GrafCorder

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by jrandeck

I'm trying out grafcorder for the first time, but I'm getting an access denied error on startup

Could you post the log file created by GrafCorder please?

[jrandeck]

Unfortunately there's not much that looks interesting in the log file, but here it is.

Thanks for looking at it, though!

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by jrandeck

Unfortunately there's not much that looks interesting in the log file, but here it is.

Indeed, nothing obvious... Try to use "GrafCorder firewiredump.grf 5 g:\test.tp" and make sure that firewiredump.grf still work fine...

[jrandeck]

OK, I found the problem. The file I originally used in the graph was marked as read only, which must have happened when I played it in Beyond TV.

Now to try to get it to work with Externinator...

[risk1994]

I think I know the answer to this already but here goes....
I have a working .grf and can now run your command line and record qam from my 1600 (a tp file that BTV can play). The question is, how do I change channels?

I tried launching wintv and changing it there but grafcorder doesnt work while wintv is running, I tried opening wintv, changing to a specific channel then closing it and running grafcorder, but no joy, it always records the same channel.

If there was some way to pass along the channel to the qam tuner in the card we'd have a working method for BTV to record qam from the 1600. Otherwise it might as well be just another pvr-250 taking up a pci slot.

Hauppauge has been telling me for months that a working qam background recorder was just around the corner but thats obviously not true. So with no solution coming from Hauppauge and none from SS, this seems like the only chance.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by risk1994

I have a working .grf and can now run your command line and record qam from my 1600 (a tp file that BTV can play).

Good!

The question is, how do I change channels?

If you enable the "Channel" check box, it allows you to specify an executable (or batch file) which will be executable with the channel number appended (and the optional parameters in between).

I tried launching wintv and changing it there but grafcorder doesnt work while wintv is running

They probably both want exclusive control...

I tried opening wintv, changing to a specific channel then closing it and running grafcorder, but no joy, it always records the same channel.

Hmm, that's not good... If you use the command line to change the channel and kill the application it still stays on the same channel? What about performing a 1 second recording from the command line?

If there was some way to pass along the channel to the qam tuner in the card we'd have a working method for BTV to record qam from the 1600.

I would assume this can also be done through a .grf file, but I have never looked into it. I know that for Firewire recording, there are DirectShow filters for both the tuner (recording) and panel (controls), but not sure if the QAM 1600 would have a single or double filter. Make sure you have registered the proppage.dll file of GraphEdit and check the property page of the QAM 1600 filter(s), it might show some channel tuning mechanism, which hopefully would have a related "input pin" on the graph...

EDIT: Found this...

[risk1994]

Originally Posted by Fonceur

If you enable the "Channel" check box, it allows you to specify an executable (or batch file) which will be executable with the channel number appended (and the optional parameters in between)

Thats all well and good but I dont have a batch file or executable capable of changing the 1600's channel. That seems to be the only thing missing from this equation.

Originally Posted by Fonceur

They probably both want exclusive control...

Makes sense. So for this plugin to work there needs to be a way to change channels without ever opening up wintv. Actully my pc slows to a crawl and almost stalls whenever I open wintv with BTV running. So I need to keep wintv out of it.

Originally Posted by Fonceur

Hmm, that's not good... If you use the command line to change the channel and kill the application it still stays on the same channel? What about performing a 1 second recording from the command line?

Actually I didnt do it that way. I opened wintv, tuned to a channel then closed it. Then manually ran the batch file with your grafcorder string in it. I figured Id test everything out manually before I involved btv-e. I like to deal with only one catastrophe at a time

Originally Posted by Fonceur

I would assume this can also be done through a .grf file, but I have never looked into it. I know that for Firewire recording, there are DirectShow filters for both the tuner (recording) and panel (controls), but not sure if the QAM 1600 would have a single or double filter. Make sure you have registered the proppage.dll file of GraphEdit and check the property page of the QAM 1600 filter(s), it might show some channel tuning mechanism, which hopefully would have a related "input pin" on the graph...

I checked out your link and I'll try that out this weekend. When I rt click on the tuner in graphedit there are no properties, so no channel option, Ill try that proppagate.dll file and see if it appears. If it lets me change channels there then maybe there's a chance.

I have to add, setting up graphedit to record is no mean feat...there really arent any good instructions, I had to plow through like 20 different filters before I found one that worked. Each tuner is listed like 20 different ways and who knows which is the right one? Plus the 1600 is a dual tuner so how do you prove which tuner your recording from? What Im wondering is if I SHOULD be using one of the other 20 listings for the 1600, one that would show a channel option.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by risk1994

Thats all well and good but I dont have a batch file or executable capable of changing the 1600's channel.

Was talking of wintv.exe or such, pretty sure we had it change channel and record, though with the full screen interface, as the background still doesn't support clear QAM yet...

Actually I didnt do it that way. I opened wintv, tuned to a channel then closed it. Then manually ran the batch file with your grafcorder string in it.

