STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[tvmaster2]

OK, for someone who doesn't get coding, this has been a slow process, but I am having some breakthru's

First, I can now change channels from Sage via Firewire using FWChannelProxy.
I can also see HD channels that AREN'T copy protected by my cable company (Cox) via VideoLan (only Premium channels seem to be a no-go).

The only thing that's got me flumexed is getting a HD feed via 1394 into SageTV for recording. At the moment I'm getting an image via coax, Ch. 3.

I've read all the original, non-original and revised .pdf help files, and there is one confusing part:
As it stands now, 2011, what extra pieces of software are needed to record HD via 1394 from within the SageTV interface?

Is it still (since the last update I could find was from 2007):

Graphedit
FireSTB.msi
SGraphRecorder (is that the key?)
Proppage.dll

thanks

[Coastal]

oh man, this is a huge thread and I hate to make it longer...
but I have read through it and other posts and cannot seem to figure out the missing step in my attempt to have sage control my DC6200 via fire wire. Please help, my brain hurts!

Configuration is sage V6 with HDPVR and one DC6200 connected via firewire,

channel.exe is working and talking to my stb
i.e. channel -v 2 205 changes my DC6200 to channel 205, sweet! (that took a long time to get working)

registery entry EXEMultiTunerPlugin now sits in frey/common:
name: command
data: C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channel.exe -v %device% %channel%
EXEMultiTuner.dll is sage common folder

I just managed to point the device in sage to the EXEMultiTunerplug in but if I change channels in Sage the device does not respond

I know there is something about creating a 2.ir file with the device# but I don't know how to get the device number and do not understand the format of that file.

I tried sagechanger in the same directory as channel.exe but it gives an error mesage when I run it about "failing to start because configuration is incorrect
I understand it is a bit more sophisticated than channel.exe but I probably don't really need it.

Clearly I am missing a step and I see threads pointing to a post "Meinmaui's good write-up" but no one has, from what I can tell, actually linked to that post and so far I have not dug it out of the mass of info on this topic.

your help most appreciated.
perhaps when I get it running I wlll write up a document with screen shots on how to do this because there are a lot of tricky steps!

[bonoman]

I wanted to share a small time saving step that seems to be working today on my Comcast DCH-3200. I've been following this thread for several years and trying to fine tune my own installation of Sage doing both A/V and channel changing via firewire.

One of the more prominent complaints on here seems to be the tuning time. Either its excessive (7-8 seconds) or when fine tuned to a reasonable number leads to problems. My problem with cutting it too close lead to a result the channel being changed, watching another 1-2 seconds of the show I was recording and then Sage proceeding not to open the new dump steam.

To attempt to troubleshoot this further, I hooked up the box directly to my tv and did a little PIP experimenting. I was using the regular channelw.exe with a -f since it didn't like my device by default. When changing channels, I was noticing ~5 second delay before I saw the picture directly off the cable box. Playing around with the cable box config options, a setting called "autotune" was enabled which led to the cable box waiting an additional delay just to make sure I was done entering the channel number.

Trying to eliminate this delay, I turned the setting off and experimented with the -a0, -a1, etc parameters inside channelw.exe. No dice of course since now sage wasn't sending a "Ok/Select" command over firewire. However, you can manually add the "Select" command to the process.

I solved this with the following steps:
1) Create a change.bat with the following lines:
READ %1
CMD /c "channelw -v -f -a2 2 %1 && channelw -v -f -d 2 0
2) Update sgraphrecorder.ini to:
ExeTunerPath=change.bat
3) Disable autotune on directly on your cable box

Make sure you're using your device id and your full system paths.

I've now set my TuningDelay to 1500 in sgraphrecorder.ini
Plus I've set my sage.properties line to:
videoframe/network_encoding_to_playback_delay=2000

I now have pretty reliable channel changing with only a two second delay. I forget my system config, AMD4000 and Geforce 7 or 8 card, I dunno, main HW is 3-4 years old. I mention this however because I do have a Kingston 128GB SSD, so if you're old school and still have a "spinner", you still might have to adjust your delays up a tad.

The only downside I've had to deal with is every now and then when the batch window pops-up, it forces my FSE Sage instance to minimize. There's some fancy vbs work you can do I guess to run a batch file minimize, but I'm just happy to eliminate all the restarts I had to do to get my streams working again.

I've benefited from time donations other people have made to this thread over the years, so I hope this helps someone else out there. Might even help non 3200 users also.

