TIP: GBPVR networked client

[lseats]

OK, I installed FFdshow on the client machine and now I can play recorded content. I am assuming that the only reason it is required on the client is that I am using it on the server machine.

I still can't get live TV to work. In order for it to work on the server I have to have live preview mode on. If it is off on the client I get a message that it can't find the capture device. If it is on at the client machine it just gives me a blank screen for a few seconds and then goes back to the menu.

I've tried setting up a GB-PVR "client" and every thing works except when I try to play a recorded video or live TV I get no picture or sound and the gbpvr.exe.log has this: event code: 1

Any idea what I am missing? I've tried it on two different computers with the same results. At first I assumed it was a missing decoder so I installed the Hauppauge decoder but still no luck.

[lseats]

I had a "client" setup on two computers and then I started having problems with the MVPs disconnecting. I suspect it had something to do with the remoterecording service running on the "client" computers since I had not had the problem before and it seems that restarting the recording service on the server would fix the problem.

I have unisntalled my "client" copies and will see if the problems with the MVPs go away -- I'll report my findings in this thread. If that indeed is the problem I'll wait for Sub to officially support PC clients.

[lseats]

It does indeed seem that having the "client" installed on other computers on my network was the cause of the frequent MVP disconnects I was getting. As soon as I uninstalled the GB-PVR client setups the MVP problems ceased.

[OddSim]

It does indeed seem that having the "client" installed on other computers on my network was the cause of the frequent MVP disconnects I was getting. As soon as I uninstalled the GB-PVR client setups the MVP problems ceased.

Did you disable the GB-PVR server service on the "client" machines? If not, that might have had something to do with it.

[nwenos]

I was able to get this working followwing the steps in this forum. Although, I ran into 2 issues that I figured I should share in case anyone else has the same issue. First, when I got around to installing GB-PVR on my front end, it was a newer version than the back end so it had problems communicating. I updated the backed and that fixed it.
Second, the recoding service uses port 7968 so if you have a firewall (such as the built in Windows XP firewall) you have to open port 7968 either by opening the port directly, or adding the RecordingService to the allowed list.

[krypton_john]

I've continued to experiment with this and all the client functions do work with the exception of Live TV. I found that I had made a server-end config.xml error and corrected it. But even after correcting that I still get the "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error trying to use Live TV (the "server" is set for time-shift mode per the instuctions)

Yep - I'm getting the exact same issue. The only way I can watch 'live' tv on a client pc is to record it and then watch the recording.

Has anyone *really* got live tv working with this setup?

Cheers,
JohnO

[tsheal]

I am having similar problems watching Live TV from a client GBPVR installation. All the correct instructions from this thread had been followed including switching off live preview mode, and having common references to UDP folders in the client and server config.xml files. On the server livetv works fine. On the client, however, upon initiating live tv, the screen states that timeshift tv is about to start, waits a few seconds and then returns to the programme guide. During this process, the recorder status correctly identifies that the card used is writing to a file on the server.

Since the server and the client both communicate with the recording service through the tcp protocol, this part seems to work okay, as an instruction from the client seems to cause the server's recording service to start recording the correct channel. Subsequently the client has a snag reading the file accross the network.

I reckon it must be something to do with reading the file across the network that is causing the problem, as standard file system access to the file from the server works fine.

Having thought about this issue, the only thing I can come up with, is that maybe there are issues accessing a file whilst it is being written to simultaneously across an SMB share.

I am going to try sharing the LiveTV recording directory using NFS, and see if that makes any difference. I shall post again if I come with anything. If it works, I'll even write a howto (probably getting ahead of myself though.)

More later,

Tristan

[Jean-Christophe]

Hello,
I followed all I did and made a sumarry of all informations I used to acheive this.
I still have a little problem.
When I try to watch live TV on client, I don't receive any error message, but I go back to main menu after it tried to start time shifting..

Log shows

Code:

19/10/2005 14:52:17.581    VERBOSE    [2]    StopLiveTV()
19/10/2005 14:52:17.784    VERBOSE    [2]       at xae10db17d26ba033.xbe83d16b02243330.x9d0357308a26468a(Boolean x34c7e6ccfb82bbba)

Did anyone already received this message, and how did you solve the problem?

Thanks

[tal56]

I did the exact same setup and my LiveTV does work on 3 other computers in my house. On 2 of the computers it plays fine, however one one of the computers it's playback is choppy. However on that computer if I play a recorded show, or even a show that is recording, it plays fine. I'm not sure why it's choppy only for LiveTV, even though playing on timeshift should technically be exactly the same as playing a show that is already recording.

I also extended the timeshift delay to see if that is the issue, but I still get the same choppyness. I thought it may be the codecs or something, but it dosent make sense that recorded shows play back fine. Any clues about this one anyone?

Oh and I also did replace the quartz.dll to see if that was the problem, but same thing.

[Jean-Christophe]

Thanks for this information.
Here is what I did.

Native method summary

Prerequisites

1. An up and running gb-pvr “server”
   
2. install source of the server gb-pvr version (you can upgrade gb-pvr server with your msi to be sure)
   
3. A client candidate (network linked to the server)
   
4. All gb-pvr software prerequisites
   

Situation

I have a computer named “server” that hosts gb-pvr.
I would like to enable gb-pvr on computer “client1”

How to proceed ?

1. On server, change recordings directory to UNC path.
   
2. You can't do it from Config app, but directly from config.xml (search for: RecordingsDirectory).
   
3. For instance to: \\server\PVR\TV. (Share needs to exist)
   
4. Backup gbpvr.mdb, edit it using Microsoft Access and replace in “Recordings” table for example D:\PVR\TV to UNC then recordings won't disappear.
   
5. On client1, install gb-pvr
   
6. In config.xml
   • replace recordings directory to \\server\PVR\TV
     
   • Search for RecordingServiceLocation and replace localhost to “server”
     
   • Search for DatabaseConnectionString and replace the Data Source to point to server’s gbpvr.mdb file (for instance, \\server\pvr\gbpvr.mdb)
     
7. Run Config application and uncheck live preview mode
   
8. Install FFdshow and lame decoder