OpenDCT: An open source digital cable tuner.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Sage cannot record DRM'd channels from the Prime - and the DRM'd WTV files cannot be converted to TS streams either. In short, there's no way to watch DRM's recordings outside of WMC. The HDHR streaming does support playback of live DRM'd streams to a DTCP-IP enabled reciever.

Most 'robust' setup, if you need to watch DRM'd channels, is to ahve an HDHR Prime for all the non-DRM'd channels, and an HD-PVR with a STB for the DRM'd ones.

But, yes, for the non-DRM'd recordings made in Sage using Open-DCT, you will see all the program data in Sage, just like any other Sage recording. These would appear as normal recordings (not as imported videos).

[brandypuff]

Well that would be nice to have program detail in SageTv.

BTW, I can convert WTV files using MC-TVconverter. What is really strange is that I don't have any premium channels, only a basic cable subscription. But, for certain shows at random times for which I cannot determine the logic used, some programs come through with some kind of DRM on them or something as I can't really remember since it was several months ago when I first set this up. Thus, the shows will not be recorded and only an empty TS file is created when I record from the Prime directly using the program guide in NextPVR.

That's why I went to WMC ->MC-TVConverter -> SageTV in ordr to record and watch the shows. But, the files appear as imported media so it's often impossible to tell what they are about.

...and my wife wants me to show her how to manage all this in case I'm no longer around... :-)

[EnterNoEscape]

That quite an arrangement. Fortunately I haven't experienced any channels that randomly mess with the CCI flags. My experience has been that it's fairly consistently enforced per channel. For example, last fall FX decided they no longer want my viewership when they went full on copy once.

Do you actually end up sometimes with encrypted recordings from these channels in WMC or are you normally able to convert them? If 99% of the time they will convert you might be ok with OpenDCT. That's me assuming the other 1% are actually just recordings with issues.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

Well that would be nice to have program detail in SageTv.

BTW, I can convert WTV files using MC-TVconverter. What is really strange is that I don't have any premium channels, only a basic cable subscription. But, for certain shows at random times for which I cannot determine the logic used, some programs come through with some kind of DRM on them or something as I can't really remember since it was several months ago when I first set this up. Thus, the shows will not be recorded and only an empty TS file is created when I record from the Prime directly using the program guide in NextPVR.

That's why I went to WMC ->MC-TVConverter -> SageTV in ordr to record and watch the shows. But, the files appear as imported media so it's often impossible to tell what they are about.

...and my wife wants me to show her how to manage all this in case I'm no longer around... :-)

Sounds like it would definitely be worth picking up a cheap HD-PVR on eBay or something to grab the (sometimes) protected channels. CableCard is awesome, but it's dependent on your local cable headend being consistent and generous with the flagging.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

Well that would be nice to have program detail in SageTv.

BTW, I can convert WTV files using MC-TVconverter. What is really strange is that I don't have any premium channels, only a basic cable subscription. But, for certain shows at random times for which I cannot determine the logic used, some programs come through with some kind of DRM on them or something as I can't really remember since it was several months ago when I first set this up. Thus, the shows will not be recorded and only an empty TS file is created when I record from the Prime directly using the program guide in NextPVR.

That's why I went to WMC ->MC-TVConverter -> SageTV in ordr to record and watch the shows. But, the files appear as imported media so it's often impossible to tell what they are about.

...and my wife wants me to show her how to manage all this in case I'm no longer around... :-)

Does your cable company require a tuning adapter for your cablecard/Prime?

[KryptoNyte]

My Ceton device, currently in use with SageDCT, is configured in Sage to put out an *.mpg file rather than a *.ts file. Does the move to OpenDCT have any impact on this, or will the SageTV setting still push out the *.mpg file?

[KryptoNyte]

Two cable card conditions that I've come across, and their results (Charter Cable) on the HDHR Prime;

1) When the tuning adapter is required, but not connected; it results in a black screen with "no-signal" message. The HDHR Config screen shows a Signal strength of 49% and 0% for both Qualities. Network Rate was zero. Recording file is created, but file sizes never climbs past zero. Sage reports a halted recording.

