HDTV Network Encoder v0.9.0 07-08-05 - HD Support for Sage!

[Stealth1971]

Originally Posted by chrisc16

Stealth,

Any more updates? I use HDNE daily, but it only works on 2 out of 6 HD channels (the other 4 don't play, probably due to Sage bugs).

-Chris

Version 0.9.0 should be released soon - I am waiting for some beta test feedback. (like the releases aren't beta too ) The next version should have some cool enhancements (at least IMO).

thanks for the interest and feedback!

Stealth

[Stealth1971]

version 0.9.0 is released - please let know of any issues or missing directions! Enjoy!

[KJake]

hey guys, i don't know much about the HD world other than it looks really great. i have a couple of questions.

1) does this need to run in a client configuration or can it run directly on the sagetv server?
2) is this possible to get working with HD from a DirecTV box or just OTA?

[flashbacck]

Hey Stealth,

I'm getting a "There was a problem accessing the filesystem for playback" error. You mention, the default is recording the TS stream... But I thought we couldn't play TS streams yet.

[ldavis]

Stealth1971,

I have Ver 0.9 installed but I have a few problems:

1.) Whenever I try to watch HD I get an "unable to access filesystem" error. The file that is being recorded by Sage it there and can be accessed/played by other programs. I also noticed that when HDNE is started right after the setting the dummy traget file (C:\MediaStorage\Temp001.mpg) I get a "Couldn't SetFileName!!!" error. I did not get this with version 0.8

2.) From the above it appears the you are saving a ts file to a .mpg extension. How do I enter the various subchannels for each major channel?

[Stealth1971]

Originally Posted by flashbacck

Hey Stealth,

I'm getting a "There was a problem accessing the filesystem for playback" error. You mention, the default is recording the TS stream... But I thought we couldn't play TS streams yet.

Oops - I have been testing with new versions of the Sage demux filters, but I assumed there was still TS demux support in previous versions.

I will see what we can do to get the new ones released.

BTW - you can also use Sigma957's DumpPS filter - it dumps to a PS stream without the Cyberlink/NVidia combo

[flashbacck]

ldavis,

Registering Sigma's DumpPS filter ( http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...334#post102334 ) and placing the CLSID in the servicexml will allow you to get around the TS playback problem.

edit: doh, 1 min too slow.

[ldavis]

That appears to have fixed everything. Tuning is much quicker than with ver 0.8. I am correct that the new Sage demux will allow us to select the desired subchannel.

[mkanet]

Does HDNE support more than one HDTV BDA card? I am planning on ordering 2 Fusion 5 gold cards in the next couple of weeks.

If it does support at least 2 HDTV cards, are there any stability issues or bugs/limitations that I should know about. I only plan on recording OTA ATSC with both tuners.

** This will be in addition to the Haupauge WinTV PVR USB2 that I already have.

-Μ

[ldavis]

I have been using this new version (0.9) for a while and have one problem. I have two PVR250's along w/ a Fusion card for HD. I cannot watch an HD show live or watch a recorded HD show while another HD show is recording without severe studdering. I do not see this problem with SDTV. I can also watch recorded HD just fine provided that no HD is recording. The problem persists on both server and client. I have increased the buffer for playback but this has not helped. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to fix this problem?

[flashbacck]

ldavis,

Do you know if this is a CPU usage problem? Maybe you could try different video codecs...

I occasionally still get the audio processing errors on certain channels. Also sigma's Dump filter works, but there's no way to control what subchannel it's tuning to. For example, my ABC is stuck on 7-3, which is the 24hr weather radar .

[ldavis]

flashback,

I checked CPU usage which runs no more than 65%. I did try different filters but that had no effect.

[jblust]

Originally Posted by Stealth1971

Oops - I have been testing with new versions of the Sage demux filters, but I assumed there was still TS demux support in previous versions.

I will see what we can do to get the new ones released.

Any news on Frey letting us use the new Sage TS demux filters?

