STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[bdraw]

I am sorry if this has already been posted, but I want to make sure everyone is aware of this and don't have time to read the entire thread. I have searched for 6200ch to make sure it isn't obvous.

But there is code included with MythTV that allow you to chnage the channel on Mot 62XX stb via 1394. You can get the main source in the MythTV tar ball. I was tying to get it to work with my Mitsu Tuner with no success. The Author had edited some of the code for me, but it still didn't work because of the way the Mitsu selects sub-channels.

I have attached the source in case anyone wants to try to port it to windows.
6200ch.c

[DFA]

Thanks bdraw. I see you found this thread! You may be interested in the revised FW capture driver INF posted in this thread. I think it a big improvement over the problematic install of the unedited MEI version.

Yea, I know about the 6200ch.c code as well but ofcourse needs porting. That would be fine for a FW-specific network encoder but the Universal Network Encoder (UNE) / SGR with its built in Girder feature makes it not only usable for STB FW but open for other imaginative uses. I am hoping that others that have MyHD, AccessDTV and/or Fusion will be giving this a try and let us know the viability. I am considering an ATSC OTA card for my rig but would like to know if any of them can be "plugged" into Sage via the UNE. Still exciting to me.

DFA

[heffe2001]

I have a general question about the firewire out on the HD boxes, does it stream ONLY HD content, or does it also stream SD content out the firewire port? I have Charter digital now, and might add a HD box if it will do the regular SD stuff too, just need to see what all is offered in HD to see if it's worth adding if only HD cones out that port.

[salsbst]

Any digital content -- ror many of this, this is any channel > 99.

[imf4]

Does anyone have any screenshots of an SDTV feed? I wouldn't mind seeing the quality.

[mikesm]

Actually, on at least Moto DCT 62XX's it should also display analog channels. These STB's include hardware MPEG encoders so that analog programming is converted to MPEG-2 for 1394 TV sets and DVR functions. So it should be any channel, not just those >99. Dunno if the SA boxes work the same way, but at least for DVR's I would suspect they would.

Thanks,
Mike

[mikesm]

On the issue of channel changing, while I think it's great to include girder for this purpose, having the 1394 channel changing code included would be very handy for users with 1394 connected STB's. No girder install would be needed, but those that wanted to use girder would still have the option, and it would be needed for generic tuner devices.

Making the install as convienent as possible will be important for getting this code into wide distribution. I love girder, but it's more like sendmail than outlook express. :-)

Thanks,
Mike

[travisbell]

Wow, great forum thread so far guys. I have been trying to get Firewire connected up in a decent way for a long time!

Got a few questions though.. if some of you can help, that would be great.

Here's my setup. To date I haven't even bothered to setup a TV tuner on my HTPC for the main fact it could never display live HDTV. I use it for watching DVDs and downloaded TV episodes. When I cam across this thread, well let me tell you.. things changed!

So, I installed Sage (I do not have any other tuner card installed) and was able to get Sage to recognize the SageGraphRecorder ala, http://www.nolberger.se/Sage/GraphRecorder/. All of my graphs (both live TV and .mpg dump) work fine in GraphEdit.

Here's where I am running into a problem.

When I load up Sage, the Wizard prompts me to select the "video capture device" where my "DCT 6200 on 127.0.0.1:6969" is listed. I click it, and am told to choose the "input on the video capture device". This window is empty however, so I cannot choose an input device. Can anyone tell me why it's empty? What should I change to get this working?

Thanks in advance!

[DFA]

Travisbell:

When I load up Sage, the Wizard prompts me to select the "video capture device" where my "DCT 6200 on 127.0.0.1:6969" is listed.

Check in "sage.properties" and make sure you have "127.0.0.1\:6969"; the backslash is the focus.

You can try cut and pasting this below which pre-defines an input (a single input: 1394). It works for me but something similar I put up in another thread for another member did not work for him. This is the same thing I have put in Post #78 of this thread. Try it and see. If it does not work, I will put up parameters AFTER the device has been configured. But this should be enough to get recognized with only one input choice and which type input does not really matter for the UNE, just as long as Sage has an input to configure against.

