Connecting Digital Cable Box through FireWire

[carpeVideo]

If you can see the tuner in the device manager you should be able to see it with capDVHS. It's not the plug/unplug issue. Try VLC and make sure you are on an unencrypted channel.

I have VLC working and it is better since it transcodes to a PS stream and you can view it timeshifted.

Also make sure you have HDPump installed.

[dark_half]

How did you manage to get vlc working? Can you please explain.

[carpeVideo]

I tried what I posted earlier - I opened a command file that opens VLC, GBPVR wants to kill the script (which isn't open because I use the /C switch) so VLC is not killed until it issues the vlc --single_instance vlc:quit command.

Note the usage of single_instance - you need to open VLC that way too. Right now I also open with the -I http switch so there is no GUI. It may degrade performance, not sure at this point.

[McHero]

I'm still unable to get capDVHS to see the box. I dropped down to a SD channel thinking it would not be encrypted but still unable to get capDVHS to see the box.

I recall seeing a thread on the avs forum explaining how to check & see if the current channel is encrypted. I believe you had to power off the box and press a combination of buttons on the front of the STB. I tried to locate that thread but it looks as though the avs forum is experiencing some database issues.

Could someone post the URL's to VLC & HDPump downloads please?

[carpeVideo]

http://www.videolan.org/

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/HDTV...Filter.htm

I needed to try several codecs to get sound to work on GBPVR.

My command script for VLC is very simple:

cd d:\progra~1\videolan\vlc\
vlc.exe dshow:// :dshow-adev="":dshow-vdev="Motorola AV/C Tuner Device":dshow-size="" --sout=#standard{mux=ps,dst=%1,access=file} --ttl=1 --one-instance -I http

I exit with :
vlc.exe --one-instance vlc:quit
directly in GBPVR

Works with timeshifting but does only changing channels from the program guide.

carpeV

[goti]

Well, I got a little bit of time this evening to mess with this and made some progress. I took your idea carevideo and wrote a couple of small batch files to start/stop vlc. It took some tweaking and experimenting but I finally got them working. I then downloaded a small utility that will make a .exe out of a .bat file and pointed GBPVR to these. GBPVR runs my executables and gives me the filename to be created and I have VLC fire it up.

Getting the filename and path stuff correct is what took me the longest because GBPVR creates the directories and files itself (obviously) and if it does not see the file created and the size increasing, it will try again which can cause some issues.

I did a little more testing and still have a few wrinkles to work out. I am probably going at this the hard way but it seems to be close.

I scheduled a couple of shows to be recorded tomorrow so we can see how reliable it is. If it is successful I would be glad to share with whoever is interested.

Thanks for the help guys!

[carpeVideo]

Goti,

If you want to run a bat or cmd directly with GBPVR make the executable from GBPVR:
c:/windows/system32/cmd.exe and the arguments should be

/C [path to your batch/cmd file] arguments you want passed.

You don't need that for the close for that you can run vlc directly with the vlc:quit function.

The tough part for me was just getting the right arguments into vlc via the batch file, the {fullname} is what to use for the filename. As I mentioned above it works for me recording and viewing via timeshifting. The assorted delays make it so it doesn't work if you change channels via the (channel up) button, but exiting to the guide and reselecting channels that way works fine.

carpeV

[goti]

Yeah, after I got everything working with the .exe files I figured I could have done it the way you described. Oh well, I will see if it worked when I get home this evening.

And like you said getting the filename into the batch file is what took a little time. I did use the {filename} parameter but you have to be careful with quotation marks and what not since the path typically had spaces in it.

Boy, it has been a while since I have written any batch file stuff so I am quite rusty!

[McHero]

Can somebody do a quick & dirty document on how to set this up? I'm new to this all.

I fire up videolan and click refresh under video devices, I then drop down the listbox & can see the Motorola under the default device. If I click configure device button VLC crashes. If I restart, refresh select the Motorola I then don't see any video. If I select the skins a video screen pops up but it's blank. I do see a counter incrementing.

Thanks

[goti]

McHero

To do a simple test to see if VLC can access your cable box successfully you might do what you were trying and then click OK.

Basically open VLC, Select File -> Open Capture Device..., select the DirectShow tab, Click the Refresh list button for the video device name, You should then see "Motorola AV/C Tuner Device" in the drop down list, Select it and then click the OK button.

On mine I can then see and hear whatever show is on the current channel in the VLC window.

See if that works and then go from there. BTW, clicking the advanced button crashes VLC for me also.