How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP [Text View] - Page 8

jsjames

10-10-05, 10:56 PM

it's not an extract, it's an installer, windows will just run it

Edit: i mean it's not an archive so you don't have to extract it, just double click and follow the instructions, a page or two in you get to choose what you want to be installed and where to put it

Before I get started I wanted to ask, with this firewire.msi file I got off TheGreenButton, should I still follow the instructions of the first post? Or can I just run this msi, then connect the cable?
I ask becasue the instructions call for individual driver installs and these drivers are in the msi file.

Thanks!

slim79

10-11-05, 01:28 AM

Anyone tried recording from a motorola bmc9012 via firewire. I have channel changing over firewire working but it will not capture. I also have a 6200 which channel changing and recording works great. I am using the firewirebeta from

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152

Naylia

10-11-05, 12:12 PM

Before I get started I wanted to ask, with this firewire.msi file I got off TheGreenButton, should I still follow the instructions of the first post? Or can I just run this msi, then connect the cable?
I ask becasue the instructions call for individual driver installs and these drivers are in the msi file.

Thanks!

If you connect the cable first, then the msi package will try to attach the drivers to the unidentified devices if appropriate. If you install pacakge first then the drivers are just sitting in a folder and you can manually install them via device manager after you connect the cable. It shouldn't actually matter either way.

SilverHemi03

10-11-05, 02:09 PM

I don't know what your use is going to be really but if you only need 1 firewire port, you might as well buy a Creative Audigy 2 or 4 and kill 2 birds with one stone. The Audigy 2 comes with 1 firewire port and support for 7.1 sound. Can't beat that, eh?

Edit:
Stand-alone Firewire cards run about $50
Audigy 2 zs runs about $65

[QUOTE=Naylia] firewire cards start at $7 on pricewatch.com and go up from there, so that would be quite a bit cheaper than the $65 bucks for a sound card....unless you need an Audigy that is.

Thanks for both recomendations. I have 3 PCI slots and an AGP. Eventually I will add a video card to the AGP slot, sound, dual tuners, and I don't know what else, so I am trying to multifunction the slots.

I just remeber the old days as a reseller, having compatablity issues with I/O devices and certain motherboards, or HDD's or software. So I take it that there aren't any particular brands to avoid, right?

Thanks again.

timmmoore

10-11-05, 04:24 PM

If you connect the cable first, then the msi package will try to attach the drivers to the unidentified devices if appropriate. If you install pacakge first then the drivers are just sitting in a folder and you can manually install them via device manager after you connect the cable. It shouldn't actually matter either way.
You should be able to do it in either order. The msi installs the drivers so windows will find it

phenderson

10-11-05, 05:10 PM

Ok, here is my problem

For starters...
I was able to connect my old Insight Motorola 6208 to my desktop computer, and that worked like a charm, I could record and capture.

I have now switched that out for a 6412 Dual Tuner box and am positive that I will be able to get that guy connected without a problem, BUT, Insight here in Lexington are cheap. They have only bought the rights to broadcast 2 local HD affiliates (Fox and CBS) and not the other two (NBC and ABC). So I am unable to watch my favorite shows in HD on those two channels ("My Name is Earl, According to Jim, The Office, ABC college Football, etc) unless I use the OTA tuner that is built into my nice Mitsubishi WD-52525 DLP TV. I would like to record some of these shows, so as not to miss out on anything when I leave the house. Its fine and dandy to record "According to Jim" as it is being broadcast in SD on the cable box, but I would like to record Jim as it is being broadcast in HD on the OTA tuner on my TB. I guess I am wondering, how do I go about that?

I went out and bought a nice Uniwill Laptop whose specs are the following:

2.8 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 (800 FSB) desktop CPU
512 megs PC2100 SODIMM
30 gig 4200 rpm IBM harddrive
USB 2.0
802.11g\b\a wireless
1 4-pin ieee1394 firewire port...

The last item is where in lies the problem.
I have bought a Firewire cable that is 4-pin to 4-pin, but it will not work. When I plug it into the TV and the Laptop, the TV announces that there is a problem with the firewire cable, please check manual to fix.

When I plug the 6412 up to the TV using the firewire cable, it works without a problem (alas it only sends audio and video to the TV via the firewire) so that leads me to believe that there is nothing wrong with the firewire port on the TV.

I grabbed the drivers posted in the first post of this thread. I manually installed them (right-click on them and chose install) but my notebook never discovers the device. I also tried hooking the cable box up to my notebook, but the result is the same. It does not discover the cable box either...

I am wondering if there is such a thing as a send only firewire port, or if the firewire port on the notebook is messed up...

Any suggestions, anyone?

buttasuperb

10-11-05, 06:49 PM

Having a problem with HDTVtoMPEG2.

It doesn't allow me to select a channel, and the resulting file winds up being 2kb (off of a 1.8gb TS file)

What's going wrong?

edit: Nevermind, I originally downloaded an old version.

Anyone have a list of the channels that are copy protected?

10-11-05, 07:38 PM

I have two Comcast 6412s sitting one on top of the other. One is a Phase 2 (DVI) the other is a Phase 3 (HDMI). On the Phase 2, CAPDVHS can record all HD channels. On the Phase 3, it can record all the HD channels except an NBC affiliate I've power cycled both units and the behavior stays the same.

D11 is the same on all the HD channels on both DVR's, 5C=0. This includes the one channel that won't record over firewire on the Phase 3.

Looking at D6, there is a difference. On the Phase 3 the RC flag is 0 on all the channels that record, and RC is 1 on the one that won't. On the Phases 2, the RC flag is 2 on all channels. I don't know what the RC flag is.

There are other differences in the D6 flags between the Phase 2 and Phase 3 DVR's. However, these differences don't vary at all with the HD channel. APS and CIT are 0 on the Phase3, while APS is 4 with CIT 2 on the Phase 2.

Does anyone know what these D6 flags mean, particularly the RC flag which seems to predict the record problem on the Phase 3?

What about diagnostics from the PC side? CAPDVHS just fails to show a resolution or frame rate for the "bad" channel on the Phase 3. Is there a way to get a real error message?

bagwellfive

10-12-05, 11:24 AM

just a quick post
been lurking around here for a while. Tried out this 1394 -> PC and followed the tutorial step by step.

Worked the first time for me.
so Thanks!

I ended up w/ a great 1920x1080 hour long episode of Sheryl Crow in concert
:)

Kirby Baker

10-12-05, 11:28 AM

Ho hum... 5C=1 showed up here recently.. sucks! Was fun while it lasted though! :)

Sivle

10-12-05, 01:14 PM

I have the Motorola DTC 6208 and am gonna give this a try tonight...is this just for capturing the TV stream as it is playing or can I transfer previously recorded programs directly from my box to my PC. I am new to this, but from my understanding I will have to play the recorded programs while my PC is hooked up with the firewire to capture them...correct? Thanks for all the information, this forum is excellent.

puck71

10-12-05, 02:25 PM

Anyone have a list of the channels that are copy protected? No ... that depends on your cable company. In general, all digital channels (including HD) other than local channels will be copy protected, and all analog channels and digital local channels will not be. But every case could be different.

I am new to this, but from my understanding I will have to play the recorded programs while my PC is hooked up with the firewire to capture them...correct? Correct. This is only a real-time capture. You can't just drag shows from the DVR to the PC or anything like that.

buttasuperb

10-12-05, 07:30 PM

Well I used this guide to encode a hd file for dvd

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html

and the resulting mpg started out good, but the audio/video sync gradually got further and further apart. i made sure the delay setting in the script was correct, so i'm not sure what went wrong. anyone else run into this problem?

mklein49

10-12-05, 08:34 PM

Blaine Doss

10-12-05, 09:04 PM

Help! I'm having trouble recording from my Mits TV. It never comes up with AVC Tuner Device when i plug in the firewire cable. It either says AVC Device or MITSUBISHI PROJECTION TV. I'm not able to get etiher of those to work. Any ideas?

I have a WS-55511 and just install the drivers for the AVC Device and I am able to record with no problem

mklein49

10-12-05, 09:20 PM

Hmm. I have the WS-55859. When I select the "Have Disk" option and provide the meidvhs driver dir, it says "No capable driver found' or something to that effect. Should I browse for the driver file?

Blaine Doss

10-12-05, 09:29 PM

Hmm. I have the WS-55859. When I select the "Have Disk" option and provide the meidvhs driver dir, it says "No capable driver found' or something to that effect. Should I browse for the driver file?

It took me several times read the directions very closely.. Here is where I had problems...

?Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)?
Click Next

Choose ?Don?t Search. I will choose the driver to install.
Click Next.

Uncheck ?Show compatible hardware?
Click ?Have Disk?

If you still have problems I may do screen shots when time allows

Naylia

10-12-05, 09:32 PM

getting it to work with STBs has gotten pretty decent, the Mits TVs though are apparently still quite elusive

that doesn't really help you, other than that it's probably not worth pulling your hair out too much trying to get the Mits to work, see if you can contact timmmoore at thegreenbutton.com and work with him to get Mits support added, he's the one who has worked on the latest drivers

mklein49

10-12-05, 10:04 PM

It took me several times read the directions very closely.. Here is where I had problems...

?Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)?
Click Next

Choose ?Don?t Search. I will choose the driver to install.
Click Next.

