Network Encoder Walkthrough - Draft

[SageWizdom]

Installing PrimeNetEncoder with the HDHomeRun Prime - Draft

This post contains a walkthrough for installing the PrimeNetEncoder software with an HDHomeRun Prime (cablecard) on SageTV v9 on Linux. I would imagine that this is similar for windows, but I can not confirm this. I also have an older HDHome Dual ATSC that I will try to verify this against in the future. If anyone has a different encoder and can share variations, please post them in the comments and I will update this first post as I see them.

This walkthrough is intended to follow the SageTV V9 Linux walkthrough in this thread (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62715). I think this should work for any Linux Ubuntu/Debian Install (If you are on RedHat, there are definitely command differences).

This walkthrough assumes you are running PrimeNetEncoder on the same machine as your SageTV box. If not, some of the firewall settings and IP information may have to be changed accordingly.

Basic Steps will include

• Install HDHomeRun (HDHR) Software
• Test HDHR Software
• Validate Computer IP config
• Open up Firewall
• Download the PrimeNetEncoder (PNE) code
• Configure PNE
• Run & Test PNE
• Enable Directory Access
• Configure & Run SageTV
• Test SageTV

Install HDHomeRun (HDHR) Software
Install the HDHomeRun software

sudo apt-get install hdhomerun-config hdhomerun-config-gui

Test HDHR Software
To test your install, first run the hdhomerun_config command as below and you should see the usage.

user@computer:~$ hdhomerun_config
Usage:
	hdhomerun_config discover
	hdhomerun_config <id> get help
	hdhomerun_config <id> get <item>
	hdhomerun_config <id> set <item> <value>
	hdhomerun_config <id> scan <tuner> [<filename>]
	hdhomerun_config <id> save <tuner> <filename>
	hdhomerun_config <id> upgrade <filename>

To get the ip of your HDHomeRun, you need to run

user@computer:~$ hdhomerun_config discover

You will either get back "no devices found" or something similar to "hdhomerun device 168D6BA2 found at 192.168.1.213". If you get back "no devices found" and you do not know the ip of your HDHR, you need to install the HDHomeRun client on another computer and do the discovery.

If discovery does not work, try the following command to adjust your firewall incoming udp rules (thanks Boolah)

sudo iptables -I INPUT -p udp -m udp --sport 65001 -j ACCEPT

This has to be run each time you enable/disable your firewall if using UFW

If you know the IP of the HDHR, you should be able to run the below command

user@computer:~$ hdhomerun_config <ip> get help
user@computer:~$ hdhomerun_config <ip> get /sys/model
hdhomerun3_cablecard

NOTE: If you are going to use a static IP for your HDHomeRun network encoder, you need to give it a static IP assignment in your home network router. The consumer HDHR boxes only do DHCP and if/when the address changes your system will stop working (can't find the encoder) (Thanks jvl711)


Validate Computer IP Config
Validate your computers IP. When using a static IP, Ubuntu expects your IP to be set correctly in the /etc/hosts file. This must be done for PNE to work correctly. Your local host should be listed second with your static ip. If it is not, you need to edit this file and set it.

user@computer:~$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1	localhost
192.168.1.12	sagetvserver  <-- edit this line if it = 127.0.1.1
...

To edit the file, "sudo nano /etc/hosts" and edit it to match your static IP.


Open up Firewall
Assuming you have already run the Linux walkthrough referenced above, you should have already opened the following SageTV related ports.

42024 TCP - Client Server Communication
31100 UDP - Allow clients to auto detect the server
31099 TCP - Allow clients to communicate with the server
8018 TCP - SageTV Locator Service
7818 TCP - Streaming video
7760 TCP - Allow the Program Guide to work (for placeshifters?)

