if the source code pacakge is realesed for fireSTB, i would like to tweak some of the quarks myself.

So I tried installing MyTray earlier tonight to use with my SA 4250HD through Vista Media Center because I saw in the readme that the 4200HD was supported for both channel change and recording, and figured they were similar enough... Apparently not.

I used exdeus's drivers and they installed fine and recognized my box, but MyTray doesn't list anything as a tuner.

BUT, if I run channel.exe from the command line with "-f -a4", I can get it to change channels.  So question is... is there any way to force those params in (maybe through a registry key) so that MyTray will use them and be able to change channels?

Or as a last resort, is there any way to force Vista to install the 4200HD driver instead of 4250HD?

I have the same issue. My tuner does not show up as selectable in the MyTray UI but I can change channels via command line, although on the command line I must use the -f swittch. I was think too that it may be a config file or registry setting that tells the program which STB's can be used. Any ideas?

you probably need to configure STB in media center edition first. I had a samiliar problem a while back with a motrola 6200. the solution for me was to get the STB to work with the media center (without fireSTB) and then you configure fireSTB to sit almost as a backgound service that monitors your channle changes and recordings.

sapient007:

you probably need to configure STB in media center edition first. I had a samiliar problem a while back with a motrola 6200. the solution for me was to get the STB to work with the media center (without fireSTB) and then you configure fireSTB to sit almost as a backgound service that monitors your channle changes and recordings.

I have the exact problem as Nick (SA 4250 also), but also cannot get Media Center to see "My Tray" in "More Programs." I have this same issue on a box that dual-boots MCE 2005, and Vista Ultimate, with the problem occuring in both OS's. Any Ideas?

I have everything set up in media center already, everything works fine and it changes channels through the ir transmitter without a problem... It's just that mytray doesn't do anything.  I even turned the "enable firewire recording" on to see if that would work, but no luck there either.

I know my firewire connection is working too, because I can use VLC to stream fine.

I wish this was open source! (I'm a programmer and definately wouldn't mind taking this on as a project)

in mytry, there should be a tuner1 and tuner2 option. is there anything listed??

nick12:

I have everything set up in media center already, everything works fine and it changes channels through the ir transmitter without a problem... It's just that mytray doesn't do anything.  I even turned the "enable firewire recording" on to see if that would work, but no luck there either.

I know my firewire connection is working too, because I can use VLC to stream fine.

I wish this was open source! (I'm a programmer and definately wouldn't mind taking this on as a project)

if you have a tunner listed in mytray, it should start recording in parallel with your regular MCE recording. for my pc, it takes about 5mins before i see the firewire recording in recoded shows menu.

I am a programmer. Currently I'm working on a project that allows eccommerce merchants a form of AI that self-codes product maketing pages for their web sites. When this is done, I plan on focusing on MCE/Vista extensions that will add DVR features, many of which are original. Firewire recording is something I am interested in including in that package. If I can't get what's currently available to work satisfactory, I will explore other options such as seeing if there's coding I can contribute.

there are no tuners listed in mytray (for both tuner1 and tuner2)... and waiting for it to appear in the recorded list isn't the problem, because I've been recording the regular s-video stream for the past few days and no firewire versions have showed up.

I think its just that the program was written before the 4250HD came out, so it doesn't recognize it.

I guess I'll just have to settle with s-video and the ir-transmitter unless tim puts out another update!

sapient007:

in mytry, there should be a tuner1 and tuner2 option. is there anything listed??

No tuner is listed in MyTray. The pull-down menu is there for tuner 1, but the only option is "N/A." No pull-down menu is shown for tuner 2. MyTray appears to not have successfully integrated itself into MCE, because it is not listed as a program in MCE's "More Programs." Re-installing the software makes no difference, and i've tried this with Vista Ultimate, and MCE 2005 on the same Box.

I used those drivers on my vista 32 bit system a plugged in firewire and got nothing using tons of tv tunner softwares.

This is what worked for me (Motorola DCH-3200).  I’m running MCE 2005 so I’m not sure if this will work for Vista, but I guess it’s worth a shot.

If the driver for your stb was attained from ExDeus’s “stb_firewire_drivers_2007-12-17.zip” file, which can be found here, (or other) instead of timmoore’s “firestb.msi” setup file, and mytray is having trouble, try this:

- Uninstall FireSTB / MyTray (don’t restart yet)
- Go to Device Manager and delete the stb drivers and unplug the firewire cable(s)
- Restart
- Reinstall FireSTB / MyTray (restart)
- If you haven’t already done so, extract all the files from ExDeus’s zip file to a folder on your desktop
- Copy the following files from the new desktop folder to your desktop:
     firestb.inf,  miestb.sys,  miestrm.sys,  mstapeo.sys
**Note: If you don’t have any or all of the last 3 files, it should be okay.  The .inf file is the most important.**
- Open the drivers folder in the C:\Program Files\Timmoore folder.  You should see files similar to the four files copied to the desktop.
- Rename the fierstb.inf on the desktop to whatever the .inf file name is in the drivers folder.
- Cut the four files from the desktop to the drivers folder.
- It will ask you if you want to replace existing files.  Click yes to all.
- Plug in the firewire cable(s). the Found New Hardware wizard should come up.

- Install the stb devices specifying the drivers’ location as the drivers folder in C:\Program Files\Timmoore folder.

When the hardware wizards are complete, you should now see the tuners in MyTray. (May require another restart.)

Good Luck.

Yesterday I started a thread here asking people that use (or are trying to use) FireSTB to encourage the developers of the HDHomeRun at Silicondust to develop a similar solution for live and recorded tv in Media Center via firewire from a stb.  Until they do, I’m trying to record via firewire using FireSTB.

I have a single dual tuner and only one stb.  The need of an analog tuner in parallel to firewire recording cuts me down to one tuner instead of two.  I’ve tried using the multi-source registry hack found in this forum, but the outcome is unreliable.

Is there a way to configure FireSTB to use a standard NTSC tuner as its information source instead of s-video capture?  When tuning to specific channel to record via firewire, I would also need FireSTB to put a 7 in front of the channel number it reads from the NTSC tuner so it will tune to the HD channel associated with the NTSC analog channel.  (Where I am, ESPN is channel 35.  ESPN-HD is channel 735.  This is similar for all my HD stations.)

The other option would be to create a virtual tuner capture driver / device to trick MCE in thinking I had a third tuner which the stb was connected to.  Or, maybe my OTA HD tuner (which is not in use since I have a HDHomeRun) could capture the rf signal from the stb via channel 3 or 4.

Any Ideas?

Sorry, the link didn't come up in my last post.  Here it is:

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/241147.aspx