Uncheck ?Show compatible hardware?
Click ?Have Disk?

If you still have problems I may do screen shots when time allows

Thanks Blaine, I'm having troulbe after the I select the Have Disk option. Did you browse for the driver file, or just enter the driver path? It would be great if you could post screen shots when you get a chance.

RollnThndr

10-13-05, 12:53 AM

and the resulting mpg started out good, but the audio/video sync gradually got further and further apart. i made sure the delay setting in the script was correct, so i'm not sure what went wrong. anyone else run into this problem?

I'm having the same issue. Everything is fine except the audio is out. I followed the instructions very cloesely as well, edited the script file accordingly but still the audio is out of sync. Are you guys getting it to sync by trial and error, or should the steps listed in the instructions be working hands down?

I've found that a regular broadcast works fine, it's only when I try to author an HD .ts/.mpg file, then it all goes to h*ll.

Any advice?

CodedoC

10-13-05, 01:46 AM

I have the 3250HD with two 1394 ports on back. When I follow the instructions at the beginning of this thread and connect the STB to my laptop via 1394 cable, I get two Unknown devices and one AV/C Panel device. There is no Tuner AV/C Device to be discovered, therefore, installation of the meidvhs fails. I was hoping the Panel device was it, but no luck.

HelmetHead

10-13-05, 05:44 PM

Well...i got the answer i didnt' want to hear today....according to Time Warner Houston, my Digital cable card descrambles the cable signals allowing viewing on the Mitsubishi TV set...then rescrables every single channel with 5c copy protection. There is no way to copy any of the channels..... So now i'm stuck with a beautiful TV set and the need to get a freakin ugly STB and overfill my entertainment center with TW's crap. Not to mention the Cable card cost $1.75/month while the digital STB with DVR (only way you can get an enabled Firewire Port) is $13.95/month.....

Anyone have any suggestions to a work around for this? If not, i'll have a beautiful HTPC for sale...HARDLY USED!!!!!!!!

HelmetHead

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

gtg941f

10-14-05, 12:14 AM

I recorded a show from Moto 6412. The output is a ts, then i convert to mpg with hdtvtompeg. It's a weird video in that it's the kind where when playing back in wmp, you can't skip through the video (it has to play all the way through).

My question is: I just want to burn my videos to dvd and cut out the commercials. However, ReJig crashes on me when trying to import the video. The only editing software I've been able to get to import the video is Ulead MovieFactory 4. The problem is, that on the final burn stage of Ulead, it throws the audio out of sync with the video too. :rolleyes even the preview step right before burning shows everything in sync

What software is able to open these weird format MPG files to author?
TMPGEnc also isn't able to open these types of files.

Why are the videos this strange format that is unable to be opened by so many pieces of software?

Naylia

10-14-05, 12:39 PM

HelmetHead

10-14-05, 04:12 PM

Saga continued....
Just got back from TW service center to RETURN my cable card...pickedup a SA3250HD STB with enabled Firewire... will return later to update my experiences with plugging in all this spagetti and let you all know how it turns out....

WISH ME LUCK....thats all i've got to work with now....

HelmetHead :D

puck71

10-14-05, 04:38 PM

What software is able to open these weird format MPG files to author?
TMPGEnc also isn't able to open these types of files.

Why are the videos this strange format that is unable to be opened by so many pieces of software? It's probably the audio, not the video. The streams you're recording are MPEG-2 video streams with AC3 audio streams. So make sure you have an AC3 codec/filter installed.

Also, I have run into corrupted captures that basically wouldn't open properly in any programs. I'm not sure what happened, but re-capturing it seemed to fix it, so there must have been some bad data in there.

I haven't tried converting these straight to DVD yet - I've only used vdubmod to convert the captures to AVI.

Xplicit213

10-15-05, 01:37 AM

How can I transfer the recorded shows on my Motorola BMC9012 DVR to my PC? I have already purchased a firewire cable and now only need the drivers so that my PC may recognize the DVR. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Xplicit

gsr

10-15-05, 01:05 PM

Well, I finally got around to playing with this on my Mitsubishi WS-65909 RPTV with integrated ATSC tuner. Installing the driver wasn't too bad - the only difficulty was that the device was already listed in my hardware list from a previous round of trying to get Firebus to work (which was uninstalled a while ago). To install the driver, I had to uninstall all 3 devices for the TV, unplug the firewire cable, reboot, plug in the firewire cable, and then wait for the appropriate device to show up.

CapDVHS works fine, as does dctrecord. The only big issue I can see is changing channels for scheduled recordings. CapVHS doesn't have anything to address this. Dctrecord seems to mention it for their Windows GUI app, but it either works for the particular Motorola box they target their program at or not at all. Is anyone aware of how (or if it's even possible) to change the channel?

Files recorded from CapDVHS and dctrecord seem to play fine for me both in Theatertek and the accessDTV hardware.

If I can figure out how to change channels, I'll look into possibly integrating support for recording off of firewire tuners into the accessDTV software to take advantage of our advanced scheduling capabilities. Worst case, channel changing could be accomplished through IR by turning the TV on, changing to the DTV antenna input, and changing the channel, but that's a pretty ugly solution.

My interest here is mostly to get an extra tuner for the rare times when I don't have enough accessDTV cards available or the Mitsubishi tuner may pull in a station better.

Naylia

10-15-05, 11:42 PM

Bxz

10-16-05, 12:41 AM

Is there a RF out on the back of the motorola 6200? Is the signal from that port after decryption? so that i can feed the signal to the MyHD or fusionHD card?

thx
BXZ

RalphArch

10-16-05, 12:54 AM

Is there a RF out on the back of the motorola 6200? Is the signal from that port after decryption? so that i can feed the signal to the MyHD or fusionHD card?

thx
BXZ
The MyHD mdp 130 takes unencrypted QAM straight off the cable. You can download non-5c channels via firewire to your pc after dencryption - no tuner other than stb required. Although I don't have it hooked up I believe you can get composite out of the box if you want to record the 5c channels at 480i

Bxz

10-16-05, 01:30 AM

I was thinking feeding the RF output port (To TV/VCR) to the MyHD or fusion, since if that port has the decrpted QAM signal, MYHD or Fusion should be able to tune those channel previously encrpted, that's still RF signal just without encryption, not composite.

Since i have the fusion card, it might be easy to record from fusion than using the firewire.

The MyHD mdp 130 takes unencrypted QAM straight off the cable. You can download non-5c channels via firewire to your pc after dencryption - no tuner other than stb required. Although I don't have it hooked up I believe you can get composite out of the box if you want to record the 5c channels at 480i

wylie--coyote

10-16-05, 03:32 AM

I can't get the meitape.inf to load as it says the required section of the inf was not found. Has anyone seen this problem before? My dct 6200 appears to have firmware 8.12

Bxz

10-16-05, 04:53 AM

U need to add "tuner av/c device", then u will be able to load the meitape.inf effectively, otherwise, u'll see that error.

I just did this directly to my sharp LCD, yes, i directly connect the LCD 1394 port to my XP 1394 card, i can record any signal which is being playing on the LCD thru 1394 port directly to XP PC, so yes if u have a cable card installed, u will be able to do the same, no STB needed.

I can't get the meitape.inf to load as it says the required section of the inf was not found. Has anyone seen this problem before? My dct 6200 appears to have firmware 8.12

gsr

10-16-05, 09:55 AM

the package of drivers at thegreenbutton.com in the firewire thread has a program called channel.exe and channelw.exe (dos and windows versions) that should change channels over firewire, you just need to make sure you have an AV/C Panel that you can also access, instructions for setting it up are in the readme...

essentially:
-install AV/C Panel driver
-find out device number of the AV/C Panel on the firewire bus using the channel.exe program
-send commands like 'channel.exe [id] [channel]' and the channel changes

it works way better than my usb-uirt did, faster and more reliable

I found that package last night, but missed the piece about needing an AV/C Panel driver - thanks for the reply. I'll experiment with that when I get a chance.

When I connect my TV via Firewire, I get 3 devices. One clearly turns out to be the AV/C Tuner device as I can use CapDVHS to record from it. The other 2 show up as Unknown Device in Device Manager - hopefully one of those will be an AV/C Panel device.

If I can get this all to work, I should be able to integrate support for recording from firewire devices into the accessDTV software so that it would be possible to record 2 things at once or record something from the firewire device and play back something else through the accessDTV hardware.

Naylia

10-16-05, 12:22 PM

wylie--coyote

10-16-05, 05:13 PM

I am loading the av/c tuner in the add driver section and I see the Panasonic d-vhs av/c device in the driver section, but it won't load the driver. It says the required section of the inf was not found. Any ideas?

Wesley5

10-16-05, 06:29 PM

I was thinking feeding the RF output port (To TV/VCR) to the MyHD or fusion, since if that port has the decrpted QAM signal, MYHD or Fusion should be able to tune those channel previously encrpted, that's still RF signal just without encryption, not composite.

Since i have the fusion card, it might be easy to record from fusion than using the firewire.

This is also what I am looking for. If it works, not only it makes life easier to record HD video with a PC, it would also save an input on your HDTV. But 6200 user manual (broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/dct6200/default.asp) indicates RF output can not be used for HD mvideo :confused:

gsr

10-16-05, 08:43 PM

thats what a number of people do with SageTV right now, we can record over firewire direct into SageTV, schedule recordings and everything, SageTV just treats it as another tuner (after a wee bit of hacking, but it's pretty straightforward), it's been great!