The below additional ports need to be opened on your firewall

5000 - 5002 (UDP) : hdhomerun streams
7000 - 7002 (TCP) : Network Encoder streaming
8271 (UDP) : SageTV Network Encoder Discovery

sudo ufw allow proto udp from 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 5000:5002
sudo ufw allow proto tcp from 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 7000:7002
sudo ufw allow proto udp from 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 8271

If you are following the Linux walkthrough, you should already have a Linux GUI Firewall tool. Open this and add the above port ranges as listed above. I have not figured out a simple/easy command line to edit the iptables firewall. (suggestions greatly appreciated)


Download PrimeNetEncoder (PNE)
Download Prime Net Encoder. I have attempted to update this walkthrough to use v2.0 (latest) but you should be able to use the below link and manually download any version. There appears to be some conversation about the most stable version. This guide does not have any recommendations at this time.
(PNE Thread http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62055)

Download PNE 2.0

wget https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B9h9u1LGV355QnNrX1BGOGI0Nnc&export=download

Rename the file

mv uc?id=0B9h9u1LGV355akF2QlJUVGY2NHc pne2.0.zip

Extract the zipped dir (if you are missing unzip run "sudo apt-get install unzip")

unzip pne2.0.zip

Rename the directory to remove the space in the name

mv PrimeNetEncoder\ v2.0.0 PrimeNetEncoder_v2.0.0

Configure PNE
To configure PNE, you must first run it so it will create a config file

>> cd PrimeNetEncoder_v2.0.0
>> mv PrimeNetEncoder.bat PrimeNetEncoder.sh
>> chmod a+x PrimeNetEncoder.sh
>> ./PrimeNetEncoder.sh
PrimeNetEncover Version: 2.0
Author: jvl711

PrimeNetEncoder>

Press Ctrl-C to exit.

This created a "PrimeNetEncoder.properties" file


Edit PrimeNetEncoder.properties

nano PrimeNetEncoder.properties

set the following

-- If using IP:

tuner0.name=PrimeNetEncoder 213-0
tuner0.id=192.168.1.213
tuner1.name=PrimeNetEncoder 213-1
tuner1.id=192.168.1.213
tuner2.name=PrimeNetEncoder 213-2
tuner2.id=192.168.1.213

-- or if using encoder ID:

tuner0.name=PrimeNetEncoder 131653b2-0
tuner0.id=131653b2
tuner1.name=PrimeNetEncoder 131653b2-1
tuner1.id=131653b2
tuner2.name=PrimeNetEncoder 131653b2-2
tuner2.id=131653b2

-- Using custom install path: 

ffmpeg.path=/home/<user>/sagetv/ffmpeg
HDHomeRunConfig.path=/usr/bin/hdhomerun_config

-- or if using the .deb and the automatic install path:

ffmpeg.path=/opt/sagetv/server/ffmpeg
HDHomeRunConfig.path=/usr/bin/hdhomerun_config

Note1: Set the tuner ID to the IP of your HDHomeRun. The instructions say to use the 8 character ID, but this requires hdhomerun_config to be able to do discovery, which does not always seem to work. I suggest you also change the tunerX.Name as this will appear in sage and help you more clearly configure the system.

Note2: Set the HDHomeRunConfig.path to the full path of the runtime binary. It should be installed at the above location, but if you are not sure, you can use the unix "which" command to find out "which hdhomerun_config".

Note3: Set the ffmpeg path to the full path of the FFMPEG in your SageTV directory (this seems to work, please post comments if this is bad for some reason). The above path assumes that you followed the Linux install guide. Your path may vary.

press Ctrl-o to save and Ctrl-x to exit.


Run & Test PNE
You should now be able to run PNE and validate it can see the HDHR encoder

>> ./PrimeNetEncoder.sh
PrimeNetEncover Version: 2.0
Author: jvl711

PrimeNetEncoder>status
(0) PrimeNetEncoder 213-0 (192.168.1.213-0) - IDLE
(1) PrimeNetEncoder 213-1 (192.168.1.213-1) - IDLE
(2) PrimeNetEncoder 213-2 (192.168.1.213-2) - IDLE

Press Ctrl-c to exit

Enable Directory Access
Ensure that all users have the ability to write to the media directory

>> sudo chmod a+rwx /var/media/tv

You will be asked for your password to enable the sudo command.



Configure & Run SageTV

Reboot your system to allow all changes to take effect

>> sudo reboot

When the system comes up, you will need to terminal sessions into the system. One for PNE and one for Sage. First log in and run PNE.

In Terminal 1:
>> cd PrimeNetEncoder_v2.0
>> ./PrimeNetEncoder.sh

In a second terminal, log in and go to the SageTV directory. If you followed the Linux build directions, this will be the "sagetv" directory in your home directory. open the "Sage.properties" file. Note that Sage is uppercase.

