STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[turak]

I'm trying to figure out what's causing the "audio render error" in sage. It looks like every show I record off of the local ABC-HD channel plays back fine in sage. Some shows from PBS-HD playback fine. I get the audio error from every other nonencrypted HD channel that I try. Does anyone know of a way that I can analyze the recordings to look for differences between the broadcasts from different channels so I can isolate the problem? btw..I'm using a DCT2600.

[gtd885a]

Originally Posted by turak

I'm trying to figure out what's causing the "audio render error" in sage. It looks like every show I record off of the local ABC-HD channel plays back fine in sage. Some shows from PBS-HD playback fine. I get the audio error from every other nonencrypted HD channel that I try. Does anyone know of a way that I can analyze the recordings to look for differences between the broadcasts from different channels so I can isolate the problem? btw..I'm using a DCT2600.

I'll add ESPN HD to that list (also using DCT6200 - from Charter). I almost always get audio render errors when I go to this channel.

As another random point, HD Net channels always play correctly and never skip, and they are some of the best (original) pictures for me.

[turak]

yeah...I meant DCT6200. I watched the Atari episode of G4's "Icons" today. I guess I have 2600 on the brain.

[Naylia]

For some reason whenever I my GF tries to watch 'One Tree Hill' from the WB I get the rendering error. The prior show and the next show work fine but not that specific show. I'm using a DCT6205 from Comcast.

[aperry]

I've had a similar problem. I cannot get anything to display that I've recorded on BBC America. I am thinking it has to do with the heavy compression that my cable company uses for this channel. I *can* get stuff from other channels.

[timmmoore]

An additional comment about audio renders. When I used NVIDIA TS parser, it would track the changing PIDs in the MPEG2TS stream, so the audio format would change as you were changing channels. In my latest MCE code, I do not accept any audio or video until I receive a new pid after I change channels. The recordings after I have done this play back using NVIDIA audio decoder without problem. I am guessing that most decoders dont like the audio format changing on the fly, filtering video and audio until after a channel change and after you receive pids on the new channel means the audio format will not change. I believe SGRs program has a configuable delay after changing channels, trying increasing that and seeing if that fixes the audio render problems.

[govgeek]

Has anyone had this problem with live hdtv in Sage? I can play hdtv just fine on my test graph, and when I run my graph then Sage, I can use SD just fine, but when I switch to HDTV it shows up like the vertical is out of control and starts to freeze/lockup. I'm using the tspaser-mp2demultiplexer-cyberlink Mpeg muxer - mpeg2dump. I'm guessing it's a codec issue (since it plays fine with my default .grf)

[ftlee]

timmmoore,

Any idea when you might have "live" tv working over firewire via Media Center?

Thanks!

Frank

[DFA]

Hi All:

Just got back from 5 weeks in the Brazillian jungles.

Looks like some exciting developements in the STB channel change department by direct control via firewire.

I have not sorted it all out yet but guess I'll roll up my sleeves. Looks like my old "INF" has morphed to take on this feature. I see that that the SA-3250 did not make the "morph". Since that is the box I am saddled with, I plan to take a look at this and see what can be done.

Good to be back.

DFA

[Naylia]

I haven't had time to follow this completely so I'd love to see DFA validated files. I lost track of the thread for a while and have firewire working with my usb-uirt so am hesitant to make any drastic changes but would love taking girder out of the equation. Good to see you back and hope the jungle was good to you.

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by ftlee

timmmoore,

Any idea when you might have "live" tv working over firewire via Media Center?

Thanks!

Frank

Not really, I am chasing down a lot of issues with extenders at the moment

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by DFA

Hi All:

Just got back from 5 weeks in the Brazillian jungles.

Looks like some exciting developements in the STB channel change department by direct control via firewire.

I have not sorted it all out yet but guess I'll roll up my sleeves. Looks like my old "INF" has morphed to take on this feature. I see that that the SA-3250 did not make the "morph". Since that is the box I am saddled with, I plan to take a look at this and see what can be done.

Good to be back.

DFA

Ghostlobster at thegreenbutton has tried to get channel to work on the SA3250HD without success. The latest channel.exe has a -a parameter that allows you to try the 2 different commands sets I know of for channel changing. 1 returned not implemented over firewire from the STB, the other returned success but didn't do anything.
I modifed the inf to install the mstapeo.sys on the right device for the SA3250HD but didn't post it since we couldn't get channel change going.

