Multichannel decryption improvements (2 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

Hi everyone

This thread contains the combined results of everything I have learned about "multidecrypt" from this thread and this thread. I'm starting a new thread because I want to bring my work together in one place where it will be easy for people to find and share information, and to encourage more people to test my patches.

Questions

What is multidecrypt?

Multidecrypt is the ability for a tuner to use a CAM and smartcard to decrypt more than one channel at once. Those channels must be on the same transponder (DVB-S/S2) or multiplex (DVB-T, DVB-C).

Do all tuners support multidecrypt?

No. Tuners from Digital Devices and the Hauppauge WinTV CI only support decrypting one channel at a time. Tuners from Technotrend and DigitalEverywhere already support multidecrypt in MediaPortal 1.1.x and 1.2.x. We are aiming to add multidecrypt support for Twinhan and KNC One tuners (and their clones like Terratec, Azurewave, Mystique etc.).

Do all CAMs support multidecrypt?

Unfortunately not. Only some CAMs support multidecrypt. Consult your CAM's manual, search Google, or ask other people here to see if it supports multidecrypt. Also, some CAMs can multidecrypt more channels than other CAMs. This is a CAM limitation. Use the CAM settings in TV Server to make TV Server respect your CAM's decryption limits.

Who should try this patch?

This patch is mainly for people who have Twinhan or KNC One tuners (and clones like Terratec, Azurewave, Mystique etc.). People who use other tuners currently won't have any benefit from using this patch.

Why are there two patches here, and what is the diffence between them?

There are currently two patches available from this thread. The reason for that is that some tuners support more sophisticated CAM management. Those tuners may be able to change channels faster and smoother than other tuners.

Version A of the patch is for tuners with better CAM management; version B is for tuners that don't work with version A. It is recommended to try version A first, and only use version B if version A doesn't work.

Problems

Currently the biggest problem with this patch is that starting decryption for a new channel creates a small glitch in the stream for any other channels that are being viewed or recorded. This seems to be a CAM or tuner limitation, however I am not 100% certain about that right now. We would like to do everything we can to reduce or eliminate the glitches, however there may be nothing that can be done.

CAM Information

This thread could be useful for collecting information about how good certain models of CAM are. Please help us by posting as much information as possible about your CAM here. Useful information would include manufacturer, model, version, firmware, multidecrypt limit, and whether the CAM is affected by glitches.

(no information yet)

Installation Instructions

1. Stop the TV Server Windows service.
2. Take a backup of the TVLibrary.dll in your TV Server install folder.
3. Download and extract the patched TVLibrary.dll into your TV Server install folder.
4. Start the TV Server service again.

Patch Updates

Version 1.0 - 2 May 2011
- first versions with combined support for Twinhan and KNC tuners

 

[ogir_xx]

Hi mm1352000! Nice! - Will post info during next days.
BTW - is there a prefered version of MP You want the testing to be done with?

 

[Django.edwards]

Hi mm1352000,

so, here my results. See attached logs. I tested both version with an astoncrypt cam and an smarDTV cam which is provided by my provider Telesat here in Belgium.
First the smardtv:
With Version A:
I tuned from one client to channel France3 and then from an other client to channel France 5. Works, both channels are decrypted and no glitches. Then I zapped on the second client to channel France 4. This channel is not decrypted. On the first client everything ok. Then I switch back to channel France 5 ... works, no glitches. So it seems that Version A only decrypts the first channel on which I tune. All others are not decrypted, except if I tune to the same channel than client 1.

With Version B:
I did the same scenario as above. All channels are decrypted well. Sometimes there are glitches, but not allways.

With Astoncrypt:
Version A:
Same problem then with the smardtv cam.

Version B:
No problems at all, no glitches.

This tests are made with Mepo 1.2 Beta.
I hope that the cam pictures are enought as information, if not let me know.

Greets
Django

 

[mm1352000]

Hi mm1352000! Nice! - Will post info during next days.
BTW - is there a prefered version of MP You want the testing to be done with?

