HDHomeRun (HDHR) Prime + SageDCT

[phelme]

Originally Posted by jlmdxtv

Hi Phelme,

Thanks for the suggestion.

Before leaving for work this morning I tried turning *off* the Windows Firewall and use the SAGEDCT config again, and this time it saw the tuners.

I figure I'll need to ask Andy what firewall rule changes I'll need to make on XP besides adding SAGEDCT.exe to the Program Exception list.

Once I get this working I'll report back. I'm guessing there are others running XP that got the Prime through some holiday deal and are just starting to install it.

John

Interesting. You must not have general exceptions set up in the firewall for UDP discovery or something.

Now that you can see the tuners, have ConfigSageDCT assign ports for all three and add UDP exceptions for those in the firewall. and turn the firewall back on.

[zoop]

Originally Posted by phelme

Interesting. You must not have general exceptions set up in the firewall for UDP discovery or something.

Now that you can see the tuners, have ConfigSageDCT assign ports for all three and add UDP exceptions for those in the firewall. and turn the firewall back on.

this is exactly what i had to do to get it working in XP. good news is that it's been running for a month easily without any interaction needed...

/jer

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by zoop

this is exactly what i had to do to get it working in XP. good news is that it's been running for a month easily without any interaction needed...

/jer

Interesting... I did not have to do anything special to get it working in Win2003 (based on XP) and theoretically have less open holes in it... Maybe it worked OOTB for me because I have 2x HDHR's already... Perhaps i did somehting when i set those up... that was 3 years ago though so who knows if i did anything special

[sflamm]

Why would you need the firewall on at all? Internal traffic only between clients and a dedicated SageTV server...

[voorhees]

Originally Posted by phelme

Now that you can see the tuners, have ConfigSageDCT assign ports for all three and add UDP exceptions for those in the firewall. and turn the firewall back on.

When I setup my ports a few months ago I left it defaulted to TCP, and have had only the occasional halt. Do the firewall exceptions need to be UDP? I am assuming TCP is fine since my is good 99.7% of the time. Thanks.

[sflamm]

Discovery / control protocol typically would be UDP (broadcast traffic).

Again if this is for internal traffic only there is no need to run your server firewall at all... just overhead. Just make sure you border traffic has an appropriate firewall and other 'access' machines are running appropriate UTM software.

[phelme]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Why would you need the firewall on at all? Internal traffic only between clients and a dedicated SageTV server...

It's the only way on Windows for the RTP packets to be forwarded.

[sflamm]

Well that certainly isnt true... for instance the HDHR uses RTP as well and no firewall is required.

[sflamm]

btw:

RTSP is a control protocol that works in tandem with the data delivery Real Time Protocol (RTP) to provide content to clients.

If the connection URL uses RTSP, RTSP automatically negotiates the best delivery mechanism for the content. It then directs the RTP protocol to deliver streaming content using UDP, or using a TCP-based protocol on a network that does not support UDP.

[phelme]

Originally Posted by sflamm

Well that certainly isnt true... for instance the HDHR uses RTP as well and no firewall is required.

Andy will need to pipe in here since he's the SageDCT author; I'm sure I'm referring to the wrong packet type. Could be RTSP. It certainly does not work on XP for me unless a firewall is in the loop. Maybe it has to do with his implementation. And it doesn't work with all third-party Windows firewalls either.

[jkohn]

I'm aware some software can fail to install correctly, because its setup tries to create firewall rules, and lacks the proper error handling to recover when said rule creation fails due to firewall being disabled; but it does seem odd that a program would otherwise require the firewall to operate correctly.

Having said that, SageDCT is working flawlessly for me so far with the firewall turned on. So it's not really something I'm too concerned about. My Sage server is single-use, dedicated strictly to Sage/SageDTC/HDHR, so it's not like having the firewall enabled on that machine is causing problems for any other applications.

[jlmdxtv]

I got my Prime working through SAGEDCT and Windows XP. I left the firewall running (after the discovery) because Andy's site recommends that for whatever reason.

Unfortunately, all the non-broadcast-type channels are showing up as subscribed but "protected-copyonce" in the QuickTV viewer. This includes stations like TNT, DSC, AMC, etc.

The activation support desk tells me that the card may bad (or can't be paired with my account on some backend server) and to go get another.

I'm wondering what other's experiences are with the HDHomerun QuickTV viewer. Shouldn't it be able to display the non-locals via Comcast?