EDIT: The below is relative to 2.2.4. The problem for the other member may have been the inclusion or exclusion of a parameter for earlier 2.x.y rev. of Sage.

mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/brightness=130
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/contrast=135
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/hue=125
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/last_channel=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/provider_id=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/saturation=105
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/sharpness=170
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/tuning_mode=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/tuning_plugin=
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/tuning_plugin_port=0
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/12345/1/0/video_crossbar_type=10
mmc/encoders/12345/audio_capture_device_name=
mmc/encoders/12345/audio_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/12345/audio_processor=
mmc/encoders/12345/capture_config=
mmc/encoders/12345/default_device_quality=DVD Standard Play
mmc/encoders/12345/encoder_merit=0
mmc/encoders/12345/encoding_host=localhost\:6969
mmc/encoders/12345/last_cross_index=0
mmc/encoders/12345/last_cross_type=10
mmc/encoders/12345/live_audio_input=
mmc/encoders/12345/never_stop_encoding=false
mmc/encoders/12345/video_capture_device_name=SGraphRecorder
mmc/encoders/12345/video_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/12345/video_encoding_params=DVD Standard Play
mmc/encoders/12345/video_processor=

DFA

[travisbell]

OK, we're getting somewhere.

I have now been able to compete the setup for my Firewire box, but have another problem now.

Like I mentioned, my graph for dumping the file to a .mpg works fine when I run it through Graphedit but it seems as though SGraphRecorder won't use it properly. When I open Sage I get the following in the debug window;

NOOP 5:05:21 PM
NOOP 5:05:24 PM
etc..

The second I try and watch TV I get the following error in Sage;

"There was a Playback Error in playback. Details:
sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80004003):
There was a problem rendering the video portion of the content for playback."

(EDIT: Side note, the .mpg files that Graphedit creates play fine in Sage with the SAME graph file)

and then in the debug window;

STOP 5:05:50 PM

At no point do I get the "START" or any other command.

So I did some digging around here are some things I have noticed:

1) My "show.mpg" does not gain in file size
2) I cannot play "show.mpg" while the graph is being run. I get a very similar error when I try and access the file with Windows Media Player when SGraphRecorder (or Graphedit) is open.
3) I have tried 2 different decoders (Cyberlink & NVIDIA) and get the same error both times

It is my belief that something is wrong with my TStoPS graph, but I have followed your steps to a T and no matter what I do... I get the same errors.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[DFA]

Travisbell:

"Show.mpg" is essentially a dummy file. Sage will change the file name in the dump filter that is more or less according to this format: "ShowName&Title-EPG ID#-Level#.mpg". What is extremely important is that the path you establish at the dump filter when configuring your graph with Graphedit is that it be the SAME video folder as defined in the Sage configuration.

You can not access the file while the dump filter "has" it which means any time SGR is running and whatever file name is being used by the dump at that point in time.

Be sure you are using Cyberlink's latest dump "CLDump.ax" (ver. 3.0.0.3418 or later I suppose) or better yet, Sage's "MPEG2Dump". I have not found any others that work.

DFA

[foolio]

hey dfa:

how reliable is your set-up? will it correctly change the channels everytime? any missed recordings or lockups?

I have a motorola box coming from comcast and was wondering if it is worth setting up or should I just try to get my fusion-hdtv card working with SAGE.

anyone have it working with comcast and motorola box yet?

[travisbell]

Hey guys,

So I still got nothing to show.

I have used both CyberLink's dump and Sage's. I still get no action in Sage.

Let me ask you this,

I am not using the girder remote setup for now, and currently only 1 channel is shown in my channel listing. When I click it, and choose "watch" I get the playing error that I mentioned above. I have double checked my sage.properties file and it looks fine. I have verified my graphs to work, and they do. So basically this leaves SGraphRecorder to be the problem (I figure).

Can anyone help me out in regards to troubleshooting SGraphRecorder? DFA, you up to the task? All I get in SGraphRecorder is this;

VERSION 11:51:29 PM
NOOP 11:51:29 PM
NOOP 11:51:40 PM
NOOP 11:51:41 PM
NOOP 11:51:44 PM
NOOP 11:54:25 PM

Thanks again! I am sure there is an obvious reason to this...