After giving it a quick try this morning, it looks like my Mitsubishi RPTV doesn't expose an AV/C Panel device, so I'm out of luck trying to change channels through software. The only way to change channels is to turn on the TV, switch to the DTV antenna input, and change the channel - not really a reasonable solution. My WS-65909 is (IIRC) the first series Mitsubishi released with integrated HD tuners, so I guess I shouldn't be shocked that there wasn't a little more thought put into this on their end.

Certainly though if I need another tuner to record from once in a while, I can make sure I leave the TV on the correct channel and setup scheduled recording on the PC end.

There aren't any firewire enabled OTA tuners out there that have both AV/C Tuner and AV/C Panel devices, are there? From what I can tell quickly searching, the Samsung T165 may not expose the AV/C Panel device.

Firewire would be a nice easy way to get as many tuners as one wants (within disk bandwidth limits) into 1 PC as it just isn't reasonable to get more than 2 PCI tuner cards into 1 PC in most cases (and it's often difficult to get 2 that play nicely together).

Naylia

10-16-05, 08:53 PM

the fusion 5 HD OTA cards play well together, two tuner card support is in the latest drivers

gsr

10-16-05, 09:16 PM

the fusion 5 HD OTA cards play well together, two tuner card support is in the latest drivers

But they don't work with my choice of software - see my signature :D. I do wonder what it would take for me to add support for them.... Hmm - might be worth looking into :).

satviewer2000

10-20-05, 04:51 AM

I've got the Motorola DCT6412/2000 up and running with firewire to WinXP and it captures fine on the hi-def channels.

The problem I'm having is, is there a way to play back and capture shows which had been previously recorded onto the DCT6412's PVR? I don't really want to have to capture it while it's playing, but want to record the program, then play it back and capture it.

But when I press "List" on my remote (which normally goes to the PVR menu), nothing happens??? I can change channels, but nothing else seems to work when it's hooked up to firewire.

Anyone else having these issues?

BGA

10-20-05, 11:23 AM

I need some help......
I had capDVHS working with my 6200 for a few months and I was trying the new Theatertek upgrade which caused me to do some serious configuring that somehow screwed up my capDVHS. When I open it the "No caputure device" can be found error come up. I tried reinstalling the drivers and app as the guide says but no luck.
Any ideas would be appreciated I really don't want to reinstall! Thanks.

chuckvb

10-20-05, 12:30 PM

If you connect the cable first, then the msi package will try to attach the drivers to the unidentified devices if appropriate. If you install pacakge first then the drivers are just sitting in a folder and you can manually install them via device manager after you connect the cable. It shouldn't actually matter either way.

I just installed the beta (firewirebeta) package and didn't seems to get the drivers. Are they only in the none beta zip file?

SilverHemi03

10-20-05, 12:33 PM

I have searched but can't find what I need. Also posted in the HTPC forum.

I am building a Dell OptiPlex GX260 (P4 2.4G withe 845G chip set) for primarily storing recorded programs from my MOTO 6412 via firewire.

I have added a 500w power supply.
Audigy 2 with firewire connections
200 G HDD

I have the MOTO 6412 and an HD STB with HDMI out along with Component out.

I don't really need a tuner card to record via all the good instruction found here, but what kind of video card do I need? (I would like to use the VGA port on my Sammy DLP as I have the DVI connected to My MOTO.) Not a big gamer except for an occasional flight sim .

Eventually I will probably look at the tuner cards, Some tuner cards seem to bypass the video card or excuse my extreme nubieness.

Bxz

10-20-05, 01:10 PM

Naylia,

do u have the link for procedures using the sage thru 1394? What kinda hacking do u use? if i can change channels in the software, that's really nice.

thx
Bxz

thats what a number of people do with SageTV right now, we can record over firewire direct into SageTV, schedule recordings and everything, SageTV just treats it as another tuner (after a wee bit of hacking, but it's pretty straightforward), it's been great!

Xesdeeni

10-20-05, 01:12 PM

http://www.svcd2dvd.com/HDTV2DVD/

Xesdeeni

Bxz

10-20-05, 01:36 PM

unless u wana hack in the box and see what's been connected to this 480i RF port, i think there's one chip converting the HD to SD, if u can bypass that, it might work as u wish. :D :D :D :D :D

This is also what I am looking for. If it works, not only it makes life easier to record HD video with a PC, it would also save an input on your HDTV. But 6200 user manual (broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/dct6200/default.asp) indicates RF output can not be used for HD mvideo :confused:

Naylia

10-20-05, 02:08 PM

Naylia,

do u have the link for procedures using the sage thru 1394? What kinda hacking do u use? if i can change channels in the software, that's really nice.

thx
Bxz

the main thread over at the Sage forums is called STB Firewire IEEE 1394 blah blah and it is in the hardware forum, take a read and then start posting questions, i monitor that forum also, so just post there and i can walk you through things

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9288

MentalDragon

10-21-05, 01:07 AM

I just connected my DCT 6412 to my pc via Firewire...

I'm using capDVHS ... regular non-hd channels capture fine... I could see all it's details while it's capturing. I could play it back with Windows Media Player Classic. This tells me my drivers are insalled properly and all is connected properly.

My problem is with the HD channels. When I try to capture HD channels no details show in capDVHS but the file gets bigger and bigger. At first I thought it was because of the 5c protection... so I switched to a HD channel that was set for 5C=0. Same issue...

My problem in a nutshell is:
I cannot capture HD channels even if 5C=0. The file gets bigger but I cannot play the file in Windows Media Player Classic.

Setup
Motorola DCT6412 Firmware 12.10
Comcast
HDMI to DVI to TV
AC3 Optical from DCT6412 to Audio Reciever
P4 3Ghz 1Gig RAM WindowsXP SP2 200GB free for PVR Functions.

Anyone else have this problem or have any recommendations?

satviewer2000

10-21-05, 02:22 AM

Pmasters

10-21-05, 04:22 AM

Couple questions. I found out how to cap not too long ago and been trying to capture everything I could in my free time. Pink Floyd's The Wall looks awesome in HD!

However, I have noticed from time to time, capturing DVR HD shows from my Motorola 62xx sometimes causes my system to blue screen and then reboot. Is this normal or is this an improper driver install issue? Doesnt happen as much when I capture a live stream but more so when I capture dvr recordings. Also, I thought I saw others in this thread that said they could capture regular analog streams but I have not had any success with this. I can capture the digital channels although most happy a crappy resolution with quite noticeable noise. But channels like HBO, Stars, Max, even MTV, dont seem to be captured using CapDVHS. A file is created but unplayable. Oh yeah, sometimes audio seems very low. Anyway to improve this?

I am in Northern Kentucky and I use Insight. Hopefully someone in my area can give me a heads up of wha channels I can capture exactly. Firmware is like 8.13 I believe.

Never could get the VLC Live view to work. Its ok, I just want to find out how to stop the darn blue screens halfway through my captures. I have also noticed that some of my captures have a delay in the audio. Is there any program that I can my capture through and have it automatically correct my audio delays?

Thanks.

Naylia

10-21-05, 09:46 AM

Pmasters

10-21-05, 01:03 PM

mystere2

10-21-05, 03:48 PM

Pmasters,

What are your system specs? Is your drive you are capturing to NTFS? What OS are you running? Do you have another firewire card or cable to try? Can you try capturing to a different hard drive and see if it works? Just trying to brainstorm here, Good Luck,

E

MentalDragon

10-21-05, 04:32 PM

Not sure if this will help, but the captured files in HDTV are in ".ts" format which are not playable directly from WMP unless they've been converted to MPEG2 format. I use the "Womble MPEG Editor" to convert these files into a playable MPEG2 format.

By the way, can you capture programs which have been saved to the hard drive on the DCT6412 model?

The guide says that Windows Media Player could view HD captures. I could capture and view TS files if it is a regular non-hd channel with Windows Media Player Classic... So I think it just isn't capturing right.

I tried to use HDTVtoDVD using the TS files I captured on the HD channels but HDTVtoDVD couldn't see it's content.

I powered off and on the the 6214 several times and checked and double checked that 5c=0.

There has to be something I am missing....

I have another questions.... If I purchase a D-VHS unit.... would I still be able to record 5c protected content via Firewire? I read several posts but some of the posts are pretty old... and some say you could and some say you cannot.

This is all crazy because the only shows I want to record are on DiscoveryHD... If I could do it via D-VHS, I would.. but if I can't because of the 5C protection... I won't invest in it!

Anyways thanks for all your help!

HDTVFanAtic

10-21-05, 06:09 PM

Has anyone been able to get the IEEE 1394 ports to work properly in Windows XP from the SA 8300HD? Drivers install and the computer knows its a 8300 with 2 tuners, but dvhscap shows no device when started.

The 3250HD continues to work fine though.

cajun_junky

10-21-05, 11:31 PM

HDTVFanAtic

10-22-05, 12:43 AM

I have another questions.... If I purchase a D-VHS unit.... would I still be able to record 5c protected content via Firewire? I read several posts but some of the posts are pretty old... and some say you could and some say you cannot.

