STB Firewire (IEEE-1394) Support

[scoful]

Have you tried rebuilding your graph from scratch? Sounds like the Tuner object may have changed in some way.

You may also want to move to a different firewire port and reconstruct the graph. The tuner object in the graph is somehow uniquely identified, so if you move physical ports it can break the graph (or if a device driver is updated).

Another issue that is also of note - I have over the years noticed on at least two occasions that when my power supply on my server has gone weak the first thing to develop problems is Firewire recording. Beat my head up against it for quite a while... strange considering the STB doesn't use power from the firewire port...

[joshabts]

I am having issues getting my DCX-3200 to work properly as a tuner in Sage using the Sgraphrecorder utility.

I have followed the guides and am able to in GraphEdit push the play button and I do see the TS file output in my Sage recording directory, which I am then able to open with VLC and it plays exactly what the STB is currently tuning. However when I try running Sgraphrecorder and then startup sage, when I attempt to tune a channel it does nothing and just sits there saying "tuning" or what not. The .mpegbuf file and the .ts file in the recording directory of sage stay at 0KB filesizes.

I will include some details of what I can easily include. I did see a post a few pages back about using the Sage TS Filter in the graph file so I did change it to include that as well.

This is all on a Windows Home Server system. The DCX-3200 is connected directly via Firewire. I am able to tune in VLC directly as well as through the GraphEdit capture. Channel changes using channel.exe are working properly by using the -f flag.

SGraphRecorder.ini
; Port is the port number that this network encoder will listen to commands
; from Sage on. Use this when setting up the network encoder in Sage.
[System]
Port=6969

; FileName is the name of graph to use. This graph should contain 1 instance
; of a "dump" filter that implements the IFileSink interface.
; TuningDelay is the number of milliseconds to wait after a channel change with 
; Girder until the graph is started again.
[Graph]
FileName=sgr1.grf
TuningDelay=0
UnloadGraphOnStop=1
UnloadGraphOnSwitch=1

; Set UseGirder to 1 to use Girder to change channel.
; Event to send to Girder will be string after GirderPrefix + channel number,
; for exampel "Channel1" (without the "" signs).
; The GirderIndividualNumbers controls if the whole channel number is sent in one
; event or if individual events is sent to Girder for each number in the channel.
; set it to 0 for events that looks like this "Channel791" and
; to 1 for "Channel7", "Channel9", "Channel1" with your actual prefix instead 
; of channel of course. If GirderIndividualNumbers=1 the sequence is ended with an 
; extra GirderPrefix without a number as an enter for the stb.
; Set GirderInterNumberTimeSpacing to number of milliseconds to wait between the 
; individual numbers
; Configure host, port and password to Girder settings

[Girder]
UseGirder=0
GirderHost=127.0.0.1
GirderPort=1024
GirderPassword=
GirderPrefix=Channel
GirderIndividualNumbers=1
GirderInterNumberTimeSpacing=10

; The ExeTuner section is used to call another program to change channel.
; Set UseExeTuner to 1 to use this.
; The program indicated in ExeTunerPath will be called with the cannel number as
; the only parameter. Provide the complete path to the Tuner program.

[ExeTuner]
UseExeTuner=1
ExeTunerPath=C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channelw.exe -f -v 2

If anyone has any pointers I would greatly appreciate it!

*EDIT: Reading back further, I have also tried changing the tuning delay to 3000 and 7000 in hopes that fixed the issue, but still nothing. When I run the debug on SgraphRecorder and try tuning a channel in Sage, I see a lot of repeated lines saying GET_FILE_SIZE of the mpgbuf file, which still along with the TS output file have sizes of 0KB.

Also -- of note to the person asking earlier, I didn't need any special drivers for my DCX-3200, I used what was already available and it seems to work ok, if you only want to watch in VLC that is lol

[scoful]

Are you sure you're using the right Dump filter? The right one is something like 'SBDADump'. There is another one just called 'Dump' - it will create an output file, but SGraphrecorder somehow interacts with the SBDADump filter to make sure the file is moving along - seems to get some kind of feedback. The other one will create a viewable file - it just won't work with SGraphrecorder.

[cowboyway]

I don't use channelw.exe, but rather channel.exe give that a try.

[sflamm]

It took some sleuthing in this thread and online but found that by installing the ExDeus drivers in addition to the firestb stuff I had installed for the original Moto 6200 I could get the Pace box working.

Can you tell me which firestb stuff you installed please?

I did have to do the registry hack to add the 'f' force parameter to the command string but both STB's/HD-PVR's are now happily recording HD!

Can you elaborate on what registry setting you changed?

Thanks!

[scoful]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Can you tell me which firestb stuff you installed please?



Can you elaborate on what registry setting you changed?

Thanks!

I tried for some time to get a Pace STB working - and was successful in channel changing and getting a stream - the problem was the stream had a consistent dropout every few seconds, making it worthless to watch. Tried it with two STB's, three different Firewire cards and two different computers.

If' somebody's been able to get a steady stream on a Pace, I'd like to know too.

Tuning did require the -f parameter in sgraphrecorder.ini - so these should work for folks with an HDPVR box.

[sflamm]

Thanks for the input.

Can you tell me how to setup only the channel changing via Firewire?

All the instruction I've seen appear to configure both recording and channel changing.

Thanks in advance.

[mfowler]

I was able to get the DCX-3200 working for both capture and channel changing. In my case I was having a problem getting the driver installed on XP. I needed to force the DCX-3200 to use the DCH-3200 driver by manually choosing the driver in the hardware wizard. Once the system had the driver installed, my DCH-3200 setup worked for the DCX.

