How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP [Text View] - Page 15

tluxon

02-01-07, 05:56 PM

Howdy - wondering the same thing too with my Mitsubishi WD-Y65. The tv is recognized by windows xp as an av/c device, but there are no drivers available. Called Mitsubishi, and they were fairly useless as far as providing any PC support for a firewire connection. Has anyone been able to get the Vivid Logic software to work with a firewire enabled set? I did download an eval copy to mess around with - the software installed properly, my tv recognized the pc as an "AV Disc", but recording from the TV Guide on screen, or just hitting the record button started then stopped after 60 secs.

http://www.vividlogic.com/products/dtvr.html

By the way, I don't have a moto or SA box, just an over the air indoor antenna. Output is directly from the tv to the firewire input on my pc. Thanks.Hey - thanks for letting me know that VividLogic allows an evaluation of their software. Did you ever get it to work?

scottz29

02-01-07, 07:32 PM

anybody have any more suggestions? capdvhs still giving that "Cannot connect SampleGrabber" error, and VLC doesn't give me a stream at all.

i'm at a loss as to what's wrong.

pcprit

02-01-07, 08:03 PM

teague

02-01-07, 08:39 PM

anybody have any more suggestions? capdvhs still giving that "Cannot connect SampleGrabber" error, and VLC doesn't give me a stream at all.

i'm at a loss as to what's wrong.

Most of the Motorola boxes have 2 firewire ports. Try the other one. Some have had success in one and not the other. Also reboot the Motorola if you haven't already.

Chris

Marky_Mark896

02-01-07, 09:16 PM

Yeah, I had to do that today actually. The one firewire port quit working, and I had to switch to the other one for some reasaon.

vasilemj

02-02-07, 02:04 AM

I recently blew away my computer and started from scratch rebuilding the OS, etc. I have re-installed WinXP SP2 and went to install the firewire capture driver but ran into problems.

I am doing everything step-by-step as instructed but when I connect my Samsung STB SIR-T165 receiver I receive the following error:

"Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged (Code 19)"

Any suggestions would be VERY MUCH appreciated.

scottz29

02-02-07, 09:35 AM

Also reboot the Motorola if you haven't already.

Reboot as in cycle the power button, or reboot as in pull the plug out and put it back in??

Karl Beem

02-02-07, 09:47 AM

Does anyone know why the bit rate shown by capdvhs during capture is off by a factor of 2?

s.whiplash

02-02-07, 01:34 PM

Ok, I've read quite a bit on this thread, maybe 50 of the pages. I have a fairly new HP with WinXP and a Motorola 6416 from Insight. Here's my question............
If I can connect my mini DV camera through the firewire on my PC with no problem, have capture software for that specifically, shouldn't I be able to connect the 6416 in the same manner and capture programs I have already recorded to DVR? If you reply, you don't need to go into all the gory details, you'll lose me anyway! I guess I just wanna know if it's a possibily or not.
Thanks

pcprit, the answer is yes. This is what I do with a 6412. I don't know the differences with the 6416, but the drivers should work. The instructions provided earlier tell how to set it up. Here is a short description.

1. Install firewire drivers for the 64xx (firestb.zip in first post). Instructions are provided in zip file.
2. Connect 64xx to PC with firewire cable. Suggestion is to use right firewire port on back of 64xx, or try other port if not working properly.
3. I use CapDVHS as the capture program. Link provided in first post.
4. Play recorded file on 64xx and capture with CapDVHS. You can set the record time on CapDVHS to match the number of minutes of the program, so it will stop capturing and you don't need to watch it.

If the program or station is doing 5C or other copy protection you will not be able to capture the program.

You will end up with a transport stream (.ts) file on the hard drive after capturing. There are a number of programs and guides to edit/convert to other formats.

The captured files can be large. Some sizes I have seen are 3.5 to 5 Gig for 30 minutes of HD (depending on frame and resolution). 1.8 Gig fo 30 minutes of SD.

Also, what ever the cablebox is displaying on the TV is sent out the firewire port. So you could set the cablebox to turn on and play a particular channel and capture it on the PC at the same time. Also if you bring up cable guide or menus you will also capture those.

s.whiplash

02-02-07, 02:44 PM

I thought I would post that Vegas 7.0d now supports .ts files as input files. I don't know if it does all the demuxing and verifying of errors correctly. But I have recently created multiple DVDs using captured files from my Motorola 6412 with no apparent sync, video or audio errors.

I know there are other free programs that do similar things, but I have been using Vegas for some time and wanted to stay with it. I tried to open a .ts file with the 7.0B version and it didn't recognize it. I installed the 7.0d version and I'm able to open the captured .ts file in Vegas, cutout commercials, add titles, transitions and then create my DVD or other output formats. Vegas may be overkill for some tasks but it is nice to be able to use it now, when desired.

scottz29

02-02-07, 02:57 PM

s.whiplash

02-02-07, 03:24 PM

Great to know...I've been a Vegas user for years. Now if I could just get my cable box connected to my friggin computer somehow!?!? (Somebody please help!)

Being a Vegas user, did you use the VidCap program that comes with Vegas, or did you use that CapDVHS utility?

I have been using CapDVHS. My Vegas PC is in my office and my HTPC connected to the cablebox is down stairs. I would like to see if the Vegas VidCap works. I'll have to look to see what the registration for Vegas is and see if I can load it downstairs.

Sorry I can't help you with your problem. I'm just a hack at this and look to these foruns for support. :)

rasloco

02-02-07, 08:43 PM

Has anyone figured out how to gain direct access to the hard drive inside the DVR box via a firewire connection and windows XP?

funnyguy00

02-02-07, 09:14 PM

I'm having a similar problem to scottz29. Though I'm capturing in Linux. My problem seems to be that no video is output on firewire on my HD channels with Insight. I checked and 5C is disabled on those channels. Everything else seems to work fine as long as it in not HD.

Any ideas why HD channels don't output video? Aren't all channels required to be output via firewire (either 5C or not 5C) by the FCC?

Here is some output of a non-HD channel and an HD channel using firewire_tester. In MythTV it just gets no video for 15 seconds and returns to the menu. firewire_tester shows the firewire port is sending no data.

dmyth:~# firewire_tester -b -n 1 -r 5
Action: Test broadcast 5 times, node 1, channel 62
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 91 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 196 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 79 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 71 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 228 packets
dmyth:~# firewire_tester -b -n 1 -r 5
Action: Test broadcast 5 times, node 1, channel 62
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 96 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 78 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 176 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 95 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 164 packets
dmyth:~# 6200ch -v -n 1 912
starting with node: 1
node 1: vendor_id = 0x0000159a model_id = 0x000064cb
AV/C Command: 912 = Op1=0x00487C29 Op2=0x00487C21 Op3=0x00487C22
dmyth:~# firewire_tester -b -n 1 -r 5
Action: Test broadcast 5 times, node 1, channel 62
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
dmyth:~# firewire_tester -B -n 1
Action: Attempt to fix broadcast connection 1 times, node 1
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
Broadcast Fix: Failed

grittree

02-03-07, 09:03 AM

Funnyguy, when you check for 5C, look near the bottom and see if CCI=0x02 or 0x00.

weldon

02-03-07, 10:26 AM

Has anyone figured out how to gain direct access to the hard drive inside the DVR box via a firewire connection and windows XP?
This is not possible. The firewire port on the 6412 is connected to the video processor, not the storage system. It's meant to provide a digital a/v output. You can capture content in bit-perfect digital form by playing content on the 6412 and recording the firewire output with your PC, but this happens in realtime and there is no way to just transfer files from the HD to your PC.

pcprit

02-03-07, 06:02 PM

pcprit, the answer is yes. This is what I do with a 6412. I don't know the differences with the 6416, but the drivers should work. The instructions provided earlier tell how to set it up.you will also capture those.

For whatever reason, after I download the zipfile and extract the files, then hook everything up, it won't install the .sys files. I've tried it a dozen times and it won't work.
Any ideas?

bytester

02-04-07, 01:30 AM

Does anyone know if Vista drivers are available for the firewire connection?

Thanks!

jeff tilly

02-04-07, 01:03 PM

Does the .ts file play fine in VLC?

Yes the files do play in VLC great. I have captured some new programs and played them directly in VLC and they played great. Now I want to convert these .ts files into a format that I can burn onto a DVD. I can successfully convert them to MPEG2 using the HDTV to MPEG software but then I can't get them to play in Windows media player nor can I burn them to DVD using Roxio MyDVD Software. Is there another program that I can use to either get these files from .ts format onto a DVD or the converted MPEG2 format onto DVD? Thanks again.

danxmanly

02-04-07, 02:48 PM

I have Vegas 6.0, and whenever I have the Moto 6416 box plugged in via firewire, and launch Vegas, I get a "screwed up" looking blue screen. Says something to the effect of dumping memory and culprit is meistb file.. then computer reboots.

I capture my high def shows from the stb, (after many trial and errors ), via the capvhs on my HTPC. Then I can drag those files directly into Vegas and edit / re-render into a HD 720P file, that plays beautifully via Theatre Tek. So I guess it's not that different than capturing directly via Vegas input to begin with... just one extra process. Now if there was only some way to get around that damn copy flag! LOL

funnyguy00

02-04-07, 04:18 PM

Funnyguy, when you check for 5C, look near the bottom and see if CCI=0x02 or 0x00.

Yes, on those channels, CCI = 0x02. CCI and the other codes at the bottom of d06 aren't even listed for other channels.

So what does that mean to me? Some of these channels I pickup in clear QAM already, but I'm hoping the other channels that don't work via firewire like ESPN and TNTHD, etc would work.

Regards,

isamu

02-04-07, 04:42 PM

but this happens in realtime and there is no way to just transfer files from the HD to your PC.
I can't believe there hasn't been a solution for this yet. My DVR box is filled to brim with content and it would take me ages to recorded everything onto my PC in realtime. Is there is no way whatsoever to simply transfer the files and play them later?

teague

02-04-07, 10:31 PM

Yes the files do play in VLC great. I have captured some new programs and played them directly in VLC and they played great. Now I want to convert these .ts files into a format that I can burn onto a DVD. I can successfully convert them to MPEG2 using the HDTV to MPEG software but then I can't get them to play in Windows media player nor can I burn them to DVD using Roxio MyDVD Software. Is there another program that I can use to either get these files from .ts format onto a DVD or the converted MPEG2 format onto DVD? Thanks again.

I use SVCD2DVD. It works great. It converts the .ts file to a program stream (.mpg) and burns to DVD all in one step.

Chris

rasloco

02-04-07, 10:58 PM

weldon

02-05-07, 12:51 AM

Thanks!
Do any of the other connections on the back of the box offer access to the HD?
No.

kli

02-05-07, 12:42 PM

gsr

02-05-07, 05:49 PM

Thanks!
Do any of the other connections on the back of the box offer access to the HD?

Someone else already answered this with "no", but to be clear the ONLY known way to get contect off these boxes is via playback through firewire.

The only other possible option, which either has not been tried by anyone or was tried without success would be to physically remove the hard drive, hook it up to a PC, figure out the filesystem, figure out how to decrypt the contents if they're encrypted, and then finally pull the files off. If possible, this would be equivalent to extraction from a Tivo box and likely wouldn't be a welcome path of discussion at AVS Forums (discussion of how to do it with a Tivo isn't allowed in the Tivo forums).

If it were possible to easily pull files off the drive other than via playback, this thread probably wouldn't be nearly as long as it is and there would probably be all sort of discussion of how to get the files off (or at least slightly vague pointers to the forum where the discussion is allowed).

A search through this thread also would have answered the question for you... Asking the same question again isn't going to suddenly make it work ;).

teague

02-05-07, 08:17 PM

I finally got the chance to try exporting a show over firewire using CapDVHS & HDTVtoMpeg2. I followed the instructions as listed here: http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/

It seemed to work alright, except for the fact that my resulting video file appears as if its in slow motion... or more accurately, that its dropping every other frame or so. Sound is choppy as well as playback...

I had the passing thought *maybe* it was that my laptop wasn't up to snuff (Pentium M 2ghz w/ 1gb ram) but I'm pretty sure thats not the case - but correct me if I'm wrong.

Any thoughts on what it could be?

I can capture fine with a Pentium M 1.6 GHZ laptop with 512 MB. IIRC, it used roughly 50% of the cpu while capturing, but that's a foggy memory. But do make sure nothing else is running at the same time. A virus scan kicking in could cause that, or anything else that chews up CPU cycles.

sweetcaro

02-06-07, 12:27 AM

teague

02-06-07, 01:21 AM

s.whiplash

02-06-07, 01:09 PM

I successfully followed the instructions and I'm able to now capture streaming shows to my computer.
However, what I really want to be able to do is get those shows that have already been recorded by my DVR box. I have the Comcast motorola Dual Tuner DVR/HDTV Capable. At the moment I can only capture what I"m watching at the time I'm watching it.... what if I'm not home, I want to be able to set my DVR to record and then capture those recordings to my computer so I can back them up.
Is there a way to do that?

To add to what teague said. What ever you are watching is sent out the firewire port. The other thing you can do is set the cablebox to tune to a particular show when it's time comes. At least my Adelphia Moto DCT6412 has this option. Then you can set CapDVHS to start recording at just slight after the cablebox tuning to the station and the length to record. The TV does not need to be on, but your PC needs to be or or set to wake up. This saves having to play back the file from the DVR.

WeatherStar 4000

02-06-07, 02:23 PM

Is there another program you can use for firewire watching AND recording, and not
necessarily HD?

tluxon

02-06-07, 06:10 PM

Is there another program you can use for firewire watching AND recording, and not
necessarily HD?Might want to check out VividLogic (something like $100). Look for threads on here about "firebus" (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=751960). I haven't tried it, but it seems like it works well for some people and some haven't had much luck with it.

tluxon

02-06-07, 06:27 PM

What if I'm not home, I want to be able to set my DVR to record and then capture those recordings to my computer so I can back them up.
Is there a way to do that?Yes - in a way, but maybe not exactly the way you're looking for. I've got two DCT-3416s and two ReplayTVs. The ReplayTVs can only record 480i at up to 10 Mbits/sec, but they each utilize IR blasters to change the channel on the DVR at a preset time or according to the program guide. Files are easily extracted from the Replays and are DVD-compliant (or can easily be made compliant), if that's all you're looking for.

I haven't tried it, but you could probably schedule a firewire capture of live programming by having a ReplayTV (or any cable TV recording device with an IR-blaster) "tune" to the box for you while you're away.

mikedz5

02-07-07, 12:11 AM

will these instructions and programs work with windows vista home premium or shouldn't I even try them?

mikedz5

02-07-07, 09:12 AM

it keeps telling me cannot open output file. Why is capdhvs telling me this?

mikedz5

02-07-07, 09:52 AM

n/m I got it figured out. I just hope it records alright.

mikedz5

02-07-07, 10:28 AM

ok all i got when I converted the playable .ts files to .mpeg files was a blank file for some reason. I used the hdtv to mpeg2 convertor found on here earlier. What am I doing wrong. It created 3 files. *.0001, *.0002, *.0003. Is this right or wrong?
Thanks

Ok Fixed the blank screen problem. Now for some reason it recorded to my computer without audio. Does the 1394 record audio or do I need more cables for audio?
Thanks again.

tluxon

02-07-07, 05:29 PM

Does the 1394 record audio or do I need more cables for audio?Yes, firewire carries the whole transport stream, which is digital audio and video. Whatever you're converting your transport stream with might be dropping the audio. Have you tried playing the raw transport stream in VLC? You'll get the audio there.

mikedz5

02-07-07, 11:53 PM

ok. How do I record to an audio cd so that I can listen to it in my car? I recorded a concert on my DVR last summer (Jamboree in the hills). I'd like to be able to make a DVD or two (one for me, one for my Fiance', one for my parents with different sections for acts etc) and an audio cd for my car so I can listen in my car to the different acts live. Is this possible or am I dreaming?
Thanks

jon01

02-08-07, 12:43 AM

has there been any progress on the copy protection on 3/4 of the hd channels? i have the SA 4250HD receiver. going firewire to my amd x2 4600+ with 2gb ram, ati x700 video card xp pro sp2. i dont even care about recording for now, i just want to be able to watch hd channels on my pc.