This is all crazy because the only shows I want to record are on DiscoveryHD... If I could do it via D-VHS, I would.. but if I can't because of the 5C protection... I won't invest in it!

You should be able to. If everything is set properly at your local cable system is another thing.

holl_ands

10-22-05, 02:30 AM

The guide says that Windows Media Player could view HD captures. I could capture and view TS files if it is a regular non-hd channel with Windows Media Player Classic... So I think it just isn't capturing right.

I tried to use HDTVtoDVD using the TS files I captured on the HD channels but HDTVtoDVD couldn't see it's content.

I powered off and on the the 6214 several times and checked and double checked that 5c=0.

There has to be something I am missing....

I have another questions.... If I purchase a D-VHS unit.... would I still be able to record 5c protected content via Firewire? I read several posts but some of the posts are pretty old... and some say you could and some say you cannot.

This is all crazy because the only shows I want to record are on DiscoveryHD... If I could do it via D-VHS, I would.. but if I can't because of the 5C protection... I won't invest in it!

Anyways thanks for all your help!

Do a search for "firewire" and also "DVHS" in your local Pittsburgh thread.

In mid-August Comcast updated the firmware and broke some of the Firewire recording capabilities:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6166422&highlight=dvhs#post6166422

Keep checking back for when they get it fixed and working again.....
And keep complaining for them to fix this federally mandated capability....

On TWC San Diego, I've been recording analog, SD and HD channels (including premiums, but haven't tried PPV)
for over a year now with a JVC D-VHS Recorder and have numerous HD concert tapes, most of which are DD5.1.

The D-VHS is the only device that obeys the "5C" copy protect rules, which gives you access to all the channels (except PPV).
A PC can only record "COPY FREELY" programs, such as local HD channels and normally will not record Discovery-HD.
[Except when they screw up the flags......but that is something that seems to come and go on different systems....]

DrKoh

10-22-05, 10:30 AM

Man, blue screened again midway through a capture of a dvr recording. Does anyone have any idea why this happens? I was able to capture "The Wall" from DVR last night so it doesnt happen with all of my DVR recordings just a hit and miss.

I would really appreciate any help at all. I just dont want to have to break down and buy a DVHS recorder just to capture some HD.

Thanks.
P, you might try to isolate the glitch using a stress regimen. Software such as Sisoft Sandra (free trial available) offers burn-in tools that can help you to identefy the offending component, or at least help rule out hardware failure.

Casey0403

10-22-05, 03:59 PM

beta-testing a 6208 (single tuner HD DVR). actually a friend of mine works for comcast and he's allowed me to use his 6208. had to bring over my HTPC.

via CapDVHS, i can record LIVE HD programs without any issues, along with analog channels (2-99), and the regular digital channels (102-171, 300s, 400s). Even VOD shows. INterestingly, The DVR itself is NOT able to do this (VOD recording).

to my surprise, i was also able to capture RECORDED shows to my HTPC. i was thinking firewire recording only did streaming shows, not ones recorded onto the 6208's own had drive. Its interesting to note also that no compression was on the DVR-recorded programs. I scheduled the pistons/pacers game 2 on ESPNHD and recorded a short clip LIVE via CapDVHS, and then recorded a clip off of the DVR-captured game. Same bitrate, same aspect ratio.
thats good encouraging news - i can schedule a recording on the 6208, and know its not compressed or converted to a lower bit file. no degradation in PQ. that means i dont have to be there to record a program onto my hard drive - i can simply record via the 6208, and then record that recording to my hard drive (sounds so redundant!). i then simply delete the DVR recording to make room for future recordings. :)

hopefully this 6208 will be released to the public here soon. i can turn in my 6200, and get rid of my ReplayTV. one less component and one less remote! :P
I was transferring files from the DVR hard drive of my Motorola 6208 (I have Comcast service) to my laptop hardrive using CAPDVHS.exe with stunning results. Then I used Nero to burn DVDs with very good resolution and Dolby 5.1. However, just in the past two weeks, when I try to record from INHD and INHD2 channels, or when I try to record such streams that were saved to the DVR from those channels, the CAPDVHS does not populate any data on the recording stream. When I check the saved file, it will not play. My Comcast is using 9.19 firmware. Would that have the 5C code restricted like you discussed? I don't understand why what was working before is now not working. I have even re-installed the drivers and the CAPDVHS software with no results. Does anyone out there know what could be happening?

dc10forlife

10-22-05, 05:00 PM

I was transferring files from the DVR hard drive of my Motorola 6208 (I have Comcast service) to my laptop hardrive using CAPDVHS.exe with stunning results. Then I used Nero to burn DVDs with very good resolution and Dolby 5.1. However, just in the past two weeks, when I try to record from INHD and INHD2 channels, or when I try to record such streams that were saved to the DVR from those channels, the CAPDVHS does not populate any data on the recording stream. When I check the saved file, it will not play. My Comcast is using 9.19 firmware. Would that have the 5C code restricted like you discussed? I don't understand why what was working before is now not working. I have even re-installed the drivers and the CAPDVHS software with no results. Does anyone out there know what could be happening?

Comcast probably recently enabled 5c (a trend). I don't have Comcast, but try getting into your service menu. The service menue for the SA3250HD lists 5c status when tuned to particular channels. This happened to me on TWC about one year ago.

HDTVFanAtic

10-22-05, 06:53 PM

Comcast set 5c back to copy once to most systems in the last 30 days. It had been set to free on many systems since January 1.

fadynaime

10-22-05, 11:54 PM

HDTVFanAtic

10-23-05, 03:12 AM

It will be just like a VHS tape deck - it can rewind, fast forward and pause at any point.

You will not be able to copy it to another machine.

holl_ands

10-23-05, 04:02 AM

i need to be sure of one thing before i go out and buy the firewire because its not cheap, do i need to playback the whole show, is it going to be a copy as if ur coping anyfile or it will be 2 hours playback of a movie, and will there be restrictions and permission issues.

If the COPY FREELY flag is correctly set for local HD stations, you are supposed to be able to copy the HD MPEG2 file from one D-VHS to another D-VHS.
Presumably this also works for PC's.

If flag is set to COPY ONCE, then you can only record/play it back in a D-VHS and reportedly play it back in any other D-VHS that follows "5C" rules.
If you play back the program from a D-VHS to another VCR via the low-rez Video/S-Video port, you may encounter Macrovision protection.

D-VHS works pretty much like any standard VCR.
In fact, it does everything a regular VHS/S-VHS can do, including playing/making VHS/S-VHS recordings.
In addition to Firewire port, it is also able to record via Video/S-Video port and internal tuner.

Biggest problem with SA3250HD has been an inability to control the D-VHS when STB has been set to "record" a program.
SA offers an IR Blaster feature to control VCR's and D-VCR's, but TWC-SD did not enable it.
And SA also did not implement the START/STOP commands to the D-VHS over the Firewire port.
I understand that some (Motorola?) boxes on COMCAST do this correctly.

So I have to manually punch the RECORD button or use an external R/C with built-in timer feature (after much punching of buttons....).

Nimo

10-24-05, 09:49 AM

puck71

10-24-05, 11:32 AM

I have been trying to find information but can't seem to figure out why the capture resolution has changed.

I used to capture thru capdvhs at 720x480 and convert it using HDTVtoMPEG then author it using TMPGEnc DVD author. That was using a 6240 box. Now that I have switched to a new Motorola DCT6412 dual tuner box some channels are capturing at 544x480. I can convert it fine with HDTVtoMPEG but TMPGEnc DVD author does not like the resolution.

What is up with this odd resolution??? The 6412 outputs the native resolution over the firewire port, so the signal it's receiving for that channel is in 544x480. When outputting to the TV, the box converts it to the proper resolution, but the firewire output just puts out the signal as it receives it. Basically you're going to need to convert your capture to a different resolution while or before you burn the DVD. If you do a Google for 544x480 you'll see some other sites where people are having similar issues.

mystere2

10-24-05, 12:13 PM

I have been trying to find information but can't seem to figure out why the capture resolution has changed.

I used to capture thru capdvhs at 720x480 and convert it using HDTVtoMPEG then author it using TMPGEnc DVD author. That was using a 6240 box. Now that I have switched to a new Motorola DCT6412 dual tuner box some channels are capturing at 544x480. I can convert it fine with HDTVtoMPEG but TMPGEnc DVD author does not like the resolution.

What is up with this odd resolution???

Hey cajun_junky, that is how all the standard digital channels are in my cable market. All the vh1 and mtv digital channels are 544x480. I guess they are figuring our tvs won't notice the change and it saves bandwidth for other things.

Bill Cruce

10-24-05, 01:45 PM

5C is set to "0". this means its disabled, no? :
http://home.comcast.net/~chosenfool/5C.jpg

and HDCP is set to "N/A" :
http://home.comcast.net/~chosenfool/HDCPNA.jpg

How do you get these information screens on a Motorola 6412 or 6208?

-Bill

cajun_junky

10-24-05, 01:53 PM

The 6412 outputs the native resolution over the firewire port, so the signal it's receiving for that channel is in 544x480. When outputting to the TV, the box converts it to the proper resolution, but the firewire output just puts out the signal as it receives it. Basically you're going to need to convert your capture to a different resolution while or before you burn the DVD. If you do a Google for 544x480 you'll see some other sites where people are having similar issues.

