CHANNELS DVR with Generic Pipe Capture (PLUTO TV as well)

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by garys255

Hi all,

Been using SageTV in a fairly vanilla way for many years. Running it on an Unraid box via docker for a year or two but now that Charter is close to killing cablecard support, wanted to spin up a new SageTV docker and see if i can get it working with Channels DVR...

I've read through the posts in this thread and think I've got things set up correctly, but I haven't been able to get Sage successfully capture/view a TVE stream from channelsdvr.

Sage can see the new tuners i've set up, and lets me add them, but when I set one up to use SD guide data and change one of the channels to use the number from Channels, I still can't get it to tune.

Looking for ideas as to where it might be going wrong.

Here's an example of one of my tuners in opendct:
sagetv.device.110742372.consumer=opendct.consumer.RawSageTVConsumerImpl
sagetv.device.110742372.custom_channels=
sagetv.device.110742372.delay_to_wait_after_tuning=0
sagetv.device.110742372.device_name=tve01
sagetv.device.110742372.encoder_listen_port=9000
sagetv.device.110742372.encoder_merit=0
sagetv.device.110742372.encoder_pool=generic_pipe
sagetv.device.110742372.exclusive_server_address=
sagetv.device.110742372.fast_network_encoder_switch=true
sagetv.device.110742372.last_channel=6073
sagetv.device.110742372.stopping_executable=
sagetv.device.110742372.streaming_executable=ffmpeg -i http\://192.168.1.92\:8089/devices/ANY/channels/%c%/stream.mpg?format\=ts -c copy -f mpegts -
sagetv.device.110742372.transcode_profile=
sagetv.device.110742372.tuning_delay_ms=0

I think SageTV sends a 2-1 Instead of 2.1 you have to remap the channels. or better yet use the XMLTV from Channels DVR.

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66899

[getchannels]

FYI, you can cut out ffmpeg and it will probably speed up tuning.

sagetv.device.110742372.streaming_executable=curl.exe -s http\://192.168.1.92\:8089/devices/ANY/channels/%c%/stream.mpg

[hvymetal]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

I think SageTV sends a 2-1 Instead of 2.1

If you are using Linux then you can use a .sh so remaping is not required. It will convert 2-1 to 2.1.

1. Copy to OpenDCT /opt dir HDHR_TUNER.sh
2. chmod 777 HDHR_TUNER.sh
3. Also required is in OpenDCT /opt dir ffmpeg

#!/bin/bash
ch_num=$1
ch_offset=$2
ch_num="$(echo $ch_num | tr - .)"

/opt/opendct/ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -v 3 -hide_banner -y -threads 2 -i http://192.168.10.116:5004/auto/v$ch_num -map 0  -c:v copy -c:a copy -c:s copy -threads 7 -tune zerolatency -mpegts_service_type advanced_codec_digital_hdtv -f mpegts pipe:1

ch_offset=
ch_num=

opendct.properties

sagetv.device.70760.streaming_executable=./HDHR_Tuner.sh %c%

Nice thing about using a script you can modify the tunning command without having to restart OpenDCT. All that is require is just a retune of a different channel for testing

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by getchannels

FYI, you can cut out ffmpeg and it will probably speed up tuning.

sagetv.device.110742372.streaming_executable=curl.exe -s http\://192.168.1.92\:8089/devices/ANY/channels/%c%/stream.mpg

What exactly does ffmpeg do for us and is it necessary?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by getchannels

FYI, you can cut out ffmpeg and it will probably speed up tuning.

sagetv.device.110742372.streaming_executable=curl.exe -s http\://192.168.1.92\:8089/devices/ANY/channels/%c%/stream.mpg

Going to try this ... Much faster tunning thanks.... but had problems tuning some channels.... so will stick to ffmpeg.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

What exactly does ffmpeg do for us and is it necessary?

You have to have some writer to get the Streams from Channels DVR ffmpeg does that, but you can also use curl.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

You have to have some writer to get the Streams from Channels DVR ffmpeg does that, but you can also use curl.

Just to confirm, with the suggested curl implementation, we can abandoned ffmpeg entirely? Will that create problems?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Just to confirm, with the suggested curl implementation, we can abandoned ffmpeg entirely? Will that create problems?

I posted above that I had Problems tuning some channels with Curl so I am sticking with FFMPEG.

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/sho...&postcount=265

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

I posted above that I had Problems tuning some channels with Curl so I am sticking with FFMPEG.

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/sho...&postcount=265

Yeah, I saw that, but I'm struggling to understand why the curl method would introduce "problems tuning," or how ffmpeg would resolve that.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Yeah, I saw that, but I'm struggling to understand why the curl method would introduce "problems tuning," or how ffmpeg would resolve that.

Try it for yourself you might not have a problem ... I am just stating my experience.... I could not tune Gettv 6.2 and Rewind TV 6.3 using Curl. They work fine using FFMPEG.

[nyplayer]

I am watching TVE 4K FS1 big east tournament in SageTV thanks to this setup.

[mgpaulus]

I have to say a huge shout out to you guys who have figured out how to get everything working with Channels DVR as well as you have. Comcast has very recently dropped ALL of the channels we watch (Hallmark, HMM, UP, OVATN, etc) from their Cablecard lineup, which means that my HDHR Prime-CC units are pretty much worthless to me. That leaves me with paying a whole lot of $$ to comcast for the 2 STB that I have attached via HDPVR / BMI-3001, and my ChannelsDVR setup with a subscription to Philo and FrndlyTV. So, I'm thinking that the occasional premium channel thing that I watch isn't worth it, and I'll probably drop the whole comcast TV thing, and use them strictly for Internet and Phone, until Ting gets rolling in town. Then I'll probably switch to Ting (unless Comcast drops their $30 / month unlimited surcharge) and have to find a solution for my landline (which I keep b/c my parents only use it....)

So, this ChannelsDVR solution has given my system new life at a time when comcast just wants more money for fewer perks for me.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by mgpaulus

and have to find a solution for my landline (which I keep b/c my parents only use it....)

Look at PBX software and VOIP service. You can create your own PBX system using free software like FreePBX, PBX in a Box, etc. If you only have a couple phones, then you might just look at replacing them with digital phones. However you can get an analog phone converters that will connect to the PBX system as an extension and all the analog phones plug into that converter and then will work on the PBX system through that converter/extension.

Long story short, for the cost of the analog phone converter and an old computer (I actually run mine on a VM on my SageTV computer), you could drop your analog phone line and simply pay for VOIP service. I pay about $3.35/mo for my service (which includes e911 service).

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have or walk through my system and how I started with all analog phones using one of these converters and slowly made the conversion to digital phones over time.