STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[Bohica]

Guys, Git a problem. Among many other things... :0 ... when I watch live TV -- and change the channel (using the channelw.exe) -- the channel changes but the playback freezes. Last frame of the old channel stays. The new channel begins recording (from debug info). This also happens on the clients... for instance when I hit the hour mark -- it changes auto tunes on the server and the client goes into a stuttering bliss...

Any ideas?

**edit*** forget it -- fixed it. The dump files have to be in the recording directories? How did I miss this?

[gtd885a]

Originally Posted by Bohica

**edit*** forget it -- fixed it. The dump files have to be in the recording directories? How did I miss this?

So that fixed it for you? I still have to hit stop before I change channels, and I have my dump file in one of the recording directories. Maybe it's the straight ts to dump for me, what does your graph look like?

[Bohica]

You know -- yes it fixed it... but then the problem came back -- and has since left again. Squirrely little bugger... dont know. Got no advice for you yet... and i dump straight to ts...

[cohnhead]

Channel Changing between firewire capture channels has been an ongoing problem. In my case, there are a few channels that seem to work consistently, but most have the "freeze" issue. I thought it was a timeing issue and adjusted the delay times, but that did not seem to help. Setting "Always Tune" to false at least keeps it from changing the channel @ the hour mark.

I wish this bug could be fixed. It is the one negative that keeps me from enjoying HDTV to its fullest.

[Bohica]

Well -- here are some results. I have two tuners configured for FW. And a third 350. I tested with one for quite a while. I can find no documentation on what the heck the options are in sgraphrecorder for unloadgraphonstop and switch. This problem sometimes seems related to that. On one tuner (the other not loaded) I got the channel change working fine. but the problem returned when I added the second tuner. Then I raised both merits for the HD cards to 1 -- leaving the 350 0. Now as long as Sage tunes using alternate sgraphrecorders --- I can watch through a channel change. Assume the hour mark will still freeze the client.

More disturbing, is that I find I cannot record two HD shows at the same time. SGR gives me an insufficient recources error on the second show. If any system has enough resources it is this one. Dual 3ghz intel with 2 gig of ram, and a small data center of hard disk space. Well this defeats the purpose of installing two. Anybody got two fw tuners working on the same system? I will have to remove one if I cant get it working for fear it will try to use it to record.

My overall experience with the fw project has been a "less than ready" for primetime addition. It is no wonder sage does not want to support it. A shame really considering this is a great way to get the local HD channels.

This thread is fairly slow -- would appreciate anyone chiming in if you are running two tuners.

Cheers.

[gtd885a]

Originally Posted by cohnhead

I wish this bug could be fixed. It is the one negative that keeps me from enjoying HDTV to its fullest.

I agree!!! This is very close to working for me now. Actually, we have learned to hit stop. But for 30/60 and scheduled recordings, still locks up.

BTW, the "Always tune" to false never worked for me. Tries to change to the same channel no matter what I do. I think I'm just dense.

I want to record as much as I can now, because as it stands, I can get every single channel I pay for unencrypted over firewire. This is actually the only thing keeping me with my crappy cable company.

As far as the 2 tuner goes, I only have one, but used to run at about 20-30% CPU, so I would think it would've worked. But lately I've been running at 80%+, but I changed graphics cards without totally reloading my system, thinking that's the problem there. Anyway, I plan to try to add a second firewire capture when it's been working for a while and I'm feeling lucky. It seems that the system should be able to handle it (AMD 64 3400+, 1GB (just single channel), GeForce 6600 GT, WD SATA Raptor).

[Bohica]

Funny... talk about a rework...

Two of my clients had geforce 5200s. No matter what -- could not get stable HD to play on them. They were also slightly light powered AMD 1.3mhz... Upgraded both to 3700+ processors, and put a geforce 6600 in one of them that has DVI out to a 50" NEC plasma. No matter what I try -- I cannot get the nvidia decoders to work. Both the regular and the post proc decoders will lock the computer up... sometimes they reboot it. Have scoured thread after thread (both sage related and others) and have set all sorts of bios settings, reinstalled directx, etc... the Sage TV decoder works well enough... the intervideo that comes with version 6 of the DVD software works well too. Oh well.

For the next client, I bought an ATI 9800 -- because I wanted to use the dongle out to composit for a large LCD Sony that has no digital inputs. Sort of disappointed so far with the picture -- but still working on it.

I have a third client that is a P4 system, with an onboard PCI video adapter. This one actual plays HD pretty well on either the intervideo decoder or sage -- but unfortunately locks up after playing HD from 10 to 15 minutes. Locks up or powers off. I think this might be the PWM temperature setting -- whatever that is. So maybe this is a heat issue. Playing sage standard def CPU temp is about 40 to 45 and PWM is about 50 c. When I playback an HD stream I watch the CPU rise to about 55, and PWM tops out at 79 before it croaks. Dont know what the PWM is -- and nothing feels incredibly hot inside -- but it is a restrictive case.

I have a fourth client that I am sure will have an underpowered video on board -- dont know what to do with this one.

This on top of all the posts to this forum and others to get FW HD working -- and days of effort - wondering if this was worth the problems... uhg.