Thanks for the clarification. It was weird that they began sending the channels at 544x480 at the exact same time that I upgraded to the dual tuner cable box. I thought the dual tuner may be changing the resolution as it stores it on the hard drive.

What a pain in the ass. Now I have to convert the damn thing to 740x480 and hope there are no sync issues.

Xplicit213

10-24-05, 02:04 PM

Does anyone have information for the Motorola BMC9012??? I still can't transfer or record my recorded shows to my PC......please help!!!

puck71

10-24-05, 02:16 PM

How do you get these information screens on a Motorola 6412 or 6208?

-Bill Power the box off, then hit the Select button within 2 seconds.

Thanks for the clarification. It was weird that they began sending the channels at 544x480 at the exact same time that I upgraded to the dual tuner cable box. I thought the dual tuner may be changing the resolution as it stores it on the hard drive.

What a pain in the ass. Now I have to convert the damn thing to 740x480 and hope there are no sync issues. If I had to guess, I'd guess that your old box actually changed the resolution output, and the 6412 does not. I'm just about getting to the point of burning some captures onto DVD from my 6412, so I might run into this issue soon too.

Xesdeeni

10-24-05, 03:59 PM

544x480 is standard for Dish and DirecTV. If you get DVD-Lab, you can take the Dish and DirecTV streams and create DVD images directly from them. 9 out of 10 DVD players play them without any problems! I can't speak for cable, but I strongly suspect the same encoders are used there. It's definitely worthwhile to use the free 30-day trial period and check it out to see if it works for you, because converting to DVD format will require you to use a higher compression ratio or the quality will decrease considerably.

Also, for editing, VideoReDo works great on these streams, and it's frame accurate.

Xesdeeni

slim79

10-24-05, 09:24 PM

Does anyone have information for the Motorola BMC9012??? I still can't transfer or record my recorded shows to my PC......please help!!!

I have the bmc9012 w/ firewire I am using the firewirebeta from

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152

I can change channel via firewire but I have had no luck capturing with capDVHS or MCE.

When trying to capture with capDVHS i get
[ error 80070057: cannot start capture ]

AndreaD

10-25-05, 01:30 AM

I'm posting this question in this thread because is related to Motorola DCT6214 connected to Windows XP MediaCenter as well as Samsung DLP HL-R5078W

I have a Samsung DLP HL-R5078W connected to a Comcast Motorola DCT6214 via 1394 that until yesterday was working fine.

The same set-top box was also working with my mediacenter using the software posted on this thread. (CAPDVHS and relative drives)

Suddenly since yesterday the TV went black not showing any picture via 1394, while it is still working via DVI.

I checked with the mediacenter using CAPDVHS and, while the DVR is still recognized, even in this case the data info page does not report stream information.

I called Comcast that replaced the box but still w/o success. The d11 diagnostic page reports that the 1394 is active and not encripted.

I replaced also the cable to be sure that was not the cable but w/o success.

Is anyone experiencing the same problem?

Any help would be appreciated.

fwicket

10-25-05, 09:49 AM

I am using a motorola dct6412 with cox.cable service and this driver loaded up avcstm.sys when i installed meistb. Is this a possible reason why mine isn't connecting and these drivers also loaded up with my installation what are they? ks.sys, lvusbsta.sys, stream.sys, mstapeo.sys, iyuv_32.dll, ksproxy.ax, kstvtune.ax, ksuser.dll, kswdmcap.ax, ksxbar.ax, msh263.drv, msyuv.dll, tsbyuv.dll, vfwwdm32.dll, vidcap.ax

fwicket

phil_e

10-25-05, 12:11 PM

I also can't record certain channels on my Comcast system. I see that many channels are now set to "copy once" . Look at diagnostic menu d06 and if CCI is set to 02 you can not record via firewire ouptput anymore

Naylia

10-25-05, 03:40 PM

you won't be able to record any channels that have 5C encryption on them

dr1394

10-25-05, 07:15 PM

Thanks for the clarification. It was weird that they began sending the channels at 544x480 at the exact same time that I upgraded to the dual tuner cable box. I thought the dual tuner may be changing the resolution as it stores it on the hard drive.

What a pain in the ass. Now I have to convert the damn thing to 740x480 and hope there are no sync issues.
Is your DCT-6412 box a Phase 3 model (with HDMI)? The resolution of the analog channel MPEG-2 encoder in the Phase 3 is 544x480.

Ron

BJMoose

10-26-05, 08:33 AM

I found this thread yesterday and since I've already been recording HDTV via a fusion gold v3 card, I thought it might be interesting to try another method. After skimming through this whole thread, I decided to hook up my 6412 to see what would happen. I'm only using Win XP Pro SP2 (not the media center). I was surprised at how easy the connection was. I test recorded from several channels (all unencrypted HD) and saved as .ts files. I converted several to DVD format and picture and audio synch was very good.

I thought I saw mentioned earlier that it was possible to transfer recorded material from the 6412 to the pc. Can't find where that was mentioned, but is it just a matter of playing that material on the 6412 while the pc is recording (RecDVHS) or is there a way to capture the saved file directly from the 6412's drive? Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum somewhere else. If so, could you give me some search topics. I didn't have much luck with my own.

RalphArch

10-26-05, 09:15 AM

I thought I saw mentioned earlier that it was possible to transfer recorded material from the 6412 to the pc. Can't find where that was mentioned, but is it just a matter of playing that material on the 6412 while the pc is recording (RecDVHS) or is there a way to capture the saved file directly from the 6412's drive?

You have to capture while playing -either a recorded program on 6412 or a live program. Nothing direct

I use CAPDVHS, normally manually starting capture. However this program does have provisions for scheduling shows and turning on and off the 6412 and they work fine - but the box does have to be on the channel of interest.

I have read with interest how others have the channel changing function working from the pc. That has been harder for me to follow as I was directed to a Mac (?) site (green button) and I haven't figured out how to enable the channel change function (it has to do with one of the unrecognized devices in control panel - I believe the avcpanel) but it would be nice to be able to have the channel changing working from Windows XP (I am also at SP2)

videobruce

10-26-05, 09:18 AM

If this has been asked before, you can shoot me, but does any of this apply to Windows 2000?

Naylia

10-26-05, 11:00 AM

nope...the necessary support on the firewire bus is not available in Win2k

videobruce

10-26-05, 11:16 AM

Guess I won't be using it....................
No FP for me.

BJMoose

10-26-05, 02:05 PM

RalphArch, yes...I meant I was using CapDVHS, not RecDVHS. I just discovered all this last evening and I forgot the name of the software. I have a DVR in each room where there's a TV so my main goal is to capture HD to archive (mostly series I won't have time to watch until summer) onto DVD. I realize there will be a quality loss, but if I want to see it in HD that badly I can watch it before I erase it from the DVR. My Fusion HDTV card seems to be at a hit-or-miss stage. Sometimes it works great, other times not so great. I'm going to try to connect my laptop in the bedroom to the 6412 in their for recording purposes and then transfer that to my authoring computer. I've already run into one glitch though. My laptop is a Dell Inspiron (also Win XP Pro sp2) but it doesn't seem to offer the Panasonic option when installing the drivers. I'll have to look around at that a bit.

Busted_D1

11-04-05, 02:07 PM

This is my first post so please be gentle :o

I have a moto 6412 with fw version 09.19. I'm using capDVHS everything is set up properly and the driver is loaded (using XP home sp1).

When I manually record the file size looks good with the file extensions changed to .ts

I then use HD2MPEG and I get an mpeg that trys to play but it just sits there. What am I missing?

Please let me know if this is a 5c thing and how I can make this work.

please help...

gn2

11-04-05, 02:12 PM

Try vlc media player before you give up.

cajun_junky

11-04-05, 02:14 PM

Busted_D1

11-04-05, 02:47 PM

cajun_junky

11-04-05, 02:58 PM

I have tried quite a few channels, vh1, dhdtv, playback of recored stuff. When I use VLC to opem the .ts file all I get is a quick flash of the time bar at the bottom with no picture at all. Same with the mpeg after conversion.

One other thing, when using capDVHS, when I hit record, the feilds under Data Info stay empty. How do I know for sure if a channel is not protected with 5c?

The empty fields is exactly what I get on 5c channels. Sounds like that is your problem. I can only copy channels 99 and under. That goes for recorded stuff as well. For our cable provider, vh1 is a channel under 99 (can't remember which one) but I have not tested its copy-ability.

Try recording a show on cbs, nbc, etc (non-HD version) and try copying it over to your computer. That should work fine. If not then you have other issues. You could check the 5c status of a channel but I think that some shows on a given channel might be protected while other shows on that same channel might not be protected.

Good luck

Busted_D1

11-04-05, 03:04 PM

Hey Cajun!

That was the ticket!!!! You rawk. Thanks for the help!

videobruce

11-04-05, 03:52 PM

Has anyone used this setup to record off a Mits 1080 DLP?

dvdmax

11-04-05, 09:21 PM

How about recording off of a Samsung 1080P with cable card via firewire? I haven't been successful yet. Anybody have any suggestions?

bdraw

11-05-05, 08:15 PM

Has anyone used this setup to record off a Mits 1080 DLP?

