STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[Endymion]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm curious why you need 2 Sage instances, I thought you could setup multiple SGR's in Sage by just adjusting the port numbers.

Maybe I could've worded that better. I have 2 instances of SGR, and one instance of Sage. I just meant that both instances of SGR and the one instance of the Sage server are all running as services.

[jpaddock3000]

I would like to know how to make SGR a service. Also, what graph are you using to give you the picture? I would like to be able to use my PVR-500 tuner via the composite connection because I know SGR can do external tuning without a problem.

Thanks in advance.

[Endymion]

Originally Posted by jpaddock3000

I would like to know how to make SGR a service. Also, what graph are you using to give you the picture? I would like to be able to use my PVR-500 tuner via the composite connection because I know SGR can do external tuning without a problem.

Thanks in advance.

Check out http://www.techeez.com/windows_tips/...e_under_nt.htm to see how to relatively easily make any .exe run as a service.

You can use the PVR-500 composite connection as a source in the "Video Sources" setup, and use something like exetuner to tune the cable box over firewire, or use a USBUIRT to tune. There is no need to setup SGR or a special graph to record using the PVR-500 composite connection.

[willgill]

I had SageTV and my STB changing channels and recording via firewire on WinXP. Then I get the bright idea to take SageTV off my WinXP and on my wife's Vista computer.

I went through the procedure as usual but I can't get SBDRecorderDump to show in the Directshow Filter. I found out that using the included register.bat WON'T register in Vista due to permissions, so I disabled that UAC admin thing and ran register.bat and it said it registered correctly now.

I used regsvr32 /u to unregister any dump.ax's I found and reregistered the dump.ax I wanted. I still didn't see it in the Directfilter list.

I read the hint about needing the latest dump.ax so I did a search and got the latest. I unregistered the old and registerd this new one. SBDRecorderDump still doesn't show. I DID find an MPEG2 dump. I made a filter with it and it makes a perfect dump.ts file that's playable in VLC. Unfortunately Sage won't play the file. I get "No Signal".

Any ideas of what to look at next? Do I try to get SBDRecorderDump to show? How? Skip that and focus on getting Sage to show the dump file that is working?

[willgill]

I fixed the issue. Through all the registering, copying and reregistering, I failed to actually register the dump.ax that comes with SGraphrecorder. THAT'S the one that really needs to be registered.

[jbuszkie]

Originally Posted by Endymion

Check out http://www.techeez.com/windows_tips/...e_under_nt.htm to see how to relatively easily make any .exe run as a service.

Has anyone got SGraphRecorder to work as a service? I've tried and doesn't work for me....

Jim

[Endymion]

Originally Posted by jbuszkie

Has anyone got SGraphRecorder to work as a service? I've tried and doesn't work for me....

Jim

Here's the instructions on that page, modified to run SGR. I followed these and it works fine. I'll even add the steps to alter the sage service so it depends on the SGR service running. That way sage never starts before SGR, and if SGR crashes, Sage will restart (if you set the restart options in the service).

Make sure that you are logged on as a user with administrative privileges. Also, verify that both INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE are stored in a directory within the search path.

First download the instsrv.exe and srvany.exe. Put both in the same directory as SGR to make things easier.

1. Open up a command prompt and go to the SGR directory (in my example, C:\getHD\SGR).
2. Type the following command: INSTSRV SageGraphRecorder SRVANY.EXE

5. Open up the Registry Editor (Click on the Start Button, select Run, and type REGEDIT)
* Locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SageGraphRecorder
* From the Edit menu, select New, select Key, and name the new key "Parameters"
* Highlight the Parameters key
* From the Edit menu, select New, select String Value, and name the new value "Application"
* From the Edit menu, select Modify, and type in the full path name and application name, including the drive letter and file extension
Example: C:\getHD\SGR\SGraphRecorder.exe
5. Close the Registry Editor.

To remove the service example:
INSTSRV SageGraphRecorder REMOVE


To make the Sage service depend on the SGR service running:

1. Open regedit. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SageTV
2. Go to Edit -> New -> Multi-String Value.
3. Name the new value "DependOnService"
4. Then right-click and modify the DependOnService. In the window put SageGraphRecorder (or the name of the service you want it to depend on), then hit enter. Click OK.
5. Now reboot the PC, and when you look at SageTV in the Windows Services mmc, you will see that the SageTV service depends on SageGraphRecorder to run.

