Prime Encoder Script

[checkbin]

I've been using SageTV 7 for a number of years and recently with 2 HDHomerun Primes and SageDCT to capture my FIOS channels. However the the SageDCT process often hangs and the Primes miss recordings. I restart Sage or the SageDCT process and all is good for awhile and then it happens again and I miss more recordings. Can anyone using SageTV on Linux with Jwittkoski's Prime_encoder script tell me if this is more reliable than the SageDCT on Windows? I've tried all the recommended settings and tweaks for SageDCT but it is just too unreliable. Anyone have any thoughts? Thank you and Happy New Year to all the forum members. Thanks for keeping this forum alive and well.

[FriscoJohn]

I was having the same problem. Then I bought a new router and the problem disappeared. I don't know why, but it's been more than two months an the problem is still resolved. I have to suspect that somehow the old router was the culprit.

[checkbin]

Well I was having the problem before with my original FIOS router, but I just got the new one for faster Internet speeds and its still doing the same thing. FriscoJohn, What router are you using now?

Does anyone have any experience with HDHomerun Primes under Linux? I'm trying to determine if I might have better performance with it.

[matt91]

Originally Posted by checkbin

Does anyone have any experience with HDHomerun Primes under Linux? I'm trying to determine if I might have better performance with it.

Yeah, it's (essentially) all I use. I do a little OTA recording, but 90% is probably via HDHR Prime under Ubuntu.

I am not a linux guru, so it took a little bit of playing around to get it to run, but once I have it running, it's "fire and forget." I don't restart my ubuntu server but every two or three months. I do stop/restart the sage process probably every month just due to Java memory usage, but the Prime process always seems to work fine.

(I do run both sage and the prime process as root. I think that they can be run under lower-level accounts, but i didn't mess with that.)

let me know if you have any specific questions and i'll try to help you out.
Matt

[checkbin]

Thanks Matt. I'm pretty versed in Linux and have a SageTV Linux license so I think I will give it a try. Were the Prime Encoder instructions pretty straight forward or did you have to do anything crazy to get it to work with the Prime?

[matt91]

I think that they were straightforward. I'm pretty sure that I followed this site: https://github.com/jwittkoski/prime_encoder

[checkbin]

I have one other question. Can a 64 bit Linux OS be used with the SageTV binary and the Prime Encoder script, or does it have to all be 32 bit? I assume I would still install 32 bit java in that case.

[FriscoJohn]

checkbin

My router is a Netgear WNDR4300

[matt91]

Originally Posted by checkbin

I have one other question. Can a 64 bit Linux OS be used with the SageTV binary and the Prime Encoder script, or does it have to all be 32 bit? I assume I would still install 32 bit java in that case.

My Ubuntu is 64bit and I recall having somewhat of a mess when initially installing Sage and Java. I think that I did end up having to do a 32bit Java to make it work OK.

[jpwegas]

Originally Posted by checkbin

I've been using SageTV 7 for a number of years and recently with 2 HDHomerun Primes and SageDCT to capture my FIOS channels. However the the SageDCT process often hangs and the Primes miss recordings. I restart Sage or the SageDCT process and all is good for awhile and then it happens again and I miss more recordings. Can anyone using SageTV on Linux with Jwittkoski's Prime_encoder script tell me if this is more reliable than the SageDCT on Windows? I've tried all the recommended settings and tweaks for SageDCT but it is just too unreliable. Anyone have any thoughts? Thank you and Happy New Year to all the forum members. Thanks for keeping this forum alive and well.

I don't check the forums very often these days, so I apologize for the late reply.

