HDTV Firewire Support on The Mac

Diginerd · #1 08-14-2007, 06:06 PM

Is anyone tinkering with this? It should would be nice to close the circle and get Firewire recording integrated on the Mac. I'm not a coder but from what I read Apple makes it nice and easy (Surprise!)

http://project-tigershark.com/people...irewire-hd-pvr

Either as built into Sage (Unlikely?) or along the lines of SGR would rock.

How about a challenge for those with some coding skills?

Diginerd · #2 08-15-2007, 10:20 AM

I poked about with this http://www.ammesset.com/irecord/ and it's really cool, now if it were fully scriptable there has got to be a way to get this to work.

I'm done with Windows based Firewire capture. it has always been flaky, and forget about vista support.

jriskin · #3 09-02-2007, 06:26 PM

I just ordered a new HDTV and I've been tinkering with firewire capture for a couple years now. Windows has ALWAYS been flakey and unreliable (dropping mpeg blocks, audio, frames, etc...), while my G5 powermac has always given me almost perfect HD firewire capture. I've tried 3 different PC's and firewire cards and never managed to get it quite right.

It's sad, because I know I'm going to have to manually record shows on the mac vs. letting sage do it. Not the end of the world and I can always use sage for playback via the media library, but its hardly an ideal solution.

So this is one big vote for firewire on the mac!!!

guho · #4 09-26-2007, 05:54 AM

I've developed a way to use a Macintosh on your home network as a SageTV Firewire Network Encoder. As many have noticed, firewire captures from Mac are often clean whereas from PC it is pixelated. I've only tested it on MacOS 10.4.8 (10.4.x required) and an SA4200HD. Works great. It'll even turn on the box before the recording and turn it off when done.

Should work regardless of whether your SageTV server is Windows or Mac. If Mac and running this encoder on the same machine, just set encoder address to 127.0.0.1.

See http://www.hugolyppens.com/SageTVFir...rkEncoder.html

bcjenkins · #5 09-26-2007, 06:07 AM

That's cool. Can one Mac control multiple boxes? Also, what channels do you get on firewire?

TIA

B

bhyman1 · #6 09-26-2007, 06:14 AM

guho, thats great!

I'll give it a try this week when I have a chance.

guho · #7 09-26-2007, 09:06 AM

Yes, just run multiple instances of the encoder on different port numbers and associate them with different cable boxes.

I get all the channels (I subscribe to basic digital cable), both HD and non-HD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

That's cool. Can one Mac control multiple boxes? Also, what channels do you get on firewire?

TIA

B

jriskin · #8 09-28-2007, 10:04 AM

I can't tell you how much better a solution this is. I've been recording with iRecord, which works, but you lose all the nice features of SageTV (like remembering what you've seen, getting programs at alternative times, on alternative channels, live playback, etc...).

I think my next step might be ditching my PC altogether now. A MacMini + SageMac + HDTV Firewire Plugin + Somesort of Tuner I think would be ideal.

A++ on the plugin! The guys at Sage should really include this built in.

Oh, two small problems.

1. How can I get it to run all the time? I tried launching it with &, but it still seemed to exit when I closed my terminal window.
2. I couldn't get spaces to work in the prefix mapping...

Works:
directoryprefixmap=X:|/Network/Servers/whale/files/
Doesn't work:
directoryprefixmap=X:|/Network/Servers/whale/files/this directory/sage

Vaskill · #9 09-28-2007, 05:51 PM

I am not familiar with mapping in OS X. Can someone give me more specific instructions...

UDPATE: Finaly got it to work with a little help from the net. Will not test quality and network impact. First glance, SA3250HD works fine.

guho · #10 09-28-2007, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jriskin

I can't tell you how much better a solution this is. I've been recording with iRecord, which works, but you lose all the nice features of SageTV (like remembering what you've seen, getting programs at alternative times, on alternative channels, live playback, etc...).

I think my next step might be ditching my PC altogether now. A MacMini + SageMac + HDTV Firewire Plugin + Somesort of Tuner I think would be ideal.

