First let me thank Timecop for discovering this process. He started a
thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=309877) a long time ago that became just too long and confusing so hopefully this will help.

This method should work for most 1394/Firewire enabled tuners. It has been tested on the Mitsubishi Integrated TV's, SA3250HD, Motorola 620X (with firmware 7.10 or higher), and the Samsung T165. *Please list your tests and I will update* This method will not allow you to capture 5C encrypted content, *see below for details* This method captures the original Transport stream sent by your provider, so if it is sent with DD 5.1 then you will capture DD5.1. This method only works with Digital channels, analogue cable channels will not work.

This method does not allow you to transfer shows already recorded on your HD DVR only live TV.

You will need some drivers. Follow the link and Download firestb.msi.
If the link is bad, PM me and I'll fix it.
First device drivers. There are more MCE specific items included in the package, if you are using using XP then you only need the driver. You may also want to play with the channel changing software, which works on both XP and MCE. There is now a beta Vista Driver as well.
http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/wsb/html/view.cgi-showresources.html-TopRes-STB-20Firewire.html

For drivers only, there is a driver package that is continually updated to support new STBs, and there are some differences in how the drivers are loaded. If you have issues install the firestb drivers, it can be used with firestb instead of the drivers included with its installer.
http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/stbfirewire/

There are a few pieces of software that I know of that can capture using these drivers, Capdvhs, DCTrecord and MCE using the included software.
http://www.yamabe.org/soft/CapDVHS0306e.zip
http://home.comcast.net/~brzez2/dctrecord.html

Now that you have everything you need.
Install firestb.msi, if you are using MCE, install the components you want. If you are running XP then at the very least install the "Firewire Drivers" component, you won't be able to double click on it, you will have to use a different command to skip the MCE required screen. Now you can just choose the driver.

MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0

Click continue anyway a the signed driver screen.

Plug in the 1394 cable.
Found new hardware wizard will come up.

Keep hitting cancel until you see "Tuner AV/C Device" or "Tuner AV/C Panel" as the hardware that was found. Install both like any other device.
Then Choose Install the software automatically (Recommended).
Click Next
Keep clicking Next.
Then click Finished.

Click cancel on any other devices that are automatically detected.
I would go back into Device manager and disable the other devices so windows doesn't keep looking for drivers on reboot.

Now open CAPDVHS and a device should be listed under capture device.

Under settings I have the following boxes checked.
Convert 188 bytes
Check PTS
Delete to SyncByte

I use .ts for all my file extensions and I left the file name format to the default.

Select the "Data Info." tab and hit the "Rec" Button.
You should see the info populated.
Hit stop and check your file.
Elecard (http://www.moonlight.co.il/download/player2_2_2.zip) works well for playback or Sasem OnAir Editor (http://www.sasem.com/board/data/guest_program/2003_07_11/OnAirHDEditor_v107.zip) or VLC (http://download.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/0.7.2/win32/vlc-0.7.2-win32.exe)
or http://theatertek.com/
To play with zoomplayer check this thread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=395039

**Now you change the channel via 1394 and use with MCE see the readme for complete directions.
http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/download.aspx?id=1295&MessageID=104152

**Attention this is a recording thread. For playback issues please check out the home theater PC forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=26) . **
For conversion help check out this guide.
http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html
The files captured from this process are the same as from most HD PC recording techniques and playback issues are the same. Please don't post in here asking how to get smooth playback. There are plenty of discussions in the correct area on that topic. Also please don't ask how to convert to DVD, or any other conversion question. There are plenty of thread dedicated to that topic also. This thread is already too long to read, and I appreciate everyone helping out by staying on topic.

**Added 5/26/04 **
To watch live HD without capturing first.
Open VLC v7.2 *might work with other versions.
Choose "File" > "Open Capture Device"

To the right of "Video device name" click "Refresh List" Then choose "Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Sub" from the drop down.
Click "OK"

Just a word of advice if I hit "Configure" or "Advanced Options" It blue screens my computer.
This seems to be much more resource intensive than watching a captured file. My AMD 2600 works at ~83% if I don't resize or any other effect. Any effect drives it to 100%.

You can also setup a shortcut to run VLC with the parms for picking up the stream automatically.

Target:

"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device" :dshow-adev="" :dshow-size="" :no-dshow-config "

Start In:

"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC"
*Thanks to E Jackson*

Troubleshooting

If you can't load the driver, go over the directions again and again, make sure you don't miss any steps. It does require you to force XP to accept the drivers.

If the driver is loaded but the files are 0bytes after recording. Then you may have the driver loaded improperly or your cable company may have copy protection(5C) enabled. Try a different channel or search the original thread for someone who lives near you to see if they are having the same problem. You may also be able to reboot the Tuner. It is impossible to record content marked copy once, because it is protected from multiple copies. Typically if your provider is encrypting, than the only channels you would be able to record are the channels that are also available over the air.

**Added 2/6/06**
Changed drivers to the above. Added channel chaning support.

**Added 3/18/05**
If you have XP SP2 and you can't get it to work see this post.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=5315313#post5315313

**Added 2/22/05**
If you have a Motorola 620x Check this post to see if that channel is 5C protected. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3855086#post3855086

If you have a SA DVR with Passport
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4617480#post4617480

If you have a SA DVR with SARA
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4613067#post4613067

You may also have the wrong firmware version for the Motorola 620x, to check this.
To check firmware on Moto 6200:
Menu- Setup- Cable Box- See Configuration- one of the entries on that page is Firmware. * Thanks drbenson*

If you are using a Motorola 620X with an older firmware you may need to replace your Meitape.inf from the zip file with this one. Try the original one first.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~balazer/files/Meitape.inf

**Updated link to firestb.zip** 7/12/07

This is V.04 of this document please post corrections and suggestions.

One point I thought should be transferred from the other thread is that if you're trying this with a Motorola 6200, you need to wait until your local Comcast updates firmware to 7.10. I'm still at 7.07, and have zero luck, no matter how religiously I follow the instructions.

Thank you very much. Easy enough. The other thread makes it seem so complicated.

BTW- It's the Motorola 6xxx, not 38xx.

Originally posted by DaveFi
.

BTW- It's the Motorola 6xxx, not 38xx. Fixed.

A tip of the AVS hat to bdraw for the great synopsis.

Originally posted by drbenson
One point I thought should be transferred from the other thread is that if you're trying this with a Motorola 6200, you need to wait until your local Comcast updates firmware to 7.10. I'm still at 7.07, and have zero luck, no matter how religiously I follow the instructions.

Good point!
I don't have this box so I will need help.
I have added a note concerning the firmware. I will also add the method to determine the frimware if you post it.

Thank you!! Thank you!! Will give it a try this weekend with my SA3250HD.

I have a Mits TV with firewire out connected to a Shuttle XPC. I've installed the drivers and CapDHVS on the Shuttle. I can get everything to work until I have to reboot the Shuttle at whch point the driver tells me the TV is no longer connected. Unplugging and plugging the firewire cable doesn't do anything. The only way I can get the Shuttle to recognize the TV is to uninstall the drivers and start all over again. Anyone have any ideas why the driver won't find the TV after the reboot?

To check firmware on Moto 6200:

Menu- Setup- Cable Box- See Configuration- one of the entries on that page is Firmware.

Just noticed in putting this together that they slipped the 7.10 revision in- now to try these instructions!

.

I have a Moto 620X and when plugged in only two devices are detected and neither of them is the "Tuner AV/C Device". Most of the other posts I h ave read about getting this to work say there should be three different devices detected; so possibly the third one that I am not getting is the Tuner. Anyone else having/had the same problem? Any suggestions appreciated. One other note: I have been trying to get this to work for the last month or so - before we knew that the Moto's would not work with the 7.07 firmware(recently got the 7.10 update) - so I may have messed up something a while ago and that is why I'm not getting the proper devices detected now. So, is there some procedure to completely reset these devices for re-detection? Thanks again - Scott

SSSikora

You may be right, the detected device in my instructions are based on my experiences with the SA3250HD, if you can find the name of the device that shows up when you plug in the 620x I will add that.

Mine is not actually working, and I was thinking that maybe the reason for that is that I'm not detecing any type of tuner. When I go to the recording program I have two devices listed in the dropdown box at the top but both of them give the same error when I try and record - I'm at work right now so I don't know the exact message, but it's something about not being able to to connect to a samplegrabber.

Is the modified Meitape.inf still necessary with 7.10?
When the 620x with 7.10 is plugged into the pc what is the device detected as?
If is detected as 61883 is it possible to get it working, or does this only get detected on boxes with the older firmware.

I have a sa3250 so I need some help from the 620x guys to make this work for everyone.

Thanks

This worked like a charm!! Thanks bdraw!!! :D

When I first plugged it in, I got a 'Unknown Device' so I canceled that.Then the 'AV/C Tuner Device' which I forced installation of the Panasonic DVHS AV/C Device. Then a 'AV/C Panel Device' which I canceled. Went to device manager and disabled the 2 other devices.

Fired up CapDVHS, test recorded PBS HD for 2 minutes, played the clip through VLC. Perfect recording, no skipped frames, or sound drops.

Here are my machine specs if anybody is wondering...
Intel P4-3.45GHz HT @920
2x512MB Kingston HyperX DDR500 @460
MSI 865PE Neo2 FISR
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
SB Audigy 2 output thru S/PDIF
Linksys WMP54G Wireless PCI
Hauppauge Win-TV PCI
Adaptec 29160N U160 SCSI Adapter
Seagate Cheetah 10K U160 9GB (Boot/Programs)
2x200GB Western Digital 8MB SE (Storage)
Samsung 16X DVD-ROM
Pioneer 106A DVD-RW
Enermax 450W PSU

Motorola 620X fw7.10

I just had the cable company (Charter in Worcester MA) swap my 3100HD for a 3250HD. I don't see a firewire connector on it at all. I downloaded the 3250HD manual from the Scientific Atlanta website and it doesn't show one either. Are there two models of the 3250HD? Thanks.

Kerry

yup.... one with firewire... one without....

:cool:

Feeling good tonight. Got it working with my Comcast Moto 6200. Set the "188 bytes .ts extension" setting in CapDVHS to .ts, and my HiPix played the recorded file first time out. Picture is great, but I'm getting audio glitches- clicks a couple of times, the sound level goes down, then gradually comes back up. Anyone have experience with stomping this bug?

thankyou for making this so easy!

coupla points that might make it a little cleaner for the next guy with a 6200. I didn't get the option to uncheck "Show compatable hardware" unless I cancelled all 3 of the found new hardware prompts. Then go to device manager and update the drivers for the tuner and now follow your instructions.

Then, the "Have Disk" part was a little sticky as I did what I thought I was supposed to do instead of exactly what you wrote I should do.

Now if you mess it up and need to start over - and SSSikora, this might work for you, chances are you'll have an AV/C device installed, but if you look at the driver details its using the windows driver file avc.sys. I had to remove that file from system32/drivers in order to wipe the slate clean.

But in the end it all worked out and how sweet it is!

thanks again,
jb

I can only capture and play back streams from the analog channels using this process. I can capture streams form the HD and SD digital channels, but they don't show any information in CapDVHS and I can't play them back.

I only have 3 HiDef channels right now. INHD INHD2 and ESPNHD. Is there some encryption problem that needs to be worked around???

They are copy protected.

When they finally add the HD version of the Local channels, will I be able to record them?

Yes, you should. I assume you have Comcast w/6200. We discuss this in a few other threads.

Thanks,

Yes, I have Comcast and 6200.

Frustrating that I can't record from the Digital channels I currently have.

You can, you'll just need a DTCP 5C compliant device (DVHS) to do it.

I tried this using my 6208 v7.07, no beans. I think I may have a resource conflict. My system shows a 61883 Class Bus Device that cannot start, yellow "i" next to it. The Panny AV device shows up and is evidently "working". What is the deal? Thanks in advance.

Can I just use the firewire connection to XP to watch HD content from the Moto rather than recording it?

Originally posted by Kerry W
I just had the cable company (Charter in Worcester MA) swap my 3100HD for a 3250HD. I don't see a firewire connector on it at all. I downloaded the 3250HD manual from the Scientific Atlanta website and it doesn't show one either. Are there two models of the 3250HD? Thanks.

Kerry

Kerry:
Yes there are 2 versions of the 3250HD, the version with firewire has 2 ports labeled 1394. From the rear view they are to left of the DVI connector. In Southern California Charter does have some of the boxes with firewire. Check this link, see page 6. http://www.cox.com/support/digitalcable/hdtv/pdf/sa_3250.pdf
Also box must have current software from SA for firewire to work(look for a "firebus" entry in the software list). From what I have read about the only device working for with it for firewire is the JVC 30k.

Originally posted by Smakz
Can I just use the firewire connection to XP to watch HD content from the Moto rather than recording it?

Tried that using the VLC media player. All I got was a slideshow with audio. Tons of error messages about bad and late packets....

Anyone else get this to work???