- Jon

icarter

02-08-07, 01:48 AM

alright i managed to record and play and view streaming through vlc

BUT only the sound came out. the screen just black.

any idea why?

icarter

02-08-07, 01:50 AM

it keeps telling me cannot open output file. Why is capdhvs telling me this?

had same problem before. here's the solution:

go to setting tab of the D-VHS program. u need to specify the output folder

mcp87

02-08-07, 03:34 AM

Hey all i have a SA 3250HD that i am trying to record from via friware. I have followed the steps that were listed in the begining of the thread and was able to get thedrivers installed from what i can tell.

My system dectect the Tuner and Panel for teh 3240. But when i go to use CapDVHS i get 0byte files and then after 0-15 seconds i get the following error.

Error: 800705AA: Cannot start capture.

My pc seems to be comunticating to the cable becuase i notice when it try to capture when the cable box is off it kicks on as soon as i click Rec. But who knows could be germlins.

Any help or a kick :P in the right direct would be great

Thanks!

bigbus01

02-08-07, 08:09 AM

jon01

02-08-07, 09:24 AM

I can change channels but can't get anything else to work. I have tried SD and HD channels. I would love to get this to work. Do your drivers show as the Scientific-Atlanta 3250HD?

i have the 4250, but my drivers show the SA4200HD. Everything works great in VLC on the channels that arent copy protected. Audio is a little choppy, could be my headphones though, anyone else have an audio problem like this? the video looks GREAT.

- Jon

prototype_sx

02-08-07, 09:37 AM

Can this method be used to record encrypted channels as well?

mikedz5

02-08-07, 12:13 PM

is there anyway to record an audio cd for my car or record an professional looking dvd with different screens etc?
thanks

dc10forlife

02-08-07, 06:18 PM

I also just got a 3250HD. I usually get it to start recording (or so it says for 4 or 5 seconds) and then CapDVHS either goes away or the PC locks up. When I go in a second time, then I get your error. I then have to pull the firewire and replug it in. If I use VLC, then I either get a blue screen or nothing happens.

I can change channels but can't get anything else to work. I have tried SD and HD channels. I would love to get this to work. Do your drivers show as the Scientific-Atlanta 3250HD?

Bigbus

There are two potential issues. One, if CAPDVHS shows it records, but you get a 0 byte file, its likely you are trying to record a 5c copy protected channel. Won't work in any situation.

If it records on CAPDVHS for a couple of seconds and you do get a file, try playing that file in VLC. Chances are its choppy as hell. If this is the case, you probably have the latest firmware for the 3250HD which has all but destroyed the ability to record via firewire.

Before the firmware update I could capture fine on all channels. Afterwards its garbage. VLC records (and doesn't crash), but its a corrupted ts file that barely plays back. I'd be happy to send it to someone to troubleshoot, but again, I think its the firmware in the 3250HD.

bigbus01

02-08-07, 08:43 PM

Thanks for the reply. I just got the box from Comcast and you are probably right about the firmware blocking firewire capture. I get the 0 file size and Cap only "records" a couple of seconds even on standard definition channels. VLC doesn't seem to do anything. Guess I'll have to stick with S-Video recording and over the air HD.

Bigbus

deviateus

02-08-07, 10:43 PM

Hello, I have a Motorola 3412 STB. I followed the instructions here to get the firewire connection working and I had no luck. When I try to have the AVC Tuner automatically recognize the appropriate data. It does not find it.

Also, I have not been able to get my new Dell computer with dual tuner/ XP MCE working with channel changing. I get as far as watching my IR blaster blinking but it does not change the channel. I have been on the phone with Dell for 3 months. They are clueless. Same result from Comast & Motorola..

Please someone help. I have my Dell TV Dual Tuner for 6 months and have never got my channel changing working. I can only record what is on the STB channel. It actually records with the wrong show description too...

scottz29

02-09-07, 01:20 PM

Hello, I have a Motorola 3412 STB. I followed the instructions here to get the firewire connection working and I had no luck. When I try to have the AVC Tuner automatically recognize the appropriate data. It does not find it.No luck on my 3412 here either. I get a "cannot connect to samplegrabber" error when i press the "Rec" button on CapDVHS. Are you getting that error too? Diagnostics says the firewire port is enabled, but not active.

bigbus01

02-10-07, 04:56 PM

I got it to capture content on Comcast HD On Demand. It only recorded for 15 seconds but it works. Looks like my problem is encrypted channels.

Bigbus

tloder

02-10-07, 04:58 PM

When trasnferring from my DVR recordings, I can record the video fine, but I get no audio. When I record live program material, I do get audio.

Any idea what could be going wrong?

Tom

ZManCartFan

02-10-07, 06:24 PM

When trasnferring from my DVR recordings, I can record the video fine, but I get no audio. When I record live program material, I do get audio.

Any idea what could be going wrong?

Tom

The problem has to be in your playback, as the transport stream that is captured by nature has both audio and video. If you're getting video, you're getting audio.

It's most likely that you don't have the right audio codec installed for playback. I think a lot of people have reported success watching with Nero's video player if you have access to it.

ayman86

02-10-07, 06:59 PM

i am wondering is it possible if i borrow my brothers dvr and record the tv shows off the hard drive?

thanks
ayman

tloder

02-10-07, 10:31 PM

It's odd though that with live recording, the audio works fine. It's only the DVR recordings that don't playback the audio.

jon01

02-11-07, 09:47 AM

anyone able to record with a SA4250? what software do you use? i tried to change channels using timmoore's app and it said something like '4300 device not supported'.

- Jon

grittree

02-11-07, 10:08 AM

It's odd though that with live recording, the audio works fine. It's only the DVR recordings that don't playback the audio.

What do you mean by "live"? There is no "live" on a DVR.

ZManCartFan

02-11-07, 10:20 AM

What do you mean by "live"? There is no "live" on a DVR.

I assumed s/he meant recording while watching versus trying to capture a recording that has already been made on the DVR.

I'm wondering, though, if the issue is not one of "live" versus "DVR" but rather two different channels. Is it possible that when recording "live" you're recording a station that's broadcasting in DD 2.0, and when trying to capture the DVR recording you're trying to grab one with DD 5.1? That would support the codec theory if you don't have an AC-3 or DD 5.1 codec installed. A recording that's done with only DD 2.0 will play back fine in Windows, but 5.1 requires another codec.

tloder

02-11-07, 10:53 AM

I assumed s/he meant recording while watching versus trying to capture a recording that has already been made on the DVR.

That is what I meant. I will look around for a codec, and try that.

BTW, using VLC for playback

nobiggie

02-11-07, 12:48 PM

In the past I was able to capture shows via firewire to my PC using CapDVHS. I could capture audio and video as they were happening (ie: from a live cable feed, not a recorded show on the hard drive) **AND** I could capture audio and video from the playback of a show recorded on the hard drive.

I'm not sure what changed, if anything, but for some reason now, I can only capture audio and video from live cable feeds - not from the playback of a show that has been recorded on the hard drive of the DCT-6412.

Looking on the "Data Info" tab of CapDVHS, the size, aspect ratio, frame rate and bit rate all fill in automatically when I record from a show that is currently airing, but when I playback a recorded show from the hard drive in the DVR, and click on record, these fields don't populate and the resulting file, although full size, can not be played back.

Has anyone else run in to this? Perhaps it's due to updates my cable company has sent down to the box that prevent this? Any help would be appreciated, as I have some shows captured on the hard drive that I would like to back up.

grittree

02-11-07, 01:07 PM

tloder

02-11-07, 02:42 PM

It's important to understand that there is no live (as in passthrough) from a DVR. Everything output is a recording from the hard drive. Doesn't matter if it's 2 seconds delayed or 2 weeks.

While it is being recorded, there is a difference between the DVR recodrings and the temp recording of live material. That material is not saved or "recorded" unless you hit the record button. The hard drive is just buffering an amount of video which gets overwritten after about 45 minutes or so.

I am having the same issue as nobiggie. Specifically, I am trying to capture the halftime show from the Superbowl. I assume that I could have watch this live and recorded it with CAPDVHS, and it would have been fine (Did not test this theory though). I have done so with Lost and other not 5c material like SNL.

I did try some live captures from TNT which was in 5.1 which should have been fine, but I get no audio. This leads me to believe as suggested above that it is a codec issue with 5.1 sound. I don't know where to get codecs for VLC though.

Thoughts?

bigbus01

02-11-07, 04:45 PM

Jon01,

On my 3250HD I got the same response (device not supported). Take a look at the readme file. You have to find out the device number of your "AV/C Panel". Mine was 2 and when I typed in "channel -v 2 210" where 2 is the device number and 210 is the channel number, it worked great (make sure you use a valid channel number). I now have GBPVR using firewire to change channels.

I still can't get a good capture though (only a few seconds on some On Demand content), I called Comcast and they told me that firewire capture has been blocked.

Bigbus

grittree

02-11-07, 04:47 PM

Sorry, but the hard drive is the only source of output. To the screen or to the 1394 port.

This has nothing to do with 5C.

bigbus01

02-11-07, 06:41 PM

I just found post #456 that describes how to look at the parameters/settings for my SA3250HD. It looks like my channels are not encrypted but my firewire ports are not enabled (although I can change channels via firewire). I guess there is no way around that.

Is there anything I can do to change that?

Bigbus

ZManCartFan

02-11-07, 06:45 PM

While it is being recorded, there is a difference between the DVR recodrings and the temp recording of live material. That material is not saved or "recorded" unless you hit the record button. The hard drive is just buffering an amount of video which gets overwritten after about 45 minutes or so.

I realize this is a bit off-topic, but you do raise a good distinction. When you're wathching something "live" using a DVR, are you actually watching the signal straight from the cable to the tuner? Or are you watching a split-second delay of the same signal after it has been written and then read from the hard drive?

I had always thought it was the latter -- that you never actually were watching a truly live signal in the same way that you would be using a straight cable box, for example. But in thinking of how the 3416 boxes that I have operate, I'm wondering if that's the case. I do notice a split second shift when I press the pause button on a "live" show. The pause is never quite at the moment that the button is pressed. It makes me wonder if that's the moment that the DVR switches from the "live" source to reading from the drive.

I still don't think it would make a difference for the firewire capture, though. THAT shouldn't make any difference at all, as like I said before, you're getting the whole transport stream once it has made it to the PC. If you're not getting audio but you are getting video, the only thing that it can possibly be is a codec problem.

tloder

02-11-07, 09:35 PM

tluxon

02-12-07, 03:27 AM

Arvy

02-12-07, 04:29 AM

Rats! The broadcasting of our local NBC-HD affiliate just started passing the RC Flag of 0x01 to the Comcast box, causing yet another of our locals to carry the CCI of 0x02. It was bad enough that this happened to our local Fox-HD and CBS-HD programming last fall, but now this? The only local left that still has an RC Flag of 0x00 is our local ABC-HD affiliate, so opportunities to capture firewire off the Comcast DVR are rapidly disappearing.

It's leaving me little choice other than to buy some big hard drives and HD tuners. What good is the DVR going to be then if I can't even view local programming from it on displays of my choice and/or save stuff from them?

When is someone going to make dual-tuner OTA DVRs that allow us to view recorded programming on our notebooks and/or to save shows/clips from recorded OTA shows? When are they going to stop treating us as criminals by DRM controls that do nothing to stop the real theives?

There must be some recourse.

Write your Congressperson and quote the attached CFR. I gave up trying after numerous calls to TWC SoCal and 2 replacement boxes.

jon01

02-12-07, 11:26 AM

tluxon

02-12-07, 01:57 PM

Okay, I am a dumba$$. I just realized I can no longer record audio from a "live" stream. So I must have a setting disabled somewhere within CAPDVHS.

This dawned on me when I noticed that not all of the fields on the Data info screen were being populated. See the pic in the link CAPDVHS screen (http://www.tomloder.com/CAPDVHS.jpg)

I believe previously those were populated with misc. numbers. Am I right or wrong.I don't remember ever seeing any of the other fields populated. Since the stream contains both audio and video, I'm pretty sure you're going to want to demux the stream to separate them.

tluxon

02-12-07, 04:29 PM

Write your Congressperson and quote the attached CFR. I gave up trying after numerous calls to TWC SoCal and 2 replacement boxes.That regulation doesn't appear to apply to whether or not programming should have the copy restriction flag on it such as the CCI=0x02 that cripples our firewire to XP process.

A more definitive source of information is probably the Telecommunication section of the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) ( Code of Federal Regulations Title 47, Chapter I, Subchapter C, Part 76, specifically §76.1904, paragraph (a) (http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=c1af73cf8621f5f48a59994e0a682317&rgn=div8&view=text&node=47:4.0.1.1.4.23.3.4&idno=47)).

I'm not a lawyer, but at one time it had seemed pretty clear to me from reading the above summary and then browsing through the linked pages, Subpart W--Encoding Rules (http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr;sid=2d31437f87e8937fb7f860afdc0ced6b;rgn=div6;vie w=text;node=47%3A4.0.1.1.4.23;idno=47;cc=ecfr), that programming content originating unencrypted over the air should not be encoded so as to prevent or limit copying. I interpreted that to mean that any programming broadcast free over the air (whether network, Hi-Def, or whatever) must result in CCI=0x00 encoding on a cable box, regardless of the output (component, HDMI, firewire, etc.). The only exceptions appear to be for video-on-demand, pay-per-view, or pay television transmissions.
...
§ 76.1904 Encoding rules for defined business models.

(a) Commercial audiovisual content delivered as unencrypted broadcast television shall not be encoded so as to prevent or limit copying thereof by covered products or, to constrain the resolution of the image when output from a covered product.

(b) Except for a specific determination made by the Commission pursuant to a petition with respect to a defined business model other than unencrypted broadcast television, or an undefined business model subject to the procedures set forth in §76.1906:

(1) Commercial audiovisual content shall not be encoded so as to prevent or limit copying thereof except as follows:

(i) To prevent or limit copying of video-on-demand or pay-per-view transmissions, subject to the requirements of paragraph (b)(2) of this section; and

(ii) To prevent or limit copying, other than first generation of copies, of pay television transmissions, non-premium subscription television, and free conditional access delivery transmissions; and

(2) With respect to any commercial audiovisual content delivered or transmitted in form of a video-on-demand or pay-per-view transmission, a covered entity shall not encode such content so as to prevent a covered product, without further authorization, from pausing such content up to 90 minutes from initial transmission by the covered entity (e.g., frame-by-frame, minute-by-minute, megabyte by megabyte).
...I wonder if I've been getting it all wrong, though, because now we're seeing network programming (HD/SD on the HD channel) carrying an RC Flag of 0x01 which seems to be triggering the CCI=0x02 on many of our cable boxes. This despite the fact that the same program is going out freely over-the-air at the same time. Does this mean then that there's a distinction between what's broadcast free over-the-air and what constitutes an "unencrypted broadcast"? Apparently so.

