ExeMultiTuner

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by thopkin1

I appreciate the Exemultituner file! I am trying to figure out how to do tuning via Command Line on Windows 10 (64-bit). Anyone have any ideas?

I have spent most of the past two days searching the forums and most of the info is for Linux or seems to be outdated. I am currently trying the DirectvMultiChg using a bat file ...

After weeks and weeks of experimentation with different systems and platforms I can confirm that the EXEMultituner plugin does work on 64-bit Windows 10. There are two major problems I still have with using the plugin:

1. I have not been able to install it on a v9-upgraded system from v7; the commands seem to be ignored, even though the tuner setup appears to be correct.
2. I'm not really sure how I installed the registry edit on Win 10, but the edits are the same as they are in my Win 8 (32- and 64-bit) v9 setups.

So it seems that plugin requires either a fresh install or a way to remove/install/initiate a fresh registry edit. When I tried to run the .reg file on a Win 8 64-bit system I got an error preventing the update.

Is there some additional requirement to incorporate registry edits in Windows 8? Or is there a requirement to remove the v7 edits prior to upgrading to v9?

[PulsedPower]

I couldn't get exemultituner to work on my Win7 64 system after upgrading from V7 to V9 (worked perfectly on V7 Win7 64). I finally gave up and switched to Ericvics's DirecTVTuner.dll. Because I'm using a Genie system I had to modify it to route the commands through a Raspberry Pi I already had running. I suppose this same setup could be used to tune anything that can be accessed with a Linux based machine. I posted the modded dll files here: https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64592

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by PulsedPower

... I finally gave up and switched to Ericvics's DirecTVTuner.dll. Because I'm using a Genie system I had to modify it to route the commands through a Raspberry Pi I already had running...

Yes, I saw that in the other thread but I really need a solution that can handle dashes in the channel designation. Now that I know it can work on a 64-bit system I'm stumped as to why no one has been able to figure out how to make this as "easy" as it was with v7. Over the past six weeks I truly have read every single thread in this forum with the search term "exemultituner" and cannot glean any failsafe insight ...

[PulsedPower]

Yeah, the Ericvic dll passes a single decimal as %d, so I guess that won't work, although I wonder what the data actually looks like if it has a dash in it and is cast as a decimal??

[Narflex]

Have you guys looked at all the files contained in a V7 install vs. a V9 install? That's the first thing that pops out as me is just something is missing that prevents this all from getting tied together properly. There was no changes made to any of that code, so there's no reason that if everything is there that it shouldn't work.

[Oatz]

Originally Posted by waynedunham

I really think the thing that made it work was those Windows FW drivers I pointed to in the last message. I am 95% sure that the registry entry I ended up with was one that I had previously tried without success the other day.

If that hadn't worked I was going to try the FWProxy route for passing the commands to the STB. It still requires the Timmmoore files, but does replace the EXEMULTITUNER stuff. It also requires manual editing of the Sage.prop

Wait are you saying you got the firewire drivers working on Windows 10 64bit?
That would be amazing.

[jchiso]

Well, it's been more than a month without being able to tune channels with the external multi-tuner plugin on my Win 8, 64-bit system.

Has anyone emerged in the interim with a functional system with this platform?

To recap, I have gotten this to work with Win 10, 64-bit ...

[wayner]

Why not upgrade the Win8 system to Win10? There is a way to still do free upgrades if that is an issue. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/microsof...tive-features/

[jchiso]

Although I'm not a fan of Windows 10 I may have considered updating my main Sage server if I had any confidence that it would solve the problem. According to other users/developers here the plugin should work with Win 7 or 8, as the related code has not been changed. The Win 10 system on which the plugin works is the only one on which I installed a fresh Sage server; not an upgrade from v7.

I suspect that probably has more to do with it. For what it's worth I have tried a prototype system which uses v7 as a network encoder and v9 as the brains and host for video capture. It essentially makes all the tuners behave in a manner similar to HD Homerun devices. I received the necessary hardware to set up this configuration yesterday evening, so I could begin my transformation as soon as this evening.

I still have a couple of other Windows-based servers on which I could configure the EXEMultituner if its problems ever get sorted ...

[turak]

Can someone confirm the registry path for this registry key in Windows 10 64bit with SageTV V9?

I wrote a script to change channels for my directv boxes over the network. I followed the directions in the zip file, but my script doesn't get executed at all or it would generate a log file.

I'm using: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\Common\EXEMultiTunerPlugin

And the key is: command REG_SZ c:\TuneChannel\tune_it.bat %DEVICE% %CHANNEL%


Executing tune_it.bat with any arguments (or without) generates a log file. When I change channels in SageTV no log is generated.

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by turak

Can someone confirm the registry path for this registry key in Windows 10 64bit with SageTV V9? ...