[gtd885a]

Originally Posted by Bohica

This on top of all the posts to this forum and others to get FW HD working -- and days of effort - wondering if this was worth the problems... uhg.

Yes, and then 5c will come as a thief in the night to steal your programming away. Keep praying that my cable company continues to drop the ball on this.

[ghostlobster]

Would it be possible for someone to update this overall guide to reflect V4 and native TS support? I'm ready to give this another shot but before doing so it would befire doing so, I'd like to see confirmed working configurations in the guide.
Last time I tried this, HD was unwatchable on my machine and it appeared to be a filter issue.
Thanks!

[Bohica]

I'll do this quick while it's fresh in my head... let me go grab the details...

[Bohica]

This is an updated quick install guide I hope will be useful to newcomers trying to configure their set top boxes via Firewire. With the release of 4.0, and the amount of general change regarding this installation, I hope this will ease the installs. This thread is incredibly long and difficult to wade through, and so much has changed since it's inception. As I say in the docs, thanks to everyone on this forum. All I did was document my recent attempts at getting this working. All the people who tried before me deserve credit and thanks.

[jcato]

Thanks for the update! I'm just now getting around to trying to do this and I've had some success but a setback, too.

The drivers for the tuner installed fine, but the panel drivers are giving an error. It finds the panel, I select install automatically, it copies a bunch of files, but then it says the hardware cannot start (Code 10).

Anyone know why this might be? I'm using WinXP SP1. I tried the beta firewire drivers, but those won't install. They say I need an older version (.3075?) of .net than what is on my system (.44 something).

Anyway, if I can't get the panel to install, what does that mean? Does that just mean that I can't change channels through the firewire?

I loaded up VLC and it found video, even HBO and inHD came in! Looks like there's no 5C here, yet!

I hope I can get this working!
Thanks!

[jcato]

Okay, setback #2. The link to SGraphRecorder doesn't seem to be working. Is this available somewhere else?

[Bohica]

I have no idea about the panel device. Why sp1? Why not upgrade to sp2? For security alone If you cant get the panel working -- you can use a usb-uirt to change the channels... you will need to follow spaceghosts original instructions on setting up girder...

and i also see his site is down...

[Bohica]

Here are the files... I hope he does not mind me posting them here for you... once his site is up -- or if I am doing something very wrong here -- can someone remove this post.

[jcato]

Thanks!

I didn't update to SP2 because of all the posts from people who had problems, and my system was working fine (if ain't broke, right?). It seemed at first that more people had problems than didn't. I guess that's probably changed now, so maybe I should install it.

I already use a USB-UIRT, so going that route shouldn't be too painful. If I switch to SP2 and the panel starts working, I'll be sure to update here in case it helps someone else.

Thanks for the files. The panel thing, I think I can work around, but I think those files are pretty much required.

[Diginerd]

Well been away from this project for a while, amd a come back to find some nice fresh instructions.. :-)

Once I got everything up I get HD for about 3 secs on every channel and then it goes black and stops.. Any ideas?

I'm running the dvxa hotfix and all suggested tools per Bohica's updated guide (Nice work BTW).

Running on an HP 545 Media Center. It handles HDTV just fine in WMP and Media center, I just hate the DRM aspect of it and want to stick with sage,,

CHeers,


Rob

[Bohica]

No idea on the 3 second thing. Have you tried different channels? Or have you tried the VLC player to test? Could be just an encrypted channel?

[shish]

I just bought Sage v4 and overall I'm very pleased. After wasting over 30 hours on MythTV + HDTV I decided it was time for Sage.

Anyway, I'm running on P4 2.8 Ghz (no ht) with 1 GB RAM and a nvidia Geforece 6800 with 128 MB RAM. I've got the PureVideo decoders installed but playback still is bit choppy sometimes on a 1920x1080p display. I've got the latest nvidia drivers and I'm using AC3decode. If any of you guys have any suggestions let me know, but thats not why I posted.

I'm getting my HD feeds over firewire just fine using SGR, but changing channels in Sage isnt successful (most of the time). The channel changes on my DCT6200 and Sage and SGR is outputting to a file (the file is getting bigger) but Sage isnt able to show the channel unless I hit stop and tune directly to the new channel. From what I've read in the how-to guides and posts in this thread this seems to be a known problem. I just wanted to make sure this was the same as what other people are experiencing or if I need to keep working on my delay timing (which is already pretty high) or something else. Thanks.

[gtd885a]

Originally Posted by shish

I'm getting my HD feeds over firewire just fine using SGR, but changing channels in Sage isnt successful (most of the time). The channel changes on my DCT6200 and Sage and SGR is outputting to a file (the file is getting bigger) but Sage isnt able to show the channel unless I hit stop and tune directly to the new channel. From what I've read in the how-to guides and posts in this thread this seems to be a known problem. I just wanted to make sure this was the same as what other people are experiencing or if I need to keep working on my delay timing (which is already pretty high) or something else. Thanks.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this problem is universal. I don't know of anyone who can change channels on-the-fly, but if anyone can please let us know and maybe you can help the rest of us out.

I think this has been mentioned before, but it sure would be nice to have an option/setting that would hit stop before changing channels automatically if it was flagged (obviously this is only needed if the problem can't be fixed).