Make sure that device manager has the following entries for your DCX-3200:

Motorola AV/C Tuner Device - This does not have DCH-3200 since I forced the install
Motorola AV/C Panel Device (DCH-3200)
Unknown IEEE 1394\5068 Device


[ExeTuner]
UseExeTuner=1
ExeTunerPath=C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channelw.exe -f -v -n -t70 address

Mike

Server: i7 860, 4GB ram, 6TB disk, Windows XP, 2xDCH-3200(firewire)/1xHDHomerun/1xHVR-1600/1xPVR-150
Clients: 2xHD200, 2xHD100, 2xMVP
SageTV: Sage, Comskip

[sflamm]

I tried for some time to get a Pace STB working - and was successful in channel changing and getting a stream - the problem was the stream had a consistent dropout every few seconds, making it worthless to watch. Tried it with two STB's, three different Firewire cards and two different computers.

If' somebody's been able to get a steady stream on a Pace, I'd like to know too.

Tuning did require the -f parameter in sgraphrecorder.ini - so these should work for folks with an HDPVR box

I had exactly the same problem. The stream was constantly garbled... let me know if you find a solution.

I'd like to understand how to use the HDPVR and FW Channel changing... but I can not seem to get FWChannelProxy to change channels within SageTV (see last post).

It is as if SageTV is not recognizing it as a valid channel changing plugin...

I would greatly appreciate any help..!

[sflamm]

Can someone who is both recording over Firewire with SGraphRenderer and changing channels with FWChannelProxy over Firewire please share their sagetv.properties and their sgraphrender.ini?

Many thanks in advance.

[sflamm]

gjvrieze gjvrieze is offline
Sage Advanced User

Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 116
On my Motorola DCT-6200, I could not daisy chain, had to hook each up to it's firewire port....
__________________

I have 2 Motorola DCT-6200 daisy chained fine.

[AJ Bertelson]

So I got my new 1394 box and got everything working, the only problem is that I get no sound.

Anyone have some tips for troubleshooting this?

[scoful]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

So I got my new 1394 box and got everything working, the only problem is that I get no sound.

Anyone have some tips for troubleshooting this?

I'd expect it's probably your Audio Decoder - are you using AC3? It seems to be the most 'Universal' but also has a lot of CPU overhead (if you're using older hardware for your client or you're using your server for playback too this may be undesirable - can reduce responsiveness during playback etc.)

[sflamm]

Download a copy of "GraphStudio" (free) and drag the video file onto it.
Will show you what is going on with the audio and video.

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally Posted by scoful

I'd expect it's probably your Audio Decoder - are you using AC3? It seems to be the most 'Universal' but also has a lot of CPU overhead (if you're using older hardware for your client or you're using your server for playback too this may be undesirable - can reduce responsiveness during playback etc.)

yeah it was one of my decoders, weird but it works now. Records like my hd pvr.

No onto trying to get it to change channels

Edit-I used to use EXEmultituner plugin to control my hd PVR with a 1394 channel change. Now that I am trying to switch from my hdpvr to 1394 I am running into issues
C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channelw.exe -f -a:2 %DEVICE% %CHANNEL%

That was the command I used in regedit to change the channels and it worked.
I can change channels through the command prompt but I can't get sage to change the channel. I recognize that that I was using the multi tuner pluging and not the regular plugin that is specified in the instructions. I currently have the .ini file reading as this

[; Port is the port number that this network encoder will listen to commands
; from Sage on. Use this when setting up the network encoder in Sage.
[System]
Port=6969

[Graph]
FileName="C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\sgr1\sgr1.grf"
TuningDelay=0
UnloadGraphOnStop=1
UnloadGraphOnSwitch=0

[ExeTuner]
UseExeTuner=1
ExeTunerPath=C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB
Controller\channelw.exe -v -f -a2

one other thing to add, when I add the tuner through sagetv there is no tuner control. It just says N/A

[sflamm]

If you are both tuning and recording through firewire using SGraphRenderer configured with channelw.exe only.

In my experience neither EXEMultituner or FWChannelProxy work with SGraphRenderer.

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally Posted by sflamm

If you are both tuning and recording through firewire using SGraphRenderer configured with channelw.exe only.

In my experience neither EXEMultituner or FWChannelProxy work with SGraphRenderer.

I don't understand what you are trying to say.

[sflamm]

As far I know (could make it work) - EXEmultituner cannot be used with direct firewire recording from the STB. If you want to record using firewire from the STB you need to use SGraphRecorder and channelw.exe (configured in the SGraphRecorder config file). You must also manually edit the sagetv.properties to include the firewire video source.

[AJ Bertelson]

Originally Posted by sflamm

As far I know (could make it work) - EXEmultituner cannot be used with direct firewire recording from the STB. If you want to record using firewire from the STB you need to use SGraphRecorder and channelw.exe (configured in the SGraphRecorder config file). You must also manually edit the sagetv.properties to include the firewire video source.

But I'm not using the multituner plugin with sgraph recorder. I followed the instructions in the OP and created the .ini file in my above post. When I add the tuner through sage there is no external control asked and it just lists it as N/A.

[scoful]

Originally Posted by AJ Bertelson

But I'm not using the multituner plugin with sgraph recorder. I followed the instructions in the OP and created the .ini file in my above post. When I add the tuner through sage there is no external control asked and it just lists it as N/A.

If you're using SgraphRecorder you use 'none or external tuning' - the SgraphRecorder.ini file defines what program tunes the channel (like Tim Moore's channel.exe or channelw.exe). Sage just passes the channel number to the network encoder.