ok, so it installed in vista alright. I'm connected via firewire and recording :)  This would be simple awesome if live tv worked.. (haven't tried yet, but its in the notes that it doesn't yet work..)

 

keeping my fingers crossed for live tv support

I have cable thru WideOpenWest (WOW) and I have a Pace DC551 HD box.  Does anyone know if fireSTB will work with that or does anyone have expereince with this box in general?

j1mb0b:

littlerm:

Is source code available for mytrays? I am using an RCA DRD420RE DirecTV receiver (old command set) with mytrays and some channels change to the correct channel while others do not. For instance, channels above 256 work correctly, while channels 255 and below do not. The behavior is consistent, so it must be a problem in mytrays.

channel entered in MCE->channel changed to on receiver
253->506
254->507
255->508
256->256
257->257
258->258

Anyone else having this problem?  I too am using the old command set.  Mostly, the mytrays.exe works except that when I try to tune to channels over 128, it offsets it by 256 (so 129 goes to 129+256=385, 245 goes to 501, etc.).

Looks to me like since I have issues with channels over 128 and littlerm has issues with channels over 256, it must be some bit error in the serial communication. 

OK, so I still have this issue.  reading through Timmmoore's readme, I noticed:

External program for channel change
If you want to use tunertracker to track the channels on 1 or 2 STBs and use an external program to change channels, you can configure MyTray.exe to do this. This needs to be configured via the registry at the moment. Add a String called “ChannelChange0” (first tuner) and “ChannelChange1” (second tuner) to the key HKLM\Software\Timmmoore\MCETray and set it to the command line to be executed including parameters. MyTray will replace certain parameters:

·         %T which is replaced with 0 (for the first tuner) or 1 (for the second tuner)

·         %C which is replaced with the channel number as a single string

·         %D which is replaced with a single digit, the executable is then executed 3 times, once for each digit, e.g. for channel 123, the executable will be executed once with 1, then with 2 and finally with 3, leading zeros will not be executed, e.g. 12 will be executed as 1, 2

·         %0D which is replaced with a single digit, the executable is then executed 3 times, once for each digit, e.g. for channel 123, the executable will be executed once with 1, then with 2 and finally with 3, leading zeros will be executed, e.g. 12 will be executed as 0, 1, 2

I have a small utility which will properly change the channel, but I can't seem to get this registry entry to work properly.  Anyone successfully using it?  Does anyone know if it is included in mytrays.exe, or is it just mytray.exe?  For some reason (probably because I'm not using firewire), I can't get mytray.exe to configure properly since it doesn't recognize the presence of any tuners.  I guess my only other option would be to write my own code that monitors the tunertracker.dll txt file and changes channels accordingly, but I'm no coder :(

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EPOX EP9NPA+ULTRA (6.66 drivers)
AMD Athlon X2 3200+
2x512MB PC3200
Leadtek WinFAST 6600TD (72.14 drivers)
Seagate 500GB 7200.9 SATA2
2x Seagate 250GB 7200.10 SATA2 (RAID 0)
2x Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE
AverMedia M780 PCIe

OK, so I decided to just go ahead and write my own VBS to look for channel changes and tune the two DTV STBs via serial control. 

It seems to work ok.  Works for liveTV and even works when I set up shows to record and it resumes from standby to record them.  But I did notice a significant delay before the STB went to the right channel after the resume.  In one case nearly 20 seconds.  Normally this is not a big deal since there's enough padding.  I'm just wondering why.

Right now, the routine looks for "TunerUpdate" events in the tuner.txt created by tunertracker.dll.  But is there a better way of finding tuner changes?  Can someone enlighten me on the format of tuner.txt?

I'll post a link once I've tested it a bit more.

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EPOX EP9NPA+ULTRA (6.66 drivers)
AMD Athlon X2 3200+
2x512MB PC3200
Leadtek WinFAST 6600TD (72.14 drivers)
Seagate 500GB 7200.9 SATA2
2x Seagate 250GB 7200.10 SATA2 (RAID 0)
2x Hauppauge PVR-150 MCE
AverMedia M780 PCIe

bruce73:

Anyway, I do have a problem with playback: after a few minutes of playback of a HiDef .dvr-ms file within MCE05, I lose video and just have a blue screen with "Digital Audio Connection" on it.

I'm also having the "Digital Audio Connection" error message when playing back fireware recorded shows. I have no other error just this. I've had this system working for over 6 months and the only thing changed was upgrading to the latest version of MyTray. (Old version caused STB to stop changing channels sometimes)

I know un-installing Update 2 would fix my problem but I really can't lose the 4th zoom option since I have a widescreen TV. The old MyTray app did not cause this problem. If the MyTray author needs it for debugging I provide access to a recorded file that causes the problem.

