DVBViewer Recorder: Network encoder

[StephaneM]

Hello All,

I just released the first version of DVBViewer Recorder.

This is a network encoder for SageTV (6.3.6 or newer) that use DVBViewer as a recording engine.

It features a service that start DVBViewer completely hidden (though once the recorder service is started DVBViewer is dedicated to him), it support multiple tuners for our donators and can extract teletext subtitles in real time so as you can play it directly in SageTV with the Closed Captions STV Import available here in the forums.

I'm personally using this encoder for my dual tuner DVB-T card and my DVB-S (CI+CAM) in SageTV for about a month now and so far it works very well (for subtitles though I expect some bugs depending on what your TS recordings looks like).

You can download it and learn more about DVBViewer Recorder directly on my web site.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Mark SS]

Good work Stephane! Now if I can just get NDSCam to work with DVBViewer, I've got HTPC nirvana.

[rtengvad]

Hi Stephane

Great job!! I have a few questions.

- The plugin, do you know if its work with FireDTV Viewer that share the same core as DVBviewer?

- Can it run in service mode or do you need to be logged on?

- Power Management. Does it work with standby or hibernate?

I think that there might be someone out there wondering if they should go for this plugin or the Mytheatre one. Maybe you can post a few details of the advantages with this one.

Thanks
Rasmus

[Whitey]

Hi Stephane, great work!

I have tried to set-up your encoder but after I have set-up the channel numbers and click "Restart Service and Exit" I get an error saying "Cannot start service DVBViewer Recorder Service on computer'.'."

Also, does the enocder work with DVB-EPG?

Thanks

Whitey

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

do you know if its work with FireDTV Viewer that share the same core as DVBviewer?

I don't think so. The recorder service relies on the DVBViewer COM server.

Can it run in service mode or do you need to be logged on?

It runs in service mode.

Power Management. Does it work with standby or hibernate?

I have not tried it myself. If there are issues, I could easily add power management strategies though.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Whitey

I have tried to set-up your encoder but after I have set-up the channel numbers and click "Restart Service and Exit" I get an error saying "Cannot start service DVBViewer Recorder Service on computer'.'."

I guess this is because your current user account doesn't have permissions to restart the service. So you'll have to restart the service manually.

Also, does the enocder work with DVB-EPG?

No there is no EPG support included, I may study the possibilty of including this feature in an upcoming version.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Whitey]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

I guess this is because your current user account doesn't have permissions to restart the service. So you'll have to restart the service manually.

No there is no EPG support included, I may study the possibilty of including this feature in an upcoming version.

Regards,
Stéphane.

Thanks, managed to clear the error. Still not working though, it gets to Live TV screen and locks up with the timer circle spinning away.

In the In the recorder service what should I enter as the ip address? I'm using sageTV and DVBViewer on the same PC so should it be localhost 127.0.0.1? or the IP of the PC or an IP that matches my local network?

Thanks again

Whitey

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Whitey

Thanks, managed to clear the error. Still not working though, it gets to Live TV screen and locks up with the timer circle spinning away.

What version of SageTV are you using? You need SageTV 6.3.6 (beta) or newer. This is because of SageTV demux that cannot playback DVBViewer recordings.

You can review the logs in C:\Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\LM Gestion\DVBViewer Recorder to see if the recording has started correctly

In the In the recorder service what should I enter as the ip address? I'm using sageTV and DVBViewer on the same PC so should it be localhost 127.0.0.1? or the IP of the PC or an IP that matches my local network?

You can either leave the IP address that the config. utility has already filled (this is normally your PC IP Address) or use 127.0.0.1

[Whitey]

I'm using Sage 6.3.7 beta and the latest DVBViewer. When I tried it last night I had task manager running and dvbviewer.exe and DVBViewerrecordsvc.exe were using CPU cylces but I'll check the logs tonight.

Whitey

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by Mark SS

Good work Stephane! Now if I can just get NDSCam to work with DVBViewer, I've got HTPC nirvana.