Originally posted by John P
Kerry:
Yes there are 2 versions of the 3250HD, the version with firewire has 2 ports labeled 1394. From the rear view they are to left of the DVI connector. In Southern California Charter does have some of the boxes with firewire. Check this link, see page 6. http://www.cox.com/support/digitalcable/hdtv/pdf/sa_3250.pdf
Also box must have current software from SA for firewire to work(look for a "firebus" entry in the software list). From what I have read about the only device working for with it for firewire is the JVC 30k.


John

Exactly where in the 3250HD is the correct FireBus reference- i.e. which of the 19 Service Menu Pages?

Originally posted by mkerdman
John

Exactly where in the 3250HD is the correct FireBus reference- i.e. which of the 19 Service Menu Pages?

John

OK- found it on Page 17 on the Service Menu.

OK, guess it was just the two INHD channels I couldn't record.

Having no problem grabbing clips of the Pistons-Pacers on ESPNHD :-)

1280x720@60fps 18mbit/sec stream

I used bdraw's instructions to setup my PC. Was able to configure exactly as directed. I do capture video and audio but both breakup badly on playback. I am using VLC for playback. Also tried using my HiPix card to playback. Both have same problem. VLC will playback my HiPix files perfectly. Charter updated my 3250HD with current SA software on 4/9.

Anyone have any ideas?

This thread is certainly what I was looking for! Thanks bdraw!!

I am new to all this, other than I have spent several hundred hours capturing and encoding analog broadcasts up till now..

All went well with my SA 3250HD with activated 1394 port (Cox cable delivered to me this week) and bdraw's instructions until I hit the record button in CapDVHS.exe. I get "Error 80040217; Cannot connect SampleGrabber." From what I have read, it has something to do with Directshow. Since I am using W2k, I thought that might be part of my problem...other than my own lack of understanding...

I would appreciate any feedback on this first post of mine! :D

Thanks!

Originally posted by Shpshftr
Since I am using W2k, I thought that might be part of my problem...other than my own lack of understanding...


I am sorry but this does not work with w2k. You will have to upgrade to xp. The 1394 stack for XP is completely different from 2k.

I work in the IT industry and I will tell you that XP is well worth the upgrade, there are many other benefits over 2k. This is nothing like the 98 to ME upgrade

I would say that it Microsoft first successful OS. And that is coming from a big Linux advocate.

Thanks bdraw,

I was afraid you were going to say that..

I was hoping not to have to buy a new computer to do this. W2k has worked well for me till now, and my experiences with XP have been less than favorable with both the hardware and software I use. I guess I'll just have to improvise and dedicate a separate drive for XP on an experimental basis.. :)

Thanks for your help!

Seems to work fine with the Samsung T-165.
I can't open the output file with any of the MPEG editors I own, tho. I can play the file with WMP, Nero etc. but Pinnacle 9, Ulead 7, Nero editors all bomb when trying to load it for editing. Any ideas?

Tnx,
--jim

i just received my moto 620x 3 days ago (in place of my previous 5100 box). 7 weeks ago, i have read about recording via firewire, using a Mac, but no one then had any clue how to get firewire recording with a PC.

i didnt think it was yet possible, but i decided to plug the STB to my HTPC, and it detected it. having had no driver to work with, i spent about 10 minutes scouring the driver database in XP, but of course to no avail. so i unplugged the firewire cable from the HTPC, but left it at the STB end.

enter this article - Thanks for the guide! its immensely helpful, easy and direct to the point. i got it to work without any hitch. Ive just fired up CapDVHS and it works so well. Took a while to figure out dctrecord, but its now running. actually, im recording the Lakers/T'Wolves Game 2 on TNT. its analog so im not expecting much out of the PQ. But later ill try it on an actual digital channel (anything between 102 to 171), and later, ill try it on an HD channel. i CANT wait!

man, this is AMAZING - thank you so much!

this is about to render my replayTV obsolete, once the 6208s are OFFICIALLY finally released in my area. Timeshifting thru the STB, and recording to my own hard drive via CapDVHS or dctrecord.

again, bdraw, i cant thank you enough for such a great job!

Originally posted by jbarber
Seems to work fine with the Samsung T-165.
I can't open the output file with any of the MPEG editors I own, tho. I can play the file with WMP, Nero etc. but Pinnacle 9, Ulead 7, Nero editors all bomb when trying to load it for editing. Any ideas?

These files despite what the file extension may say are not true mpeg files. They are TS files or transport streams. You need to convert them to mpeg to use them with programs that can't open TS. Try HDTVtoMPEG2 v1.10b not 1.10 there was a bug when converting to mpeg.

Originally posted by bdraw
These files despite what the file extension may say are not true mpeg files. They are TS files or transport streams. You need to convert them to mpeg to use them with programs that can't open TS. Try HDTVtoMPEG2 v1.10b not 1.10 there was a bug when converting to mpeg. Ben, there is now a more recent version of HDTVtoMPEG2 (aka H2), which I believe has the MPEG2 output bug in 1.10 fixed, available here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3722699#post3722699).

Originally posted by Smakz
Can I just use the firewire connection to XP to watch HD content from the Moto rather than recording it?



Anyone have any success with just watching (HD, SD or even just analog)?

Originally posted by bdraw
These files despite what the file extension may say are not true mpeg files. They are TS files or transport streams. You need to convert them to mpeg to use them with programs that can't open TS. Try HDTVtoMPEG2 v1.10b not 1.10 there was a bug when converting to mpeg.

Thanks! That makes sense.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to play with it for a day or two. Work has a way of interfering with the important stuff..

I do have one report to make, tho. Using the Elecard MPEG2 player to play the 1080i TS files on my Samsung 5065 (DVI interface from PC) works quite nicely. Scaling the output window to 720p, CPU usage runs < 30% on a 3.2ghz P4 Northwood with an ATI 9600XT. (1024MB RAM) Video is very good, with the only notable defect being that the Elecard decoder seems to run heavy on color saturation at default settings.

Wish I had more time to play. This lashup falls under Truly Useful in my book.

--jim

Thanks for all of the great research.
I am trying to get this going on my system, and am gettting close. Using the capture program I was able to get video from my 6200.

I have set up VLS and GotTV, and both see the "panasonic" AV tuner, but display black when selected as the input source. When I try to configure them in either application - BAM! BSOD (ugh).

New to this AV stuff, so any additional help is appreciated.
Anyone hear if motorola plans on releasing matching drivers? I looked at their site, and actually just sent an email to support.

You want to use Panasonic "DVHS", not Pansonic "Tuner" as your device driver.

If you have things set up properly it will show the capture device in CapDVHS as:
"Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device(Unkown Video#1)"

Thanks for the catch - it was a typo. It is set up as a Panasonic DVHS.
I was able to capture some video using CapDVHS.
The panasonic DVHS Tape shows up as a device in GotTV and VLS. The problem I see is when I try to use it to get the stream live, as opposed to capturing it to file via CapDVHS.

Originally posted by AtlJimK
I tried this using my 6208 v7.07, no beans. I think I may have a resource conflict. My system shows a 61883 Class Bus Device that cannot start, yellow "i" next to it. The Panny AV device shows up and is evidently "working". What is the deal? Thanks in advance.

I am expierencing the same issue, did you get your problem resovled, if you did let me know and if you have any suggestions!
Thanks
Scott

Does anyone have a good guess as to what the minimum required PC configuration is to support the HD capture/HD playback using the drivers and players listed at the beginning of this thread?

Ron Jones

I am using a P3 1.0ghz w/ 256mb Ram, and a Radeon 9500.

If you don't have either a mpeg decoder that supports DXVA or a video card that supports it, you probably need atleast a 1.6ghz.

Has anyone tried this with Windows 2000?

Or does it just work with XP?

It just works with XP.

for those interested, I got a response back from motorola support regarding my request for information for real XP drivers...
_____________________________

Thank you for your inquiry,

The connection was made for it to be connected to a D-VHS or to a
television, not the computer.

If you need to reply to this email, please include a brief restatement of
the issue for our reference.

Thank you,
Motorola Broadband Support
1-877-466-8646
____________________________

one word: ...thhhbbpppt....

Hmmm...I've got a 3250HD with firewire and WinXP, but I'm not seeing a DVHS entry under Panasonic. I'm seeing:

Panasonic Digital Tuner AV/C Device (TU-BHD100)
Panasonic Tuner AV/C Device
Panasonic Tuner AV/C Device (NV-DH1)
Panasonic Tuner AV/C Device (NV-DHE10)
Panasonic Tuner AV/C Device (NV-HDR1000)

Should I use one of them? Any ideas why I'm not seeing DVHS as an option?

Ah, nevermind, I hadn't pointed it to the right directory before selecting Panasonic. Once I actually followed the directions, it worked like a charm!

Incidentally, trying to record HBO-HD didn't result in a 0-length file, but the capture program didn't display resolution or fps or anything and the resulting file wasn't playable with Elecard or anything else. Who knows what it was recording....

Added a technique for watching without captureing using VLC 7.2

braw- Thanks, that's pretty interesting. Now there really are less reasons to purchase a QAM enabled tuner card. It's really unforunate almost all the digital channels in the Boston area are 5C=1, so we can't stream them.

a couple of questions please:

i just got my replacement HDTV box from comcast in Sterling Heights Mich. it has the required 7.10 ver of bios & fireware out. i have installed the software as suggested in this thread. the hardware was found correctly. But....

1. i can capture any channel from 02 to 99 (not digital channels) & ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC HD channels without any problems. But, HBO, SHOWTIME, INHD, INHD2 & ESPN (all of which i subscribe too) do capture but the resultant file is not playable by any player. I have also noticed that CAPDVHS normally shows info about the capture (frame rate, resolution, etc.) but for these channels (HBO etc) these boxes are left blank.

I called Comcast & they told me that the basic local channels are in the clear but these others have a "limited encryption" enabled. They said that a normal Panasonic DVHS should still be able to record these channels but that there was some restriction to further duplication. They also told me that there is some ADDITIONAL software that can be added to the proceedure we are using here that will decrypt this & allow recording to continue. Is this the 5C encryption for firewire? How do i work around this issue?

2. comcast also offered me the Motorola DCT 6212 (i think) that has a Hard Drive internal to act as a PVR (a newer unit will be avail in aug. that has 2 tuners & larger HD to allow watching different that what is being recorded). The tech told me it is the same firmware & basically the same unit. Would the proceedure in this thread also work with the DVR version of the HD box?

i will attach a screen snap shot of CapDVHS with & without the TS stream showing (normal channel vs. ESPN, HBO, etc). again, the resultant file is not playable at all.

I appreciate your assistance.
Thanks,
Mark

Originally posted by DaveFi
braw- Thanks, that's pretty interesting. Now there really are less reasons to purchase a QAM enabled tuner card. It's really unforunate almost all the digital channels in the Boston area are 5C=1, so we can't stream them.

I sitll consider buying a QAM tuner card, because it is nice to have another tuner, so I can record multiple shows, plus having a hd mpeg decoder to let the CPU rest would be nice as well.

are there QAM cards avail for a PC? do they understand 5C? would they use a smart card from my cable company for identification to allow optional channels to be watched / captured? I have not seen any of these so far.

thanks,
mark

theswid: The channels you list as being non-recordable/streamable all have their copy-protection bit set (presumably to "copy once"). Since the PC that we're recording to isn't 5C compliant and won't enforce that restriction, it simply disallows the recording entirely.

I have no idea what "additional software" would allow you to bypass this restriction, and I suspect that it doesn't exist -- after all, it sounds like it would be in violation of the DMCA and would completely eliminate the protections put in place by 5C.

Personally I think restrictions like "copy once" fly in the face of fair use, but there's not much we legally can do about that while the DMCA still stands.

Anyone have any luck trying other drivers for these cable boxes? These drivers seem to work, but only BARELY. I can do exactly what Ben lists and it works, but if I try to do basically anything else (including using GraphEdit to build DirectShow filter graphs or setting up a mpeg2 capture via DirectShow C++ code), I bluescreen.

I'd love to write a nice scheduling/capturing PVR-ish piece of software for these boxes, but without a reliable driver it's not really feasable, unfortunately.

There is no way to get around DTCP/5C protection and it's most likely that the 5C=1 QAM content is encrypted anyways, so a QAM enabled PC Tuner will do you little good on that front as well.

Is a 5C recording scrambled or just junk ?

Even discussing how to bypass 5C encrypition was made illegal by the DMCA, so I'd suggest not continuing down that road of discussion.

If we could somehow make a driver/storage scheme that complies with 5C, on the other hand, that would allow us to record 5C-encrypted material legally.

So...anyone tried any other drivers for these boxes? Any full or partial successes?

The live watching with VLAN was what I was trying to do (post #43), and experienced bluescreen when trying to configure as well. I tried the steps ben has listed, but the render was all black, no sound. I did get a nice little "Channel 3" overlay for the first few seconds, so it seemed to be talking at some level. Now that ben has successfully made it work, I'll play with it some more. I should have enough hp with a 2.4G/800M FSB/1G dual-channel ram. perhaps a different channel...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, 5C isn't encryption- it's a "flag" that tells DTCP compliant hardware how to deal with a program: Copy always, Copy Once or Copy Never. (0,1,2?)