Any takers at trying to explain or clarify this?

tloder

02-12-07, 09:28 PM

I don't remember ever seeing any of the other fields populated. Since the stream contains both audio and video, I'm pretty sure you're going to want to demux the stream to separate them.

I don't want to separate them, I just want to getvideo and audio recording again.

grittree

02-12-07, 10:01 PM

Any takers at trying to explain or clarify this?

I think there was a good discussion on this in the San Francisco local threed. A few months ago. Someone there seemed to be really up on this.

If you write the FCC, this is what you will get:

Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:44:58 -0500 (EST)
From: <FCCInfo@fcc.gov>
Reply-To: <FCCInfo@fcc.gov>
Subject: CIMS00000198457 - Comcast blocking copy of OTA TV...isn't that illegal?

You are receiving this email in response to your inquiry to the FCC.

Thanks for contacting the FCC Consumer Center.

On September 10, 2003, the FCC adopted rules permitting TV sets to be built with
?plug and play? functionality for one-way digital cable services, which include
typical cable programming services and premium channels like HBO and Showtime.

FCC Rule Section 76.640, entitled, ?Support for Unidirectional Digital Cable
Products on Digital Cable Systems,? in subparagraph (a) notes that the
requirements apply to digital cable systems with one or more channels utilizing
QAM modulation for transporting programs and services from their head ends to
receiving devices. Cable systems that only pass through 8 VSB broadcast signals
shall not be considered digital cable systems.

Complaints alleging violations of FCC rules should be in writing briefly stating
facts and sent to:

Federal Communications Commission
Enforcement Bureau
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554

tluxon

02-13-07, 02:12 AM

Thanks for the contact information, grittree. That correspondence from the FCC makes it evident that regulations pertaining to 8VSB (OTA) transmissions are distinctly different than they are for digital cable transmissions.

If so, I'm afraid we don't have any real leverage over how the cable company handles QAM transmissions. Best advice is probably to try to work with them in a cooperative manner. I've been emphasizing my desire to watch HDTV programming on my laptop rather than making captures. There's probably very little chance I can affect any change, but trying is probably better than not.

kli

02-13-07, 12:27 PM

I finally got the chance to try exporting a show over firewire using CapDVHS & HDTVtoMpeg2. I followed the instructions as listed here: http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/
It seemed to work alright, except for the fact that my resulting video file appears as if its in slow motion... or more accurately, that its dropping every other frame or so. Sound is choppy as well as playback...
I had the passing thought *maybe* it was that my laptop wasn't up to snuff (Pentium M 2ghz w/ 1gb ram) but I'm pretty sure thats not the case - but correct me if I'm wrong.
Any thoughts on what it could be?
I can capture fine with a Pentium M 1.6 GHZ laptop with 512 MB. IIRC, it used roughly 50% of the cpu while capturing, but that's a foggy memory. But do make sure nothing else is running at the same time. A virus scan kicking in could cause that, or anything else that chews up CPU cycles.

I got around to trying it again, and I'm still having the same issue. I typically run very little in the background if at all possible, but I made sure nothing else that wasn't essential was running in the background, and I still have the same issue. I'm not really sure what else it could be.

tluxon

02-13-07, 01:14 PM

...It seemed to work alright, except for the fact that my resulting video file appears as if its in slow motion... or more accurately, that its dropping every other frame or so. Sound is choppy as well as playback...I got around to trying it again, and I'm still having the same issue. I typically run very little in the background if at all possible, but I made sure nothing else that wasn't essential was running in the background, and I still have the same issue. I'm not really sure what else it could be.How long is your firewire cable?

kli

02-13-07, 01:25 PM

How long is your firewire cable?

The firewire cable is a 6Ft M/M 6pin to 4pin cable that I picked up from a local computer store.

tluxon

02-13-07, 01:27 PM

Rats! The broadcasting of our local NBC-HD affiliate just started passing the RC Flag of 0x01 to the Comcast box, causing yet another of our locals to carry the CCI of 0x02. It was bad enough that this happened to our local Fox-HD and CBS-HD programming last fall, but now this? The only local left that still has an RC Flag of 0x00 is our local ABC-HD affiliate, so opportunities to capture firewire off the Comcast DVR are rapidly disappearing...Interesting update here. Since last October our local CBS-HD affiliate has had a CCI flag of 0x02, and I'm assuming it's always been caused by the reaction of the box to the network's RC Descriptor of 0x01.

Last night during Letterman I checked it again - as I do every couple days or so - and this time both the CCI and RC Flag were at 0x00! I'm not sure what the deal is, but I must say I never expected to get freedom back quite like this. Perhaps it's just an anomaly or a test of some kind or maybe some new equipment that isn't in its final configuration yet. I'll just have to wait and see.

I checked FOX-HD and it was at 0x00 as well, but that was to be expected as it was only carrying SD programming at the time, so I'll have to check it again during HD programming. I double-checked NBC-HD and it was still at RC Flag=0x01 and CCI=0x02, so it's definitely not an across-the-board thing.

Anybody else notice any changes to their RC Flags or CCIs?

tluxon

02-13-07, 01:29 PM

The firewire cable is a 6Ft M/M 6pin to 4pin cable that I picked up from a local computer store.Okay, that's probably not it. What RPM does your hard drive run at and how full is it?

kli

02-13-07, 05:27 PM

dr1394

02-13-07, 05:48 PM

Interesting update here. Since last October our local CBS-HD affiliate has had a CCI flag of 0x02, and I'm assuming it's always been caused by the reaction of the box to the network's RC Descriptor of 0x01.

Last night during Letterman I checked it again - as I do every couple days or so - and this time both the CCI and RC Flag were at 0x00! I'm not sure what the deal is, but I must say I never expected to get freedom back quite like this. Perhaps it's just an anomaly or a test of some kind or maybe some new equipment that isn't in its final configuration yet. I'll just have to wait and see.

I checked FOX-HD and it was at 0x00 as well, but that was to be expected as it was only carrying SD programming at the time, so I'll have to check it again during HD programming. I double-checked NBC-HD and it was still at RC Flag=0x01 and CCI=0x02, so it's definitely not an across-the-board thing.

Anybody else notice any changes to their RC Flags or CCIs?
The cable head-end has to explicitly forward PMT descriptors and PSIP packets from the received ATSC stream into their QAM stream. It's done with programmable hardware, so anything is possible.

Here in the SF Bay Area, it's a mix. Some channels have everything forwarded (CBS and FOX) and some don't (ABC).

Ron

tluxon

02-13-07, 06:32 PM

The cable head-end has to explicitly forward PMT descriptors and PSIP packets from the received ATSC stream into their QAM stream. It's done with programmable hardware, so anything is possible.

Here in the SF Bay Area, it's a mix. Some channels have everything forwarded (CBS and FOX) and some don't (ABC).

RonWhat do you think is a possible explanation for why CBS-HD here would have an RC flag of 0x01 and CCI of 0x02 for 4+ months and then suddenly change back to 0x00?

Have you noticed any change in the RC flag and/or CCI of your CBS-HD channel in the last 24 hours?

If it's something that changed at the head-end, can you guess why CBS would be changed in one direction (going from copy once to copy free) at pretty much the same time NBC went the other direction (copy free to copy once)?

What RC status are you seeing on NBC now?

I'm trying to see how this recent event might fit into my conceptualization of how this all works so my two-way discussions with the manager of our local Comcast service center make sense and are accurate as far as is possible.

I felt like I was being encouraged to think the RC flag was being put in by CBS nationally and that whether or not it resulted in a CCI=0x02 for me was dependent on the local cable company and/or local DVR firmware. At some point it looked like the RC flag was more likely to be incorporated at a national level and the CCI flag was STB-centric and dictated locally. If this is not necessarily the case, perhaps it is dictated nationally but implemented (or not) at a local level.

grittree

02-13-07, 07:23 PM

The only thing I can add is that it isn't a network thing. Reports of which stations can be copied are opposite in many markets. I know here, where two companies operate the big 4, it is based on the owner. Specifically, the Clear Channel owned ones are blocked.

SlashBatre

02-14-07, 12:08 AM

I can record live feeds flawlessly w/ CapdVHS, however, any previously recorded programs coming off the DVR is heavily plagued w/ visual wrinkles and hiccups.

has there been any mention of or solution to these kind of problems?

dr1394

02-14-07, 06:19 AM

What do you think is a possible explanation for why CBS-HD here would have an RC flag of 0x01 and CCI of 0x02 for 4+ months and then suddenly change back to 0x00?

Have you noticed any change in the RC flag and/or CCI of your CBS-HD channel in the last 24 hours?

If it's something that changed at the head-end, can you guess why CBS would be changed in one direction (going from copy once to copy free) at pretty much the same time NBC went the other direction (copy free to copy once)?

What RC status are you seeing on NBC now?

I'm trying to see how this recent event might fit into my conceptualization of how this all works so my two-way discussions with the manager of our local Comcast service center make sense and are accurate as far as is possible.

I felt like I was being encouraged to think the RC flag was being put in by CBS nationally and that whether or not it resulted in a CCI=0x02 for me was dependent on the local cable company and/or local DVR firmware. At some point it looked like the RC flag was more likely to be incorporated at a national level and the CCI flag was STB-centric and dictated locally. If this is not necessarily the case, perhaps it is dictated nationally but implemented (or not) at a local level.
The rc_descriptor is inserted by the local DTV stations encoder (except for FOX stations when they are on the network splicer feed, in which case it's being inserted by the FOX network encoder). So upgrades or change outs of encoders can affect the insertion of the rc_descriptor. For example, when the local NBC affiliate (KNTV-DT) upgraded their encoder, they stopped inserting the rc_descriptor (and have been STB 1394 copy free ever since).

Many DTV stations (especially CBS affiliates) are still using older Harris Flexicoder encoders. When it looked like the Broadcast Flag was going to be reality in 2005, Harris updated all their Flexicoders in the field. So a lot of rc_desciptor insertion is just leftovers from that update.

Cable head-ends are always fiddling with their QAM streams (at least they seem to here in Silicon Valley). So that can also affect forwarding of the rc_descriptor.

The only way to really know what's going on is to capture both the OTA stream and the QAM stream to see if there's an rc_desciptor to begin with in the OTA stream and if it's being forwarded in the QAM stream.

Ron

tluxon

02-14-07, 03:19 PM

The rc_descriptor is inserted by the local DTV stations encoder (except for FOX stations when they are on the network splicer feed, in which case it's being inserted by the FOX network encoder). So upgrades or change outs of encoders can affect the insertion of the rc_descriptor. For example, when the local NBC affiliate (KNTV-DT) upgraded their encoder, they stopped inserting the rc_descriptor (and have been STB 1394 copy free ever since).

>That makes sense to me and corroborates with the fact that a Tech at our local CBS affiliate mentioned that they installed a new encoder when I enquired about my CCI change back in October. At the time I suspected that the "new encoder" was related to the change in CCI but the Tech didn't seem to know anything other than that it was a new encoder.

Yes, I've noticed that FOX is the only network where the RC and CCI flags change here depending on whether the programming originates locally or nationally.<

Many DTV stations (especially CBS affiliates) are still using older Harris Flexicoder encoders. When it looked like the Broadcast Flag was going to be reality in 2005, Harris updated all their Flexicoders in the field. So a lot of rc_desciptor insertion is just leftovers from that update.

>It seems a little odd that our local CBS affiliate might've had to change out their "new encoder" so soon, so I wonder if perhaps they're just using the old one temporarily. It sure would be nice if they could keep things as they are (flagged free) - at least for the NCAA tournament and again next fall for football.

Perhaps our NBC affiliate just got one of these "new encoders". :(

Or should I be referring to these as "old encoders"?<

Cable head-ends are always fiddling with their QAM streams (at least they seem to here in Silicon Valley). So that can also affect forwarding of the rc_descriptor.

>This is where I was hoping I could make some inroads, but I didn't realize cable companies were free to "fiddle" with the QAM streams in such a way that might modify a passing rc_descriptor. Have you had any conversations with your cable company that would leave room for optimism that they might someday be willing to alter the forwarding of the rc_descriptor to allow laptop viewing via firewire of HD programming that's already free on ATSC?<

The only way to really know what's going on is to capture both the OTA stream and the QAM stream to see if there's an rc_desciptor to begin with in the OTA stream and if it's being forwarded in the QAM stream.

>Well, I haven't tried that yet as I just picked up a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1600 to try out. When I get some streams to compare, would you mind helping me view them (I'm not sure what to open them with)?<

RonI'm also enquiring about getting the R5000-HD mod done to an old Hughes HIRD-E86 that's been collecting dust the last few years. I've never been a satellite subscriber so it's only been used for OTA. Since we've always had cable and are in a great OTA area, I'm just not sure if the R5000-HD mod is preferable to simply building up a PC with a couple HDTV tuner cards in it. I think I would prefer to just stick with what I've got if the time was coming soon that I could simply firewire view/capture local HD from my cable DVRs. Do you have any pertinent recommendations or suggestions?

Thanks!

Tim

kli

02-15-07, 12:03 PM

Okay, that's probably not it. What RPM does your hard drive run at and how full is it?

Its a 60gb 7200rpm drive... there's about 9gb of space left. The "test files" i'm creating are only 5 mins long, and are about 650mb give or take.

Anyone else have any insights as to why my CAPDVHS captures from my moto3412 box are coming back choppy? Like I mentioned before, I have everything set just as the guide from replayguide shows. I'm trying to capture it over firewire onto a laptop (P M 2.0ghz w 1gb RAM). It appears to capture fine, although of course I should verify that the original .ts file doesn't have the issue (anyone know of a player that plays .ts files?). However playing back the converted mpg file results in a choppy video that appears to have dropped frames.

Arvy

02-15-07, 12:26 PM

As I recall, before firewire caps stopped in my area, VideoLan Client (VLC) played back .ts files. VLC is freeware.

cdissmore

02-15-07, 12:34 PM

tluxon

02-15-07, 01:22 PM

Anyone else have any insights as to why my CAPDVHS captures from my moto3412 box are coming back choppy? Like I mentioned before, I have everything set just as the guide from replayguide shows. I'm trying to capture it over firewire onto a laptop (P M 2.0ghz w 1gb RAM). It appears to capture fine, although of course I should verify that the original .ts file doesn't have the issue (anyone know of a player that plays .ts files?). However playing back the converted mpg file results in a choppy video that appears to have dropped frames.I always confirm my capture is good by opening the .ts file in VLC before doing any kind of conversion. My conversion and editing is always done in Womble's Mpeg Video Wizard, which cleans up minor issues, occasionally even choppiness.

My 3416 usually begins having output issues after two or more captures from the same program file. A hard (unplug for 10 seconds) reboot always gets it back to normal and good behavior is resumed (5 to 10 minutes later - sometimes longer to resolve ALL the glitches). I have to do it so often I just put a switch inline with the power cord.

Give the power cycle a try before your next capture to see if things improve.

vanderneut

02-15-07, 10:08 PM

Hi everyone.... I'm kinda new here.

First of all: HOLY @#^&#* THIS IS SO AMAZING!! Thanks so much for everybody who helped put this setup together. I followed the instructions, and it looks like I have been able to capture footage from the Grammy's and this year's SuperBowl HalfTime show in full high definition... I cannot tell you how excited I am.

Now I just need to get a faster PC to play back this footage, because my CPU jumps up to about 85% when I play it back, and while the image looks fantastic, the sounds stutters. I'm suprised it's the sound that got affected, and not the image quality. Is that typical? Or could it be that my capture wasn't perfect after all :-( My plan is to take these files to a much faster PC and test it out there. (See below for details of my setup.)