[turak]

Originally Posted by Naylia

I haven't had time to follow this completely so I'd love to see DFA validated files. I lost track of the thread for a while and have firewire working with my usb-uirt so am hesitant to make any drastic changes but would love taking girder out of the equation. Good to see you back and hope the jungle was good to you.

Firewire channel changes have been 100% solid for me and alot faster then IR. Also, like you said, it gets rid of the need for girder. Here is a snippit from my SGraphrecorder.ini (the number 2 is the device number for my STB):

[ExeTuner]
UseExeTuner=1
ExeTunerPath="C:\dvine\firewire\channelw.exe 2"

[turak]

Originally Posted by cohnhead

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.

This works for me too. HD shows that I record off of ABC seem to playback fine. I get the audio renderer error from all other channels. So now I keep an episode of "Lost" in my recordings list. When I want to watch something that gives me an audio render error, I first start watching "Lost". While "Lost" is playing, I select the show or channel that I want to watch. As long as "Lost" is playing while I'm selecting something else, I don't get the audio error.

[ftlee]

Does any SA box work with changing channels? Does anyone know if the Pace 550 box works?

Thanks,

Frank

[DFA]

timmmoore:

Thanks for input and your findings. I noted in the "ReadMe" that there was no success with SA-3250 but just got to take a stab at it myself.

It should be noted that not all SA boxes are created equal. Depending on CableCo, some use "Passport" OS while others may use "Sara" OS. In my case, "Sara".

Not sure about Passport based or Moto STB's, but Vividlogic's "Firebus" is the firewire protocol SW used with Sara in my box. What SA variant was tested?

Vividlogic's own "DTVRecorder" SW can do channel change as I recall so believe there is hope. I will pick through their application for anything useful to extract.

What software is Moto using for IEEE-1394?

DFA

[oachalon]

I have a quick question that probably can be answered. I have gotten my sage tv setup for my dct-6200 digital cable box. Everything works fine it changes the channel and i can watch the video but its not the smoothest. Especially an hd channel just skips like crazy. Now if i stream using vlc everything is smooth as can be sd or hd. It all works beautifully. Could i find out what filters vlc is using for this stream or somehow implement vlc into sage. Maybe someone knows some decoders or filters that will smooth it out. I dont think its lack of power my computer is a p4 2.8ghz overclocked to 3.6ghz. Ati Radeon 9800pro, 1 gig ram, and 120gig 7200rpm sata hard drive. Im probably not using the correct decoders. Oh yeah i set it up using the instructions so im using the nvidia ts info, cyberlink muxer and etc.

[turak]

Originally Posted by oachalon

I have a quick question that probably can be answered. I have gotten my sage tv setup for my dct-6200 digital cable box. Everything works fine it changes the channel and i can watch the video but its not the smoothest. Especially an hd channel just skips like crazy. Now if i stream using vlc everything is smooth as can be sd or hd. It all works beautifully. Could i find out what filters vlc is using for this stream or somehow implement vlc into sage. Maybe someone knows some decoders or filters that will smooth it out. I dont think its lack of power my computer is a p4 2.8ghz overclocked to 3.6ghz. Ati Radeon 9800pro, 1 gig ram, and 120gig 7200rpm sata hard drive. Im probably not using the correct decoders. Oh yeah i set it up using the instructions so im using the nvidia ts info, cyberlink muxer and etc.

You could try using the "render media file" option in graphedit. That will use the system default decoders. If it plays smooth in graphedit, you could try whatever decoders it is using.

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by DFA

timmmoore:

Thanks for input and your findings. I noted in the "ReadMe" that there was no success with SA-3250 but just got to take a stab at it myself.

It should be noted that not all SA boxes are created equal. Depending on CableCo, some use "Passport" OS while others may use "Sara" OS. In my case, "Sara".

Not sure about Passport based or Moto STB's, but Vividlogic's "Firebus" is the firewire protocol SW used with Sara in my box. What SA variant was tested?

Vividlogic's own "DTVRecorder" SW can do channel change as I recall so believe there is hope. I will pick through their application for anything useful to extract.

What software is Moto using for IEEE-1394?

DFA

Ghostlobster, who is trying to get channel change on SA3250HD is also on this forum, perhaps he can jump in, since I dont know a lot about the 3250 nor do I know what version he had.

[Diginerd]

Heyas,

Can anyone please tell me how to move the Cyberlink filters from one PC to another?

I need to no install on a a Windows 2003 server instead of a windows XP box.

I bought the thing, but it won't let me install on anything other than XP. :-(