BTV-Externinator - Alpha release

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by cat6man

do you have BTV-E on? BTV doesn't control it at all....BTV-E must be on at all times! (all BTV does is give error messages when it tries to tune a tuner that it isn't connected to.....BTV-E does all the rest, and must be running...i keep it minimized)

as for pids, they work fine for me and i'm on the latest hdhr loads.

you should be able to open a dos window, use the same commands in the same sequence that you see in the btv-E.log file (modify the \\ to \), and have it work fine

Yes, BTV-E is on all the time. I set it to auto load and it does upon a reboot. It's just weird because it doesn't seem to issue any commands at the right time, or at least there is nothing in the log.

I'll try doing the commands I see in the log files you have posted (using them as a guide) but I don't think that's the problem. At the appropriate time, it just does... nothing.

Thanks, Z

[Zogg]

Does 'Auto Refresh' in the Configuration tab need to be greater than zero?

Z

EDIT: Okay, it seems to be working now. Set 'Auto Refresh' to 1 and set startup delay to 15, not that the latter should have done anything. It kicked off a recording, now to see if the recording is correct.

[jmaver]

How does BTV treat stuff recorded via BTVE versus files it records itself. I notice that I still only see "regular recording time available" in the BTVUI.

Does streamsnip, etc apply?

Are there any other settings for recording quality that apply to these BTVE recordings? It seems like normal HD OTA recordings in BTV would have different settings than SD, but I can't do that, so I have nothing to compare.

[jmaver]

Also, how are you handling what seems to be very different lineups between the QAM and the analog\digital lineups I can get from SnapStream.net?

My plan was to do this:
1. Create a lineup on SnapStream.net based on the comcast digital lineup since it has HD channels on it.
2. After manually going through my QAM scan and guessing what the channels are, hiding all but the ones I like on that new lineup.
3. Associate the HDHR tuners with that new lineup
4. In BTVE, map the hd versions of the channels over the non-hd analogs since that will make scheduling easier( ex. WGBH HD is 802, WGBG is 2, and on QAM it is 86.2. I would map 86.2 to 2.)
5. Move the HD tuners above the SD tuners in my tuner list so I get HD recordings when I can.

[jmaver]

BTW, thank you all of you who are helping us get this going. As soon as I finish the remapping of the channels, I will be working fully. I really appreciate all the time you have put into this software and this forum.

[Fonceur]

Version .06 (alpha) is available:

- Updated the icon... (I know it still sucks, but at least it doesn't say BTV-Nego anymore... Feel free to contribute one... )

- HDHomeRun: slight change in the order of the commands. (matches more closely the recommended flow)

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by cat6man

1) 'vlc first' recording were all fine here, so you can eliminate the switch if you want.

Ok, it's history!

2) the issue about sequencing when updates occur should probably be fixed at some point. the file created that way, without the stop/delete sequence first, was unplayable on my zensonic network media player.

I'm pretty sure it is the same reason that people would sometime get some errors about a negative timer, from time to time. So it is definately on my list of bugs to try to squash...

Originally Posted by Zogg

I see the job in the BTVE upcoming job list, I see in the BTVE log that it's setting up to do the recording, but the nothing happens.

Could you post the BTV-Externinator.log please?

Could this be a problem with how I created the virtual tuner? I tried to do it as it says on the BTVN web page but could have goofed it up. What would be the best way for me to delete that tuner and start over?

Can't hurt, just make sure to reboot (or at the very least shutdown/restart BTV) whenever you make modifications to the Tuner list...

Originally Posted by Zogg

cat6man, is there a trick to setting up the virtual tuner? Does it have to somehow be set to an unused input on a real capture device or something like that?

No, this would be the "cloned" mode which should only be used if you have a good reason to tie two capture devices together (such as when performing a Firewire recording on the STB which is also connected through s-video to a PVR-150 or so).

I'm thinking that must be the problem I'm having since BTV doesn't seem to do anything to kick off the recording, unless it's BTV-E that is supposed to do it.

BTV only handle the schedulling, everything else happens outside of its control.

Originally Posted by cat6man

possibly the hdhr needs some delay inserted to map the 'program' to pids? i assume it has to figure out the mapping so maybe that is why 40mbps kept hitting my machine.

While I haven't actually put the recommended delay in version .06a, I did modify the order so that the VLC-telnet commands are sent between the channel/program and the target command, so let me know if that helps.

Originally Posted by Zogg

EDIT: Okay, it seems to be working now. Set 'Auto Refresh' to 1 and set startup delay to 15, not that the latter should have done anything. It kicked off a recording, now to see if the recording is correct.

One thing to keep in mind, if you add a recording in BTV while BTVE is running, BTVE will never know about the addition unless there is a refresh of the data at some point... You can force such a refresh on the Configuration/Parameters tab, or you can enable the Auto-refresh.

