CableCARD tuner support for MediaPortal 1 (7 Viewers)

[mediacowboy]

From the IT point of view it sounds like either HD HomeRun isn't being allowed access through the firewall or the firewall needs to be configured to all the TV service to pass through it.

 

[mm1352000]

I am hoping that the fix is simple.

Not so much.

From the IT point of view it sounds like either HD HomeRun isn't being allowed access through the firewall or the firewall needs to be configured to all the TV service to pass through it.

Apparently TV Server is sometimes not closing down the RTSP sessions properly. When the TCP/UDP connection is closed, a message is generated that is causing the HDHR to unlock... but if you have an active firewall, that message gets dropped. So basically unlock works sometimes... if you don't run a firewall.

All credit to Jason from SD for working this out.

 

[Sigpi007]

Just (partly) finished setting up the Ceton ETH 6 tuner with the MP 1.4 patch. Followed instructions in first post to the letter. Overall assessment... everything is working GREAT! Feedback below...


- Changing channels is FAST! I have my Ceton ETH 6 tuner located downstairs, and I connect to it over wireless-N from my upstairs test computer. Changing channels takes about 1 second for HD channels. I'd equate the experience to "a smidge slower than changing channels with a (comcast) cable box, but a bit faster than changing channels with a (DirecTV) satellite box." Overall... very acceptable performance... in a less than ideal setup (over wireless instead of hard-wire).

- Only issue... I don't think my cablecard is decoding any of the channels that are not "in-the-clear." Essentially I can see the same channels I saw before. I expect this is a cable company issue and not related to the patch. Will write back later once resolved.

Hi everyone...

Just following up my evaluation of the Ceton ETH 6 Tuner... now that I have my CableCard issues figured out. Turns out I had a bad cable card, and once a replacement came out that actually worked I was able to tune all the channels I expected to receive (like ESPN-HD, etc). In short... no issue with the patch.

Also to follow-up, changing channels is still pretty fast. However, for about a day after I got good Cable Card set up, I had about a 10-20 sec lag changing channels. This lag could be averted by stopping timeshifting before selecting another channel in the guide. Couldn't figure out what was causing the issue. And what is weird is that I cleared my log files and then ran MP-debug mode to recreate the issue and send fresh log files here. But right after I did that... the issue magically went away. Not sure if the issue was somehow related to old log files (which seems like a stretch), but felt like I needed to mention this in case others are having a similar issue with the same hardware.

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks for reporting back Sigpi007

Turns out I had a bad cable card...

Ahhhhhh, okay. In the process of creating this patch I've read various forums and noted that a few people mentioned receiving dud CableCARDs. I figured it would only be a matter of time before somebody using this patch received one. Now that we know the symptoms I hope we'll be able to recognise the issue if/when other people experience problems.

However, for about a day after I got good Cable Card set up, I had about a 10-20 sec lag changing channels. This lag could be averted by stopping timeshifting before selecting another channel in the guide.

This sounds like what douglas_d reported back on page 33:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/cablecard-tuner-support-for-mediaportal-1.112585/page-33

I never did manage to figure out what was going on for him either. Basically it indicates that the channel information is not being delivered to TV Server. That may possibly be because the channel is not being properly released by the CableCARD.

Regards,
mm

 

[hanzerbeak]

Just wanted to report my success with this and say thanks for all this work you've done!

My configuration:
Windows 7 64 bit
Ceton 4 PCIe
Provider: Comcast in the US

Ended up getting a new hard drive for the computer I use as server so I installed MP right onto a clean install of windows. Went through your instructions to patch (was at version 2.1 when I grabbed it) with no problems, and am now able to tune all my channels in HD. Now I just need to get the rest of MP configured with everything!

It's also working on my standard installation of MP 1.2.3.0 on a client laptop- I forgot to patch that installation with the files before I started using it, but it still connected and streams just fine.

Let me know if there's any information or help I can provide!

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks for the report hanzerbeak

It's also working on my standard installation of MP 1.2.3.0 on a client laptop- I forgot to patch that installation with the files before I started using it, but it still connected and streams just fine.

Keep in mind that we don't officially support cross-version configuration. In other words, if you have an MP 1.4 server we recommend an MP 1.4 client.
The fact that the MP 1.4 (or 1.3) server works with the MP 1.2.3 client is cool... but if you want to continue with that configuration don't apply the patch to the 1.2.3 client (because it may break your client install).

Other than that, happy TV viewing.

mm

 

[MikeR25]

How fast should I expect to be able to change channels when running margro's 12.2 Frodo XBMC and your latest MP TV-Server patches? It seems to be 5 secs or so and it will change than a second later blink the whole screen black and show the OSD for that channel.

 

[mm1352000]

Hello again MikeR25

How fast should I expect to be able to change channels when running margro's 12.2 Frodo XBMC and your latest MP TV-Server patches?

I literally have no idea. I've never run XBMC, and I don't have a CableCARD tuner (based in New Zealand). If you post your log files I can tell you approximately how long your channel changes are from the tuner perspective. I note that the first channel selection is going to be slower than the rest (because the tuner is loaded on-demand) unless you preload the tuners.

mm

 

[mm1352000]

All is so quiet - that is usually either very good... or very bad!

@PABeaver
After further investigation a "real fix" for the tuner locking issue may be much easier than I thought.
Please can you try this:
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Copy and paste c:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\ into the address bar and hit enter.
3. Open MPIPTVSource.ini in any text editor.
4. At almost the bottom of the file there should be an [RTSP] section with a parameter RtspTeardownRequestTimeout set to 100. Please add a zero to make the value 1000, then save and close.

After restarting the TV service (so that the config change is picked up) you should be able to enable the firewall and everything should "just work". Please let us know if this works for you.

 

[mediacowboy]

No complaints here. What are the chance of this or something similar for MePo 2