A++ on the plugin! The guys at Sage should really include this built in.

Oh, two small problems.

1. How can I get it to run all the time? I tried launching it with &, but it still seemed to exit when I closed my terminal window.
2. I couldn't get spaces to work in the prefix mapping...

Works:
directoryprefixmap=X:|/Network/Servers/whale/files/
Doesn't work:
directoryprefixmap=X:|/Network/Servers/whale/files/this directory/sage

Glad the SageTV firewire network encoder works well. Point taken about spaces. in your case, as you have done, use a path w/o spaces.

if you exit terminal it's gone. To avoid this, you can use nohup but must redirect output stderr&stdout to files. it is better to just leave terminal up, so you can see what's going on.

oopsydaisy · #11 09-29-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guho

I've developed a way to use a Macintosh on your home network as a SageTV Firewire Network Encoder. As many have noticed, firewire captures from Mac are often clean whereas from PC it is pixelated. I've only tested it on MacOS 10.4.8 (10.4.x required) and an SA4200HD. Works great. It'll even turn on the box before the recording and turn it off when done.

Should work regardless of whether your SageTV server is Windows or Mac. If Mac and running this encoder on the same machine, just set encoder address to 127.0.0.1.

See http://www.hugolyppens.com/SageTVFir...rkEncoder.html

First, let me give you a rundown of my setup. I have a mac mini 1.42Ghz G4/512MB/10.4.10 that I want to use as my SageTV server. I also have a SA4200HD. I have SageTV 6.2.10 installed(don't know if this will work). I have a question and something that doesn't match your instructions on your site. First, from your site, "Add these lines to the mmc/encoders section in sage.properties" I don't see a mmc/encoders section in my sage.properties file. Second, where do I put in the encoder address(127.0.0.1)? I have attached my sage.properties file for review. Thanks in advance

Diginerd · #12 09-29-2007, 06:04 PM

This is pretty easy to fix..

paste the text from Hugo's site in after the last mmc/blahblahblah line in your properties

to place the ip address you need to alter this line from the sample config

mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=ENCODERHOST\:6969

to look like this

mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=127.0.0.1\:6969

Don't forget to go into your network settings an allow the firewall to access port 6969 (Or turn the firewall off if you are on a private network (Which from other lines in your config you look to be) and you have a firewall at the edge of your network between you and the internet.

I'm not too sure if that step is totally neccesary to reach the loopback address (127.0.0.1) so try it without modifying the firewall, but if you get nowhere make the change.

Once we get a few more of us up and doing this then Hugo needs an oscar and a ticker taper parade, as well as we should collectively push this out into the blogshpere as essentially it makes for a HDTV PVR with a free 15 day trial and no reccuring fees on the Mac.

Nothing else comes close!

Now if only there was HDHomerun support too then we'd be cooking on gas!!

One last thing, I suspect your G4 won't be able to play back the HD you record.. Though my MDD 1.25 can just about in VLC but no chance in Sage. Though if you are planning on having HD capable clients you'll be fine.. Placeshifting clients, or to a regular MVP would be too much for the poor G4 to handle)

oopsydaisy · #13 09-29-2007, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diginerd

This is pretty easy to fix..

paste the text from Hugo's site in after the last mmc/blahblahblah line in your properties

to place the ip address you need to alter this line from the sample config

mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=ENCODERHOST\:6969

to look like this

mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=127.0.0.1\:6969

Don't forget to go into your network settings an allow the firewall to access port 6969 (Or turn the firewall off if you are on a private network (Which from other lines in your config you look to be) and you have a firewall at the edge of your network between you and the internet.

I'm not too sure if that step is totally neccesary to reach the loopback address (127.0.0.1) so try it without modifying the firewall, but if you get nowhere make the change.

Once we get a few more of us up and doing this then Hugo needs an oscar and a ticker taper parade, as well as we should collectively push this out into the blogshpere as essentially it makes for a HDTV PVR with a free 15 day trial and no reccuring fees on the Mac.