2) When the cable card isn't paired properly; it showed 100% across the board on Strength, and the Network Rate even showed the usual varying stream of data coming in, but the screen was black and no signal. Recording file is created, but file sizes never climbs past zero. Sage reports a halted recording.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

My Ceton device, currently in use with SageDCT, is configured in Sage to put out an *.mpg file rather than a *.ts file. Does the move to OpenDCT have any impact on this, or will the SageTV setting still push out the *.mpg file?

Currently OpenDCT is only designed to output .ts files. If you change the SageTV setting over to program stream, you'll get a playable .mpg file that's actually an MPEG-TS file. However, because that just creates ambiguity, I recommend not changing the encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream to true in Sage.properties.

I'm not sure if we will support creating program stream files correctly in the future partly because the MPEG-TS files it creates are so good I haven't found a reason to do it another way. Also using MPEG-PS would require some re-thinking about how it currently handles the SWITCH command from SageTV and as it turns out the Android MiniClient appears to play more nicely with MPEG-TS at present.

[brandypuff]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Does your cable company require a tuning adapter for your cablecard/Prime?

No, I only have basic cables so \it is not needed.

[brandypuff]

I let it run for an hour and it seems to be stuck. See attached.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

I let it run for an hour and it seems to be stuck. See attached.

Everything loaded based on your logs.

1. If you have the console still open, press Ctrl-C to close it out.
2. Then use the shortcut to start the OpenDCT service.
3. Stop the SageTV service.
4. Open Sage.properties and find the property network_encoder_discovery and change the value to true.
5. Start the SageTV service again.

You should now see the capture devices available to be added in SageTV.

Update: I might be getting rid of the console since it seems to be confusing people more often than it helps.

[sdsean]

Ok so I decided to give this a try as well b/c SageDCT seemed like it took a dump.

I followed all the instructions to the letter but all I get in Sage is "no signal".

Attached is my log file.

Other notes. . .

My cable card menu is basically saying that all the channels are DRM'd. . . so perhaps I'm screwed anyway? (I still have 3 directv stbs i can use).
Stupid Time warner. . .

[KryptoNyte]

With Time Warner, your cable card will only tune your local stations, if any at all.

You'll need the STB's for all other channels.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by sdsean

Ok so I decided to give this a try as well b/c SageDCT seemed like it took a dump.

I followed all the instructions to the letter but all I get in Sage is "no signal".

Attached is my log file.

Other notes. . .

My cable card menu is basically saying that all the channels are DRM'd. . . so perhaps I'm screwed anyway? (I still have 3 directv stbs i can use).
Stupid Time warner. . .

After looking at the logs and just based on the amount of data being transferred by the tuner to OpenDCT, I can reasonably say you've probably got a DRM situation as you concluded. It looks like it literally collected PAT packets for a little over a minute. It's not that they aren't useful, but you only need one most of the time and you need a whole lot of other packets to actually have something to watch.

[brandypuff]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

Everything loaded based on your logs.

1. If you have the console still open, press Ctrl-C to close it out.
2. Then use the shortcut to start the OpenDCT service.
3. Stop the SageTV service.
4. Open Sage.properties and find the property network_encoder_discovery and change the value to true.
5. Start the SageTV service again.

You should now see the capture devices available to be added in SageTV.

Update: I might be getting rid of the console since it seems to be confusing people more often than it helps.

Well so far I am really impressed with that you've done.

A couple of minor issues:

1. Only 2 of my three Prime tuners show up in Add New Source. Maybe one was in use of something when I first ran the OpenDCT configuration? Should I run it again?

2. I only added 1 Prime tuner to SageTV to try it out but for some reason there are duplicate channel number entries in the Program Guide. I know I was trying to get SageDCT working last year but had no luck. could the sage.properties file have some left over entries fro that effort in it? See attached.



$. I am just curious how this all works. It appears the service is somehow translating SageTV commands to the Prime. COuld you give an brief overview on what OpenDCT is doing behind the scenes?