Originally Posted by jmaver

How does BTV treat stuff recorded via BTVE versus files it records itself. I notice that I still only see "regular recording time available" in the BTVUI.

Does streamsnip, etc apply?

In principle there should be nothing to StreamSnip... If you enable the "Add information", it will add the episode title, actor, description and so on. Furthermore, this will also enable the usual post-processing such as SmartChapters, if it was enabled by default or if they were enabled for that specific recording (per job showsqueeze will not work).

Are there any other settings for recording quality that apply to these BTVE recordings? It seems like normal HD OTA recordings in BTV would have different settings than SD, but I can't do that, so I have nothing to compare.

You are saving the original digital stream, so this concept does not apply directly...

Originally Posted by jmaver

Also, how are you handling what seems to be very different lineups between the QAM and the analog\digital lineups I can get from SnapStream.net?

Your scheme looks good. Basically, BTVE monitors what is schedulled on a specific tuner and then use the Table of Channel to send the right commands to the HDHomeRun.

[cat6man]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Version .06 (alpha) is available:

- Updated the icon... (I know it still sucks, but at least it doesn't say BTV-Nego anymore... Feel free to contribute one... )

- HDHomeRun: slight change in the order of the commands. (matches more closely the recommended flow)

slight change in command order seems to have fixed the 40mbps streaming problem.......have 1 good recording at 3mbps......testing a few more in the next couple of hourse, but i think that fixed it

[cat6man]

had 1 recording going, then updated to add new shows including back-back.........

missed shutting down hdhr0 before starting up next one.

stream size for 2 simultaneous is 4-7mbps so program mode seems ok

=========


12/20/2006 8:24:42 PM :: Starting BTV-Externinator version 0.06 (alpha)
12/20/2006 8:26:13 PM :: Connecting to http://localhost:8129.
12/20/2006 8:26:21 PM :: Filling/updating all the lists
12/20/2006 8:26:44 PM :: HDHR0: Possibly setting up the next recording
12/20/2006 8:26:44 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up the first external recording
12/20/2006 8:26:44 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up to record "Street Tuner Challenge" at 12/20/2006 8:29 PM.
12/20/2006 8:26:44 PM :: HDHR1: Possibly setting up the next recording
12/20/2006 8:29:00 PM :: HDHR0: Auto execution...
12/20/2006 8:29:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\VideoLAN\\VLC\\vlc.exe -I telnet
12/20/2006 8:29:00 PM :: HDHR0: Debug
12/20/2006 8:29:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner0/channel qam256:117
12/20/2006 8:29:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner0/program 7
12/20/2006 8:29:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner0/target 192.168.1.3:5002
12/20/2006 8:29:01 PM :: new HDHR0 broadcast enabled
12/20/2006 8:29:01 PM :: setup HDHR0 input udp://@192.168.1.3:5002
12/20/2006 8:29:01 PM :: setup HDHR0 output #standard{access=file,mux=ts,dst="D:\\Media\\New Shows\\Street Tuner Challenge-(The Grand Finale)-2006-12-20-1.mpg"}
12/20/2006 8:29:01 PM :: control HDHR0 play
12/20/2006 8:29:04 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up the next closing...
12/20/2006 8:31:04 PM :: HDHR0: Connecting to http://localhost:8129.
12/20/2006 8:31:27 PM :: HDHR0: Possibly setting up the next recording
12/20/2006 8:31:27 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up another external recording
12/20/2006 8:31:27 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up to record "Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The" at 12/20/2006 10:59 PM.
12/20/2006 8:56:11 PM :: Connecting to http://localhost:8129.
12/20/2006 8:56:18 PM :: Filling/updating all the lists
12/20/2006 8:56:44 PM :: HDHR0: Possibly setting up the next recording
12/20/2006 8:56:44 PM :: HDHR0: Detected a back to back recording
12/20/2006 8:56:44 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up another external recording
12/20/2006 8:56:44 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up to record "Boondock Saints" at 12/20/2006 9:00 PM.
12/20/2006 8:56:44 PM :: HDHR1: Possibly setting up the next recording
12/20/2006 8:56:44 PM :: HDHR1: Setting up the first external recording
12/20/2006 8:56:44 PM :: HDHR1: Setting up to record "Pinks" at 12/20/2006 8:59 PM.
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: HDHR1: Auto execution...
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: HDHR1: Debug
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner1/channel qam256:117
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner1/program 7
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner1/target 192.168.1.3:5004
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: new HDHR1 broadcast enabled
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: setup HDHR1 input udp://@192.168.1.3:5004
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: setup HDHR1 output #standard{access=file,mux=ts,dst="D:\\Media\\New Shows\\Pinks-(Gateway)-2006-12-20-1.mpg"}
12/20/2006 8:59:00 PM :: control HDHR1 play
12/20/2006 8:59:03 PM :: HDHR1: Setting up the next closing...
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: HDHR0: Auto execution...
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: HDHR0: Debug
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner0/channel qam256:117
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner0/program 6
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: C:\\Program Files\\HDHR\\CLI\\hdhomerun_config.exe FFFFFFFF set /tuner0/target 192.168.1.3:5002
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: new HDHR0 broadcast enabled
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: setup HDHR0 input udp://@192.168.1.3:5002
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: setup HDHR0 output #standard{access=file,mux=ts,dst="D:\\Media\\New Shows\\Boondock Saints-2006-12-20-1.mpg"}
12/20/2006 9:00:00 PM :: control HDHR0 play
12/20/2006 9:00:03 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up the next closing...
12/20/2006 9:01:03 PM :: HDHR1: Connecting to http://localhost:8129.
12/20/2006 9:01:31 PM :: HDHR1: Possibly setting up the next recording
12/20/2006 9:02:03 PM :: HDHR0: Connecting to http://localhost:8129.
12/20/2006 9:02:26 PM :: HDHR0: Possibly setting up the next recording
12/20/2006 9:02:26 PM :: HDHR0: Detected a back to back recording
12/20/2006 9:02:26 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up another external recording
12/20/2006 9:02:26 PM :: HDHR0: Setting up to record "Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The" at 12/20/2006 11:00 PM.