Mark,

Any advance in the issue?

[Mark SS]

Not had time to try yet.

[krikkit]

i get the following exception when i try to add a new network tuner

************** Exception Text **************
System.Xml.XPath.XPathException: 'recoders/recorder/channel[@id='1122253004|Heart n' song' and ../@id='789b93bbb582438b87980c32cf1f938d']' has an invalid token.
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseStep(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelativeLocationPath(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelativeLocationPath(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelativeLocationPath(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseLocationPath(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParsePathExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseUnionExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseUnaryExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseMultiplicativeExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseAdditiveExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseRelationalExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseEqualityExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseAndExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseOrExpr(AstNode qyInput)
   at MS.Internal.Xml.XPath.XPathParser.ParseXPathExpresion(String xpathExpresion)
   at System.Xml.XPath.XPathExpression.Compile(String xpath, IXmlNamespaceResolver nsResolver)
   at System.Xml.XPath.XPathNavigator.Select(String xpath)
   at System.Xml.XmlNode.SelectSingleNode(String xpath)
   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.Channels.GetConsolidateChannels(String recorderID)
   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.Channels.GetConsolidatedChannels(Recorder aRecorder)
   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.EditRecorder.InitializeChannelsGrid()
   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.EditRecorder..ctor(Recorder aRecorder, Channels allRecorders)
   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.Form1.editRecorderButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

the problem seems to be that i have a channel in my lineup with the ' character in its name...

removing all ' characters from my channel list did solve the problem...

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by krikkit

System.Xml.XPath.XPathException: 'recoders/recorder/channel[@id='1122253004|Heart n' song' and ../@id='789b93bbb582438b87980c32cf1f938d']' has an invalid token.

the problem seems to be that i have a channel in my lineup with the ' character in its name...

Indeed the quote is the problem. However, I think that if you remove the quote, the consequence will be that those channels will not tune.

I'll fix this issue in a future release.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Whitey]

I also had the ' problem which I removed from the channel name. I had it working once last night, it tuned a channel but with no sound. I switched channels then I got sound but no picture. Third channel sagetv locked up and I haven't been able to get it to work since. Heres the log

20080206 17:02:39.718 - Info - DVBViewer Recoder Service Started
20080206 17:02:52.468 - Info - Recorder 'NewRecorder' listening on 127.0.0.1:9090
20080206 17:58:26.666 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording started: \\home1\My Recordings\Neighbours-3284360-0.ts
20080206 17:59:25.337 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording stopped: \\home1\My Recordings\Neighbours-3284360-0.ts
20080206 17:59:26.353 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording started: \\home1\My Recordings\TheWeakestLink-3312314-0.ts
20080206 18:00:00.228 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording stopped: \\home1\My Recordings\TheWeakestLink-3312314-0.ts
20080206 18:00:01.353 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording started: \\home1\My Recordings\Eggheads-3312315-0.ts
20080206 18:00:14.322 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording stopped: \\home1\My Recordings\Eggheads-3312315-0.ts
20080206 18:00:16.947 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording started: \\home1\My Recordings\CentralTonight-3290294-0.ts
20080206 18:00:35.603 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording stopped: \\home1\My Recordings\CentralTonight-3290294-0.ts
20080206 18:00:36.728 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording started: \\home1\My Recordings\HomeandAway-3287929-0.ts
20080206 18:02:17.791 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording stopped: \\home1\My Recordings\HomeandAway-3287929-0.ts
20080206 22:09:10.712 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording started: \\home1\My Recordings\BBCNewsRegionalNewsWeather-3284365-0.ts
20080206 22:09:35.400 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording stopped: \\home1\My Recordings\BBCNewsRegionalNewsWeather-3284365-0.ts
20080206 22:12:00.619 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording started: \\home1\My Recordings\Kickboxer-3287935-0.ts
20080206 22:12:56.681 - Info - NewRecorder - Recording stopped: \\home1\My Recordings\Kickboxer-3287935-0.ts

Whitey

[Mark SS]

If I wasn't so tired I'd be quite excited about getting NDSCam working in DVBViewer! Looks like the transponder file in DVBViewer is incorrect for some of the DVB-S2 channels so fixing that now. Specifically want to see if the HD Retail Info channel tunes in as its the only HD channel you can test without an HD sub.