So, for purposes of this thread, the 6200 sees your PC Firewire as a non-compliant DTCP device and blocks the output for 5C=1,2. Unfortunately the 6200 w/7.10 firmware blocks the output to every device if just 1 is non-compliant. I don't think that's how DTCP is supposed to work.

On top of that your cable company will probably encrypt the material, that way a standard QAM tuner like the ones on TVs and PCTuners couldn't receive the programming.

beta-testing a 6208 (single tuner HD DVR). actually a friend of mine works for comcast and he's allowed me to use his 6208. had to bring over my HTPC.

via CapDVHS, i can record LIVE HD programs without any issues, along with analog channels (2-99), and the regular digital channels (102-171, 300s, 400s). Even VOD shows. INterestingly, The DVR itself is NOT able to do this (VOD recording).

to my surprise, i was also able to capture RECORDED shows to my HTPC. i was thinking firewire recording only did streaming shows, not ones recorded onto the 6208's own had drive. Its interesting to note also that no compression was on the DVR-recorded programs. I scheduled the pistons/pacers game 2 on ESPNHD and recorded a short clip LIVE via CapDVHS, and then recorded a clip off of the DVR-captured game. Same bitrate, same aspect ratio.
thats good encouraging news - i can schedule a recording on the 6208, and know its not compressed or converted to a lower bit file. no degradation in PQ. that means i dont have to be there to record a program onto my hard drive - i can simply record via the 6208, and then record that recording to my hard drive (sounds so redundant!). i then simply delete the DVR recording to make room for future recordings. :)

hopefully this 6208 will be released to the public here soon. i can turn in my 6200, and get rid of my ReplayTV. one less component and one less remote! :P

1st, when i capture any optional channels from comcast via 6200, there is a file created (i can see the frames of data flying in the capture program as well) but the file type is not defined in the templete (frame rate, resolution, etc). I do assume that this is 5C so it does send data but it is of no value.

2nd, a question for chosenfool: comcast here in St. Hgts. MI does offer the 6208 as a $4 per month option. Since you can copy via fireware to a pc, what firmware is the unit you are using? the 7.10 does catch a non-complient device (say a HTPC) like i stated above. Maybe your unit has an older firmware or maybe your comcast system is not setting the flags correctly yet.

Mark

since HTPC's with firewire are not able to capture 5C encryption streams, what DVHS decks meet this requirement?

mark

5C is compliant at the hardware level, so we have to hope that 5C licenses someone to make a 5C compliant firewire card.

It should be possible to write a driver that doesn't blue screen. Both the mac and Linux have drivers that have more functionality. I think the problem is that most developers don't want to spend time on a project that is a waste of time if/when 5C is enabled for all channels.

If Vividlogic ever comes out with the DTVRecorder(aka firebus) it will be in the same situation, only useful for non-5C content.

There is hope that a PC may be 5C compliant the original presentations on www.dtcp.com show PC's as one of the compliant devices, but none have ever been made.

Originally posted by theswid
1st, when i capture any optional channels from comcast via 6200, there is a file created (i can see the frames of data flying in the capture program as well) but the file type is not defined in the templete (frame rate, resolution, etc). I do assume that this is 5C so it does send data but it is of no value.

2nd, a question for chosenfool: comcast here in St. Hgts. MI does offer the 6208 as a $4 per month option. Since you can copy via fireware to a pc, what firmware is the unit you are using? the 7.10 does catch a non-complient device (say a HTPC) like i stated above. Maybe your unit has an older firmware or maybe your comcast system is not setting the flags correctly yet.

Mark

7.10.
http://home.comcast.net/~chosenfool/firmware01.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~chosenfool/firmware02.jpg

5C is set to "0". this means its disabled, no? :
http://home.comcast.net/~chosenfool/5C.jpg

and HDCP is set to "N/A" :
http://home.comcast.net/~chosenfool/HDCPNA.jpg
though this is cuz im not using the DVI port. from what ive heard, HDCP is enabled only when its using the DVI port.

im thinking that the ability to record everything at this time (analog, digital, HD, VOD, and even native-STB-recorded shows) is only due to this box being a beta-tester DVR. once its officially released, it may be disabled.
though im hoping its still that way when its finally released to the public....

YES. Mine does show 5C=1 which means that it does not allow capture with external device without 5C hardware in it too (like a JVC DVHS deck).

I wonder if i get the 6208 that is avail here that it will be set to a zero....

mark

Originally posted by theswid
YES. Mine does show 5C=1 which means that it does not allow capture with external device without 5C hardware in it too (like a JVC DVHS deck).

I wonder if i get the 6208 that is avail here that it will be set to a zero....

mark

I think that you may see different 5C values in the Status screen depending on the particular channel being watched when the STB is turned off.

Also, I think that the 5C value does not reside statically in the STB but is part of the DTV stream.

Bart745: you are correct. i just checked my box on a non protected channel & the 5C=0.

So what gives? How come some people can capture the stream & others (like me) cannot? does this vaiy from box to box or is this determined by the headend (comcast) encoding the stream?

mark

Comcast is setting the values. This is the way it's going to be from now on.

It seems "Copy Once" is going to be the norm for pretty much everything.

I can get HBO to record 25-30s.......Just start CapDVHS recording a channel that is not 5C, then change the channel to HBO during recording and it'll capture about 30s worth of HBO before crapping out. CapDVHS will continue recording, but the data is unreadable.

If you send the ts thru tsreader, you get all kinds of continuity errors, and tons of PIDs.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Comcast is setting the values. This is the way it's going to be from now on.

It seems "Copy Once" is going to be the norm for pretty much everything.

I talked to a local headend supervisor today and he emphatically said that the programmers are setting the 5C flags not the MSO.

The link in the first post doesn't seem to be working.

http://www.ntut.edu.tw/~s7310308/html/doc/other/BSD/files/core_driver.zip

Does anyone know where else you can get these drivers?

I do have my DVHS deck recognized by Windows XP. I had used the directions oulined here (http://www.webtc.com/DVHS/default.htm#Installing%20the%20D-VHS%20deck) last year. Is there something different in the core_driver.zip package?

Thanks!

I mirrored it onto my site:

http://www.cornbread.org/HT/core_driver.zip

Originally posted by Chris Carollo
I mirrored it onto my site:

http://www.cornbread.org/HT/core_driver.zip
Thanks!

Anyone have any info about how to record the a/v stream via something like DirectShow? If I try to set up a capture session as indicated in the DirectShow documentation I end up consistently bluescreening.

I've got some free time and would be interested in writing a PVR-ish piece of recording software, but I'm not too keen on debugging a bluescreening driver crash.

Alternately, if anyone knows of any other drivers that work and are more stable, that would help immensely too.

does anyone have information regarding the conversion of a captured .TS transport stream to Windows Media 9 (WM9) HD & maintaining the dolby digital sound? I am not sure what software & process should be used.

Thanks,
Mark

bdraw wrote:
> I am sorry but this does not work with w2k. You will have to upgrade to xp. The 1394 stack for XP is completely different from 2k. <

I know this is true, however I don't understand why a compatible protocol stack and drivers couldn't be made available for Win2k as well. Does anyone know why this isn't possible, or is it just that it hasn't been done because moving to XP is less effort?

(All 3 of the Win2k systems I have at home (and the one I use at work) is more stable than any of the XP systems we have at work, so I'd prefer not having to "upgrade" one of mine to XP just for 1394 support... if possible.)

- Tim

This thread is exactly what I've been looking for. Just got it up and running in a few minutes with a Motorola 6200. So far, I can capture everything I've tried, including HBO-HD.

update: INHD doesn't work. It records, but the file is unplayable. 5C I assume? How can I check?

Originally posted by DaveFi
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, 5C isn't encryption- it's a "flag" that tells DTCP compliant hardware how to deal with a program: Copy always, Copy Once or Copy Never. (0,1,2?)
5C most definitely encrypts the content, for any mode except copy-freely. If the content wasn't encrypted, it would be trivial to write software that reads the 1394 data stream & simply ignores the flags. See the 5C/DTCP spec here:

http://www.dtcp.com/data/wp_spec.pdf

Originally posted by VideoGrabber

I know this is true, however I don't understand why a compatible protocol stack and drivers couldn't be made available for Win2k as well. Does anyone know why this isn't possible, or is it just that it hasn't been done because moving to XP is less effort?

(All 3 of the Win2k systems I have at home (and the one I use at work) is more stable than any of the XP systems we have at work, so I'd prefer not having to "upgrade" one of mine to XP just for 1394 support... if possible.)


I always say "Windows is very stable until you install software on it."
I would look to the software that is install on your machine at work rather than blaming XP. After all XP is just windows NT5.1.

Windows XP comes with the necessary components to record 2k doesn't. If you want to write the 2k driver I am sure 2k owners everywhere will be appreciative. But I assure you it is much easier to upgrade to XP.

The only reason not to upgrade to XP is if you have a older piece of hardware that is not compatible with XP.

Originally posted by theswid
does anyone have information regarding the conversion of a captured .TS transport stream to Windows Media 9 (WM9) HD & maintaining the dolby digital sound? I am not sure what software & process should be used.


See this thread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=227837

As far as I know WM9 doesn't support an AC3 sound track. I would recomment converting to mpeg with HDTVtoMPEG2 v1.10b. Then convert to Xvid just like one would convert a DVD. Doom9.org is the best place to read up on this type of topic.

Originally posted by Chris Carollo
Anyone have any info about how to record the a/v stream via something like DirectShow? If I try to set up a capture session as indicated in the DirectShow documentation I end up consistently bluescreening.

I've got some free time and would be interested in writing a PVR-ish piece of recording software, but I'm not too keen on debugging a bluescreening driver crash.

Alternately, if anyone knows of any other drivers that work and are more stable, that would help immensely too.

I would love if this were possible. I think that a driver would have to be written, and I think that the only way someone will spend the time on a driver is if they were sure it would work once 5C was enabled everywhere. I think your best bet may be to use dtcrecord and a IR blaster via serial to control the STB. If you were to write a nice GUI I think it would be a big hit.

The other option would be to use linux which might have a better 1394 driver than this hack.

Found out what feels better than sex...

Checking your Mot STB, and finding out you were upgraded from 7.07 to 7.10.

Boston Suburb

pierreb

bdraw: yeah, I'm a pretty proficient C++ programmer so I could definitely handle the PVR and GUI and IR-blaster via serial...but I don't think I'm up for any driver writing/debugging. Never done it before, and I expect the specs that I'd need will be pretty hard to come by.

I emailed the author of dctrecord to see if I could some info (or source code) on how he was recording the video stream (since I'd rather not shell out to an external program), but haven't heard back yet.

In the meantime, I think I'm just going to try grabbing the raw 1394 stream and see what I come up with...

Thanks for this thread. I got the my laptop to record the OTA firewire stream from the LG 3410a. I recorded CSI Miami last night without any problems.

It appears that programs recorded to the Hard Disk do not stream to tjhe firewire port on playback. When I try to do a DVSH out dump, of recorded programs from the 3410a hard drive the 3410a does not recognize the laptop.

Originally posted by wookatok
It appears that programs recorded to the Hard Disk do not stream to tjhe firewire port on playback. When I try to do a DVSH out dump, of recorded programs from the 3410a hard drive the 3410a does not recognize the laptop.

capDVHS is made for a DVHS deck. So it will only work for playback to a DVHS deck. We are lucky it works for what we use it for. Even if we had a piece of software that would allow playback we wouldn't still have everything we needed. We would need the correct driver that would allow us to send a command up the line and let the 3410 know it was coming. On top of that your 3410 would have to be a 1394 monitor device. You can tell if it is or not by the devices XP detects when you plug the 3410 in. If one of the devices is a monitor then it atleast has the ability to playback. I would bet it does not. Mitsubishi TV's do have the ability, and I still can not play back.

Followed the instructions on this thread...they were great

I can record/playback all analog, and most digital

I do not get ESPNHD, HBO-HD or INHD1 or 2

CapDVHS records a file that does not play

I suspect its related to what encryption/flag you guys were talking about

Is there a AVSsynth way out of this?

I am feeling sad...is all hopeless?

Pierre

Originally posted by bdraw
capDVHS is made for a DVHS deck. So it will only work for playback to a DVHS deck. We are lucky it works for what we use it for. Even if we had a piece of software that would allow playback we wouldn't still have everything we needed. We would need the correct driver that would allow us to send a command up the line and let the 3410 know it was coming. On top of that your 3410 would have to be a 1394 monitor device. You can tell if it is or not by the devices XP detects when you plug the 3410 in. If one of the devices is a monitor then it atleast has the ability to playback. I would bet it does not. Mitsubishi TV's do have the ability, and I still can not play back.

So does this mean If I record using this procedure from Integrated Mits that I cannot play the recordings back using firewire?