[ClamsTheCat]

I could not find the original link to the HDHR site, so I will ask since you guys have them. Where do I order an HDHR locally or via the internet? Thanks!

[jmaver]

www.silicondust.com is the manufacturer
9thtee.com is the site to buy them

[jmaver]

Channel mappings for North Andover, MA( ok, at least the ones I think I might care about )

qam:74: ss=94 snq=100 seq=100
program 65: 0.0 wenh - Comcast digital 11

qam:75: ss=93 snq=90 seq=100
program 89: 0.0 WMUR abc 5 HD - Comcast digital 809

qam:77: ss=92 snq=90 seq=100
program 6: 0.0 NECN - Comcast digital 6

qam:82: ss=97 snq=100 seq=100
program 1: 0.0 wgbh - Comcast digital 2
program 2: 0.0 wbz - Comcast digital 4
program 3: 0.0 ABC - Comcast digital 5 or 9
program 4: 0.0 whdh - Comcast digital 7
program 5: 0.0 wmur - Comcast digital 9
program 6: 0.0 cn8 - Comcast digital 3
program 7: 0.0 wgbx - Comcast digital 16
program 9: 0.0 WSBK 38 - Comcast digital 14
program 10: 0.0 WGBX 44 - Comcast digital 16
program 11: 0.0 18 wzmy - Comcast digital 18

qam:83: ss=92 snq=90 seq=100
program 6: 0.0 BCTv - Comcast digital 56
program 11: 0.0 WYDN - Comcast digital 23
program 12: 0.0 GSN - Comcast digital 68

qam:84: ss=92 snq=90 seq=100
program 1: 0.0 wgbh hd - Comcast digital 802
program 3: 0.0 wlvi the tube - Comcast digital 296

qam:85: ss=93 snq=90 seq=100
program 1: 0.0 WGBH World - - Comcast digital 209
program 2: 0.0 'GBX kids - Comcast digital 217
program 3: 0.0 WGBX Create- Comcast digital 237
program 5: 0.0 UPN 38-hd - Comcast digital 838

qam:86: ss=92 snq=80 seq=100
program 1: 0.0 WCVB abc hd - Comcast digital 805
program 2: 0.0 WLVI WB HD- Comcast digital 856
program 3: 0.0 WHDH NBC HD- Comcast digital 807

qam:87: ss=96 snq=90 seq=100
program 1: 0.0 WFXT fox hd - Comcast digital 825
program 2: 0.0 WBZ cbs hd - Comcast digital 804

[Zogg]

I'm getting conflicts in BTV when I try to set up 2 simultaneous QAM recordings, even though I have both HDHR0 and HDHR1 defined and set to the same lineup.

When I created the virtual tuners, for one I started from my PVR150 and the other from my PVR250, but they have the same name tuner name in BTV (I change the friendly name though). Could this be causing the problem? Maybe I need to delete HDHR1 and save it new from a different tuner with a different name?

Z

[ClamsTheCat]

The site doesn't say, but I will assume that you can only record QAM -or- ATSC, and not both right?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by jmaver

Channel mappings for North Andover, MA

You can use that when setting up your Table of Channels...

Originally Posted by Zogg

When I created the virtual tuners, for one I started from my PVR150 and the other from my PVR250, but they have the same name tuner name in BTV (I change the friendly name though). Could this be causing the problem? Maybe I need to delete HDHR1 and save it new from a different tuner with a different name?

If you could post your devices.xml file found in the hidden folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Beyond TV

Originally Posted by ClamsTheCat

The site doesn't say, but I will assume that you can only record QAM -or- ATSC, and not both right?

You can connect either type of cable to both input (OTA-OTA, QAM-QAM, OTA-QAM)...