In Terminal 2:
>> cd sagetv  (or whatever your sage dir is)
>> nano Sage.properties

you need to find and set the following values. In my config file, I had to create the "encoding_discovery_port" entry and just edit the other.

encoding_discovery_port=8271		-- I had to manually create this entry
network_encoder_discovery=true		-- this existed but was set to false

*** tentative ***
If this is the only encoder on your system, and you have previously attempted to configure it, you should remove it from your properties file by deleting all of the lines that start with "mmc".

Does anyone know what will happen if we do not remove these entries? Will sage still find the encoder?

press Ctrl-o to save then Ctrl-x to exit


Its now time to run SageTV
run "./startsage" in the SageTV server directory.

./startsage

Note: you may get either of the following errors
1) ./startsagecore: line 47: /var/run/sagetv.pid: Permission denied

-- normal users do not have permission by default to write files to the /var/run directory, you can fix this by running "sudo chmod a+w /var/run". As this is really a link to "/run", you may want to change the access on "/run" also. Please note, this setting appears to reset it self after every reboot... [TODO look for fix]. This allows all users to write files to that directory. This may not be the best practice, but is probably ok on your Sage machine. Note: I'm not sure this is surviving through reboots. I'll try to verify and update a solution if I can find one.

2) Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM warning: -XX:ThreadPriorityPolicy requires root privilege on Linux

-- I have not chased down what this means and why, I defer to the code gurus to let us know how important this is.


Once you start sage… you may want to give it a minute or so to detect the encoders before you log in. I dont know if its true or not, but my perception is that if I start PNE, then start sage and immediately log in with a client, it can not find the encoders….

Configuring Sage with a Client
You need to now log into Sage with a client. This is covered in the original walkthrough. Run "./sageclient.sh"

If this is your first time loading Sage, you will have to go through the entire configuration menu process.
If you have previously configured sage, the network encoder menu should already be on screen.

Note: if you removed all the mmc entries, you will be prompted to select the country, and the video format first.

The "Setup Wizard" should now be on screen showing your three new encoders. There should be three lines that say something similar to...

PrimeNetEncoder 213-0 on host:7000
PrimeNetEncoder 213-1 on host:7001
PrimeNetEncoder 213-2 on host:7002

I like to do things in order so please select encoder 0 first. You will be asked to select the Input. There should be only one option. Select "Digital TV Tuner"

Once you click, a progress window titled "Broadcast standard is being determined. Please wait..." will appear. This should take ~30-60 seconds to complete.

You will now have to select a "tuning option." There is only one option it has *lots* of text and starts with "Use Tuner on Capture Card to tune Antenna/Cable TV...." Click this text to continue.

Configure Program Guide Information. If you have never configured this before (new setup) chose the appropriate guide option. Either the built-in "US, Canada, XMLTV guide option" (top), or a custom option based on a plugin

(Updated) DO NOT DO A CHANNEL SCAN This does not work when using the PrimeNetEncoder and will give you a bunch of strange OK### channels that do not tune correctly. Until someone finds a better method, you will need to have the HDHR Prime scan for channels, then you need to manually select them within sage. To do this... A) open a web browser to your HDHR (http://<HDHR IP>/lineup.html?show=all). Click the "Detect Channels" button. The HDHR will go through and detect all available channels. If you again go to the above link, all possible channels will be displayed, invalid channels will have a line through them. At this point you can manually enable channels in sage.
[ToDo: how to configure an external guide plugin]

If you have already configured a different encoder for this provider, or previously configured a guide, you can re-use this by clicking the bottom option "Use or Copy an Existing Channel Lineup for this Source." Select the appropriate lineup, tell the system to re-use the channel configuration as appropriate.

Now click the "Add New Source" button and repeat the above process for the remaining two encoders. Unless there is a good reason not to, you should ABSOLUTELY do the Copy Existing Channel Lineup option for these tuners as they are the same box on the same tv network.

When done with all three (0, 1 and 2) click the "Finish Source Setup" button.

You should now have 3 working tunes and be able to test the system by tuning/recording live tv.

Another way to verify that the system is working... Tell sage to record a show. Look in the /var/media/tv directory and see if a file exists and is growing.

>> ls -l /var/media/tv/

If you run this several times, you should see a file with the name of the show you are recording, and you should see the files size growing.

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by SageWizdom

Note1: Set the tuner ID to the IP of your HDHomeRun. The instructions say to use the 8 character ID, but this requires hdhomerun_config to be able to do discovery, which does not always seem to work. I suggest you also change the tunerX.Name as this will appear in sage and help you more clearly configure the system.