[Coastal]

re second post back
got it running, whew.
optimization can wait.
thanks to the last poster for the info, as I can see already that channel change time is an issue

[MilkmanCDN]

Hello,

Has anyone found a way to get firewire channel change working with Windows 7 x64. I looked 6-months ago and again this morning; but, couldn't find anything. I have a rogers 4642HD box and it likes to shut-down for no reason. As such IR blasting is not working for me.

The best lead that I have, was someone who's paying to have a driver developed. The project references the ExDeus firewire driver package and should be completed in 4 days.

http://www.freelancer.co.uk/projects...ws-Driver.html

Any other info on this topic would be much appreciated.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by MilkmanCDN

Hello,

Has anyone found a way to get firewire channel change working with Windows 7 x64. I looked 6-months ago and again this morning; but, couldn't find anything. I have a rogers 4642HD box and it likes to shut-down for no reason. As such IR blasting is not working for me.

The best lead that I have, was someone who's paying to have a driver developed. The project references the ExDeus firewire driver package and should be completed in 4 days.

http://www.freelancer.co.uk/projects...ws-Driver.html

Any other info on this topic would be much appreciated.

There are no 64 bit firewire drivers. Period. Until that is developed there is no solution to be had. It has been discussed a million times here and on the net.

Gerry

[big poppa pump]

Originally Posted by bonoman

The only downside I've had to deal with is every now and then when the batch window pops-up, it forces my FSE Sage instance to minimize. There's some fancy vbs work you can do I guess to run a batch file minimize, but I'm just happy to eliminate all the restarts I had to do to get my streams working again.

Download 'CMDOW' a command line utility and put it in your '\windows\system32' directory.
Add the following command to the top of your batch file "cmdow @ /hid".
The batch window should be hidden every time it runs now.

[Xiphoid]

Originally Posted by dcardellini

Tough one. My only recommendation is: don't give up prematurely. One angle: don't assume that the VLC and Graphedit problems are related (alhough they likely are).

I would focus on VLC as a first problem. Hey are some ideas:

Try uninstalling, rebooting, and reinstalling the STB again.

Did you run "channel -v" from the command prompt and see the tuner and panel listed? Note the ID number of the device (shown in both tuner and panel items).

In VLC, did you go to "open video capture device" directshow, refresh video device list, drop down and choose the TUNER?

When you hit ok, does the VLC window open up or stay small?

Is the STB box in a state where video is actually playing...i.e. is it tuned to a channel and outputting video? Might want to confirm by hooking to a monitor. Those devices take a while to boot up (even though firewire port may light-up early on), and may start off in a non-channel tuned state. Try entering a known channel number through stb's remote.

Are you sure that all your channels are not 5C'ed? Have you verified clear 5C flags when STB hooked to monitor using the special sequence to get to service menus?

Barring any success here, again, assume two different problems, and that maybe just VLC is broken in this regard in Win7 (and you don't need VLC).

Moving on to Graphedit, did you register it and register proppage.dll?

When you inserted the STB filter from video capture sources, and when you expanded the video capture device for motorola, do you see the same ID number that you saw in channel -v?

When you inserted the SBDArecorderdump directshow filter, did you create a filename like dump.ts?, and you linked the motorola source with this destination file?

Lots of stupid obvious questions...but often I spend hours trying to fix something that ultimately was a missed step or something...just trying to help.

Help, I seem to be having a similar problem. I can change channels with FireWire, but VLC doesn't output any image when I try to play the tuner device stream. I have installed the legacy FireWire drivers and am running win7. My cable co in my area is not 5c encrypted (others on this board tell me they have FireWire recording working in my area), so I can't figure out what I have done wrong...anyone have an idea?

[tierpath]

Ok, guys. I have been going nuts.
I have a Comcast DCT-6200 series and I have the graph created, and can see video and audio via VLC. I have went over the steps, I can even get a TS file created that can be played back. What I cannot do is get Sage to show the video from placeshifter, HD-200's or the client. It won't preview either.

This thread is so long, I have read about 1/3 of it and I am getting no where.
For some reason sage will not show the video. Does anyone have any ideas.

Windows XP SP3, Dual Core AMD 6000, 4GB Ram, 7TB HD Space.
HVR-950q, HVR-1600, HVR-1850, Firewire(not working)
Sage V 7.

[FlyingDoc]

Sounds like you can see the show listed in the recordings but cant play it .... if this is correct, and based on your other input, i would suggest extending the channel change tuning delays. At least in SageGraph Recorder and i think there is also a property related to this in the Sage.Properties file. I suggest a bold move (set the delays out to 15 or 30 sec) . If it works you can experiment with more appropriate timing.

Good Luck !!

