DVBViewer Recorder: Network encoder

[paulie]

I have a hauppauge usb hvr 900hd card which will not work in sage using the dvb-t tuner (mpeg4 h.264 format). Could I use the dvbviewer recorder to enable use of this feature with sage on my server.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by paulie

I have a hauppauge usb hvr 900hd card which will not work in sage using the dvb-t tuner (mpeg4 h.264 format). Could I use the dvbviewer recorder to enable use of this feature with sage on my server.

Yes, you'll be able to use your Hauppauge card within SageTV if it works Ok with DVBViewer.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[paulie]

Thanks StephaneM I will try it out.

[plawlor]

Hello Stephane,

I bought a copy of your plugin a couple of days ago. Immediately after configuration, I ran into an issue, so I read this thread top-to-bottom. From what I read, I tried to fix my problem, but now have another problem too. So, two problems to run by you...

First, here are some details on my setup:
- SageTV 6.5.12 Beta on one box - Windows XP SP2.
- DVBViewer Pro latest 4.x Beta and DVBViewer-Recorder 2.0 on a seperate box - Vista 32bit SP1.
- FloppyDTV-S2 card with latest beta drivers controlling a motorized dish - DVBViewer handles motor control better than any other program, IMHO...
- Firewall is turned off on both boxes.
- All SageTV and DVBViewer-Recorder services are running under my domain administrator account which has access to everything on the network.

Problem #1
After completing the full setup, I tried to tune to one of the DVB channels and it just spun there forever. I opened up the DVBViewer-Recorder monitor and it was spitting back an error about a zero byte file in the Sage recordings folder. One thing stood out to me - it was looking for the file in "C:\Recordings 1\", which is the recording directory on the Sage box, but not on the DVBViewer-Recorder box. So, I started reading the thread. It stated that due to a bug in DVBViewer, I needed to manually add this recording directory to DVBViewer. So I did that - specifying the directory as "\\SERVERNAME\DIR_SHARENAME\" instead of "C:\Recordings 1", so the DVBViewer box could actually get to it.

I need a clarification on this, though... Does Sage also tell the plugin what directory to use? And if so, will it tell it to use it's local path, "C:\Recordings 1\" instead of the network accessible UNC path? If this is the case, do I have to change my Sage setup and define my recording directory inside Sage as "\\SERVERNAME\DIR_SHARENAME\" as well. I hope not because when I try to browse the network inside the Sage recording directory setup, I can see the server (itself, BTW), but as soon as I try to access it to select a network share, I get an "Invalid Directory" message. I cannot simply type in the UNC path either without getting this same error message. I know this is a Sage problem and not a plugin problem, but perhaps people have seen this before and know what to do? If that's even required...

Problem #2
After changing the recording directory inside DVBViewer as per the above, the plugin is no longer being asked to do anything by Sage when I choose to view a DVB channel. It spins for a while, but there are no messages at all showing up in the DVBViewer-Recorder monitor. And after a minute or so, the picture actually tunes to something that is currently being recorded by another tuner altogether - by one of my HDPVRs. Any thoughts as to why this is occuring?

Sorry for the long-winded e-mail, but getting this working is pretty important to me.

Thanks!

[StephaneM]

Hi,

Originally Posted by plawlor

Does Sage also tell the plugin what directory to use? And if so, will it tell it to use it's local path, "C:\Recordings 1\" instead of the network accessible UNC path? If this is the case, do I have to change my Sage setup and define my recording directory inside Sage as "\\SERVERNAME\DIR_SHARENAME\" as well.

Yes, it's SageTV that set the directory to use in DVBViewer (at least with DVBViewer 4, older version had a bug that prevented the rec. directory to be set). So SageTV must use UNC path if the DVBViewer Recorder is on another PC.

I hope not because when I try to browse the network inside the Sage recording directory setup, I can see the server (itself, BTW), but as soon as I try to access it to select a network share, I get an "Invalid Directory" message.

This is a permission issue. I would first create a share that allow access for "everyone" (for share access and file access) and type in the UNC path manually (also be careful if you use the SageTV Service by default it run with the SYSTEM account that cannot access network share)

After changing the recording directory inside DVBViewer as per the above, the plugin is no longer being asked to do anything by Sage when I choose to view a DVB channel.

Changing the recording directory from within DVBViewer will not do anything, SageTV will still request that the recording be done in C:\....

Also, when nothing happens in the trace viewer, it's either because the recorder service died, or because the requested channel is not in the recorder lineup.