[To Be Continued]

Great write up!!! You might want to add that if you are going to use an IP address than you need to have a static reservation for the IP of the HDHomeRun. Otherwise it will randomly stop working if the IP address renews.

Do you mind if I add a link to this write up in the PNE thread.

[SageWizdom]

Originally Posted by jvl711

Great write up!!! You might want to add that if you are going to use an IP address than you need to have a static reservation for the IP of the HDHomeRun. Otherwise it will randomly stop working if the IP address renews.

Do you mind if I add a link to this write up in the PNE thread.

Please do. My goal is to make this as easy as possible. I appreciate the caveat on the static ip reservation. I'm actually a bit frustrated (at myself) that I haven't been able to find what is blocking the autodetect yet, but one step at a time I guess.

[BitBass]

I'm trying this with an old school 2 antenna HDHR. I'm not sure PrimeNet is the right thing to be using, but I'm trying it. It's getting to the point in the Extender GUI where it asks for the ZIP code for guide data. I'm then getting a message about the SageTV Server not being available and to check my internet connection. Don't think that's the problem since I've been downloading the install files directly to this server. Any ideas?

[dranockcir]

Originally Posted by BitBass

I'm trying this with an old school 2 antenna HDHR. I'm not sure PrimeNet is the right thing to be using, but I'm trying it. It's getting to the point in the Extender GUI where it asks for the ZIP code for guide data. I'm then getting a message about the SageTV Server not being available and to check my internet connection. Don't think that's the problem since I've been downloading the install files directly to this server. Any ideas?

I had this problem, I was using a Linux license in my "activkey" file that I purchased a few years ago. I PM'd Narflex my license number and what I was trying to do and he white listed my license on the EPG server.

[BitBass]

Ok, I've reached out to Narflex for that.

I also had a weird output when scanning for channels. It simply listed something like 150+ generic channels and when I tried to play any of them, I got no signal. I'm not convinced it's actually doing a channel scan yet.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by BitBass

Ok, I've reached out to Narflex for that.

I also had a weird output when scanning for channels. It simply listed something like 150+ generic channels and when I tried to play any of them, I got no signal. I'm not convinced it's actually doing a channel scan yet.

If you are using PrimeNetEncoder, you do not do a scan in Sage. You have to do that in the HDHomeRun GUI program.

[BitBass]

I'm all CLI for the server. Can I run the scan through the PrimeNetEncoder CLI interface? I'm being lazy not looking for that in the other thread, I know.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by BitBass

I'm all CLI for the server. Can I run the scan through the PrimeNetEncoder CLI interface? I'm being lazy not looking for that in the other thread, I know.

Maybe:

Channel scan:

To run a channel scan:

format: hdhomerun_config <device id> scan /tuner<n> [<log filename>]
eg: hdhomerun_config FFFFFFFF scan /tuner0 scan0.log

This command will scan all channels on the selected channelmap plus any additional channelmaps associated with the selected channelmap. All standard modulation types for the selected channelmap are tested.
When a digital channel is found it will identify the programs on the channel.
The log filename is optional; if included it will log to the given filename.

[SageWizdom]

Originally Posted by BitBass

I'm all CLI for the server. Can I run the scan through the PrimeNetEncoder CLI interface? I'm being lazy not looking for that in the other thread, I know.

An easy way is to go to the HDHomeRun Prime's web page and there is a button at the top that does it for you.

1) Go to the web address of the HDHR
2) Click the "Channel Lineup" link (top blue link)
3) Click the "Detect Channels" button at the top of the page.
or
http://<IP of your HDHR>/lineup.html

It will work its way through all the channels. When done, it will display all of the available channels it can see. I prefer the semi-hidden view that shows the valid and invalid channels (I just walk through the channel listing in sage and deselect all the crossed out channels.

http://<IP of your HDHR>/lineup.html?show=all

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by SageWizdom

An easy way is to go to the HDHomeRun Prime's web page and there is a button at the top that does it for you.

1) Go to the web address of the HDHR
2) Click the "Channel Lineup" link (top blue link)
3) Click the "Detect Channels" button at the top of the page.
or
http://<IP of your HDHR>/lineup.html

It will work its way through all the channels. When done, it will display all of the available channels it can see. I prefer the semi-hidden view that shows the valid and invalid channels (I just walk through the channel listing in sage and deselect all the crossed out channels.

http://<IP of your HDHR>/lineup.html?show=all

He's not using a Prime - he's trying to set this up with an old 2 tuner OTA HDHR, so there is no web page.