Was hoping that from the command line, the channel change might stick more than through the full screen...

When I rt click on the tuner in graphedit there are no properties, so no channel option, Ill try that proppagate.dll file and see if it appears.

Indeed, without the proppage.dll registered, you simply don't have access to the property pages... I am wondering if your graph file isn't simply reseting to a specific channel, and that doing something like using channel -1 might have it use the last selected channel or such.

Plus the 1600 is a dual tuner so how do you prove which tuner your recording from?

You most likely have an analog tuner or 2 (cable/OTA), as well as a digital tuner or 2 (clear QAM/OTA). For the output pin, I would expect it to be mpeg2ts or such for the right one(s), while the analog ones would be mpeg2...

[risk1994]

No luck, I get properties now that I've registered proppage.dll, but nothing useful.

In the pic you can see it says ts in the name but the output is mpeg2 so who knows if its qam or not. It doe generate a btv playable tp file though.

When I get some free time Ill try some of the other filters, as I said its VERY difficult to pin down the right one. If it doesnt have hauppauge in the name then Ill NEVER find it.

[Fonceur]

Version .07 can be found in the first post...

- Face-lift for the interface. (Instead of having blank lines for empty strings, now the window is condensed to only show actual informations, which is mostly useful when not used with an .inprogress.xml file {i.e. stand alone mode})

- Analyze is now off by default. (PC's with messed up filters {i.e. where GraphEdit can't automatically build a playback graph for analysis} won't crash on the first launch)

[jimz06]

I switched over to using GrafCorder with Externinator after giving up on the unreliable VLC captures. GrafCorder already seems much more reliable. A couple of things that have me perplexed a bit are:

1. In addition to the normal capture file, GrafCorder creates a 0kb file with the same name as my dump file "test.tp". Any way to prevent this?

2. The resulting capture file is "odd". MediaInfo doesn't seem to know what it is. It plays OK in BTV on my Link client. However, if I try to play it in Media Player Classic on my Link client, where my previous VLC firewire captures work fine, it does not play. When I dump it into graphedit it does not produce a graph. Any idea what is going on here?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by jimz06

1. In addition to the normal capture file, GrafCorder creates a 0kb file with the same name as my dump file "test.tp". Any way to prevent this?

Most likely due to the Graf being loaded with it, then having the proper filename used... You could try to switch on or off the Analyze part, not sure if I actually delete the file at the end...

2. The resulting capture file is "odd". MediaInfo doesn't seem to know what it is.

Try renaming one of those files to .mpg and see if the other programs still complain. If not, you could re-create the virtual tuner and select MPEG-2 this time... Or maybe you just need to associate .tp files to some video player... You could also try to enable or disable the "Add information" in BTV-Externinator...

[jimz06]

So my follow-up after several successful recordings using Grafcorder + Externinator:

1. The issue with the test.tp dump file is a non-issue. It just sits in the original location that I created it in, with no harm done. It was the original attempt to delete it and see it return that threw me off. Just a note, the one time I did tick the Analyze box, Grafcorder crashed with some error message in the log file.

2. I have ticked the Add Information. MediaInfo still does not recognize the file type. Didn't try anything else as this is also an non-issue as the files play just fine in BTV and BTV Link which is all I need.

So, Grafcorder seems much more reliable than my previous VLC setup, so that's what I'll be staying with.

One curious thing, I've noticed a couple recordings that worked just fine but showed a "0" min duration. I compared one of those with a recording that showed the proper 63 minute duration by looking at the BTV log. Both have the same line in the log (I assume this is the line that sets the duration parameter): administrator added property 'ActualDuration' with value '38400000000'. What causes BTV to show a 0 minute duration on a perfectly good recording?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by jimz06

1. The issue with the test.tp dump file is a non-issue.

I will try to clean it up at some point, it just isn't a big priority.

Just a note, the one time I did tick the Analyze box, Grafcorder crashed with some error message in the log file.

There does seem to be some codec issues with your system, so it's probably failing to automatically build a graf for the analysis...

What causes BTV to show a 0 minute duration on a perfectly good recording?

Usually those are timestamp issues, I bet that running that file .TS through VideoReDo quickstream fix and saving it as a .MPG would fix two of your issues...

[jimz06]

Fonceur,
After playing around a bit more I don't think the inconsistency in the recordings has to do with codec issues. I did several recordings the past weekend with mixed results. A couple of files came out just fine, MediaInfo has no problem identifying the file type and they play in any of my software players and my PopcornHour. They also show the correct duration.

Of the remaining recordings, BTV said one was corrupt and would not play it. A couple other files play in BTV but nothing else, have a 0 min duration, MediaInfo cannot identify the file type, and Videoredo will not load them for processing. Just as a test, I ran back-to-back 5 min captures with Grafcorder and VLC of the same channel/show. Both of those test files came out just fine so the inconsistency doesn't appear related to the capture software or filters.

Beats me why I can get a nice clean capture and then on the same channel, with the same software and filters get a file which has transport stream issues.