Utility: Web Radio and TV Encoder

[scanner95]

Hello Michael,

Encoder log and wfesageplugin log with EPG debug are attached. Lots of EPG messages there. Some java heap memory errors, but most importantly - there is no EPG in Sage! Specifically, today at 9:00 am my guide in SageTV is empty, despite all hard work WFE was doing at 5:00 am.

Best regards and thanks.

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by scanner95

Hello Michael,

Encoder log and wfesageplugin log with EPG debug are attached. Lots of EPG messages there. Some java heap memory errors, but most importantly - there is no EPG in Sage! Specifically, today at 9:00 am my guide in SageTV is empty, despite all hard work WFE was doing at 5:00 am.

Best regards and thanks.

WFE is running out of memory.

you need to edit some params in wrapper/WebFeedEncoder.conf

See the FAQ in the user guide for details.

Michael

[michaeldjcox]

Jabroni and I did some testing of the support for ip cameras.

My plan to use an existing audio device like a microphone didn't seem to work in his environment. Furthermore VLC doesn't seem to be able to ramp down volume to zero during transcoding so.....

End game solution:

• you can now mux any device or web or file based video stream in with your audio only web feeds
• you can now mux any device or web or file based audio stream in with video only web feeds including a silent mp3 I have created and posted online.

When sageTV sees an audio stream and a video stream in an MPEG-PS or MPEG-TS container it can play the content.

Download from here:

Web Feed Encoder 0.9.6 (14th May)

NOTE: this for those interested in beta testing. When the release is good I will make a proper 0.9.6 announcement and update the SageTV download area.

If you are on 0.9.6 choose repair.

If you are on a 0.9.6 pre-release already choose repair. Please delete the commands/tvsilent.conf and commands/radio.conf files - they are no longer used.

In both cases you need SageTV/WFE/configtool shutdown. Also exit any explorer sessions or command shells in the webfeedencoder directory. If the upgrade tools says the dir is still in use its probably bad boy windows not letting go.

Michael

[scanner95]

Hello Michael,

There've been so much talk lately about v7, so I wonder: do you have any clue whether your wonderful plugin will work with v7?

Thanks

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by scanner95

Hello Michael,

There've been so much talk lately about v7, so I wonder: do you have any clue whether your wonderful plugin will work with v7?

Thanks

I don't see why not. I guess it may require some work.

Difficult to tell until I get hold of it - but I will be an early upgrader to version 7 and will make the plugin work.

Maybe SageTV v7 will do all the things my plugin does

Is there a beta release available do we know?

Michael

[scanner95]

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

I don't see why not. I guess it may require some work.

Difficult to tell until I get hold of it - but I will be an early upgrader to version 7 and will make the plugin work.

Maybe SageTV v7 will do all the things my plugin does

Is there a beta release available do we know?

Michael

The say was it's due some time today, but with US time shift it probably means tomorrow for us here.

[michaeldjcox]

Hi 0.9.6 beta testers,

I was hosting an mp3 file of silence online rather than delivering a large file in the release.

My provider is complaining about the daily bandwidth usage and says some attempts to access the file have been rejected.

I will probably need to just deliver the file.

In the meantime it is possible to download the file and refer to it directlly on disk from the "Advanced" tab URL2 field using its windows file path.

The file offers only ten minutes of silence and it is possible to generate longer ones using the Audacity tool which is freely available.

Michael

[scanner95]

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

Hi 0.9.6 beta testers,

I was hosting an mp3 file of silence online rather than delivering a large file in the release.

My provider is complaining about the daily bandwidth usage and says some attempts to access the file have been rejected.

I will probably need to just deliver the file.

In the meantime it is possible to download the file and refer to edit directlly on disk from the "Advanced" tab using the file:// style format.

The file offers only ten minutes of silence and it is possible to generate longer ones using the Audacity tool which is freely available.

Michael

I've probably missed something along the way. What is this silence file used for and under which conditions?

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by scanner95

I've probably missed something along the way. What is this silence file used for and under which conditions?

If you choose channel type "TV (silent)".

Sage won't play a stream with video and no audio or with audio but no video.

TV (silent) is to cover feeds where an audio stream needs to be provided.

I allow the option of silence - obtained from a mp3 of generated silence, use of audio from a device, or use of sound from another channel i.e. your favourite radio station.

So you can keep half an eye on the baby in the nursery while listening to the radio.

