STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support - Page 38

crowboy164 · #**741** 10-10-2005, 02:48 PM

After reading through this entire post, plus the entire thread on AVS Forum and thegreenbutton, I finally got SageTV 2.2.8 up and running on my machine (2.8 Ghz, 512 MB, 120 GB) but was initially running into the machine hanging on me when i went to tune certain channels(specifically HBO ZONE) via channel.exe. I checked the event logs and saw that the problem was an error in "sgraphrecorder" coming from mpgmux.ax version 5.0.0.727, fault address 0x00018fcc. I did some research and was able to download PCMRMpgMux.ax 5.0.0.1521 with another cyberlink trial and got everything running successfully.

I am now experiencing two problems that i think could be corrected, but can't find exactley where to change the settings. The first problem that i am seeing is when I view live tv or capture videos i am experiencing problems with video playback from the PC to my HDTV being much darker then when viewed directly from my motorola 6200 box to my HDTV. I tried to brighten the video using Media player, but the scales don't move.

I am also having problems tuning HD channels via SAGETV. When i open one of my HD channels i am partial video and audio 2 seconds out of 15 seconds. When i open the connection directly from VLC media player i can view it without any problems. My graph is setup like this:

Motorola AV/C Tuner Device ->NVIDIA TS Info Parser ->MPEG2 Demultipluxer ->Cyberlink MPEG Muxer -> Null.mpg

I think the MPEG muxer is named slightly different with the other version i installed, but i am doing this from memory as i'm at the office... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

Naylia · #**742** 10-10-2005, 03:47 PM

If your pc is on a different tv input from your cable box, then you may want to calibrate your tv to the output from your pc using Avia, DVE or the THX Optimizer on some movies (like Monsters Inc)

I'm not sure what you mean by 2 seconds out of 15 seconds partial audio video....

crowboy164 · #**743** 10-10-2005, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naylia

If your pc is on a different tv input from your cable box, then you may want to calibrate your tv to the output from your pc using Avia, DVE or the THX Optimizer on some movies (like Monsters Inc)

I'm not sure what you mean by 2 seconds out of 15 seconds partial audio video....

My PC is on a different input then the cable box and is working great with colors coming off of DVDs and prerecorded video files, as well as playing live tv through VLC. It just seems to be dark when watching movies live, or recording them and playing them back again.

also, i am getting a black screen when i turn a HD channel and i hear 2 seconds of sound and getting a microsecond of video then black screen and nothing for about 15 seconds, then 2 seconds of sound and a microsecond of video again. These same chanels are playable through VLC with no problem, so i was wondering if i you may have something screwey in my graph setup.

Thanks Naylia!

gtd885a · #**744** 10-11-2005, 07:36 AM

crowboy164, you may have mentioned, but what filters are you using in graphedit? Also, what are you using to render video and audio in Sage. I noticed big differences with video quality between filters/renderers. Have you tried the straight TS to dump, and the new nVidia dvd?

crowboy164 · #**745** 10-11-2005, 09:09 AM

GTD, i'm using the following filters in the graph.
Motorola AV/C Tuner Device ->NVIDIA TS Info Parser ->MPEG2 Demultipluxer ->Cyberlink MPEG Muxer -> Null.mpg (Anders' dump file)

I haven't tried going TS to Dump because i am still using 2.2.8 and wanted to stick with it until the beta release of 3 was a little more stable with channel changes before changing over.
I have tried going through each of the renderers in Sage and came through with the same messages as well.

I am using Nvidia Pure Video v.1.02-150

Naylia · #**746** 10-11-2005, 09:48 AM

you could try using a different Demux, i think the nvidia decoders include one

gtd885a · #**747** 10-11-2005, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naylia

yeah my first guess would have been 5C but that's odd they they play fine in VLC. Do the recorded shows playback in WMP or any other software (vice direct streaming in VLC)?

Recording successfully made in Sage from one of the "bad" channels, video started playing after 5 minutes or so but never got audio. Audio won't play back with anything in Sage (as a side note, none of my old recordings now have audio in Sage).