Can I play them back to my Mits using some ohter method?

Details Please!!!!

THANKS!

Originally posted by bdraw
capDVHS is made for a DVHS deck. So it will only work for playback to a DVHS deck. We are lucky it works for what we use it for. Even if we had a piece of software that would allow playback we wouldn't still have everything we needed. We would need the correct driver that would allow us to send a command up the line and let the 3410 know it was coming. On top of that your 3410 would have to be a 1394 monitor device. You can tell if it is or not by the devices XP detects when you plug the 3410 in. If one of the devices is a monitor then it atleast has the ability to playback. I would bet it does not. Mitsubishi TV's do have the ability, and I still can not play back.


I just want to calrify my last post. I only have regular cable and receive HD with my OTA antenna. I can record the HD OTA signal from the 3410a firewire port to my laptop with capDVSH. I can play the recorded program on the laptop with Elecard MPEG player.

Unless I'm missing something, the programs recorded to the 3410a hard drive do not stream to the firewire port on playback.

I would like to know if there is a way to access programs recorded on the 3410a hard drive and dump them to the laptop.

Thanks

Originally posted by baeverly
So does this mean If I record using this procedure from Integrated Mits that I cannot play the recordings back using firewire?

Can I play them back to my Mits using some ohter method?


Unfortunatly that is the case.
Vividlogic has some longer overdue software that does just that, it is called DTVrecorder (aka Firebus) but it already long over due, and doesn't support 5C.

Ben and baeverly--

I have a kludgey workaround to play TS files back on my Sony 34XBR2 over its firewire input that may work here as well. Use whatever sw you have for "archiving" the TS to DVHS (e.g., DVHSTool, FusionHDTV, MyHD,...) and begin the transfer to tape after setting up the DTV to watch its 1394 input. This causes the Sony to display the stream that's going to tape and may work for a Mits DTV as well.

TPerterson,

Do you actually need a DVHS device on the IEEE network for this to work? I just have a PC with firewire, Motorola 6200, and a Sony XBR2 with firewire input. Can I get this to work with my setup? That would be sweet.

-- Alvin

Originally posted by Wolfgang
Do you actually need a DVHS device on the IEEE network for this to work?...Sorry, but I think the answer is "yes." The PC sw needs some device on the bus saying that it's a recorder before the transfer will initiate, and the DTV doesn't qualify--among other reasons because there's no driver for it on the PC.

I still have not worked this out but someone else has the same problem I do:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3821258#post3821258

I only get 2 devices a 61883 and an unknown. I have followed the directions to load. The "AV/C Tuner" dialog never shows up, just the "unknown" dialog. I force it to load the appropriate modified inf (meitape) for the Mot6208 and I get the Panasonic AV device under "Imaging Devices" but the 61883 has a yellow "i" saying "Code 10" cannot load the device. I have firmware 7.07 on the DVR. Please help.

I'm having many of the same successes and failures already discussed, but here's one I can add:

I'm able to stream the fire wire from my 6200 on VLC if I:
1. go to "File/Open Capture Device" and enable the Panasonic under Video Device Name (as indicated by Bdraw)
2. do the same in "File/Open Network Stream" and apply the same settings.

However, more often that not I will skip frames or freeze up completely. But this is a good start. Yesterday I was filled with despair and today I am filled with hope. Thanks to everybody for the great work. I hope we can get the live HD sorted out soon. I have little interest in recording until I can also watch it in real-time.

jamie
(Adelphia - SoCal - Moto 6200 7.10 - can record all the HD channels I subscribe to)

Just an FYI that I discovered when playing video directly thru VLC, you can use VLC to record the video too!!! If you follow the same instructions to view something directly from the motorola box by clicking File, open capture device, then you will see on the bottom of the screen that comes up, Stream output. Click that and hit settings, then you will want to check Fille, then use the browse option to give it a file name & destination. I put a .ts extension on the end of it myself and it works fine. So from what it seems, you can cut out Capdvhs completely from this now.

EDIT: nevermind...

Not sure if this is the right section for this question but here goes: I have a 6208 arriving on Friday to go with my Mits Integrated TV and my HTPC with Firewire. I understand that recording on the 6208 is limited to about 6 hours in HDTV mode. Does anyone know if I can download a file made from the 6208 onto my XP PC simply for archiving purposes? If so, could I then swap files back and forth? I assume I would need the drivers discussed in this forum? Thanks in advance.

Chris

I just skimmed through this thread and did not see any mention of how playback is accomplished with a Mits and integrated tuner.

First of all, I have an integrated Mits so don't have a cable stb.

Can you play back from your pc to your integrated Mits via 1394?

Would the Mits commands for AV/C start and stop playback, pause etc or would you have to control playback through the PC?

Do you change the Mits input to the 1394 A/VC device?

Has anyone done this?

I have been using a RCA DVR10 with my Mits, but it has trouble recording reliably.

Regards,
Bryan

Originally posted by bryankeithg
I just skimmed through this thread and did not see any mention of how playback is accomplished with a Mits and integrated tuner.
Can you play back from your pc to your integrated Mits via 1394?
Would the Mits commands for AV/C start and stop playback, pause etc or would you have to control playback through the PC?
Has anyone done this?


Unfortunatly it is not currently possible to play back via 1394. Vividlogic is supposed to release software(DTVRecorder (http://vividlogic.com/products/dtvr_overview.html) aka firebus) that emulates the DVR10 on windows XP but it is long over due and most have given up on it ever being released. If it is released it will fulfull all your requests.

Most people set up a HTPC using atleast a 1ghz p3 with a > Radeon 7500. It is pretty easy since the Mitsu has a VGA input you just need to setup Powerstrip to create the custom resolutions since your tv doesn't support most PC resolutions. Use this thread to get you started.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=206854

Once you can see your desktop then use this thread to get Zoomplayer up and running perfectly.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=395039

"Unfortunatly it is not currently possible to play back via 1394."

Ben, this is not strictly speaking true. It is true that there appears to be no existing software that is designed for that purpose. However, I can play TS from my HTPC over firewire on my Sony KD34XBR2 in several ways and the playback is fine--but the means to do it is a user-unfriendly hack that I've described in several threads here already.

Can anyone confirm that the Mits DTVs can or cannot perform the same trick that my Sony does using my recipe?

never mind.. I read what I needed to know... thanks again for the tutorial on 1394 and XP

Matt

Has anybody tried this from a Hitachi TV with a built in tunner. All I care about is recording. I will play back over DVI to the TV.

My current computer does not have firewire. Anything special I need to look for in buying a firewire card?


Thanks,
Ben

Originally posted by TPeterson
Can anyone confirm that the Mits DTVs can or cannot perform the same trick that my Sony does using my recipe?


The mitsu has no way of selecting the 1394 input like the sony.
On the mitsu when you plug in a 1394 device it is added to Netcommand which is a menu driven GUI and a icon is added for the device. When you plug in your computer the TV doesn't prompt you to add it to Netcommand.

Originally posted by bdraw
The mitsu has no way of selecting the 1394 input [un]like the sony.
On the mitsu when you plug in a 1394 device it is added to Netcommand which is a menu driven GUI and a icon is added for the device. When you plug in your computer the TV doesn't prompt you to add it to Netcommand. Ben, thanks for your reply! Hmm...so each Mits DTV insists that it's always the bus controller, eh? What happens if you have two Mits DTVs on the bus? (An uncommon situation, to be sure, but one that a "universal" bus designer should've anticipated) If there's a way to set one of them to "non controller" mode you might be able to use my hack anyway....

What parts do I need to make this happen? Do I need a D-VHS or does this workaround make my computer look like a D-VHS so all I would need is the Motorola cable box from the cable company, firewire connections on my PC, and the drivers? Do I need a HDTV card like MyHD MDP-120?

Thanks!!

SOM:)

Ben,

Any firewire card will work. I bought mine from newegg for $18 shipped. I has 3 external ports and a 6' 6 pin to 4 pin cable. It works perfectly.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-111-752&depa=0

You can also find the same card on ebay a little cheaper.

Derek

I still have not worked this out , I have moto6208 with 7.07 update. when i connect to my PC (XP) I only get 2 devices:a 61883 and an unknown. I have followed the directions to load. The "AV/C Tuner" dialog never shows up, just the "unknown" dialog. PLEASE HELP (BDRAW HELP)
THANKS

You need 7.10 firmware to get this to work

Paul

Originally posted by James Mos
Just an FYI that I discovered when playing video directly thru VLC, you can use VLC to record the video too!!! If you follow the same instructions to view something directly from the motorola box by clicking File, open capture device, then you will see on the bottom of the screen that comes up, Stream output. Click that and hit settings, then you will want to check Fille, then use the browse option to give it a file name & destination. I put a .ts extension on the end of it myself and it works fine. So from what it seems, you can cut out Capdvhs completely from this now.

Over in this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3916021#post3916021) Cliff Watson just posted information about MyHD beta software that lets you record using MyHD on one PC while watching the same program using MyHD on another PC via a network connection, thereby giving MyHD a live pause capability.

This also works if you capture the Firewire stream to a file using VLC 0.7.2 while watching the same file with MyHD.

-Dave

Edit: My PC rebooted after watching about 20 minutes of Leno streamed via Firewire and delayed by about five minutes, so there may be problems with this arrangement.

Originally posted by DPlettner
Over in this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3916021#post3916021) Cliff Watson just posted information about MyHD beta software that lets you record using MyHD on one PC while watching the same program using MyHD on another PC via a network connection, thereby giving MyHD a live pause capability.

I added this capability to the accessDTV software about 6 months ago. The accessDTV software does not open files for exclusive access while reading or writing, so you should be able to use pretty much anything that will play TS files for playback so long as it doesn't open the files for exclusive access.

I have firmware 7.10 and have gotten the drivers to install, but I still get a sample grabber error. Any reasons why? Thanks a lot for the tut.

Ok, I'm a noob to this thread and digital cable. I just got a Motorola 6208 today. Will this work with my ATI AIW 8500dv? My 6208 firmware is 7.11.

Just got my 6208 installed yesterday. Firmware is 7.10. I have everything hooked up as described in this thread and have all the drivers and programs installed. My computer is a P4 3.4 overclocked to 3.825 (so far) and my graphics card is a Geforce Fx5950.
My problem is when I play back any recording, anytime there is a fast moving scene its not fluid, it stutters a little bit and it drives me nuts. Anyone have an idea what to check for or what settings I could try to change?

Originally posted by ranold
Ok, I'm a noob to this thread and digital cable. I just got a Motorola 6208 today. Will this work with my ATI AIW 8500dv? My 6208 firmware is 7.11.

Yes it should work.

I wonder if the DTVRecorder will support 5C somehow.

Instructions worked like a champ. Thanks for all the hard work. Just make sure you aren't on a 5C channel when you try the "watch live TV". Or else you will be disappointed until you figure out that you might need to change the channel like I did.

Tim Huey

Is there some way to play transport streams from XP via firewire back to a display device directly?

anabil, it depends upon the display device. I'm told that Mits DTVs all wanna be the bus controller, so they can't be used because the appropriate sw doesn't exist on the PC (yet...do a search for "firebus" to see news of some so-far vaporware that promises to do that job). But if you're lucky enough to have a "dumb" DTV like my Sony XBR2, the answer is "yes", as I've posted here before.

{Edit: OMG, can't let that typo stand!}

Originally posted by TPeterson
anabil, it depends upon the display device. I'm told that Mits DTVs all wanna be the bus controller, so they can't be used because the appropriate sw doesn't exist on the PC (yet...do a search for "firebus" to see news of some so-far vaporware that promises to do that job). But if you're lucky enough to have a "dumb" DTV like my Sony XBR2, the answer is "yes", as I've posted hear before.

Please post the link to your post, thanks.

Originally posted by anabil
Please post the link to your post, thanks. Sorry, but you have as much use of the Forum's search function as do I. :p

Originally posted by bdraw
Yes it should work.

Thank you very much! Bought a 1394 6pin cable and hooked it all up, followed the instructions at the beginning of the thread....Worked like a charm!!!!!:D

After reading this thread, I'm curious as whether all this wonderful info pertains to either of the two firewire cable boxes used on Long Island's cablevision system. The sa4200HD and the sony DHG-M55CV.

Thanks in advance,

jeff

I too want to that the orginal poster for making this thread (along with his sources). Been able to sucessfully dump the HD versions of Deadwood and Sopranos to my hard drive. Next up, conversion/downsampling for archive to DVD-r with minimal loss of quality. Woo Hoo!

My XP PC is my main PC and it is in my office upstairs, I have a couple of spare PC's, but their older processors and i was wondering if i format them and load XP on them can they be used or will they be to slow...

P2 450 MHz, 384 Megs, 15 Gig & a 40 Gig drive, 64 meg AGP GF3 Ti 500 DVI out
&
P3 650 MHz, 256 Megs 15 Gig, built in 16 or 32 AGP ATI Radon...

I leaning toward the P2 450 because the AGP is not integrated into the system....

Any opinions would be appreciated...

