STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[3rob3]

So I've got this all set up and for the most part working OK. Recordings always work, live tv is buggy. My biggest problem is watching live on a client pc, over half the time I just get a black screen. The HD100 extender works much better.

Is this something that could be fixed by chaning the delays? What delays is everyone using with good reults?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by 3rob3

So I've got this all set up and for the most part working OK. Recordings always work, live tv is buggy. My biggest problem is watching live on a client pc, over half the time I just get a black screen. The HD100 extender works much better.

Is this something that could be fixed by chaning the delays? What delays is everyone using with good reults?

I've got a pretty extreme delay, 7 seconds, but it never fails for me so that makes it worth it in my book.

[3rob3]

Where is the 7 second delay, in the Sgraphrecorder.ini?

Have you messed with any delay in sage.properties?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by 3rob3

Where is the 7 second delay, in the Sgraphrecorder.ini?

Have you messed with any delay in sage.properties?

Yep, mines in the Sgrpahrecorder.ini. I've never messed with the new one is the Sage.properties because I things are working for me right now and I don't want to change that.

[3rob3]

Thanks a lot! I removed the sage.properties delay, and added a 7 second to sgraphrecorder.ini and it is working like a champ.

Now I'm noticing the client pc stutters pretty badly though.....gotta figure that one out.

[jpaddock3000]

So I'm giving up on capture via firewire since Cox doesn't want to allow it. Channel changing still works though. Is there any way to have sage change the channels via firewire if I have the STB pluged into my PVR-500 via composite?

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by jpaddock3000

So I'm giving up on capture via firewire since Cox doesn't want to allow it. Channel changing still works though. Is there any way to have sage change the channels via firewire if I have the STB pluged into my PVR-500 via composite?

Of course, but why not do svid? It would look much better. This was how I had mine set up until my HD-PVR arrived. Now I have the STB hooked up via component to the HD-PVR. Works great!

[jbuszkie]

Originally Posted by jpaddock3000

So I'm giving up on capture via firewire since Cox doesn't want to allow it. Channel changing still works though. Is there any way to have sage change the channels via firewire if I have the STB pluged into my PVR-500 via composite?

Andy seems to have it working fine.. See this link

[davefred99]

I have been trying for several hours to set up Fire wire support for channel tuning my FIOS QIP-6200 receiver in SageTv,
I have followed the instruction links that OPUS and MeinMaui have posted in this tread and am totally confused. First I can not install the Firestb.Msi using instructions for win-xp and the command line.
I somehow did manage to install the D-VHS program and can capture via firewire and playback the files in VLC window.
I have probably strayed off the path because of frustration as there are so many different instruction sets with different steps in them.
Can someone please hold my hand and give me some very 101 level instructions on how to do this. I only need to set up channel changing and I already some how have my receiver set up in the devices/control panel. What i need is to figure out what is missing to get the tunning part working. I also already have the EXEtuner pluggin dll in the Sage/common folder too.
As I said this is on a Xp Home system not MCE.

I have read everything I could find on this but just keep hitting a wall. I know there was a post in the past few days about doing something about this thread as it is way to long and way to fragmented for us non IT types.
Thanks, Dave

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Ack! Nothing ever came of my question about the best way to keep the instructions updated & I ended up forgetting about this topic.

So, thanks for the reminder -- I've added a few links to the first post of the firewire thread.

- Andy

I posted in the main thread my frustration too. I am so lost with this whole process. I have always figured out most stuff like HdHR setup and channel maps but this subject needs a clean set of instructions in one sticky. IT needs to be written in a basic 101 step by step fashion. Also there seems to be a difference in setup for XP, MCE and Vista. So I for one am begging for a better format.

[evilpenguin]

Did you read/follow the PDF instructions in this post?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...postcount=1350

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Did you read/follow the PDF instructions in this post?

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...postcount=1350

Yes I did,
The first problem is I cant get the Firestb.msi to install on winxp. I tried the command line and it gives me an error message that it is either not available or invalid. I even tried putting it in the C:/ (root directory)
It is an MCE installer and you cant double click it and the command line doesnt seem to find it.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by davefred99

Yes I did,
The first problem is I cant get the Firestb.msi to install on winxp. I tried the command line and it gives me an error message that it is either not available or invalid. I even tried putting it in the C:/ (root directory)
It is an MCE installer and you cant double click it and the command line doesnt seem to find it.

To install the drivers on WinXP, try running:

msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT="1"

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

To install the drivers on WinXP, try running:

msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT="1"

I have tried it with both ="1" or 1 0r "0" or 0
I get an error message saying the installer is either not available or not installed and to contact the program provider.

I definitely have the firestb.msi file too.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by davefred99

I have tried it with both ="1" or 1 0r "0" or 0
I get an error message saying the installer is either not available or not installed and to contact the program provider.

I definitely have the firestb.msi file too.

Did you go into the the directory where you placed the firestb.msi file before running the above command?

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Did you go into the the directory where you placed the firestb.msi file before running the above command?

I put the fireSTB.msi file into a new folder C:/firewire.
I opened that folder and then clicked one start and then command to open a dos window. I then run entered msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT="1"
I get the same error message.
What am I doing wrong.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by davefred99

I put the fireSTB.msi file into a new folder C:/firewire.
I opened that folder and then clicked one start and then command to open a dos window. I then run entered msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT="1"
I get the same error message.
What am I doing wrong.

You have to go to the correct directory via the command line.

