STV: Cayars17 Ultimate STV (Release 17 - Jan 18)

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by pciccone

Carlo, I have a new problem not related to teh DVD burning issue we are working on. I mentioned earlier we were having power issues, today the system gained / lost power several times due to ongoing repair crews doing their job.

I am sure its corruption, but I dont know where. I have an issue where SageTV wont render screens giving DirectX9 errors in the console (when debugging) ONLY when running the Cayers16 STV. If I switfch back to the OriginalV2 STV I am OK. Records continue to work, clients connect but the main unit is just a "black screen".

I keep many backups of everything. I restored the directory to a known good copy, including an old properties and wiz file and then symptoms change to the hanging "user manager iniitializing" message which is also directly related since I do know that is where screen rendering is done.

IF I run sagetv as a service the client part does connect even with the Cayars16 enabled but that leads to another problem I have never figured out with remote client connections not working only when running as a service I dont want to bore you with now.

I am at a total loss since the backups are not working either. I cannot re-install directx 9 from what I am reading, I tried it just starts and then goes right to the "done" screen since the installer see's its already installled.

Is it worth a Java re-install? Any other options you can think of?

(edit) Funny, I installed the client on the local SageTV machine in an alt directory, that runs fine as well using Cayers16. For now, its my solution. But I am scared knowing I have 2 distinct problems I cannot solve now.

Thanks again.

Phil

Shut down Sage (everything).
Copy your wiz.bin file to a safe place.
Remove Java using control panel.
Remove the JAVA directories
Re-Install a fresh copy of Java.
Reboot
Re-Install the first ZIP file in the first message of this thread.
Re-Install SageTV again overtop of your current setup using the repair option.
Reboot
Change your STV back to Cayars16.
Say a LONG prayer.
Try SageTV.

[wrwaugh]

Carlo,

I have sent you a donation because you are providing all of us with far more than a few donations could possibly pay for.

As this thread is the longest I have ever seen in any forum, I think it would be great if you did create a zip with all the support files... and a read me as to where to extract them.

I posted, and I hope correctly, that you are using the newest beta version of Videoredo. This type of information gets lost in this long thread. However, I cannot think of any good way to get all of the little 'needed' items listed in one place to catch everybody up.

Thanks again.

Riley

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by broderp

What happened to the see thru TV guide with v16? I switch back to 14 and it works, go back to 16, and it's not. Was this intentional?

Also, Live TV guide according to the documentation on the first page of this thread, now has a verticle time bar that goes "all the way"....mine does not.

Am I missing a setting?

What is the see through guide? I'm probably being dense or I'm thinking a different name for it. Could you explain a little or if possible put up a pic from each version showing the difference. <-- would make it easy on me.

I need to remove the vertical line thing from the 16 release notes as it caused a "boxed" look on the whole grid. The line was cool but the boxed look just didn't cut it. I'm still trying to find another way to do it.

[dvd_maniac]

As this thread is the longest I have ever seen in any forum

Thread from Doom9

and I'm sure this is still not even close to the longest.

But considering how specific Sage it is a testament as to how great this STV really is

[pciccone]

Originally Posted by Cayars

What is the see through guide? I'm probably being dense or I'm thinking a different name for it. Could you explain a little or if possible put up a pic from each version showing the difference. <-- would make it easy on me.

I need to remove the vertical line thing from the 16 release notes as it caused a "boxed" look on the whole grid. The line was cool but the boxed look just didn't cut it. I'm still trying to find another way to do it.

I think he is referring to the missing indicator as to what box you are sitting on in the guide. Usually the box you are sitting on is shaded darker then the non-selected boxes. It confuses me and my wife too, but I did not mention it yet because your so overwealmed with people talking about bigger features and bugs. At some point before 16 is was OK.

Not sure if you know what I mean or not....

[pciccone]

Originally Posted by Cayars

Shut down Sage (everything).
Copy your wiz.bin file to a safe place.
Remove Java using control panel.
Remove the JAVA directories
Re-Install a fresh copy of Java.
Reboot
Re-Install the first ZIP file in the first message of this thread.
Re-Install SageTV again overtop of your current setup using the repair option.
Reboot
Change your STV back to Cayars16.
Say a LONG prayer.
Try SageTV.

OMG - it worked, specifically in that order. Java alone and the repair alone did not work, I had to do BOTH of them at the same time after the reboot in-between. WOW.

I just sent you ANOTHER donation, I cannot express in writing what help you are!!

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by wrwaugh

Carlo,

I have sent you a donation because you are providing all of us with far more than a few donations could possibly pay for.

