STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Humanzee

Any comments on this?

Check the v6.4.5 beta release notes; it has a new experimental property to delay starting to record after tuning. It is a per-tuner setting, like:

mmc/encoders/<tuner number>/delay_to_wait_after_tuning

(If you have issues with it, please post in the beta forum instead of this huge thread.)

- Andy

[mayamaniac]

Just tried channel changing via firewire, but having the same problem as with the Hauppauge HD-PVR IR Blaster. This is frustrating.

Channel changing via firewire works perfectly with the command: channel -f 2 <channel_number>. It also works perfectly with the Hauppauge IR app via the HD-PVR's IR Blaster.

But through SageTV, it seems to work the first time only after the server starts up, and then stops changing channels completely via either the IR Blaster or firewire.

I just upgraded to v6.4.5, but it didn't make any difference. Working with beta support at the moment to hopefully resolve it.

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Check the v6.4.5 beta release notes; it has a new experimental property to delay starting to record after tuning. It is a per-tuner setting, like:

mmc/encoders/<tuner number>/delay_to_wait_after_tuning

(If you have issues with it, please post in the beta forum instead of this huge thread.)

- Andy

This did not show up for me after installing 6.4.5, so I added it. will see if it helps I guess.

[ghostlobster]

Originally Posted by Brent

Well, I'm finally back at this and still having some trouble.

I tried And at the bottom of the results it showed:Notice this time it showed "accepted". Unfortunately the channel on the box did not change.

So I tried
And get the same result. Any suggestions?

Exact same problem here. I get the response accepted, but no channel change occurs on my SA3250HD. Strange thing is that this worked with this box a LONG time ago when I was using it in Vista MC.
I've tried all of the -a parameters, 0, 4, 5 and 6 were all accepted, but no channel change happened. I've tried firestb-vistarc1 and firestb. I've installed the 12/17 drivers as well. I've used the -n parameter to indicate the unique ID, and still, the channel command returns accepted, but no channel change occurs. This is beginning to get frustrating. Anyone have any clues as to where some kind of logging can be enabled, or if there are any registry entries that might shed some light on this?
Thanks!

[ghostlobster]

Bueller....Bueller...Bueller?

Originally Posted by ghostlobster

Exact same problem here. I get the response accepted, but no channel change occurs on my SA3250HD. Strange thing is that this worked with this box a LONG time ago when I was using it in Vista MC.
I've tried all of the -a parameters, 0, 4, 5 and 6 were all accepted, but no channel change happened. I've tried firestb-vistarc1 and firestb. I've installed the 12/17 drivers as well. I've used the -n parameter to indicate the unique ID, and still, the channel command returns accepted, but no channel change occurs. This is beginning to get frustrating. Anyone have any clues as to where some kind of logging can be enabled, or if there are any registry entries that might shed some light on this?
Thanks!

[ProAm500]

I have a SA 4250hdc and I have channel changing working using the commands

channel -f -a4 -n <unique id> <channel #>

all is well but it seems a little slow. not in how long it takes to get the command, but the 4250hdc uses 4 digits, and say you tune channel 7 without inputting 0's before it it takes a few seconds to register. Whenever I input 0007 in the cmd line, it doesnt input 0's. Is this common or is there something I'm missing? Is there a way to put an "Enter" or add 0's in the cmd line?

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by ProAm500

I have a SA 4250hdc and I have channel changing working using the commands

channel -f -a4 -n <unique id> <channel #>

all is well but it seems a little slow. not in how long it takes to get the command, but the 4250hdc uses 4 digits, and say you tune channel 7 without inputting 0's before it it takes a few seconds to register. Whenever I input 0007 in the cmd line, it doesnt input 0's. Is this common or is there something I'm missing? Is there a way to put an "Enter" or add 0's in the cmd line?

That's exactly how mine works except I had to use "-a6" on my box. "-a4" would not work. "-a0" also worked but I figured that out after I'd already set everything up. So I just left it.

But no, as far as I can tell there is no way to tell it to insert the preceding zeros. Unless there's a fix I'll just have to deal with it. It's much simpler and still faster than using the USB-UIRT.

[ProAm500]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

That's exactly how mine works except I had to use "-a6" on my box. "-a4" would not work. "-a0" also worked but I figured that out after I'd already set everything up. So I just left it.

But no, as far as I can tell there is no way to tell it to insert the preceding zeros. Unless there's a fix I'll just have to deal with it. It's much simpler and still faster than using the USB-UIRT.

yeah i tried a6 but does that same as a4..im just surprised i even got it to work at all so i'll live with it for the time being....