Video and audio play in Intervideo, audio is 2-channel
Video and audio play in WMP, audio is 5.1
Video and audio play in NVDVD, audio is 5.1

davey_fl · #**748** 10-12-2005, 06:46 AM

does the Nvidia PureVideo show up in sage as "Pure Video"? On mine I have NVidia Video Decoder and NVidia Post Processor and thats it - after installing Nvidia Pure Video Trial 1.02-150. Also, does the PureVideo Decoders replace the NVDVD-MCE-Decoders? Is there any others I should give a go do see if I get better performance?

thx

Naylia · #**749** 10-12-2005, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtd885a

Recording successfully made in Sage from one of the "bad" channels, video started playing after 5 minutes or so but never got audio. Audio won't play back with anything in Sage (as a side note, none of my old recordings now have audio in Sage).

Video and audio play in Intervideo, audio is 2-channel
Video and audio play in WMP, audio is 5.1
Video and audio play in NVDVD, audio is 5.1

submit a bug, share all the information you can about your decoders used, and offer to provide them a sample file (they only need one that is 20 or 30 megs and they can probably figure it out, maybe 2 samples just do 30 second recordings, the files should still be in your 'record to' folder for a little while after you stop playback)

they are still perfecting TS playback so they need all the sample files they can get their hands on

Naylia · #**750** 10-12-2005, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davey_fl

does the Nvidia PureVideo show up in sage as "Pure Video"? On mine I have NVidia Video Decoder and NVidia Post Processor and thats it - after installing Nvidia Pure Video Trial 1.02-150. Also, does the PureVideo Decoders replace the NVDVD-MCE-Decoders? Is there any others I should give a go do see if I get better performance?

thx

PureVideo is just the latest nvdvd decoders and they made a minor name change....NVidia Video Decoder and NVidia Post Processor are exactly what you should see

davey_fl · #**751** 10-12-2005, 08:20 AM

thanks. the unfortunate thing about them is they never get the aspect ratio correct for me - do they work for other people?

Naylia · #**752** 10-12-2005, 05:00 PM

you'll need to configure them in the properties dialog box...it appears in the system tray...it doesn't always pop up down there when sage uses the decoders, but if you open a video file in windows media player the little nvidia icon should appear and you just right click on it and goto properties, make sure it's set to 'content default', i think that's the proper one

gtd885a · #**753** 10-18-2005, 09:21 PM

Ooh, just noticed V3.0.13 Release Candidate 2 was released (wondered why we hadn't had any posts here for a while). Going to check it out now.

Who needs sleep!

Naylia · #**754** 10-19-2005, 04:47 AM

yeah, should have some goodies in it I'm hoping....i've ordered Norton Ghost and when it shows up I'm going to build from scratch, but this time I want images before i install certain pieces of software (ie Sage

)

that way when they finalize it and continue doing releases i can do a true clean uninstall just by going back to a preSage image to do the install

gtd885a · #**755** 10-19-2005, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naylia

yeah, should have some goodies in it I'm hoping....i've ordered Norton Ghost and when it shows up I'm going to build from scratch, but this time I want images before i install certain pieces of software (ie Sage

)

that way when they finalize it and continue doing releases i can do a true clean uninstall just by going back to a preSage image to do the install

I still have most of the same problems as I had in the last version, but I agree, I think it's time for a clean install (plus I need to get a "real" sound card before I do). When I was first trying out Sage, I always started from an image right before Sage install, but that was with other hardware so I need to make it again. I might make another nLite/ryanvm disc, too.

There are a lot of gui changes that I'm going to have to get used to. I'm sure I'll like it better eventually, I'm just so used to the old interface.

I just want this thing to finally WORK!!! I just know the day after it is working and stable, my cable company is going to get their act together and start 5c. They just finally are rolling out the HD PVR dual tuner boxes for $15/month. I would much rather have Sage, but I'm just thinking that 5c might not be far behind.

