Connecting Digital Cable Box through FireWire

[McHero]

I don't think I'm 100% on the connection/drivers...I did fing this on the AVS forum;
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR

Will read over with a fine tooth comb!

[McHero]

Also, Check this thread out;
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthrea...=114&pp=30

Looks like most of the Comcast channels are getting flagged as copy protected & no one (not even Comcast) knows why. :eek:

Here is where Motorola is hoping to go with the new DVR's! Not sure if/when Comcast will make the move;
http://broadband.motorola.com/whms/index.html

Now, Check out the bottom most video, WHMS demo....;
http://broadband.motorola.com/whms/videos.html

[McHero]

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.

No go... I found the instructions oh how to check if the channel is encrypted, I'll look it over & try again. All I get is the VLC panel, no video. I do see a time in the lower left corner, 3:59:19/0:00:00 The time is incrementing....

9:45PM....
GOT IT! Using the following instructions from a poster in the AVS forum;
"I upgraded from a 6412 to a 3416 and the firewire capture is working for me on the 3416.

Short version: I used the firestb.msi installer from the top of this thread, rebooted, then went into Device Mgr and updated the drivers for the tuner and panel to the ones labeled DCT-3412.

Long version:

I had the drivers installed from the 6412, so when I booted up the first time after upgrading to the 3416, I got the Found New Hardware wizard, chose "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)", and then pointed it to search in the folder where I had the drivers already. I cancelled the driver install for the panel and unknown devices.

It installed the driver for the generic Tuner AV/C Device, which didn't work (I got the "no capture device" error). I went into Device Mgr and updated the driver, this time choosing "Don't Search. I will choose the driver to install" and manually selecting the Panasonic Tuner AV/C Device. It still gave me the "no capture device" error.

I ran firestb.msi with "msiexec /i "C:\path\to\firestb.msi" IDENT=0". I ran through the setup with all the default options, then rebooted.

I then went into Device Mgr again and updated the driver, choosing "Don't Search. I will choose the driver to install" and manually selecting the "Motorola Tuner AV/C Device (DCT-3412)" driver that was already on the list (added there by firestb.msi). I also updated the driver for the AV/C Panel, selecting the Moto 3412 driver from the list (also added there by firestb.msi).

I opened CapDVHS, selected the Motorola tuner from the drop-down list, and voila, capturing works."

Two problems now......
1. No Sound - Where do I get the audio? Thru the firewire or do I port off the rear of the 3416?
2. Video jerky - Is this VLC palyer? I'll have to try some others!

I tryed capdvhs, captured perhaps 30 seconds. Next to nothing processor wise BUT when I played the MPG file back using VLC it was jerky and the CPU was pegged.

I'm gettting close!

RM

[wtg]

Your sound problem is probably related to not having the appropriate decoder. The sound is probably AC3. Most commercial decoders (Cyberlink, Nero, etc) require an upgrade, not their OEM version, to decode AC3 audio. AC3 Filter and ffdshow are two free options. I had problems with a version of AC3 Filter in the past, but with my most recent install of it I've found it to be the best. The NVidia Pure Video decoders include an AC3 audio decoder which work outside of gbpvr, but I can't get them to work with gbpvr.

The jerky playback of the video is just the deficiency of your onboard video. The intel video chipsets are known to be very poor and HD decoding is very taxing. I'd be shocked if you found anyway to get decent playback without a video card upgrade.

[McHero]

Thanks for the reply WTG

I had an idea I was going to run into a video issue on this PC. I fiugure it's time to install a PCI video card. The only place where I will have a good selection of PCI video cards is Newegg.com BUT I see I have a selection of between 48 cards!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...ategory=48
Notice that most have S-video out. Should I use Svideo rather than the VGA connector? Also, should I get a tuner card so I have something with hardware MPEG-2 decoding? :confused:

Thanks all:confused:

[wtg]

SVideo won't deliver HD resolutions. For HD can need either component video (not to be confused with composite), DVI or VGA connector. All will look good but DVI is the only digital connection and should deliver the best picture.

A tuner card won't give you hardware decoding... good ones give hardware encoding, using a dedicated processor to encode the MPG instead of your CPU. The exception is the PVR-350 that has a dedicated svideo out connection and a hardware decoder, but it doesn't do HD and can't be used for anything other than MPG output I don't believe. Still an option with gbpvr, but sub says it's unsupported.

Virtually all the video cards support hardware decoding to a certain degree. If I shared my experiences in detail I'd end up hijacking the thread but I've used several varieties of NVidia and ATI cards, and right now favor the ATI's. Most of them (NVidia or ATI) require some kind of commercial software for the best hardware assisted decoding. I'm currently using an ATI X1600 Pro with the NVidia Pure Video decoder. I wouldn't recommend anything lower than a NVidia 6600 if you go that route.

[McHero]

Thanks for the info wtg. Now I have something to work with. I was able to get the audio stream out of the Motorola box. SD looks good but I will have to work on the HD streams.

Will we ever be able to integrate the Motorola STB's with FW into GB-PVR? We would need something to change the channels of course. Would be nice.

Thanks again

WOW, 50 deg. here in Conncord NH 1/6/07 !!!!!

[goti]

McHero, the drivers you installed for the Motorola box should have included a simple command line program called channel.exe. This can be used to change the channel on the box. Basically what I did was experiment with the program via the command line until I figured out the necessary syntax for my box. You can then have the external recording plugin in GBPVR fire this program with the necessary qualifiers (channel number, etc.) and you are there.

Now when GBPVR needs to change the channel it will do it with this application. It seems to work really well.

Hope this helps.

[ubu]

Thanks for the reply WTG

I had an idea I was going to run into a video issue on this PC. I fiugure it's time to install a PCI video card. The only place where I will have a good selection of PCI video cards is Newegg.com BUT I see I have a selection of between 48 cards!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...ategory=48
Notice that most have S-video out. Should I use Svideo rather than the VGA connector? Also, should I get a tuner card so I have something with hardware MPEG-2 decoding? :confused:

Thanks all:confused:

In general, for output to a TV, component out is better than S-video, S-video is better than composite RCA out, but it also can vary from TV to TV. VGA out is for your PC monitor. (Some higher end monitors and TVs also support DVI digital connectors). For HDTV, component out is probably the best choice.

For me, having a quiet PC is important (HTPC in living room) so I selected a fanless video card. I'm running a fairly inexpensive NVIDIA 6200 based card with component out (see my signature) and experience very good results. The 6200 also supports the Purevideo decoder (and is less expensive than the 6600). On the other hand, I'm using a PVR-150 for my TV capture. I don't know how it would perform with your HDTV input.

Newegg is fine but I tend to toggle between Tigerdirect.com and Newegg. Sometimes one has a better price; sometimes the other. And the price difference can be quite signficant.

There are some very useful forum threads to be found on video card choices and how to configure them to produce the best results with GB-PVR. Try searching for "video card".

A TV capture card (tuner) would be a good idea if you want to watch conventional (non-digital cable, antenna or dish) TV channels. The PVR-150 is a popular and inexpensive choice.

[McHero]

Picked up a fanless ATIRadeon 9250 and a 300 gig drive. Will play around with the ATI Sunday morning. VGA, DVI & TV out.

n