[mayamaniac]

I would contact Timmmoore and ask him if its possible to add a 4 digit format to the command.

[ProAm500]

I'll give it a shot and see what happens...I'll keep you all posted....

[ghostlobster]

Originally Posted by ProAm500

I'll give it a shot and see what happens...I'll keep you all posted....

I doubt you'll be able to reach Tim anymore. Last I heard he went to work for MS and discontinued all work on FireSTB. That was just a rumor, of course, but it had its merits.
The problem I'm seeing with the command being accepted from the command line, but no channel change is occurring I fear is a permenant one. Time Warner in our area did a major software upgrade to all of their boxes recently, moving away from Passport to something else (I forget what) and I have a feeling that this is the cause. Looks like I'm going to be stuck with IR Blasters forever.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by ghostlobster

I doubt you'll be able to reach Tim anymore. Last I heard he went to work for MS and discontinued all work on FireSTB. That was just a rumor, of course, but it had its merits.
The problem I'm seeing with the command being accepted from the command line, but no channel change is occurring I fear is a permenant one. Time Warner in our area did a major software upgrade to all of their boxes recently, moving away from Passport to something else (I forget what) and I have a feeling that this is the cause. Looks like I'm going to be stuck with IR Blasters forever.

Give Time Warner a call. If a software update disabled the firewire port then it's their responsibility to re-enable it. They are required by the FCC to enable the firewire port upon customer request.

[ghostlobster]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Give Time Warner a call. If a software update disabled the firewire port then it's their responsibility to re-enable it. They are required by the FCC to enable the firewire port upon customer request.

No, the firewire port is not disabled, but the channel changing commands either have changed, or require a format different that they did before. I can still view content within VLC from the box across firewire, which is all that they are required to provide.

[jbuszkie]

I've done a quick search on this thread.. but couldn't find an answer..
Someone had a similiar issue.. but it seems like there wasn't a resolution.

I've got it mostly working.. but....

If I go directly to Watch Now from the guide.. I get a playback error.

If I set it to record..and then go to watch now it seems to work just fine??

Any thoughts? I played with the TuningDelay in the SGraphRecorder.ini and
that did nothing.

I'll try the tuning delay parameter in Sage props next.. I'm not holding my breath.. I may need a MilliSecondsToBufferBeforeDisplay setting or something like that..

Jim

[jbuszkie]

ok.. I"ve tried several of the delay parameters I could find in the props file... but none of them help.

If I watch now.. get the error and stop playback... and watch now again.. It somtimes works??

But it always seems to work if I record first and then watch now??

[Dave.ca]

Does anyone have firewire tuning working with 2 HD PVRs?

Following the instructions here, I was able to set up my first HD PVR with minimal hair pulling. I received my second HD PVR today and have spent hours trying to get firewire tuning working with 2 units. It works fine from the command line, but I can't get it working from within Sage.

If someone does have it working, could I see your sage.properties file?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Dave.ca

Does anyone have firewire tuning working with 2 HD PVRs?

This post contains what I did to configure both my STBs. Be sure you've gone into Source Details and selected the proper tuning device for each source.

- Andy

[jbuszkie]

Originally Posted by jbuszkie

ok.. I"ve tried several of the delay parameters I could find in the props file... but none of them help.

If I watch now.. get the error and stop playback... and watch now again.. It somtimes works??

But it always seems to work if I record first and then watch now??

Ok.. It seems to be related to the channel change. If I use the command line to change the channel with channel.exe and then I wait a second or two and then hit watch now.. It works on the first try. So the delay to record thing does not seem to be working.

1. Does the tuningdelay parameter in SGraphRecorder.ini work for ExeTuner?

2. Does the new experimental Sage prop delay_to_wait_after_tuning work?

Neither seem to work for me.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by jbuszkie

2. Does the new experimental Sage prop delay_to_wait_after_tuning work?

I use it with my HD-PVRs, but I have no idea how it would affect firewire recording.

- Andy

[jbuszkie]

Can you see it in the logs? I couldn't see it or it's effect anywhere in the logs. Does this property apply to network encoders? (which the fire wire recorder is.. right)?

I think I'll also try decoupling the channel change from the recording and try to use the mutitunerexe thing that you (andy) use to tune your STBs

And I'll try over in the beta forum to enquire about the experimental property..

Jim