Anyway, once you'll set SageTV to use UNC path it should work ok (provided that you also run the DVBViewer Recorder Service with an account that allow access to network shares)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[plawlor]

Stephane,

I finally got everything working last night. Thanks for your help. It's strange, though. I still cannot specificy UNC paths inside the Sage UI setup. I either get "Empty" with no ability to select the current directory or "Invalid Directory". I understand file and share permissions quite well, so know I am okay there. I ended up editing the paths inside the "Sage.properties" file directly and everything is now working great. Nice plugin!

My next advaneture will be getting the EGP populated. I have a motorized dish, so I get a variety of channels from about 10 different satellites. For some, the EPG data over the DVB stream is good. But for others, its non-existent. I'll have to do some research into my options for combining multiple xmltv feeds into a single file, supplemented by my DVB EPG data.

Any advice?

Thanks again.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by plawlor

For some, the EPG data over the DVB stream is good. But for others, its non-existent. I'll have to do some research into my options for combining multiple xmltv feeds into a single file, supplemented by my DVB EPG data.Any advice?

With my XMLTV Importer you can use as many XMLTV files as you need (you do not need to merge them). You can also try to get DVB EPG from DVBViewer and save it using DVBViewer Recorder.

Though, it may be easier to find a XMLTV grabber with all your channels.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[plawlor]

Thanks Stephane. I'll take a look at your importer.

[plawlor]

Stephane,

I just finished upgrading most items in my home network, including the systems that run my Sage Server and DVBViewer instance. Here is my new setup:

Sage Server:
- Vista 64-bit Business SP1
- SageTV 6.5.13 Beta
- Domain Member Computer
- Sage Service logs in as DOMAIN/Administrator

DVBViewer Server:
- Server 2008 64-Bit SP1 with BDA work-around
- DVBViewer 4.0 & DVBViewer Recorder Plug-in
- Domain Controller
- Plugin Service logs in as LOCAL SERVICE

The setup went very smooth. However, when I try to watch a channel through Sage with this setup, the plugin is unable to write to the Sage Recording Directories on the Sage Server even though I've granted every user know to man the right to modify these directories. I thought that "Everyone" meant anyone, but apparently it doesn't - it must mean everyone that belongs to the domain. Therefore, the LOCAL SERVICE account on my doman controller must not have the necessary rights in the domain member computer file system. And there does not seem to be any way to grant the LOCAL SERVICE account the domain controller the rights to anything on a member computer. I've spent hours...

To prove that it was a permissions thing, I changed the plugin service to use the DOMAIN Administrator account. As soon as I did this, file creation started in one of the recording directories, but the "0 file size" message repeated in the plugin monitor forever. I couldn't figure this out, so I scrolled up and saw that the plugin did not recognize the channel. So I went into the Recorders setup and the channel list was empty - not just an empty list, but the whole area looked greyed out. As soon as I changed the service back to the LOCAL SERVICE account, the channel list was back, but ofcourse, still unable to write to the Sage recording directories.

So, after this long-winded explanation, how can I fix this? There are two ways in my mind:

1) Figure out why the plugin service cannot see the channel list when logged in as the DOMAIN administrator; or
2) Figure out how to grant the LOCAL SERVICE account from the Domain Controller rights to write to a shared directory on a member computer.

I get the feeling that #1 is the only option, but need your help to figure this out. Are you able to help me out?

Thanks,
Peter

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by plawlor

1) Figure out why the plugin service cannot see the channel list when logged in as the DOMAIN administrator

I have absolutely no ideas. But I guess that runing on a domain controller will cause issues. Try first to use the Standalone Recorder to see if all is working as it should. Then when you are sure that the recorder behave as it should switch to the recorder service, this time do not use the Domain Administrator account, but a User account you will create for this purpose (I guess that when you use the Domain Admin account, DVBViewer doesn't launch or something like that, that's why the service doesn't have access to the channel list, you should review the log files)

2) Figure out how to grant the LOCAL SERVICE account from the Domain Controller rights to write to a shared directory on a member computer.

You can't. By the name it is restricted to "Local", you have to use a user account.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[bbqninja]

Sorry for the really newb-ish question, but does using this allow for multirec (use 1 tuner for multiple recordings that are on the same channel or multiplex) capability? I was pointed to this thread from a few questions I was asking in the general software forum ( http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...291#post353291 ) but cannot find anything in this thread (or your page) about multiplexing.

Is this software more just to add DVB-S CI support? It was my impression that sagetv supports dvb-t ootb?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by bbqninja

Sorry for the really newb-ish question, but does using this allow for multirec (use 1 tuner for multiple recordings that are on the same channel or multiplex) capability?

No, DVBViewer is able to do multiple recordings at once on the same multiplex, however DVBViewer Recorder will not bring this feature into SageTV.