Will hopefully move on to trying the plugin tomorrow. If this works I'm shelling out for more cards, taking an HD sub and ordering the 50" plasma I've got my eye on

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Whitey

it tuned a channel but with no sound. I switched channels then I got sound but no picture. Third channel sagetv locked up and I haven't been able to get it to work since. Heres the log

Logs are fine. So try to make a recording first (not using LiveTV), once the recording is complete, try to play it in SageTV, Windows Media Player or VLC (VLC may not play the recordings if you have an SMI file corresponding to it, so rename it or move it).

SageTV can have many problems with DVBViewer recordings (back in December when I was developping the recorder, SageTV was not able to play any of my recordings, Qian quickly fixed the issue, but there might be some issues left. For instance: SageTV has sometimes troubles to select the right audio stream).

You can also try Placeshifter, as Placeshifter doesn't use the same playback engine: it works a lot better for playing back DVBViewer recordings).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[bjkiller]

Originally Posted by Mark SS

If I wasn't so tired I'd be quite excited about getting NDSCam working in DVBViewer! Looks like the transponder file in DVBViewer is incorrect for some of the DVB-S2 channels so fixing that now. Specifically want to see if the HD Retail Info channel tunes in as its the only HD channel you can test without an HD sub.

Will hopefully move on to trying the plugin tomorrow. If this works I'm shelling out for more cards, taking an HD sub and ordering the 50" plasma I've got my eye on

Crossing fingers for your success.

[krikkit]

so i got the next error when trying to run the DVBViewer Recoder Service

content of the C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users\Anwendungsdaten\LM Gestion\DVBViewer Recorder\trace_xxxxxx.log file:

20080208 10:20:16.265 - Info - DVBViewer Recoder Service Started
20080208 10:20:19.000 - Info - Recorder 'dvbviewer' listening on 192.168.1.2:9090
20080208 10:20:19.031 - Error - Unexpected errorSome or all identity references could not be translated.
                                   at System.Security.Principal.NTAccount.Translate(IdentityReferenceCollection sourceAccounts, Type targetType, Boolean forceSuccess)
                                   at System.Security.Principal.NTAccount.Translate(Type targetType)
                                   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Ipc.IpcServerChannel.Listen()
                                   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
                                   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
                                   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
20080208 10:20:19.531 - Info - DVBViewer Recoder Service Stopped

this error suggests that there is something wrong with user account? ...but i am running all of this with a local admin account... ...any clues?

btw. i'm running DVBViewer Pro 3.9.2.0...

[SyrA]

Hello !

Now i have tried to use your networkencoder program, but i cant get any recordings to start.

Everything looks good in the logs except for the fact that dvbviewer never starts the recording. Its at 0 mb all the time. If i manually start a recording from dvbv it generates a file over 0 mb.

Any ideas ?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by krikkit

so i got the next error when trying to run the DVBViewer Recoder Service: Some or all identity references could not be translated.../...but i am running all of this with a local admin account... ...any clues?

This error means that the .Net Framework cannot transform a named user account or group into security identity that it can use. The only named user account / group used in DVBViewer Recorder is the group "Everyone". This is the authorized group for accessing DVBViewer Recorder through a remote IPC Channel. The DVBViewer Recorder config utility is using this channel to get the channel list when the DVBViewer Recorder Service is running (otherwise it get the channel list directly from DVBViewer).

I don't see any other code path where "identity reference translation" could occur.

Now why is this happening. I currently have no idea at all. Could you just run the service with the "Local System" account and see if it works that way?

Regards,
Stéphane.