CableCARD tuner support for MediaPortal 1 (2 Viewers)

[Lyfesaver74]

@mm1352000

The new TV server patch is not making my pancakes fluffy enough. DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!

Been using it for a few days, rocking along swimmingly here!!!

 

[mm1352000]

Maybe this instruction could be re-worded?

Done. Better? (Please feel free to be nitpicky. )

Sorry for seeming 'nitpicky,'...

No need to apologise - my comment was intended to mean "please do be nitpicky" [not that your comments were too nitpicky]. With this new TV engine that we're working on, having the new features etc. will be cool... however if we don't make it easy to use and configure then basically nothing else matters. So again, I welcome your specific comments because this is what we need going forwards.

This is amazing, after struggling with the HD-PVR to get high-def cable channels, this CableCard just blows it away.

Yeah, setting up a capture device with MP has always been a difficult task. With the new TV engine I'm hoping to attempt to improve this in a couple of ways:

1. Add more generic support for capture cards and inputs, so people have more choice on the hardware side.
2. Add alternative interfaces for creating or importing channel lists/lineups. Really want to streamline that process.
3. Add support for blasting by executing an external program with parameters.

Having said that I think it will never be easier to use capture inputs than a CableCARD tuner.

 

[breese]

MM,
After reading the latest posts and some confusion about the Post #1 doc's I decided to retest.
There are more files in the ZIP for 1.4 than listed.
I copied everything from the new zip added on the 13th into the Program Files directory and the one file into the ProgramDate directory as specified.

OTA scan, Completed but did not grab the channel names

Wow_Cable, Durring the scan I watched 84 thru 91 come up as Locked. Never seen that before.
Freq 505250 found 48 channels... Somehow I dont think so.
The scan also did not find any of the channel names it normally finds.

If using the new code posted from last week on Post #1 was bad, let me know.

 

[mm1352000]

Hello breese

There are more files in the ZIP for 1.4 than listed.

I only list the files that you need to backup (from the base MP 1.x installation).

OTA scan, Completed but did not grab the channel names

These logs are really strange. It is like all the fixes I applied from your previous testing are not included.
Are you 100% sure you're running v2.1 of the patch for MP 1.4 and that you stopped the TV service before applying the patch?
I've attached a rebuild of the same code...

Wow_Cable, Durring the scan I watched 84 thru 91 come up as Locked. Never seen that before.

Pass. If the tuner says it is locked then that is what TV Server will report.

Freq 505250 found 48 channels... Somehow I dont think so.

I've seen this before in your previous logs. I think they must be VOD/PPV placeholders that share video and/or audio streams, or something like that.

The scan also did not find any of the channel names it normally finds.



If using the new code posted from last week on Post #1 was bad, let me know.

As above. Something strange is going on. You should absolutely be able to use the new patch from post 1.

mm

 

[PABeaver]

Thank you so much mm for your work on this. It is great to be able to use CableCards with MP. I have an HDHomeRun prime with a multi-seat setup and updated to 1.4 to checkout the new patch. I used v2.1 from the first post, updated the prime to the latest beta firmware, etc.

Everything seemed to go well with installing, scanning for channels and even when I tested time-shifting and recording in the client. I am having one issue though, in that the TV Server is not releasing the tuner when I stop time-shifting or even if it is recording and the recording concludes. The tuner is still going. It is not having the same behavior with Media Center. I am wondering if I did something wrong in the install or config process?

Here are my logs. Thanks again for your help!

 

[mm1352000]

Hello PABeaver

Thank you so much mm for your work on this. It is great to be able to use CableCards with MP.

No problem! Thanks for taking the time to try the patch.

Everything seemed to go well with installing, scanning for channels and even when I tested time-shifting and recording in the client.

Excellent.

I am having one issue though, in that the TV Server is not releasing the tuner when I stop time-shifting or even if it is recording and the recording concludes. The tuner is still going. It is not having the same behavior with Media Center. I am wondering if I did something wrong in the install or config process?

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by "releasing"... which means that you most likely haven't done anything wrong - more likely this can be explained by me not knowing exactly what I'm doing!
From the code I can say that we create a connection with the tuner when it is first loaded, and we don't close that connection until the tuner is unloaded (usually when the TV service is stopped). When you timeshift and record, we send "play" and "stop" commands to the tuner as necessary. So maybe this connection that we don't close is what you're referring to.

