DirecTV vidoe card, remote

[ncseatrout]

I just heard of Snap Stream YESTERDAY and I'm VERY interested in the product. I want to pipe in video from a DirecTV receiver through a video card, record the program(s) and then pipe back out for viewing on a TV. A few questions:

1. In searching for a video card, I haven't found a video card with both video IN and video out..PREFERABLY Svideo in both directions but RCA is fine as well. Any particular card that anybody would suggest ?

2. I have a cable modem and DEFINITELY would like the ability to login via a remote PC to setup recording. Do I need SnapSteam.net or TitanTV or can I just program my PC manually if I know the proper channel, time, etc ?

3. Can I control the video streaming of the PC from a remote PC via the web interface ?

Any info provided would be GREATLY appreciated !

Have a GREAT day.

Chris

[clayfree]

ncseatrout,

A word of caution about using SS with DirecTV. I purchased a new DirecTV receiver to dedicate to Snapstream. I have had no luck whatsoever making it work with SS. The application does not recognize the receiver at all. This is an important feature if you plan on scheduling via TitanTV.

I have seen one or two posts where people report success when using the serial tuning. I have opened two threads asking for help and have received 0 replies so I can only assume that very few are using it or have been succefull.

Up front SS claims that you can control your DSS receiver and even sell a cable. They do claim it will work with the following receivers, none of which are available in stores, they are all older models:

Sony SAT-B3 and SAT-B55 and the RCA DRD420RE and the RCA DRD303RA

Your other option will be to use an infared blaster which has limited reliability. I, like you, am excited about Snapstream but unless I can use it with satellite content it's not going to be a viable solution.

Clay

[ncseatrout]

Thanks for the info.

You say you've had no luck in the DirecTV receiver working with SS..is that only in relation to changing channels or have you not been able to record anything even when tuned to a channel manually ?

You say you bought a NEW receiver to dedicate to SS..maybe the serial codes are different than those in the older RCA and Sony models ?

Fortunately I have the brands/models that they indicate they've tested...RCA and Sony.

What video card are you using ? What type of input jack ....Svideo/RCA/Coax ?

Are you viewing on a PC or TV ? Does the card have video out jack ?

Thanks again for the info !

[clayfree]

You are lucky to have the correct receiver. I assume that it is something simple like the serial code being different but with no responses in the forum or from Snapstream tech support it is a frustrating problem.

I bought aa ATI TV Wonder. I wanted something that has a tuner + S-Video in.

The S-Video put comes from my Radeon 7500.

I currently havr it hooked up to a 17"lcd monitor, a 32" tv and a 100" Sharp M20X dlp so I really need to get good quality out of these recordings.

Let me know if you get it working with your receiver, maybe there is hope for me yet. If I get mine going I plan to set up a dedicated bow to record and serve.

Keep me posted,
Clay

[Skiier__Dude999]

I'm using SS with a DirecTV receiver. I use a standard 9 pin serial cable. SS will reliabily change the channel on my IRD and stream video to my system. I use an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 7500. It has a TV tuner, and video in/out using both S-Video and Composite.

Although SS recommends a PII 350 or PII 500 be very careful here. I've tried to use a 550Mhz machine with 160Mb of RAM, a fresh install of Win2K and the Radeon 7500 and a SB Live to capture video and audio. To my disappointment, I can only reliably capture video/audio without dropping frames, and having the sound slow down at the absolute lowest quality rates.

If you are like me and hoped to use a previous generation PC as a PVR, make sure your hobby machine is well built out with a high end processor and RAM or you might waste a load of dollars.

[clayfree]

Skiier__Dude999,

Finally! I actually get to hear from someone who has had success with SS and a DirecTV receiver.

May I ask what model receiver you are using?

Also, when you set up your channels, what screens did you see. Did SS auto detect your satellite or did you manually enter the Sat channels in a tuner guide?

Thanks,
Clay

[Skiier__Dude999]

I am using a Sony B50.

No, it doesn't autodetect the channels, but I haven't been using SS to do the timer programming front end -- I use TitanTV instead (www.titantv.com). It's an online EPG that will schedule a recording on your system via a single click and uses SS in the background.

If you want to use SS, you can either manually enter the channel names, or simply tell it which channel number you want to watch or record (e.g. tune to channel 105).

[devnull]

I too have just downloaded and installed the lite version of snapstream. and am also not able to get it to change channels on my rca dtv reciever through serial control. my guess is that they did a very poor job researching the control commands for the serial link, as there are two different protocols used, and my reciever uses the "new" protocol (i know the hardware is set up correctly because a seperate remote control app works perfectly fine).
i must also say that i am very unimpressed with the performance of the encoding engine, the system requirements as posted are complete bs.
perhaps if the disgusting windows media format was changed to something a bit more open, things would work better... that also brings up another point though, i am also leery of the extreme dependance of highly proprietary microsoft technologies in the application, its like they were paid off by ms to use only their tools...

[Skiier__Dude999]

I have to say I agree with you to a certain extent.

I purchased the full version of SS due to the integration with the Sony receiver and Titan TV, but I am absolutely unable to get any sort of quality of my recordings using a 500Mhz machine (specs on the website suggest that this machine will work).