Second question: what are .ts files..? I can't figure this one out. I have the extension set to .mpg and I can play those files back. Does CAPDVHS do something different when you set the extensions to .ts? What is the resulting difference exactly?

A few more quick details re. my setup:
- DVR: Comcast Motorola 6412 (Cambridge, MA)
- PC OS: Windows Media Center Edition
- CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2700+
- RAM: 2 Gig
- Graphics card: ATI Radeon X800XT

Again, thanks so much everybody. I'll let you know if the sound plays back fine on a faster computer, or if otherwise my capture is not quite good. Any additional info on the .ts file or other tips really appreciated. (For example: could I improve things by installing different MPEG codecs maybe..? I'm a bit clueless about that, I'm afraid.)

- Erik

vanderneut

02-16-07, 12:25 AM

Okay, in the meantime I have learned that .ts is the extension for the Transport Streaming files coming off the cable-box-DVRs. I assume that means that the capturing I did resulted in TS files that I named .mpg.

I assume I can just rename the files to *.ts and then deal with them in HDTVtoMPEG2 for example.

Here's a question I'd love to know the answer to:
Can .ts files be burned to DVD discs that will then play in HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players in the original 1920x1080 resolution? That would be truly awesome!

Thanks,

- Erik

teague

02-16-07, 01:23 AM

Here's a question I'd love to know the answer to:
Can .ts files be burned to DVD discs that will then play in HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players in the original 1920x1080 resolution? That would be truly awesome!

Thanks,

- Erik

To get them to play in a blu-ray player, you will need a blu-ray burner.

There are a few video editors that will burn regular DVD disk with 1920x1080 resolution that will play in an HD-DVD player, but that DVD will only hold 20-30 minutes of HD data. To burn longer files will require an HD-DVD burner.

Chris

hockey2112

02-16-07, 09:36 AM

To get them to play in a blu-ray player, you will need a blu-ray burner.

There are a few video editors that will burn regular DVD disk with 1920x1080 resolution that will play in an HD-DVD player, but that DVD will only hold 20-30 minutes of HD data. To burn longer files will require an HD-DVD burner.

Chris

What about burning multiple TS files to one single-layer DVD? I have a bunch of 24 season 6 episodes captured to TS, and I would like to somehow "shrink" then and burn four per disc, like the retail DVDs. I believe SVCD2DVD will do this, but I do not want to pay for that program withgout knowing exactly how good the quality would be if I do what I want to do. Anyone have any suggestions?

jkb081759

02-16-07, 09:56 AM

I've searched this thread to see if anyone had any success with Vista on installing the STB drivers and running CapDVHS (I have a Motorola 6200, I think). Since I couldn't find anything, I struck out on my own. With some trial and (lots of) error :eek:, I got it to work. Let me just say I didn't want to install the drivers in Vista by choice; I just got a new laptop with Vista Premium on it, and couldn't spend the extra cash and time to backfit XP on it.

In short, I followed the instructions at the beginning of this thread, and the drivers posted did not work with my machine. In the end, the instructions were correct, but the drivers themselves would not play with Vista (on my machine anyways). After some desperation and uninstall/reboot/reinstall sessions, I thought it was time for looking at other drivers.

I tried the old "meidvhs" panasonic DVHS emulation drivers that worked on my very old laptop (see my previous post a while ago!). In short, didn't work either. Had to clean the entries from the device manager afterwards...

Here's what finally worked for me. :) The instructions to install are the same as in the OP, the following are just the deltas.

Search for this thread on a post with a zip file called "drivers_channel.zip (105.6 KB)" [this forum won't let me post an URL, not my fault! :mad: ] and copy to a folder. On a "clean" machine, plug in the 1394 cable with STB on. When going through the "Windows gauntlet" driver install, point install to that folder. CapDVHS worked after that! NOTE: The driver install sequence in Vista is very slightly different than XP. The intent is the same, but the wording is different.

Also note, the 5C issue is still with Vista. All encrypted channels will still not work with Vista on my machine as described (I guess Microsoft will have to write some sort of drivers to work with 5C).

For playback, I was surprised that Vista came with playback drivers for the TS files that come out of CapDVHS :eek: Now the bad news, the default playback stinks :( However, the bright ray of sunshine was VLC :) Despite all the negative feedback on the VLC forum about working under Vista, it _does_ work great on mine!!!!

kli

02-16-07, 12:26 PM

I always confirm my capture is good by opening the .ts file in VLC before doing any kind of conversion. My conversion and editing is always done in Womble's Mpeg Video Wizard, which cleans up minor issues, occasionally even choppiness.

My 3416 usually begins having output issues after two or more captures from the same program file. A hard (unplug for 10 seconds) reboot always gets it back to normal and good behavior is resumed (5 to 10 minutes later - sometimes longer to resolve ALL the glitches). I have to do it so often I just put a switch inline with the power cord.

Give the power cycle a try before your next capture to see if things improve.

So I had a moment last night to try out VLC to playback the .ts file and found that the actual capture from the moto box is perfect. Playback is smooth and looks great. So i guess that the HDTVtoMPEG2 program specified isn't configured correctly somehow. I followed the instructions exactly, and double & triple checked each time I tried it. Any thoughts on what could be the problem?

hjohns1

02-16-07, 01:14 PM

So I had a moment last night to try out VLC to playback the .ts file and found that the actual capture from the moto box is perfect. Playback is smooth and looks great. So i guess that the HDTVtoMPEG2 program specified isn't configured correctly somehow. I followed the instructions exactly, and double & triple checked each time I tried it. Any thoughts on what could be the problem?

If you are using HDTVtoMPEG2 to convert your .ts files to .mpg files then you should really be using VideoRedo because the HDTVtoMPEG2 program is really only designed to edit out sections/commercials from a .ts file despite it's name.

If you've got the time to read through 48 pages of postings, you will find out it's limitations.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=395744

kli

02-16-07, 04:49 PM

If you are using HDTVtoMPEG2 to convert your .ts files to .mpg files then you should really be using VideoRedo because the HDTVtoMPEG2 program is really only designed to edit out sections/commercials from a .ts file despite it's name.

If you've got the time to read through 48 pages of postings, you will find out it's limitations.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=395744

Good to know. I figured since all the guides suggested using HDTVtoMPEG2, I'd give it a whirl. Typically in the past I've used TmpgEnc Xpress for video stuff. I'll have to look into whether or not it supports .ts files. I have used the VideoReDo trial before and its definitely user friendly.

Thanks for the heads up.

teague

02-16-07, 08:13 PM

What about burning multiple TS files to one single-layer DVD? I have a bunch of 24 season 6 episodes captured to TS, and I would like to somehow "shrink" then and burn four per disc, like the retail DVDs. I believe SVCD2DVD will do this, but I do not want to pay for that program withgout knowing exactly how good the quality would be if I do what I want to do. Anyone have any suggestions?

That works fine with SVCD2DVD. You can download the demo version to test. I went ahead and paid for it after I was happy with the demo (~$18.00). But when you put too long a show on a single layer DVD, the quality starts to suffer.

You can also use HDTV2DVD, which is a free version of SVCD2DVD that only does the .ts 2 DVD conversion.

Chris

vanderneut

02-17-07, 12:30 AM

If you are using HDTVtoMPEG2 to convert your .ts files to .mpg files then you should really be using VideoRedo because the HDTVtoMPEG2 program is really only designed to edit out sections/commercials from a .ts file despite it's name.

I also tried VideoRedo today and I must say that I am so pleased with it that I will most likely end up registering it (unless I were to find something even better). Through VideoRedo I was able to verify that my captures were good (still have to try VLC for that as well -- I'm still new to all this), and I was able to convert the .ts files to .vob files (just as a test really), and to my pleasant surprise: those .vob files at full 1920x1080 resolution played beautifully on my machine, including sound without any hickups!

I recorded the Police performance from the Grammy's, and Prince's SuperBowl halftime show. It's shorter things like that that I am really interested in. So, that's why I am also interested in burning HD material on regular DVD5 or DVD9 discs that I can play in an HD-DVD player. If I can do that, then I am going to get myself a nice Toshiba HD-XA2. Does anyone know what file format I would have to burn those discs in? I know the regular SD-DVD structure, but I imagine that it's totally different for HD-DVD..?

Thanks again so much... Now I only wish I had known of this discussion here a few years back... All those beautiful performances I have deleted from my DVR (such as Prince at the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame.... how I wish I could see that again in HD now...) :o

- Erik

vanderneut

02-17-07, 12:58 AM

Oh man, that VLC player is incredible!! It plays the .ts files with total ease! Gorgeous!!! I'm happy as a kid :-D It uses only about 30% to 45% of the CPU too! (That compared with choppy playback in WMP using 85% CPU.)

Wow....

- Erik

hockey2112

02-17-07, 12:41 PM

That works fine with SVCD2DVD. You can download the demo version to test. I went ahead and paid for it after I was happy with the demo (~$18.00). But when you put too long a show on a single layer DVD, the quality starts to suffer.

You can also use HDTV2DVD, which is a free version of SVCD2DVD that only does the .ts 2 DVD conversion.

Chris

Any idea how I could shrink the HDTV2DVD files, to fit more of them onto one single-layer DVD? Maybe I should just invest in a pack of DL DVDs... :)

joewmaki

02-17-07, 01:19 PM

Erik, if you check out the thread on authoring HD-DVD disks in the HD-DVD Software forum you'll see quite a few people are having playback issues with the disks they have burned on the HD-XA2. I have had no issues with my HD-A1. As for format, the thread will tell you what software is compatible.

So, that's why I am also interested in burning HD material on regular DVD5 or DVD9 discs that I can play in an HD-DVD player. If I can do that, then I am going to get myself a nice Toshiba HD-XA2. Does anyone know what file format I would have to burn those discs in? I know the regular SD-DVD structure, but I imagine that it's totally different for HD-DVD..?
- Erik

drbenson

02-17-07, 01:30 PM

Oy. Seem to have taken a giant step backwards after having my Seattle Comcast 6412 replaced. The first one, which I've had since they first came out, stopped responding to commands. The 'new' one- it had obviously been returned by another customer- works fine, but I can no longer do the firewire record I've been doing for years. I precisely followed the instructions in this post, everything installed fine, but CapDVHS now won't record.

Previously when I hit record in CapDVHS, I would get the data info tab populated. Now, I get blanks on that tab, and though the status line on the bottom says it's recording, and it does create a file with some content (at least a file size), the file won't play in TheaterTek like the other stuff I've previously recorded.

The file created also crashes HDTVtoMPEG2 if I try to add it for processing. I've checked 5C status, no problem there.

Has anyone else experienced similar issues? Anything further I can check? I'm very unhappy about losing this capability.

radamson

02-17-07, 02:12 PM

This is going to be great. However, first attempt got great vid but no aud. none. converted the .ts to mpg via HDTVtoMPEG2 with all the settings suggested and played the .ts via Media Player Classic - same. verified audio is working on machine.

Moto 6412 on Com-castic :rolleyes:

Any help is greatly appreciated. some of the later dvr recordings have not been viewable and cable guy is coming Monday. I fear he'll swap the box and i'll lose the earlier valid recordings (Super Bowl 40, etc.) :eek:

thanks,
Rick

Added: ok, found some sound. Using MPC, utils, DSM converter, made a .dsm file and it is brilliant - in phase and everything. MPC plays it nicely. This feels like a good thing, but what can I do with it? i.e. can I build DVDs the same way? again, any help is great. Thanks again.

rscottg

02-18-07, 01:23 AM

Not sure if I should give up or not. Had originally followed the post at the start of this thread with some success. I was able to record to a laptop.

AMD Athlon 64 AMD 3000+ 512 MB

But I the video was just too jerky. It would stall and stop and guess, simply drop too many frames. I fool around and found that quite often capdvhs would always record, but that hdtv2dvd would only recognize the .ts file some of the times. When it did work, the resulting video had more dropped frames than good ones. There was one time where I managed to record part of 'king of cars' in hd and it was perfect. Not sure why it worked that time.

Decided to try desktop computer. Not super powerful, just a pentium 4 with 512 megs of ram and a faster hdrive. This time hdtv2dvd always recognizes the .ts file, but the result is still dropping frames. The result is maybe twice as good as the laptop, but still not really watchable. The quality of the picture is great.

So I thought to use windv because of its buffering capabilities, but I can't seem to get past an "can't find pin" error. Maybe this program is only for video cameras?

So I'm wondering if I'm just not using fast enough computer equipment. Someone a while back was happy with their results, but their computer was a lot more powerful. Now I'm wondering if its just that I don't have a fast enough processor, or hdrive, or dedicated drive? I tried shutting down processes that were not needed and disabling virus scanning, etc...

The fact it worked once to record flawless HD makes me think it should work. I would use other software, but haven't found any that recognizes and captures the video from the motorola 6412 except for capdvhs.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

47alias47

02-18-07, 01:44 AM

I have a SA 8300hd with Comcast and I can't seem to get it to work. Why????

anyone else having this problem?

tluxon

02-18-07, 03:26 AM

drbenson,

When the data info fields are not populated but a file is being recorded, you are "capturing" a program marked with the CCI=0x02 flag. You won't be able to do anything with this file. At least half of the local HD channels in the Seattle area have this flag. Most recently, the CCI flag for KIRO-HD was changed from "2" (copy once - DVHS, not a PC) to "0" (copy free) and for KING-HD it was changed from "0" to "2". Currently, you should be able to still make captures (or view view firewire in VLC) from KOMODT 104, KIRODT 107, KMYQDT 110, KCPQDT 113 (SD programs only), ESPNHD 173, ESPN2H 174, UHD 660, MTVHD 661, TNTHD 662, DHD 663, and INHDCOM 664.

Interestingly, the channels that aren't available OTA are flagged DRM=0x01, but CCI=0x00 (allowing capture), while the locals that are RC Flag=0x01 and CCI=0x02 are all flagged DRM=0x00. Perhaps the CCI is improperly getting its value from the RC Flag while it should be getting set according to the DRM value. I don't really want to point that out to Comcast, however, because I much prefer being able to view/capture those DRM=0x01 channels on my notebook if it's an either/or situation.

rscottg,

While true that it takes a fair amount of horsepower to decode (playback) the .ts/MPEG-2 stream, it doesn't take very much at all to write the stream to the hard drive. I'm using a relatively low power Pentium M 1.4 Centrino notebook with a 5400 RPM hard drive, and as long as a disk-writing-intensive program like Diskeeper isn't running, I have no hiccups capturing the file. In fact, I'm almost always multi-taking the notebook during my captures without fear of bad files. The biggest problem is that the DCT-3416 often seems to lose it's horsepower when connected by firewire (happens with my DVHS VCR and my firewire-equipped Mitsubishi LT-46131 TV in addition to my notebook PC). A hard power cycle (10 seconds) is always enough to solve the problem (temporarily, unfortunately).

Bobby Hall

02-18-07, 04:56 PM

I have a Mits TV with firewire out connected to a Shuttle XPC. I've installed the drivers and CapDHVS on the Shuttle. I can get everything to work until I have to reboot the Shuttle at whch point the driver tells me the TV is no longer connected. Unplugging and plugging the firewire cable doesn't do anything. The only way I can get the Shuttle to recognize the TV is to uninstall the drivers and start all over again. Anyone have any ideas why the driver won't find the TV after the reboot?

