[WIP] SageSlingTuner - Slingbox Tuner for SageTV

[Jabroni]

Well guys here its my first release for this tuner. Its on its early stages and im still working on tweaking it out / testing on several models of Slingboxes. Its an early release and I would need some help from the comunity to set the best parameters for ffmpeg to use for your SageTV box

This program was made thanks to a script posted @ the placeshiftingenthusiasts forum that takes care of the capture streaming from slingboxes. It should be able to control your slingbox from capturing and doing the channel changes using its built in API.

Requirements:

- Latest SageTV Windows Version
- Perl support for windows (Free @ http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/downloads)
- NET Framework 4.0
- A Slingbox ( should be compatible with Solo, Pro HD, 350, 500 and M1 )


Installation:

- Install ActivePerl for windows, after install a reboot may be required
- From a cmd, execute 'cpan'
- Onces your on the 'cpan>' prompt, run 'install Crypt::Tea_JS'
- Decompress the SageSlingboxTuner to a folder on your hdd
- Run the program, and configure it (File -> Config)
- Set your listening port, and capture all your slingbox information (For getting your username and password I will post some tutorials later on)
- Configure a Network Tuner on your SageTV via Sage.properties file


Advanced options:

SlingRec Parameters: Used if you want to customize the parameters set on the perl script, this is extra to the -ip -user -password -port parameter
FFMPEG Parameters: This will overwrite all the default parameters, used for testing different ffmpeg parameters to see which would work best
Force Perl Script: In case the model detection is not working as expected, you can force to use a specific perl script
Show console Debug Window: When a tune in requests comes in, it shows the ffmpeg window to see whats happening behind the scene

Screenshots:



Releases:

V0.1 - Download
Initial Release, lotsa stuff to do and test



TESTERS FOR DIFFERENT MODELS NEEDED... SO FOR ADVANCED USERS FAMILIAR WITH FFMPEG ENCODING/DECODING TO HELP GET THE BEST PARAMETERS FOR FFMPEG TO OUTPUT TO SAGE

Please if you want to test using your Slingbox and this encoder post feedback so we can work out to get the best setup for each particular Slingbox Model. Consider this an early version and might be possibly broken and would need some work to get to a usuable state.

[Jabroni]

sage.properies Encoder Definition Example

mmc/encoders/124/1/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/brightness=-1
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/broadcast_standard=
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/contrast=-1
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/hue=-1
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/last_channel=2
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/provider_id=9999
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/saturation=-1
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/sharpness=-1
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/tuning_mode=Cable
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/tuning_plugin=
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/tuning_plugin_port=0
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/124/1/0/video_crossbar_type=1
mmc/encoders/124/audio_capture_device_name=
mmc/encoders/124/broadcast_standard=
mmc/encoders/124/capture_config=2050
mmc/encoders/124/default_device_quality=
mmc/encoders/124/delay_to_wait_after_tuning=0
mmc/encoders/124/device_class=
mmc/encoders/124/encoder_merit=0
mmc/encoders/124/encoding_host=localhost\:4510
mmc/encoders/124/encoding_host_login_md5=
mmc/encoders/124/fast_network_encoder_switch=false
mmc/encoders/124/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=
mmc/encoders/124/last_cross_index=0
mmc/encoders/124/last_cross_type=1
mmc/encoders/124/live_audio_input=
mmc/encoders/124/multicast_host=
mmc/encoders/124/never_stop_encoding=false
mmc/encoders/124/video_capture_device_name=SageSlingBox-1
mmc/encoders/124/video_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/124/video_encoding_params=Great
mmc/encoders/124/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream=true

SlingRec Advanced Parameters

-vbw rate             video bit rate (defaults to 4000)
-vsm smoothness       video smoothness (1:64, defaults to 63)
-vs size              video resolution(3=QVGA,4=640x240,5=640x480,16=1920x1080)
-fr fps               video frame rate (10,15,20,30,60, defaults to 30 fps)
-sleep secs           wait this many seconds before starting capture(defaults to
 0)

[Jabroni]

FAQ

How to grab your slingbox Username / Password

For old models (Solo/ProHD?) the password is the one you setup while adopting the unit to your account (not your portal password). Username should be admin

Newer models require you to first login to the portal via web, after that try accessing the following link

https://newwatchsecure.slingbox.com/...count_boxes_js

On the JSON response from that hit, grab the admin username and password (long random phrase).


What ports does Slingbox uses?

For old models, the default port is 5201

Newer model uses the port 5301 and if not available it starts increasing by 1.


Whats the maxium capture resolution per Slingbox Model?

SOLO: 640 x 480
ProHD: 1920 x 544
350: 1920 x 1080
500: 1920 x 1080
M1: 1920 x 1080

[Telecore]

Is this a viable alternative to using an HD-PVR for set top box capture?

I see that Woot.com has refurbished Sling-500 boxes for $169 today.

I also have read briefly that the slingbox can work with a Ceton Echo or XBOX-360. Since I already have both SageTV and WMC, could this be used as a means of getting premium content into SageTV via HDMI (+/splitter?) from a WMC extender?

