SageMCTuner - anyone have this working with cablecard?

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by kmp14

Correction - In the other thread discussing SageMCTuner, Andy says that SageMCTuner handles deleting the WTV files, but this is not happening for me. I have also noticed that the WTV files are often locked, even long after the recording is finished, which may explain why they are not getting deleted. Any ideas?

A little more info. The WTV files are locked by SBEConvert.exe (part of the SageMCTuner process, I think). They stay locked by SBEConvert long after the recording is done. I am not sure how long, but currently, recordings completed yesterday are still locked.

[Mythikal]

Originally Posted by kmp14

Correction - In the other thread discussing SageMCTuner, Andy says that SageMCTuner handles deleting the WTV files, but this is not happening for me. I have also noticed that the WTV files are often locked, even long after the recording is finished, which may explain why they are not getting deleted. Any ideas?

Restart the SageMCTuner service. SBEConvert locks the files sometimes and they don't get deleted right away. I've found the same to be true for the live TV files occasionally. I normally stop the SageTV service, restart the SageMCTuner service, then start the SageTV service again. I don't know if restarting the SageTV service is necessary, but I've found that combination cleans up all unnecessary files.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by Mythikal

Restart the SageMCTuner service. SBEConvert locks the files sometimes and they don't get deleted right away. I've found the same to be true for the live TV files occasionally. I normally stop the SageTV service, restart the SageMCTuner service, then start the SageTV service again. I don't know if restarting the SageTV service is necessary, but I've found that combination cleans up all unnecessary files.

Thanks for the tip. This seems to be happening on every recordng for me, so I will have to keep an eye on it.

[bollockz]

Originally Posted by kmp14

Thanks for the tip. This seems to be happening on every recordng for me, so I will have to keep an eye on it.

On my system I just created a script that stopped both sagetv and sagemctuner services, deletes all .wtv files in the directory and then restarts the services. and tasked it to run at 4am every morning. Works great

[kmp14]

My first problem with SageMCTuner - I have a had a couple recordings with no sound. It happened with the mnf game on espn tonight. I am not sure what I can do to even troubleshoot it. Any thoughts, ideas? Has this happened to anyone else using SageMCTuner?

[jptheripper]

have you tried playing the files outside of sage (like in windows media center, specifically)?

what does vlc/ffshow/whatever report as the audio specs of the file.

[Mythikal]

Originally Posted by kmp14

My first problem with SageMCTuner - I have a had a couple recordings with no sound. ...Has this happened to anyone else using SageMCTuner?

I've never had a recording without sound using SageMCTuner. I agree with jptheripper. Try to play the file outside of Sage. You might also check to see if you still have the .wtv file. See if that one has sound.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by Mythikal

I've never had a recording without sound using SageMCTuner. I agree with jptheripper. Try to play the file outside of Sage. You might also check to see if you still have the .wtv file. See if that one has sound.

I was in panic mode because I really wanted to see the game (Saints at Falcons) so I was deficient in my troubleshooting.

Unfortunately, while in panic mode I stopped the services (Sage and SageMCTuner) and the WTV file got deleted automatically. The leftover MPG file did have sound after a reboot. Weird. This has happened twice. It is like SageTV decides it does not want to play sound with that file, but after SageTV is restarted, it plays fine.

The only other tidbit that might be of relevance is that I also have a couple HDHomeRun's configured. I read that someone was having problems with the HDHomeRun and Ceton co-existing. For me it has been fine with them on the same server because I use different lineups for them...unless there is some reason why having them both would cause this sound issue. I can't see why that would be, but who knows!

I appreciate the input. If it happens again I will do better troubleshooting and post more info for others that might run into this.

[xj-boonie]

Mythikal,

Got my cable card installed today and am going to try setting up Sage this evening or tomorrow.

One question: right now I've got the cable card recording to a WD green drive (may change that to black if I need to) and then will have Sage record to 2 WD green drives (all I have right now), but I'm setting this up all in a seperate case to ensure it works while I don't screw up my main HTPC, so I'm only going to have 1 drive for Sage. Think it will work?

Also, I have a 2250 I'm thinking of using also, either for OTA or ClearQAM - if I'm only using it in Sage, do I need to install TunerSalad?

[xj-boonie]

Originally Posted by Mythikal

SageMCTuner:
1) Install Avivo (Known working version: 9-11_vista_win7_32-64_xcode.exe)

does it have to be the 9.11 version of Avivo - i.e. has anyone tried the latest version?

[Mythikal]

Originally Posted by xj-boonie

I've got the cable card recording to a WD green drive (may change that to black if I need to) and then will have Sage record to 2 WD green drives (all I have right now), but I'm setting this up all in a seperate case to ensure it works while I don't screw up my main HTPC, so I'm only going to have 1 drive for Sage. Think it will work?