I had been using the prime_encoder script for a few months before I released it. During that time (1.5 years):

• The Sage has recorded 6425 shows
• There have been a very small number (<5 total) of recordings that had no sound, but because we didn't notice the issue live I'm not sure whether it was related to the Prime or the script or the original signal was having problems.
• Occasionally (maybe 5 times a month) the Sage complains that it lost the signal and will retry, but I've rarely noticed a problem with the actual recording because the retry seems to work.
• Very rarely (<10 total) I've missed the start of a recording for unknown reasons.
• Every few months the Sage server itself starts getting sluggish and I have to reboot the server. I don't think that's anything specific about the prime_encoder script as it's the sage process that is using a lot of CPU and I had similar problems back before I was using the Prime.

Hope that helps.

--John

[jpwegas]

Originally Posted by checkbin

I have one other question. Can a 64 bit Linux OS be used with the SageTV binary and the Prime Encoder script, or does it have to all be 32 bit? I assume I would still install 32 bit java in that case.

I am running 64 bit Ubuntu (12.04) with 32 bit Java 7. No problems.

My notes on Java install from when I last rebuilt my server are:

Install 32 bit libs for 32 bit Java
-----------------------------------
apt-get install libc6:i386
apt-get install zlib1g:i386

Java 7 Install
--------------
From:
http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp#lin
Get the "Linux" download (not 64 bit)

mkdir /opt/jvm
cd /opt/jvm
tar xvzf jre-7u51-linux-i586.gz
update-alternatives --install "/usr/bin/java" "java" "/opt/jvm/jre1.7.0_51/bin/java" 1

Obviously the version numbers would be different today.

Hope that helps.

--John

[checkbin]

Thanks John for that info, and for the others who replied as well. I made the leap and set up a Linux box using Arch Linux and John's Prime Encoder Script. No major hurdle in setting it up and all I can say is Wow! The script works like a champ, and I now have a very stable HD Homerun Prime setup for the first time. While I liked the functionality Sage DCT provides, I did suffer lots of drop outs, missed sections of recordings, and pixellation way more times than I'd like. With John's script and a Linux setup, I have seen zero issues so far after making a few weeks of heavy recording using two Primes. Even recording with all 6 tuners at once, the Prime recordings are flawless (I do multiplex recordings across 2-3 drives). With the additional stability of Linux and the awesome performance of Prime Encoder script, I will never go back to Sage on Windows. And now that SageTV will soon be open source, I encourage everyone to try the Linux version. It's definitely worth it, even if it means learning some Linux.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by checkbin

Thanks John for that info, and for the others who replied as well. I made the leap and set up a Linux box using Arch Linux and John's Prime Encoder Script. No major hurdle in setting it up and all I can say is Wow! The script works like a champ, and I now have a very stable HD Homerun Prime setup for the first time. While I liked the functionality Sage DCT provides, I did suffer lots of drop outs, missed sections of recordings, and pixellation way more times than I'd like. With John's script and a Linux setup, I have seen zero issues so far after making a few weeks of heavy recording using two Primes. Even recording with all 6 tuners at once, the Prime recordings are flawless (I do multiplex recordings across 2-3 drives). With the additional stability of Linux and the awesome performance of Prime Encoder script, I will never go back to Sage on Windows. And now that SageTV will soon be open source, I encourage everyone to try the Linux version. It's definitely worth it, even if it means learning some Linux.

This is a major encouragement to me... I have been having intermittent issues with the PRIME/sagedct (missing beginning of recordings, failed recordings especially on back to back recordings using the same turner) that I bought (and never set up) a linux license to see if it would be more stable. I should give it a go!

[bcjenkins]

something like this will get you the current version of Java:

curl -L -C - -b "oraclelicense=accept-securebackup-cookie" -O  http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/8u40-b25/jre-8u40-linux-i586.tar.gz

[checkbin]

Yes razrsharpe if you have a Linux license, definitely give it a try. I used the setup instructions for Arch Linux (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60786) and for me it was easy, as I use Linux professionally too. The steps are pretty much straightforward but some other Linux distros such as Ubuntu might be easier for beginners. Arch is a bit harder to set up, but I like it because its very lightweight, which I feel gives it even more of a performance edge as a Sage server. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.