Here's the path of the one Windows 10 system that I still have that worked the last time I used it, which was probably more than a year ago ...

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Frey Technologies\Common\EXEMultiTunerPlugin

I believe that's what I had to do in my previous 64-bit Windows setups. Give it a shot and see if it works ...

[turak]

That worked. Thanks so much.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by jchiso

Here's the path of the one Windows 10 system that I still have that worked the last time I used it, which was probably more than a year ago ...

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Frey Technologies\Common\EXEMultiTunerPlugin

I believe that's what I had to do in my previous 64-bit Windows setups. Give it a shot and see if it works ...

Sorry, I’m confused (nothing new there) - I use a Cox, Cisco set top cable box with 1394, which I have Sage change channels through, on a W7 32bit system.

Would what your discussing here give me FireWire channel change, as I have now, using a W10, 64bit system?

[wayner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Would what your discussing here give me FireWire channel change, as I have now, using a W10, 64bit system?

No - because the channel.exe program, or whatever, doesn't work on 64 bit Windows. The process used for ExeMultiTuner can be used for firewire or any other type of external tuning as when a channel change is required it runs a program and passes a few parameters, such as channel.

If your boxes were able to be tuned via IP commands then you would be in luck, but I don't think that is the case.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

No - because the channel.exe program, or whatever, doesn't work on 64 bit Windows. The process used for ExeMultiTuner can be used for firewire or any other type of external tuning as when a channel change is required it runs a program and passes a few parameters, such as channel.

If your boxes were able to be tuned via IP commands then you would be in luck, but I don't think that is the case.

Thanks, now I’m more confused, not by what you said, but by how I’m actually controlling my Cisco 1394 channel changes. When I searched for ‘channel.exe’ nothing came up anywhere in my Sage dir.
When I go to the tuner setup for my HDPVR connected to the Cisco box, ‘Tuner Control’ is listed as FWChannelProxy2 StubDevice
Any ideas what is actually changing the channels?

[wayner]

There are a few programs that can be used to do this. The Tim Moore packaged included channel.exe and channelw.exe. If I remember correctly, SageTV uses channelw.exe as it is better when you don't want any input. But they don't have to be in the Sage directory - put them in a c:\firewire directory. And there were a couple of other programs that were slight revisions on these programs that you may be using.

Look for the Frey registry keys mentioned above. You should have something like c:\TuneChannel\channelw.exe %DEVICE% %CHANNEL% in those keys.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

There are a few programs that can be used to do this. The Tim Moore packaged included channel.exe and channelw.exe. If I remember correctly, SageTV uses channelw.exe as it is better when you don't want any input. But they don't have to be in the Sage directory - put them in a c:\firewire directory. And there were a couple of other programs that were slight revisions on these programs that you may be using.

Look for the Frey registry keys mentioned above. You should have something like c:\TuneChannel\channelw.exe %DEVICE% %CHANNEL% in those keys.

Ah, okay - the registry keeps the secret, NOT the Sage dir.
Update: found in crogram files/Timmoote/blah blah

So it’s likely that’s what I’m using. You say there’s a different way which works on BOTH W7 32 bit AND W10 64bit?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

There are a few programs that can be used to do this. The Tim Moore packaged included channel.exe and channelw.exe. If I remember correctly, SageTV uses channelw.exe as it is better when you don't want any input. But they don't have to be in the Sage directory - put them in a c:\firewire directory. And there were a couple of other programs that were slight revisions on these programs that you may be using.

Look for the Frey registry keys mentioned above. You should have something like c:\TuneChannel\channelw.exe %DEVICE% %CHANNEL% in those keys.

UPDATE - I had to change my cable set top box due to a broken jack. I have the same model as a replacement (Cisco 4742HD), but my Sage setup wouldn't recognize channel change anymore.
I used Timmoore's command line prompt and was able to force a channel change with 'channel -f -a [device number] [channel number], but can't get Sage to change channels.
It's been so long since I had to set this up - does every set top have a unique ID that has to be entered into Sage Properties somewhere? Anyone know what the missing step is?
In the 'Common' dir, I was using FWchannelproxy2 as the HDPVR's tuning device.
Stumped

[wayner]

Every box has a unique ID. I think there is a channel comand that you can send with a verbose flag that gives you the ID. Try channel -v or something like that.

I think the Tim Moore website is now gone. But there was another site here https://exdeusweb.github.io/stbfirewire/

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

Every box has a unique ID. I think there is a channel comand that you can send with a verbose flag that gives you the ID. Try channel -v or something like that.

I think the Tim Moore website is now gone. But there was another site here https://exdeusweb.github.io/stbfirewire/

Thanks - I have all the drivers from the websites, luckily grabbed everything before they disappeared. And I have the unique ID after sending channel -v.
That being as it may, where does this info get entered - Sage Properties? Is it the encoder?