However, I have used both the ATI recording application that came with the Radeon 7500 AIW card, and a piece of freeware called VirtualDub. Both provide me a quality that far surpassed SS, and neither make my 500Mhz machine break a sweat (CPU only runs at 50-70% of capacity). The important factor as you have pointed out is the CODEC that is used to encode the video. The MS product is a pig. There are many others out there that do a far better job in both quality and CPU use.

If SnapStream could integrate the VirtualDub endoding and editing capabilities into their streaming and timing package, this would be a kick-a$$ package. As it is, I believe I wasted $50.

Incidentially, there is a freeware package out there which allows you to control either your Sony or RCA receiver with the serial port. I will try to find the link to the website and post it later. I'm using it and it works great.

[clayfree]

I am using the package also and it wworks great. It consists of several things.

DirecTV Serial Control Utility by Kevin Timmerman:
http://www.pcmx.net/dtvcon/
This allows your computer to change the channel of your Sat receiver

and TVPI__Parser by Jason Hoomani
http://hoocanhelp.com/tvpi_parser/
This takes the scheduling info from TitanTV and sets the Windows scheduler to start WinTV2K and record the program.

Jason and I have WinTV PVR 250 cards that use hardware mpeg encoding and he wrote TVPI_Parser to work with those cards.

Just in the past couple of days he has finished a GUI version that looks to be fantastic. He has not yet finished the documentation but here is a link to the new verssion:
http://hoocanhelp.com/pvras/pvras.zip

I love the combination of these progrrams with my PVR 250, I juust wish I had a front end like Snapstream.

Clay

[TurtleTron]

My serial cable came today and, no big shocker, it does not work. My system is a RCA DRD430RGA. I bought a second receiver just for SS. Looks like I am stuck recording local stuff off the air. No DirectTV (Took a look at ShowShifter, looks like that will work, but no "stores" option and I can't figure out how to skip.)

On the same subject, why can SS support multiple capture sources? It takes going into the settings to change the default. Totaly pointless if you want to use the tv tuner for local stuff and the s-video input for DSS.



As for displaying stuff on the TV, check this out.

http://www.focusinfo.com/products/tv...tview_gold.htm



My SS computer started life as a game computer (still is) and I use a TView to display it on the 53" Sony (No HDTV). With the S-video connected up, I can read webpages at 800x600. Had the TView for over a year now and love it. Works great with SS.





TT

[Tuck]

Originally posted by TurtleTron
My serial cable came today and, no big shocker, it does not work. My system is a RCA DRD430RGA. I bought a second receiver just for SS. Looks like I am stuck recording local stuff off the air. No DirectTV (Took a look at ShowShifter, looks like that will work, but no "stores" option and I can't figure out how to skip.)

On the same subject, why can SS support multiple capture sources? It takes going into the settings to change the default. Totaly pointless if you want to use the tv tuner for local stuff and the s-video input for DSS.

The serial settings for your current tuner box aren't *yet* supported. It appears as though the onus is on our programmers (check the string http://209.151.81.67/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1563 ). I have taken note of the need for increased support of serial tuning and have double-underlined it on my whiteboard, which is rapidly becoming overpopulated. I am but a lowly tech-support dude, but I'm charismatic enough -- and quite frankly, loud enough -- to be listened to. Right now, though, I will confess that our programming staff is hard at work squashing bugs for the Quartz release...

...and it would be unwise for me to request more DSS.DLL updates when they've all been on a diet of insomnia, greasy food and caffeine for the last 72 hours. I think one of them actually got the luxury of sleep over the weekend. I hear they're lynching him...

Seriously, though, your concerns are well founded and grounded, and I've taken note of both of them: that being more serial tuning support for boxes and support for multiple capture sources.

I'm sorry I don't have a quick fix resolution for this, or the clout here to grab a programmer's ear and bend him to my will... But you ARE being listened to.

[TurtleTron]

Oops, my bad. Multiple captured sources are supported, I just have to go back and change the source after I set it to be recorded from Titan. Sorry.
Be nice if I could pick a capture souce for each channel tho.

Oh, 72 hour programming party. Ah, the good old days. I would stay far away from them for the next week. That or a big stick.

Thanks
TT

[Tuck]

Originally posted by TurtleTron
Oops, my bad. Multiple captured sources are supported, I just have to go back and change the source after I set it to be recorded from Titan. Sorry.

I could have sworn there was an override or specific info that could be given.

Be nice if I could pick a capture souce for each channel tho.

Hmmm... I can see where that would be useful. Particularly for me, to make Madden 2003 play captures. Yeah, the Xbox saves them on its hard drive, but it's difficult to e-mail the Xbox's hard drive.

Oh, 72 hour programming party. Ah, the good old days. I would stay far away from them for the next week. That or a big stick.

A lot of frowns, but also lethargy. I think I could poke a programmer or two with a stick for a few minutes before he realized what was happening.

[tacothekid]

Don't know if anyone is still having issues with this, but here's my two cents worth...

One problem you guys might be having is that the serial port on the DSS receiver can be used for low speed data or home control on many models. In one of the setup menus, there should be an option to select which mode you want the port to operate in. You would want low speed data selected.

Hope this helps!

Taco