R5000-HD capture via USB2 & SageTV

[dbfresh23]

So long as the file names correspont I think you should be ok, obviously the second you change the name it's going to vanish from the sage recording list.

[Kirby]

yeah, I only move it to DVD if its something I might want to watch months later (like a movie) but dont feel like storing it online taking up space. In that case, just renaming to a DVD Profiler friendly name, and bringing it back into a video import library directory should do what I need (along with a JPG image too).

[jlindborg]

Suh-WEET! My modified Hughes box arrived from NextComm today! I know what I'm doing this weekend...

[Kirby]

Blahhhhhhhhhhh, I dont know what I have working and dont.

[dbfresh23]

[Kirby]

Crap, wrong one... let me go back and check. I've been concentrating on the HD clip I have, and not sure what I did with the SD clip.

[dbfresh23]

FYI - So far the CoreAVC codec has been worthless with this H.264 file. Only one I've been able to get it to play back with is the Elecard H.264 AVC Decoder Pack.

[Kirby]

Heck, you are doing better than I with CoreAVC. I cant even get it to take an input at all. Nothing seems to want to connect to its filter. I'm spent today, hopefully can get something else working tomorrow or this weekend.

I think I know the issue with CoreAVC, and if the info I have is correct, I will be asking them for a refund. Have to get it verified.

[jlindborg]

(also posted on the AVS form - sorry if that's a punk move, I'm not sure who's monitoring what forums)

OK - rookie r5000 user here. I got my Huges E86, got it hooked up and all is well - activated the Sage service and updated the properties file, Sage finds it - dandy!

however, when I record a show, it creates the MPG file just fine - no errors are showing up in the r5000 app and it appears to be fine. Trying to play the recording in Sage client (either on or off box) just tanks it - you see the "wait" icon and it never plays. If I stop the recording and open the file with Video Redo generally I can play it - however there's some goofy looking stuff at the begining which I suspect may be the source of the problem.

Thinking this is perhaps a USB problem ala the FAQ on the NextCom site, I turned off the sage service, switched to force it to an AV debug out, created about 30 seconds of a file and looked at it with a hex editor. I don't see any blocks of FF out there (certainly nothing that looks like the sample bad file they post).

So then I just had the R5000 app create it's own TS file without going through Sage - this again creates a file and no errors are reported. I open the file in PowerDVD and it plays however it pauses every couple seconds during playback. Not good.

I'm cool with going out and hunting down a USB card with the NEC chipset they like, although I'm deeply skeptical this is a USB transport issue. Aside from the fact that I'm not seeing "blank" blocks in the AV file, I've used external USB hard drives and I tested the througput extensively - I'd be pretty suprised if that was it. I'll call around today anyway since a good USB card s pretty cheap and I don't know what else to check next.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to try next?

[stanger89]

What decoders/settings are you using?

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by jlindborg

Anyone have any suggestions on what to try next?

Have you tried Nextcom tech support? For $500 I should think they'd be willing to walk you through setup and troubleshooting. If they're not, that would be a useful thing for prospective R5000 buyers to know.

[odyssey]

I have been using R5000-HD for a while and just installed the SageTV version and SageTV. My first problem is that I don’t get anything on Sage Live TV. R5000-HD is functioning properly, including the preview.

The bottom of the R5000-HD displays: “Ping from SageTV client”

The SageTV Source Wizard Summary displays: “4DTV on 127.0.0.1:6969USB:null”

The Source Details shows:

Source: 4DTV on 127.0.0.1:6969 USB
Functioning: true
Network Encoder: true
Currently Being Used for LiveTV: false

What do I need to do to get SageTV to display the video?

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Have you tried Nextcom tech support? For $500 I should think they'd be willing to walk you through setup and troubleshooting. If they're not, that would be a useful thing for prospective R5000 buyers to know.

With all due respect, the problem he is indicating sounds like a Sage TV decoder issue. I would not expect Nextcom Wireless to be responsible in helping people get their Sage system to playback material, just as I wouldnt expect Sage to tell me how to make the R5000 work.

On to the problem at hand...

Sounds like you ned to setup Sage properly. The bottom line of the DVR window will say the Ping message once it has been contacted by the sage server. Thats normal. When a recording from Sage fires, that line will change to read the channel number and program name of the recording.

Help us understand a bit more, are you saying that you can schedule a recording in SageTV and it records the file, and you have a substantially correct-sized MPG file when its done on the hard drive, or are you only able to record a file using the R5000 DVR/PVR apps? If the former, then as Stanger has asked, what decoder settings are you using in Sage?

[jlindborg]

Yes, I sent a note to Nextcom - but I'm guessing they're not manning the support desk over the weekend.

To be clear, this is SD content off DirectTV - not HD (I don't subscribe to HD yet).

Yes, it records fine from within Sage - you just cannot playback from Sage. Live Tv tanks as well but I'm guessing for the same reasons you can't play back recorded shows. I grab the MPG file after it's done and it'll playback using all players on my box (power DVD, Windows media player, Video Redo). This is true both on the server and the two clients I have configured. Sage gives the old "there was an error playing back the video content..." error message which would seem to speak to something being missing such as a special codec necessary or the like (no mention of this anywhere on the Nextcom site that I could find).

I'm configured using NVidia PureVideo by default - although I've tried selecting the Sage MPEG decoder and the Cyberlink decoder for grins - they all fail in the same fashion both on the server itself and on the clients.

Given that I can play SD (via MVP 250s) and HD (via OTA HD capture card) and DVDs fine on all boxes, I'd be a bit suprised that the MPGs created by the r5000 would not play back due to a codec issue - and since they play back via any other player on the clients and the server this leads me to beleive there's something else afoot.

I recorded a .TS file going through the r5000 directly after turning the sage server feature off - imported the .ts file into Sage and get the same playback error - PowerDVD has no problem with the file, however.

Not sure if I'm missing something fundamental or not...

[jlindborg]

More clues here... Just fiddling around I put one of the MPG files created by the R5000 recording server through VideoRedo's cleanup routine. It cut the file size nearly in half and now it plays fine on all clients - interesting...

Someone had mentioned null frames or something being in the stream or something like that (no clue what this means) - but this would seem to suggest that for whatever reason Sage is not liking some extra stuff in there or something.

I'll keep fiddling...

[jlindborg]

... and fiddling....

Forcing the bitrate to all 3 options made no difference for playback support - although the compressed format was, of course, quite a bit smaller. When I ran _that_ through the video redo it only trimmed a little off (but some) and again, it was playable after that in all clients.

Anyway - think I'm about done playing with this for a bit - gotta go get some yard work done today while the sun is out.

[Kirby]

Ok you found part of the issue. There really is no reason to not record in compressed mode. Otherwise, your 2.6mbit SD feeds will get filled with null packets up to 19.3mbit. Clients can puke on that much data.

can you tell me which check boxes you have checked on the bottom of the R5000 dvr app? Should NOT have the .AV checked. .TS should be.

[jlindborg]

yup - .ts is checked - .av is only for debugging, right? It shouldn't produce playable output regardless...

[Kirby]

right, AV is for testing only.

Where are you writing the files through sage? On the sage server? And where is the r5000 connected? I'm wondering if its an issue with the network encoder setup on sage. Isnt there some issues with matching drive letters for network encoders? What I mean, if the r5000 is writing to e:\files, then dont all client machines have to have a e:\ in that machine for playback of live files to work?

[jlindborg]

It's all on one box - the r5000 is installed on my main sage rig and all files are being written locally.

The NextCom guys did get back to me - I'm uploading them some files to look at here in a sec...