Hi again ogir_xx

Thanks for your interest.
Yes, I would prefer testing with 1.2.0b. It makes support much easier for me.

 

[mm1352000]

Hi again Django

Thank you for testing.

With Version A:
I tuned from one client to channel France3 and then from an other client to channel France 5. Works, both channels are decrypted and no glitches. Then I zapped on the second client to channel France 4. This channel is not decrypted. On the first client everything ok. Then I switch back to channel France 5 ... works, no glitches. So it seems that Version A only decrypts the first channel on which I tune. All others are not decrypted, except if I tune to the same channel than client 1.

Your method is very clear and the logs are nice and clean. That test has showed me my mistake. I will post another version A this evening...

I hope that the cam pictures are enought as information, if not let me know.

What I really want is enough information for people to be able to find them online or in their local shop and buy them. For example, your Astoncrypt seems to be an awesome CAM because it works with multidecrypt and doesn't suffer from the glitch problem D). I'm sure people buying new CAMs would like to know how to get one that is the same as yours. Personally I don't really know what information that would require because CAMs are pretty rare here in NZ (we really only have one PayTV provider who uses NDS Videoguard -> no *legitimate* CAMs), but I think the more the better. If you think that the information you have provided would be enough then I will post it...

Best regards,
mm

 

[FreakyJ]

AW: Multichannel decryption improvements

Hey,

wooow great work, this version is much better than the version I used before

What I did?
1. tuned to a channel (Kabel1)
2. started a recording on the same transponder, but different channel (Pro7)
3. switched between Pro7 and Sat1 (also on the same transponder) round about 5 times...

Result: I love it xD you can watch the video here (~18MB): http://netload.in/dateiS6xMk72tTM/Human Target - ProSieben - 2011-05-02.ts.htm

What system I'm using?
- Windows 7 64bit
- Mediaportal 1.1.2 Beta
- Patchversion: 1.0A
- Terratect Tv Card Cinergy C HD + CI (driver: Cinergy_C_PCI_HD_CI_Drv_Setup_1.01.02.501_XP_Vista_7)
- CI: Mascom Alphacrypt Classic, Firmware: 3.23
- Tv Provider: Unitymedia

And for the Cam List, maybe this will help:
Untersttzt jedes CAM MTD?

 

[ogir_xx]

Hi again - have done a bit of testing...

Tested both versions of the patch - with both the option "pause card" and "stop card" selected for my TV tuner card.
Cam option selected and Cam limit set to 0 - to examine limit for CAM / Tuner (Terratec H7) DVB-C

What system I'm using?
- Windows 7 32bit SP1
- Mediaportal 1.2.0 Beta
- Patchversion: 1.0A and 1.0B
- Terratec H7- latest beta driver
- Cam: Dilog Conax
- Tv Provider: Canal Digital

General prosedure:
> Stopped TV server
> Installed new TVServer patch
> Changed settings for card in TV server setup - and restarted TV service
> Chose Channel 1 - and record
> Chose Channel 2 (on same 'transponder' or whats the correct definition, from the green channels available in the channel view in MP) - and record
> Chose Channel 3
> Some Channel switching and off with recordings..
> Tested playing the recorded .ts files

In other words all my tests done in MP while watching live TV, and NOT by manual timeshifting/recording in TVServer setup.
All recordings/timeshifting/viewing simultaniously with one card and one cam

My findings:
First i must say that the patches seem to work very well at this stage of development.

Initially when just playing around i managed to timeshift/record (im not shure) 3 channels at once, but then I think my Tv server was not shut down correctly, so I had an ongoing recording. But theese logs where accidenticly deleted, and i couldnt get 3 sim. channels in my following tests which I did only in MP not in tv server setup.

Patch A - option for cam "pause card"
> Limit for sim. channels/recordings: 2
> When playing recordings afterwords MP frooze.