Open the command window
type cd c:\firewire [Enter]
type msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT="1" [Enter]

or I think you can just type

c:\firewire\msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT="1" [Enter]

It should do the same thing. (I need to blow the dust off my old DOS skills )

[gjvrieze]

Originally Posted by davefred99

I have been trying for several hours to set up Fire wire support for channel tuning my FIOS QIP-6200 receiver in SageTv,
I have followed the instruction links that OPUS and MeinMaui have posted in this tread and am totally confused. First I can not install the Firestb.Msi using instructions for win-xp and the command line.
I somehow did manage to install the D-VHS program and can capture via firewire and playback the files in VLC window.

without the drivers, you would not have been able to play or capture it, so whatever you did, you got the firestb installed....

Originally Posted by davefred99

I have probably strayed off the path because of frustration as there are so many different instruction sets with different steps in them.
Can someone please hold my hand and give me some very 101 level instructions on how to do this. I only need to set up channel changing and I already some how have my receiver set up in the devices/control panel. What i need is to figure out what is missing to get the tunning part working. I also already have the EXEtuner pluggin dll in the Sage/common folder too.
As I said this is on a Xp Home system not MCE.

finding the plugin is the hardest part, for sure...

Open a command prompt and change to the directory where you installed the support for your set top box. (firestb) Mine is c:\program files\GetHD. In there you will find two programs – channel.exe and channelw.exe. Execute the following:

Channel /v

Your output will show you the tuners and the panels you have installed in the system, and tell you the control numbers for them. For most, it will tell you that the tuner is device 1, and the panel is device 2. You change the channel through the panel device. To test – execute channel /v 2 704. I use 704 as an example for channel 704. Substitute as you need for the panel number and the channel. You should be changing the channel on your set top box.”

Make a backup copy of ...\Program files\SageTV\SageTV\sage.properties before proceeding.

Whenever you make changes to Sage, you should be backing up the file.....

Start SageTV and Select the tuner that you wish to use with the STB. Configure the digital cable lineup and select the desired input.
Complete the configuration for that tuner, choosing the ExeMultiTunerPlugin as the means of changing channels when prompted, then finish the setup, close Sage.

This one is the simplest step!!

When finished setting up the first encoder, exit SageTV (and stop the service if running) and open Sage.properties.
Look for mmc/encoders/… Find the encoder you just set up. Find the 'device_name=’ property for the tuner you just set up (It may be set to StubDevice) that has a matching number sequence to the tuning_device property that is set to use EXEMultiTunerPlugin.dll. It should look something like this:

mmc/encoders/1642691032/3/0/device_name= StubDevice
…
mmc/encoders/1642691032/3/0/tuning_plugin= C\:\\Program Files\\SageTV\\Common\\ EXEMultiTunerPlugin.dll

(Note the matching number sequence)

Enter the panel control number for the STB that you noted is attached to this tuner. Save and exit Sage.properties. In the above example, it would now look like this if your panel control number for the current STB is 2:

mmc/encoders/1642691032/3/0/device_name= 2

Basically change Stubdevice to the number that the pannel goes by, this directs Sage to Exetunerplugin to send the command along to the right STB, I usually just search the file for Stubdevice, highlight and replace it with the number, in the example, 2.....

Go to C:\Program Files\SageTV\Common\RemoteCodes\ and locate the file named StubDevice.ir
Make a copy of StubDevice.ir for each of your STB’s and rename them to [Panel Control Number].ir

(i.e. 2.ir and 4.ir for two STB’s with panel control numbers of 2 and 4. Make sure you create a new file for each of your STB Panel Control Numbers.)

Open each of the new files you just created and replace the term ‘StubDevice’ with the Panel Control Number you used in the filename. (i.e. the contents of the .ir file might read ‘StubDevice 38000 400 3’. This should be changed to ‘2 38000 400 3’, where the ‘2’ corresponds to the panel control number for this device.) Save each file when done.
Move the files to the EXEMultiTuner subfolder, overwriting any .ir files that may already be present.

Here, find the StubDevice.ir file, change its' name to the number of the pannel, here in the example, 2, then change the contents, like noted above...

Double click on the ‘Exemultituner.reg’ file in the meinmaui folder

If you have any issues, keep posting, I am not the only who has this working, I am working on pushing Andy to start a sticky (almost wanted to say wiki, lol) on this channel changing, and firewire recording...

Originally Posted by davefred99

I have read everything I could find on this but just keep hitting a wall. I know there was a post in the past few days about doing something about this thread as it is way to long and way to fragmented for us non IT types.
Thanks, Dave

I just setup up channel changing for my HD-PVR yesterday, so it is still fresh...

EDIT, I see you were extracting things in C:\firewire, I would loose C:\gethd, or the registry edit will not work, unless you change the path....

[gjvrieze]

Originally Posted by davefred99

I put the fireSTB.msi file into a new folder C:/firewire.
I opened that folder and then clicked one start and then command to open a dos window. I then run entered msiexec /i firestb.msi IDENT="1"
I get the same error message.
What am I doing wrong.

I just replied to your other post in the firewire thread, need to use that one, this one is on correcting the lack of easy up to date info on firewire....

[davefred99]

I think I got it this time. Part of my problem was not understanding how to get the FireSTB.msi installed on windows xp. I was not properly going to the directory using command. Once I got that figured out I still need to put it all into a new directory named C:\getHD to git it properly registered in the windows registry using the regedit shortcut. After that it was pretty much just configuring Sage for the proper device.
So After many hours I finally have it working.

One thing that puzzles me is if I reboot my server I get all kinds of action on the number screen of my receivers front panel. I also had it just quit working while configuring the channels in tuner setup. I had to shut down sage completely and reload it now its back in service mode and so far working as expected.
Thanks for the help, Dave