Michael

[pjpjpjpj]

Hi Michael,

I've been very out-of-touch with this forum, with SageTV fiddling, and with playing with WFE... but I was wondering if you'd had a chance to see v7 yet (saw the posts above from yesterday). Some of the listed features of v7 almost make it sound like internet radio is now a default function? And I'm getting small hints that some streaming internet TV might be as well? What's the story?

If not, are you definitely reworking WFE for v7?

Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer to not fill this thread with chat about it, since this thread is about issues with the current version.

[michaeldjcox]

Well I need to take in whats been delivered.

I heard about DVB radio but not about internet sources.

Gonna try and have a look this weekend.

If it ticks every box then maybe we won't need a WFE....

Michael

[n9cqs]

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

Well I need to take in whats been delivered.

I heard about DVB radio but not about internet sources.

Gonna try and have a look this weekend.

If it ticks every box then maybe we won't need a WFE....

Michael

Very quick, early, superficial testing:

Regarding internet sources, I find only support for HULU Desktop. The DVB audio-only source mentioned would seem to be for satellite radio that does not have accompanying picture/screen information (that's how I read the FAQ, at any rate). Some SageTV expert with far more understanding than me can clarify. I don't find anything with WFE capabilities.

I went back to the computer (running XP PRO) where I had a second copy of SageTV installed for testing WFE. An older WFE was still installed (and running) on that machine. I installed Sage version 7, and it detected the WFE already running and came up with the sample channel lineup I had put in for testing. So far, WFE performs well with Version 7.

This is pretty much as I expected. The way I understand WFE, it is a separate "encoder" meant to mimic a hardware tuner. As such, it only need communicate with SageTV as would any encoder/tuner.

(Now... on to determine if R5000 modified receivers will work.)

I look forward to the results of Michael's testing this weekend.

Jeff

[SteveW]

Originally Posted by n9cqs

Very quick, early, superficial testing:

Regarding internet sources, I find only support for HULU Desktop. The DVB audio-only source mentioned would seem to be for satellite radio that does not have accompanying picture/screen information (that's how I read the FAQ, at any rate). Some SageTV expert with far more understanding than me can clarify. I don't find anything with WFE capabilities.

I went back to the computer (running XP PRO) where I had a second copy of SageTV installed for testing WFE. An older WFE was still installed (and running) on that machine. I installed Sage version 7, and it detected the WFE already running and came up with the sample channel lineup I had put in for testing. So far, WFE performs well with Version 7.

This is pretty much as I expected. The way I understand WFE, it is a separate "encoder" meant to mimic a hardware tuner. As such, it only need communicate with SageTV as would any encoder/tuner.

(Now... on to determine if R5000 modified receivers will work.)

I look forward to the results of Michael's testing this weekend.

Jeff

If I read the features post correctly, and I believe I got the same conclusion you did, it would seem to indicate that audio no longer requires video with it for things like DVB audio. If audio no longer requires video, then maybe video no longer requires audio either, which may help simplify some of the things Michael has been trying to accomplish for us with WFE, like providing feeds from IP webcams where there is no audio...

[michaeldjcox]

WFE 0.9.6 Release candidate.

Available here

Michael

[michaeldjcox]

Given it a quick once over on the laptop - so haven't tried with extenders yet but...

It all seems to work ok with SageTV V7.

Only bug was:

Online services are being written to the SageTV3 rather than SageTV7 STV directory. I copied the props file from one to the other and it worked fine. A fix is required here to detect which STV is being used. Hah a if anyone would bother with SageTV3! The new UI looks nice.

The only other thing was - tuning and detuning seemed a little slower than previously - it may be that some network encoder related parameter in SageTV has become longer.

I will post a fix for the above, investigate the slowness, prove on extenders and release 0.9.6 claiming SageTV7 support.

Michael

[CanadianEh]

Sorry I fell off the face of the Earth during testing, but I'm back to getting this working again

So, I've upgraded to the 0.9.6 version, however I still have two issues:

1 - This feed: http://64.34.159.32/cjfm-aac.m3u breaks up consistently during playback through the plugin... almost like a timing bug of some sort during the conversion process. All other stations I have sound good, and if I play back this stream directly in VLC, there's no pauses or hiccups.

2 - I had to remove the defined values for the XP commands listed in the OS.COMMANDS file in order to get the encoder to switch to a second stream. Otherwise, it was hanging the service. it seems to work fine this way, so far as I can tell


I have one suggestion I'd like to add if it's easy enough to do. The encoded streams for some reason are about 200% louder than my HD-PVR recordings.. lol. Is there a way to lower the volume during the encoding process, or through VLC that would have the effect of normalizing the sound in my system?