Nothing else comes close!

Now if only there was HDHomerun support too then we'd be cooking on gas!!

One last thing, I suspect your G4 won't be able to play back the HD you record.. Though my MDD 1.25 can just about in VLC but no chance in Sage. Though if you are planning on having HD capable clients you'll be fine.. Placeshifting clients, or to a regular MVP would be too much for the poor G4 to handle)

Thanks for the info. I will try this and report my results as soon as possible

oopsydaisy · #14 09-29-2007, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diginerd

This is pretty easy to fix..

paste the text from Hugo's site in after the last mmc/blahblahblah line in your properties

to place the ip address you need to alter this line from the sample config

mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=ENCODERHOST\:6969

to look like this

mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=127.0.0.1\:6969

Don't forget to go into your network settings an allow the firewall to access port 6969 (Or turn the firewall off if you are on a private network (Which from other lines in your config you look to be) and you have a firewall at the edge of your network between you and the internet.

I'm not too sure if that step is totally neccesary to reach the loopback address (127.0.0.1) so try it without modifying the firewall, but if you get nowhere make the change.

Once we get a few more of us up and doing this then Hugo needs an oscar and a ticker taper parade, as well as we should collectively push this out into the blogshpere as essentially it makes for a HDTV PVR with a free 15 day trial and no reccuring fees on the Mac.

Nothing else comes close!

Now if only there was HDHomerun support too then we'd be cooking on gas!!

One last thing, I suspect your G4 won't be able to play back the HD you record.. Though my MDD 1.25 can just about in VLC but no chance in Sage. Though if you are planning on having HD capable clients you'll be fine.. Placeshifting clients, or to a regular MVP would be too much for the poor G4 to handle)

OK, so I tried the above, but Sage does not see a digital tuner as I believe it's supposed to. I have attached my config.txt as well as my altered sage.properties. I am on a private network and since it didn't work at first, I did set my airport extreme to open port 6969 for the address of my mini. Is that right? Anyway, still no go.

guho · #15 09-29-2007, 08:46 PM

It could be that the MAC SageTV has other syntax in Sage properties for network encoder than PC SageTV. If you can find any instructions anywhere on how to set up a network encoder as a source to MAC SageTV (such as HD HomeRun etc.) you can apply them to my Firewire Network Encoder and it should work just fine.

bcjenkins · #16 09-30-2007, 04:44 AM

I think the problem is that you have too many \ in your section. And you have double mmc/encoders on some lines.

Here's a snippet from a network encoder on my linux server:

Code:

mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/last_channel=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/provider_id=0
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/saturation=-1
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/sharpness=-1
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/tuning_mode=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/tuning_plugin=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/tuning_plugin_port=0
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/99/0/video_crossbar_type=99
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/audio_capture_device_index=-1
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/audio_capture_device_name=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/audio_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/audio_processor=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/broadcast_standard=ATSC
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/capture_config=53248
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/default_device_quality=Fair
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/device_class=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/dshow_tv_type=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/encoder_merit=0
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/encoding_host=192.168.0.253\:6969
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/last_cross_index=0
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/last_cross_type=100
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/live_audio_input=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/multicast_host=
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/never_stop_encoding=false
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/video_capture_device_name=FusionHDTV, WDM Video Capture
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/video_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/video_encoding_params=Fair
mmc/encoders/-1964508871/video_processor=

Here's yours:

