STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by ChuckvB

Tim
I'm looking for the mstapeo.sys as it appears I need to install the panasonic tuner drivers. I see some comments but not how to generate it or which file to rename. Above you mention meitape.sys but not mstape.sys can you clarify this for me?

Theres a couple of options
1. The instructions to create mstapeo.sys are at http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commun...ssageID=104152
2. Someone on avsforum followed the instructions, took DFAs package and merged them. Look at the attachment from http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...32#post5550532

[ChuckvB]

My STB is a SA3250. I see a lot of references to Motorola in these files. I was hopeing to use the firewire channel change method as I don't have girder experience or a blaster other than the one that comes with my MCE remote ( which in previous posts was not usable with this setup, tell if that's changed.

Since recording of HD is my main need this method still appeals to me but do I follow the same instructions in your text document. Seems some comments may be just for Motorola STBs?

[cohnhead]

Sigma,

Unfortunately your DumpPS filter did not work for me. I never even tried it with Sage because when I ran the graph I got a 3K file that never got any bigger and could not be played. Are there any other files that are required to make the conversion from PS to mpeg?

I have never used HDTVtoMPEG2 on the files i have captured from the firewire port of my cable box. Could there be some dll that comes with HDTVtoMPEG2 that my system is missing?

Hope you can help, I am anxious to lower my CPU usage when viewing HDTV. Also, with some luck this might eliminate the random audio render errors i get when switching sage to an HDTV channel.

Marc

[sigma957]

Cohnhead, are you using the "Motorola AV/C Tuner Device" filter? I use the "Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device" as my capture filter, because I don't have a Motorola box. I had someone else e-mail me who was having trouble using it with the Motorola filter. I'll see what I can find out about any differences in the output between these 2 filters.

[cohnhead]

Nope, I am using the Panasonic filter like you with an Scientific Atlanta cable box, (SA3250).

I can set up a graph which goes directly to the Sage Dump filter which works great. Of course sage can't play the file.

Could this be a PID thing? I have read a little bit about HDTVtoMPEG2 that says it sometimes has trouble with various PIDs. Not sure what that really means, just asking questions to see if I can get your filter to work.

Marc

[sigma957]

Originally Posted by cohnhead

Could this be a PID thing? I have read a little bit about HDTVtoMPEG2 that says it sometimes has trouble with various PIDs. Not sure what that really means, just asking questions to see if I can get your filter to work.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. If it were using the wrong PIDs, it would behave exactly as you describe. It would open the file, write the mpeg headers, and then sit there quietly while discarding all the packets that do not match the PIDs it is looking for. Could you do the following for me:

1) In regedit, Add a DWORD registry key called "LoggingLevel" under "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Filters\DumpPS". Set it to "3".
2) Run the filter graph in graph edit for just a few seconds. This will write a log file in "C:\dumpps.log".
3) Zip the log file and e-mail it to me.

This should help give me an idea of what is happening. Thanks for your patience, I've only had the opportunity to test this on one set of hardware (mine), so it may take a couple of bug fixes to get it working for others.

Thanks,
Mark

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by ChuckvB

My STB is a SA3250. I see a lot of references to Motorola in these files. I was hopeing to use the firewire channel change method as I don't have girder experience or a blaster other than the one that comes with my MCE remote ( which in previous posts was not usable with this setup, tell if that's changed.

Since recording of HD is my main need this method still appeals to me but do I follow the same instructions in your text document. Seems some comments may be just for Motorola STBs?

Thanks to Ghostlobster trying lots of stuff out since I dont have a sa3250, it looks like we have change channel over firewire working on his sa3250. We are doing a bit more testing and then I will post an update at www.thegreenbutton.com. I will post a message when I do.

[cohnhead]

Sigma,

have you gotten my messages?

[ChuckvB]

In Graphedit when I try to connedt the Nvidia Video Decoder to the Overlay mixer I get the error "These filters cannot agree on a connection. Verify the type compatability of the input and output pin. No intemediate filters could be found to make the connection. (My STB is a SA 3250)

[timmmoore]

I have updated channel.exe and channelw.exe to support channel change on the SA3250HD STB. Since that STB has 2 version of software I dont know which version it works on, so far its been tested and is working on 1 SA3250
The updated versions are at http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commun...ssageID=104152
No additional parameters are required, it checks for the SA3250HD and uses a different firewire command automatically

[Diginerd]

I have an SA4200HD I'll try it out with that. Any pointers?

If it doesn't work have you got any reccomendations of where to look to get you information to make it happen.

Getting this to work would make my HD TV world (almost) complete.

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by Diginerd

I have an SA4200HD I'll try it out with that. Any pointers?

If it doesn't work have you got any reccomendations of where to look to get you information to make it happen.

Getting this to work would make my HD TV world (almost) complete.