[jbert]

Hi,

Any help with this would be much appreciated. I can't figure out why I'm getting no signal in Sage TV from my Motorola DCH3200 STB connected via Firewire. I can record to a dump.ts through SgraphRecorder, I can record from ArcSoft TotalMedia Extreme, and I can watch video through VLC media player all via firewire. But when I try to watch through Sage, I get a "No Signal" message. I can change channels through Sage, but no A/V. I've attached a PDF with sGraphRecorder.ini settings, sageProperties, and various screenshots.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

[Endymion]

Originally Posted by jbert

Hi,

Any help with this would be much appreciated. I can't figure out why I'm getting no signal in Sage TV from my Motorola DCH3200 STB connected via Firewire. I can record to a dump.ts through SgraphRecorder, I can record from ArcSoft TotalMedia Extreme, and I can watch video through VLC media player all via firewire. But when I try to watch through Sage, I get a "No Signal" message. I can change channels through Sage, but no A/V. I've attached a PDF with sGraphRecorder.ini settings, sageProperties, and various screenshots.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Try changing your tuning delay in the sGraphRecorder.ini to something like 2000 instead of 0. If it works, you can try to reduce it until you reach a happy compromise between long tuning times and getting no signal. I've left mine at 1500 as that give me rock-solid tuning.

[jbert]

Thanks. I've set TuningDelay=2000 in sGraphRecorder.ini. No luck, though. Sage TV still says "No Signal" when I try to watch live TV.

[Endymion]

Originally Posted by jbert

Thanks. I've set TuningDelay=2000 in sGraphRecorder.ini. No luck, though. Sage TV still says "No Signal" when I try to watch live TV.

Ok, a couple of things:

-You are fully setting up the tuner in Sage and then viewing the channel through the program guide or something right? If you are looking at the preview window while setting up the tuner it will never display the channel, just says no signal. *edit* looking at the PDF, I see you are tuning through the guide

-I am assuming you are using graphedit and the graph with the dumpfilter that yuo use for SGR to dump the firewire output to a file, then playing that file back in VLC or something right? And you can view that output in VLC from the SAME channel that says "no signal" in sage, right?

-Do you have multiple recording drives and/or directories? I had issues with Sage trying to record from firewire and write the file to a different drive than the one I had chosen on the dump filter. It would not playback the recording and generally screwed it up. There is a mmc/encoders/12346/forced_video_storage_path_prefix= option in sage.properties to force that tuner to record to a specific drive and directory. AFAIK the tuner in sage HAS to be recording to the same drive/directory as the one you picked for the output of the dump filter in the graph you setup for SGR.
*edit* Nevermind, I see you are only recording to one drive.


-If you ARE tuning to the channel through the program guide in Sage, do you give it a solid 1-2 minutes and it still says "no signal"? If so, can you play back the file recorded by sage in VLC and does it play back OK? *edit* looking at the PDF, I see you are tuning through the guide

That's all I can think of right now.

[jbert]

Thanks for your help. No luck yet, though.

Originally Posted by Endymion

I am assuming you are using graphedit and the graph with the dumpfilter that yuo use for SGR to dump the firewire output to a file, then playing that file back in VLC or something right? And you can view that output in VLC from the SAME channel that says "no signal" in sage, right?

Yes. I can watch the ts file in VLC as recorded from graphedit. I can tune to the same channel in VLC (and in other tuner programs) and watch the channel live. Sage, however, shows "No signal" on the same (and every other) channel. I gave Sage a full 5 minutes to tune but no luck.

Originally Posted by Endymion

-Do you have multiple recording drives and/or directories? I had issues with Sage trying to record from firewire and write the file to a different drive than the one I had chosen on the dump filter. It would not playback the recording and generally screwed it up. There is a mmc/encoders/12346/forced_video_storage_path_prefix= option in sage.properties to force that tuner to record to a specific drive and directory. AFAIK the tuner in sage HAS to be recording to the same drive/directory as the one you picked for the output of the dump filter in the graph you setup for SGR.
*edit* Nevermind, I see you are only recording to one drive.

I am recording to a pair of 500GBs as a single striped raid (E:\ drive), although I don't think that's what you're getting at.

The dump.ts filter in sgr1.GRF points to E:\SAGE TV\dump.ts
Sage's video directory is set as E:\SAGE TV

SGraphRecorder.ini has the following settings:

• Port=6969
• C:\GRAPHEDIT\sgraphrecorder\sgr1.GRF
• TuningDelay=2000

(sgr1.GRF is where SGraphRecorder.ini says it should be.)


sage.properties has the following settings:

• mmc/encoders/12346/encoding_host=127.0.0.1\:6969
• mmc/encoders/12346/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=E\:SAGE TV
• mmc/encoders/12346/video_capture_device_name=SGraphRecorder

I just recently added the forced_video_storage_path_prefix=E\:SAGE TV with no new effect.