I guess it's possible that Comcast is setting those stations protected, but I think I'll try another card before going down that road. My current card was *not* a customer-ready unit. They "found" it in the warehouse after I complained of yet another wasted trip down there.

BTW: I'm located just outside of Philadelphia (Comcast HQ). You'd think their local offices would have a healthy supply of cable cards on the ready. But this guy told me they generally don't carry them.

john

[ranger]

Originally Posted by jlmdxtv

Unfortunately, all the non-broadcast-type channels are showing up as subscribed but "protected-copyonce" in the QuickTV viewer. This includes stations like TNT, DSC, AMC, etc.

The activation support desk tells me that the card may bad (or can't be paired with my account on some backend server) and to go get another.

I'm wondering what other's experiences are with the HDHomerun QuickTV viewer. Shouldn't it be able to display the non-locals via Comcast?

I guess it's possible that Comcast is setting those stations protected, but I think I'll try another card before going down that road. My current card was *not* a customer-ready unit. They "found" it in the warehouse after I complained of yet another wasted trip down there.

Comcast's policy at the present time is that all non-premium channels should not have any copy protection. The reality is that many local offices for one reason or another leave them flagged as copy protected.

I currently have a ticket open with Comcast to try and get just a few more stations fixed. The managed to fix HGTV-HD for me but neglected ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, UHD, and all the SD channels (which I don't really care about). It's already been 2 weeks, so don't expect them to be quick and especially don't expect the folks on the phone to understand the issue or send you in the right direction. I had to get my cable card replaced once to prove to them it wasn't the card. They still thought it was a pairing issue, so I just went around them and contacted support through a different channel.

The following is a quote from a thread over at the SiliconDust web site.

Non-premium channels should not be marked as copy protected on Comcast per their corporate standards. As with any organization as large and spread out as Comcast is, communication from the corporate office to the locals can sometimes be a challenge, so some areas do incorrectly mark expanded basic channels as copy protected. In these cases, there are basically 2 options, either ask support for the phone number for the corporate office responsible for your region, call them, and provide a list of channels that are copy protected and ask that they work with the local people to get that fixed, or email we_can_help@comcast.com with the same list and request. Others on Comcast have reported success in getting the channels marked as copy freely, though in some cases it can take some time for the request to make its way through the system.

Hope it helps

[autoboy]

Hey guys, I can't seem to get my Prime to work with my setup. I am running whs and SageTV 7.1.9 and downloaded the latest SageDCT client. SageTV says my tuners are working and the prime says that the channel is tuned but I get a no signal message. I have firewall turned on. I'm not sure what else to do. My apologies if this error is already posted as it is hard to search for whs because the search doesn't take a 2 letter word and I have 11 week old twins at home so it is hard for me to read an entire 30 page thread.

[gplasky]

Make sure you opened up the ports that SageDCT needs opened on the firewall. You need to do this manually on WHS. (Just like XP)

Gerry

[eobiont]

I have Windows 7 SP1 64bit.
I have a 3 tuner HDHRPrime.
Everything is working great in Sage, however if my system goes to sleep, when it wakes back up, the SageDCT service is not running. It says automatic for startup, however there is no status listed for the service. (No started, stopped) I can start the service and restart the Sage TV service and everything goes back to working. Can I set something to make this recover from sleep better?

DCT is version 2.1.8 and sage is on 7.1.9.256

[jbuszkie]

Thanks so much for SageDCT!!!! After a small amount of effort to get the correct type of card from comcast (they actually had to order it), I believe I am up and running!! My quick test went really well! The card activation went smooth and luckily for me all the channel flags are set correctly!! Hooray!!

Now we'll see how stable it all is.

I can abandon firewire recording now!! And I can return one of my STBs and save like $10/ month! Well it will be less than that since they are charging me $7/mo for the cable card! Maybe I can return both STBs and then the card might be free...

Anyway... Thanks again for SageDCT!!!!

jim

[jlmdxtv]

Here's my successful result of installing the HDHomerun Prime on a Windows XP machine. This is from memory, so it might be sketchy.


I started off with a Cable Card (that's a process in itself) and Comcast Digital Preferred service. Cable the Prime box into your network and attach the coaxial cable.