Vin

Originally posted by vravo
I have a couple of spare PC's, but their older processors and i was wondering if i format them and load XP on them can they be used or will they be to slow...

Any opinions would be appreciated...

Vin

Vin,

For just capturing, either machine should be fine. (You'll have to add a Firewire card.) When I'm just capturing (no rendering) with a Fusion card, the CPU usage is about 5% on a PIII 1.2 GHz Celeron.

For software playback, I don't think either of these machines has enough horsepower.

Bob

Originally posted by cerulean
Vin,

For just capturing, either machine should be fine. (You'll have to add a Firewire card.) When I'm just capturing (no rendering) with a Fusion card, the CPU usage is about 5% on a PIII 1.2 GHz Celeron.

For software playback, I don't think either of these machines has enough horsepower.

Bob

what do you have for play back or what do you suggest, are we talking CPU, Memory or Video card....or all three

Thanks

Vin:confused:

It takes everything my P4 2.4 ghz with 1GB ram to play the .TS files, but it plays them perfectly. No frame drops or audio skips...

Now I just need a relatively painless way to get as perfect a copy as possible on a DVD... :)

Another success story! I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. :)

I've just used VLC so far for play back, do the others offer additional features? I hate installing software just to try w/o at least a good review as to why it may be better. Isn't WinDVD able to playback .ts files if you change the extension?

Originally posted by vravo
what do you have for play back or what do you suggest, are we talking CPU, Memory or Video card....or all three


Vin,

There a a lot of threads in the HTPC forum about hardware requirements for playback of HD streams using software. I've done software playback with my Intel 865 motherboard, P4 2.4G processor and ATI 9000 video card. Try searching there.

My main method of play back for my Fusion recordings is my Hipix card. It has a better UI than any of the current software playback methods. I'm hoping the Hipix will work just as well when I try the firewire path.

Another playback possibility is the Roku HD1000.

Bob

Originally posted by cerulean
Vin,

There a a lot of threads in the HTPC forum about hardware requirements for playback of HD streams using software. I've done software playback with my Intel 865 motherboard, P4 2.4G processor and ATI 9000 video card. Try searching there.

My main method of play back for my Fusion recordings is my Hipix card. It has a better UI than any of the current software playback methods. I'm hoping the Hipix will work just as well when I try the firewire path.

Another playback possibility is the Roku HD1000.

Bob

Ok thanks I will look there.... well my TV is HD, but my reasoning for doing all this is to create more room to record more shows... and of course to just be able to do it because it is pretty neat... I have a 2 GHz pc up stairs maybe I will record with the older pc and then use the 2 GHz to display once I modify it.... I'm like a junky I'm going to need a second job to support my habit.... :D

Originally posted by jasny
After reading this thread, I'm curious as whether all this wonderful info pertains to either of the two firewire cable boxes used on Long Island's cablevision system. The sa4200HD and the sony DHG-M55CV.

Thanks in advance,

jeff
I just ordered the sa4200hd with firewire and I intend to find out. I have digital iO.

It seems like Adelphia in SoCal only broadcasts DCBS without the 5c flag.

A big thanks go to bdraw and whom ever else did all the hard work of discovery, to make this stuff work.



Originally posted by Wolfgang
TPerterson,

Do you actually need a DVHS device on the IEEE network for this to work? I just have a PC with firewire, Motorola 6200, and a Sony XBR2 with firewire input. Can I get this to work with my setup? That would be sweet.

-- Alvin

Not sure if this will answer your question, but this is what I have discovered.
I can record Digital HD streams from the TW/SA box. to my HTPC. And, with the file extensions set to .tp, MyHD MDP-100 can play the recorded files back. Though not through firewire, but via MyHD's own HD output engine.

I think I need some help. What I have:
Moto 6200, JVC 30K, and HTPC (AMD 2800+, 512, Ati 9800 pro).
Followed instructions on this post. I think I got it all correct, but am having a problem and don't know how to resolve it because I don't know what else to look for.
When a good size image moves across the screen, or a medium size image moves fast, just the moving image has big groups of lines that distort together.
JVC records fine, anything to the pc does this, and looks like it is recorded that way in the file.
Any ideas?

One more thing (sorry about the multiple posts)
I can play WMV HD on WMP9 with no problem, looks great. I don't know if that helps. They may not be related, but I saw another thread where some people that had all the .ts configuration working had problems with WMP.

Originally posted by coachguy
When a good size image moves across the screen, or a medium size image moves fast, just the moving image has big groups of lines that distort together.
JVC records fine, anything to the pc does this, and looks like it is recorded that way in the file.
Any ideas?

This sounds exactly like de-interlacing artifacts. If what you recorded was in 1080i format, and you played it back using a player that doesn't do a good job of deinterlacing, then this is exactly what you see. (It's one reason I wish they had completely abandoned the whole interlaced format in the new HD specs.)

I see the same thing when watching live TV via 1394 from VLC. When I play the files back using my MyHD 120 card, they look great. It has a great HW deinterlacer built in.

What are you using to play the files back? If your using WMP, then what DVD software do you have installed? WMP doesn't come with any MPEG2 decoders, so it relies on 3rd party decoders (like WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc...)

--Eric

I guess I should have listed that I am using (or trying to use) VLC to playback the .ts files. I kind of suspected de-interlacing artifacts as it is made better or worse by changing the window view size on my main monitor, and not so obvious on my Sharp LC32 via DVI.
Here is what I have been trying to do:
Capture stream from Motorola 6200 with CapDVHS to hard drive.
Play using VLC (maybe I should use something better).
Edit using HDTVtoMPEG2 or something else (it is the only thing I've found)
View the edited files either from the PC
OR
Archive to DVHS (JVC30K) with DVHStool

I am having problems archiving my captured .ts files to DVHS which makes me think that besides some deintelacing artifacts, I may not be capturing the files correctly or completely.

Any help is most appreciated
Thanks

I've been playing with the FW capture on my 6200 via my HTPC using CapDVHS and DCTRecord. By following the directions at the head of this thread, I was able to get things to work right off. Great information! However, I have noticed a few things, and thought I would comment about them and see if anyone else is seeing the same things.

I get video drops outs (sporadic blockiness) when recording on the iNHD1/2 and HDNet/HDNetMovies channels. (I've got Adelphia Cable.)
After doing a lot of tests on the various analogue and digital channel formats, it appears to be limited to channels that have a bit rate of 45Mbps as reported by CapDVHS. I'm thinking that maybe it's a bandwidth problem on the FW bus, or may possibly be my FW "card". I'm currently using the on-board FW on my Asus MB, as it is the only one with a small FW port that fits my cable. It's always worked fine before, but I've never done HD recording before either. I may get another cable and try using my other PCI based FW card and see if things change. I've played with the PCI latency settings to see if they had any effect, but didn't appear too.

I also have found that a few SD digital channels don't report any information in CapDVHS about the stream format or data rate. They seem to record ok, but I haven't found anything that will play them back. MyHD 120 says it's an invalid file format, and none of my DVD software players will play them either. One such channel I can remember was Fox Sports Network. It's possible this may be related to the show and not the channel. I haven't tested this thoroughly.

I get the same results no matter what software app I'm using to record, CapDVHS, DCTRecord, or VLC.

Also, has anyone got the Zap2It utility for DCTRecord to work with guide info? I went to their site and tried to register, but the registration page seems to be broke. I assume you have to register before you can get access to any config settings to tell it to use the the helper app, like you do with TitanTV.

--Eric

Originally posted by KenA
I just ordered the sa4200hd with firewire and I intend to find out. I have digital iO.
Update: I received the SA4200HD with IEEE1394 yesterday afternoon. On the first trip to my house the tech brought the wrong box. Anyway, I installed the software and plugged in. Everything worked as advertised and I recorded a few minutes of TMC-HD. When I played it back on my HiPix, I got some audio and video breakups. I took a look over at the Cablevision-iO Yahoo group and it appears that a few people have the same problems when recording to D-VHS from the SA4200HD. I guess I'm a SA patch or two away from functionality.

I downloaded the DCTRecordApp.exe which is supposed to "integrate" with Zap2it(I registered) but I can't figure out how/where to schedule the recording on Zap2it. All i have seen is where I could set a reminder. Any ideas?

Has anyone been able to use TitanTV as their PVR? Which PVR option did you select in the TitanTV prefs? What capture software are you using on the WindowsXP machine?

When I plug in my box (Motorola DCT6200/2005) absolutely nothing happens, doesn't pick up anything in Windows XP. Would this be indicative of a box that doesn't have its firewire ports enabled? (I just had Comcast bring out a new box with the ports supposedly enabled) or should it at least do something? I've never used the Firewire capabilities on my PC before but the host controller does show up in my Device Manager so it's at least seeing something (it's an Intel motherboard w/onboard IEEE1394).

Any ideas?

shan_mj, try reducing your unknowns by locating some other known-good fw device (iPod, DV camcorder, etc.) into your computer's fw port to make sure that its drivers are actually installed correctly.

Yeah, I need to go find some kind of firewire device for testing that doesn't cost a hojillion dollars like an iPod I guess. I figured that was the only way to test it, just wondering if the 6200 should be able to be recognized or not -- I'll get on finding another fw device though, thanks :)

I live in Connecticut. Cox can't seem to tell me the firmware revision of their box. They have told me it's a Motorola 6200. How can I find out? The customer service reps either don't know or won't tell.

Originally posted by shan_mj
Yeah, I need to go find some kind of firewire device for testing that doesn't cost a hojillion dollars like an iPod I guess. I figured that was the only way to test it, just wondering if the 6200 should be able to be recognized or not -- I'll get on finding another fw device though, thanks :) Uh...no need to buy something just for a 30-second test. Don't you know at least one person who has an iPod? :D

On the Motorola 6200 you need firmware 7.07 or 7.10. You can check by:
Menu, select setup, scroll down and select Cable Box, scroll down and right click See Configuration.

I installed the Firebus program to try it out. Not only it didn't work with the SA3250HD, but now I cannot record with the CapDVHS, and it was working perfect before. THe Firebus program replaced the Windows MCE firewire driver with its own custom driver. It has an option to reverse it, which I did, but now I can only record the basic SD channels. All of the open HD channels are getting a lot of skipped frames.

Has anyone figured out how to change channels via firewire?

The command strings are well documented from the Macintosh capping threads, all we need is a way to actually transmit them.

Any coders wanna take a crack at it?

- litz

Originally posted by krassyg
I installed the Firebus program to try it out. Not only it didn't work with the SA3250HD, but now I cannot record with the CapDVHS, and it was working perfect before. THe Firebus program replaced the Windows MCE firewire driver with its own custom driver. It has an option to reverse it, which I did, but now I can only record the basic SD channels. All of the open HD channels are getting a lot of skipped frames.

I tested the box (SA3250HD) on another computer and I still have the problem! I then remembered that I did a software reboot of the box when I was having problems with Firebus and something must have changed in the box setup. I will call TWC tomorrow to ask them to ping my box.

Sorry if these are stupid questions.

1. Just got my 6200 yesterday. Can someone tell me how to check the 5C status of a channel? I don't see it in the setup menu. I do see firmware version 7.10
2. Does anyone have a list of 5c compliant devices? I read in another forum that Maxtor has an external hard drive that is 5c compliant but I can't find any evidence of it. I suspect that it was BS.
Thanks.

Originally posted by litz
Has anyone figured out how to change channels via firewire?

The command strings are well documented from the Macintosh capping threads, all we need is a way to actually transmit them.

Any coders wanna take a crack at it?

- litz
thats awesome!! i didn't know you could control the box using firewire. I found this windows program that might help with testing out some of the commands... i haven't looked at the apple scripts yet, but can they really be that much different? I'll try this when i get home tonight.

Bus Hound
Bus Hound is the premier software bus analyzer for capturing device I/O, protocol, and performance measurements. You can also send your own custom commands from a graphical interface. Bus Hound is a software only product with exceptional ease of use. Because Bus Hound runs on the host, it is especially suited to inspecting host side protocol. The tables below illustrate Bus Hound's capabilities.

A driver would have to written first. The driver we use now will not work for changing the channels, since DVHS's don't have that capability. The other reason why no one as done this is because untill someone makes a 5C firewire card this will be useless if 5C is enabled for all content as it is in some areas.

Could someone please tell me exactly what a 5C Firewire Card is? (I know what I need it for.)

Is its function impossible to emulate in software on a PC that has a Firewire jack?

Is there a reason to think such a card is on its way?


Thanks!

A 5C compliant firewire card for a PC will most likely never be made. Doing so would defeat the purpose of 5C's existence. 5C cannot be emulated. It must be implemented at the hardware level. IC's exist to do this but you can't buy the IC unless you have a license. To get a license you have to submit a full device design and pay lots of money. You will only get a license if the design meets the copy protection integrity requirements.

- Mike

I find your theory funny considering in the 5C tutorial on dctp.com only lists 3 5c compliant devices. A TV, VCR, and a computer.
http://www.dtcp.com/data/dtcp_tut.pdf

And according to the tutorial it was designed to protect content on PC's.