Could you please clarify:

• What exactly do you mean by releasing?
• How do you determine whether the tuner has been released or not?
• What effect does it have when TV Server doesn't release the tuner?
• Should we always be releasing the tuner when we're done with it, or are there times when we'd want to not release it?

Thanks!
mm

 

[PABeaver]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by "releasing"... which means that you most likely haven't done anything wrong - more likely this can be explained by me not knowing exactly what I'm doing!

From the code I can say that we create a connection with the tuner when it is first loaded, and we don't close that connection until the tuner is unloaded (usually when the TV service is stopped). When you timeshift and record, we send "play" and "stop" commands to the tuner as necessary. So maybe this connection that we don't close is what you're referring to.



Could you please clarify:

• What exactly do you mean by releasing?

Thanks for explaining the terminology. It looks like what I really mean is the "stop" command.

• How do you determine whether the tuner has been released or not?
• What effect does it have when TV Server doesn't release the tuner?

The tuner light is still on and it can't be used by other clients. The tuner behaves as though it were still recording even though the recording has completed.

I hope this makes more sense. Thanks again for all of your time and work.

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks for explaining the terminology. It looks like what I really mean is the "stop" command.

I'm far from certain that my terminology is correct. It is just the only way I know how to describe the code behaviour.
This is one of those cases where it really is a disadvantage for me to be half way around the other side of the world...

• How do you determine whether the tuner has been released or not?
• What effect does it have when TV Server doesn't release the tuner?

The tuner light is still on and it can't be used by other clients. The tuner behaves as though it were still recording even though the recording has completed.

Right, okay.
If we're locking the tuner like that it is not intended. It seems strange to me that keeping a connection open would prevent other apps from streaming... because we might just want to monitor the status of the tuner, and from memory I don't think we were able to do that unless we were connected.
I think I'm going to contact Silicondust and ask about this so I'm absolutely clear. In the meantime I've had a quick search and I found this comment:
http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=13754
So Jason is suggesting that is that the tuner is meant to remain locked for awhile by design. Are you able to perform the test that he suggested to confirm the tuner really is locked?

 

[breese]

MM,
That last file gave me back all my channels for OTA and WOW.
I attempted to do a test within the Config, first I got Unknown errors then No Fee

Restarted service,
Went to my client, All channels showed up
Choose a channel I know is not encripted and the card has used before
First I got Unknown Error then All cards busy

Also, when there is an error like this, the MP Server Config gets a Red Bar accross the bottom
I have seen this before and this time it is included in the logs

FYI: My client is a Win7 and uses the Shared Directory of Database information

 

[PABeaver]

• How do you determine whether the tuner has been released or not?
• What effect does it have when TV Server doesn't release the tuner?

The tuner light is still on and it can't be used by other clients. The tuner behaves as though it were still recording even though the recording has completed.

Right, okay.
If we're locking the tuner like that it is not intended. It seems strange to me that keeping a connection open would prevent other apps from streaming... because we might just want to monitor the status of the tuner, and from memory I don't think we were able to do that unless we were connected.
I think I'm going to contact Silicondust and ask about this so I'm absolutely clear. In the meantime I've had a quick search and I found this comment:
http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=13754
So Jason is suggesting that is that the tuner is meant to remain locked for awhile by design. Are you able to perform the test that he suggested to confirm the tuner really is locked?

After testing for a good part of the morning, I stand corrected and I apologize if I caused you a bunch of work. I assumed that the because the light was still on for the tuner that it was locked. It is in fact, not locked and able to be used by any of the clients. I wasn't sure how to do the test that Jason suggested in the post you linked, but I was able to repeatedly start watching a channel in MP, stop it, open another MP client and watch a channel and it would grab the same tuner. If you go into the Prime software on the device itself, and look at the status of the tuner it still says "locked" but as Jason said "Getting the target will tell you if it is actively streaming, but it is possible to be streaming without a lock, and to be locked without streaming" so I guess it doesn't matter.

One thing I am confused about is why the lights on the tuner stay on. They have not turned off despite not being used for about an hour now. They only turn off if I power down the device and power it back up again and it did not do this with MP v1.3 and the previous patch. Again, not that it seems to be affecting the behavior of the device, but I used to monitor whether something was recording by going to the box and looking at the lights. Are any other Prime owners experiencing this same thing or am I unique?