Linux Server Windows Network Encoder Problem

[harrijay]

I have been running into some issues setting up a sage instance on a windows machine to act as a network encoder. I am able to see the windows machine on my Linux server but I am unable to view any video on any of the inputs. If I connect to the windows instance I am able to preview video and change channels just fine. Anyone have any experience with this kind of setup? For setup I enable the property "enable_encoding_server=true" on the windows machine which is running in service mode under a valid userID. On the Linux server I enabled the property "network_encoder_discovery=true". All available encoders show up but cannot get a preview or if I try to view something through the guide on that tuner I am unsucessful.

TIA,
Jayson

[bcjenkins]

I just turned this on over the weekend for my HDPVR. It is working for me, but I am not using service mode.. Try to RDP into the PC, and launch SageTV and then kill your session without logging out.

B

[harrijay]

I just tried this out, and I am getting the same issue, regardless of whether I have it running in service mode or just under my own credentials. how do you have your recording directory setup on the linux server and the windows encoder? I have it set to go to /var/media/tv on linux and C:\Documents and Settings\Jayson\My Documents\My Videos\SageTV in windows. do these have to point to the same location? if so do I have to specify it as a SMB mount?

[bcjenkins]

It is all just defaults on Windows. The only thing I did was add in tuning support for the ir blaster. What version of SageTV are you running? I should also mention that I am running samba in linux with a path of \\server\tv as described in the SageTV conf file for samba. The user in linux for samba and the user in windows are the same name and password. (I do not run SageTV as root in linux)

B

[harrijay]

I am running samba also in linux with the sage conf file of \\server\tv but I am sage as root and not in user mode. Right now i have an init script starting sage. How can I use a script like this to start sage under a user rather than root? I have samba set to access shares as nobody:nogroup. how are you using the same username on both windows and linux to access the share? Are you running LDAP or someother type of network auth? In sage do you have your recoding directory set to something like /var/media/tv or \\server\tv? I am currently running the latest beta 6.4.3 on both linux and windows.

[bcjenkins]

I think I covered everything below, but I am old ;)

B

In Linux:

sudo adduser --home /opt/sagetv --shell /bin/bash --no-create-home --ingroup video,dialout sagetv
sudo chown -R sagetv:sagetv /opt/sagetv && sudo chown -R sagetv:sagetv /var/media
sudo smbpasswd -a sagetv

PLEASE NOTE: I modified the startsage and stopsage scripts to point the pid file to the local /opt/sagetv/server directory. I do not do the below
Place the following in /etc/rc.local to launch the server at start:

su -c /opt/sagetv/startsage sagetv

If you want to use an init script try the command option in the START section running the daemon command:

--user=sagetv

option
Also note you will also need to change smb.conf to something like:

[global]
 netbios name = sagetv-server
 workgroup = sagetv
 log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m
 max log size = 50
 log level = 3
 hosts allow = 10. 172.16. 172.17. 172.18. 172.19. 172.20. 172.21. 172.22. 172.23. 172.24. 172.25 172.26. 172.27. 172.28. 172.29. 172.30. 172.31. 192.168. 127.
 security = user
 socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
 encrypt passwords = true
 smb passwd file = /etc/samba/private/smbpasswd
 wins support = yes
 dns proxy = no

# The media shares for SageTV. It exposes TV content in a read share,and
# the 3 other content types in a read/write share
[TV]
   comment = Recorded TV
   path = /var/media/tv
   valid users = sagetv
   public = no
   writable = yes
   printable = no
   create mask = 0765
[Photos]
   comment = Photo Library
   path = /var/media/pictures
   valid users = sagetv
   public = no
   writable = yes
   printable = no
   create mask = 0765
[Music]
   comment = Music Library
   path = /var/media/music
   valid users = sagetv
   public = no
   writable = yes
   printable = no
   create mask = 0765
[Videos]
   comment = Video Library
   path = /var/media/videos
   valid users = sagetv
   public = no
   writable = yes
   printable = no
   create mask = 0765

