Problem with TBS/Verizon FIOS/SageDCT/Ceton

[Telecore]

I am getting "No Signal" on TBS on Verizon FIOS using SageDCT 2.7.4 x64 and a Ceton InfiniTV PCIe 6 tuner. The CCI flag is set to copy freely. I recorded a show and it would not play back. I ran the file through VideoReDo and it does indeed play after a quick-stream fix. Any thoughts? Anyone else with the same problem out there?

I am starting to suspect something with SageDCT, although I have never really had a problem with it before.

[Fuzzy]

Sometimes all it takes is a bad bit in the transmission to make it hard for splitters and decoders to find the right spot int he stream, which is why videoredo can clean it up. PrimeNetEncoder gets around a lot of this, by essentially repackaging the stream through ffmpeg before it even writes to disc.

[JustFred]

SageDCT 2.7.4 is also able to pass the stream thru ffmpeg to clean it up. Open the DCT configuration program, go to the Capture tab, and change the Capture Method from "dump" to "ffmpeg". Prior to this change, I had problems with Comcast & Ceton where the recording wouldn't play in Sage (spinning circle of death), although it would play correctly using VLC.

[Telecore]

Is there something else that I need to do besides change the capture tab setting to FFMPEG?

I stopped the SageTV service, changed the setting, re-started SageDCT and then re-started the SageTV service. With the FFMPEG capture method selected, no cable channels can be viewed at all. Extenders report a playback exception.

[JustFred]

Changing the Capture Method is generally all that's required. I've found it safest to reboot the entire Sage server box after having stopped the DCT service. Seems to be some issue to do with the order of starting the Sage service vs the DCT service.
If Sage still isn't able to see **any** channels, it may be worthwhile to use the Ceton Diags and checkout the status on the InfiniTv Device Webpage. If everything looks good there, next launch the DCT Configuration app: go to the Test tab, select a valid channel and send a START command (this starts receiving a stream). Within a couple of seconds, you should see "OK" in the window below. Finally, send a STOP command and verify "OK" is returned. Getting "OK in both cases indicates that DCT is able to control the tuner and process the stream.

[Telecore]

I'm pretty sure that getting FFMPEG SageDCT capture would fix this problem, although after 1 day the channel began working again in DUMP mode. With FFMPEG selected, I keep getting "Error (-20) There is no media player that can play back the selected file while its being recorded" on every channel. On HD300's I get a playback exception.

One question - do I have to install ffdshow 64 in order for SageDCT FFMPEG capture to work?