DVBViewer Recorder: Network encoder

[Bacon2002]

Hi,

Regrettably I am still struggling to get the plugin working with Vista 64, here's what I've tried to do:-

1) Installed DVBViewer and installed the plugin
2) Completed a search in DVBViewer and found lots of channels
3) As I am running Vista 64 I have had to set up a dummy folder C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\
4) Set up the Plugin as per the instruction (choose channel numbers for the channel I want to appear in SageTV)
5) Copied the SageTV property file from the dummy folder to the actual Vista 64 folder ie C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\
6) Launch Sage and set up a new Video Source as per the instructions (I do not do a search)

So far so good, the new DVBViewer network video source now appear in SageTV but the channels I specified (in point 4 above) do not appear in SageTV, the Video Source appears fine but no channels.

If I do a scan in SageTV then I get lots of messages appear in the DVBViewer Recorder Monitor window:-

Service 13:02:45:661 Verbose DVBViewer - AUTOSCAN = ERROR Not supported
etc etc etc............

Whilst I've read that the scan option does not work I wonder if this is showing that the plugin is at least trying to work.

Does anyone know what I've missed or what I need to do in order to add the channel from DVBViewer to my SageTV video source.

Many thanks,

David

[Bacon2002]

Hi,

I've worked out where I went wrong.

I didn't realise that as well as choosing the channels you want in the plugin, you also have to select an existing line up in SageTV. If you select not use an existing line up then none of the channels you previously selected in the plugin are available on the new video source.

So I set up a channel line up in the XMLTV plugin uploaded it, went through the whole process again and this time it worked.

David

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Bacon2002

I've worked out where I went wrong.

Great.

As you found out the DVBViewer plugin only act as a tuner, thus making channels available to SageTV for recording but not for scanning.

But you have to either:

* add the channels manually (using the number given in DVBViewer Recorder)
* add the channels through an XMLTV plugin

Regards,
Stéphane.

[Bacon2002]

Hi,

This is a really useful plugin.

At the moment though if I try to watch a DVBViewer plugin channel on the server machine I only get a second or so of video and then the picture freezes, if I subsiquently try to change channel then SageTV eggtimers (circles) for ages (could be indefinately) and becomes none responsive.

If however I watch a DVBViewer plugin channel on a client (HD100, placeshifter) then it works great.

I have a feeling this could be to do with the rendering or audio options (EVR/VR9 etc) in SageTV?

Any ideas or suggestions how I could fix this.

Once I get everything working then I'd like to have four video sources (BlackGold 3540 card with 2xDVB-S and 2xDVB-T) through the plugin will this be possible or is this to many sources?

Many thanks,

David

[StephaneM]

Hi David,

Originally Posted by Bacon2002

if I try to watch a DVBViewer plugin channel on the server machine I only get a second or so of video and then the picture freezes.../...If however I watch a DVBViewer plugin channel on a client (HD100, placeshifter) then it works great.

This can happens. SageTV doesn't like some DVB streams.

Make sure that in DVBViewer Recorder you have selected the TS format (you'll have to change the video source in SageTV) and that in DVBViewer Settings\Options\Recorder you have selected "Adjust PAT/PMT" (you can also remove "DVB Subtitle")

I have a feeling this could be to do with the rendering or audio options (EVR/VR9 etc) in SageTV?

No the renderer is not what cause the issues. It's probably the SageTV demuxer. However audio/video codecs can play a role (especially with the last SageTV beta. I personally found Cyberlink video decoder (MPEG2 and H264) and FFDShow audio decoder Ok)

Any ideas or suggestions how I could fix this.

Try to go with TS and change the video / audio decoder if you can, then submit a bug report to SageTV with samples videos.

Once I get everything working then I'd like to have four video sources (BlackGold 3540 card with 2xDVB-S and 2xDVB-T) through the plugin will this be possible or is this to many sources?