However, it seems that DVBEnhancer (you can find it in this forum) is able to do it (I don't know how because SageTV only see encoders but cannot know that some encoders are available to record because they are using the same multiplex whereas others are not...)

Is this software more just to add DVB-S CI support? It was my impression that sagetv supports dvb-t ootb?

SageTV support DVB (S/T/C with CI) OOTB. However, not very well for some users. With DVBViewer you have a more robust DVB recording engine. My plugin allows it to be used in SageTV and also adds the possibility to extract Teletext subtitles on the fly.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[willplaice]

Stephanie,

I'm struggling, I've started again so here's my setup...

FloppyDTV-S2 x2
DVB Viewer 4.0.0
Sage 6.5.13

I have followed the setup instuctions butI don't get anything in Sage...

I have channels in DVBViewer, and I can set up the encoder ok.

I have got it as far as doing a channel scan in sage, which is sucessfull
when i ask it to tune to a channel i get the message below...

Service - 09:45:53.125 - Verbose - NewRecorder - START NewRecorder Digital TV Tuner|1|2480088706066|\\wpcsvr01\Recorded\3_1_0418_0945-0.ts|Great


this is hopefull ? I have connectivity ? I'm running this all on the same box.

many thanks for any advice !


Will

[StephaneM]

Hi Will,

Originally Posted by willplaice

when i ask it to tune to a channel i get the message below...

Service - 09:45:53.125 - Verbose - NewRecorder - START NewRecorder Digital TV Tuner|1|2480088706066|\\wpcsvr01\Recorded\3_1_0418_0945-0.ts|Great

As you are using UNC Path, you'll have to set the service to use an account (with admin rights) on your PC rather than the default Local System account.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[willplaice]

Thanks Stephane,

I'm now running the service as Domain\Adminsitrator I do a channel scan and then try to tune to a channel and I get this.... (i stopped the service deliberatly at the start)


Service - 16:18:15.062 - Info - DVBViewer Recoder Service Stopped
Service - 16:18:33.234 - Verbose - test - BUFFER = ERROR Not supported
Service - 16:18:33.250 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE \\wpcsvr01\Recorded\teston19216811009011DigitalTVTuner-0.mpgbuf
Service - 16:18:33.250 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0
20x ommitted
Service - 16:18:37.359 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE \\wpcsvr01\Recorded\teston19216811009011DigitalTVTuner-0.mpgbuf
Service - 16:18:37.375 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0
Service - 16:18:37.390 - Verbose - test - AUTOTUNE = ERROR Not supported
Service - 16:18:37.406 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE \\wpcsvr01\Recorded\teston19216811009011DigitalTVTuner-0.mpgbuf
10x ommitted
Service - 16:18:39.078 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE \\wpcsvr01\Recorded\teston19216811009011DigitalTVTuner-0.mpgbuf
Service - 16:18:39.140 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0
Service - 16:18:39.187 - Verbose - test - STOP
Service - 16:19:10.078 - Verbose - test - BUFFER = ERROR Not supported
Service - 16:19:10.125 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE \\wpcsvr01\Recorded\teston19216811009011DigitalTVTuner-0.mpgbuf
Service - 16:19:10.156 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0

40x ommitted
Service - 16:19:53.859 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0
Service - 16:19:53.890 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE \\wpcsvr01\Recorded\teston19216811009011DigitalTVTuner-0.mpgbuf
Service - 16:19:53.937 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE = 0
Service - 16:19:53.984 - Verbose - test - STOP
Service - 16:19:54.031 - Verbose - test - START test Digital TV Tuner|1|2480135977590|\\wpcsvr01\Recorded\18_1_0418_1619-0.mpg|Great

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by willplaice

Service - 16:18:33.234 - Verbose - test - BUFFER = ERROR Not supported
Service - 16:18:33.250 - Verbose - test - GET_FILE_SIZE \\wpcsvr01\Recorded\teston19216811009011DigitalTVTuner-0.mpgbuf

This is during channel scan, the network encoder will not produce the .mpgbuf file, so the behavior you are seeing is expected.

What would have been valuable it what's happening afer the "START", you should see something like this:

Standalone - 00:17:55.289 - Verbose - Hertzien - START Hertzien Syntoniseur numérique|7|2480186150568|C:\Users\StephaneM\Videos\SageTV\ManuKatchOneShotNot-188708-0.ts|Très bonne
Standalone - 00:18:02.549 - Info - Hertzien - Recording started: C:\Users\StephaneM\Videos\SageTV\ManuKatchOneShotNot-188708-0.ts
Standalone - 00:18:02.863 - Verbose - Hertzien - START = OK
Standalone - 00:18:02.883 - Verbose - Hertzien - GET_FILE_SIZE C:\Users\StephaneM\Videos\SageTV\ManuKatchOneShotNot-188708-0.ts
Standalone - 00:18:02.917 - Verbose - Hertzien - GET_FILE_SIZE = 524288

Regards,
Stéphane.

