sagedct, ceton in one box, Sage on another

[Deacon Crusher]

I keep looking for something that will tell me how to make this combo work, but feel like I'm missing something.

My sage server is still running XP and is rock solid. I don't want to mess with it. I've got a ceton installed and working fine in my other computer, running windows 7. Ceton works great in wmc. I want to use SageDCT to use the Ceton tuners (3 of them, I'm going to leave one for the computer that has the Ceton in it) with Sage.

I've gotten on to Cetons beta and am running the latest 1061 firmware.

Can someone please help me out with the steps to make this work.

Thanks

[sflamm]

From what I can tell, install SageDCT on the WMC box, run the config to get the lines to put in your SageTV.properties file. Stop your SageTV server (and service), edit the file, restart SageTV Server. Then you should be able to add the network encoders.

Instructions are detailed here on the SageDCT site:

http://babgvant.com/files/folders/sa...ntry19846.aspx

I'm considering the same setup. It would be great if you could let us know your results.

[Deacon Crusher]

Well, not a success.

Installed SageDCT on my Win 7 pro x64 computer with the Ceton card in it. Ran the DCT scan and did some tests and it appears that DCT sees and can change channels on the Ceton tuners.

Had DCT build the sage.properties mmc entries for me (telling it to not use localhost).

Shut down sage server on the Win XP box that it runs on. Added the mmc entries to the sage.properties file. Started sage. Setup one of the ceton tuners with a epg. Stopped sage. Gave that tuner highest merit in properties file. started sage. tried to watch a channel and get no signal in sage. Go to the win 7 box and I can tell that my sage server is changing the channel on the ceton tuner it's configured for, but Sage isn't receiving the video signal, I guess??

Next steps??

Thanks

[sflamm]

Questions:

1. Did you check the log files on SageDCT to see what it see as happening?
2. Did you check the log files on SageTV Server to see what is happening?
3. Can you watch using 7MC?

[sflamm]

Babgnvant told me

You must run SageTV 7.1+ to be supported by either SageTV or me. *V6 may work with some channels, but it will not with others.

Looks like a compelling reason to move to SageTV - which I already planned (have experimental install already)

[Deacon Crusher]

I'm already using Sage TV 7.1.8 (newest beta.)

Originally Posted by sflamm

Babgnvant told me



Looks like a compelling reason to move to SageTV - which I already planned (have experimental install already)

[Deacon Crusher]

Works fine under 7MC on the box that has Ceton installed.

Working on log file review now.

Originally Posted by sflamm

Questions:

1. Did you check the log files on SageDCT to see what it see as happening?
2. Did you check the log files on SageTV Server to see what is happening?
3. Can you watch using 7MC?

[sflamm]

Did you assign a static IP to the Ceton?

[Deacon Crusher]

??

The Ceton needs it's own IP?

The config that sagedct created was using specific ports and the IP associated with my nic that's part of the box that has the ceton in it. DHCP address in my home range 192.168.167.237. I see there is a Ceton network device that's at a 192.168.200.2 address.

What range should the ceton be in? what IP should sage (on a seperate box from the ceton box) address the Ceton at?

Thanks

Originally Posted by sflamm

Did you assign a static IP to the Ceton?

[sflamm]

Certainly the config for SageTV needs to have the IP of the NIC of the machine you are running SageDCT on... that is the network location of the network encoder. I would certainly make this a static assignment. I expect that when it generates the segment to insert into the properties file it contains the NIC ip.

As for the Ceton, it also has it's own interface, that's how uPnP connects to it (which SageDCT is using to chat with it). I would certainly put them on the same subnet. Depending on your mask, both 192.168.167.237 and 192.168.200.2 can be on the same subnet (use mask 255.255.0.0)

[mikinho]

Can you provide a little more information on your XP and W7 host PC? Do you have a firewall setup on either? I believe SageDCT will make exceptions for itself when Windows Firewall is enabled but not 3rd party products.

When you change the channel does SageDCT get the request? If so, what about the InfiniTV? You can use the InfiniTV Device Website to see if any of the tuners receive the tune request. That should give us a good starting point.

[Deacon Crusher]

What role is SageDCT playing on my ceton box after I use it to build my config that I export and use on my sage server box?

When my Sage server issues a channel change on the ceton tuner the ceton tuner does tune that channel, but then it doesn't seem to actually be recording anything. Whereas, when I tune a channel on the ceton from within 7mc I can see on the ceton web page that it has tuned the channel and is "showing" it.

thanks

[kmp14]

This is just a guess, but maybe you have to enable Bridging in the Ceton Nic setup? I thought to use the Ceton as a network encoder, that has to be enabled, but maybe that is only for 7MC network encoding...not sure, but enabling bridging is worth a try. You do it by going to the setup of the Ceton (I think you can get to it via Device Manager) and set Bridging to True (or Yes, whatever it is).