It will be possible (I'm running two DVB-T and one DVB-S)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[gianpieroizzo]

Hi Stephane,

hope you can help me.
I'm using DVBViewer 3.9.4.103 RC1 as recorder of Sage 6.5.2 on an AMD780G based machine.
Often, changing from one channel to another I observe the crash of your DVBViewer Recorder service (version 1.9), with the following error on the trace:

20081204 00.46.28.890 - Error - Unexpected error : Specified cast is not valid.
                                   at DVBViewerServer.IDVBViewer.SetSetupValue(String Section, String Name, String Value)
                                   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.DVBViewerConnector.TuneChannel(String channelNumber, String filePath, Boolean forceDelete)
                                   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.DVBViewerConnector.HandleSageCommand(String sageCommand)
                                   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.NetworkRecorder.SageCommand_Received(SageCommand command)
                                   at LMGestion.DVBViewerRecorder.TCPListener.ReceiveData(IAsyncResult iAr)
                                   at System.Net.LazyAsyncResult.Complete(IntPtr userToken)
                                   at System.Net.ContextAwareResult.CompleteCallback(Object state)
                                   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
                                   at System.Net.ContextAwareResult.Complete(IntPtr userToken)
                                   at System.Net.LazyAsyncResult.ProtectedInvokeCallback(Object result, IntPtr userToken)
                                   at System.Net.Sockets.BaseOverlappedAsyncResult.CompletionPortCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)
                                   at System.Threading._IOCompletionCallback.PerformIOCompletionCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* pOVERLAP)

In the meanwhile the debug.log of DVBViewer shows the following (I attach a piece containing the previously correct channel switch to SKYCinema 1 (at 00.43.32) and the wrong one to SKYCinema 2 (at 00.43.57) for comparison):

04.12.08 00.43.32  Release         TechnoTrend BDA/DVB-S Tuner
04.12.08 00.43.32 TDVBHardware.SetTuner PMT: 1108 - SID: 11101
04.12.08 00.43.33 Settuner         End
04.12.08 00.43.35  Allocate        TechnoTrend BDA/DVB-S Tuner
04.12.08 00.43.35 StartRecording   TechnoTrend BDA/DVB-S Tuner
04.12.08 00.43.35 StartRecording:  SKYCinema 1 (ita)
04.12.08 00.43.35 VCR-Internal     Recordingstart.
04.12.08 00.43.57  Release         TechnoTrend BDA/DVB-S Tuner
04.12.08 00.43.59 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.00 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.01 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.02 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.03 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.04 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.24 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.25 params           -m-c
04.12.08 00.44.26 params           -m-c

The .ts file is created on the directory, but it is empty (0 byte). Then nothing works anymore, even stopping and restarting everything.
At the end I discovered that, if I stop everything and I try to use DVBViewer alone (configured not to tune on any channel at startup) it starts exactly recording he channel which caused the crash and with no possibility to change channel, due to the existence of the file timers.xml which tells him to record that channel:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
  <settings>
    <section name="VCR">
      <entry name="0">Materialgirls-77258-1::1;1099967325|SKYCinema 2 (ita);04.12.2008;00.43.00;12.43.00;0;-------;0;true;false</entry>
    </section>
  </settings>

If I remove this file I can start using everything again... 'til the next crash.

Am I missing something ? Do you have any idea ?
Unfortunately using previous version of sage (6.4.8) I have crap results on some channels, and using official version of DVBViewer (3.9.4) I observe frequent crashes of the application

best regards and thank you in advance for any help, I'm really frustrated, even because on the previous system Intel based with GeForce7300 (Sage 6.4.8, DVBViewer 3.9.4.0 and your recorder 1.6) everything was perfectly working.

Gian Piero

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by gianpieroizzo

Often, changing from one channel to another I observe the crash of your DVBViewer Recorder service (version 1.9), with the following error on the trace

It seems to me that somehow the recorder has lost the communication with DVBViewer. Is DVBViewer crashed when this happens ?

The .ts file is created on the directory, but it is empty (0 byte). Then nothing works anymore, even stopping and restarting everything.

Yes you have to open DVBViewer and remove the timer created by the recorder.

[gianpieroizzo]

Ok, thank you, problem solved.

At the end I discovered that as you say DVBViewer was hanging (not crashing) during graph close. And as always the problem was in the codec(s).
I tried ATI Avivo, WInDVD and Ciberlink, always something wrong... at the end I gave up, I uninstalled all of them.... and everything works !!!!!!

Yes: a big point for SageTV (6.5.3 beta): just using their internal codecs for both DVBViewer and Sage, hardware acceleration on --> perfect behaviour, with CPU less than 5/10% !!!!