Otherwise, this plugin rocks! And, I'm now using it with Sage 7.0.

Thank you for all of your help and dedication you have put into the development and support of this plugin!

-Jay

[CanadianEh]

Originally Posted by CanadianEh

1 - This feed: http://64.34.159.32/cjfm-aac.m3u breaks up consistently during playback through the plugin... almost like a timing bug of some sort during the conversion process. All other stations I have sound good, and if I play back this stream directly in VLC, there's no pauses or hiccups.

This station does the same, again using AAC encoding. One other thing I notice it the sound seems degraded on these AAC streams once processed, I think it may even be mono.

http://provisioning.streamtheworld.c...PULSE87AAC.pls


I hope there's an easy fix

Edit: One thing i notice when I play these streams directly in VLC, is that the first second or so has downgraded sound quality, and then it plays back in "full" bitrate automatically after that first second. Does the stream for AAC files need to be detected further into the stream, not it's inital quality/bitrate level??!

Just theorizing

[n9cqs]

Originally Posted by CanadianEh

2 - I had to remove the defined values for the XP commands listed in the OS.COMMANDS file in order to get the encoder to switch to a second stream. Otherwise, it was hanging the service. it seems to work fine this way, so far as I can tell

-Jay

Regarding .m3u files...

I also removed the XP commands as did Jay (mentioned above):

I have been experiencing trouble since upgrading to 0.9.6. At first I thought it was the .m3u, but I recently got my HD tuner back (someone had borrowed it), and I have it on a different computer streaming to the sage computer. I use .m3u files to tune each station. Each .m3u file has two lines. The first line is a command line that issues controls to the tuner via USB-UIRT. The second line is the actual stream line. In the older versions (0.9.5a etc) this worked fine. But so far, I can get it to issue the "command" (the first line of the .m3u) but not the second. I have had issues with other .m3u files on the web as well, and had to get into them and manually extract the stream URL.

Otherwise, I continue to enjoy trouble free performance from this wonderful plug-in.

Jeff

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by CanadianEh

1 - This feed: http://64.34.159.32/cjfm-aac.m3u breaks up consistently during playback through the plugin... almost like a timing bug of some sort during the conversion process. All other stations I have sound good, and if I play back this stream directly in VLC, there's no pauses or hiccups.

I need to transcode to MP3 to crowbar such feeds into SageTV. VLC 0.9.8a was completely unable to do this. VLC 1.0.5 which WFE 0.9.6 can use does better. However, it seems that while VLC can play the stream OK, transcoding it to MP3 is still a problem. It may be that a few parameters changes for VLC will fix this. I will google this one - see what I can find out.

Originally Posted by CanadianEh

2 - I had to remove the defined values for the XP commands listed in the OS.COMMANDS file in order to get the encoder to switch to a second stream. Otherwise, it was hanging the service. it seems to work fine this way, so far as I can tell

The release candidate RC1 I posted yesterday should not still have any commands listed for XP.

Originally Posted by CanadianEh

I have one suggestion I'd like to add if it's easy enough to do. The encoded streams for some reason are about 200% louder than my HD-PVR recordings.. lol. Is there a way to lower the volume during the encoding process, or through VLC that would have the effect of normalizing the sound in my system?

Yeah holy grail this one. I tried numerous things with VLC. My post in the VLC forums on May 8th has remained unanswered. This is why I needed a "silence" mp3 file because volume couldn't be changed.

Michael

[michaeldjcox]

Originally Posted by n9cqs

Regarding .m3u files...

I also removed the XP commands as did Jay (mentioned above):

I have been experiencing trouble since upgrading to 0.9.6. At first I thought it was the .m3u, but I recently got my HD tuner back (someone had borrowed it), and I have it on a different computer streaming to the sage computer. I use .m3u files to tune each station. Each .m3u file has two lines. The first line is a command line that issues controls to the tuner via USB-UIRT. The second line is the actual stream line. In the older versions (0.9.5a etc) this worked fine. But so far, I can get it to issue the "command" (the first line of the .m3u) but not the second. I have had issues with other .m3u files on the web as well, and had to get into them and manually extract the stream URL.

Otherwise, I continue to enjoy trouble free performance from this wonderful plug-in.

Jeff

Hi,

I had to write my own playlist expander with this version of WFE to get round the fact that VLC was not expanding playlists when using VLM conf files. Raised a bug report on VLC for that but who knows if it will get fixed.

My m3u parsing possibly needs a bit of a tweak.

Will email you on this one.

Michael