Thanks for the great work you've done on this. It will make my life easier with the wife :-)

[sdsean]

Yeah I just confirmed it. . .Time warner is DRM'ing everything now including locals here in San Diego, which effectively makes the CableCard useless since CopyOnce flag is set on everything.

I did spend pretty much all night long trying to get it work with Windows Media Center, thinking I could at least do that, but couldn't get that to work either even though supposedly it should. . .

So I just cancelled my cable tv (which was only basic anyway), and I'm just going to keep using my directv and HD-PVRs. . .

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by sdsean

Yeah I just confirmed it. . .Time warner is DRM'ing everything now including locals here in San Diego, which effectively makes the CableCard useless since CopyOnce flag is set on everything.

I did spend pretty much all night long trying to get it work with Windows Media Center, thinking I could at least do that, but couldn't get that to work either even though supposedly it should. . .

So I just cancelled my cable tv (which was only basic anyway), and I'm just going to keep using my directv and HD-PVRs. . .

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't understand what they think they are doing by meddling with the original content providers preference. I guess at least we have alternatives.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

Well so far I am really impressed with that you've done.

A couple of minor issues:

1. Only 2 of my three Prime tuners show up in Add New Source. Maybe one was in use of something when I first ran the OpenDCT configuration? Should I run it again?

2. I only added 1 Prime tuner to SageTV to try it out but for some reason there are duplicate channel number entries in the Program Guide. I know I was trying to get SageDCT working last year but had no luck. could the sage.properties file have some left over entries fro that effort in it? See attached.



$. I am just curious how this all works. It appears the service is somehow translating SageTV commands to the Prime. COuld you give an brief overview on what OpenDCT is doing behind the scenes?

Thanks for the great work you've done on this. It will make my life easier with the wife :-)

1. Try just restarting the SageTV service (leave OpenDCT running). It's possible one of the tuners wasn't loaded yet when SageTV did it's discovery. If it still doesn't show up, post your log again and I'll try to figure out what's going on.

2. You can make things easier for yourself by removing the SageDCT entries from Sage.properties. Those entries likely aren't the reason you're seeing duplicate channels. Did you do a channel scan on the OpenDCT tuner? If you're running the latest beta, it will return all channels from the last scan you did on your Prime that are not marked as DRM'd, but the channels are limited to 159 channels due to SageTV. Until that is fixed, most people are going to be better off just enabling/disabling channels without the help of the scan. On possible result of performing this scan is it can introduce new channels if your guide data didn't have those channels before. Unfortunately these new channels will never see any guide data.

Based on what I'm seeing in that image you posted, it looks like you're using OTA on other tuner(s). Digital cable is not going to have sub-channels. Based on not seeing any callsigns, it would also suggest that you did the previously mentioned channel scan and probably used the same lineup that you're using for OTA. You won't want to use the same guide data for the digital cable tuners as you're using for OTA since they are unlikely to actually match up. You can remap the channels to combine channels that are actually the same channel once you get the lineup sorted out, but at that point it's a SageTV thing.

$. I'll give a high level view of what happens when you start the OpenDCT service up to actually starting a recording. There are several things left out for briefness. This can also be figure out by taking a look at the code, but sometimes it's easier to just ask someone closely involved.