[DFA]

Foolio:

I have one issue that has to do with the latency of the STB FW channel change. The slow channel change response at the FW port causes SGR to record a discontinuity because the actual change of channel at the FW port occurs after the SGR "Start" command has been issued. That gives playback problems with recorded files and problems for some filters that are intolerant to stream disruption that otherwise might be graph candidates. I have submitted the problem to Anders in the hope that he can add a "Start" delay parameter to SGR. About a 2 second delay to the start command would allow the FW port to get past the change in video and audio PID discontinuity.

Besides that bump in the road, it works fine. If your Moto is not so sluggish as my SA is at the FW port, may not even be an issue for you.

Channel change is by USB-UIRT as is same for the PVR-250 so nothing better or worse there.

Beyond that it is a matter of the performance of your STB and your provider which I can not vouch for. It only takes 30 min to an hour to set up so have a look. You might first investigate what you can find for a second, independent EPG that has same lineup. That was previously discussed in this thread. If you wish to give me the enumerated ID for the 6200, I will add it to the INF. The driver, INF and info about the ID also in a previous post in this thread. The only thing I have not yet posted is a GML export of the Girder section for SGR channel control.

If I were you, I would be looking to have STB FW AND the Fusion working with Sage. It is not a one or the other proposition. You simply choose a different port and run a second instance of SGR utilizing another port. Each running instance of SGR is in it's own folder running different graphs. Filters can not be shared though. We have two dump filters that are known to work and other needed alternate filters that do the same job should not be too hard to come by. EPG's might be the only bottleneck.

DFA

[DFA]

Travisbell:

Nothing much to trouble shoot with SGR. Put up your "SGraphRecorder.ini" file and let's have a look (strip the comments). The "Start" command is not an original thought on the part of SGR. It is echoed from what it receives from Sage. No "Start" command from Sage, no "Start" from the SGR to the graph. Sage is the focus. Sage is not calling on the SGR encoder.

NOOP's are basically "null" statements that say "I'm here, I'm alive, nothing to do".

Recommend you configure the encoder with an EPG for your zip code. Sage will be pretty useless as a PVR with out an EPG. Channel "1" is the only channel you can use w/o an EPG and there is no show data for that.

DFA

[travisbell]

Sure thing!

I have attached my SGraphRecorder.ini file as well as my sage.properties. Hope you can find something useful!

P.S. I live in Canada and even though Zap2it supports most Canadian zips, Sage won't let me input my Canadian postal code. For the interim, I input my postal code as 90210 (just to give me a EPG).

I hear what you mean about the NOOP command, so then the next thing in my opinion is why Sage won't stream the video from my STB.

Let me know if there is something I need to change!

[DFA]

Travisbell:

Is this what you have entered in the Dump filter when you configured it with Graphedit:

"C:\Documents and Settings\Travis Bell\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\show.mpg"?
Be absolutely certain about no typo errors.

Is the "TStoPS.GRF" file stored in the same folder as SGR?

Start SGR before Sage. Make a shortcut for it and put it in your "Startup" folder.

DFA

[travisbell]

Originally Posted by DFA

Is this what you have entered in the Dump filter when you configured it with Graphedit:

"C:\Documents and Settings\Travis Bell\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV\show.mpg"?
Be absolutely certain about no typo errors.

Yes. I am absolutely positive.

Originally Posted by DFA

Is the "TStoPS.GRF" file stored in the same folder as SGR?

Yes it is in the same folder and I always start it before I start up Sage.

Hehe, anything else I can try?

[DFA]

Travisbell:

Also, try deleting this parameter from "sage.properties":

seeker/last_channel/SGraphRecorder\ on\ 127.0.0.1\:6969=-1923262069

It is duplicate for now "localhost" which is actually same thing.

DFA

[AndersNolberger]

Travisbell:

SGR never gets a command from Sage to start. The START command in the debug window is an exact print of what Sage sends.

Check your channel setup. Are you sure that you have setup the cannel you tune to to SGR and only to SGR?