New Plugin: DboxRecorder Plugin

[dweeb4]

The solution would be for the plugin to support the Udrec engine - is this feasible?

[alibert]

Hi,

Hi Alibert,

I have this working on a Dreambox 500C - brilliant plugin & great PVR

Is there a way to record from the the 500C into a native transport stream file on the PC i.e do no processing of the grabbed file just save it to disk.

This is the format when using direct recording on the Dreambox and would allow you to look at the list of recordings directly from the Dreambox & play them directly without the need for GB-PVR.

When there is no need for GBPVR, why is there a need for the plugin?

-alibert

[jemelvyn]

Hi,

I'd love to get the DboxRecorder plugin working with my Dreambox 500-C, but can't see to get any video to play.

I'm running Vista 64bit by the way (sorry).
I can configure the plugin great and it succesfully connects to my Dreambox.

When I launh gbpvr and go to live tv it falls over with "Failure playing back file".

I believe GGrab is working as I get some mpeg files created which incidentally playback fine within GBPVR.
Channels are changed OK on the Dreambox.


I think the relevant errors are from the log are:

2007-08-21 14:49:49.297 ERROR [1] Error creating: DboxRecorder.DboxRecorder
2007-08-21 14:49:49.297 ERROR [1] Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: type
2007-08-21 14:49:49.302 ERROR [1] at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
at GBPVR.Backend.Common.xc4f12ec3a8a4c96b.xb18f2a6855a29bd8(String xa17d71c8507c19de)
2007-08-21 14:49:49.302 ERROR [1] Failed to locate requested recording source: DboxRecorder.DboxRecorder
2007-08-21 14:49:49.303 ERROR [1] Error int SourceConfigurationContainer::LoadAll(): System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at GBPVR.Backend.Common.xda34526142ca690b.x1f966edc637a8924(Boolean x81c765f11f40b327)

and
2007-08-21 14:50:04.255 VERBOSE [1] Before LiveTV Play
2007-08-21 14:50:05.054 ERROR [1] Error: msg=0x202 (WM_LBUTTONUP) hwnd=0xa0422 wparam=0x0 lparam=0x1250075 result=0x0 : System.Exception: Failure playing back file
at NativeUtilities.MediaHelper.playVideoFile(String filename, Form form)
at GBPVR.xbe83d16b02243330.x4276385f71addb51(Channel xee500015fb4a65b6)
at GBPVR.x4a212861656a24dd.x3852f96f8dab4cab(Channel xee500015fb4a65b6)
at GBPVR.x05e13382b8294c7a.xb4057d727283fc14(x8b4f0834394c048a x12ea9462ae6eb890)
at GBPVR.xa556fe3f7d8d6ce3.OnClick(Point location)
at GBPVR.x05e13382b8294c7a.OnClick(Point location)
at GBPVR.x86396f56243de9fb.OnClick(Point location)
at GBPVR.xbb1566157f5f8b1f.xf1b04f0b61b2ba29(Object xdf2e3583f942db7b, EventArgs xc4f45905cb1fc7ba)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
at GBPVR.xbb1566157f5f8b1f.WndProc(Message& m)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[alibert]

Which GBPVR version are you using? If you are using 1.08, please try and upgrade to the latest one and tell if the error still exists, as there was an issue that the recoding service was still looking for the plugin in it's old location.

And please ensure that 'Use Live-Preview when possible' is not checked in the gbpvr configuartion.

-alibert

[jemelvyn]

I'm using 1.0.16 and I've got Use Live Preview Mode unticked.

[alibert]

Hi,

I will have a look at the weekend when I'm back home. Please attach a complete set of your logfiles.

-alibert

[dweeb4]

Hi,
When there is no need for GBPVR, why is there a need for the plugin?

-alibert

Hi Alibert,
Thanks for replying - maybe I didn't give enough info about my requirements:

I have a Dreambox 500C which I want to use as my machine for recording & playback. I use another box for daily viewing & would only use the 500 to record & replay. As you probably know the 500C Direct file recordings are often full of errors & sometimes unplayable. So I wanted to use network recording instead to a server

My idea was to use a server based extended epg (such as the Radio Times scrapper) which I would view & set record events, up to 1-2 weeks in advance, (using my laptop) but be able to view these files without having to go to the PC for playback. So, I'm trying to make the process simple for all the family to use.

I looked but couldn't find a good 1-2 week epg program which would allow network recording events. I know this only uses a small subset of the GB-PVR functionality.

Hope this better explains where I'm coming from?

[alibert]

Hi,

the plugin can only record to the filename the recording service passes to it, e.g. "d:\recordings\movie.mpg". Additionaly, this has to be a single file. So this makes it impossible to use the udrec engine for grabbing at the moment, I think.

However, you could use the movieplayer plugin for the dbox / dreambox and try to play the recorded mpeg files.

-alibert

[dweeb4]

Thanks Alibert, great plugin much appreciated

[Meirssv]

Hi guys,

I tried setting up the dboxrecorder but it does not work. I think I know why, but it is very strange that I do not see anyone else on this forum that encounters the same behaviour.

I choose 'Live TV", ggrab starts grabbing correctly. I monitored the task getting started in task manager and I even see the temporary mpg-files getting created. But, after a short period (the LiveTV pre-play delay in ms on the Playback-tab in config I guess) it just goes back to without showing the stream.

Now... If I try playing the mpg-file myself, I get an error: 'File in use' while ggrab is doint its thing. When ggrab is stopped, I can play the file.

Playing with the 'LiveTV pre-play delay'-parameter makes the mpg-files who gets created by the above steps smaller or larger.

So I conclude that the problem I have is that GBPVR can't read the file while ggrab writes to it...

I checked the sourcecode of the ggrab.exe and found this in tools.cpp:

if (!(fp = fopen(a_filename,"w")))

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't this be:

if (!(fp = fopen(a_filename,"w+")))

This will enable reading while writing I think, correct? I am not a C/C++ programmer so this is little bit a guess for me.

regards,
Meirssv