OpenDCT: An open source digital cable tuner.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by wayner

To add to this - you can also use OpenDCT with streams from HDHR OTA tuners. But it has never been clear to me why you would want to do this rather than use them directly which I have done for over a decade.

There is also a variation on this (OpenDCT Generic HTTP Capture Device) that let's you capture other types of network video streams, such as an IP camera or even your PC screen, and capture these in SageTV. This would also work with HDMI encoders (BM1000,URay) which would be a way to be able to capture 4k cable/sat output.

Also, I think OpenDCT does some clean up of the OTA stream via FFMPEG, resulting in fewer viewing issues in miniclient.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

I can answer why you would want to use OPENDCT with HDHR Ota tuners is pooling. Where OPENDCT will check if a tuner is in use by another APP and if it is in use will move on to next available tuner. Without OPENDCT if sagetv tries to use a tuner in use it will just fail and not try another.

Thanks - I have had this happen as on my backup SageTV server(s) I will often point them to an HDHR tuner and occasionally I will have an issue where they try to use the same tuner as my main server. In the past I would fix this by removing a tuner or two from my main tuner. I have two dual HDHRs and rarely need more than one tuner these days so that isn't really a limitation.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

Also, I think OpenDCT does some clean up of the OTA stream via FFMPEG, resulting in fewer viewing issues in miniclient.

I haven't really noticed issues when watching content in the miniclient, other than more complete dropouts or green blocks, but that generally happens during periods of bad weather.

[peterjb]

I've found that the native DVB-T support within in SageTV can be a bit hit and miss to use ( at least here in Oz ).. So I use OpenDCT as the source to clean up the streams and work around the tuning and recording issues. Works like a charm!

[jchiso]

Is (was) there a link to a .deb file for OpenDCT?

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by jchiso

Is (was) there a link to a .deb file for OpenDCT?

Bintray kind of pulled the rug out from under me with 30 days notice to move my stuff because they were getting rid of the free repositories. I will be uploading the latest build to GitHub soon.

[jchiso]

Thanks ...

[EnterNoEscape]

You can now find the latest compiled version of OpenDCT on Github.

[AlphaCrew]

Thank You

[KryptoNyte]

Yes, thank you for keeping up with this.

[Madz]

I'm trying to get OpenDCT setup (in a docker image) to work with my HDHomeRun Connect Quatro. I'm able to use this tuner directly in SageTV (using the native support) but am having trouble under linux with one particular channel - all sub-streams from that channel have issues currently - am hoping the magic of OpenDCT running them through ffmpeg etc will solve this.

Do I need tell it somehow to use the antenna input with australian channels (DVB-T)> When adding the tuner to sage, after it's gone through the process of "determining broadcast standard" there's the screen where you select the tuning option .... the only option there is to "Use Tuner on Capture Card to tune Antenna/Cable TV. then it says "(To selectr between Antenna or Calble, use the SageTV installation that is controlling this Network Encoder)"

So maybe there's something I need to do there??

Currently I get No Signal and the OpenDCT logs show:

