Firewire channel change not always working

[Sam]

I've tried switching to firewire channel changing using ExeMultiTuner. It always works perfectly from the command line but will not consistently tune within Sage. I prefer to use service mode, and don't need UNC paths as all media is stored on drives local to the server. I am using WinXP SP2 with Sage 6.4.8.184

When I try and use service mode, I can't get it to tune at all, whether or not I enable "Allow service to interact with desktop". It is using the LocalSystem account.

When I don't use service mode, if I exit SageTV and restart it, the channel change always works. However, after some period of time it quits working. I haven't yet determined how long that needs to be. The STB never turns off, and when the channel change fails if I open a command window and issue the command the STB tunes to the new channel instantly. So I don't think it is the STB.

The only power saving option enabled in WinXP is to turn off the monitor. The system never goes into standby, and the drives do not turn off.

When not using service mode, what can cause the ExeMultiTuner plugin to not get called? Why would it work again by exiting Sage and restarting it?

Should I be able to use ExeMultiTuner in service mode, if I don't need UNC paths?

[Taddeusz]

For service mode to work well you need to set a password on an account that has administrator rights and use that as your account for the SageTV service.

[Opus4]

I don't know what the problem is here, but I thought I would comment that I use firewire channel changing and SageTV's service mode w/o having the service log into any account. (I use only local paths for recording dirs.)

The only thing I can suggest is to check the main firewire topic & double check all your firewire related settings.

- Andy

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

For service mode to work well you need to set a password on an account that has administrator rights and use that as your account for the SageTV service.

Thanks; I thought I had read just the opposite. It seems to be working now in service mode. So I'll see what happens after longer periods of inactivity, when it was failing even when not using service mode.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Opus4

The only thing I can suggest is to check the main firewire topic & double check all your firewire related settings.

I had done that numerous times. And it worked if I exited Sage and restarted it, suggesting my settings were OK. I also now have service mode running by explicitly telling it to login using the same user and pwd which are already logged in. And now it works for me.

What I can't tell until later is if it will continue to work long term without a restart. Time will tell.

[Taddeusz]

Does your STB go to sleep after a while?

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Does your STB go to sleep after a while?

No, and issuing the channelw command from a command prompt would instantly change the channel even while SageTV would not. That's why I did not think it was a STB issue.

I'll see how service mode goes now that I have it running.

[bbwebb]

I'm having the exact same problem and it's driving me crazy. I upgraded to 6.4.8 today (from the last beta build) and now my firewire channel changing does not work. Just as Sam has explained, when using channel.exe from the command line the change works instantly, but inside of Sage the channels will not change at all. I just tried changing the SageTV service to use my local admin account but that did not help either.

If anyone has any other ideas I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks
Bill

[evilpenguin]

The device number you enter isn't set in stone on rare occasions can change. Open a command prompt and run "channel.exe /v" to verify that you still have the right device number.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

The device number you enter isn't set in stone on rare occasions can change.

That's why I switched to using the device ID instead of the device number after someone else pointed it out.

- Andy

[bbwebb]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

The device number you enter isn't set in stone on rare occasions can change. Open a command prompt and run "channel.exe /v" to verify that you still have the right device number.

It's still "2".

I can change the channel via the command line using "channelw 2 321" and have verified that the device name is still 2 in my sage.properties file. I have also verified that the 2.ir file is correct and in the correct location.

Any other ideas?

[bbwebb]

Just found something odd in my config. I have two lines under the same encoder ID that indicate the EXEMultiTunerPlugin.dll and I have the device/panel id number only indicated for the top instance. Unfortunately I can't make this change now or my wife will kill me while it's taping House

Any idea how this could have been duplicated (assuming this is incorrect)? Also, what's the best way to resolve the issue? Should I just delete the source from Sage and then purge all of these lines from the sage.properties file?

