STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[spaceghost]

sundansx,
read the last part of my post (directly above yours) and follow the link provided. I think the cyberlink mux is being used in that graph. Let us know how it turns out.

[sundansx]

sorry space ghost....I deleted that last post as I read your message above (it slipped in when I was composing that last one) since it made me look like an imbicile. We can't have that.
Thanks for your help.

[spaceghost]

updated the install docs to include timmmoore's method and links to his post on thegreenbutton.com. Thanks!

[aperry]

Originally Posted by spaceghost

aperry,
just a few questions...
What kind of processor do you have (and RAM qty)?
You can play a capture with CapDVHS ok in windows media player? (I see the inital graph plays fine directly to the overlay.)
You are sure your channels are not 5c encrypted? (silly ?, but maybe some channels are encrypted)

I have an AMD Athlon 64 3400+ processor with 1GB of RAM. CapDVHS works fine, the TS files play in media player. And, no they're not encrypted, I can watch any of the channels with no problems (takes a second or two for it to settle down, but then it plays without a hitch, no stuttering or anything).

There seems to be a few fellas such as yourself that just can't get these captures to play in Sage. The only advise I can think of is to play around with your default filters. Have graphedit play a captured file to see what filters are defaulting to. This is a start. I am a firm believer that Sage should use the default filters if you set all options to default within Sage...but I do not think it does. I have had problems in the past trying to get some captures to work within Sage (played fine in graphedit and wmp). Installing AC3filter helped on some, demoting the sage splitter/demuxer (to below microsoft's demuxer) helped on others. I do not have Nero installed on my htpc, but I have heard that Nero likes to take over control and set it's filters to the highest priority (thus setting them as default for all media players).

Are there tips for how to try different filters and promote/demote some over the others?

I heard using NPP is a no no somewhere...not sure if it applies to this type of playback.

You also might have luck NOT converting the ts to a ps in graphedit if you have a recent version of Sage running (2.2.7 or higher). They've supposedly added more support for .ts file playback (haven't tried it myself). If you're willing, you could try to change your graph...there was talk of putting the mpg dump right after the ts info parser. Not sure if Sage likes that kind of setup to watch live...

here's a link to that discussion.

I don't really need to watch live (for now). I'm happy recording stuff and watching it later...

Thanks for the tips, and I'll keep trying.

[cohnhead]

I am having moderate success still a few issues to work out

Issue 1) Audio Render error. Using Intervideo Video and Audio decoders with Audio sent to SPDIF, (so not really decoding). I get the Audio Render error around 75% of the time I switch to the HD channels.

I can get around the error by first opening an HD recording that I was already watching, (1/2 way through). This file always plays, and once playing then I can switch to other HD channels, and can then subsequently switch between HD channels, or watch other recorded HD shows without further errors.

My thought is there is some problem with the audio at the start of the files that are being recorded that sage struggles with. Is there a way to have sage start playing the file slightly beyond the beginning of the file?

Issue 2) Playback smoothness. I get some stuttering and deinterlacing artifacts durring playback. I assume this is due to my inferior graphics card, (4 year old GForce, not sure of exact model), but could also be the intervideo decoder. Processor is 3.0 Intel with 256mb ram.

The Nvidia decoder is not available as my 30 day trial expired. Will the decoder improve playback smoothness, or do I need to bite the bullet and upgrade video cards?

Thanks for advice.
Marc

[spaceghost]

aperry-
Your computer definately sounds fast enough. You can play around with a filter manager. Just write down the values before you change anything. Google for filtermanager...should be within the first couple of hits. There's several programs like this. The filter with the highest value will be the "default" filter used. Use a filter manager in combination with graphedit to render media files. Just make sure you reload the media file after you make a change with the manager. I have not helped anyone yet with these suggestions..they are what worked for me. I used to be codec pack happy, but that's all changed now.