[SageWizdom]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

He's not using a Prime - he's trying to set this up with an old 2 tuner OTA HDHR, so there is no web page.

Darn, I was hopeful it might be easy. Oh well. It does remind me that I need to pull out my OTA HDHR and add that back into the mix.

It drives the real question which is... what additional info needs to be added to support other tuners? And what other tuners are the most popular?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by SageWizdom

Darn, I was hopeful it might be easy. Oh well. It does remind me that I need to pull out my OTA HDHR and add that back into the mix.

It drives the real question which is... what additional info needs to be added to support other tuners? And what other tuners are the most popular?

About the only 'Network Encoders' that are out there are SageDCT for CableCard Tuners, PrimeNetEcnoder for the HDHomeRun family (primarily the Prime though, since all the others work natively in sage), and the R5000HD (no longer for sale, and not often used anymore). A bulk of the tuners out there are all working native in Sage, so no need for Network Encoders.

[plotter]

Anyone have wget URL to PNE 2.0?

[sparkster666]

I followed these instructions and it seems like everything worked. when I try to watch a show I get no picture and this is the error I see in the PrimeNetEncoder terminal. Any help would be appreciated.

PrimeNetEncoder>Error: SageTV start recording command does not appear to be in the proper format.  Please attempt restarting SageTV.
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at jvl.primenetencoder.Tuner.getFileSize(Tuner.java:744)
        at jvl.primenetencoder.Tuner.run(Tuner.java:244)

[SageWizdom]

Originally Posted by sparkster666

I followed these instructions and it seems like everything worked. when I try to watch a show I get no picture and this is the error I see in the PrimeNetEncoder terminal. Any help would be appreciated.

PrimeNetEncoder>Error: SageTV start recording command does not appear to be in the proper format.  Please attempt restarting SageTV.
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at jvl.primenetencoder.Tuner.getFileSize(Tuner.java:744)
        at jvl.primenetencoder.Tuner.run(Tuner.java:244)

Unforunately, I'm not a pro at PNE. If you don't have debugging on for PrimeNetEncoder, I would say turn that on (in the config file) and then look in the log files (in the PNE directory) for the commands that sage has handed to it. It might be more possible to figure out what the command is that is specifically getting stuck.

[SageWizdom]

Originally Posted by plotter

Anyone have wget URL to PNE 2.0?

I've attempted to update the instructions to support 2.0. Please note, my host is in the middle of a rebuild, so I have not gotten to run through this on a live system yet. Please let me know if you run into any problems.

Thanks

[ChePazzo]

It was working until I tried to watch something and I'm seeing "No Signal" on the screen. I saw the "Tuner Status" on the HDHR tell me that it was properly tuned, so that part was working.

The other strange thing is that the file that showed up in /var/media/tv/ was a .ts file instead of a .mpg and the file size is not incrementing (stays at 0).

Any ideas what I can look at to figure out where the problem is?

[SageWizdom]

Originally Posted by ChePazzo

It was working until I tried to watch something and I'm seeing "No Signal" on the screen. I saw the "Tuner Status" on the HDHR tell me that it was properly tuned, so that part was working.

The other strange thing is that the file that showed up in /var/media/tv/ was a .ts file instead of a .mpg and the file size is not incrementing (stays at 0).

Any ideas what I can look at to figure out where the problem is?

I believe ts is an mpeg recording file type (mpeg 2?).

Check the ownership of your /var/media/tv/ directory. It should look a lot like the below. The key bits are the start

ls -al
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Mar 18 23:10 ./
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 Feb 25 22:57 ../
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 Feb 25 22:57 music/
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4096 Feb 25 22:57 pictures/
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Mar 3 06:08 tv/
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4096 Mar 18 23:10 videos/

d = directory
rwx = read write execute 3 times, for user, for group and for everyone.
In my case, the root user, the root group and everyone can all read, write and execute files in the directory. Execute is needed to be able to do a directory listing for example.

If yours is not set to all three, you can do the following

sudo chmod a+rwx tv

you should probably write down what it is originally to ensure if this is not the problem we can get you back to what it was.