Setup the HDHomerun install:
1 - Turn off the SageTV Service
2 - Install the HDHomerun Prime software and let it download and install the latest firmware
3 - Let the Prime installer find the tuners
4 - There are tuner status screens in the HDHomerun install program - go to them for card ID data for activation. There is also a Cable Card activation number to call in its setup.
5 - Call that activation number and have them authorize (pair) the card based on the serial numbers and such that they will ask for. Make certain you give them the correct numbers.
6 - Wait an hour or so (for them to authorize the card) and for the guide/channel list to be seen in the HDHomerun install program.
7 - You *should* be able to see video on all the local and extended channels that you're provisioned for in the HDHomerun install "QuickTV" viewer. If not, don't bother with Media Center or installing SageDCT yet. I was getting messages like "You're not authorized to view this channel" and "the station is flagged copy-once" type errors. No first-tier support person could make it work even after hours on the phone with them over 3 days. They insisted I used Media Center to view them. The third Level2 person I contacted had a friend in a local office who reset a "DAK" and then everything started working. My locals were working with the Prime regardless of the bad DAK setting.

Setup SageDCT:
1 - If "UPNP Framework" under Windows Firewall "exceptions" isn't checked, as was my case, then check that box or the SageDCT Tuner discovery won't work
2 - Install SageDCT - I'm using 2.1.8 x.86 - you can find it here:
http://babgvant.com/files/folders/sa...s/default.aspx (Get the latest 32 or 64 bit version of SageDCT, Thanks Razrsharpe!)
3 - Unzip and run the SageDCT installer - and use Discovery Tab and press "Scan" and then "Generate Channel Assignments" to a file name like "Assignments.txt"
4 - Go back to the Windows firewall and add "SageDCT.exe" to the list of "Programs and Services" - you'll have to browse for its location -- by default mine was in "\Program Files\babgvant.com\SageDCT".
5 - Back in the SageDCT installer there is a Tuners tabs that will show you the port numbers the 3 tuners are using. Add these three port numbers under "Add port" on the "Exceptions" tab of the Windows Firewall - you can name it anything (but I used something like "SageDCT-6972", SageDCT-6974" and "SageDCT-6975" to match the assigned port numbers) - click the radio buttons that reads: UDP for each port added.
6 - I kept the default checks under the "Settings" tab. Static Tuners checked, but nothing else checked.
7 - Find and open Sage's Properties file (after you backup the old one) and are certain the SageTV service is actually still off. Take the contents of the "Assignments.txt" file from earlier and paste it into the bottom of the SageTV Properties file (mine was: \Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\Sage.Properties) on your SageTV server and save it.


Setup SageTV:
1 - Reboot after the steps above and let the SageTV service start up.
2 - Start the SageTV UI. Under Setup, setup the video source for each of the 3 Prime tuners - they will all have SageDCT in their names.
3 - Pick the channel list and select all the station numbers that were accessible in the Prime's "QuickTV" program. There is no need to scan for channels or preview them.
4 - I rebooted again after saving all of these tuner/channel assignments.

Things have been working fine since!

Observations:
1 - SageDCT uses little-to-no processor cycles even when handling 3 HD streams for me. I use an Intel I3. I've tested with 3 Prime tuners and 2 standard HDHomerun tuners all recording and the overall CPU was about 5%.
2 - The video is fantastic.
3 - The Prime was easier for me to setup than the original HDHomerun (and its method for channel assignments).
4 - I run Comskip (post recording) and haven't seen any problems yet.
5 - Files are stored in .TS format - easily moved to DVDs, VideoRedo, etc.
6 - Hopefully, Google won't be buying out SiliconDust anytime soon.

john

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by jlmdxtv

2 - Install SageDCT - you can find it here:
http://babgvant.com/files/folders/sa...ntry19846.aspx

use these links for the current verions (2.1.8)... that link is for version 2.0
x86
x64

[phelme]

Fantastic write-up!!

Originally Posted by jlmdxtv

Observations:
1 - SageDCT uses little-to-no processor cycles even when handling 3 HD streams. I use an Intel I3. I've tested with 3 Prime tuners and 2 standard HDHomeRun tuners all recording and the overall CPU was about 5%.
john

But, this point isn't true on my XP server. It can run up to 25% (the SageDCT process) with all 3 streams going and get even higher if you are watching one of those streams live. I'm running a quad core AMD chip so I'm not sure where the bottleneck is exactly. Have a PCI-E gigabit Ethernet card too.

Could have something to do with the drives I'm using since one is Firewire and the other two are SATA. But I get no kind of CPU usage even close to this with HD-PVR's or the old HDHomeRun.