WMC Live TV Tuner

[ojones]

Enter No Escape -I am an enthusiastic adopter of OpenDCT and wmc live but hoping you or another experienced user could help me troubleshoot wmc extender channel changes. Unscientifically, about a quarter of my channel changes go wrong - either the channel doesn't change or it goes to the wrong channel. My sage server with open dct is on a win7 box and i run wmc /wmc live tuner on a second win7 box. I'm using a bm3000 for capture which is working flawlessly.

Any idea where to start troubleshooting? i'm calling the tuning urls directly from opendct.

Many thanks!

[Zogg]

No posts here in a while, is this project still alive and viable to use?

[EnterNoEscape]

I use it still mostly for HBO.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by ojones

Enter No Escape -I am an enthusiastic adopter of OpenDCT and wmc live but hoping you or another experienced user could help me troubleshoot wmc extender channel changes. Unscientifically, about a quarter of my channel changes go wrong - either the channel doesn't change or it goes to the wrong channel. My sage server with open dct is on a win7 box and i run wmc /wmc live tuner on a second win7 box. I'm using a bm3000 for capture which is working flawlessly.

Any idea where to start troubleshooting? i'm calling the tuning urls directly from opendct.

Many thanks!

I never noticed this post. One of the recommendations I would make is to not configure WMC to use it's free guide data. You can do this by not accepting it's terms of use when you're configuring the tuner. You should also verify that you can tune into the channel manually.

The approach used here is no different than if you put an IR blaster in front of an STB, so it's possible if the computer/extender used for playback gets tied up with something it might miss a number while tuning. I really wish I could have it verify the tuned channel, but the WMC API doesn't let you do that for some reason. The best I can do is add more delays to the tuning and hope for the best.

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

I use it still mostly for HBO.

Cool, thanks. Depending on things with my soon to be new home, I may give this a shot.

[egeller]

Watch out if

1. you are on Comcast
2. AND plan to use an extender (xbox360) to feed SageTV.

Comcast is switching / switched to h.264. The extenders cannot render some or all of the premium content. However, the WMC PC has no problem serving it.
Non premium channels (copy freely) do not have the issue.

[Zogg]

Question, with an HDMI splitter (2 HDMI outputs, not component) do you have to keep your monitor turned on to make HDCP happy or will just the capture device like a BM3000 allow playback to function?

Also, I know you have set this up to work with WMC, but with the most recent version of Windows 10 and the MS codec pack you can watch DRM channels through the Media player. Going forward this might be an easier way to tune a channel in Win 10.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Zogg

Question, with an HDMI splitter (2 HDMI outputs, not component) do you have to keep your monitor turned on to make HDCP happy or will just the capture device like a BM3000 allow playback to function?

Also, I know you have set this up to work with WMC, but with the most recent version of Windows 10 and the MS codec pack you can watch DRM channels through the Media player. Going forward this might be an easier way to tune a channel in Win 10.

I've never used a spitter since you don't need to to get the HDCP handshake to work. I understand you might also want to do that just to see live what should be getting recorded. I do know that some people have done this for that purpose and it was fine, but like I said, I haven't done it personally.

That's really interesting. Are you saying you could open the http link on the HDHomeRun Prime in Windows Media Player on Windows 10 and it will playback the content? That would be really awesome. I don't have a Windows 10 box on hand, but if that really works, I'll have to see what we can do there since that would likely be more reliable.

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

I've never used a spitter since you don't need to to get the HDCP handshake to work. I understand you might also want to do that just to see live what should be getting recorded. I do know that some people have done this for that purpose and it was fine, but like I said, I haven't done it personally.

That's really interesting. Are you saying you could open the http link on the HDHomeRun Prime in Windows Media Player on Windows 10 and it will playback the content? That would be really awesome. I don't have a Windows 10 box on hand, but if that really works, I'll have to see what we can do there since that would likely be more reliable.

I was seeing HDCP errors if I switched my TV to another input while WMC was playing something. I'm just now testing an HDMI splitter and that seems to have fixed that problem. I also bought an HDMI-to-Component converter from Amazon for testing while I'm waiting on my BM3000, and it works surprisingly well. I'm actually playing back a WMC recording full screen, and using SageTV service network tuner on the same machine with an HDPVR to capture it back and send to my SageTV server for normal viewing. I'm going to test your WMC Live Tuner process on a Windows 7 machine hopefully later today.

I guess my memory was wrong, because I thought I could see DRM channels in the Win 10 Movies & TV app, but it's really the HDHomeRun View app. Unfortunately you have to start the app and then type in the channel number, and also make it fullscreen if it isn't already. I haven't been able to get any command line parameters to work. But I'm sure a program that can emulate keystrokes would do the job. I use EventGhost extensively and was planning to try to use the MultiTuner plugin to send a command through a local instance of EG to the remote system also running EG to open the program if necessary, set full screen and then set the channel number, but with your programming skills I'm sure you could do something more elegant.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Zogg

I guess my memory was wrong, because I thought I could see DRM channels in the Win 10 Movies & TV app, but it's really the HDHomeRun View app. Unfortunately you have to start the app and then type in the channel number, and also make it fullscreen if it isn't already. I haven't been able to get any command line parameters to work. But I'm sure a program that can emulate keystrokes would do the job. I use EventGhost extensively and was planning to try to use the MultiTuner plugin to send a command through a local instance of EG to the remote system also running EG to open the program if necessary, set full screen and then set the channel number, but with your programming skills I'm sure you could do something more elegant.

