firewall full access

[jgsouthard]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

This is what I have and I get no halts.

I have autologon to my server enabled.
windows 8.1 pro 64 bit

ffmpeg latest 64 bit

primencoder properties
ffmpeg.delay=1000

sage.properties
delay_to_wait_after_tuning=10000 on my prime tuners

allow ffmpeg.exe through firewall full access

Thanks nyplayer, you've been very helpful and I appreciate the insight.

I think I'm tracking pretty close other than that I didn't know about the "delay_to_wait_after_tuning=10000" parameter (mine was on the default 0 for each tuner). I also lowered by ffmpeg.delay to 1000 from 2000 (I've also tried 500 and still got halt errors, though).

I've modified the delay_to_wait_after_tuning parameter and I'll do some testing with that.

What is the unit for that number? Normally I'd guess it was milliseconds, but 10,000 milliseconds would be 10 seconds, and that seems awfully long. I'd have thought we might want the tuner to wait a second or two.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by jgsouthard

Thanks nyplayer, you've been very helpful and I appreciate the insight.

I think I'm tracking pretty close other than that I didn't know about the "delay_to_wait_after_tuning=10000" parameter (mine was on the default 0 for each tuner). I also lowered by ffmpeg.delay to 1000 from 2000 (I've also tried 500 and still got halt errors, though).

I've modified the delay_to_wait_after_tuning parameter and I'll do some testing with that.

What is the unit for that number? Normally I'd guess it was milliseconds, but 10,000 milliseconds would be 10 seconds, and that seems awfully long. I'd have thought we might want the tuner to wait a second or two.

The 10000 I got from when I was using SageDCT it was the default.

[Fuzzy]

I honestly don't think delay_to_wait_after_tuning has any impact on network encoders. Sage doesn't tell the encoders to tune, then wait then tell them to start recording. It simply tells them to START recording from a given channel to a given filename. Any after-tuning delay would be implemented in the network encoder itself, not controlled by sage.

[CptKirk]

I'm seeing the same "Halt Detected In Recording" errors with PrimeNetEncoder and HDHomeRun Prime as jgsouthard. Using the same values mentioned as nplayer a few posts ago, except I'm using W7 SP1 Pro 64bit.

It works great but every now an then I get the halt detected message. Sometimes it is just a single event, sometimes more (I've had it show as x21 times once).

I turned on verbose debug output and was watching the UI to try and catch it today. Caught a single event when it was doing an favorites record.

From the PrimeNetEncoder-tuner0.txt file. You can see about a minute and a half into the recording it halts and restarts:

07/30/2015 17:30:00 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 17:30:00 - Switching Channel for Tuner: 13182976 0
07/30/2015 17:30:00 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 17:30:00 - Local IP: 192.168.1.152
07/30/2015 17:30:00 - Listening Port: 6972
07/30/2015 17:30:00 - ffmpeg Transcode Port: 5000
07/30/2015 17:30:00 - Starting transcoder: \\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts
07/30/2015 17:30:00 - Passing stream to file unaltered
07/30/2015 17:30:01 - Switch channel: 678
07/30/2015 17:30:01 - Send stream to transcoder: 5000
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Stopping Recording: 13182976 0
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Stopping the stream: 
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Recording stopped
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Switching Channel for Tuner: 13182976 0
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Local IP: 192.168.1.152
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Listening Port: 6972
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - ffmpeg Transcode Port: 5000
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Starting transcoder: \\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-1.ts
07/30/2015 17:31:24 - Passing stream to file unaltered
07/30/2015 17:31:25 - Switch channel: 678
07/30/2015 17:31:25 - Send stream to transcoder: 5000
07/30/2015 18:00:00 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 18:00:00 - Stopping Recording: 13182976 0
07/30/2015 18:00:00 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07/30/2015 18:00:00 - Stopping the stream: 
07/30/2015 18:00:00 - Recording stopped

From the sagetv_x.txt log file. No errors or problems detected before or after what I've snipped here. Shows the halt and restart at the same time.