My properties file on the linux server is:

seeker/archive_directory=/var/media/videos,1;/var/media/pictures,4;/var/media/music,2;/var/media/lacie,1;
seeker/channel_change_ask_advance=300000
seeker/check_all_files_for_transcode=true
seeker/clear_partials_and_unwanted_when_ir_off=true
seeker/default_linux_recording_paths=/var/media/tv
seeker/default_live_quality=
seeker/default_recording_quality=DVD Standard Play
seeker/disable_bmp_picture_imports=true
seeker/disable_profiler_recording=true
seeker/disable_video_directory_verifications=false
seeker/export_plugins=
seeker/fast_mux_switch=true
seeker/last_channel/Hauppauge\ HD\ PVR\ Capture\ Device\ on\ 192.168.0.253\:6969=49438
seeker/last_channel/adapter0=0
seeker/last_channel/adapter1=19578
seeker/last_channel/adapter2=0
seeker/last_channel/video0=30420
seeker/max_duration_encoder_reset=43200000
seeker/mmc_present=true
seeker/music_library_import_filename_extensions=.mp3,.wav,.wma,.aac,.m4a,.flac,.ogg,.ac3
seeker/no_default_qualities=false
seeker/periodically_scan_library=true
seeker/picture_library_import_filename_extensions=.jpg,.gif,.jpeg,.jpe,.png
seeker/playlist_import_filename_extensions=.m3u,.asx,.wax,.wvx,.wpl
seeker/recording_start_autopad=0
seeker/use_dtv_major_minor_channels=false
seeker/use_errant_dir=false
seeker/valid_root_import_paths=
seeker/video_library_import_filename_extensions=.mpg,.mpeg,.mp2,.mpeg2,.mpe,.avi,.divx,.mpg1,.ts,.wmv,.asf,.wm,.tivo,.m2t,.vob,.flv,.mp4,.mov,.trp,.m4v,.ogm,.3gp,.mkv,.dvr-ms
seeker/video_storage=/var/media/tv,20000000000,3;

Windows:

seeker/archive_directory=C\:\\Documents and Settings\\SageTV\\My Documents\\My Videos,1;C\:\\Documents and Settings\\SageTV\\My Documents\\My Pictures,4;C\:\\Documents and Settings\\SageTV\\My Documents\\My Music,2;
seeker/channel_change_ask_advance=300000
seeker/check_all_files_for_transcode=true
seeker/clear_partials_and_unwanted_when_ir_off=true
seeker/default_recording_quality=Great
seeker/disable_bmp_picture_imports=true
seeker/disable_profiler_recording=true
seeker/disable_roxio_export_plugin=true
seeker/disable_video_directory_verifications=false
seeker/export_plugins=
seeker/fast_mux_switch=true
seeker/last_channel/Hauppauge\ HD\ PVR\ Capture\ Device=0
seeker/max_duration_encoder_reset=43200000
seeker/mmc_present=true
seeker/music_library_import_filename_extensions=.mp3,.wav,.wma,.aac,.m4a,.flac,.ogg,.ac3
seeker/no_default_qualities=false
seeker/periodically_scan_library=false
seeker/picture_library_import_filename_extensions=.jpg,.gif,.jpeg,.jpe,.png
seeker/playlist_import_filename_extensions=.m3u,.asx,.wax,.wvx,.wpl
seeker/use_dtv_major_minor_channels=false
seeker/valid_root_import_paths=
seeker/video_library_import_filename_extensions=.mpg,.mpeg,.mp2,.mpeg2,.mpe,.avi,.divx,.mpg1,.ts,.wmv,.asf,.wm,.tivo,.m2t,.vob,.flv,.mp4,.mov,.trp,.m4v,.ogm,.3gp,.mkv,.dvr-ms
seeker/video_storage=C\:\\Documents and Settings\\SageTV\\My Documents\\My Videos\\SageTV,2000000000,2;

[harrijay]

I have all of this set the same as you have described however it is still not working. This appears in sagetv_0.txt everytime I try and add it as a source

Wed 6/11 16:12:23.295 FORMATERROR UNABLE TO PARSE FILE TYPE FOR FILE-1: /var/media/tv/HauppaugeWinTVPVRPCIIICaptureonSageServerWin6969SVideo-0.mpgbuf
Wed 6/11 16:12:23.314 FORMATERROR UNABLE TO PARSE FILE TYPE FOR FILE-1: /var/media/tv/HauppaugeWinTVPVRPCIIICaptureonSageServerWin6969SVideo-0.mpgbuf
Wed 6/11 16:12:30.523 Error in MediaServerConnection of :java.lang.NullPointerException
Wed 6/11 16:12:30.523 java.lang.NullPointerException
Wed 6/11 16:12:30.523 at sage.MediaServer$a.if(Unknown Source)
Wed 6/11 16:12:30.523 at sage.MediaServer$a.do(Unknown Source)
Wed 6/11 16:12:30.524 at sage.MediaServer$a.run(Unknown Source)
Wed 6/11 16:12:30.524 at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

Any Ideas?

[bcjenkins]

Did you add the user on your windows box to be able to auth with the same cred?

B

[harrijay]

I just got everything setup so that it authenticates and writes to the samba share under the same name user that is running the linux server under this user ID I can write to the share and modify any files. any other thoughts?