Here's what I'm using inside sage:
video renderer=overlay
(vmr9 a nogo for my ati9200, default led to strange vertical banding--or something like that, more like 1/2 resolution video)
mpeg video decoder=Nvidia video decoder
(have also been using Intervideo and Intervideo NonCSS for hauppauge. Using the nonCSS--I noticed lots of deinterlacing artifacts.)
DXVA Mpeg mode=default
DXVA deinterlacing=default

Audio renderer=default directsound device
(for me, changing this to something else will give me audio errors or no audio at all. This one REALLY stumped me in the beginning.)
mpeg2 audio decoder filter=intervideo audio decoder (from windvd 6 platinum)




cohnhead-
perhaps try a longer delay in sage.properties?
videoframe/network_encoding_to_playback_delay=

I'm not sure what all gets disabled when the Nvidia decoders pass the 30 day mark. The TS Info Parser may be giving you troubles. Maybe try to uninstall, then reinstall for another 30 day trial?

[aperry]

Yeah, spaceghost, I've been thinking about the same thing. I have been on codec overload, but I think they are starting to interfere with each other, so I think I'm gonna trim down a bit.

Now, having said all that, mplayer does play the MPEG file that the recorder created. So the data is there, I just need to find something that is a little more capable of playing it.

[timmmoore]

I have updated the firewire.zip on www.thegreenbutton.com to include an updated channel.exe. It fixes some issues of changing channels while streaming over firewire. The original command I used was ignored while streaming. This was the problem foolio was having. I switched to a different command and after some tuning of timeout values is working ok.
I have also updated meistb.inf in the zip file. The change I made was to use avcstrm.sys from windows rather than meistrm.sys. It doesn't affect the channel changing but affects streaming. I had a lot of problems streaming over firewire, the tuner device would sometimes stop working on stopping the stream and restarting it. Using avcstrm.sys rather than meistrm.sys has much improved the reliablity of stopping/starting streaming.

[sundansx]

I have used the with a .ts graph for a couple of days now, and I see a couple of problems.
- SGR sometimes records files that have PIDs and so on, but no PMT. The video plays back blank and audio is audible on Zoomplayer and Elcard Player. Sometimes the video comes out beautiful. Havent been able to determine why it fails sometimes and sometimes not. I will changes all my software to use timmoore's latest stuff tonight and see how that affects things. timmmoore...what sort of problems manifested from the stream problems you talked about in the last post? Anyone else seeing this?

- Since sage saves .ts files as .mpg files, comskip tries to run on them. this seems to crash comskip .64. I am using .ts files, because I previously had problems with audio sync and smoothness playing HD .mpg files. Then I found HDTVpump. This filter kicks arse. Smooth and perfect. Unfortunately, this does not parse .mpg files. Maybe I will give my HD .mpg playback another try.

[aperry]

I don't know whether it was Tim's changes or the message in the other thread to download the Microsoft program to set your default decoder, or a combination of the both, but I am now able to record/watch SD digital stuff in Sage. Still having some problems watching HD, and have not tried recording HD (want to be there running it in case of problems).

But, definitely am seeing some improvements.

[timmmoore]

sundansx, Most of the problems I was seeing was BSOD on stopping screening, or being unable to start streaming again. Sometimes it would work, sometimes not, also was very dependent on which filters you used in the graph. I also found depending on the filters you may or may not be able to change channels without restarting the graph.
Once I changed from using meistrm.sys to avcstrm.sys it cleared up a lot of reliability problems.

I also added to firewire.zip on www.thegreenbutton.com a windows version of channel.exe called channelw.exe. It takes the same arguments as channel but is a windows app rather than a cmd app, so if oyu use it from sagetv you shouldn't get cmd windows opening. You need to use channel.exe ot find the deivce number since channelw.exe doesn't output anything.

Has anyone tried to get closed captioning from a stb via firewire? It doesn't seem to be multiplexing into the mpeg2 video stream so a mpeg2 video decoder doesn't output it. Is it sent using a separate PID over the MPEG2 TS? If so does anyone know the PID it uses?