Thu 7/30 17:31:24.171 [FSManager@15fbf15] Async encoder halt detector found a halt; kick the Seeker so it can restart the device file=MediaFile[id=17209940 A[17148970,1783995,"How It's Made",57390@0730.17:30,30] mask=TV host=HTPC encodedBy=SageDCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13182976-0 on 127.0.0.1:6972 SCIHD format=MPEG2-TS 0:00:00 0 kbps [] \\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts, Seg0[Thu 7/30 17:30:00.002-Wed 12/31 18:00:00.000]] size=11061732
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.171 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Seeker awoken
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.171 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MemStats: Used=320MB Total=539MB Max=1037MB
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.173 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MARK 1 currRecord=null enc=Hauppauge HVR USB2 Video Capture #2 clients=[] ir=false
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.173 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Seeker in AUTOMATIC mode nextRecord=A[17130359,3667636,"House",70522@0803.06:00,60] nextTTA=304115827
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.173 [Seeker@cf1b7c] newRecord=null
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.173 [Seeker@cf1b7c] NOTHING TO RECORD FOR NOW...
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.173 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MARK 1 currRecord=null enc=Hauppauge HVR USB2 Video Capture clients=[] ir=false
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.174 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Seeker in AUTOMATIC mode nextRecord=null nextTTA=9223372036854775807
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.174 [Seeker@cf1b7c] newRecord=null
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.174 [Seeker@cf1b7c] NOTHING TO RECORD FOR NOW...
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.174 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MARK 1 currRecord=A[17148970,1783995,"How It's Made",57390@0730.17:30,30] enc=SageDCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13182976-0 on 127.0.0.1:6972 clients=[] ir=false
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.174 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Seeker in AUTOMATIC mode nextRecord=A[17148983,2059683,"How It's Made",57390@0730.18:00,30] nextTTA=1715827
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.174 [Seeker@cf1b7c] newRecord=A[17148970,1783995,"How It's Made",57390@0730.17:30,30]
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.175 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Keeping record just the way it is.
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.175 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MARK 1 currRecord=null enc=SageDCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13182976-2 on 127.0.0.1:6975 clients=[] ir=false
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.175 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Seeker in AUTOMATIC mode nextRecord=A[17099261,15940449,"Bones",21252@0730.20:00,60] nextTTA=8915827
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.175 [Seeker@cf1b7c] newRecord=null
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.175 [Seeker@cf1b7c] NOTHING TO RECORD FOR NOW...
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.175 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MARK 1 currRecord=null enc=SageDCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13182976-1 on 127.0.0.1:6970 clients=[] ir=false
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.176 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Seeker in AUTOMATIC mode nextRecord=A[17133806,17133782,"The Whispers",21251@0803.21:01,59] nextTTA=358175827
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.176 [Seeker@cf1b7c] newRecord=null
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.176 [Seeker@cf1b7c] NOTHING TO RECORD FOR NOW...
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.177 [Seeker@cf1b7c] RootFile=\\htpc\tv fstype=null fileLength=11061732 file=\\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.178 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Doing pre-emptive file format detection on recording MediaFile....\\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.181 [Seeker@cf1b7c] Using internal format detector first...
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.185 [Seeker@cf1b7c] AV Format:Ret:0 Program:1 Duration:4c9f8f5 Format:AV-INF|f=MPEG2-TS;br=2884000;[bf=vid;f=MPEG2-Video;fps=29.970030;fpsn=30000;fpsd=1001;ar=1.777778;arn=16;ard=9;w=1920;h=1080;lace=1;cs=yuv420p;main=yes;tag=0100;pid=256;index=0;];[bf=aud;f=AC3;sr=48000;ch=6;br=384000;main=yes;lang=eng;tag=0101;pid=257;index=1;];(0:0:08.034'533.3)
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.185 [Seeker@cf1b7c] File Format Parsed-2a \\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts=MPEG2-TS 0:00:08 2884 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97003 fps 1920x1080 16:9 interlaced id=0100]#1 Audio[AC3 48000 Hz 6 channels 384 kbps MAIN idx=1 id=0101 eng]]
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.189 [Seeker@cf1b7c] File Format Parsed-2b \\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts=MPEG2-TS 0:00:08 2884 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97003 fps 1920x1080 16:9 interlaced id=0100]#1 Audio[AC3 48000 Hz 6 channels 384 kbps MAIN idx=1 id=0101 eng]]
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.190 [Seeker@cf1b7c] SEEKER HAS DETECTED A HALT IN THE ENCODER...TRYING TO RESET IT file=\\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts size=11061732
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.190 [Seeker@cf1b7c] VF.submitJob(VFJob[InactiveFile r=0.0 t=0 file=null ifn=\\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts])
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.190 [VideoFrame-SAGETV_PROCESS_LOCAL_UI@11efe57] VF processing job VFJob[InactiveFile r=0.0 t=0 file=null ifn=\\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts] nPlayin=false
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.190 [VideoFrame-SAGETV_PROCESS_LOCAL_UI@11efe57] VF discarding job VFJob[InactiveFile r=0.0 t=0 file=null ifn=\\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts]
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.190 [VideoFrame-SAGETV_PROCESS_LOCAL_UI@11efe57] VF processing job null nPlayin=false
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.191 [VideoFrame-SAGETV_PROCESS_LOCAL_UI@11efe57] VF thread is now waiting for 0:00:00.000
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.213 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MediaFile startSegment enc=null MediaFile[id=17209940 A[17148970,1783995,"How It's Made",57390@0730.17:30,30] mask=TV host=HTPC encodedBy=SageDCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13182976-0 on 127.0.0.1:6972 SCIHD format=MPEG2-TS 0:00:08 2884 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97003 fps 1920x1080 16:9 interlaced id=0100]#1 Audio[AC3 48000 Hz 6 channels 384 kbps MAIN idx=1 id=0101 eng]] \\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts, Seg0[Thu 7/30 17:30:00.002-Thu 7/30 17:31:24.211]]
Thu 7/30 17:31:24.214 [Seeker@cf1b7c] MediaFile created subfile:\\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-1.ts MediaFile[id=17209940 A[17148970,1783995,"How It's Made",57390@0730.17:30,30] mask=TV host=HTPC encodedBy=SageDCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13182976-0 on 127.0.0.1:6972 SCIHD format=MPEG2-TS 0:00:08 2884 kbps [#0 Video[MPEG2-Video 29.97003 fps 1920x1080 16:9 interlaced id=0100]#1 Audio[AC3 48000 Hz 6 channels 384 kbps MAIN idx=1 id=0101 eng]] \\htpc\tv\HowItsMade-S14E06-17148970-0.ts, Seg0[Thu 7/30 17:30:00.002-Thu 7/30 17:31:24.211]]