Naylia · #**756** 10-19-2005, 10:35 AM

well there are limits to what they can 5C, they can't 5C content that is normally OTA HD broadcast, and there are technological problems with 5Cing any channels you normally recieve as analog,

but sadly, I have caved and purchased a pvr-500 for my htpc, i'll keep firewire for channel changing on the stb and in my back pocket for when i get an HDTV

last night the girlfriend screamed "why does your stupid box never work?!!?!?"....GAF was pretty much at an all time low when two shows she watched in a row she missed the last 30 seconds since with consecutive shows it strips padding when you only have one tuner, she was pissed, so off to newegg i went today and figure next week i'll rebuild the box and surprise her with something that hopefully works

gtd885a · #**757** 10-19-2005, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naylia

last night the girlfriend screamed "why does your stupid box never work?!!?!?"....GAF was pretty much at an all time low when two shows she watched in a row she missed the last 30 seconds since with consecutive shows it strips padding when you only have one tuner, she was pissed, so off to newegg i went today and figure next week i'll rebuild the box and surprise her with something that hopefully works

Too funny (but not really). Yeah, the WAF is pretty low around here too. I don't blame her, though. I can't play any of the old recorded shows (mostly stuff for our two year old); you have to tune to 2 analog channels before you get sound; you have to hit stop before tuning to a digital/HD channel; most of the premium channels don't work at all (one HBO now works that didn't before). Channel changing is still flaky sometimes. I even have a hard time using it.

She has just stopped using it and just watched live TV or DVDs, which complicates the issue because she's always changing the channel manually which messes up Sage even more. And then Sage is always trying to change the channel back to what it thinks it should be on (even with the always_tune set to false).

And then there's the issue of my motherboard not being able to wake up without hitting the sleep button twice (no matter what the screen saver/hibernation settings are). This means you have to dig the keyboard out, which is pretty unacceptable to her (and really to me too).

I'm on the fence. I will try to reload one more time I think, and then call it a day (more like 6 months

) and get the dual tuner HD pvr from Charter. I just hate to give them any more money. I really like the potential of Sage, I'm just pretty exhausted from the months of trying to get it working. I sure would like to have all the hours I spend each week/month on this thing back.

Naylia · #**758** 10-20-2005, 03:38 PM

well aside from sleep being a pain, i'd say most of your problems are also related to firewire

, i'm hoping to rebuild this weekend, but have to wait on some cables i ordered before i can try sage out again

to be honest...i think if you want stability you need to use the hardware tuner cards, firewire is still an inexpensive experimental solution

i'm still debating whether i should have a third firewire tuner or just use firewire as channel changing method (more stable for me than the usb-uirt was), it's really three tuners for channel 2-71 or two tuners (one that does every channel on my digitial cable 2-800 and one that does 2-71)

i guess i have to figure out if i actaully watch those channels, but i do have HBO and it'd be nice to record from there

i'll let you know how it goes with the tuner card (it came today

one day delivery from newegg via UPS ground), and how well mixing firewire for the channel changer works with it (when i get HD, i'll certaintly be reattacking firewire, and if you have HD you may be better off getting a regualer tuner or two and just letting the firewire have only your HD lineup)

JasonJoel · #**759** 10-21-2005, 03:36 PM

Stupid (?) question time.

I already have another set top box that I am changing chennels with my serial cable using the Multi DCT Tuner DLL.

I am thinking of trying to record via firewire on my HD box. This would make TWO set top boxes being used in sage.

If I try to setup firewire channel changing on box #2, it isn't going to break my existing cable box channel changing via serial (box #1) is it?

Jason Bottjen

eobiont · #**760** 10-21-2005, 04:09 PM

That's not a stupid question.

It will work, and shouldn't mess anything up. I am guessing that SageTV controls the serial connection. The Firewire recording is done via a network encoder, so all the channel changing is handled by the SGraphEdit program or its designated tuning program. Anyway, you shouldn't run into any problems with that setup.

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