As this thread is the longest I have ever seen in any forum, I think it would be great if you did create a zip with all the support files... and a read me as to where to extract them.

I posted, and I hope correctly, that you are using the newest beta version of Videoredo. This type of information gets lost in this long thread. However, I cannot think of any good way to get all of the little 'needed' items listed in one place to catch everybody up.

Thanks again.

Riley

Thanks for the donation. I updated the donation page to reflect it.

I'd love to put this all in the first message in the thread but a message can only be 30,000 chars. So with every new release I've been removing items from old release notes to make room.

I think I'm going to remove all but the last 2 or 3 releases and put them on a webpage for historical purposes.. This will free up the first message for more IMPORTANT info. I of course could then also have links to webpages with additional info. I should also update the images to reflect the newer look as the pics are several versions old.

So much to do and so little time!

BTW, an update for everyone. I still haven't done much with the STV for the next version. I keep getting side tracked on other SageTV related items which will benefit many people down the road. Some of these include:
adding a "turbo" mode to the DVD Burner to double IO
DVD Rip with AC3 to MPG sound conversion (for PVR-350 and MVP users)
MVP/AC3 support
Transcoding from MPG to DivX
interface for the ShowCenter (awsome device)
X-Card testing with borrowed card
HD reception using 1394 port
capture/recording using any windows capture card (SageRecorder style).

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by pciccone

I think he is referring to the missing indicator as to what box you are sitting on in the guide. Usually the box you are sitting on is shaded darker then the non-selected boxes. It confuses me and my wife too, but I did not mention it yet because your so overwealmed with people talking about bigger features and bugs. At some point before 16 is was OK.

Not sure if you know what I mean or not....

OK got it. BTW, don't hold back on issues/bugs. I can always move them down my list. But I can't fix something I don't know about.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by pciccone

OMG - it worked, specifically in that order. Java alone and the repair alone did not work, I had to do BOTH of them at the same time after the reboot in-between. WOW.

I just sent you ANOTHER donation, I cannot express in writing what help you are!!

Thanks dude for the SECOND donation. Keep that up and I'll have to hook you up with your own "private" thread.

Anyway, glad you got the system fixed. I've went down this path a couple of times so I've got it figured out pretty well.

Carlo

[Cayars]

I'm not going to do the ffmpeg thing tonight as stated earlier. I hit a small glitch which might change the config so I want to test it on a couple machines. I'll get this done and put it up tomorrow or Sunday. I want to try and make a change to overcome the UNC issue so everyone can use it if they want. It'll save support issues down the road!

[JasonJoel]

Those sound tasty!

Although I doubt I would dump my nice, working MVPs for an expensive Showshifter - it would be interesting nonetheless depending on what it can do over the MVP (aside from just having more audio and video out options).

Jason

Originally Posted by Cayars

DVD Rip with AC3 to MPG sound conversion (for PVR-350 and MVP users)
MVP/AC3 support
Transcoding from MPG to DivX
interface for the ShowCenter (awsome device)

[k1114]

Originally Posted by wrwaugh

As this thread is the longest I have ever seen in any forum

You don't get around much

I remember a thread at general mayhem that I alone had over 2,000 posts in.

[Viremia]

Originally Posted by k1114

You don't get around much

I remember a thread at general mayhem that I alone had over 2,000 posts in.

2000 posts? :wtf:

don't you mean 2000 pages (depending on ppp)? like the "official spam thread"

[disgust]

I'm new to STVs (and sage tv itself really)..

I'm having trouble installing this. I followed the instructions and extracted each of those zips to the correct folders. from there what do I need to do for sage tv to use this stv?

[pciccone]

In reply to your questions on the mplex failure for DVD burning.

- Filename is exactly correct, case included.
- Filename is .mp2
- I uninstalled VideoREdo, I will re-install it.

I tried playing back the audio portion in microsoft media player, it DOES playback so now at least I know its not corroupt from a formatting point-of-view.

I also ran mpgtx info on the source stream which I still think is the problem since I know videoredo and mplex both fail (I assume on the audio stream), do the results below jive with you? Should be DVD ELP:

Mpeg 2 Program Stream File [Video/Audio]
Muxrate : 6.07 Mbps
Estimated Duration: 06:32:38.01s
Aspect ratio 4/3 (TV)
Not interlaced, chroma format: 4:2:0
Size [720 x 480] 29.97 fps 4.40 Mbps
Audio : Mpeg 2 layer 2
64 kbps 22050 Hz
Mono, Emphasis CCITT J 17

This was encoded with a PVR-250 PCI hardware encoding board.

