GraphEdit help (Network Recorder)

[fering]

I recently setup an older Motorola cable box to record over Firewire. Working with Network Recorder, SGraphRecorder and GraphEdit, I was able to get it working most of the time. The Graph I created is basically as simple as it can be:

Code:

Motorola AV/C Tuner Device ---> NPVR Writer

But on occasion my graph will break and I can not rebuild it until I reboot my PC. It appears to be random, and when I open my graph and try to re-connect the Tuner Device output to the NPVR Writer I get a popup saying "These filters cannot agree on a connection". But when I reboot and open the graph and they are happily connected.

Am I missing a filter in there? Should I have something between the tuner device and the writer?

[mvallevand]

Should I have something between the tuner device and the writer?

You can try other writers but it is just the two filters you need. When I played around with firewire, I found reducing splitters and putting on a good cable helped a lot but I never got it to tuner level stability and had to reboot regularly to clear things up. I found some channels were cleaner than others and never had troubles. Researching at time I remember reading that some firewire chipsets were MUCH better than others, and given that Windows really left firewire to MACs and Linux, I decided to look elsewhere. Firewire tuning to my STB with an HDPVR is solid.

Martin

[fering]

Thanks Martin. I'll play around some more with different writers or different settings for loading/unloading the graph before I start tracking down an HDPRV, but that may be my only option.

What are you using to change the channel? Are there other options besides channel.exe/channelw.exe that come with the Timmmoorre install?

Joel

[mikeh49]

I use firewire recording via Network Recorder/Graphrecorder from a Motorola box with excellent reliability. I can't remember the last time I had a problem. I'll check my graph later today; I think I have a NPVR parser between the tuner and the NPVR TSWriter. I'll also see if I can determine the firewire chipset of my box. I had a firewire pci card at one time and that worked, as well as a Gigbyte 780GM MB. These last two were on XP.

I use sagechanger for channel changing, although I didn't have any problems with with channelw. Sagechanger has a feature to power on the STB which is handy in case someone turns it off. You should be able to find it by googling it.

I'm not sure if things are so different in CA cableland that US experience is not representative.

Update after looking at my setup:

My graph is: AVC Tuner > NPVR TS Mon > NPVRWriter

I don't know what TS Mon does, but it works. I think I used it back in the GBPVR days, so just carried over to NPVR after Martin wrote Network Recorder.

I have a 2000 msec tuning delay in SGraphrecorder, and, I think, 5000 msec in Network Recorder to ensure the stream is started before recording.
I also have Unloadgraph on stop and Unloadgraph on switch set to 1, so it rebuilds the graph every time (I think).

This is not 100% solid on live TV, sometimes takes 2 tries to get a picture. This seems to vary by channel. Not an issue for me as I don't use it for live TV. And, I only record a few channels, TNT, USA, AMC, FX and the locals.

I could not determine the chipset of the firewire.