[aperry]

Well, I spoke too soon. It was working for a little bit, but has stopped again... Time to try some more options.

[sundansx]

timmmoore,
Any tips on how to install this new driver? I have the old modified mstapeo.sys stuff from my last effort and then I overwrote redundant files with that from your firewire.zip. I then did a driver upgrade using Device Mangler in windows and it upgraded the drivers. In the driver list, I see as in the attachment...both the meistrm.sys and avcstrm.sys drivers are listed. Does this look right?
thanks.

[taltman]

Please help. Sorry for not replying earlier. I can't get SgraphRecorder to show in sage. Attached is my Sage.properties file.

I'm using Sage 2.2.8, Windows XP SP2 - Firewall turned off, SGraphRecorder, Cayars STV version 16 (i need to update to 17 or newer)...

What do I need to do to get it working?

[AndersNolberger]

taltman, Your sage.properties looks alright to me. But you can try the section from the Sage.txt that I have included. Are you sure that you have Sage completely stopped when you altered the properties file? If so you should just open Setup and press setup wizard | add new source and there it should be.

[timmmoore]

sundansx, You did it correctly. I didn't change the inf to remove meistrm.sys so it copies it but the configuration of the drivers points meistb.sys to use avcstrm.sys instead of meistrm.sys so meistrm.sys isn't used. Sometime I will update it not to copy the file but I am busy with other things at the moment.

[taltman]

Originally Posted by AndersNolberger

taltman, Your sage.properties looks alright to me. But you can try the section from the Sage.txt that I have included. Are you sure that you have Sage completely stopped when you altered the properties file? If so you should just open Setup and press setup wizard | add new source and there it should be.

Hi Anders,

Yes i've double and triple checked that sage isn't running. I've also done numerous reboots and so on. I'll give it a shot tonight and post the results tomorrow as time permits. The forum was down for a couple nights otherwise I would of posted the results earlier.

P.S. Tech support gave me a line to put in for debug purposes for sage. I'll try your changes first and see if it works. If not then i'll enable sage debug and see if anything obvious comes up.

/Tal

[taltman]

Ok - i pasted in the config restarted sage and wow I can see SgraphRecorder! I shut down sage, changed the media type to 10, and now It says 1394 interface for recording.

mmc/encoders/12346/1/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/12346/1/0/video_crossbar_type=10

Ok so far so good.

Problem - if I try to watch anything from sage I get a 0 byte file and then sage barfs and says sorry can't play the file.

If I play back the graph file in graphedit I can a perfect mpeg file which I can playback in Windows media player. The same graph file is being used and referenced in the sgraphrecorder's ini file. So what am I doing wrong?

Attached are my files of interest...appeneded with a txt extension to allow for uploads.

Below are the detailed logging from sage:

Sat 4/30 18:42:00.309 MMC received response from 127.0.0.1:6969 of 200
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.410 MMC sent request to 127.0.0.1:6969 of GET_FILE_SIZE H:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\SGraphRecorderon12700169691394-0.mpg
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.411 MMC received response from 127.0.0.1:6969 of 200
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.512 MMC sent request to 127.0.0.1:6969 of GET_FILE_SIZE H:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\SGraphRecorderon12700169691394-0.mpg
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.512 MMC received response from 127.0.0.1:6969 of 200
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.515 VideoFrame.timeSelected2(Sat 4/30 18:40:35.441, true) currFile=MediaFile[id=6181628 FA[BAD AIRING] host=a3098 encodedBy=SGraphRecorder on 127.0.0.1:6969 1394 H:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\SGraphRecorderon12700169691394-0.mpg, Seg0[Sat 4/30 18:40:08.388-Wed 12/31 16:00:00.000]] realDur=0
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.515 About to perform media time selection for 27053
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.515 Did Media Time Select Millis 27053
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.515 Exception from line: 115
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.516 VideFrame had an error loading the file. It must abort the file load.
Sat 4/30 18:42:00.516 processOptionsMenu optionsMenu=Widget[ErrorMessage id=6163539 OptionsMenu Layout=Vertical AnchorX=0.5 AnchorY=0.5 down=[6166384,6166385,6166386,6161511,] up=[6166387,] context=Context[parent=Context[parent=Context[parent=null map={CaptureDeviceInput=SGraphRecorder on 127.0.0.1:6969 1394, Lineup=SGraphRecorder on 127.0.0.1:6969 1394}] map={LaunchedVideo=true, ItemChoices=[Done with Channel Setup, Enable All Channels, Disable All Channels, [1, Channel[stationID=-1752432723, Name=1394]]]}] map={ErrorCategory=Playback, ErrorDetails=sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x0): There was a problem rendering the video portion of the content for playback., _SAGE_HOOKSOURCEWIDGET=java.lang.Object@78001b, ReturnValue=null}]