[tierpath]

Originally Posted by FlyingDoc

Sounds like you can see the show listed in the recordings but cant play it .... if this is correct, and based on your other input, i would suggest extending the channel change tuning delays. At least in SageGraph Recorder and i think there is also a property related to this in the Sage.Properties file. I suggest a bold move (set the delays out to 15 or 30 sec) . If it works you can experiment with more appropriate timing.

Good Luck !!

I will try it, though, Sage sees the 1394 tuner, it doesn't display the video.

[Xiphoid]

Originally Posted by tierpath

Ok, guys. I have been going nuts.
I have a Comcast DCT-6200 series and I have the graph created, and can see video and audio via VLC. I have went over the steps, I can even get a TS file created that can be played back. What I cannot do is get Sage to show the video from placeshifter, HD-200's or the client. It won't preview either.

This thread is so long, I have read about 1/3 of it and I am getting no where.
For some reason sage will not show the video. Does anyone have any ideas.

Windows XP SP3, Dual Core AMD 6000, 4GB Ram, 7TB HD Space.
HVR-950q, HVR-1600, HVR-1850, Firewire(not working)
Sage V 7.

I have the same problem. I have fixed it so that it plays in VLC and Sage tunes the channel just fine. Like you, I see the file created in the directory as it should, but it's not playing in Sage.

Curiously, if I have Sage open and also Windows Explorer open at the same time while it's recording, Sage only seems to recognize it after I hit 'watch show' and then I switch to view the directory that the file is sitting in. If I never look at the directory, Sage never displays the show. Is that weird or what? Why would this be, and how can I solve for it?

[tierpath]

Originally Posted by Xiphoid

I have the same problem. I have fixed it so that it plays in VLC and Sage tunes the channel just fine. Like you, I see the file created in the directory as it should, but it's not playing in Sage.

Curiously, if I have Sage open and also Windows Explorer open at the same time while it's recording, Sage only seems to recognize it after I hit 'watch show' and then I switch to view the directory that the file is sitting in. If I never look at the directory, Sage never displays the show. Is that weird or what? Why would this be, and how can I solve for it?

very close to what i have, i haven't verified sage changes the channel, because i can't see video.
I can see it in VLC and also the firestb cmd line changes channels.

[Xiphoid]

Originally Posted by tierpath

very close to what i have, i haven't verified sage changes the channel, because i can't see video.
I can see it in VLC and also the firestb cmd line changes channels.

Just look at your STB when you start watching a show in Sage. If the numbers switch, then the Sgraphrecorder ini file is doing its job properly. But that doesn't solve our problem. Did you try to look at your Sage recording directory to see if that starts playing the video in Sage like I've done on my computer?

Also, if you have Sage recording to multiple recording directories, have you forced the encoder to only use one directory? (I've seen posts that suggests this also screws things up if the dump.ts file is one directory, and the recording is placed in another.)

[tierpath]

Originally Posted by Xiphoid

Just look at your STB when you start watching a show in Sage. If the numbers switch, then the Sgraphrecorder ini file is doing its job properly. But that doesn't solve our problem. Did you try to look at your Sage recording directory to see if that starts playing the video in Sage like I've done on my computer?

Also, if you have Sage recording to multiple recording directories, have you forced the encoder to only use one directory? (I've seen posts that suggests this also screws things up if the dump.ts file is one directory, and the recording is placed in another.)

Hmm, that might be what I am missing, have the recordings going to 3 different drives.
How would i go about forcing it.

[Xiphoid]

Add this to your Sage properties file:

mmc/encoders/12346/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=C:\SAGE_RECORDINGS (or whatever your path is)

I added this and it didn't solve my problem though....sigh.

[tierpath]

Originally Posted by Xiphoid

Add this to your Sage properties file:

mmc/encoders/12346/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=C:\SAGE_RECORDINGS (or whatever your path is)

I added this and it didn't solve my problem though....sigh.

I am gonna try it tonight.\ after these damn storms!

[Bandit]

OMG Someone help me please

I have 2 HDPVR and 1 Colossus, which means I have 3 cable boxes. up until today everything was workign great using firewire to change the channels.

However, today, all of a sudden one of the cable boxes only receives the 1st and 3rd digit sent to it, it doesnt receive the middle digit. The other two boxes are working fine. For example, if changing to channel 896 it changes to 86 and 890 changes to 80.

Is there a way to slow down the commands being sent over firewire, to give it a slight pause between digits?

Thanks

[Bandit]

Ok, I found the option under "remote control options" and upped the delay, didnt fix it. Anyone have any idea why it would only take the 1st and 3rd code?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Bandit

Ok, I found the option under "remote control options" and upped the delay, didnt fix it. Anyone have any idea why it would only take the 1st and 3rd code?

Sounds like your cable box is going bad, should just get it swapped out.