I originally tested and wrote this with a Mitsubish TV.
There is no reason I can think of that would make the new 1080p DLp different from the previous models.

mark1wat

11-06-05, 11:48 AM

BJMoose

11-06-05, 09:20 PM

A ew months ago I set everything up and it worked great. The only thing is, I was wanting to tranfer programs that I had recorded using the DVR to my PC. I hope this isn't a stupid question, but you guys are up to 62 pages now, and I have read all that I can handle.

All I want to do is transfer the data from my motorola, to my PC. Is this possible? or can you only record live TV.
I've not found a way to just transfer the file itself to my pc. I believe that is because the drive in the motorola is formatted in a different way than are pc drives. However by using CapDVHS you can play the saved program and capture it via firewire in real time.

slim79

11-07-05, 12:46 AM

Has anyone else tried using windows task scheduler to launch CapDVHS just prior to a scheduled recording. I have started to use this in cunjunction with the channel.exe from

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152

By doing this you can automate the process of changing channels between recordings in your reserve or even launching the program prior to a scheduled recording. Just create a windows task to run channel.exe file with the following syntax

"C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channel.exe" / 2 770
(2 refers to the panel device # - you can determine this by running channel.exe -v and 770 is the channel to change to)

when creating the task for a channel change you will need to check --open advanced properties for this task when I click finish-- then add the -- / 2 770 -- to the end of the file path.

Do this for each channel that you will be recording from and schedule the task between recordings in the reserve that are scheduled on different channels at different times ( you will also want to check --does not "video power off" at reserve-- in the CapDVHS Settings Tab so the box doesn't power off and not accept the channel change prior the next recording on a different channel)

This probablly isn't as clearly put as I meant and maybe others have better ways or are already doing this.

EHHoffman

11-07-05, 09:27 AM

Has anyone else tried using windows task scheduler to launch CapDVHS just prior to a scheduled recording. I have started to use this in cunjunction with the channel.exe from

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152

I haven't used the windows task scheduler with capDVHS but I have used it with DCTRecord. Back when I was messing with all this stuff, I found DCTRecord to be much more command-line friendly. This process worked very well for me and was quite reliable. That is until I moved and didn't get cable again. ;)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5446389&&#post5446389

With the advent of channel.exe, this process could become even better. At the time it didn't exist and I had to use dual schedules; one on the STB and one in Windows Scheduler.

But your right, in that Windows Scheduler is one of the better alternatives I've seen. It properly handles wake/sleep stuff which always seems to be an issue with other software.

--Eric

nick2003

11-07-05, 08:28 PM

Has anyone else had a line streaking problem i guess you could call it where when there is fast movement there is like streaks of lines? I noticed it on the south park episode i recorded.

rgc101

11-07-05, 09:29 PM

Had it working, then disconnected. Now I can't get device recognized. New hardware wizard will not show up, any thoughts?
Thanks.

nick2003

11-07-05, 09:33 PM

Had it working, then disconnected. Now I can't get device recognized. New hardware wizard will not show up, any thoughts?
Thanks.

Have you tryed unpluging the firewire cable then restarting your pc and pluging it back in after everything has loaded?

KnoxPhil05

11-08-05, 04:52 AM

I have the Motorola Dual-Tuner DVR High-Definition Set-Top DCT6412 unit and what I want to do is connect my computer to it's hard drive and take the video files off the DVR and edit, then burn them on DVD on my computer. Is this possible? The ethernet plug is disabled and when I tried to connect via USB I had no luck. I do have firewire ports on my computer and unit but I fear that won't work either. The manual for the unit says it records the files as .mpgs. This shouldnt be such a big deal. What do I need to do?

If am looking for a more precise, faster way than just running cables to my tv tuner card on the pc and capturing it live. Can anyone help me?? I am goin nuts

Phil in Knoxville

RalphArch

11-08-05, 07:37 AM

GeekGirl

11-08-05, 10:09 PM

The first few times I did a scheduled recording, the Moto 6208 was somehow always set to the power-on default of channel 8 (Comcast CN8 :-( ).

A helpful tip: Check (set / select) the 2 boxes under Settings on "Does not Video Power On at reserve" and "Does not Video Power Off at reserve". Recording will proceed without affecting the STB.

pdp76

11-09-05, 01:30 PM

I followed all the instructions in this thread and successfully got some recordings onto my windows xp box from my sharp lc37d5u. There are a few questions I have though which I couldn't find the answers to in this thread (I may have overlooked them so bear with me if I did) Just for reference, keep in mind I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I use Comcast.

I have only successfully recorded 2 channels.... NBCs local HD (116.2) and the channel that plays reruns of HDNET (98.2). There are other unencrypted local channels in this area, FOX (2.1) CBS (5.1) and ABC (7.1), but when I record those, CapDVHS cannot recognize what kind of stream it is nor can I play back the resulting files. I read something about 5C copy protection, or something which might prevent me from successfully recording certain broadcasts. Can someone from the Bay Area confirm this is what's happening here? Does this mean that I can only record 2 channels? If so, that would really suck. I was hoping that I'd be able to record ANY channel which my Sharp's QAM tuner can receive.

Second question, if I get a cable card, will it solve my problems? ....as well as give me access to extra encrypted channels?

pdp76

11-09-05, 10:07 PM

After a few more attempts to save the digital mpeg2 tstreams to my hard drive, I'm pretty convinced that for FOX(2.1) CBS(5.1) and ABC(7.1), Comcast is 5C encoding these. Isn't there some FCC requirement that local broadcast channels should not be 5C encoded? Maybe I'm wong and they aren't 5C encoded and I'm just doing something wrong.... but I don't think so since I am successfully saving streams from NBC(116.2) and KRON(98.2) and PBC(9.1-9.4)

Please, if anyone else in the bay area is also having problems let me know, I am going to call comcast and see what their take is on this.

EKBSRK

11-09-05, 11:49 PM

I have my computer hooked to my dct6200 and the hd is working fine. but i cant watch any channels except that of HD. Is there anything I can do to watch the other 50 digital channels and 100 analog that i get?

JimVR4

11-10-05, 03:05 AM

pdp76

11-10-05, 03:19 AM

I haven't tried the network channels yet but HBOHD and INHD2 work fine.
What program are you using to save the mpeg2 tstreams to your computer? I'm using CAPDVHS.

Also, what are you using to stream the content to your computer? I'm using a Sharp LC37D5U with a built in QAM tuner.

Thanks in advance! I'd like to figure out what's going on and why I can't record certain channels in my area. I bought and built a HTPC just so I could record (at least) the basic HD channels!

JimVR4

11-10-05, 05:26 PM

What program are you using to save the mpeg2 tstreams to your computer? I'm using CAPDVHS.

Also, what are you using to stream the content to your computer? I'm using a Sharp LC37D5U with a built in QAM tuner.

Thanks in advance! I'd like to figure out what's going on and why I can't record certain channels in my area. I bought and built a HTPC just so I could record (at least) the basic HD channels!
I'm using CapDVHS to capture the .TS from the firewire port of my Comcast 6412 cable box.

On another topic i have found that all my captures to date have a grey bar at the bottom of the frame. Do you see this on your captures from the Sharp? Is there a setting that can be made in CapDVHS to avoid this?

pdp76

11-10-05, 06:03 PM

I'm using CapDVHS to capture the .TS from the firewire port of my Comcast 6412 cable box.

On another topic i have found that all my captures to date have a grey bar at the bottom of the frame. Do you see this on your captures from the Sharp? Is there a setting that can be made in CapDVHS to avoid this?
Yes I see the grey bar too... so I think it's a CapDVHS thing. I don't know if there is a setting or not..... I haven't fiddled with CapDVHS much.

Would you mind trying to capture ABC sometime and see if it works? If it does, then _maybe_ my Sharp TV is interjecting 5C encoding for some reason.

buttasuperb

11-10-05, 07:13 PM

I've been trying to encode my HD TS files using the guide here

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html

After I create the d2v and ac3 files, it tells me the delay is -330ms

So my script looks like this:

#Delay the audio (according to delay given by DGIndex)
audio = audio.DelayAudio(-0.330)

Yet the sound doesn't wind up synced up right. I've tried it twice and both times it starts off synced, but gradually gets worse and worse as the file plays.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong here?

JimVR4

11-10-05, 07:57 PM

Yes I see the grey bar too... so I think it's a CapDVHS thing. I don't know if there is a setting or not..... I haven't fiddled with CapDVHS much.

Would you mind trying to capture ABC sometime and see if it works? If it does, then _maybe_ my Sharp TV is interjecting 5C encoding for some reason.

All my captures to date are from the STB. I do have Firewire on my Mits TV but I don't know if it is active or not. I'll see what I can do.
I've been trying to encode my HD TS files using the guide here

http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/index.html

After I create the d2v and ac3 files, it tells me the delay is -330ms

So my script looks like this:

#Delay the audio (according to delay given by DGIndex)
audio = audio.DelayAudio(-0.330)

Yet the sound doesn't wind up synced up right. I've tried it twice and both times it starts off synced, but gradually gets worse and worse as the file plays.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong here?
That looks extremely complicated! I'm planning to just keep my .TS files and play them back on a HTPC instead of making DVDs. But why not try this instead?
http://www.svcd2dvd.com/HDTV2DVD/

slim79

11-10-05, 11:02 PM

JimVR4

11-11-05, 04:04 PM

I have seen this before I think it has to do with the deinterlacing and can vary depending on what mpeg decoder you are using.
I've tried both Intervideo and Nvidia decoders and see the same results.