09:54:22.718 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG SageTVRequestHandler - SageTV sent: 'START HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2 Digital TV Tuner|695555054|12914-12957-2085-26|3242663325434|/var/media/tv/7617_50_0518_1954-0.ts|Great'
09:54:22.719 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Capture device is now re-locked.
09:54:22.719 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG SageTVRequestHandler - Starting network encoder via upload ID '695555054' to file name '/var/media/tv/7617_50_0518_1954-0.ts'.
09:54:22.719 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] ERROR HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - The channel number 12914 is not a valid AU_BCAST channel number.
09:54:22.720 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG HDHomeRunControl - key: '/tuner2/lockkey' value: 'null' lockKey: '0' sendLength: 26 address: 192.168.0.49
09:54:22.722 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG HDHomeRunControl - key: '/tuner2/lockkey' value: '1062731716' lockKey: '1062731716' sendLength: 45 address: 192.168.0.49
09:54:22.723 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] INFO  HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - HDHomeRun is now locked.
09:54:22.723 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG RTPCaptureDeviceServices - Producer was not running.
09:54:22.723 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG BasicCaptureDevice - Consumer is not in progress.
09:54:22.724 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG DynamicConsumerImpl - Using default consumer 'opendct.consumer.MediaServerConsumerImpl' for channel '12914-12957-2085-26'
09:54:22.729 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] INFO  HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Starting the encoding for the channel '12914-12957-2085-26' from the device 'HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2' to the file '/var/media/tv/7617_50_0518_1954-0.ts' via the upload id '695555054'...
09:54:22.729 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG HDHomeRunControl - key: '/tuner2/vchannel' value: '12957.2085.26' lockKey: '1062731716' sendLength: 49 address: 192.168.0.49
09:54:22.730 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] DEBUG HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Unable to set virtual channel. Trying legacy tuning. => opendct.tuning.hdhomerun.GetSetException: ERROR: invalid virtual channel
	at opendct.tuning.hdhomerun.HDHomeRunControl.setVariable(HDHomeRunControl.java:238)
	at opendct.tuning.hdhomerun.HDHomeRunControl.setVariable(HDHomeRunControl.java:111)
	at opendct.tuning.hdhomerun.HDHomeRunTuner.set(HDHomeRunTuner.java:152)
	at opendct.tuning.hdhomerun.HDHomeRunTuner.setVirtualChannel(HDHomeRunTuner.java:516)
	at opendct.capture.HDHRNativeCaptureDevice.startEncodingSync(HDHRNativeCaptureDevice.java:631)
	at opendct.capture.HDHRNativeCaptureDevice.startEncoding(HDHRNativeCaptureDevice.java:497)
	at opendct.sagetv.SageTVRequestHandler.run(SageTVRequestHandler.java:226)
	at opendct.util.ThreadPool$1.run(ThreadPool.java:39)
	at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)

09:54:22.731 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] INFO  ChannelLineup - '12914-12957-2085-26' was remapped to '12957.2085.26'.
09:54:22.731 [SageTVRequestHandler-130:HDHomeRun OpenDCT-2] ERROR HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - legacyTuneChannel: The channel number 12914 is not a valid ATSC channel.

--

Edit - I've found the "tuning_mode" option in Sage and changed it from "Cable" to "Air" but that doesn't seem to have helped.
Looks like maybe it has something to do with the logical/physical channel overrides I've got in Sage as I'm able to tune channels on a fresh channel lineup but the EPG setup is complicated for me using an old XMLTV importer etc and so I was hoping to be able to copy my existing lineup (and that seemed to be fine when using the HDHR directly).

Any ideas?

[phantomii]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

You can now find the latest compiled version of OpenDCT on Github.

Hey, I just spent a week or two learning about unraid to I could move opendct and Sagetv to docker containers on an unraid server. Built the server and prepped the drives and finally tried to load the Docker Images today, but neither seems to be working. Could this be the issue? Is there someone who can update the Docker Installs for each? Sorry, I know little about this and am just confused and a bit frustrated that this does not appear to work after two weeks of prep...

Thanks for any help or insight you can provide........

[egeller]

Originally Posted by phantomii

Is there someone who can update the Docker Installs for each?.

The beauty of the Unraid builds is that every time you restart the docker, I understand it grabs the latest version of Opendct or Sage (depending on which you're restarting). Therefore it is unlikely to be the software version.

However, which Java version are you using? I remember reading that one of the newer versions is not ready for prime-time yet. Are you using the Java8 version of SageTV? That one works for me.

One stumbling block you might run into is with OpenDCT. On Windows, I think the consumer defaults to FFMPEG. On Unraid, it defaults to opendct.consumer.MediaServerConsumerImpl. If, you're like me, that caused a problem when I first went to Unraid. I had to Stop Opendct, then override each device to opendct.consumer.FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl so that it would use FFMPEG.

DO NOT override consumer.dynamic.default at the top. it will NOT save, by design, on Unraid. You need to override the devices individually.

[wnjj]

Well the beauty of a system that always downloads and updates falls apart when the download system changes as is the case with Bintray going away. In fact that is a never-ending problem with the internet. Sometimes there’s something to be said for install once and leave alone. My Windows setup has been running since 2012.