First you will need to force the SA3250 AVC panel device onto the SA4200HD panel device (hopefully it exists). Then try the following command

channel -v -f -a4 D C

where D is the device number for the AVC panel from running channel -v and C is a channel number.
If that changes the channel then post the output from the command and I will add support directly.
If it doesn't work try
channel -v -f -a0 D C
channel -v -f -a1 D C
channel -v -f -a2 D C
channel -v -f -a3 D C
if none of those work, then try
channel -v -f -cl D C
and post its output, note this output will be large so PM me with it, as it trys a lot of command combinations, while running see if it changes channel. If yes, there is a command that does it, we just need to find it, if not you are probably out of luck.

[spaceghost]

Looks like my end may be coming...I've been having problems recording for the last couple of weeks. it would pause every 3 seconds for a second...then continue..then pause. Looked in the STB and can see 5c changing to a 1 for that second I get a pause. I wouldn't have noticed it unless I fat fingered on the remote and went back into it twice in a row.

What a great ride it was. Moving to Alabama anyway..so there's a little hope left for me. Just wanted to say thank you to Anders, Dane, Timmoore, Naylia, Dvsing, and all the rest of the people here that helped make this a reality.

-Sigma, tried your filter..got a 3Kb clip that wouldn't play. My system is very picky, so it's to be expected. Keep working on it.

Maybe one day, 5c will follow in the footsteps of the BF.

[Naylia]

Originally Posted by spaceghost

Looks like my end may be coming...I've been having problems recording for the last couple of weeks. it would pause every 3 seconds for a second...then continue..then pause. Looked in the STB and can see 5c changing to a 1 for that second I get a pause. I wouldn't have noticed it unless I fat fingered on the remote and went back into it twice in a row.

What a great ride it was. Moving to Alabama anyway..so there's a little hope left for me. Just wanted to say thank you to Anders, Dane, Timmoore, and all the rest of the people here that helped make this a reality.

-Sigma, tried your filter..got a 3Kb clip that wouldn't play. My system is very picky, so it's to be expected. Keep working on it.

Maybe one day, 5c will follow in the footsteps of the BF.

Sounds like you'll have to get an HD card and look at the HD encoder! Good excuse to mess around with something else. Just make sure you can recieve HD when you move to alabama.

[msmith8228]

Sigma957

I tested the latest release of your filter from within Sage using Sgraphrecorder on the weekend and ran into problems.

I am using the Motorola AV/C Tuner Device filter and the resulting file seemed to be the correct size (about one gig for 10 Min of HD recording) -- but it would not play correctly. The resulting video was choppy at best with constant audio dropouts.

To prove a point and to simplify things I tested the same graph with your DumpPS filter directly within Graphedit. The graph was very simple as indicated in your instructions:

Fire wire Capture Filter (Motorola capture device) -> DumpPS Filter

When I clicked on record within Graphedit the resulting mpg file (10 min recording) grew in size as expected -- but the HD playback using Media Player 10 was extremely choppy with sound dropouts.

I then immediately modified the graph as follows

Fire wire Capture Filter (Motorola capture device) -> TSinfo -> Regular dump Filter

Running this filter for 10 min (same HD channel on the tuner box) resulted in an expected transport stream file which was then immediately processed with HDTVtoMPEG2. The resulting HD file played back perfectly using Media Player 10.

Any ideas where to go from here -- your idea sounds great but something is funny with the current version of the filter when used with the Motorola capture device.

[sigma957]

Originally Posted by msmith8228

Sigma957
I tested the latest release of your filter from within Sage using Sgraphrecorder on the weekend and ran into problems.

I am using the Motorola AV/C Tuner Device filter and the resulting file seemed to be the correct size (about one gig for 10 Min of HD recording) -- but it would not play correctly. The resulting video was choppy at best with constant audio dropouts.

Thanks for trying it out. What specs are your machine? I have heard from a couple people having trouble when using the Motorola capture device. I'm not sure that I will be able to debug these problems, though, because I don't have a Motorola box. I will keep posting improvements as I make them, but unfortunately it's beginning to look like in its present form the filter won't support certain hardware setups.

For the time being, I have attached a new version to the original post that fixes a couple of bugs and it now works for me on all channels that I receive locally, through the Panasonic capture device. Hopefully this version will work better for people.

[msmith8228]

Sigma957

As requested -- the machine specs for my test system are as follows:

Intel Pentium 4 530 3.0GHz
512 Mb main memory

This system never has any problems playing back Sage files --with the exception of the files created with your filter as reviewed in my earlier post.

[turak]

Just a quick heads up...If you switch cable boxes (my moto 6200 died on me) you have to rebuild your graph to get it to record again. Even if it's the same model STB. You will also be prompted to reinstall the A/V tuner/panel drivers when you hook up the new box.

[ChuckvB]

In my Device manager what Hardware Devices should show up? I have a SA3250 unit. I'm not clear with the different setups which I should have.

Thanks

[turak]

Originally Posted by ChuckvB

In my Device manager what Hardware Devices should show up? I have a SA3250 unit. I'm not clear with the different setups which I should have.

Thanks

With my motorola 6200 I have three devices. Motorola Tuner, Motorola Panel and Unknown. I've disabled unknown so it doesn't prompt for drivers on reboot. You only need the panel device if you are using firewire to change channels.