I checked again and found that the grey bar appeared when the source material is 1080i. I have a 480i capture as well and that one does not show the grey bar so maybe the HD source material is slightly less than 1080 lines coming from my Comcast 6412 STB and CapDVHS is just greying out that small area? Or could it be that CapDVHS is using more than 1080 lines? I believe there is another capture program referenced in the first post so I might try that one.

tone363

11-11-05, 08:53 PM

I got the grey bar as well and notice it is from the captures that are 1920x1088 so I am guessing it is from the extra 8 lines? Not really sure but I know the ones that I have captured from standard signals have been fine. I just get this on the ones that are this format. I was looking for a way to either fix this on the capture side or is there antother way after the capture to crop it out. Any ideas?

dr1394

11-11-05, 10:14 PM

All 1080i is really 1088 lines. This is because MPEG-2 requires images be a multiple of 16x16 macroblocks. On top of that, MPEG-2 also requires that vertical resolution of interlaced images be a multiple of 32.

1088 / 32 = 34

In the MPEG-2 sequence header, the real resolution can be signalled (in this case, 1920x1080). MPEG-2 decoders are supposed to look at the sequence header resolution and pad the rest of the image with black. Unfortunately, some do not (Intervideo and Nvidia).

Sometimes 1920x1088 is sent in the sequence header. If you have a decoder that handles 1920x1080 correctly, you can "fix-up" these streams with a utility.

http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~balazer/fix1088/

Ron

slim79

11-11-05, 11:31 PM

I've tried both Intervideo and Nvidia decoders and see the same results.

I checked again and found that the grey bar appeared when the source material is 1080i. I have a 480i capture as well and that one does not show the grey bar so maybe the HD source material is slightly less than 1080 lines coming from my Comcast 6412 STB and CapDVHS is just greying out that small area? Or could it be that CapDVHS is using more than 1080 lines? I believe there is another capture program referenced in the first post so I might try that one.

I am currently using sonic video decoder. I aquired this by downloading dvdit trial I have since uninstalled it but still have the decoders for audio and video. The reason I thought it was something with interlacing is when I watch HD live streaming from moto 6200 with vlc directshow some channels I have to deinterlace and depending on the deinterlacing I use the grey bar shows up. Prior to that I did notice it started showing up in WMP when I changed decoders.

JimVR4

11-12-05, 02:41 AM

HavokDH

11-12-05, 06:16 PM

Hi everyone. Long time lurker, etc etc... :)

I've been tearing what little hair I have left over trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong in capturing from the DVR to my HD. It seems to be a 50/50 shot of having some kind of an issue.

(This is SD programs, by the way)

There are times when I will capture a program, convert, and burn to DVD with no problems whatsoever. Other times, I will capture the ts file, and will seem to be ok (tested with Media Player Classic & VLC Media Player). But when I try to convert the video with VideoReDo, I get a lot of dropped video frames.

I will also get errors when I try to burn the file, saying that the audio is at 32000 kHz, and will not work on a DVD. I've tried everything I can to fix the problem (including PRM and MPEG2Repair), but I can't figure out what's up.

Regarding the audio (if this helps at all), I noticed on my audio decoder that the audio will sometimes come up as Dolby Digital 2.0, PCM 48, or PCM 32.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

KermitZ

11-13-05, 10:23 AM

It took a while for me to get through this string, but I didn't see anything related to the problem I am having, so I hope someone out there can help.
I recently got the 8300HD from Time Warner and love it, so much so that I am now at a point that I have to erase programs to be able to save a new one. I can't use the external drive option mentioned in another string since this is a Passport box, so I wanted to offload the programs to my PC using the process provided here. I have the drivers loaded, start playing a non-5C program, and start recording. Generally, the CapDVHS program will close almost as soon as it is started, but once I was able to capture about 2 minutes of video. I converted it to DVD format, played in on my software player, and it looked great....both minutes.
Now I really want to make this work. One thing that is consistent is that my 8300HD will reboot within 2 minutes of starting the CapDVHS program (even if the program closes immediately)…happens every time. I’ve tried different 1394 cables; I have tried the driver recommended in this string, as well as the Timmmore drivers....same results.
I am running XP Professional SP2 (I tried the patch that was mentioned for SP2, didn't help) with NTFS file system to a 250 GB HD (fresh format), P4 3400 processor, 2 GB ram. I even tried a complete format and reinstall of the operating system and software, but I still have the same issues.
Has anyone been able to get this to work with the 8300HD?

slim79

11-13-05, 05:59 PM

when I watch HD live streaming from moto 6200 with vlc directshow some channels I have to deinterlace and depending on the deinterlacing I use the grey bar shows up.

I see the grey bar when using VLC dshow and deinterlacing with discard, linear, or mean settings on HBOHD(usually deinterlace not needed), SHOHD(usually deinterlace not needed), MAXHD(deinterlace is needed). My locals ABCHD, CBSHD, and NBCHD which do usually require deinterlace do not display the grey bar with any of the settings.

fallenrelics

11-13-05, 09:43 PM

I had my Explorer 4200HD cable box working fine, even with sageTV's network encoder, then after i took the firewire cable out to plug my firewire removable harddrive for a sec and replug my cablebox, my cablebox is no longer detected. It doesnt show up under the Graph editor-capture devices nor my device manager. I even reinstalled windows and it is still not being detected. Can anyone offer any advice.

JimVR4

11-14-05, 01:20 AM

I see the grey bar when using VLC dshow and deinterlacing with discard, linear, or mean settings on HBOHD(usually deinterlace not needed), SHOHD(usually deinterlace not needed), MAXHD(deinterlace is needed). My locals ABCHD, CBSHD, and NBCHD which do usually require deinterlace do not display the grey bar with any of the settings.
I tried to use fix1088 on a file I had captured and there was no change in playback with either VLC or WMP10. So either I didn't process the file correctly or VLC / WMP10 are not decoding the file properly. The syntax of fix1088 includes the PID as a command line parameter. I opened the clip with HDTV2MPG2 in order to see the PID.

Are your local HD channels OTA or through cable?

dr1394

11-14-05, 07:56 AM

JimVR4

11-14-05, 04:25 PM

I guess with VLC, you can crop the grey bar off.

For example, make a shortcut to the exe and change the properties:

C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" vlc --filter=crop:deinterlace --crop-geometry=1920x1072 --deinterlace-mode=blend

The only decoder that I believe works correctly is Elecard, but there may be others.

Ron
Hmm. When I tried selecting deinterlace in VLC it caused the application to close. I wonder if I'll have to sort that issue out first.

I did download Elecard v3.00 but it seems it is not a player but simply a video decoder. Elecard shows up as an option when I run Microsofts WinXP utility to check video decoders but MSFT says that Elecard is not compatible with WMP10 due to synchronization methods. I attempted to make it the default decoder anyway but when opening my .TS file with WMP10 and clicking for Properties of the source file it names Nvidia for both Audio and Video Decoders. I think VLC uses its own built in video decoder. If it doesn't is there a way to force it to use a certain one?

mowpower

11-15-05, 07:38 AM

I just started recording HDTV from my Moto 6412 and couldn't be happier that its working. I'm curious if anyone has looked into Buffalo Technology's LinkTheater High Definition Wireless Media/DVD Player. My thought is that I could record the HDTV into .MPG files onto a Buffalo Linkstation Network Attached Storage Drive. Side note: I'm using a laptop and my internal HDD is almost full, are there problems recording from the firewire directly to an external USB HDD, transfer rates and such? Back to my thought, so I have the MPG file on the Linkstation, if I got the LinkTheater media player could I stream the MPG files wirelessly and have them play on my TV? I have a Netgear 802.11G wireless router. I doubt that the video could keep up if I tried it wirelessly, but the LinkTheater also has USB hookups in the front to add a HDD so I could play the files directly from there if the wireless streaming didn't work. Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.

JimVR4

11-15-05, 07:03 PM

fallenrelics

11-15-05, 08:44 PM

Hi i have been trying for a week or so to get this working properly. My Graph is able to record the mpg steam from most of my stations. However, i am still having problems getting it to work with SgraphRecorder and SageTV.

My first question is can i record liveTV at all with SageTV without having Girder installed because i keep getting there is "no tuner detected" or "cannot find proper encoder" errors. (I dont think so)

Secondly, I want to make sure that i can record all the unprotected HD channels i get from cablevision with sageTV, because i read that all the new HDTV tuner cards can only recieve over the air channels (but i guess this firewire set up is differant)

And Lastly i was wondering if i have this process right before i go and buy the equipment; i need USB-UIRT to send and recieve IR data; i need a computer remote like one from SnapStream, an IR blaster cable to connect the USB-UIRT to the cablebox; and Girder to manage the tuning (can i just use Girder 4.0 Beta 14(the free trial)).