Now I just need to find something good for H.264... hoping/waiting for another miracle from Sage...

ciao
Gian Piero

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by gianpieroizzo

DVBViewer was hanging (not crashing) during graph close. And as always the problem was in the codec(s).

I use Cyberlink codecs for MPEG2 / H264 (PowerDVD 7 as in version 8 the audio codecs are useless). You can install any codec you want, but if you found out that those you are using actually are ok within DVBViewer, be sure to set DVBViewer to use them.

Once this is done, you can install other codecs and use them in SageTV.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by gianpieroizzo

I tried your 1.9 version for donators, but I can't use it because it closes the graph after ca. 20 secs, even if I set it to two hours.

It shouldn't, make sure you restart the recorders after setting the "restart delay".

Regarding the codec, I agre with you, Cyberlink 7 is the best one I found, but unfortunately DVBViewer takes around 70% of CPU for an HD stream. If I try to use SageTV on top (having both graphs open due to the softcam) the system saturates the CPU at 100%

Time to purchase ATI HD 4xxx video card if you can fit it in your PC...

[rtengvad]

Hi Stephane

I'm running out of disk space so I added another recording directory in sage. But I don't think the plug-in liked that because it started to use "...\my videos" as default directory for recordings.

Is there any way to handle more than one recording directory?

Thanks

Rasmus

[StephaneM]

Hi Rasmus,

Originally Posted by rtengvad

I added another recording directory in sage. But I don't think the plug-in liked that because it started to use "...\my videos" as default directory for recordings.

This is because of the bug within DVBViewer 3.9.4, it doesn't acknowledge the addition of a new recording directory coming from the recorder plugin.

So you have to shut down the recorder, launch DVBViewer, add manually the SageTV recording directory in the recordings options within DVBViewer. Shut down DVBViewer and restart the recorder service.

Note: be sure to use version 1.8 or newer of the recorder, so as you don't need to edit the DVBViewer settings.xml file to add a back slash to the recording directory.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rtengvad]

Sorry if I was not specific enough. What I mean is that I would like to have two recording directories at the same time.

Rasmus

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by rtengvad

Sorry if I was not specific enough. What I mean is that I would like to have two recording directories at the same time.

I understood. You added a recording directory in SageTV, normally my plugin handle this transparently : it makes DVBViewer record your show where SageTV request it.

Unfortunately, since DVBViewer 3.9.4, DVBViewer doesn't acknowledge the request made by my plugin to add a recording directory (in DVBViewer you have to add directories where you want to record to into a folder list, and when you make a recording select one of this folder of this list).

So you have to add the SageTV recording directories manually in DVBViewer has I explained. This way when my plugin will ask DVBViewer to made a recording, DVBViewer will already knows the folders where he is supposed to save the recordings.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[rtengvad]

Ahhh, yes of course. That was easy to fix

Thanks for the help!

Rasmus

[Mark SS]

Anyone tried the DVBViewer betas with Stephanes encoder yet? In RC1 now so live release likely not far away. Earlier betas have specific mention of ITVHD fixes.

[PeterC]

Originally Posted by Mark SS

Anyone tried the DVBViewer betas with Stephanes encoder yet? In RC1 now so live release likely not far away. Earlier betas have specific mention of ITVHD fixes.

I'm now getting ITV-HD ok with DVBViewer V4 and the latest SageTV beta through the HD extenders, I have only tried it on a recording and not with live TV yet.

[logsvp]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Note: you can also try the latest SageTV beta

Hi Stéphane, a somewhat belated response to your reply
Using the latest software/firmware it all works for me now - see this thread - http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?p=327766
Post #11 by PeterC in the thread advises how to recover 5.1 from old recordings

[gianpieroizzo]

Tried again, and I'm almost sure about this behaviour. The exact same configuration works with 1.6, not with 1.9.
It hangs after 20 secs when watching/zapping live tv channels, no way :-(
If you want to spend some time on this, I can give you logs and more details, tell me exactly how to generate useful info for debugging.
However I'll keep living with previous version, I'm satisfied with 1.6 as well :-)

regards,
Gian Piero

[gianpieroizzo]

If anyone could have the same issue, the problem was in my settings. I left the "Fast Back to Back Recording" box checked. This feature is not necessary when audio/video is enabled, and in this case caused the closing of graph I observed.
Stéphane, thank you for the solution!

regards,
Gian Piero