The file plays in WMP but I still believe the problem to be from a change in the newer versions of MyTray. Are there older versions available the fixed a problem with changes no longer changing over firewire?

chasetec: I wrote to Tim Moore about the Digital Audio Connection error and he responded:

"The digital audio connection problem is a interaction between mce rollup 2 and the way the cable companies encode the video. I haven't found a way round it yet."

So my solution is to watch all firewire recordings in TheaterTek, outside of MCE.

bruce73:

chasetec: I wrote to Tim Moore about the Digital Audio Connection error and he responded:

"The digital audio connection problem is a interaction between mce rollup 2 and the way the cable companies encode the video. I haven't found a way round it yet."

So my solution is to watch all firewire recordings in TheaterTek, outside of MCE.

Well the videos play fine in Windows Media Player too.  I just find it hard to believe that some of the first programs that I record after installing the latest MyTray aren't being recorded differently somehow. None of my hardware, cable service, or anything else has changed and I've recorded this channel several times before with an old version of MyTray. I've been using rollup 2 for months and never had this problem.

Just for giggles I think I'll try turning off ClosedCaptions since I don't think that feature was in the last version of MyTray that I was using....

I have been using the channelw program for some time with great success.  Recently my cable company changed things on me to allow 4 diget channels.  I guess that means more channels, but unfortunately when a send a three digit channel change through firewire i have to wait about 5 seconds until the box makes sure its not going to get any more digits.

When i try to send a leading zero like "0707" through channelw it only sends "707".  When i send "1707" all four digits are sent.

Is there a way to configure so it will send a leading "0", or even better, a way to send an "enter" signal at the end, to initiate the channel change.

Marc

So I've been using this app and it changes the channel fine and is able to record, but the recordings suffer from stuttering.  Thing is, the stuttering seems to be in the recorded file, not a problem with playback -- if I move the recorded video to a very fast machine (video editing console), it still seems to stutter in the same way and same places.

Is it possible that frames are being dropped in the recording side of the process?  Is there any way to check the recording to see if frames are dropped on disk?  I'm kind of out of my league with all this, so I am probably missing something obvious....

The tuner is a SciAtlanta 4200HD, directly connected to a Sony VGX-XL1 (2.8GHz Pentium D 820) with 4GB ram (MCE 2005 rollup 2, all current updates).  Disks are slow-ish, being raid 5 on the integrated ICH7R controller.

Thoughts?!

TIA,

-frank

 

ARGH!!  How can I get rid of this thing?

I tinkered with this app all night, trying to get it to work correctly with my stb (Motorola 6200) and it just wouldn't work as advertised.  Whenever I try to use S3, the computer freezes.  Every single time.  I threw everything I had at it without avail.  I finally gave up and decided to forget about it since I use S3 all the time.  I uninstalled the app, and now my S3 STILL doesn't work.  I tried uninstalling the drivers, but they reinstall themselves whenever I reboot.  What gives?

Firewire recordings to my PC have been working fine, ending up with the "Fire - (xxxxxx).ms-dvr" file in the RecordedTV folder (which I can't play successfully within Media Center, but that's another story <see above>).

I tried to do a dual firewire recording to both the PC and to a JVC 5U D-VHS deck (the moto 6200 has two live firewire ports). The tape recording was perfect, but the recording to the PC was only the standard Media Center one, no firewire recording. Is it not possible to do a dual recording like this, and, if not, why not?

sounds like the program you're trying to record is 5C protected..... the DVHS recorder is 5C compliant, your PC is not....

 

bruce73:

I tried to do a dual firewire recording to both the PC and to a JVC 5U D-VHS deck (the moto 6200 has two live firewire ports). The tape recording was perfect, but the recording to the PC was only the standard Media Center one, no firewire recording. Is it not possible to do a dual recording like this, and, if not, why not?

Are you sure both firewire ports are working?  Many users have reported having problems with the port on the right side (if looking at the box from the back).  Try switching the cables around, and see what the outcome is.

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Thanks for the suggestions.

David: Yes, both firewire ports are live: one to my PC, the other to the JVC. I have no problems recording to either singularly.

Jim: This seems like the most likely reason, but I checked the 6200 settings page and both stations in question (HDNet and SHO-HD) are both indicated to have no 5C implementation. I don't know a lot about 5C and whether it is applied across the board with a particular station, or whether it's on a show-by-show basis, but I have recorded successfully via firewire many times to the PC from both. It was just on this one occasion where I was recording to both the PC and the JVC where this occurred. So I was basically just wondering if there was any know issues with the 6200 about sending out the video/audio streams simultaneously from both firewire ports.

 

Have you tried using CapDVHS for capturing via firewire?  If so, is that recording properly?  Does it work when trying it in conjunction to your D-VHS deck?

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