/Tal

[Diginerd]

Just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who worked this out.

I now have 2 x Scientific Atlanta 4200HD boxes hooked up via firewire to my sage box and am slurping in HD just great.

I get the occaisional motion glitch with fas moving action, though I'm unsure if upgrading my video card will do it.

I'm running an Athlon XP 2800+ , Nvidia 5200 graphics card, 512MB ram and a 250GB local HD. It has a Hauppage PVR250 card in there and a PVR250 USB2 tuner too making a grand total of 4 tuners.

Overall I have to say I'm very pleased though there are some niggles that I have with it.

The biggest one is that I can't scale the HiDef video stream to full screen. Anyone know any tricks for this? Also when I'm videoing HiDef video my CPU sits around 40%. I'd assume this is normal, or is there something I can do to force my graphics card (Or a bigger one if needs be, do I really need this?)

Overall thouugh I have to say it's great.

Getting firewire capable cable boxes out of cablevision was fun though..

[gtd885a]

Let me also say thanks to everyone for working on this!!!

Originally Posted by Diginerd

I'm running an Athlon XP 2800+ , Nvidia 5200 graphics card, 512MB ram and a 250GB local HD. It has a Hauppage PVR250 card in there and a PVR250 USB2 tuner too making a grand total of 4 tuners.

I have almost the exact same setup, and have had tons of problems. Do you mind if I ask what motherboard you have? I have Barton 2500+ (OC'd to 3200+, but I've tried it at rated speed too), Abit NF7-S, GeForce 5200 128MB, 512MB (1 stick - have another, but wanted to eliminate potential problems).

Anyway, any help would be appreciated. I have been trying to get this working for a few weeks now (first fooled around with Myth, but couldn't get that to work). My wife is getting impatient, and my 2 year old daughter just wants some new Wiggles and JoJo videos.

Here's my situation: Following the guides and advice here, I have built a clean install of XP SP2 with nothing installed but the basics (Acrobat Reader, WinDVD, VLC, Sage, and Norton Ghost - I was tired of reloading). I only loaded filters that I absolutely needed, no codec packs, etc. I can capture and play back from firewire no problem (based on info at AVSForums). Channel changing over firewire works pretty well, except repeated numbers sometimes hiccup.

But my biggest problem is stability. I seem to be able to watch and record standard definition ok (at least 50% of the time, at least). But on HD, I get anywhere from 2 or 3 seconds up to 10 minutes, and then my CPU gets pegged and Sage freezes (SGraphRecorder is the process that uses all the CPU).

I have tried different configurations in graphedit, currently using the Cyberlink MPEG Muxer and Moonlight DumpPos. Using the test graphs, everything plays fine. Also, when I hit "play" on the TStoPS graph and then open the Dump, it plays perfectly.

I've also tried changing settings in Sage, but with no better results. I'm new to almost every aspect of this (graphedit, Sage, filters, etc.).

Anyway, Diginerd, that's very encouraging that you are working with similar hardware to mine! It means that it is possible! If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: Forgot to say, using Motorola 6200 with (close to) latest firmware 7.15, and SageTV still in trial 2.2.8.