Code:

mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/available_channels=mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/brightness\=0 mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/contrast\=0
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/device_name=mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream\=false
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/hue=0 mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/last_channel\=737
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/provider_id=1876569738441 mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/saturation\=0
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/sharpness=0 mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/tuning_mode\=Cable mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/tuning_plugin\=
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/tuning_plugin_port=0 mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/video_crossbar_index\=0
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/video_crossbar_type=100 mmc/encoders/12348/audio_capture_device_index\=-1
mmc/encoders/12348/audio_capture_device_name=mmc/encoders/12348/audio_capture_device_num\=0
mmc/encoders/12348/audio_processor=mmc/encoders/12348/broadcast_standard\=ATSC mmc/encoders/12348/capture_config\=0
mmc/encoders/12348/default_device_quality=mmc/encoders/12348/device_class\= mmc/encoders/12348/dshow_tv_type\=
mmc/encoders/12348/device_class=
mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host\=127.0.0.1\:6969
mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=
mmc/encoders/12348/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=mmc/encoders/12348/last_cross_index\=0
mmc/encoders/12348/last_cross_type=100 mmc/encoders/12348/live_audio_input\= mmc/encoders/12348/multicast_host\=
mmc/encoders/12348/never_stop_encoding=false mmc/encoders/12348/video_capture_device_name\=SA4200HD
mmc/encoders/12348/video_capture_device_num=0 mmc/encoders/12348/video_compressor\=
mmc/encoders/12348/video_encoding_params=Best mmc/encoders/12348/video_processor\=

I would change it to:

Code:

mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/brightness=0 
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/contrast=0
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/encode_digital_tv_as_program_stream=false
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/hue=0 
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/last_channel=737
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/provider_id=1876569738441 
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/saturation=0
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/sharpness=0 
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/tuning_mode=Cable 
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/tuning_plugin=
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/tuning_plugin_port=0 
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/12348/100/0/video_crossbar_type=100 
mmc/encoders/12348/audio_capture_device_index=-1
mmc/encoders/12348/audio_capture_device_name=
mmc/encoders/12348/audio_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/12348/audio_processor=
mmc/encoders/12348/broadcast_standard=ATSC 
mmc/encoders/12348/capture_config=0
mmc/encoders/12348/default_device_quality=
mmc/encoders/12348/device_class= 
mmc/encoders/12348/dshow_tv_type=
mmc/encoders/12348/device_class=
mmc/encoders/12348/encoder_merit=0 
mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=127.0.0.1\:6969
mmc/encoders/12348/encoding_host=
mmc/encoders/12348/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=
mmc/encoders/12348/last_cross_index=0
mmc/encoders/12348/last_cross_type=100 
mmc/encoders/12348/live_audio_input= 
mmc/encoders/12348/multicast_host=
mmc/encoders/12348/never_stop_encoding=false 
mmc/encoders/12348/video_capture_device_name=SA4200HD
mmc/encoders/12348/video_capture_device_num=0 
mmc/encoders/12348/video_compressor=
mmc/encoders/12348/video_encoding_params=Best 
mmc/encoders/12348/video_processor=

oopsydaisy · #17 09-30-2007, 09:18 AM

OK, so I did what you said and it was still a no-go. I kept checking out the sage.properties file to see if I was missing something and sure enough, there is an entry for network encoder discovery which was set to false. I decided to start with a clean sage.properties file and then copied the text from guho's site. I then cleaned it up so that each mmc entry was on a separate line as you suggested. Lastly, I changed the network encoder discovery value to true. Great success! High 5! I've just gotten to the point where sage sees the tuner. I haven't actually set it up or recorded anything yet, but since this was such a hurdle for me, I thought it was important to post my steps and what brought success. Thanks for all your help guys. Now, on to some recording. I'll check in in a day or 2 to report.

oopsydaisy · #18 09-30-2007, 09:47 AM

OK, so it hasn't been a day or 2, but I've got another question. Is there a way to leave the STB on all the time, or at least to not shut the box off unless I do it manually?

guho · #19 09-30-2007, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oopsydaisy

OK, so it hasn't been a day or 2, but I've got another question. Is there a way to leave the STB on all the time, or at least to not shut the box off unless I do it manually?

You can set the poweroffdelay really high instead of 2 minutes. Perhaps to a day. This is 1000x60x60x24=86400000ms. As long as you have at least one recording happening per day, the box will stay on.

guho · #20 09-30-2007, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

I think the problem is that you have too many \ in your section. And you have double mmc/encoders on some lines.

You're right. I just fixed it.

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