The reason a 5C compliant 1394/firewire card doesn't exist for a computer is anyone's guess but to state that it would defeat the purpose of 5C's existence does not seem true based on this document, which happens to be 5 years old.

There is clearly a lack of consensus here. Would someone please tell me how an HDTV TiVo and other commercial devices permit recording of HDTV off of anyone's cable box including cable-only channels?

Also, why are over-the-air signals not protected when the same channels on a cable box appear to be?

Originally posted by bdraw
I find your theory funny considering in the 5C tutorial on dctp.com only lists 3 5c compliant devices. A TV, VCR, and a computer.
http://www.dtcp.com/data/dtcp_tut.pdf

And according to the tutorial it was designed to protect content on PC's.

The reason a 5C compliant 1394/firewire card doesn't exist for a computer is anyone's guess but to state that it would defeat the purpose of 5C's existence does not seem true based on this document, which happens to be 5 years old. Ah - the tutorial written by some Intel marketing guy says so - so it MUST be true! In reality, 5c on PCs would require a "trusted" PC - which really means, a secure, tamper-proof PC that the studios can trust you will never hack. Microsoft proposed something like this a couple years ago - remember Palladium? It seems to have quietly gone away, so NO we're unlikely to ever have an authorized 5c implementation on a PC.

Originally posted by Crabby Guy
There is clearly a lack of consensus here. Would someone please tell me how an HDTV TiVo and other commercial devices permit recording of HDTV off of anyone's cable box including cable-only channels?

Also, why are over-the-air signals not protected when the same channels on a cable box appear to be? There's no such thing as an HDTV Tivo that will "permit recording of HDTV off of anyone's cable box including cable-only channels". Such a thing is proposed and maybe even prototyped - but it would rely on the so-far-hypothetical "OpenCable" standard being implemented. This standard would allow you to purchase a compatible cable box from any manufacturer, not just the one your local cable co. wants you to have. Someday maybe. Until then, HDTV Tivos can only record HDTV content from 1) DirecTV satellite or 2) over-the-air antennas.

Also - over-the-air signals are not protected because the US Government (FCC) says so. The same regulations don't apply to cable.

Originally posted by Crabby Guy
There is clearly a lack of consensus here. Would someone please tell me how an HDTV TiVo and other commercial devices permit recording of HDTV off of anyone's cable box including cable-only channels?

Also, why are over-the-air signals not protected when the same channels on a cable box appear to be? HD-Tivo is basically a closed device. There are no interfaces provided for archiving content. Extracting the raw data from any Tivo is possible, but a big hassle. I think the industry feels this is acceptable. As noted above, the HD Tivo only records from DirecTV satellite and OTA antenna.

Cable companies are starting to deploy HD PVRs, so that will be an option for cable subscribers eventually.

The broadcast HD channels (that are also available OTA) are generally recordable from cable provided you get a firewire equipped box from the cable company. If they're not recordable either the cable company is not following the rules or there is an equipment problem with your setup, the cable box, or the cable head end. I'm not saying it's easy or that all the pieces are even in place, but it should eventually work.

PS. I agree completely with jimre's reply about the PC.

- Mike

I believe that most of my questions have been answered and my misconceptions corrected. Thank you.

One more issue, please. Is satellite transmission controlled by the FCC broadcast rules? Can premium channels be locked in terms of recording if one of these services is the provider?

google SHVIA or see the FCC page below:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/shva/

However, I don't know if it says anything about recording.

- Mike

In an update to the first posting on this thread, bdraw wrote,

Just a word of advice if I hit "Configure" or "Advanced Options" It blue screens my computer. This seems to be much more resource intensive than watching a captured file. My AMD 2600 works at ~83% if I don't resize or any other effect. Any effect drives it to 100%.

I had planned to build another AMD Shuttle for an HTPC and had thought initially that a Barton processor running at the speed of a 3200+ with an FSB of 200 MHz would do the job. (Any significant overclocking would result in a machine with noise and longevity issues.) However, bdraw's comments make me think it's time to look at a 64-bit processor, especially if I want the HTPC to do anything at the same time it's handling the HDTV recording.

How much processing power is needed to get all of the available options recording off a cable box's Firewire jack?

I do not think that you need much of a computer for RECORDING. I am using a p3 1.2ghz laptop.
The blue screens that he is talking about is due to issues with the driver. This driver was not written to allow us to do what we are doing, but rather was to control the Panasonic DVHS.

PLAYBACK is where you will need the power, my 2.8 ghz celeron laptop with 1GB ram is unable to playback an HD stream without skipping, but my p4 3ghz desktop is able to play it back fine.

jimre,
Interestingly, while the discussion was to NOT have the OTA stuff "protected", many broadcasts and or stations can (some reports ARE) utilize the copy-protection flag. There has been a notable public outcry. Reportedly the EFF and a public citizen group is "...sueing the FCC over the November ruling that DTV manufacturers must support the broadcast flag that may, at a broadcaster's option, be included in the digital data stream to prevent recording of selected programming." Ultimate AV, july/aug 2004, pg49.

Actually, just found this at the EFF website from 7-1-04:
http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/


One more way they are trying to chip away at the consumer's fair-use rights ever since the sony betamax issue.

Since it's a long weekend, I decided to mess arround with my HDTV.

I packed up my Mac and hauled it into the living room.

I hooked it up via FireWire to the my Moto 6200 with vewrsion 7.07 firmware. The Mac recognized the box right away. I downloaded some software I fond a link to in another thread AVCBrowser and was able to record all channels and was able to use the software to change channels. There was some additional software available to send any key available on the remote to the Moto.

The only catch is that I don't want to "waste" my mac by using it to watch TV.

I have a new PC (P2.8 512M) with Windows XP. I have ordered a 1394 PCI card for it. Am I going to have trouble?

The thread here states that firmware 7.10 is necessary but I only have 7.07. If I was able to record using the Mac so does that imply it will work with the PC also?

Is there a program similar to AVCBrowser for the PC?

The Mac application is scriptable and can control the box so there aren't many parts necessary left to build to have a PVR.

Maybe I need to rethink my computer locations, and waste my Mac on recording television and use the Dell as my main computer. I really don't wanrt to do that though.

eobiont,
I would try the instructions noted on the first message of this thread. Having used both the mac and the PC, I think the mac is a little cleaner. For PC, you have to download the files noted vs Apple's SDK has most everything packaged in and MacPVR has released a public 0.2.6 software that sets up recordings with channel switching makes it even easier. That can be found over in the Mac thread at:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=386740

Thanks.

My main concern (not stated directly) is that if I can record from the Mac with firmware 7.07 on the Moto 6200 STB, does that mean that 7.07 will work with the PC? The first post says that 7.10 is needed. Just currious what the difference might be to the computer. Has anyone had any success with getting XP to work with a Moto 6200 that has firmware version 7.07?


It is amazing what a little support from the OS vendor can do isn't it?

Apple supplies a DVHS driver and Microsoft Doesn't.

Thanks to TimeCop we were able to use the wrong driver in what can only be called a Hack.

Big surprise Apple has better 1394 support than Windows.

I don't know of anyone that was able to get the 7.07 firmware to work with this hack. That is why I posted it wouldn't work.

If someone was able to write a driver and an application then we would be better off, but everyone that is talented enough to do that, realizes that upon completion 5C would be enabled everywhere and his driver/software would be useless. Yes this includes MAC support. Useless.

Originally posted by Crabby Guy
There is clearly a lack of consensus here. Would someone please tell me how an HDTV TiVo and other commercial devices permit recording of HDTV off of anyone's cable box including cable-only channels?

Also, why are over-the-air signals not protected when the same channels on a cable box appear to be?

actually OTA channels on a cable system are NOT supposed to have 5C enabled. the reason is that the forthcoming TVs with built-in QAM decoders (as well as devices like new ATI hd capture card and FusionDTV) are supposed to be able to tune those signals in FOR FREE.

That's because they are carried as part of the FCC's Must Carry statutes.

Now why cable companies ALSO 5c encode stuff like cspan, weather channels, infomercials, shopping channels, et al is anyone's guess.

Here in Atlanta, the entire system, with the exception of the OTA channels is 5c enabled.

Even more baffling - we have Braves games broadcast in HD on channel 755.

It's 5c encoded.

The *EXACT SAME BROADCAST* can be captured OTA off the Channel 17 OTA transmitter for TBS carried ballgames.

Can you say HUH ?

What these cable companies need to do is use 5C for what it was intended to do at the start : protect premium content. That's PPV broadcasts and likely premium movie channels, and pretty much it. There's just no point in locking down all the rest of the stuff too- it's really not worth all that much, content-wise in comparison.

Otherwise a lot of people owning QAM tuners will find them all but useless.

- litz

Originally posted by litz
That's because they are carried as part of the FCC's Must Carry statutes.


Must carry only applies to analog not digital, unless the station only transmits digital.

The HDTVWonder chipset supports QAM, but ATI disabled it on this card, so it's digital OTA and analog cable only. http://www.ati.com/products/hdtvwonder/index.html

I agree that 5C should only be used the way it is specified by the FCC.

I there such a card available that will record digital cable?

Originally posted by Crabby Guy
I there such a card available that will record digital cable?

Yes, you can buy it here.
https://www.digitalconnection.com/store/Product_Details.asp?ProductCode=DFUSION3QAM

And read about what AVS members think here.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=401229

My brother is in the business of meshing the worlds of HTPC's and HT's together and I'm just a HT junkie and more of a tinkerer with pc's. So I (and I'm sure he) am quite interested in this thread.

Most importantly (to me)... Has anyone had any success in Canada with Rogers or Shaw cable companies with this setup?

Quite annoying that this works so well with Macs and not PC's does anyone know if there's a remote chance MS might actually release drivers with better firewire support?

I'm a little confused about why you guys feel no company will produce a 5C compliant firewire card (or mobo with onboard fw)? If it's 5C compliant it should work as they wish and if people were going to hack it couldn't they hack the "solution" bdraw started this thread with just as easily?

Definitely agree, 5C should be used as intended not just as blanket protection for whatever reason. It sure would be nice to get some traight answers as to who actually sets it but based on people having varrying success in different areas and different companies I'm suspecting the cable companies first.

Jason

Hi,
I am new and hoping all will help

I recently received a 3250HD with firewire enable. I downloaded CAPDVHS and VLC.

When i installed the driver for the Tuner AV/ Device i selected Meitape. THe instructions state C:\meidvhs which is not listed in the core_driver zip file. THe device installed under imaging and registers as Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape subunit Device. i made sure i had all the right boxes check. When i record from the data tab i get the time recording but does not show any other information. I also show get a .ts file when stopped.

I open the .ts file with VLC and it will not show any video or audio. I have winxp with p4 processor and radeon 9700 card.

I would like to get my system to work. Any suggestions?

Hello,

I would like to say thanks to everyone.

I recently upgraded to the moto 6208 box and successfuly connected it via firewire to my computer.

The only problem is with the drivers. I get no bsod but just random reboots. Very dis-concerning.

It seems theres source code out there that supports using av/c tuner and panel. But as of yet I cannot find any drivers besides the Panasonic hack in the first post of this thread.

Doing a google search I found these sites...

1. www.osr.com/ddk/stream/avcintro_4l9j.htm
2. msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wceddk40/html/cxrefieee1394streamingfilterdriverguide.asp

Did I miss something?

Thanks in advance. I hope there are better drivers that support the moto 6208 on my computer.

A 5C compliant firewire card for a PC will most likely never be made. Doing so would defeat the purpose of 5C's existence. 5C cannot be emulated. It must be implemented at the hardware level. IC's exist to do this but you can't buy the IC unless you have a license. To get a license you have to submit a full device design and pay lots of money. You will only get a license if the design meets the copy protection integrity requirements.

True, though the question is whether or not you could get an outboard device that was certified to talk to a PC in an unencumbered way. Look at this product (http://www.mindready.com/eng/embedded_hardware.asp) for example. The 8 bit interfaces could plug into a PC pretty easily, and the development cards would have to have 5C licenses in order to do the integration. It would be interesting if someone called these folks and asked about that... :-)

Thanks,
mike

Yes... this card looks very interesting! this would be a hot item if it would work!
http://www.mindready.com/eng/embedded_hardware.asp

I was using TStoATSC3.exe to clean up some captures I mad from my SA3250 box..... one movie gets halfway through and dumps with this error message (copied from CMD window):

PCR correction: -814
Bad sync at packet number 38530672 in input.
Assertion failed: r==1, file c:\my documents\visual studio\tstoatsc3\tstoatsc3.c, line 542

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.


Any ideas? :confused:

Jim
Try to use HDTVtoMPEG2 to edit the bad part out.