Could someone please tell me how to install the drivers for the CapDHVS. I do not get the 'hardware not found message", so how do I go from here? I installed, and had working CapDHVS working like a charm for about a week, then no data out of the Firewire line. I checked the drivers in the CapDHVS and they were not there. Without this message I do not know where to start installing the drivers.

Bobby Hall

02-18-07, 04:59 PM

How do I install the drivers for the CapDHVS capture software. I do not get the "Hardware not installed" message. Thanks a lot! I have had this thing working for about a week. When I check the CapDHVS no driver.

Bobby Hall

02-18-07, 09:29 PM

This worked like a charm!! Thanks bdraw!!! :D

When I first plugged it in, I got a 'Unknown Device' so I canceled that.Then the 'AV/C Tuner Device' which I forced installation of the Panasonic DVHS AV/C Device. Then a 'AV/C Panel Device' which I canceled. Went to device manager and disabled the 2 other devices.

Fired up CapDVHS, test recorded PBS HD for 2 minutes, played the clip through VLC. Perfect recording, no skipped frames, or sound drops.

Here are my machine specs if anybody is wondering...
Intel P4-3.45GHz HT @920
2x512MB Kingston HyperX DDR500 @460
MSI 865PE Neo2 FISR
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
SB Audigy 2 output thru S/PDIF
Linksys WMP54G Wireless PCI
Hauppauge Win-TV PCI
Adaptec 29160N U160 SCSI Adapter
Seagate Cheetah 10K U160 9GB (Boot/Programs)
2x200GB Western Digital 8MB SE (Storage)
Samsung 16X DVD-ROM
Pioneer 106A DVD-RW
Enermax 450W PSU

Motorola 620X fw7.10
I'm having trouble with the device driver in CapDVHS. I have the CapDVHS program loaded, but it shows no device driver installed. And when I hook the CapDVHS up to the Motorola 6416 I do not get a "Device not found" error message. I just can't seem to get the device drivers installed. Will someone please help?

Bobby Hall

rscottg

02-18-07, 10:04 PM

I've installed the drivers on two different pc's, and in both cases, it always came up with the install hardware wizard once the firewire and pvr were connected. Then I ignored it like it says, then finally selected the option where you find the driver manually.

I had success today, but it became a nearly random event, so I think I'll give up and use a dvd video recorder. I booted the 6412 before starting, and successfully recorded parts of the Daytona in HD. But then other non HD stuff would either breakup or not be recognized by hdtv2dvd. It got so bad, that I never knew if it would work or not. I never checked the .ts files for errors.

new2hometheater

02-19-07, 02:11 PM

Got it, thanks for your help. What a giant pain to get these streams and they are huge. I was motivated to capture my daughter in the Macy's Parade in high def and messing with the files was tough. I'd never do this as a routine method of capturing shows

Bobby Hall

02-19-07, 05:41 PM

I'm having trouble with the device driver in CapDVHS. I have the CapDVHS program loaded, but it shows no device driver installed. And when I hook the CapDVHS up to the Motorola 6416 I do not get a "Device not found" error message. I just can't seem to get the device drivers installed. Will someone please help?

Bobby Hall
New Thought

Does anyone know where I might purchase an operating manual for the CapDVHS?

Bobby Hall

sl1974

02-19-07, 07:43 PM

Anybody on Comcast having any luck lately? Admittedly, I haven't tried in a month or more ever since everyone, including me, discovered that the output was scrambled and basically unusable.

Any change on that front? workarounds?

Here's one that sometimes works for me.

1. Remove the firewire while on "live" tv
2. Find the show to play and start it
3. Insert the firewire
4. Capture the show

I normally record a small 1 minute file first, test it to see if there are any problems, and if none then rewind the show and record the entire length. Capturing with CapDVHS, convert/test with tsconverter, and I have a 6412 with both firewire ports active.

**This has not always worked the first time** Another trick has been to restart the PC while the firewire is not plugged in, and plug the firewire back in while the show is playing. I do not capture anything other than what has already been recorded on the DVR.

dr1394

02-19-07, 11:12 PM

Ever wondered what all those extra fields are for in CapDVHS? It's for MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8417/capdvhsqw4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Ron

drbenson

02-20-07, 03:07 AM

tluxon

02-20-07, 01:54 PM

tluxon, thanks- where are you getting all of that flag information? I've now tried capturing the stations you mentioned, with no joy. Possibly something is different here in Kitsap County? Drives me a little crazy that all worked fine on the box that died; maybe it was fortuitously not handling the flags properly.I'm getting the flag information by doing a soft power-off (remote power button) and quickly pressing the select key (this menu only comes up when nothing's being recorded). I move the cursor down to "06 - Channel Status" (or something like that) and press select. The resulting page has CCI, RC Flag, and DRM values (among many other things) for the channel the primary tuner (ID'd as Tuner 1, this is the tuner for what's being sent to the outputs) is tuned to. Pressing select will go to a page for the secondary tuner (ID'd as Tuner 2), but it's harder to know what channel's status it is because it's not going to the outputs (it's usually not the "previous" tuned channel).

When I swapped out my 6412 for a 3412, I had to go through the driver loading process again before it would work. It would also "break" the transport functions (FF and REW) of the 3412 until I hooked up my JVC 40k DVHS VCR and left it powered-on and tuned to the firewire input. After that, it all worked just as well as with the 6412.

When I swapped out the 3412 for a 3416 I found it much more difficult to get it working. You can read about it (and perhaps see something you could try differently) starting back at Post #3351 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9232799&&#post9232799). I'm still unable to get it to work without "breaking" the transport functions (as well as other anomolies). Even hooking up the DVHS VCR doesn't do the trick with the 3416. I've gone through three 3416s counting the two I still have, and each of them have exhibited this same behavior.

In fact, the transport functions of the 3416 "break" after hooking anything up to the firewire ports that captures the stream. This includes using the DVHS VCR to record, using firewire to the input of my Mitsubishi LT-46131 LCD TV, and viewing or capturing to the notebook. I'm able to view or record from firewire, but once I have, the transport functions (other than "Play", "Pause", and "Stop") are barely workable. For example, FF4 gets through a program only about 2x faster than Play and all I can see is a burst of 5 frames or so every few seconds. It's almost like reading from the DVR's hard drive slows to a crawl. Cold reboots always fix this and 90% functionality is restored within about 5 minutes. Over the following 5 or 10 minutes full functionality is back to "normal".

I've heard there are problems with HDMI on these boxes as well but I don't know the nature of the symptoms because I haven't yet tried an HDMI cable. Perhaps there's a problem with all the digital video outputs (HDMI and firewire) on these boxes, but I do know that the service center always recommends using component cables and in fact gives them away for no cost to anyone who asks.

I hope something in this long post will be helpful.

Tim

bigbus01

02-20-07, 05:39 PM

YourMomma

02-20-07, 11:26 PM

I currently have the Scientific Atlanta 3250HD. The firewires are disabled.

I called Comcast to have them install a box with firewires enabled. They were supposed to come tomorrow night. Tonight, they called to tell me that all of their boxes come with the firewires disabled from Scientific Atlanta (even DVR boxes). They closed the ticket.

Anyone else gotten the same story from Comcast, or something different? I am in Howard County Maryland.

Bigbus

Ask for the next level support. Comcast does issue boxes with firewire enabled, although as of late, its debatable how well it works.

Either way, you should be able to get a 3250 with Firewire turned on, just keep in mind that Comcast has been screwing around with firmware. I'm in the Philly area (NJ South of Trenton) and I was working perfectly for a while. Then suddenly in Jan of 2006 BLAM! All firewire recording stopped working. The captures are jumpy with both FIRESTB & CapDVHS. I can only guess firmware on the 3250's from Comast.

isamu

02-20-07, 11:52 PM

This is not possible. The firewire port on the 6412 is connected to the video processor, not the storage system. It's meant to provide a digital a/v output. You can capture content in bit-perfect digital form by playing content on the 6412 and recording the firewire output with your PC, but this happens in realtime and there is no way to just transfer files from the HD to your PC.

I can't believe there hasn't been a solution for this yet. My DVR box is filled to brim with content and it would take me ages to recorded everything onto my PC in realtime. Is there is no way whatsoever to simply transfer the files and play them later?

What if we tell the Cable company we want to back up and archive our shows in case there is a risk the HD in their box failing? What are they gonna tell us?

teague

02-21-07, 12:20 AM

I can't believe there hasn't been a solution for this yet. My DVR box is filled to brim with content and it would take me ages to recorded everything onto my PC in realtime. Is there is no way whatsoever to simply transfer the files and play them later?

What if we tell the Cable company we want to back up and archive our shows in case there is a risk the HD in their box failing? What are they gonna tell us?

They will tell you the same thing Weldon said. You can to it in realtime only. Of course, they may not even know the box has firewire, or how to use it, but that's a different issue. I have had several Motorola boxes fail, including the 3rd one tonight. And yes, it took my shows with it. :mad:

naikrovek

02-21-07, 01:09 AM

Hi everyone, I'm new here. Thanks to all of you who have offered help to others, its helped me as well. I live in Bloomington, Illinois, and have Insight Communications as my cable provider. I'm able to pull some HD video off of my DCT6416, but the afore-mentioned CCI=0x02 flag is present on a couple of OTA channels that Insight provides in HD.

I would like to let either Insight know about this, or the individual stations themselves, but I wanted to ask you guys if this is something that either Insight or the individual stations turn on purposely, or is it something that is likely a default setting somewhere that no one changed? I'd really like to be able to capture some HD to my computer, but my local NBC and PBS stations (the two I watch most, of course) both have CCI=0x02, so I can't.

Who should I complain to? The cable co. or the stations themselves?

Thanks in advance!

tluxon

02-21-07, 01:18 AM

naikrovek

02-21-07, 12:56 PM

I think there was a good discussion on this in the San Francisco local threed. A few months ago. Someone there seemed to be really up on this.

If you write the FCC, this is what you will get:

*snip*

Cable systems that only pass through 8 VSB broadcast signals
shall not be considered digital cable systems.

*snip*

Does this mean if my local cable company re-encodes the OTA broadcasts that they are required to make those channels' CCI=0x00?

I don't know if my cable co does this, but why would they be interested in copy-restricting the retransmitted OTA broadcasts?

Thanks again, all of you.

denbid

02-21-07, 04:14 PM

denbid

02-21-07, 04:25 PM

I'm looking for info on a Moto 6416 model

csautter1

02-21-07, 08:29 PM

I have a Motorola 6412 hooked up to Comcast. I can capture from channels below 100 and above 200 including HD content. I've recorded lots of stuff from VH1Classic that I'd like to move to my PC and delete from the DVR, however the CapDVHS Data tab displays nothing when you record either live from that channel range or anything recorded from that channel range. Everything else SD/HD outside the range will populate the fields under that tab.

There is no error displayed until you try to convert the .ts file in something like HDTV2DVD("Could not find a channel") or VideoRedo("Unable to open file"). Other captures(SD/HD as stated above) go through the conversion just fine.

Is there something I need to do to the DVR? Any help/insight would be appreciated.

Christopher Sautter

denbid

02-21-07, 08:50 PM

CAn I buy a vowel?

gsr

02-21-07, 09:17 PM

I can't believe there hasn't been a solution for this yet. My DVR box is filled to brim with content and it would take me ages to recorded everything onto my PC in realtime. Is there is no way whatsoever to simply transfer the files and play them later?

Don't you think that if it were possible, people would be all over it and this question wouldn't come up again every week?

What if we tell the Cable company we want to back up and archive our shows in case there is a risk the HD in their box failing? What are they gonna tell us?

Well, maybe if you ask them nicely they'll enable it just for you :rolleyes:. Seriously though, you'd be lucky to talk to someone at the cable company who even has a clue as to what firewire actually is, nevermind the specifics of how to actually make use of it. If you actually stumble upon someone who actually knows what's going on the most likely answer is going to be "tough luck." Seriously - what's their motivation to make such functionality available? The vast majority of users are happy to be able to record something and watch it later. Those who want to transfer it off the box are in the minority.

rdroske

02-21-07, 09:37 PM

I traded in for 3250HD with Firewire to try to do what is discussed here.

Cable Co. (Time Warner) is insisting Firewire is enabled but XP does not detect a device?

I checked Diag pages and Component Info (17) lists firebus V2.5.26.1 05/05/05 and page 19 has 1394 Info that seems to be live but Page 20 Copy Protection lists 1394 Protection Type and Enabled as "disabled".

This is my first firewire device. Hardware looks OK in Device manager but do I need to set up the 1394 Net Adapter or something? Or is the cable company just wrong? From the runaround I got I have a feeling I may be the first in my area (Rochester NY) to try this.

Thanks for any help

chuckvb

02-21-07, 10:50 PM

I recently did an update of the software and the drivers and now I'm having problems getting recording via fire wire. Also I get both the panel driver and the tuner but I get two unknown devices. Is it normal to have two unknown devices? Also how do I really get a clean install of Tim's software or rather how can I fully be sure I deleted parts from the old versions?

wizzkidd

02-22-07, 02:12 AM

I have a DCT 3412. I was wondering is there away to achieve transfer of DVR recorded shows to the computer?

homcom

02-22-07, 08:54 AM

I have a DCT 3412. I was wondering is there away to achieve transfer of DVR recorded shows to the computer?
Yes, if firewire is enabled you should be able to archive the non copy protected programs to your computer. Skim through this thread and read the first post for information on how to do it.

chuckvb

02-22-07, 10:42 AM

If I have the recording settings to best, is there anyway to improve the video qualities further? Seems like my non firewire recordings over s-vidoe are horrible.

ExDeus

02-22-07, 11:55 AM

Anybody on Comcast having any luck lately? Admittedly, I haven't tried in a month or more ever since everyone, including me, discovered that the output was scrambled and basically unusable.

Any change on that front? workarounds?
I'm in the Twin Cities, and I've captured some material from my Comcast Moto 3416 box recently.

The only channels that haven't worked are premium channels and now KMSP-HD (Fox) seems to have the RC Descriptor triggering CCI=2 (uncopyable).

ExDeus

02-22-07, 12:09 PM

I can't believe there hasn't been a solution for this yet. My DVR box is filled to brim with content and it would take me ages to recorded everything onto my PC in realtime. Is there is no way whatsoever to simply transfer the files and play them later?
Not every encryption scheme is hackable. The ones that you see compromised are the ones that were inherently insecure, and so an exploit is discovered. To simplify it a great deal, closed systems that do not allow for real-time updates (like your DVD player) get hacked. Open systems that have tight licensing restrictions, provide updates for approved devices, and have encryption keys/schemes that change over time (like your cable box, its stored content, and its digital outputs), remain secure.

What if we tell the Cable company we want to back up and archive our shows in case there is a risk the HD in their box failing? What are they gonna tell us?
I believe "get f*cked" would be a likely response.

ExDeus

02-22-07, 02:13 PM

Any info on the Moto 6400 series? I have trouble getting into the setup screen. they said to press menu and power button at the same time sometimes it woks and others not. I would like to activate the external connections so I can download ny recordings.
This thread, including the opening post, is full of info on the Moto 6400 series. If you need help getting into the settings menus, check the Wikibook (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Configuration#How_To_Check_If_5C_DTCP_is_Enabled) for some pointers on getting into and going through the menus, but there's no place to "activate the external connections". That's controlled by your cable company; they're either on or they're not.

I'm looking for info on a Moto 6416 model
All info on the 6412 applies to the 6416.

