David Wright:

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?

No, I haven't. I've seen CapDVHS mentioned in various threads and have the setup program, but I've never used it. Might be something to look into. On a side note, would it allow me to archive an HD recording on the PC to the JVC?

Not sure exactly what you are asking here, but CapDVHS is a good tool for quick, easy testing of firewire recording from the STB.  It won't send anything out, it just captures in.

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hi

for what its worth, but versions of the app on timmmoore's site dont seem to add the Other Programs link to MCE, and mytray doesnt work.

older version seems to work.

 

c

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Hello.

I'm really stuck and hope someone here can help. I need to uninstall firestb.msi from my PC. I have XP Pro, SP2. I was able to unstall the applications easily enough, but I can't seem to remove the drivers that were installed. And the devices AV/C Panel and AV/C display which I had in my device manager before I installed this software have completely disappeared. Even when I invoke the device manager using the following set of commands:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
devmgmt.msc
and then do show hidden devices, they still don't show up. I have removed all the oem*.inf files from my sys folder but still no luck. I've been searching high and low with no results. Any ideas. hints and thought would be greatly appreceated.

Thanks.
Rudy

Rudy, I'm fairly certain that, if you plug the firewire cable back in, the devices will show again in Device Manager and you can then right-click on them and choose uninstall. Or boot up into SafeMode and delect them from there.

bruce73:

Rudy, I'm fairly certain that, if you plug the firewire cable back in, the devices will show again in Device Manager and you can then right-click on them and choose uninstall. Or boot up into SafeMode and delect them from there.

Hi Bruce.

Thanks for the reply. I have the firewire cable plugged in and the unit turned on and I invoked the device manager using the above mentioned method so that it would show all the devices. Still all traces of AV/C devices have been removed from my computer. :(

I also tried booting in safe mode. Both as administrator and as myself. And still the devices are not there. This is really frustrating. Formatting the hard drive and reinstalling the OS would be quite devastating for me. Any other ideas?

Rudy

Hmmm, I would think that connecting your STB via firewire would either have those devices show in Device Manager (if the drivers are installed), or trigger the Found New Hardware wizard.

Well, you could always re-install the program, then un-install the devices in Device Manager before you un-install the program. You could also open up the specific .inf file that is used in Notepad and see exactly what driver files are being installed (actually you could do this with the Properties page of each device in Device Manager), if you wanted to delete them manually afterwards.

I'm not clear on what the problem is though. Is there some conflict with other hardware/software after removing the program?

bruce73:

Hmmm, I would think that connecting your STB via firewire would either have those devices show in Device Manager (if the drivers are installed), or trigger the Found New Hardware wizard.

Well it sort of does. Out of the three original devices that I had, only one shows up. The AV/C devices are gone.

bruce73:

Well, you could always re-install the program, then un-install the devices in Device Manager before you un-install the program. You could also open up the specific .inf file that is used in Notepad and see exactly what driver files are being installed (actually you could do this with the Properties page of each device in Device Manager), if you wanted to delete them manually afterwards.

Ahhh now we are gettin' somewhere.:) Now how do I know which infs firestb.msi uses? I searched up and down this forum and only came up with a single mention to oem*.inf.

bruce73:

I'm not clear on what the problem is though. Is there some conflict with other hardware/software after removing the program?

OK then let me try to explain it more thoroughly which will expose my follishness somewhat. :) I have a TV, a Sony KDSR50XBR1 that has firewire ports on it. I plugged one of those ports into my PC, which is XP Pro, SP2 no MCE. Then I saw three devices appear as FOund New Hardware AV/C panel, AV/C display and KDSR50XBR1. I installed meistb.inf for AV/C panel and was able to record HD from my TVs tuner to my PC. Then I saw firestb.msi and foolishly installed that, because I thought it was a more complete solution. Anyway, now I realize that firestb.msi is not going to work for my setup so I'm trying to uninstall it. However, when the software is uninstalled the device drivers stay, apprently. And the AV/C panel and AV/C display that originally appeared in Device Manager are gone, and I do mean gone. I cannot find them no matter what I do. What I would like is to get back to my setup before I installed firestb.msi. Any ideas?

Thanks.
Rudy

Restore an image of your drive? Don't know if you use System Restore (I don't, since I don't think it's very reliable), but if you do have a restore point before all this, you could try that.

Seriously, our setups are different so I don't know if I have an answer. My TV (Sam HLP-5063) doesn't have firewire, so my PC is connected to the firewire port on my STB (moto 6200). I've only installed from firestb.msi. IIRC, during that setup (or actually after rebooting and with the New Hardward wizard) it asks for the inf file to install the drivers (there was a choice of three, I think). I chose the highest numbered one, thinking it was probably the most current (who knows....). So that would be the file to check out if you want to.

I gather that re-running meistb.inf (not familiar with this; is it for non-MCE machines?) after un-installing firestb.msi doesn't work (?). I can only say again to re-install firestb.msi, un-install the devices from Device Manager, then un-install firestb.msi, reboot, say a little prayer, and start over.

Sorry I can't offer more.

Hi Bruce. OK I reinstalled the software and it does install oem*.inf file(s). However, removing them does no good. THere must be other files somewhere that are updated/installed that I'm not aware of. I'd love to see a list of files that the install process copies to the system.

Anyway, I'm starting to get an idea of what is happening. It seems like once the device drivers are installed they only show up when a STB is connected and turned on. Otherwise they are gone. Since I don't have an STB with a firewire port I'm screwed.

Here is an experiment you can try to simulate what's happening to me. Turn off or disconnect the firewire cable from your STB and try to locate the device you installed firewire.msi onto in the Device Manager. My guess is you will not be able to, just as I am not able to.

Anyone have an STB I can borrow for 5 minutes in Santa Monica, CA? :) :D

Rudy

I'm reaching out again to anyone that might be able to offer some suggestions.  FireSTB was working for me for the longest time.  I lost my ability to record back in January of this year.  Recordings were either stuttering or just plain junk.  I've gone through all the normal suggestions such as defrag, search for virus, etc. 

As one of my steps I removed FireSTB and installed a newer one.  During this process I came up with 2 unknown devices, not 1 from the SA3250.  I've disabled both of them. 

After some research over the past few days I got turned on to VLC and its ability to hook up to the capture device (i.e. firewire).  I was able to use this to hook up to the STB via firewire, watch in realtime and create a capture.  The output was garbled just like my FireSTB/Mytray recordings.

Now here's the questions:  

1.  Is anyone working with a SA3250 on a comcast system?
2.  Is anyone working with a SA3250 and SARA 1.58.7.1 firmware?
3.  Does anyone know the cause of the Tuner's not showing up in Mytray, but channel changing via firewire working?
4.  Can anyone tell me what STB is working for them successfully on a comcast system in the South Jersey / Trenton / Philly Area?

P.S.  This happened with two identical machines each connected to their own SA3250's. 

Rudy,

What you say totally makes sense, since firewire connections are a lot like USB device ones, i.e. if the device is not connected the drivers won't show in DM. And I can verify this is indeed the case here with my moto 2600, so your guess is correct.

So if you re-install the original program files that were working initially with your TV and connect the firewire to it, why don't those drivers show up in DM? I guess that's the $100,000 question, huh?

Perhaps if you contact Tim Moore directly he can assist. There's a contact link on his site that I used a few months ago when I had a couple of questions about possible bugs and he responded right away.

Wish I could help more.

Bruce