[Stealth1971]

Originally Posted by flashbacck

ldavis,

Do you know if this is a CPU usage problem? Maybe you could try different video codecs...

I occasionally still get the audio processing errors on certain channels. Also sigma's Dump filter works, but there's no way to control what subchannel it's tuning to. For example, my ABC is stuck on 7-3, which is the 24hr weather radar .

Yep - I was getting 7-3 all the time too (are you in the chicago area?)

The following is a response from Sigma about this:

The PID selection is the part that I have had the most trouble with. Currently, it tries to determine the PIDs by examing the first 2000 data packets and looking for program data packets for the ".1" subchannel. If it can't find any program data packets (often the case), it just uses the lowest PID it finds ending in hex "1" as the video PID (video PIDs are usually numbered 0x11, 0x21, etc.) and the lowest PID it finds ending in hex "4" as the audio PID (audio PIDs are usually numbered 0x14, 0x24, etc.). This seems to work in most cases, but obviously it's not fool-proof. There are some registry keys that you can set to override the default behavior:

1) HKCU\Software\Filters\DumpPS\MaxPIDAttempts - (DWORD) The number of packets to scan for program information. You could try increasing this (the default is 2000).
2) HKCU\Software\Filters\DumpPS\VideoPID - (DWORD) This basically bypasses the PID determination logic and specifies the video PID to use.
3) HKCU\Software\Filters\DumpPS\AudioPID - (DWORD) Same as above, but for the audio PID.

The videoPID and AudioPID keys are checked at the start of each capture, so you could have HDNE keep a mapping of the PIDs for each channel, and set the registry keys before starting a capture. It's kind of clunky, but it would work. I have been intending to improve the PID detection logic, but it's hard for me to test because the current logic works for all of my local channels.

I would try increasing the MaxPIDAttempts to cover one seconds worth of data in hopes of getting Program Info packets-

- most OTA channel bandwidth is 19Mbit per second or approx = 2,375,000 bytes per second
- each packet is 188 bytes

# of packets for a second would = 2,375,000/188 = 12632 packets?

Not sure if that work or not - I havent tried it yet!!!

I believe the existing settings are fine from the firewire TS stream - they probably get PID data more often from their respective cable company.

-----

I can try the other item to auto assign the PIDs for each station change via the registry. - It will take some time to try it though.

[chrisc16]

Originally Posted by flashbacck

ldavis,

I occasionally still get the audio processing errors on certain channels. Also sigma's Dump filter works, but there's no way to control what subchannel it's tuning to. For example, my ABC is stuck on 7-3, which is the 24hr weather radar .

flashbacck,

I get the same error on my ABC in Los Angeles - I always get the weather subchannel using Sigmas PS Dump filter.

-Chris

[sigma957]

Hi everyone, I am currently working on a better method for determining the PIDs in the DumpPS filter. I'll let you know when I have something new.

[jblust]

Just got my A180 but I'm running into problems (the "problem accessing the filesystem for playback" problem). Since the A180 doesn't come with any software, is there a program I can use to make sure I can get the card to tune channels correctly, besides MCE?

[jblust]

Okay, I found WatchHDTV on AVSForum and my A180 is tuning correctly. Using HDNE, I don't get any sort of errors on the HDNE machine (which is a separate box from the Sage server) but when I try to "View" a channel from the channel setup screen, it just seems to trigger HDNE to create a 0-length file, and Sage eventually gives up with the filesystem error.

Edit: Nevermind. I don't know what I did, but I got it working (although it's a little jumpy)

[flashbacck]

How long does it take you guys to tune to a channel? Either from the main menu or just changing channels. I think my system is slow, but I don't know if it's my system or if that's just the way it is.

[nallen]

I've been getting the following error after pressing the start button in HDNE.

2005-07-14T14:43:13 Application Started - version 0.9.0
2005-07-14T14:43:17 Starting RecordWatch thread
2005-07-14T14:43:17 HDNE Capture Plugin unabled to create and initialize

I'm using a BDA-compliant VBox DTA 151 HD Card on XP Pro. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this?