[Madz]

Totally agree wnjj and my windows setup was much the same - hence why still running WHS2011 (and would have been perfectly happy with it except I need to run some windows docker containers and newer IIS etc).

phantomii I feel your pain as I've also picked this time to do a Windows to Linux sage rebuild... (i'm moving to a Synology NAS)

I'm away at the moment so can't send you anything specific, but basically you've got 3 issues:

The SageTV docker - this isn't so much of a problem as the sage files sit outside the docker container and wnjj has uploaded the latest binaries to the OpenSageTV GitHub so you can just drop the files into the folder that's bound into the container. The update check fails, but container still spins up with whatever files are there currently.

The OpenDCT docker - although the files are still stored external to the container this is a bit more difficult as I don't think it will spin up without being able to access bintray - from memory it crashes with an error. I modified the docker image (locally) to pull from github instead - haven't got around to doing a PR yet but can help out when I get back if you aren't able to get it working.

The biggest problem though is most of the plugins are broken atm as they also depend on bintray so even when you get Sage up and running you can't go through and install things the way you want. It took me quite a while as the versions and platforms weren't the same, but I migrated things over from my existing windows sage install and that seems to have worked although I have had HDHR tuner issues to resolve so haven't used the linux version much yet to confirm.

[phantomii]

Thanks so much for the response. I am also away from home at the moment. I will look through your comments and suggestions when I get home and see what I can do but might be a bit over my head. More learning in store for me I guess!

On a related note, does anyone know if there is a way to put an announcement on these forums about the three impacts noted above by Madz? Seems like kind of a big deal and could discourage folks from using, or continuing with SageTV, and that would be a shame.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by wnjj

Well the beauty of a system that always downloads and updates falls apart when the download system changes as is the case with Bintray going away. In fact that is a never-ending problem with the internet. Sometimes there’s something to be said for install once and leave alone. My Windows setup has been running since 2012.

Kind of unrelated to this, but I have read that this is a potential problem with some NFTs as they have a URL hard-coded into what you are buying so that if a host goes away then you lose the content of your NFT.

[civerson4]

Cox (local cable company) is migrating some channels to MPEG 4 and one morning I received an error message that the cable cards needed to be re-paired. Same message on an old tivo I have running still.

Called tech support, got the cable cards re-paired with the cable system. HD Homerun software is able to tune all channels. Sage/OpenDCT only is able to tune the network channels (ABC, Fox, etc). All others, I get a black screen with a a no signal error.

I am not sure where to start diagnosing the issue. OpenDCT has been rock solid for me for 5 years--and every other time there was an issue, it resolved itself in a day or so as it was a Cox cable issue.

Any ideas/help are appreciated. Thanks.

[waylo]

Originally Posted by civerson4

Cox (local cable company) is migrating some channels to MPEG 4 and one morning I received an error message that the cable cards needed to be re-paired. Same message on an old tivo I have running still.

Called tech support, got the cable cards re-paired with the cable system. HD Homerun software is able to tune all channels. Sage/OpenDCT only is able to tune the network channels (ABC, Fox, etc). All others, I get a black screen with a a no signal error.

I am not sure where to start diagnosing the issue. OpenDCT has been rock solid for me for 5 years--and every other time there was an issue, it resolved itself in a day or so as it was a Cox cable issue.

Any ideas/help are appreciated. Thanks.

I recommend pulling logs of OpenDCT when tuning into both the network channels as well as the ones that don't give a signal and showing them to the experts here.

[civerson4]

Thanks. I was getting an error trying to upload the log files (sagetv_0.txt) with a forum file size limitation. Maybe this is the wrong file.

I did notice the dct_homerun.properties file (attached) shows a number of channels as copy protected that are not (ie Channel 1014--CNN). Do I just need to rescan channels within the HD Homerun setup app? It's been so long since I set this up, I can't remember how the channels are imported from HDhomerun into OpenDCT.

Every channel continues to work in the HDHomerun viewing app, just network channels in Sage/OpenDCT.

Thank you in advance for any help.