[Deacon Crusher]

7MC host with Ceton installed has windows firewall running.

Ceton appears to have created all proper exceptions.

XP Sage Server windows firewall is disabled.

How would I know if SageDCT got a request? The Ceton does get the request and does change/tune the channel, but then it says stopped, doesn't say playing like it does when I tune a channel from inside 7MC.

The Ceton nic does have bridging enabled.

Thanks

Originally Posted by mikinho

Can you provide a little more information on your XP and W7 host PC? Do you have a firewall setup on either? I believe SageDCT will make exceptions for itself when Windows Firewall is enabled but not 3rd party products.

When you change the channel does SageDCT get the request? If so, what about the InfiniTV? You can use the InfiniTV Device Website to see if any of the tuners receive the tune request. That should give us a good starting point.

[Deacon Crusher]

Here's a snippet from SageDCT log

011/06/17 12:57:48.20 : ProcessMessage 6971: START SageDCT-Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 1 Digital TV Tuner|740|2616681808756|H:\Sage\SanfordSon-AVisitFromLenaHorne-13785025-0.ts|Great
2011/06/17 12:57:48.20 : StartRecording - 6971: Request - Channel: 740 File: H:\Sage\SanfordSon-AVisitFromLenaHorne-13785025-0.ts
2011/06/17 12:57:48.20 : No active recordings in Stop - 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:48.20 : StartRecording 6971 - TV ONE HD
2011/06/17 12:57:48.20 : 6971 Channel: 740 FilePath: H:\Sage\SanfordSon-AVisitFromLenaHorne-13785025-0.ts
2011/06/17 12:57:48.20 : ExecuteAction - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urn:upnp-org:serviceId:urn:schemas-upnp-org:service:ConnectionManager Action: PrepareForConnection Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:48.42 : Done ExecuteAction: PrepareForConnection
2011/06/17 12:57:48.42 : ExecuteAction - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urn:upnp-org:serviceId:urn:schemas-upnp-org:service:AVTransport Action: Play Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:48.61 : Done ExecuteAction: Play
2011/06/17 12:57:48.61 : ExecuteAction - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urnpencable-com:serviceId:urn:schemas-opencable-com:service:CAS Action: SetChannel Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:48.90 : Done ExecuteAction: SetChannel
2011/06/17 12:57:48.90 : ExecuteAction - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urn:upnp-org:serviceId:urn:schemas-upnp-org:service:AVTransport Action: GetMediaInfo Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:49.68 : Done ExecuteAction: GetMediaInfo
2011/06/17 12:57:49.68 : RTSP Send: DESCRIBE rtsp://192.168.200.1:8554/cetonmpeg2 RTSP/1.0
2011/06/17 12:57:49.70 : RTSP Send: SETUP rtsp://192.168.200.1:8554/cetonmpeg2 RTSP/1.0
2011/06/17 12:57:49.77 : RTSP Send: PLAY rtsp://192.168.200.1:8554/cetonmpeg2 RTSP/1.0
2011/06/17 12:57:49.81 : GetServiceVariable - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urnpencable-com:serviceId:urn:schemas-opencable-com:service:Mux Variable: ProgramNumber Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:49.92 : Done GetServiceVariable: ProgramNumber
2011/06/17 12:57:49.92 : GetServiceVariable - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urnpencable-com:serviceId:urn:schemas-opencable-com:service:Mux Variable: PIDList Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:50.01 : Done GetServiceVariable: PIDList
2011/06/17 12:57:50.01 : RTP Stop: True
2011/06/17 12:57:50.01 : Start 6971 Error: H:\Sage is not a valid path
2011/06/17 12:57:50.01 : Stop active recording: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.01 : UPnP stop: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.01 : ExecuteAction - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urn:upnp-org:serviceId:urn:schemas-upnp-org:service:AVTransport Action: Stop Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:50.29 : Done ExecuteAction: Stop
2011/06/17 12:57:50.29 : ExecuteAction - Device: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-1e-be) Tuner 3 Service: urn:upnp-org:serviceId:urn:schemas-upnp-org:service:ConnectionManager Action: ConnectionComplete Refresh: False
2011/06/17 12:57:50.59 : Done ExecuteAction: ConnectionComplete
2011/06/17 12:57:50.59 : RTSP TEARDOWN - 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.59 : RTSP Send: TEARDOWN rtsp://192.168.200.1:8554/cetonmpeg2 RTSP/1.0
2011/06/17 12:57:50.60 : RTP Stop: True
2011/06/17 12:57:50.60 : SageDCTTuner 6971 Send: ERROR H:\Sage is not a valid path
2011/06/17 12:57:50.60 : Before Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.60 : After Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.60 : 6971 Bytes Received: 68
2011/06/17 12:57:50.60 : ProcessMessage 6971: GET_FILE_SIZE H:\Sage\SanfordSon-AVisitFromLenaHorne-13785025-0.ts
2011/06/17 12:57:50.60 : GET_FILE_SIZE no filepath provided
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : SageDCTTuner 6971 Send: 0
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : Before Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : After Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : 6971 Bytes Received: 68
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : ProcessMessage 6971: GET_FILE_SIZE H:\Sage\SanfordSon-AVisitFromLenaHorne-13785025-0.ts
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : GET_FILE_SIZE no filepath provided
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : GetSize has not changed: 0 - 6/17/2011 12:57:50 PM
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : SageDCTTuner 6971 Send: 0
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : Before Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : After Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : 6971 Bytes Received: 68
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : ProcessMessage 6971: GET_FILE_SIZE H:\Sage\SanfordSon-AVisitFromLenaHorne-13785025-0.ts
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : GET_FILE_SIZE no filepath provided
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : GetSize has not changed: 0 - 6/17/2011 12:57:50 PM
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : SageDCTTuner 6971 Send: 0
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : Before Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.61 : After Accept: 6971
2011/06/17 12:57:50.62 : 6971 Bytes Received: 68
2011/06/17 12:57:50.62 : ProcessMessage 6971: GET_FILE_SIZE H:\Sage\SanfordSon-AVisitFromLenaHorne-13785025-0.ts
2011/06/17 12:57:50.62 : GET_FILE_SIZE no filepath provided
2011/06/17 12:57:50.62 : GetSize has not changed: 0 - 6/17/2011 12:57:50 PM
2011/06/17 12:57:50.62 : SageDCTTuner 6971 Send: 0
2