ExDeus

02-22-07, 02:18 PM

If I have the recording settings to best, is there anyway to improve the video qualities further? Seems like my non firewire recordings over s-vidoe are horrible.
You're pretty far off topic, so I'm not sure what can be said. This thread is specifically about transferring recordings to Windows XP over Firewire. Perhaps another thread on the topic of the particular recording software you're using would be better suited to answer your question.

wizzkidd

02-22-07, 02:31 PM

Arvy

02-22-07, 02:41 PM

Yes, that happened to me several times when trying to copy premium, encrypted channels like HBO, Showtime, et.al. TimeWarner Cable and Microsoft helped me out though. TWC deactivated the firewire ports and Microsoft never activated 5C in XP. Vista is no good because the new, improved capturing is layered on top of MPAA/RIAA DRM. Now, I don't need to worry about empty files or continuosly call tech support for those issues. Maybe if Motorola put 750GB hard drives the probem would be solved at the expense of an extra $5/mo HD-DVR charge. Writing a congressperson may help if yours or mine knows the difference between firewire and a firewall ("The plugs are where? Turn off your firewall").

rdroske

02-22-07, 02:49 PM

Im dealing with the same problem with Time Warner right now bigbus.

Mention that they are required by the FCC to provide a live firewire port upon your request and they will start to listen more. A link to the document describing the FCC requirement can be found by searching Wikipedia for Firewire (I'm not allowed to post urls yet).

This at least got me to some people at TW that are trying to get me enabled.....
Right now they are telling me that the port is enabled but my XP with working firewire is not detecting a device.

tluxon

02-22-07, 03:30 PM

ok, I think that I'm following the thread so far...

My computer recognised the tuner...

**Capture Device: Motorola AV/C Tuner Device (Unknown Video #1)

but when I press the record button I get an error....

**Error: Cannot open output file

Can someone please help... Has anyone encountered this issue before...This seems a bit similar to what I experienced during one of my hundreds of attempts to get capturing set up properly with my 3416s a couple months ago. If it was half as tough with the 6412 a couple years ago and the 3412 last spring, I think I might've walked away - LOL.

Anyway, if it turns out you're using what Microsoft thinks you should, you won't get anywhere. You need to follow the instructions "literally" in order to make sure the right tuner driver is getting used. It might help to look back a few pages where I was having my trouble. I think it started at Post #3351 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9232799&&#post9232799).

bigbus01

02-22-07, 06:02 PM

Update on my 3250HD. I found some on-demand content that I can capture. This content is 4x3 and it looks as good as the source (which is not all that great). This means that my firewires are working. If I try to capture HD content, then CAP closes after about 5 to 10 seconds. I then have to unplug my firewire to reset the port. The file has audio the whole time but is mostly black screen except for the last frame.

This means that my content is encrypted, right? Anyone had this situation?

Bigbus

bigbus01

02-22-07, 07:01 PM

I can capture content at 352x480 but that is it. Anything higher CAP dies and I have to either reboot the PC or disconnect the firewire.

Any ideas?

Bigbus

rdroske

02-22-07, 08:40 PM

hi bigbus. I still can't get XP to see my 3250HD. If you have a minute could you check your diag pages and see what they say for 1394. Especially does it say disabled/disabled on the copy protection page (20).

You see those pages by holding the Select (center of 4 buttons) until message flashes then pushing Guide (on the box, not remote). Then use page +&- and exit. Youll see some other interesting pages for 1394 in there as well, tells you which channes are open etc.

uncertainty

02-23-07, 12:10 PM

To get them to play in a blu-ray player, you will need a blu-ray burner.

There are a few video editors that will burn regular DVD disk with 1920x1080 resolution that will play in an HD-DVD player, but that DVD will only hold 20-30 minutes of HD data. To burn longer files will require an HD-DVD burner.

Chris

Pinnacle Studio 10.7 will allow the burning of HD-DVD content to regular DVD media. A 9.4GB DL DVD will hold close to 1 hour of video with medium compression.

Blu-ray at this time has no video editor that supports standard DVD. Soon you will be able to use standard DVD's and encode the TS into AVCHD and play it on Blu-ray players.

Reminds me of the vcd/svcd days when the dvd media/burner were more expensive and thus people used CD media/hardware. Until the pricing of Blu-ray and HD-DVD media/burners come down I would expect many people to try these other techniques using standard DVD media.

bigbus01

02-23-07, 04:41 PM

My box says the same thing on pg 20. Page 19 says everything for 1394 is unavailable. When I installed, the drivers were found immediately. I did it on two machines (laptop and desktop).

Did you try both ports on the box?

Bigbus

bigbus01

02-23-07, 04:48 PM

rdroske,

I see the channel pages (QAM and QPSK), What channels are they referring to? Are those the HD channels? The numbers go up to 19 which doesn't go with the numbers for HD. I really don't know what I am looking at on those pages. Let me know if you get it going. I'm interested to see if you get any further than I did.

Bigbus

chuckvb

02-23-07, 06:35 PM

Shouldn't I get a firewire recording of the Non-HD channels as well as the HD ones? I have the S-video and firewire connected and get a firewire recording only when it's a HD channel. Is that correct?

homcom

02-24-07, 12:14 AM

zippy710199

02-24-07, 08:26 AM

chuckvb

02-24-07, 11:58 AM

Sounds like the non-HD channels you are trying to record from are copy protected.

I pretty sure their not as I never get a firewire recording of any non HD channel.

daptek

02-24-07, 09:37 PM

I have a DCT6412III but I've been trying to follow the instructions of installing the drivers on XP and so far I always get :
An error ocurred during the installation of the device:

The data is invalid...

Any help?

chuckvb

02-25-07, 09:00 AM

After deleted and installing fristb again all Iget is a jerky HD recording. Also Capvhs will now crash when I try it. Is their some file I need to install besides the ones in fristb?

raspi

02-26-07, 12:56 AM

Hmmm... Having same problem as chuckvb. Installed the drivers from firestb and after trying to capture with CAPDVHS, it crashes on me. I have installed the XP SP2 patch already. Any ideas??

I have Comcast in Arlington, Va.

Also, using SA 8300HD DVR

a8vdeluxe

02-26-07, 08:38 AM

[QUOTE=raspi]Hmmm... Having same problem as chuckvb. Installed the drivers from firestb and after trying to capture with CAPDVHS, it crashes on me. I have installed the XP SP2 patch already. Any ideas??

I have Comcast in Arlington, Va.

I'm having same problem as Chuck, and Raspi. On copy freely channels, I can record for a couple minutes, but then it just stops recording. Can press record and it starts again, but it will usually stop a few minutes later. The CPU usage is only 7%, and no other programs,etc are running while it stops. Using time warner hd3250 pos. Clues anyone?

sl1974

02-27-07, 02:26 AM

**Error: Cannot open output file

I came across this same error one time when the file name contained a special character "/" that was not permitted. Remember to follow standard file naming for your OS. I basically stick with numbers, letters, and either "_" or "-".

Nathan_R

02-27-07, 10:40 AM

rhenry74

02-27-07, 11:15 AM

Does anyone know if CAP DVHS OR HDTVTOMPEG work with Windows Vista.
Since those 2 programs are ones i use each day i would hate to lose them.
But i also need to upgrade and would be interested in hearing from anyone who has done this and maybe issues they might have encountered.
Thanks

I finally got firestb and capdvhs to work on Vista last night. It was painful, disorganized and confusing. I could not provide a list of the steps I took to make it happen. You just have to keep playing with it. Install/uninstall, plug/unplug firewire, change firewire ports on STB and PC, reboot STB, reboot PC, etc. It's strange how the sum of bits that can only be a one or a zero can lead to such an inexact science.

I have not tried HDTVTOMPEG. I have used DGIndex, VirtualDubMod with AVISynth, AVI-Mux, and a miraid of codecs including XVid and AC3Filter. It all seems to work like it used to except for a small side effect of DGIndex dropping Vista out of "aero mode" while its running. Lately I've even been encoding with the Microsoft mpeg4 (v2) codec.

TimmMoore's firestb stuff is all geared toward Media Center and recording from the set top box. It requires that you also have an internal TV tuner. (That's a media center requirement actually.) Then his stuff sits in the background and monitors MC to know when and what to record from the STB. I wish Media Center would just recognize the STB as another tuner instead of having to jump through all of these hoops... maybe some day.

For playback on Vista; Media Center, Media Player and Zoom Player all work. No two seem to pick the same playback codecs for some wierd reason. I can't blame this on Vista. Windows will let you get yourself in as much trouble as you have the expertise to get yourself into. I probably have a dozen different mpeg2 and mpeg4 codecs all installed at the same time. Suffice to say that with one combination or the other I can play back mpeg4 720p DD51 re-encodes of HDTV captures. My 2.4G machine has always struggled with 1080p content, but I'm sure a more powerful machine would play it just fine.

At the risk of getting a bit off topic I'd just like to add that in general; I like Vista.

dmakk

02-28-07, 01:01 AM

Just to add to the discussion, I have an XP MCE machine with SP2 and Time Warner Cable in Austin, TX. I'm playing around with a 3250HD cable box. I was able to record some SD channels, and they looked better on the computer than being viewed on my HDTV from the cable box. I'm using the VLC player to view the stream and CapDVHS to record. I only recorded content for a couple of minutes and didn't have any problems when the channels are clear. Only three digital channels (haven't tried on demand yet) come in clear as day, others are severely pixellated. I can't get any HD channels viewable or recordable, and CapDVHS closes because of an error. I have to unplug then plug in the firewire cable for it to work again, and sometimes the connection doesn't work properly at all.

dottat

02-28-07, 02:19 AM

There are two potential issues. One, if CAPDVHS shows it records, but you get a 0 byte file, its likely you are trying to record a 5c copy protected channel. Won't work in any situation.

If it records on CAPDVHS for a couple of seconds and you do get a file, try playing that file in VLC. Chances are its choppy as hell. If this is the case, you probably have the latest firmware for the 3250HD which has all but destroyed the ability to record via firewire.

Before the firmware update I could capture fine on all channels. Afterwards its garbage. VLC records (and doesn't crash), but its a corrupted ts file that barely plays back. I'd be happy to send it to someone to troubleshoot, but again, I think its the firmware in the 3250HD.

Let's check this...

I can't say how but I know that SA has new code for 3250hd's

Are we having issues with
Sara 1.59.18.1 Flash 1.6.0.3250hd_F.p.1801

Everything was working good until about a week ago. Then both pcs and STB's started recording junk. A 1 hour scheduled program yield a 2.58gig hi-def slide show of images.

No work around that i have found.

CapVHS crashes or can't start capture...

This is hell...

dottat

02-28-07, 03:48 AM

daptek

02-28-07, 06:11 PM

zippy710199

02-28-07, 10:12 PM

I finally got firestb and capdvhs to work on Vista last night. It was painful, disorganized and confusing. I could not provide a list of the steps I took to make it happen. You just have to keep playing with it. Install/uninstall, plug/unplug firewire, change firewire ports on STB and PC, reboot STB, reboot PC, etc. It's strange how the sum of bits that can only be a one or a zero can lead to such an inexact science.

I have not tried HDTVTOMPEG. I have used DGIndex, VirtualDubMod with AVISynth, AVI-Mux, and a miraid of codecs including XVid and AC3Filter. It all seems to work like it used to except for a small side effect of DGIndex dropping Vista out of "aero mode" while its running. Lately I've even been encoding with the Microsoft mpeg4 (v2) codec.

TimmMoore's firestb stuff is all geared toward Media Center and recording from the set top box. It requires that you also have an internal TV tuner. (That's a media center requirement actually.) Then his stuff sits in the background and monitors MC to know when and what to record from the STB. I wish Media Center would just recognize the STB as another tuner instead of having to jump through all of these hoops... maybe some day.

For playback on Vista; Media Center, Media Player and Zoom Player all work. No two seem to pick the same playback codecs for some wierd reason. I can't blame this on Vista. Windows will let you get yourself in as much trouble as you have the expertise to get yourself into. I probably have a dozen different mpeg2 and mpeg4 codecs all installed at the same time. Suffice to say that with one combination or the other I can play back mpeg4 720p DD51 re-encodes of HDTV captures. My 2.4G machine has always struggled with 1080p content, but I'm sure a more powerful machine would play it just fine.

At the risk of getting a bit off topic I'd just like to add that in general; I like Vista.

This is just what i needed to know
Thanks so much for taking the time...Because all the progs you mention above are also installed on my pc.

chuckvb

03-01-07, 09:08 PM

Let's check this...

I can't say how but I know that SA has new code for 3250hd's

Are we having issues with
Sara 1.59.18.1 Flash 1.6.0.3250hd_F.p.1801

Everything was working good until about a week ago. Then both pcs and STB's started recording junk. A 1 hour scheduled program yield a 2.58gig hi-def slide show of images.

No work around that i have found.

CapVHS crashes or can't start capture...

This is hell...

I have exactly the same problem my Sara software is newer at HD1.6.0_3250HD_F.p.p1901 but firewire recording are unusable and like a slide show chaniging the picture every second or two. CAPvhs also crashes. Old firewire recordings play fine. I saw the cable box loading the new software a week or two ago. After that no more good firewire recordings.

I think we need Tim in on this one. I'll send a peice of a recording if it can help anyone. Ps. I,m on cox cable in Phoenix. :(

E__

03-01-07, 09:45 PM

i have been trying to record off of my motorola 6416 using capDVHS and HDTV2MPEG. When i try to watch the recording with windows media player i get video but no audio, any ideas?

vanderneut

03-01-07, 11:36 PM

i have been trying to record off of my motorola 6416 using capDVHS and HDTV2MPEG. When i try to watch the recording with windows media player i get video but no audio, any ideas?

I had similar issues with Windows Media Player (on Win MCE, SP2). If you play the .ts files in the VLC player instead, you'll be amazed at how good they look. Playing in Win Media Player, my CPU almost maxed out (85%), and the sound was very very choppy and the image was mostly reasonable. In the VLC player, my CPU is only about 40% and the image looks gorgeous and the sound is perfect -- and I am talking about 1920x1080 HDTV footage. Just gorgeous...

Try the VLC player and see if that makes the difference. I had a friend of mine try the VLC player as well, and for him it actually didn't run that smoothly. Difference between our PCs: he has a slightly faster PC, but he has only 1 Gig of RAM while I have 2 Gigs.

Hope this helps... good luck...

- Erik

E__

03-02-07, 11:10 PM

ok that works i can watch them in vlc player, so now i want to collect a group of recordings and put them on dvd. I am using sonic to create a dvd and it doesnt support ts files.

teague

03-03-07, 12:15 AM

ok that works i can watch them in vlc player, so now i want to collect a group of recordings and put them on dvd. I am using sonic to create a dvd and it doesnt support ts files.

SVCD2DVD works great for burning .ts files to DVD.

Chris

macattackman

03-03-07, 06:27 PM

Are you using Vista? I had the same problem, I just right clicked on the file and chose 'Run as administrator'; all was well afterwards.

ok, I think that I'm following the thread so far...

My computer recognised the tuner...

**Capture Device: Motorola AV/C Tuner Device (Unknown Video #1)

but when I press the record button I get an error....

**Error: Cannot open output file

Can someone please help... Has anyone encountered this issue before...

white_2kgt

03-03-07, 10:37 PM

I keep getting ERROR:Cannot open output file or ERROR 80040217:Cannot connect sample grabber when using Cap-DVHS. I had this working on a 6412 before, and the box died. I hooked up another 6412, and it will not work no matter how many times I uninstall and reinstall the driver. I'm showing the Motorola device in Cap-DVHS, but it gives the above error(s) whenever I try to use Cap-DVHS. Anyone have a fix for this? It's driving me nuts! I'm using firmware 16.20

Not sure if this was ever answered for you but I was having this same problem and this was the first result in google, so I will update as to how I fixed it.