1. JSW attempts to launch OpenDCT based on the version of Java available in the system path.
2. Once OpenDCT actually starts, it checks configuration parameters including ones that tell it where the configuration files are located. It then loads the primary configuration data from opendct.properties.
3. A turned on by default OS specific standby handler starts listening for messages.
4. All currently available network interfaces are identified, logged and registered as a standby listener.
5. The UDP discovery port for SageTV is opened.
6. UPnP starts broadcasting packets to detect capture devices that is supports.
7. As devices are detected and completely loaded, TCP/IP ports are opened for SageTV to communicate with OpenDCT.
8. At this point, lets say that the SageTV service starts up. It will send a UDP broadcast out to all network encoders listening on the discovery port.
9. OpenDCT responds with what address and port SageTV can use for communications.
10. SageTV opens the port OpenDCT gave it for discovery and sends the command PROPERTIES.
11. OpenDCT responds with what it currently has loaded. This information can include other ports for communication, but it isn't needed. Encoder 3.0 can access all devices on the same port number. As you can see, this does potentially leave a window for a tuner being missed, but typically this isn't a problem unless you're adding new capture devices.
12. Now, let's say you have added the new capture device and you're tuning a live TV channel.
13. SageTV sends START with some other parameters to OpenDCT via the TCP/IP connection.
14. The rest of these steps are HDHomeRun specific. OpenDCT sends requests out to the HDHomeRun device using Silicondust's proprietary TCP/IP communications protocol.
15. OpenDCT tries to lock the tuner SageTV wants to use. If it cannot and forced locking is turned on, it forces the tuner to be locked by SageTV anyway. If it still can't, it will continue anyway with the assumption that OpenDCT might not be correctly interpreting the responses.
16. OpenDCT then tunes the channel requested.
17. OpenDCT opens a port and starts listening for RTP data.
18. OpenDCT tells the HDHomeRun what address and port to send the RTP data.
19. OpenDCT starts FFmpeg detection and opens the requested file directly or via upload id.
20. OpenDCT replies OK to SageTV.
21. FFmpeg detection successfully finds a video and audio stream and starts writing to the file immediately. While writing to this file, the FFmpeg consumer accumulates a number of bytes written and SageTV periodically request this number for various reasons. When this number number stays at zero for too long, that's when you see No Signal.
22. Now let's say you stop watching.
23. SageTV sends STOP along with the tuner name.
24. OpenDCT tells the HDHomeRun to stop streaming and then stops accepting RTP data.
25. OpenDCT stops FFmpeg from writing to the file.
26. It then replies OK to SageTV.

[brandypuff]

wow, thanks for the detailed explanation. I will take some time and digest it all.

What I have running on my SageTV is a single Hauppauge OTA tuner, that's why you see the dash sub channel names, e.g., 5-2, 5-1. I also have stuff in the sage.properties file left over from another OTA tuner that I pulled out because it was defective. I may just clean out all the tuner data for the properties file and start again.

What I did when I added the prime tuner was do another channel scan using SageTV. Maybe that's why I have duplicate channels? I think you are saying that the OpenDCT setup will do that automatically? I didn't do anything with OpenDCT other than start in command mode first. Question now is how to remove the duplicates.

I don't have to worry about the 159 channel limit as I only have basic cable and probably only 30 or so channels. Even fewer when I ignore the Spanish ones. I can't remember what channel lineup I used but I think there may have only been one choice.

Finally I will be able to use only SaggeTV to schedule shows with the Prime and also watch them as they are being recorded and have guide data too. Very nice! Just like I used to before Charter went all digital and in a single moment, invalidated all my analog Tuners as well as my analog TVs.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

What I did when I added the prime tuner was do another channel scan using SageTV. Maybe that's why I have duplicate channels? I think you are saying that the OpenDCT setup will do that automatically? I didn't do anything with OpenDCT other than start in command mode first. Question now is how to remove the duplicates.

If you did the channel scan that I think you're saying you did, then yes, that's why you have those extra channels.

OpenDCT imports the channel list directly from your HDHomeRun Prime. If the lineup that you're using in SageTV doesn't have channel numbers that match the channel numbers on the lineup pulled from the Prime exactly, SageTV will actually create channel numbers. These created channel numbers will not actually get any EPG data as far as I have seen. I have seen this happen for channels that my CableCARD still reports as tunable, but are no longer in the EPG because the channel was actually moved or dropped by my carrier. I'm not completely sure on how to remove them since I believe it or not didn't try to do it. I found some in my test server, I'll play around with it and report back. I hope this helps clear things up a little.

Update:
I fixed it for myself by removing a line in Sage.properties that looks like this one:
epg/lineup_overrides/1981246670709=2,76;3,77;4,78;5,180;6,181;7,86;8,190;9,196;10,199;

You will need to substitute 1981246670709 with the id of your own lineup in question. If you left a client open when you stopped the SageTV service, you will need to close it and then re-open it to see the changes.