It seems like SageDCT is seeing a file path from Sage server which it of course can't write to.

Do I need to make all of my sage paths UNC paths?

[Deacon Crusher]

That was it.

Had to change my Sage recording paths to UNC. Now I'm getting recordings.

Live playback on server is choppy, but I never do that so not concerned about that. Going to try some live playback and recordings on extenders and see how they are.

[kmp14]

Originally Posted by Deacon Crusher

That was it.

Had to change my Sage recording paths to UNC. Now I'm getting recordings.

Live playback on server is choppy, but I never do that so not concerned about that. Going to try some live playback and recordings on extenders and see how they are.

Congrats! Playback is flawless for me on my HD200's and HD300.

[Deacon Crusher]

How to configure Sage to work with a Ceton tuner in another box. (Big thanks to all here on the forum who helped and huge thanks to the folks at Ceton (yes Michael I mean you) who are super friendly and helpful.)

Minimum needed

Ceton in a box running win 7 or W2K8 or latest Win Home server. (no windows media center necessary and you don't want or need network bridging setup for the Ceton.)

SageDCT installed on that same box. (does need to be configured with a user name that has write access to your sage storage shares.)

Sage server, all sage storage locations need to be using UNC paths.

Easiest way to make sure it's all in and working.

Install Ceton in a Win7 box and get it working with 7MC. That should be easy as Ceton and your cable company can help. Comcast in Berkeley let me pickup and take home my own cable card and config myself. I did have to call in and get a tech that knows cable card (but not Ceton) to activate it so that pay channels like HBO) would work. Other channels worked immediately. Recommend a manual config of tuner in 7MC and choose only 1 tuner (of the 4 Ceton tuners) to config and make active in 7MC, good for testing etc.

Make sure you do not turn on Ceton's network bridge mode. That's only necessary if you want to give other 7MC boxes access to the Ceton tuners.

Once that's all in and working, install SageDCT on that same box. Give it credentials that have access to your Sage server storage locations. Scan for your tuners and have it build a config, say no when it says use localhost for network location.

Go to your sage server. Make sure all Sage storage locations (all the places that Sage might choose to write a TV show that is being recorded) are using UNC path names not drive letters (so they should look like \\myserver\sageshare1, not D:\sageshare1.)

Shut down sage and copy the mmc\encoders info that your created with sagedct into the sage.properties file in the correct area. I copied over 3 tuners and left the 4th out so that I could keep using it in 7MC for testing and play (like recording copy once shows.)

Then follow the directions here

http://babgvant.com/files/folders/sa...ntry19846.aspx

for completing the config.

After you've gone into Sage and setup the program guide for your Ceton tuners shutdown sage.

I then used encoder_merit setting to give one of the ceton Tuners the highest merit so that I could force it to be used and then start sage again.

start a recording, if it works you have Ceton goodness. IF it's not working check logging in Sagedct and check the status page for the ceton tuners on your Ceton box and see if they show that you are tunning succesfully and playing or not.

Good luck