I had to disable Simple File Sharing first,
http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/winxpnetworking/ht/winxpsfs.htm

Then I checked the permissions windows had on that folder, for some reason my user had no permissions on the Video folder I created (even though I could right click->new text document..., once I checked 'Full Control' for my user, CAPDVHS could record a file to the folder.

Hope this helps someone out.

Gary.J.B

03-04-07, 01:29 PM

tluxon

03-06-07, 02:19 AM

I was not able to locate the "drivers_channel.zip" file in this thread or any thread. This contains the Vista-compatible driver, according to jkb. Could someone please provide a link to that file?

I have Vista Ultimate and a Cox Moto 6412 as well as a Mits WS-65813 with integrated firewire. I've also got an HDHomerun on order, so recording from it should prove to be much simpler, both from cable and HD OTA via Ethernet (even though Vista support is still beta).

Just wanted to get my feet wet trying to record some HD and play with VLC.

Thanks for the help!I'm not sure if I've seen a link to the driver file you mentioned, but you might want to do a search for Timm Moore drivers.

I've been oh so close to ordering an HDHomeRun for about a week now, but I'm just not sure there won't be some major enhancements to it in the next few months. It sure seems to hold a lot of promise. If I was running MythTV on a dedicated Linux HTPC it would be a slam dunk.

Ankrum

03-07-07, 05:37 PM

After several unsuccessful attempts to capture from my DCT3416, I decided to contact Comcast. After wading through several layers of service reps, I was finally told that, "Yes, there are workarounds, but that Comcast does not support getting the signal to a PC." He also said that they changed their guide, which will require new workarounds.

So.... the diagnostic menu says firewire is enabled, but not active. The A/V Tuner driver I installed allows Liquid to recognize an A/V Tuner device (it is not specific). But I get nothing in the capture preview window.

Has anyone who monitors this tread been successful in capturing video from a DCT3416 from Chicago area Comcast?

Would you please tell me how? I've followed links that were supposed to give instructions, but no luck. The more I read, the more confused I get. I'm running XP Home with the latest service packs.

Thanks,

Denny

chuckvb

03-07-07, 08:58 PM

I don't know if this will fix the problem but I called up Cox and the tech said that the update that was sent out last week came from SA. In it he said that the firewire connection is sometimes disabled in SA updates. He offered to setup an update that would command the firewire port back on. That being said I'll wait up to 72 to see if it works. I have my doubts because the port was not fully non-functional as I did get a slide show like recording off of it. But CapVHS would fail right off when you tried to record with the error "Cannot connect to SampleGrabber"

I'll let you know in 72hrs.

ms_carmilla

03-07-07, 09:35 PM

gtofreakrules

03-07-07, 11:33 PM

I'm a newbie to all of this but was hoping that someone could let me know what driver I would need for my Verizon FiOS Moto QIP6416-2 (I'm running Windows XP SP2)? I have a Firewire connection to my PC, but the AV/C Tuner driver won't work no matter what I seem to do.

grittree

03-08-07, 08:27 AM

I also have a 3416 Comcast Box. Why aren't drivers for Windows availible from Motorola or Comcast?? Windows "sees" the hardware. Working drivers would be great (Vista MC would use the 3416 as a digital tuner).. I don't get why it's not available.

The only drivers ever written were by Panasonic (MEI). ; Copyright (c) 2000-2001, Matsushita Electoric Industorial Co.,Ltd.

They let your PC act like it was a D-VHS tape deck, but without the DRM controls.

Neither Motorola nor Comcast have any desire to enhance the 1394 output. Besides that, the original drivers work fine. They just get a little harder to install until somebody writes a new .inf file that adds the device_id of new STB models. The .inf text file is not a driver, it's just the information on which drivers get installed for which hardware.

All the current problems have nothing to do with the drivers. They have everything to do with DRM.

Ankrum

03-08-07, 08:53 AM

The only drivers ever written were by Panasonic (MEI). ; Copyright (c) 2000-2001, Matsushita Electoric Industorial Co.,Ltd.

They let your PC act like it was a D-VHS tape deck, but without the DRM controls.

Neither Motorola nor Comcast have any desire to enhance the 1394 output. Besides that, the original drivers work fine. They just get a little harder to install until somebody writes a new .inf file that adds the device_id of new STB models. The .inf text file is not a driver, it's just the information on which drivers get installed for which hardware.

All the current problems have nothing to do with the drivers. They have everything to do with DRM.

Grittree,

Thanks for the quick response. Could you point me to the "original drivers"? Installation instructions would also be helpful.

Denny

grittree

03-08-07, 09:44 AM

Any drivers you find are the original.

Easiest is probably to use the Moore package on post #1, since it has the 3412 in the .inf file. 3412==3416.

gtofreakrules

03-08-07, 12:00 PM

Thank you Grittree,

That clears up a great deal....I'll take your advice.

gtofreakrules

Ankrum

03-08-07, 01:37 PM

Grittree,

Thanks again. I downloaded the firestb.zip file from post one. (I assume that's the Moore file.)

"After unzipping firestb.msi run and if you are using MCE install the components you want. If you are running XP then at the very least install the "Firewire Drivers" component, you won't be able to double click on it, you will have to use a different command to skip the MCE required screen. Now you can just choose the driver."

It says run this code to bypass the screen that requires MCE:

MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0

How do I run the code? Excuse my ignorance.

Denny

Any drivers you find are the original.

Easiest is probably to use the Moore package on post #1, since it has the 3412 in the .inf file. 3412==3416.

gtofreakrules

03-08-07, 04:09 PM

Ankrum,

Do a google seach for the following:

motorola6412_firewire.zip

It will bring you to the "DCT64xx Firewire capture and HD/SD to DVD guide" which has the drivers (meistb.sys, meistrm.sys, mstapeo.sys), meistb.inf and CapDVHS.exe. This way you don't have to worry about your OS.

Hope this helps!

gtofreakrules

Yeedog

03-08-07, 08:53 PM

Has anybody experienced captured HD ts files that do not play audio in VLC? It's really annoying as I just get video and I don't know why. I can play other HD ts files no problem but I didn't capture those while this is a file I captured myself.

I do believe that there was audio captured as in the info screen it says:

audio:
Decoded blocks X
Played blocks 0
Lost Buffers X

where X is equal to some number that rises as i play the file.

Also according to HDTVtoMPEG it says audio is on PID 0x801 and Video is on 0x800. The video plays great it's just audio that doesn't play.

Anybody experience this before?

Ankrum

03-09-07, 02:31 PM

gtofreakrules
Thanks. It worked!!!

I went to http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/ and found the drivers and some instructions. I had installed the same drivers before, but not the same way as the instructions. I used CapDVHS to capture and HDTV2DVD to confirm that I had captured the content.

Now for the next problem. HDTV2DVD is not exactly a powerful program. (That I can see, anyway.) I have Pinnacle Studio 8 and Liquid. Both of them allow me to select the Motorola in the settings for capture devices, but neither of them allow me to capture. I went to the diagnostic screen on the DVR and it said that the firewire port was active and the content was not protected.

Anyone with any ideas?

Thanks,

Denny

Ankrum,

Do a google seach for the following:

motorola6412_firewire.zip

It will bring you to the "DCT64xx Firewire capture and HD/SD to DVD guide" which has the drivers (meistb.sys, meistrm.sys, mstapeo.sys), meistb.inf and CapDVHS.exe. This way you don't have to worry about your OS.

Hope this helps!

gtofreakrules

Jeff OTF

03-09-07, 06:40 PM

Below is the response that I got from Time Warner in Rochester regarding my request to have my firewire ports re-enabled:

"Thank you for your e mail,
We had a number of these boxes get mailed out to the field that had the 1394 port enabed and they should not have been, these ports have been disabled, the reason for this is, that if you want your 1394 port enabled, we must send a tech to your home to enable it, we must verify that the box is only hooked up using that port to one device either a tv or a dvd recorder, and is not hooked into a computer, and also we must hand deliver you a copy of what you will not beable to access using this port i.e. EBS (emergency broadcast system). The document is a list of everything that the 1394 port will or wont allow you to access including all of the copy write protection softwear thats install, then basicly it gives you info to contact the FCC if you don’t like the terms. If you would like this reactivated please call our call center to have a tech sent out.
Thank you for your e mail,
Time Warner Cable"

I have read the FCC law Section 76.630, Subsection 4i and it mentions nothing about exemptions to the law for using a computer instead of a DVD recorder or D-VHS machine. Who should a file a complaint with first?

grittree

03-10-07, 09:37 AM

Denny, here's how to tell if your drivers are installed.

Go to device manager/imaging devices/your device (name varies)/properties/driver/driver details.

There will be a long list, but only two will be from Matsushita. They are meitape.sys (or meistb.sys) & meistrm.sys. If those two are there, your drivers are correctly installed.

On the Moto box, "content not protected" for that channel means 5C=0 _AND_ CCI=0x00.

Ankrum

03-12-07, 10:40 AM

Grittree,

I checked and the drivers are installed. Thanks.

On my Moto diagnostic screen: On the first page is says 1394 Enabled: Yes Active: No

However, when I go to the next screen I get 1394 Active ports: 1. Then is says: 5c implementation: No
Copy control: Copy free

Must be new firmware that I was told was installed earlier this year.

I tried Nero 7, but I get a blue screen when I open Nero. If I open Nero and then plug in the firewire cable, it immediately get a blue screen. I did a search of this forum and found someone else with the same problem.

So far, Studio 8 and Liquid allow me to select the Moto tuner, but I get nothing in the Studio 8 preview window and it won't capture. Liquid says that the device is not ready.

Does anyone know of a program other than CapDVHS that can capture from the firewire? I'd like to be able to preview the capture. I'd then like to edit it and either keep it on the hard drive or transfer it to a DVD.

Thanks,

Denny

twelvepbrs

03-12-07, 04:41 PM

skiptrp

03-13-07, 10:03 AM

hey Guys,
can anyone please help me? I am trying to record a few movies from my sa8300 stb to my pc that has winxp sp2 but none of the instructions have worked so far. when i connected the firewire cable from the stb to pci I was prompted for the drivers for the firewire but i have not been able to get. can someone please post the link where the drivers are located.
Thanks

twelvepbrs

03-13-07, 07:00 PM

instead of reading the entire thread (yes i AM too lazy, maybe later), has anyone had success doing playback from a PC (doing the recording via tuner card/etc...) to a DTVLink enabled TV (WD-62627) other than using vividlogic's firebus (although i don't know if I'D call that a success)? i'd like to use my PC to capture HD (using HDHomerun if it ever shows up), and then 1394 as a playback method to my tv (keeps me from having to build a real HTPC)
I know it's against the method laid out at the beginning of this thread, but i gave vividlogic firebus a try, and it sorta-kinda works (my computer isnt exactly up to par with their "ideal" system), i'm going to do a little more testing, but i was able to record a little bit of whatever was on ABCHD from my TV (WD62627), it showed up in the space allocated to firebus, and then i was able to "preview" it on the pc, and also play it back from the tv using the tv's remote control and avdisc interface, it was pretty sluggish, and flaky, but it worked a couple times (out of about a double couple times), i also had my RCADVR2160 in the chain, so i'm going to try to test it out later with just the TV straight to the PC, in terms the firebus software as a product, if (big if) i can eventually get it to work well, i think the 99 bones is a reasonable cost, since it keeps me from having to build an HTPC to do the display to my tv

gsr

03-13-07, 07:49 PM

I know it's against the method laid out at the beginning of this thread, but i gave vividlogic firebus a try, and it sorta-kinda works (my computer isnt exactly up to par with their "ideal" system), i'm going to do a little more testing, but i was able to record a little bit of whatever was on ABCHD from my TV (WD62627), it showed up in the space allocated to firebus, and then i was able to "preview" it on the pc, and also play it back from the tv using the tv's remote control and avdisc interface, it was pretty sluggish, and flaky, but it worked a couple times (out of about a double couple times), i also had my RCADVR2160 in the chain, so i'm going to try to test it out later with just the TV straight to the PC, in terms the firebus software as a product, if (big if) i can eventually get it to work well, i think the 99 bones is a reasonable cost, since it keeps me from having to build an HTPC to do the display to my tv

The Firebus product has been around for at least a couple years now and I'm not aware of anyone who would exactly say they're happy with it. I gave the evaluation copy a try a while back when it first came out and was less than impressed and it doesn't sound like they've come very far since then. Properly removing it from the system was not exactly easy either - it would have been easier to do a fresh install of Windows. I personally think the $99 would be better spent towards an HTPC as spending it on Firebus is likely to end up being a waste of money.

twelvepbrs

03-14-07, 12:41 AM

twelvepbrs

03-14-07, 12:43 AM

The Firebus product has been around for at least a couple years now and I'm not aware of anyone who would exactly say they're happy with it. I gave the evaluation copy a try a while back when it first came out and was less than impressed and it doesn't sound like they've come very far since then. Properly removing it from the system was not exactly easy either - it would have been easier to do a fresh install of Windows. I personally think the $99 would be better spent towards an HTPC as spending it on Firebus is likely to end up being a waste of money.
i'm trying to combine the advantages of using an HTPC for HDTV capture (HDHomerun, GBPVR), with my TV's ability to play transport streams from 1394 devices; this seems like a cleaner way to get the recorded content onto the tv, since the tv will handle the decoding and display, instead of setting up another PC with a vid card that can handle the display, and a sound card that can do 5.1, or at least a much cheaper way since i just need software to allow my pc to act as a 1394 AVDisc, and a firewire cable, instead of building another computer to act as an HTPC, are there any other ways to do firewire/1394 playback via DTVlink/ilink/(the billion other acronyms) if another platform (linux, mac, etc...) will allow me to do the 1394 playback of .ts files, i'd be open to just making a barebones box to do that, firebus comes with a 30-day trial, and although the trial maxes out at 30-seconds of recording, it doesnt seem to have a limit on the amount of playback you can do, so hopefully i'll be able to get transport streams playing through it withint that 30 days, or at least make dang sure that it wont work for what i want (don't really care about using it to record), I am going to invest in some upgrades to make my pc a closer match to the ideal system that firebus docs call for (the upgrades will help in other ways anyways)
....(EDIT)....
I've played around with firebus some more, and it seems that the latest version (3.02) in demo form actually allows for 30-minutes per recording until the 30-day trial runs out (this will give me plenty of opportunity to test it thouroughly), i've tested recording and playback with what I think is SD-digital and with HD content, i recorded and played back parts of the simpsons from my fox-hd coming through cable, and parts of southpark coming from kcal-hd, i didn't double check the bitrate before i deleted the files, but they seemed to record and play back over 1394 to my tv correctly (but the recordings were only about 10-15 minutes) both were also viewable on my pc (using zoomplayer), i then tried record/playback with the tonight show (17 minutes worth, in actual HDTV, not sure what res NBC broadcasts), playback to the tv works for a while, then the audio starts to drop out, the 5.1 works for maybe 10 minutes, but then my audio receiver says unlock and i get nothing and the video seems just a tiny bit choppy (i'm still willing to attribute this to my computer not being up to the task of streaming this file back from it's slow/old harddrives, and other short-comings) the audio doesn't really get out sync with the video it just starts to drop completely; because the software acts like an AVDISC, i can control playback from my tv, which works but is pretty sluggish; for instance i'll select the show to play, and press play, and the tv will say that there is an error with the disk, but a couple seconds later, Viola! it's playing...bottom line, if you tried firebus right after its initial released, and were very displeased (which seams to be the concensus) it may be worth a second look (i sound like a PR goon), or wait and i'll be sure to let everyone know if i get it to work reliably