[jgsouthard]

Thanks for the update, CptKirk. There's something going on with PrimeNetEncoder that some of us are seeing, but not all (e.g. nyplayer).

I've tried everything suggested by nyplayer and others, and I'm still getting the halts on a regular basis. They are generally NOT right at the beginning of a recording, but more commonly (surprisingly consistently) about 1-5 minutes into the recording. If I have multiple recordings starting at once, the halts will occur on all tuners at about the same time (within a minute or two of each other).

This makes me think that the issue is most likely related to system activity or system load, but it also appears that PrimeNetEncoder is somehow more sensitive to it than SageDCT was. With SageDCT I was seeing halts like this maybe once every 2-3 days, and then only a signal quick incident (but I was seeing occasional pixelation or video blips that are totally gone now). So something changed with PrimeNetEncoder, possibly to generate Halts when SageDCT would keep going with pixelation.

Right now I'm recording to a separate partition on my primary (single) hard drive in the SageTV server (WD Black, SATA II), so I'm going to try recording onto a separate SATA III drive (also WD Black) to offload some of the system overhead and see if that helps.

As an experiment (but a long shot, I think), I'm also going to try inserting a remotely-powered signal booster into the incoming cable line at the demarc box. I'm going through about 14db of signal loss due to splitters between the incoming cable and my HDHomeRun Prime, leaving Signal Strength (as shown in HD Config) in the 84% range (Yellow). But Signal Quality and Symbol Quality are both consistently 100%, so I don't really think that's the problem.

But tweaking PrimeNetEncoder and/or SageTV properties hasn't helped at all....

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by jgsouthard

Thanks for the update, CptKirk. There's something going on with PrimeNetEncoder that some of us are seeing, but not all (e.g. nyplayer).

I've tried everything suggested by nyplayer and others, and I'm still getting the halts on a regular basis. They are generally NOT right at the beginning of a recording, but more commonly (surprisingly consistently) about 1-5 minutes into the recording. If I have multiple recordings starting at once, the halts will occur on all tuners at about the same time (within a minute or two of each other).

This makes me think that the issue is most likely related to system activity or system load, but it also appears that PrimeNetEncoder is somehow more sensitive to it than SageDCT was. With SageDCT I was seeing halts like this maybe once every 2-3 days, and then only a signal quick incident (but I was seeing occasional pixelation or video blips that are totally gone now). So something changed with PrimeNetEncoder, possibly to generate Halts when SageDCT would keep going with pixelation.

Right now I'm recording to a separate partition on my primary (single) hard drive in the SageTV server (WD Black, SATA II), so I'm going to try recording onto a separate SATA III drive (also WD Black) to offload some of the system overhead and see if that helps.

As an experiment (but a long shot, I think), I'm also going to try inserting a remotely-powered signal booster into the incoming cable line at the demarc box. I'm going through about 14db of signal loss due to splitters between the incoming cable and my HDHomeRun Prime, leaving Signal Strength (as shown in HD Config) in the 84% range (Yellow). But Signal Quality and Symbol Quality are both consistently 100%, so I don't really think that's the problem.