[mpogr]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

However, it seems that DVBEnhancer (you can find it in this forum) is able to do it (I don't know how because SageTV only see encoders but cannot know that some encoders are available to record because they are using the same multiplex whereas others are not...)

Hi all,

I'm the developer of DVBEnhancer for SageTV network encoder. You can find more information about it here.
The way it allows multiple simultaneous recordings is by declaring number of virtual tuners bigger than the number of physical ones. This, of course, might be dangerous, because it could happen that it will run out of physical tuners while Sage is completely unaware of this fact. The optimal ratio between physical and virtual tuners depends on your particular provider's transponders layout. For example, for YES Israel, if you have 3 physical tuner, you should be able to define 6-7 virtual ones almost without any risk.

[willplaice]

Stephane, that's the point... nothing happens after start..

I've rebuilt my server again...

here's the process, just incase I'm missing something.

Server 2003 Logged in as Domain Admin. disabled 1 of my floppy dvb cards for simplicity

New Sage install(6.5.13), Record folder z:\Recorded
Installed DVBViewer 4 set record dir to z:\Recorded
Completed Channel Scan OK
Installed DVBV Recorder
Confirmed path for DVBV and set IP/Port (192.168.1.100:9011)
Set a single channel up

Started DVBV Monitor

Started sagge, and slected source.
Did channel scan... output in DVB Monitor (I assume this is good, though i don't understand it)
Tried to tune to channel, I get the "Start" line and nothing further.

Changed Admin rights on DVBVR Service to Admin, and retried tuning sage reports no encoder..

removed encoder from sage and reinstalled... same output... log file attached...

might this be better via a PM ?

I'd be happy to donate so i can run more encoders as soon as i can get it working ! (would i be right that with this method a radio station will be ok with sage)

thanks again for the support, Will

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by willplaice

Stephane, that's the point... nothing happens after start..

This is how you should setup SageTV and the encoder.

1) Shut down everything (SageTV / DVBViewer Recoder Service)
2) Launch DVBViewer and do a channel scan if not already done, verify that you can view your channels normally
3) Laucn DVBViewer Recorder Monitor and uncheck "use recorder" service, then click on "Setup Recorders"
4) Check "run DVBViewer in debug mode", Check "Disable Audio/Video", then click "Edit"
5) Chose a 15 sec. restart delay, uncheck "Fast back to back recordings" and type a channel number for the channels you want to receive in SageTV. Then click "Ok" and click "Exit" (no need to click on "Add to SageTV" as you have already done it before)
6) Back in the Monitor, click on "Start Recorders", DVBViewer should be started now and you can activate its window.
7) Startup SageTV, delete the video source and create a new one. When SageTV ask you about Program guide, select "Do Not Use Program Guide Data..." and select "Yes - Scan for all channels now". The channel scan should be pretty quick and the channel list displayed should already have the correct channel names. Select "Done with.." and go back to the SageTV main menu, go into the program guide and select one of the channels.

You'll then be able to see if the channel is tuning correctly. The only thing the recorder plugin is doing is creating a timer in DVBViewer, you can verify this in DVBViewer in the "DVBViewer" / "Timer" menu. If the timer is created but nothing is recorded, check that the timer is really recording in the right directory or if DVBViewer cannot tune the channel (it can happen with some SoftCam, you'll have to review the DVBViewer logs).

You can also make a test with "disable Audio/Video in DVBViewer" unchecked, that way when SageTV will tune a channel it will aslo display in the DVBViewer window.

Once all is working properly, you can the go back to using the service by checking "use recorder service".

Regards,
Stéphane.

[willplaice]

Results..

1. confirmed sage and dvbvr service stopped
2. confirmed... left running...
3. already checked... clicking edit stopped DVBR tuner
4. OK
5. OK
6. Yes, window open
7. I get the 1st error "Buffer - Error not supported" and the usual stuff i've had before as the channel scan is run, when I tune the channel i just get a "start".
in the DVBR Timer I get a channel... and it's got a status of "waiting".

I tried it with video displayed in DVBR, DVBR tuned to the correct channel ok, and it played for about 5 secs, then the record button lit up and the picture disapeared... still no video in sage.

Will try to get a sniffer on the port to see if i can understand if anything is being sent.

Will