(edit):

I THINK I know what it is, seems a "mono" encoded program might be the problem?? I looked at another stream that is stereo recorded, it shows the audio portion as "Mpeg-1 layer 2", 384 kbps, 48000 hz. I bet you this stream will encode just fine. Interesting... So, which part makes mplex fail? The mono part, the mpeg-2 vs. mpeg-1 part, or the stream quality (hz)? And, why is mono recording this way?


Thanks Carlo.

[davey_fl]

[QUOTE=k1114]A couple of things that i'd love to see in the next release:

1. Default quality for recordings only - I want to watch live TV @ 5gb/hr or higher so that the quality is great, but I want my favorites, scheduled recordings, and intelligent recordings to record at a predetermined setting (I use 1.8gb/hr). I hate that sage keeps live tv and scheduled recording quality tied to the same setting.
QUOTE]

Along this line, I wonder if it would be possible to add back in the actual GB/hr detail in the recording quality. Right now all I have to go on is "great" or "extra long" - it would help if I could see the rate again...

thanks

[pciccone]

Originally Posted by disgust

I'm new to STVs (and sage tv itself really)..

I'm having trouble installing this. I followed the instructions and extracted each of those zips to the correct folders. from there what do I need to do for sage tv to use this stv?

After you extract everything (dont forget the java libs), have you gone back into SageTV to options -> Advanced -> "Application Definition" and then selected the Cayars16 STV?

[disgust]

thanks that was what I was missing

I installed this mostly for the default padding... 15 minutes, though, seems like an AWFUL lot (15 minutes on the start, 15 minutes on the end = now I'm at twice the size for a 30 minute show)

is there any reason they're only in 15 minute incriments?

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by pciccone

In reply to your questions on the mplex failure for DVD burning.

- Filename is exactly correct, case included.
- Filename is .mp2
- I uninstalled VideoREdo, I will re-install it.

I tried playing back the audio portion in microsoft media player, it DOES playback so now at least I know its not corroupt from a formatting point-of-view.

I also ran mpgtx info on the source stream which I still think is the problem since I know videoredo and mplex both fail (I assume on the audio stream), do the results below jive with you? Should be DVD ELP:

Mpeg 2 Program Stream File [Video/Audio]
Muxrate : 6.07 Mbps
Estimated Duration: 06:32:38.01s
Aspect ratio 4/3 (TV)
Not interlaced, chroma format: 4:2:0
Size [720 x 480] 29.97 fps 4.40 Mbps
Audio : Mpeg 2 layer 2
64 kbps 22050 Hz
Mono, Emphasis CCITT J 17

This was encoded with a PVR-250 PCI hardware encoding board.

(edit):

I THINK I know what it is, seems a "mono" encoded program might be the problem?? I looked at another stream that is stereo recorded, it shows the audio portion as "Mpeg-1 layer 2", 384 kbps, 48000 hz. I bet you this stream will encode just fine. Interesting... So, which part makes mplex fail? The mono part, the mpeg-2 vs. mpeg-1 part, or the stream quality (hz)? And, why is mono recording this way?


Thanks Carlo.

I don't know about the mono part as I think a DVD can handle that OK. But the audio bitrate of 64KB is a PROBLEM as it's out of spec for DVD. That is surely the problem.

I've never seen a SageTV recording before with a 64KB audio stream.

[Cayars]

Originally Posted by JasonJoel

Those sound tasty!

Although I doubt I would dump my nice, working MVPs for an expensive Showshifter - it would be interesting nonetheless depending on what it can do over the MVP (aside from just having more audio and video out options).

Jason

It can actually do a LOT more but excluding all the nice connection input/outputs I say the most important reason are that it:
It's output (visual) is far superior to the MVP.
It never/ever crashes or hangs.
It can send the signal out multiple ports at the same time. As an example I have S-Video/optical sound running into my SD Sony (via amp) and have the composite & standard audio out feeding an RF Modulator so it can also be watched from any of the other TVs in the house on channel 76.
But the number one reason I purchased it was for the hardware DivX decoding! The MVP just can't do it.
It can also do other things like ShoutCast and stuff too. The software that comes with it can also do audio RIPs for you and can transcode movie files into MPG or DivX for you as long as you have a Codec on your machine that supports the file type you wish to transcode.

It's not for everyone but it's a very nice box that I'd recommend. It will be awesome when I've got more time to build a true SageTV interface for it. I've got the SageTV recording screens on it at the moment.