I've highlighted the suspicious areas in red below:

mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/brightness=134
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/contrast=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/hue=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/last_channel=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/provider_id=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/saturation=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/sharpness=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/tuning_mode=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/tuning_plugin=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/tuning_plugin_port=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/2/0/video_crossbar_type=2
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/brightness=-1
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/contrast=-1
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/device_name=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/hue=-1
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/last_channel=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/provider_id=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/saturation=-1
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/sharpness=-1
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/tuning_mode=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/tuning_plugin=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/tuning_plugin_port=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/3/0/video_crossbar_type=3
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/brightness=134
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/contrast=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/device_name=2
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/hue=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/last_channel=5
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/provider_id=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/saturation=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/sharpness=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/tuning_mode=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/tuning_plugin=C\:\\Program Files\\SageTV\\Common\\EXEMultiTunerPlugin.dll
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/tuning_plugin_port=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/5/0/video_crossbar_type=5
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/available_channels=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/brightness=134
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/contrast=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/device_name=StubDevice
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/hue=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/last_channel=321
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/provider_id=-1853522797627047936
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/saturation=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/sharpness=128
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/tuning_mode=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/tuning_plugin=C\:\\Program Files\\SageTV\\Common\\EXEMultiTunerPlugin.dll
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/tuning_plugin_port=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/video_crossbar_index=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/90/0/video_crossbar_type=90
mmc/encoders/-431556906/audio_capture_device_index=-1
mmc/encoders/-431556906/audio_capture_device_name=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/audio_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/audio_processor=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/broadcast_standard=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/capture_config=1050624
mmc/encoders/-431556906/default_device_quality=Great-H.264
mmc/encoders/-431556906/delay_to_wait_after_tuning=3000
mmc/encoders/-431556906/device_class=DirectShow
mmc/encoders/-431556906/dshow_tv_type=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/encoder_merit=2
mmc/encoders/-431556906/encoding_host=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/forced_video_storage_path_prefix=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/last_cross_index=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/last_cross_type=90
mmc/encoders/-431556906/live_audio_input=
mmc/encoders/-431556906/never_stop_encoding=false
mmc/encoders/-431556906/video_capture_device_name=Hauppauge HD PVR Capture Device
mmc/encoders/-431556906/video_capture_device_num=0
mmc/encoders/-431556906/video_encoding_params=Great-H.264
mmc/encoders/-431556906/video_processor=

[Opus4]

Did you recently update the HD-PVR drivers and reconfigure the tuner to use a different input? If so, maybe you needed to continue that setup process and reconfigure the channel changing settings too.

- Andy

[Sam]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

The device number you enter isn't set in stone on rare occasions can change. Open a command prompt and run "channel.exe /v" to verify that you still have the right device number.

As with bbwebb, using the device number (2 in my case) from the command line still changes the STB instantly. So I don't think this was a case of the device number changing. But now that I'm aware that can be a future problem, I'll switch to the device ID.

So far, the channel changing has continued to work since switching back to service mode. It quit overnight last night, so I'll see what happens in the morning.

[utahcybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Sam

As with bbwebb, using the device number (2 in my case) from the command line still changes the STB instantly. So I don't think this was a case of the device number changing. But now that I'm aware that can be a future problem, I'll switch to the device ID.

So far, the channel changing has continued to work since switching back to service mode. It quit overnight last night, so I'll see what happens in the morning.

Did this ever get resolved? I am have problems with this also. It will work for several hours and then stop changing channels. If I run the channelw command it will still change channels but will not work from within sage. If I restart Sage it will work for several hours and then stop working again.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by utahcybercowboy

Did this ever get resolved? I am have problems with this also. It will work for several hours and then stop changing channels. If I run the channelw command it will still change channels but will not work from within sage. If I restart Sage it will work for several hours and then stop working again.

I had intermittent problems with it. But instead of hours, I'd normally go days before hitting the problem again. I never came up with a common denominator on when it quit.

It did become a non-issue for me, because I ended up dropping back to basic cable with no STBs and just using my HDHR and 2250 cards. So the ability to call channelw reliably became a moot point for me.

Any time I had the problem, channelw continued to work correctly from a command line. So it was neither a firewire issue or problem with the IDs changing.

Sorry I can't be more help.