gsr

03-14-07, 09:10 PM

i'm trying to combine the advantages of using an HTPC for HDTV capture (HDHomerun, GBPVR), with my TV's ability to play transport streams from 1394 devices; this seems like a cleaner way to get the recorded content onto the tv, since the tv will handle the decoding and display, instead of setting up another PC with a vid card that can handle the display, and a sound card that can do 5.1, or at least a much cheaper way since i just need software to allow my pc to act as a 1394 AVDisc, and a firewire cable, instead of building another computer to act as an HTPC, are there any other ways to do firewire/1394 playback via DTVlink/ilink/(the billion other acronyms) if another platform (linux, mac, etc...) will allow me to do the 1394 playback of .ts files, i'd be open to just making a barebones box to do that, firebus comes with a 30-day trial, and although the trial maxes out at 30-seconds of recording, it doesnt seem to have a limit on the amount of playback you can do, so hopefully i'll be able to get transport streams playing through it withint that 30 days, or at least make dang sure that it wont work for what i want (don't really care about using it to record), I am going to invest in some upgrades to make my pc a closer match to the ideal system that firebus docs call for (the upgrades will help in other ways anyways)
....(EDIT)....
I've played around with firebus some more, and it seems that the latest version (3.02) in demo form actually allows for 30-minutes per recording until the 30-day trial runs out (this will give me plenty of opportunity to test it thouroughly), i've tested recording and playback with what I think is SD-digital and with HD content, i recorded and played back parts of the simpsons from my fox-hd coming through cable, and parts of southpark coming from kcal-hd, i didn't double check the bitrate before i deleted the files, but they seemed to record and play back over 1394 to my tv correctly (but the recordings were only about 10-15 minutes) both were also viewable on my pc (using zoomplayer), i then tried record/playback with the tonight show (17 minutes worth, in actual HDTV, not sure what res NBC broadcasts), playback to the tv works for a while, then the audio starts to drop out, the 5.1 works for maybe 10 minutes, but then my audio receiver says unlock and i get nothing and the video seems just a tiny bit choppy (i'm still willing to attribute this to my computer not being up to the task of streaming this file back from it's slow/old harddrives, and other short-comings) the audio doesn't really get out sync with the video it just starts to drop completely; because the software acts like an AVDISC, i can control playback from my tv, which works but is pretty sluggish; for instance i'll select the show to play, and press play, and the tv will say that there is an error with the disk, but a couple seconds later, Viola! it's playing...bottom line, if you tried firebus right after its initial released, and were very displeased (which seams to be the concensus) it may be worth a second look (i sound like a PR goon), or wait and i'll be sure to let everyone know if i get it to work reliably

Not to burst your bubble, but your experience sounds rather familiar with mine and many others in that it sort of kind of works and is almost but not quite there. For what Firebus is doing, you're PC would have to be extremely old and in very desparate need of repair to be incapable of handling a single HD stream for recording or playback.

The accessDTV and MyHD HD tuner cards perform rather similar functions to Firebus in regards to the horsepower that's needed - the PC is used basically just to write the data to disk while recording and read it back from disk for playback. These 2 HD tuner cards have hardware decoding for playback which means the rest of your PC can be a pretty minimal system - the minimum system requirements are a 400 MHz PII, no special video card, minimal RAM, and enough hard drive space to store your recordings. Basically, you need a system that's fast enough to run the version of Windows you're using.

Your experience with sluggish interaction with play, pause, etc. sounds identical to when I tried it early on. Like you, I had high hopes that Firebus would allow me to actually make good use of the firewire capabilities of my Mitsubishi TV, but the product quite frankly fell flat on its face and I've seen nothing anywhere (there are a few Firebus threads on AVS) to suggest that anything has changed in all this time.

I really do wish you the best of luck - I'd love to actually hear a success story involving Firebus.

twelvepbrs

03-15-07, 12:04 AM

Not to burst your bubble, but your experience sounds rather familiar with mine and many others in that it sort of kind of works and is almost but not quite there. For what Firebus is doing, you're PC would have to be extremely old and in very desparate need of repair to be incapable of handling a single HD stream for recording or playback.

The accessDTV and MyHD HD tuner cards perform rather similar functions to Firebus in regards to the horsepower that's needed - the PC is used basically just to write the data to disk while recording and read it back from disk for playback. These 2 HD tuner cards have hardware decoding for playback which means the rest of your PC can be a pretty minimal system - the minimum system requirements are a 400 MHz PII, no special video card, minimal RAM, and enough hard drive space to store your recordings. Basically, you need a system that's fast enough to run the version of Windows you're using.

Your experience with sluggish interaction with play, pause, etc. sounds identical to when I tried it early on. Like you, I had high hopes that Firebus would allow me to actually make good use of the firewire capabilities of my Mitsubishi TV, but the product quite frankly fell flat on its face and I've seen nothing anywhere (there are a few Firebus threads on AVS) to suggest that anything has changed in all this time.

I really do wish you the best of luck - I'd love to actually hear a success story involving Firebus.
i'd be curious to know what the last version of firebus you tried was, other than the sluggish response it's pretty close to working as i want, the main thing (other than making some computer upgrades i've been planning for a while anyways), is to try to playback transport streams that were recording using my computer and a pci tuner card or maybe the HDHomerun once it shows up, i havent double check the playback of stuff recording using firebus in the playback on my pc, need to figure out if the audio drops are data missing from the transport stream, or bad playback to my tv, according the firebus manual, the demands of playback are a little less than recording, i will definitely keep everyone updated if i get it to a working/reliable state within the next month

Alowe

03-15-07, 09:54 AM

Is there a list someone could post that gives a complete rundown on what to do?

Windows XP SP2 Pro.
8300HD DVR in Goshen, NY 10924

It was working fine.
PC crashed, reinstalled and now i get nothing.

cai

03-15-07, 06:25 PM

I have unsuccessfully tried to do a search on this thread about the problem I am having. Following the instruction at the start of this thread, I install the drivers, using either XP-SP2 or Win MCE 2005, I connect the STB to the computer using the firewire connector. The computer recognizes the tuner AV/C device - with a yellow error message. The message is:

"Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)"

I have replaced the 1394bus.sys and ohci1394.sys drivers and still cannot get the computer to recognize the STB. Another thread, about the code19 error, dealt only with CD/DVD units not being recognized.

My STB information is as follows:

guide build: 1.3.19 (5882s)
build type: DCT-FE-1.7H
platform ID: 641
GOS: 17.24
box ID: 000-03685-16901-250

Does anyone know what changes I have to make on the registry to get the computer to recognize the STB?

Thank you.

jpilcher

03-15-07, 09:55 PM

intersting new issue:
using comcast in Richmond va , I go to the htpc today and i see found new hardware.. it ants to reinstall the motorolla tuner.. i do so .. and now some channels no longer record. I checked in the diagnostics.. and it still says 5c = 0 copy freely

previusly I could use the method discribed in this thread to archive from most channels.

I have the new guide by the way .. any one with same issue? any new workaround?

I have a 6412 ... guide and f/w versions I dont know how to access

gsr

03-15-07, 10:20 PM

i'd be curious to know what the last version of firebus you tried was

Like I said previously, it was one of the first few versions - as in when they first released it. In following the Firebus threads since then, I haven't seen anything to persuade me to give it another try. Note that I never purchased Firebus given that the evaluation copy was such a disappointment, so I certainly have no hard feelings as I lost no money in the process. If it had worked well at the time, I wouldn't have thought twice about paying $99 for it - it would have been a bargain. Now, given how much the prices have dropped on HD tuner cards and how well a reasonably priced PC can play back HD recordings I don't feel that the $99 is really all that great a deal.

Given my situation, there really isn't any point in spending much effort in trying to get Firebus to work. I own a total of 7 accessDTV cards, 3 ATI HDTV Wonders, 1 ATI TV Wonder 650, 3 Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 950's, 1 Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1600, and a pair of HR10-250 HD Tivos (DirecTV). With hardware decoding, the accessDTV cards make for excellent playback of files recorded on any of my HD tuner cards and the HD Tivos allow me to record most of the HD content that DirecTV adds beyond the OTA channels (the only exception that I would care about is NESN HD, which requires an MPEG-4 capable DVR). The accessDTV software / hardware combination also gives me a much better user interface than Firebus is capable of - not really the fault of Firebus, but more a limitation of how the Firewire interface works. The accessDTV software gives me an almost Tivo like interface for choosing what previously recorded show I want complete with the ability to see the full episode description, recorded date, how long the show was, sort the shows by date, show name, etc. It makes for a much friendlier interface than what Firebus is able to present you with.

BeyondTV is running on 1 of my PC's and delegates recordings to 6 of the HD tuner cards (the 4 Hauppauge cards and 2 of the ATI cards). Since I've been the person developing the accessDTV software for the past several years, it either does pretty much exactly what I want / need it to do and I can add features as I see the need. So Firebus really wouldn't be worth the trouble in my current situation. When Firebus first came out a few years ago, I only had 1 or 2 accessDTV cards, so the ability to use the HD tuner in my TV for recording and/or playback would have been a huge bonus.

other than the sluggish response it's pretty close to working as i want,

Personally, I would see sluggish response as a pretty significant negative.

i will definitely keep everyone updated if i get it to a working/reliable state within the next month

It might be more appropriate to move Firebus discussion to one of the Firebus threads, such as here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=751960) as this thread has really been centered on using the Firewire port on a cable DVR to transfer shows to a PC.

Like I said, best of luck to you with Firebus - after all this time, it really would be nice to see someone have a truly good experience with it.

KyPeN

03-16-07, 01:52 PM

I have Comcast HD service in Ann Arbor, MI and have gotten it working. Kindof.

I can record local channels in both HD and SD, but anything else gives an unplayable file. Discovery HD works, which I thought was odd. Basically, what I would love to do is be able to record my Daily Show and Colbert Report, but even the "basic" digital channels are unplayable. Am I missing something or is this a basic "pay Comcast $10 more a month or deal with it" scenario?

Sci_Fi_Nut

03-18-07, 08:03 PM

Hi folks,

I've got the 6412 which tells me it has firmware 16.35. Using CapDVHS0.3.0.6 to capture video. Everything has been working OK, have some problems that the 6412 resets when connecting the 1394 port to the PC, and occasionally get a show which won't forward using Media Player Classic or sometimes won't even play, but have been able to capture video, mostly Stargate SG1 and Atlantis from SciFi.

About a few days ago a firmware update must have come in from Comcast, cause the unit was no longer recognized by the PC. It wanted me to reload the drivers, which I did, and then it was able to capture video. However, about half the time I get random square blotches on the video and it skips frames. Playback using Media Player Classic. It will happen on a recording, then if I go back later and re-capture that show it might be OK.

I'm not sure if the reinstall of the drivers is causing the problems, or if it is something with the 6412. The video on the TV looks fine.

Anyone else seen this?

a8vdeluxe

03-18-07, 09:02 PM

Ok, I've had capDVHS for a year now, and it has been pretty reliable. Recently, it has not, so I tried to reinstall everything. Recording now fills with data but only in standard definition, and VCL will not even play them. Also, I can no longer view live feed from VLC. Interestingly, I can still copy my DVHS tapes to computer via box, but pretty dam irrate that can't record cable box shows directly to computer. From reading thread the last few weeks, it looks like we may be screwed by cable companies again(firmware upgrade).

Still not positive that my reinstall may have screwed it up. So I'd like to take a poll from everyone who previously had it working - is there anyone who can still record digital content?

jpilcher

03-19-07, 07:40 AM

Sci_Fi_Nut

03-19-07, 09:17 PM

jpilcher,

do you get any video or nothing at all? I can record, but I get goofy stuff on the video, and not all the time, and I can capture a show once and get the gark, then try again and it is clean (at least the first minute or two is, I haven't watched a full show)

teague

03-19-07, 09:27 PM

Mine stopped working. Wants me to reinstall the drivers now. I will try that in a few days to see if it will work.

Chris

a8vdeluxe

03-19-07, 11:41 PM

I filed my complaint with the FCC http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html , and sugget you all do the same. Here is an excerpt from mine:

...Recently, and this is my second complaint in this letter, firmware updates by cable
ops or box manufacturers, or both, in a conspiracy, have made recording
to PCs from cable boxes via firewire inoperative. Don't know if this was done
accidentaly or on purpose by cable ops. If on purpose, do they have
the right to block us from recording to our PCs? If so, why? Anyone
can buy a $50 USB tuner for their laptop and record OTA at will. What
is the difference? If accidental, what rights do I have to restore box to
the way it was? Recent post from attached thread shows that the
practice of sending out firmware upgrades that disable firewire is
widespread( ie it is being done by the two big cable box
manufactureres-Motorola, and Scientific Atlanta. So ultimately Time
Warner, Comcast Cable, and the like would be liable?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archive/index.php/t-403695-p-15.html
Again what recorse do we have ???...

daptek

03-20-07, 10:52 AM

I have a DCT6412III but I've been trying to follow the instructions of installing the drivers on XP Pro (SP2) and so far I always get :
An error ocurred during the installation of the device:

The data is invalid...

Any help?

bravesman16

03-20-07, 06:05 PM

All, I have a question please forgive me I am sure that some where in this 125 page thread this has been asked but I could not find it in my quick skimming. I have a dct3416 of which I am trying to hook up to a windows media center pc via firewire 6 pin from the cable box to 4 pin to the pc. I have already installed capdvhs and yet the computer never sees the box. is there something that I am missing? Is there a way in the software to verify that the firewire/1394 port is active? I have checked the menus that I could find and no luck at this point. I have many things that I would love to retrieve from the box any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!!!!

twitchee3

03-20-07, 06:11 PM

bravesman16

03-20-07, 11:08 PM

twitchee3 thanks for the quick reply but I must just be slower than the average idiot ;). I have downloaded the firexxx.zip file in the first post/instructions however it says to install them via the msi file. When I unzip them there are not any files that are able to be run. the instructions say something about
"After unzipping firestb.msi run and if you are using MCE install the components you want. If you are running XP then at the very least install the "Firewire Drivers" component, you won't be able to double click on it, you will have to use a different command to skip the MCE required screen. Now you can just choose the driver.
Code:
MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0"

I am not quite sure what this means. I have unziped the file and made it easily accessible via a folder on my desktop. However my stupid Arse is stuck from there. Any help would be greatful! and thank you again for your time.

grittree

03-21-07, 10:07 AM

Since you have MCE, just double click the .msi file.

The MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0 is what XP users type from a command prompt.

canadianeh

03-21-07, 09:23 PM

Good evening.

I've been skimming and searching this thread for hours and really haven't found what I'm looking for.

I have a Comcast Scientific Atlanta 8000HD STB with two firewire ports. When I hook up a firewire cable to my laptop (the small firewire connector), the laptop never sees that a device has been attached.

I found the code on here to view the diagnostic menu, and it shows that the 1394 ports are "UNAVAILABLE".

Does this mean that the firewire ports are disabled? Unavailable was listed when the laptop was not attached. I haven't had a chance to check with the laptop hooked up.

To prove functionality of the laptop's port, I hooked up my external hard drive and it was detected without any issues.

So... is this a STB issue? Is the port just disabled? I called Comcast earlier tonight and they told me that they don't know what firewire or 1394 is. Great. Just great :)

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys!

(BTW, I'm in Colchester, VT)

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm using XP SP2... I installed the drivers originally, but the laptop never has discovered the new devices to be able to associate the drivers with them.... :(