Patch A - option for cam "stop card"
> Limit for sim. channels/recordings: 2
> Playing recordings afterwords: OK

Patch B - option for cam "stop card"
> Limit for sim channels/recordings: 2
> When playing recordings afterwords none worked. Just a black picture, sound im uncertian as I have no sound on my test PC. But MP didnt freeze. Whats odd though its that this behevior also applies to OLD recordings done with 1.1.2 and 1.2.0b witch I know works.

Patch B - option for cam "pause card"
> Limit for sim channels/recordings: 2
> When playing recordings afterwords: OK, also the faulty ones in the previos test.

I must confess im not exactly sure what you meen by 'glitches'. But there were pauses/blank screens between the channel switches, and there were also picture artifacts/pixelation in the start of the .ts streams in some accations. Especially when switching to HD channel.

All in all, what looked and felt best in my opinion was patch 1.0 A with 'stop card' option chosen in tv server setup.

What concerns me after the test is the unplayable recordings - a problem also experienced with 1.1.2 and scehduled recordings.

Regards mm
Hope my logs are helpful!

 

[melstig]

Hi,
Finally I was able do do some proper testing.

Started with the A version:

From TVServer Config, Manual Control:
Timeshift TV3 on H7 - Started Ok
Record TV3 on H7 - Started Ok
Timeshift Kanal5 on H7 - Started Ok
Record Kanal5 on H7 - Started Ok
Everything lookes ok with no Discontinuities errors.
Stopped the timeshift/recordings after a few minutes.
Played the recordings in VLC:
- TV3 was unfortunatelly not complete but Kanal5 was ok with a short view.

Started MP, failed to tune TV3 or TV5. Managed to get it to work if I switched to a channel on a different mux on th H7 and then switched back. Also when tuning from the T5 to the H7 there was no picture, If I stopped TV in MP and turned it back again it started. The last tune to TV3 this happened. Did not try to record anything.
See Version_A.zip

Now the B Version:
Did the same thing in TV Server config.
Record TV3 on H7 - Started Ok
Timeshift Kanal5 on H7 - Started Ok
Record Kanal5 on H7 - Started Ok
Everything lookes ok with some few Discontinuities errors on TV3.
Stopped the timeshift/recordings after a few minutes.
Played the recordings in VLC and it was ok with a short view.

Started MP and got almost the same result, it works most of the time but not all. With this version I could not just stop tv and start it, had to switch channels to get picture again. I have been running this version a couple of days and it is *working* but it needs some work if it is possible to fix it for the H7.

See Version_B.zip

I tried to configure a CAM limit to 1, but it did not work. MP still tried to decrypt on the same tuner. No logs for this I am afraid.
My "feeling" is that this version combined with the beta is more stable than the previous version.

Thanks for your great work mm1352000!! I need to go to work and and also drive my children to school..

melstig

 

[FreakyJ]

AW: Multichannel decryption improvements

I had just a view problems...
I've got the errors ERROR1: "Kanal ist verschlüsselt" (translation: "channel is encrypted") 3 times at 3 different channel switches and an other ERROR2: "Kanal nicht gefunden" (translation: channel not found)
Discovery Channel --- ERROR1 ---> Kabel 1 --- ERROR1 ---> Discovery Channel --- ERROR1 ---> Kabel 1 --- ERROR2 ---> DMAX ---> WORKED ---> Kabel 1 (I always tried it a second time after the error and than it worked, except DMAX there I didn't tried it a second time... )

The time to look at: 19:20 till end of the logfile =)

Logs attached

 

[FreakyJ]

AW: Multichannel decryption improvements

any news on this topic?!...

\\EDIT:
Concerning my Problem above:

I think this is the magic line:

PROBLEM : descriptor lengths dont match 7 10

, but I have no clue what the problem is oO

and a view lines below:

card: WaitForTimeShiftFile - no audio was found after 15,0018581 seconds
card: WaitForTimeShiftFile - audio and video stream is scrambled