[Jabroni]

Originally Posted by Telecore

Is this a viable alternative to using an HD-PVR for set top box capture?

I see that Woot.com has refurbished Sling-500 boxes for $169 today.

I also have read briefly that the slingbox can work with a Ceton Echo or XBOX-360. Since I already have both SageTV and WMC, could this be used as a means of getting premium content into SageTV via HDMI (+/splitter?) from a WMC extender?

Yes it could replace a HD-PVR, with the benefits of having a built in IR to control the setbox you want to capture, no PCI cards on your server, and you dont neet to have the tuner where your SageTV box is (since you just plug it in into your network)

For deals.. last week they were on sale on Sears.com for 70usd for the M1 and 140usd for the 500

Regarding what it control, mostly anything, just remember if you use HDMI and the setbox had HDMI Copyright flag, and the slingbox wont be able to playback, neither it would this plugin. For equipments, for channel change if you can get it to work with your Slingbox, it would work with this plugin (you would have to make it work with their webclient, if the IR codes arent on their database there is a way to do capture them and program them on the slingbox, but you would have to look somewhere else since this would be out of the scope of this plugin )

Just as a note, this method does present a delay on channel chaning since it has to send the channel change command and ffmpeg needs to fill some buffer, (like 5 secs delay)

[Telecore]

That is exactly what I was thinking - it has several advantages over a Colossus or HD-PVR. I ended up buying one and will try it out sometime in the near future when I get some time - thanks!

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Jabroni

Yes it could replace a HD-PVR, with the benefits of having a built in IR to control the setbox you want to capture, no PCI cards on your server, and you dont neet to have the tuner where your SageTV box is (since you just plug it in into your network)

What about capture quality? How does it compare to HD-PVR?
You mentioned max image resolution of 1920x1080 (depending on sligbox model). Is this 1080i or 1080p? What codec is used? What bitrate?

I haven't paid much attention to Slingbox, so not too familiar with its capabilities. I always assumed it was intended for placeshifters who would want to use it across the internet, so probably optimized for low bandwidth rather than high quality.

[Jabroni]

Originally Posted by Tiki

What about capture quality? How does it compare to HD-PVR?
You mentioned max image resolution of 1920x1080 (depending on sligbox model). Is this 1080i or 1080p? What codec is used? What bitrate?

I haven't paid much attention to Slingbox, so not too familiar with its capabilities. I always assumed it was intended for placeshifters who would want to use it across the internet, so probably optimized for low bandwidth rather than high quality.

The only drawback is that the best "encapsulation" method that had more success playing is ASF (played fined on placeshifters and HD extenders), however Im having issues on SageTV clients. This is with no transcoding. One could always use ffmpeg transcode parameters to convert it to MPEGTS/H264 and is playable everywhere but with a CPU tax

Heres the ffmpeg input from the slingbox from a M1 box

Source

Input #0, asf, from 'pipe:':
  Metadata:
    title           : Slingbox
    artist          : Sling Media
    comment         : test
  Duration: N/A, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High) (h264 / 0x34363268), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 30.30 fps, 30 tbr, 1k tbn, 59.94 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: aac (LC) ([255][0][0][0] / 0x00FF), 32000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 64 kb/s

Slingbox Bitrate is about ~3Mbit

And this is what im feeding to sage

Output #0, asf, to 'pipe:':
  Metadata:
    title           : Slingbox
    Author          : Sling Media
    Description     : test
    WM/EncodingSettings: Lavf56.30.100
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (h264 / 0x34363268), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=2-31, 30.30 fps, 30 tbr, 1k tbn, 29.97 tbc
    Stream #0:1: Audio: aac ([255][0][0][0] / 0x00FF), 32000 Hz, stereo, 64 kb/s

And im doing some tests and using the same approach as the PrimeNetEncoder, so maybe this project might be migrated to Java in order to be able to run the Network Encoder within the same SageTV instance so it would run within the SageTV Server/Service

[Telecore]

Originally Posted by Tiki

What about capture quality? How does it compare to HD-PVR?
You mentioned max image resolution of 1920x1080 (depending on sligbox model). Is this 1080i or 1080p? What codec is used? What bitrate?

I haven't paid much attention to Slingbox, so not too familiar with its capabilities. I always assumed it was intended for placeshifters who would want to use it across the internet, so probably optimized for low bandwidth rather than high quality.

I received my slingbox 500 and set it up to capture on an XBOX-360 as a WMC7 Extender via HDMI. I changed the xbox output to 1080i and audio to stereo (couldn't get sound with Dolby Digital). I briefly watched some videos on my desktop PC on a gigabit internal LAN and the indicated bit rate was > 8 mbits / second after it ramped up upon discovering that the network was fast.

I hope to find some time to try the Sage slingbox tuner but may not be able to get to it until late June. There may be an issue with getting the remote/IR to navigate the media center menus to get to tune a channel as it is not exactly like a set top box (1-2-3-Enter).