Originally posted by jimwhite
PCR correction: -814
Bad sync at packet number 38530672 in input.
Assertion failed: r==1, file c:\my documents\visual studio\tstoatsc3\tstoatsc3.c, line 542


This probably isn't much help, but...
Looking at the source code, it appears to be trying to read the next packet in the stream, where it does a check to make sure the first byte of that packet matches the value of 0x47. I'm not that familiar with TS contents, but from what I gather looking at the source code, each TS packet of data should be 188 bytes long, and begin with the value 0x47. Since it does not, it reports the error and exits. My guess is you have a bad stream.



--Eric

oh well, I'll try to catch it again next time....

:cool:

interesting, I ran it through TStoATSC (without the 3) and it completed... weird.... now, I'm running that output through TStoATSC3 for grins....

:cool:

Hi,

I live in Pittsburgh, PA 15213. I just had the motorola DCT 6200 installed today. I have followed the top post to install the driver with no problem. But that's it.

For CapDVHS, after following the setup steps, when I click 'Rec.', a pop up window of 'Error 80040217: Cannot connect SampleGrabber' showed up.

For dctrecordapp.exe, it did not show any error messages. It created it an empty file of 0 length size after I tried to record.

For VLC 0.72, after hitting 'Refresh list' the Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device showed up. Clicked 'OK' and nothing showed up. No error messages.

I tried the above with either only the Panasonic D-VHS AV/C Device driver installed or both that and the Tuner AV/C device driver installed. Same result. BTW, what does that Tuner AV/C device do, change channels?

I have a SONY SDM-HX93/B LCD display. It has an DVI-D input. But I can not connect it directly to the DCT 6200 either.

It seems I can not change channels without a USB-UIRT either. Start to miss my DCT 2000 since that one works fine with GotTV and a serial cable to changes channel from the PC.

Any suggestions?

after playing with the drivers, CapDVHS records now. Somehow, what it captured can not be played by elecard player, it prompted 'unknown format'. VLC showed nothing. I've put the DCT into a public (ABC) HDTV channel.

any suggestions?

some of my cable sourced recordings have weird PID numbers and when I try to play them on my MyHD card, I get the "unknown format" error.... running TStoATSC on them changes the PIDs to the "standard" 11 and 14 and then MyHD plays them perfectly....

:cool:

PS.... BTW, running the problem flic through HDTV2MPEG to create a single .ts file, then TStoATSC, then HDTV2MPEG to create a single .ts file, then TStoATSC3 worked like a charm.... no error at the bad spot, and I cannot even detect it while viewing! :D

works really nicely with recorded 'non-problematic' .ts files. looks a lot more smooth than vlc.

but it can not handle the files that vlc can not handle either.

what's the magic of HDTV2MPEG and TStoATSC?

I followed instructions and installed the driver without problem, but when recording I only get video (granted the quality is incredible) but I get no audio? Any suggestions.

Thanks.

Originally posted by kenney
I followed instructions and installed the driver without problem, but when recording I only get video (granted the quality is incredible) but I get no audio? Any suggestions.

Thanks.
The transport stream includes both audio and video, so you need to look at your playback software/hardware.

Grittree, thanks for the response, here is a summary of what I have and what I did:
Equipment:
Comcast, Motorola 6200, Firmware 7.10

Grittree, thanks for the response, here is a summary of what I have and what I did:

Equipment:
Cable Box: Comcast, Motorola 6200, Firmware 7.10
Computer: AMD XP 2600+, 1Gb Ram, 160GB HD, ATI Radeon 9500 w/component out.

I Downloaded all of the software, and changed the Meitape.inf file with the other downloaded.

I plugged in the connector, cancelled the unknown device, found AV/C Tuner, clicked ok, don't search, [I don't have a compatible hardware box here I get the hardware type box (win xp pro) so I selected the AVC Device class.
Found the path, selected Panasonic --> Panasonic D-VHS AV/C Device, [clicked ok a few times] finished, and cancelled on the AV/C Panel install.

I ran CAPDVHS it found
Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subinit Device (Unknown Video #1)
Under settings, made sure that the 3 were checked, changed all extensions to .ts and changed the path to the correct drive.

Went to Data info tab and hit record

I get Size = 1920x1080, Aspect Ratio = 16:9, Frame Rate = 29.97 fps, Bit Rate 18.9 Mbps, and all other boxes are empty?

Thanks for any help anyone can giv as to why I still have no sound.

Sorry to bother everyone, but I apparently do have sound now... not sure what happened but I tested the output file again and It had sound...

Any recommendations on a good .ts --> divx/xvid program.

Thanks for all of the help.

Thank you very much for the wonderful information. I was waiting for this sort of thing for awhile. Thanks again

I have an RCA DTC-100 modified by 169time with firewire. I would love to connect it to my PC. Having trouble finding drivers. Anybody have any information please?
Thanks
Dan

Can I flash the firmware myself? I've purchased the firewire card and Cox is ready to "install" the box. I've tried many times to confirm the firmware revision to no avail. If it's not the right firmware, I have to get a switcher, transcoder and more cable to the tune of about $500.

So my 5100 crapped out, and I got Comcast SFBA (Pacifica/Daly City, CA) to give me a 6200. Bought a $30 6-6 1394 cable, plugged it into my XP MCE, and it was NOT recognized.

So I power off the cable box and immediately hit Select to bring up the diagnostic screen and choose d11 INTERFACE STATUS...
1394 I/O DEVICE: INST
ACTIVE PORTS: 0
DATA XMISSION: NO
5c IMPLEMENTATION 1
LOOP STATUS: NO
ROOT STATUS: YES
CYCLE MASTER STATUS: YES

My Firmware is 7.10

How do I get Comcast to turn on the IEEE1394 port? Or is there a way to do so myself? Or is it actually on and I am doing something wrong and the diags are misleading me?

Thanks for any help. Particularly if you have this working in my area. I SOOOO want to recoed HD programing.
-Dave

Dave,
Your diag screen shows 1394 is installed. Active ports should equal the number of ports your box recognizes as communicating with another 1394 device. That means either the cable is bad or just not connected right. Check it again.

I can record and play the analog channels (2-99) just fine as well as all the HD channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, INHD1&2). But the other digital channels are inconsistent... sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

When it doesn't, the CapDVHS won't show any values in the data fields when you press the record.

I seem to have a workaround that works more of the time than not... I record an analog channel first for like 2 seconds. No problem there. Then punch in the nonHD digital channel like 401 (Fox Sports World), enter, and then exit to get rid of the tvguide info. Now press record on CapDVHS. It's weird, but 4 times out of 5, it seems to work.

I am running CapDVHS with VLC player on my WinXP HTCP, which is connected to my Motorola 6200 via firewire.

Originally posted by snoopdrew
When it doesn't, the CapDVHS won't show any values in the data fields when you press the record.

I have noticed this too, but chalked it up to being something wrong with the transport stream being sent for that particular show. But now that you mention it, I haven't seen it happen since I quit using CapDVHS to record. I never gave a thought to it being something with the software, driver, or STB. If you can indeed correct the issue by briefly recording another channel before hand or by simply stopping and restarting the same recording, then it must be something other then the transport stream.

--Eric

Sounds like the 5C copy protection to me. On the Motorola box, turn the box off, then within three seconds hit select, this should get you the diagnostic screen. Somewhere in there, find interface status. In the 1394 section, there should be a 5c implementation. I haven't figured them all out yet, but the options are copy once, copy any, and never copy.

Well, I wasn't sure what the problem was with my 6200 not showing up in XP when I plugged it in, so on the above advice I exchanged my brand new 1394 cable for another brand new one. I also bought a 3port firewire PCI card just in case the port on my motherboard was flakey, this has not been installed yet...

Because I had a friend bring his iPod over and plugged that into the mobo firewire port, and it worked fine. Thus the mobo port checks out.

The new cable also fails to show the 6200 on my XP box. Likelyhood of 2 brand new cables being bad is virtually nil. This forces me to rule out the cables.

I have to assume at this point that the 1394 port on the 6200 cable box must be bad. It does appear as if the first time I tried connecting the 1394 cable it was inserted backwards (which by the way was surprisingly easy to do, I did not have to force it). So I may have burned out the firewire controller or ports on the cable box.

My dilemma is that the new box (an upgrade from a dead 5100) has nearly every channel (including stuff I don't pay for). Morally I know this is wrong, but I hate to swap out the cable box to get Firewire working and lose a bunch of channels I am not supposed to get anyway.

Has anyone else experienced upgrading from a 5100 to a 6200 and they started getting channels they weren't supposed to? Did Comcast correct this after a period of time?

Does anyone else think that if I swap the 6200 for a new one it would definitely fix the firewire problem? Getting to the office during business hours can be a pain.

Is there a chance that the mobo 1394 port would work with an iPod and not with the 6200? If so I can try installing the PCI firewire card I bought.

Thanks, Dave

Before swapping the box, check and see if the firmware has the 1394 port enabled. Power off, then hit select. Somewhere in the diag screen it should tell you if the 1394 interface is installed. I had problems installing the drivers on my motorola 6200 when I was tuned to HD HBO, 5c basically made the port invisible to my PC. When I changed to an analog channel things went fairly smoothly, following the steps in the first post TO THE LETTER.

Comcast finally released version 7.15 on the 6208 in the DFW area. So late last night I decided to see if I could get fire wire working. With some difficulty, I managed to get WinXP home edition to load the drivers as described in the beginning of this thread.

I used Capdvhs to record and Elecard to play back. Everything works except a 1-2 second delay in the sound. I noticed no drop outs in the sound or video, just the 2 second sound delay.

I am running WinXP on a P4 3 ghz with 1 gig of ram, ATI 9800, & Creative Labs Audigy 2 EX sound card.

Any ideas on why I have a 2 second sound lag? Or any trouble shooting ideas? I searched this thread and didn't find anything related to sound lag.

Tonight I will try another MPEG player to see if it works better then Elecard.

Thanks,

Jeff

I reinstalled the driver and now I can record OTA HD via firewire with no lag in sound. Wow this is so cool!!! AVSforum rocks! Thanks bdraw for starting this thread!

Jeff

No, problem the reall thanks is to Timecop, he figured it out.

I am glad I was able to help.

Looking for hardware solution..
I have read, read and reread the first post!
My gear is...Mitz 65511, Mitz D-VHS, and HTPC (everything is far apart)
I have a 14' 1394 cable that connect the tv and dvhs, also have 14' 1394 cable that connects the dvhs to htpc..I can't record live HDTV, however I can record to dvhs and then play that to htpc. I have search the net to find a 25'-30' 1394 cable and no luck.
Do they make a long 1394 cable? Can I use a 1394 hub to connect the three. Any help would be great... Thanks in advance.

Its best to place a repeater in-line with cable runs of 15' or more.
I have and currently use 45'+ runs without problems
Just purchase two 15' cables and one repeater.
The repeater works like a splice to tie the two cables together
while giving the signal a boost

Thanks I was looking for somrthing like that, but new to firewire capablities. Do you happen to have a link to a good supplier. I'll search the net in the mean time.. Thanks for your quick reply..
Fandale8

Thanks for the info.. I had it setup and working in 5 mins on a Mot 6800. Don't know how much use it will be without a 5C enabled program with intergrated progam guide but at least I know it works. It would real sweet if it could be integrated into programs like Sage or Snapstream.

Thanks I was looking for somrthing like that, but new to firewire capablities. Do you happen to have a link to a good supplier. I'll search the net in the mean time.. Thanks for your quick reply..

Great selection of high quality GoldX cables, with excellent prices:

http://www.dasko.com/goldx.htm

DAGrainger

Thanks for the link. I ordered the active extention cable..I'll post back after trying... Great Thead!!! Thanks to All
Fandale8

Will this method work if the firmware is greater than 7.10? I heard Cox in Connecticut is 7.15.

I ordered the active extension cable..I'll post back after trying...

FYI... I have two 15' active extension cables, as well as a 6' 6/4 pin cable, and have not been able to make it work. I contacted GoldX and was told that it would appear that my firewire connection was not supplying enough power for the long run of wiring. I have since ordered a powered 3 port firewire hub, to provide the extra power needed for the long run (> 30'). My intention is to run 6' to the hub and then use the two 15' extensions. I'll let you know if this functions or not. Just wanted to mention this in case you have issues.

DAGrainger

Thanks bdraw and Timecop for making the recording of HD so easy.

Does anyone use a Roku or other hardware based solution for playing back saved HD files?

I want to play back the HD an HDTV that is not connected to my computer. The Roku will play the saved files (using capDVHS) but the sound stutters horribly and the picture stutters a bit.

As for playback on the computer (using Elecard). Are there keyboard shortcuts for FF and REW? I want to keep the image full screen and FF or REW through commercials or to find a specific part of a show without having to exit full screen mode.

If Elecard won't do this, then what will. Windows Media Player plays the files fine but it won't go full screen.

So, any hardware ideas? Software?

Thanks!

Originally posted by dagrainger
FYI... I have two 15' active extension cables, as well as a 6' 6/4 pin cable, and have not been able to make it work. I contacted GoldX and was told that it would appear that my firewire connection was not supplying enough power for the long run of wiring. I have since ordered a powered 3 port firewire hub, to provide the extra power needed for the long run (> 30'). My intention is to run 6' to the hub and then use the two 15' extensions. I'll let you know if this functions or not. Just wanted to mention this in case you have issues.