Still stumped.

[jbert]

Two things I just noticed...

1. There is a flickering white and black scan line at the top of my display in my recorded dump file, as well as when watching live tv through VLC. I guess this would be the closed caption data. I have no idea what to do with it, but I wonder if it could somehow be related to issue #2 below.

2. When I try to watch live tv and sage reports "No signal" I found this is sgraphrecorder debugger...
VERSION 1:24:17 PM
NOOP 1:24:17 PM
NOOP 1:24:17 PM
NOOP 1:24:17 PM
START SGraphRecorder 1394|64|2439211733370|E:\SAGE TV\GoldenEye-270319-0.mpg|Great 1:24:26 PM
Unspecified error
Running: C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channelw.exe -f 2 64
No dump filter!
Unspecified error
GET_FILE_SIZE E:\SAGE TV\GoldenEye-270319-0.mpg 1:24:29 PM
GET_FILE_SIZE E:\SAGE TV\GoldenEye-270319-0.mpg 1:24:29 PM

The file size of the MPG that sage is creating never gets above 0KB.

[Endymion]

Originally Posted by jbert

Two things I just noticed...

1. There is a flickering white and black scan line at the top of my display in my recorded dump file, as well as when watching live tv through VLC. I guess this would be the closed caption data. I have no idea what to do with it, but I wonder if it could somehow be related to issue #2 below.

2. When I try to watch live tv and sage reports "No signal" I found this is sgraphrecorder debugger...
VERSION 1:24:17 PM
NOOP 1:24:17 PM
NOOP 1:24:17 PM
NOOP 1:24:17 PM
START SGraphRecorder 1394|64|2439211733370|E:\SAGE TV\GoldenEye-270319-0.mpg|Great 1:24:26 PM
Unspecified error
Running: C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channelw.exe -f 2 64
No dump filter!
Unspecified error
GET_FILE_SIZE E:\SAGE TV\GoldenEye-270319-0.mpg 1:24:29 PM
GET_FILE_SIZE E:\SAGE TV\GoldenEye-270319-0.mpg 1:24:29 PM

The file size of the MPG that sage is creating never gets above 0KB.

Try using the cyberlink mpg dump filter provided with SGR (Just regsvr32.exe dump.ax or whatever it's called). Then when you setup the graph, be sure to save the output file as E:\SAGE TV\dump.mpg instead of dump.ts. Also, I wonder if the problem could be caused by the space in the directory name. You might try creating a new recording directory called E:\SageTest, and pointing the dump file from the graph there and setting that forced recording directory option in the sage.properties to that directory for the firewire tuner.

Also, your graph is Just motorola AVC tuner -> cyberlink dump, right?

[ryanagler]

I am in the exact same boat as ghostlobster. I just got a 4250hdc (timewarner cable) and am trying to get firewire channel changing to work -- although all of the channel commands are accepted, nothing happens (running Vista Ultimate).

I stumbled on a post in a mythtv forum from a couple weeks ago that appears they got firewire channel changing working on this model. Something about having to have the software simulate a do a "key press" and a "key release". Maybe someone could create a new "-a7" option to channel to make it work?

here is the relavent post:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=712789

[bfb1963]

Any body get this working? I saw it could be done with a 3250, but how about a 4250?

[Opus4]

My two 4250HD boxes are daisy chained.

- Andy

[bfb1963]

Daisy chaining didn't work for me and not all of my 4250s shows up in device manager even when just one is plugged into my WHS. It seems that some of the 1394s are enabled and some are not. I have 4 new units, and will continue to work on this once I get a firewire hub. Is there some switch in the 4250 that enables the 1394 ports?

[gjvrieze]

On my Motorola DCT-6200, I could not daisy chain, had to hook each up to it's firewire port....

[ryanagler]

Originally Posted by Opus4

My two 4250HD boxes are daisy chained.

4250HD or 4250HDC? The model I have (and cant get to work) is HDC. It is through timewarner using the Maestro firmware?

Can you elaborate on how daisy chaining two boxes would help to make channel chaging work?

channel /v detects the box and dumps all of its information, etc, so it seems the 4250HDC certainly has its firewire port enabled. its just not listening to any of the channel commands.