But tweaking PrimeNetEncoder and/or SageTV properties hasn't helped at all....

See this thread I meant to post it here about scheduled tasks priority.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...2&postcount=55

[CptKirk]

Checked the task manager and Java is running at normal priority.

The Sage server does an auto-login and then runs a batch file for PNE that is in the startup group. I'm not using scheduler.

[jgsouthard]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

See this thread I meant to post it here about scheduled tasks priority.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...2&postcount=55

That did the trick, thanks! Numerous recordings today with no "Halt Detected in Recording" errors, after increasing the priority of the Java PrimeNetEncoder process in Task Scheduler from 7 (Below Normal, default) to 4 (Normal).

[civerson4]

Originally Posted by civerson4

My cable provider (Cox in Orange County, CA) is going all digital in about 6 weeks.

I purchased a HDHR Prime and have it working with the Silicon Dust software. Cox makes me use a tuning adapter (in addition to the cable card) if that makes any difference.

For the life of me, I cannot get it to work in Sage. I have attached my Sage Properties file and PrimeNetEncoder properties file (with a .txt extension I can upload to the forums).

I am running Sage as a service (and have been for 7-8 years). On my HTPC, I have two of the original HDHR QAM tuners and a Hauappage Collossus tuner running.

Dedicated HTPC machine, windows firewall is inactive.

When I try to add the new HDHR Prime as a source, it comes up in Sage. I select it and then it starts getting odd.

It makes me select a Digital Tuner source. And 2-5 "inputs" per tuner appear. I then run through the set up, select a guide and try to tune a channel. Nothing happens, but when I go back to the tuner menu, I see 3 or 5 different versions of the same tuner (tuner 0 in the case a few minutes ago). If I delete the HDHR Prime source, all 3-5 different HDHR Prime sources disappear.

Any help/assistance would be greatly appreciated. After 8-10 hours messing with the installation/settings/properties file, I am at a loss as to what to try next.

I am still having trouble getting PrimeNetEncoder set up on my server.

I can add the tuners an do a channel scan, but am getting a number of "weird" channels (like OKC-118). My guess is there is a mapping problem or Sage is somehow not seeing the HDhomerun channel scan. Would really appreciate any help here.

[Fuzzy]

Sage does't use the HDHR's channel scan. It goes off the channel list from the EPG provider.

[civerson4]

Right, but when I do the channel scan in Sage, something is wrong. The HDHR channel scan finds 477 channels. When I do the channel scan in Sage, I get 201 channels--and they are not "real channels" (like OKC-118). I have a feeling I have a single wrong setting somewhere, but I have been the instructions line-by-line multiple times.

Anyone happen to be in Orange County, CA? Cox Cable transitions to all digital and requires a set top box in 4 weeks--and I really don't want to give up on Sage in 4 weeks.

Certainly not an expert at this stuff--but I have had Sage running 7-8 years and hope to have another 7+ years.

Thanks.

[KryptoNyte]

It's my understanding that you don't do a channel scan in Sage with this tuner. After following the installation instructions, you select the EPG for your region and go. Don't scan in Sage.

[civerson4]

Thanks--but still no go.

I just tried adding the 7001 tuner without a channel scan. Sage adds 6 different tuners (all the same name) and it can't tune a channel. Sceenshot (showing 3 versions of the same tuner attached).

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by civerson4

Thanks--but still no go.

I just tried adding the 7001 tuner without a channel scan. Sage adds 6 different tuners (all the same name) and it can't tune a channel. Sceenshot (showing 3 versions of the same tuner attached).

See this thread about duplicates.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...&postcount=176

You have to make sure to add ffmpeg.exe to your firewall.

[KryptoNyte]

Hey NP, after replacing those lines mentioned in the thread that you linked to, does the user still need to alter the encoding host IP address to match the Sage machine, or is that optional?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Hey NP, after replacing those lines mentioned in the thread that you linked to, does the user still need to alter the encoding host IP address to match the Sage machine, or is that optional?

You can either use 127.0.0.1 or the host IP your preference. 127.0.0.1 only use if Primeencoder and SageTV Server are running on the same machine.

[civerson4]

Thanks for the help trouble shooting--really appreciate it.

I swapped the sage properties info from nyplayer's link and that solved my duplicates issue. I can add each of the 3 tuners (and only see 3 tuners), but still no signal within Sage when I tune a channel.

I have sage in service mode (shutting it down before making any property file changes).

The Prime Encoder works with the HDHR software.

Windows firewall is turned off--but I added ffmpeg.exe as an exception anyway.

Any other ideas?