DAGrainger I had the exact same experience. I would also like to know how this works out for you. Right now I have the 15' cable running across the family room floor. I need to resolve soon or judging from my wife's evil look, I may be wearing a 1394 necklace.

I, like az886502, am in Pittsburgh in the 15213 zip code.

I got the 6200 hooked up to my HTPC via 1394 and installed CapDVHS without a problem.

It records and displays data for all non-digital channels (1-99) as far as I can tell.

It records and displays NO data for ALL of my HD channels. INHD and INHD2, ESPN-HD, Showtime-HD, HBO-HD, even local networks THAT ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE COPY PROTECTED don't work. For WTAE (ABC - 780), KDKA (CBS - 782), WQED (PBS - 790), and all the other HD channels, whether I set it to record in .ts or .mpeg, i get files that are NOT zero bytes, but actually correct-sized files, that DO NOT play back. It brings up an error dialog that says it does not have recognizeable content.

When I record from analog channels, I get perfect playback in Elecard.

Is this 5C? Is this because of Comcast, or the local broadcasters?

Isn't it illegal (read: not in compliance with FCC regulations) for them to activate 5C on their local OTA channels?

I'd like someone's opinion on this before I go ahead and start bothering the Comcast VP of Regional Affairs for Pittsburgh about this. If it IS out of compliance, I could tell him that and it might actually get results. Do I have any real options at my disposal here?


Dan

I recently purchased a 15' Belkin 6 to 6 firewire cable. The cable box is coming at 1 PM. Is the run too long? Or is it only in excess of 15' that needs to be a concern?

Originally posted by Crescent
I recently purchased a 15' Belkin 6 to 6 firewire cable. The cable box is coming at 1 PM. Is the run too long? Or is it only in excess of 15' that needs to be a concern? 15' will work. I use a 6-to-4 pin...do you have a 6 pin 1394 port on your HTPC? Don't buy cables at retailers...there are so many cheaper alternatives from eTailers. GreatCables.com, TriangleCables.com etc. You can get exactly what you need and at 50% or less for quality cables. I made this mistake of going to BB or CC for my cable needs, boy...what a mistake. Although you can return them easier but you pay through the butt for that convenience.

Dan, I doubt very much Comcast is your problem. You either have capdvhs configured wrong or your playback software isn't set up for HD. BTW, it makes no difference what file extension you enter into capdvhs, the output contents stays the same. Use .tp or .ts. The 2nd,3rd,eigth boxes should be checked in settings.

You can verify 5c=0 by tuning to the channel, power off, hit OK.

The Cox installer showed up today with a DVR version of the Motorola HD box, the DCT6400. The firmware is 8.03. CBS and NBC are not 5C encrypted. I cannot see or record firewire output.

In device manager, I have ...Imaging Devices, Panasonic D-VHS AV/C Device (NV-DHE10)

In VLC I have Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device selected for "open capture". VLC shows nothing.

IN CapDVHS, I have Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device-(unknown video #1). I get the error message, "Error 80040217: Cannot connect samplegrabber."

Do I have a prayer? My wife would like to watch the opening day ceremonies for the Olympics tonight and I would like to get some gravy points for the theater.

Originally posted by Crescent
IN CapDVHS, I have Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device-(unknown video #1). I get the error message, "Error 80040217: Cannot connect samplegrabber." Click on the pull down arrow to the right and you will see Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device-(unknown video #2). Select this one and you will be recording the TS file to your harddrive. I had better luck with playback using Sasem Onair player. Try them all to see which one does the best job.

Thanks for the fast reply!

There is no other choice in the list.

Originally posted by Crescent
Thanks for the fast reply!

There is no other choice in the list. You need to follow the instructions to the letter. It took me a bit to figure out what I was doing wrong but once I got it down, I saw 2 devices, selected the second and it recorded.

On initial install after canceling "unknown" and "a/v panel" there was no other prompt for "Tuner A/V Device".

Third time's a charm. The right device came up this time and I have audio and video. The problem now is that the stream keeps breaking up. I'm loosing packets. Is 2.53 P4 with 512 RAM enough?

Yes, 2.53 p4 is enough. A 900mhz T-bird/ 256mb is enough. Playback via software is where horsepower is needed.

Originally posted by Crescent
Third time's a charm. The right device came up this time and I have audio and video. The problem now is that the stream keeps breaking up. I'm loosing packets. Is 2.53 P4 with 512 RAM enough? I have the exact specs as you. Try the Sasem OnAir...It is the only one I get smooth playback on. VLC had alot of breakups.

Thanks to all!

I'm trying to watch live HD.

Anyone knows how to play it back through JVC 30K D-VHS deck to HDTV?

I hooked my Motorola DCT6200(firmware 7.15) to my PC through Firewire, following the instructions here I'm able to record the Olympics Opening Ceremony in HD(Thanks guys!). I used the CapDVHS program and generated a few *.mpg files(I can use Elecard or VLC to play them back).

My JVC 30K DVHS deck arrived on Friday, I connected it to DCT6200 using a Firewire cable and I'm able to get component video out by selecting the input source to I-1 (iLink 1, number 1 is DCT6200). All the analog channels(1-99, in 4:3) and HD channels(in 16:9, including HBO, Cinemax, etc) work fine, but digital non-HD channels have some problem(>100, is this normal?).

I don't have any SVHS or DVHS tapes now(they are on the way), so I'm wondering if it's possible to output the *.mpg HDTV files on my hard drive to JVC 30K's Firewire input, then I can use JVC's component output to view iit on my Panasonic PT60LC13 HDTV(it has no Firewire input).

Any suggestions? I tried CapDVHS's WrtDVHS and looks like it's not working(do I need to do some conversion to ts?). Also tried DVHSTools 2.13(followed its instruction to install driver for JVC 30K on XP Pro), unsuccessful(Is DVHSTool for backup/restore from DVHS TAPE only?).

Thanks for any help, if it's possible, it can save $$$ on DVHS tape, I can record onto my hard drive and play them thru JVC's Firewire.

Originally posted by hraner
Anyone knows how to play it back through JVC 30K D-VHS deck to HDTV?
I want to do the same thing and have posted this question before and never got a response. I have a 6208 7.10, 40K and PC. I get all sorts of weird problems having both the 40K and PC connected at the same time. I cant record and the JVC will switch to F-1 for some reason. I have to disconnect the JVC before I can record to PC or vice versa. It would be cool to play back through the JVC and also be able to archive to tape. I hope someone out there can help us. It seems to me alot of folks would have this setup.

Originally posted by tall1
Click on the pull down arrow to the right and you will see Panasonic MPEG2TS Tape Subunit Device-(unknown video #2). Select this one and you will be recording the TS file to your harddrive. I had better luck with playback using Sasem Onair player. Try them all to see which one does the best job.

THANK YOU tall1 for the reference to the Onair player! This one completely *smokes* Elecard and VLC for playing back .ts files. We're talking going from near 100% CPU consumption to around 40%. Plus picture quality is dramatically improved on the playback of the Olympic stuff I've been recording. This player has got it going on!

MrGonk,

I share the same problems with you. But I do receive HD-Discovery at channel 789.

Originally posted by Nice_Guy
THANK YOU tall1 for the reference to the Onair player! This one completely *smokes* Elecard and VLC for playing back .ts files. We're talking going from near 100% CPU consumption to around 40%. Plus picture quality is dramatically improved on the playback of the Olympic stuff I've been recording. This player has got it going on! Well alot of folks deserve the credit beyond my meager contributions. I wouldn't be able to come close to enjoying my HD experience without the collaboration of the fine folks on AVS. Crescent inspired me to help him because he wanted to prove the value of HD to his wife. I have tremendous empathy for guys in this situation. Glad I could help a little bit.

I appreciate the help. I really do. Thanks.

However, I am still unable to achieve smooth playback via VLC. After two or three seconds I get a freeze frame or a digital smearing effect, like each pixel has a mind of it's own. Then it starts again.

Unfortunately, the Mrs. was not impressed and she watched the opening ceremonies on our 32" analog TV upstairs.

Has anyone tried connecting their Sony to their PC by Firewire? This HDTV includes a tuner and I am thinking that I can record to a HTPC with XP. Only problem is the drivers that the TV wants to have XP install.

-=AE=-

Originally posted by AlterEcho
Has anyone tried connecting their Sony to their PC by Firewire? This HDTV includes a tuner and I am thinking that I can record to a HTPC with XP. Only problem is the drivers that the TV wants to have XP install.I think you'll find that the fw ports on your Sony TV are input-only ones--just like the ones on mine. :(

Originally posted by TPeterson
I think you'll find that the fw ports on your Sony TV are input-only ones--just like the ones on mine. :(

I am not sure if you have the same model.....but I have three i.link (1394) jacks. Actually, my jacks act just like a firewire card (IN/OUT). When I hook up my JVC 4K I can record to it (HS) and play back to the TV, through the i.link jacks. I just recorded 5 minutes of the Olympics and then played it back through the firewire jacks. So they are bidirectional......if I could only get the correct inf files, I probably could stream to my PC.

-=AE=-

Originally posted by AlterEcho
I am not sure if you have the same model.....but I have three i.link (1394) jacks. Actually, my jacks act just like a firewire card (IN/OUT). When I hook up my JVC 4K I can record to it (HS) and play back to the TV, through the i.link jacks. I just recorded 5 minutes of the Olympics and then played it back through the firewire jacks. So they are bidirectional......if I could only get the correct inf files, I probably could stream to my PC.Hmm...if you've got 3 i-Link jacks you seem to have a different KDP-51WS550 than the ones I find described when I search that model number in Google, because those are said to have 2 (rear) i-Link jacks. (But I see nothing said about front jacks...is your third on the front?) And if you can record to your JVC DVHS from your Sony over i-Link then--congratulations!--you have a different i-Link implementation from the one in my KD34-XBR2, which definitely cannot output TS over its i-Link ports (although it inputs them just fine).

Nevertheless, you'll not find any Win XP drivers for your Sony...unless you write them yourself or someone else does in the future...they don't exist "in the wild".

Yeah, I have two jacks in the back and one in the front (it's a little drop down box at the bottom, on the left). I just plug my JVC in and then go into the i.link setup, switch to the JVC and start to record. Then when I am done I can play back through the same connection. Kinda cool....but I can only record what is tuned through the TV tuner. So I am restricted to OTA HDTV(tuner built in the TV set), regular cable (picked through channel scan) or SD TV through the air.
I am getting ready to Beta test the SA 8000HD with the new firmware allowing firewire output. If the firmware works, I guess my question will be a moot point.....never hurts to have a backup plan.

BTW....I did notice that your i.LINK is rated at 200 and mine is 400. Maybe that is one of the reasons that your acts differently.

-=AE=-

So I am restricted to OTA HDTV(tuner built in the TV set), regular cable (picked through channel scan) or SD TV through the air.

This is typical. My set with integated tuner and two 1394 ports will only output TS's of what come in digitally OTA, no dish (connected as component/Y,Pb,Pr), no digital equivalent of the analog cable signal.

Originally posted by Crescent
I appreciate the help. I really do. Thanks.

However, I am still unable to achieve smooth playback via VLC. After two or three seconds I get a freeze frame or a digital smearing effect, like each pixel has a mind of it's own. Then it starts again.

Unfortunately, the Mrs. was not impressed and she watched the opening ceremonies on our 32" analog TV upstairs. Cescent, please try Sasem OnAir (http://www.usbhdtv.com/bbs/view.php?id=download&page=1&sn1=&divpage=1&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=6) This is the only player that worked for me.

Originally posted by tall1
Cescent, please try Sasem OnAir. This is the only player that worked for me.

I noticed from an earlier post that the Sasem software expires after thirty days and you can't buy it. I assume you would have to have the Sasem tuner to continue using it after 30 days.

I think we need a companion sticky thread in this forum addressing the playback of what we recorded using the setup in this thread. If someone who is an expert on this topic could start this off the same way timecop started this one, we could all save many hours searching the HTPC forum.

I was a FireBus beta tester who is trying to use the PC I was planning on using for the released version had it been useable. I have experimented with Elecard, VLC, and WinDVD. I have found little things with each of them that leaves me with a solution that is not even close to the user friendly, significant other friendly, or coach potato friendly, record and playback solution I was hoping to get from Firebus. It would be nice to see in a side by side fashion, a listing of capabilities desired for playback and how well, if at all, these programs deliver. For example, little things like displaying or knowing the elapsed time of what we are playing, the ability to jump within a file, and the ability to control playback with an ATI Remote Wonder either out of the box or with some minor customization, are just a few of the things I wished I knew about before testing a program. It would also be nice to have in one place, recommended settings for each program for high quality 1080i playback.

Thanks Tall1.

I thought Sasem was for recorded HD. VLC is for live, right? Sasem plays back recorded HD fine. I would like to watch the Olympics live (or any other sports event for that matter).