That's part of what we're doing in WMC (emulating keystrokes), so it wouldn't really be much of an improvement. I was playing around with a similar idea with the Android HDHomeRun app and it was too difficult to get working reliably for me to feel comfortable posting directions. Maybe the Windows 10 app would be more consistent.

If you like scripting languages, you should take a look at AutoIt. I use it for times when I just want to click a button or enter data into a specific place on the screen when there's no other way to automate something. If I was looking to create something quickly for what you're describing, that's probably the route I would take. I haven't used it on apps before, but I suspect it can be done.

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

That's part of what we're doing in WMC (emulating keystrokes), so it wouldn't really be much of an improvement. I was playing around with a similar idea with the Android HDHomeRun app and it was too difficult to get working reliably for me to feel comfortable posting directions. Maybe the Windows 10 app would be more consistent.

If you like scripting languages, you should take a look at AutoIt. I use it for times when I just want to click a button or enter data into a specific place on the screen when there's no other way to automate something. If I was looking to create something quickly for what you're describing, that's probably the route I would take. I haven't used it on apps before, but I suspect it can be done.

I was looking at this as a good way to support Windows 10, since getting WMC running on Win 10 WITH Cablecard support is down right tricky. Keeping updates from breaking it is another issue entirely. But with the HDHR View app you can run the latest version of Win 10 and not worry about updates. Also it doesn't require any setup, just install the HDHR driver, the codec pack, and then the app.

I've played with AutoIt a few times as well, very useful for what you've described.

[Zogg]

I have this set up on a Win7 system and it's basically working, but the stop command doesn't seem to be working as the channel never stops playing.

Also, how would I go about setting this up to run on another Win 7 system at another IP address? The EXEMultiTuner command in the registry has a set IP. Perhaps change the IP address to another variable?

[KryptoNyte]

When you say "stop command" are you suggesting that SageTV is issuing a command that would stop the playing of the stream on the playback device after the recording is finished?

If so, I need to see how to do that also ...

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

When you say "stop command" are you suggesting that SageTV is issuing a command that would stop the playing of the stream on the playback device after the recording is finished?

If so, I need to see how to do that also ...

I think it's supposed to stop WMC from playing the channel and free up the tuner. The first post shows this as an addition in version 1.2.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Zogg

I think it's supposed to stop WMC from playing the channel and free up the tuner. The first post shows this as an addition in version 1.2.

There's a configurable delay in OpenDCT for when SageTV requests the stream to stop and when the stop command is issued because if you're channel surfing, it can trip things up due to delays in WMC. It will not stop immediately, but it should stop eventually. Check out this thread for more details on how to add a stop command.

[Zogg]

All is working, EXCEPT it's not setting the channel properly every time. I can see it start, i.e. the spinning cursor, then the correct channel number pops up and it starts to play, but sometimes the new channel doesn't "stick" and it starts playing the previous channel that was used and is highlighted in the Guide.

It's probably a timing issue. Everything looks the same to me whether the new channel sticks or not so it's on the ragged edge of working every time.

Is there a way I can slow down the channel entry a bit?

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Zogg

All is working, EXCEPT it's not setting the channel properly every time. I can see it start, i.e. the spinning cursor, then the correct channel number pops up and it starts to play, but sometimes the new channel doesn't "stick" and it starts playing the previous channel that was used and is highlighted in the Guide.

It's probably a timing issue. Everything looks the same to me whether the new channel sticks or not so it's on the ragged edge of working every time.

Is there a way I can slow down the channel entry a bit?

It's been really hard to get this balanced because if we wait too long to confirm the channel change, the channel we just entered will disappear before we confirm it. I occasionally see what you're describing, but I haven't been able to nail down exactly what conditions make it happen because in testing I've never had it mess up. I'll take another stab at it when time permits.

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

It's been really hard to get this balanced because if we wait too long to confirm the channel change, the channel we just entered will disappear before we confirm it. I occasionally see what you're describing, but I haven't been able to nail down exactly what conditions make it happen because in testing I've never had it mess up. I'll take another stab at it when time permits.

Even sending the same tune command about 10 seconds later would probably do the trick, if that's possible.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Zogg

Even sending the same tune command about 10 seconds later would probably do the trick, if that's possible.

That's exactly what I was planning on doing. I just need to find the code.

[Zogg]

I have a work around to set the proper channel that I'm still testing, using EventGhost and a batch file, but then it occurred to me to simply put the tuning executable command into the pretuning executable field, so the tuning command gets sent twice. So far it seems to be working fine.