The problem I had with a single drive (or even multiple green drives) is that I was getting corrupt recordings when using all 4 tuners. The way SageMCTuner works is that it sends a request to 7MC to tune a channel. 7MC tunes the channel and writes the file to a drive. SageMCTuner reads, remuxes and writes that file again. So you've got a lot of reads and writes happening all at once. Don't forget about Comskip. That adds to the load as well. While theoretically it's probably possible, in practice it just didn't work for me.

Now, was I being overcritical because it was a brand new setup? Probably. Did I do any further troubleshooting to see what else could have caused the corrupt recordings? Not really. All I know is that the problem immediately went away after I went with the RAID 0 setup.

However, as long as you're setting it up in a new box, I would say go for it. Maybe you'll find that 1 drive works just fine. You might be able to assist others who have this same question. I'd do it myself ya know, but there's that whole lazy factor and the fact that I've got a stable, working system now.

Also, I have a 2250 I'm thinking of using also, either for OTA or ClearQAM - if I'm only using it in Sage, do I need to install TunerSalad?

You'd only need to use TunerSalad if you're trying to install more than 4 tuners in 7MC (say, 2 Ceton cards). If you're going to run the 2250 in sage only, then it's not necessary.

[kmp14]

I am going with one drive as the recording location for MC and a separate drive for sage recordings. So far I have not had any corrupt recordings but usually I am not recording four things at once. I did test four recordings and it worked fine. I have heard that wd green drives are not great for tv recording in general so you might want to at least upgrade to wd black drives.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by kmp14

My first problem with SageMCTuner - I have a had a couple recordings with no sound. It happened with the mnf game on espn tonight. I am not sure what I can do to even troubleshoot it. Any thoughts, ideas? Has this happened to anyone else using SageMCTuner?

Update on this issue - Andy (the developer of SageMCTuner) recommended that I make a registry change that might fix the problem -

Try adding 5 to the value of HKLM\SOFTWARE\babgvant\SageMCTuner, Handicap

Since I put in that change and restarted SageTV and SageMCTuner services, I have not had the no sound problem again. It has only been a couple days, but so far, so good. Thanks Andy!

[xj-boonie]

I've got it working! But have a question - i'm trying to set up jetty web server (sage 7) but can't get to it from outside my intranet. Sage is saying it's ip address is what the cable card's is, and I can't port forward it. What do I do?

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by xj-boonie

I've got it working! But have a question - i'm trying to set up jetty web server (sage 7) but can't get to it from outside my intranet. Sage is saying it's ip address is what the cable card's is, and I can't port forward it. What do I do?

I am pretty sure all you need to do is go to command prompt, type ipconfig, hit Return, and get the right IP address for your real ethernet interface. Port forward to that address and you should be good. I am not a networking expert, but I think that should do it.

[jptheripper]

If the hdhomerun prime (or any other tuner for that matter) is installed in a WMC computer can sagemctuner be used with it? (i.e. is it tuner agnostic).

also, is it possible to write the wtv files to one drive, and the recontainered ts files to another?

thanks

[xj-boonie]

Originally Posted by kmp14

I am pretty sure all you need to do is go to command prompt, type ipconfig, hit Return, and get the right IP address for your real ethernet interface. Port forward to that address and you should be good. I am not a networking expert, but I think that should do it.

Thanks! I forgot about that.

When I look at network settings for the Lan port, it's 192.168.15.101, but ipconfig gives me 192.168.200.2 for the ceton card (which is what Sage gives me as the computers ip address), and 192.168.15.101 for the Lan port. I forward the 15.101 address, but it doesn't work, and I can't port forward the 200.2 as the linksys router put's everything in the 192.168.15.xxx range.

[xj-boonie]

Originally Posted by xj-boonie

Thanks! I forgot about that.

When I look at network settings for the Lan port, it's 192.168.15.101, but ipconfig gives me 192.168.200.2 for the ceton card (which is what Sage gives me as the computers ip address), and 192.168.15.101 for the Lan port. I forward the 15.101 address, but it doesn't work, and I can't port forward the 200.2 as the linksys router put's everything in the 192.168.15.xxx range.

So I got it sorted that Sage thinks the ip address is 192.168.15.101, and in detailed setup it said the placeshifter is working. I was able to loginto the webserver, but it stopped working. any ideas? I'm going to ask on the web server thread too... i don't think it's related to the ceton tuner any more.

[xj-boonie]

So got that all figured out, but have a question : if I disable ehtray.exe in msconfig, will that mess up SageMCtuner?

[doncote0]

What is the typical load on the drive (existing files from MCTuner before deleting them).

Lets say worst case I have 4 recordings from sage that are finishing up (1.5 hrs each) and 4 more are starting (1.5 hrs each) what kind of space would be required for the MCTuner process based on the recording space used (before conversion and move to non MCTuner sage recording directory)?

Thanks!