*any help or recommendations appreciated

docanime

11-16-05, 05:07 PM

I've been trying to get VLC to record the live video stream from the firewire cable (which it does fine) and then stream it to another computer via my home LAN. Has anyone gotten this to work? If I open up another version of VLC on the same computer as the one acting as a VLC video stream server, the quality is perfect. When I try it on another home computer on the network, it barely works at all (long pauses between brief screen updates). Maybe it's my slow machines. I would think a 100T lan could handle that volume of data. Just curious...

nathan_h

11-17-05, 12:56 AM

Assuming your LAN is working alright, you've got more than enough bandwidth. I find that playback on a Celeron 2.6 using TT playing a TS file stored on another computer over my LAN is smooth as can be. Note that I don't stream it. I just access the drive on the remote computer like it was a local drive and play it from there.

dct6200newbie

11-17-05, 10:41 AM

The procedure and drivers posted by BDRAW work fine! I can watch non-encrypted HDTV channels on my widescreen laptop. Due to encryption, there is no display of INHD, DHDTV, SHOHD. But HBOHD works! The basic channels 2-13 also work, but anything based on subscription (expanded channels, premium channels) on NTSC definition do not work, again probably due to encryption.

Many thanks to BDRAW for posting this, and updating regularly. Where is TIMECOP, who was the first to figure this out? We all need to thank him too.

mastahkaz

11-18-05, 12:24 PM

pdp76

11-18-05, 12:33 PM

Well i just got this working on my Moto 6200/Comcast box last night. Pretty cool stuff. Although i'm only able to record like 3 channels (locals) which sucks since they dont have any good content to record anyways.

Has this 5C junk been cracked or anything yet? All of the material that i'd actually want to record are on Discovery HD, TNT HD, ESPN HD, etc. None of which will record on my computer. :(
Just curious, which channels can you acutally record? In my area, the only digital channels I can record are NBC, KRON (a local channel), and PBS...... and I think VH1 classics too, but that's hit or miss. I too suspect it's because of 5C, but I just wanted to confirm..... it really sucks that cable companies 5C encode the local broadcasts.... assuming that's what's going on here.

mastahkaz

11-18-05, 12:41 PM

mastahkaz

11-18-05, 12:49 PM

Also, whats the best format to re-encode the TS to that will still give me a nice high res image and good sound but get the file size down to something reasonable. I recorded like a minute or two of Conan last night and the file was over 300megs. That'll fill up my 150GB hdd real fast.

Most HD shows that I download are in Xvid format, but the quality on those isnt the greatest.

Also, not really on topic. While playing back Conan on my TV @720p looks great, the detail is way more amazing when viewed on my laptop which has a native res of 1920x1200. I'm guessing thats because NBC is broadcast in 1080i?

puck71

11-18-05, 01:03 PM

I would try Xvid - the quality on those is variable since you basically set the bitrate which determines the quality. The videos you download are compressed more to accomodate downloading...if you're doing it on your own you can crank up the quality more and still get reasonable file sizes.

mastahkaz

11-18-05, 01:10 PM

sweet, ill try it. Is there any way to like set it to automatically start converting to xvid right after the stream comes in though CAPDVHS?

Also, is there any way to watch what's currently being recorded in CAPDVHS over a home network? I tried last night and it didnt do anything when I tried to open the file on another PC. I had to stop the recording process first, then I could open and watch it over the network. It would be cool though if I could just start recording it, then go into my office and watch it on my laptop with a few seconds of delay.

pdp76

11-18-05, 03:03 PM

I've only tried the HD channels (in the 700's on my Comcast box).

I CAN record ABC HD, WB HD, NBC HD, FOX HD... and probably PBS but I havnt tried.

I CAN'T record: ESPN HD, Discovery HD Theater, ESPN HD, TNT HD, INHD1, INHD2

I'm assuming I wont be able to record: HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Stars (All HD) if I had subscriptions.

The problem is, I only like a couple network TV shows. I really wanted to be able to record sporting events on ESPN and TNT and lots of shows on Discovery HD.

When I had posted above I forgot about WB and PBS (which I havnt actually tried). We don't get CBS HD in my area because the local CBS station are being brats and won't give Comcast their signal unless Comcast pays them.
The difference between me and you is hat you're using a STB and I'm just using the QAM tuner in my TV (my TV has firewire out). I doubt this is the case, but is there any remote possibilty that your STB is removing the 5C encoding for the local broadcasts so that's why you can record all the locals while I can only a couple of them? OR, the more obvious answer would be that your area doesn't 5C encode all the locals while my area encodes most of the locals.

I guess this isn't a question directed only at you, anyone else can chime in if they have any thoughts on this matter. I'd really like to record locals onto my PC in HD, so I'm grabbing at straws here to see if I have any options!

nubins

11-18-05, 06:06 PM

I am trying to view or capture HD channels from an SA 3250HD. I have no problem viewing SD using videolan or capturing SD using CapDVHS.

The problem is viewing or capturing HD. My captures display info in the data section of CapDVHS during record, it is 80 Mbps @ 1920 x 1080. But on playback the files are all garbled. VLC locks up just after I see some of the capture.

80 Mbps is alot of data but it sounds like most of you have no prolems with capturing HD TS files. I have downloaded about 10 HD TS sample files and Videolan plays every one with no problem or droped frames. But none of those files seem to be 80 Mbps, more like 18 - 25 Mbps.

Here are my system specs:

Dell Inspiron 6000
Pentium M 1.6 Ghz
1 GB RAM
ATI x300

If I am able to view HD sample clips @ 25 Mbps then my system can't be that bad. How are the rest of you viewing an 80 Mbps stream?

slim79

11-18-05, 07:44 PM

Yoma44

11-18-05, 08:08 PM

I'm using Comcast's motorola dct6412 and so far I can't get CAPDVHS to recognize it.

nubins

11-18-05, 08:09 PM

I have never seen an 80Mbps stream my HD channels are anywhere from 13 to 25 Mbps. If it really is 80Mbps I would expect you would have problems displaying it.

I used several programs to verify that it is 80 Mbps including Elecard StreamEye which analyses TS files.

There was another post a while back that said he was getting 80 Mbps TS files. I have tried all my HD channels in Charlotte, NC Time Warner and all are 80 Mbps.

Is there a way in the STB diagnostics or settings (SA 3250HD) to reduce the data rate of the stream. Probably not but I thought I would ask.

I found this in another forum and wonder if this might be the problem.

Some early 1394 cable boxes output the MPEG stream at 38mbs which is beyond what any DVHS can record. That 38 mbps is the bitrate of multiple channels contained in the MPEG Transport Stream which contains the channel that you want (it's what you can fit in 6 MHz slot that an analog channel takes up using QAM digital modulation). When a channel is requested from some QAM tuners they return the entire transport stream containing that channel, expecting the receiving device to sort out the part that it needs (demuxing). Your Sony television can do this---any QAM tuner for a display has to. AFAIK, D-VHS recorders cannot.

holl_ands

11-18-05, 08:59 PM

Cable systems have standardized nationwide on using QAM-64 and QAM-256 carriers, spaced 6 MHz apart. The max data rate of a QAM-256 carrier is 38 Mbps.

Anything higher is either a bogus reading......or technology beyond TWC's current Hybrid Fibre/Optic (HFC) system.....like perhaps Fibre Optic to the home....

nubins

11-18-05, 09:05 PM

I think it is a bogus transfer rate but if you read my above post I think the 3250HD maybe sending all channels in the transport stream totaling 38 Mbps expecting the STB to extract and send the one channel.

Is there anyway to seperate the streams by using a different driver maybe like JVC instead of Panasonic?

marin8n

11-19-05, 12:35 AM

pdp76

11-19-05, 02:39 AM

Over the last several weeks, I have been happily capturing anything I wanted off of my comcast 6412. I am subscribed to all the pay channels, ie HBO SHOW, CINEMAX. Previously, I was able to capture all of those channels, but tonight, I tried to capture and I can no longer capture any of the premium HD channels. THis includes Discovery HD Theater, inHD 1 and 2, ESPN etc. I went into the comcast service menu and discovered that 5c copyprotection is now turned on. Imagine my sadness!! I guess I am wondering if anyone else has noticed this. Does anyone know if this is related to firmware, what area you live in (i'm in the bay area). Is there anyway to turn it off or get around 5c. If it is firmware related, is there anywat to roll back to a previous firmware?

I use CapDVHS and it is able to capture a file, but I cannot play them back. Perhaps there is a utility out there that strip the 5c out once it has been captured? I am not really hopeful. From the little bit of research I have done on 5c, I understand it is pretty intense, and even the guys who normally attempt to crack this stuff for fun are backing away from this one. MAN I AM SO BUMMED!! Can anyone help?
Unfortunately, I read the same stuff about 5C... it's pretty intense stuff. I read that some professor in Europe was trying to crack it. He was successful in playing back a couple minutes of "hacked" 5C content and then he got shutdown.

I too am in the Bay Area and I don't have any of the premium digital (HD) channels like you, but I'm already having problems recording even the local broadcast channels. I can only record PBC and NBC. Are you still able to record the local broadcast channels where you are? I, however, am using my TV QAM tuner instead of the Comcast STB, but I don't think that should make a difference 5C-wise... or would it?

11-19-05, 09:46 AM

I was able to copy a HDTV stream to my XP SP@ machine from my MOTO DCT-6412 III no problem. But now when I want to fast forward a recorded show on my dvr, the fast forward function ends up being slower than real time playback speed. I tried disconnecting the firewire, turning the box off and back on, and watching another recorded show, still no luck. Anyone have an idea of what is going on or how to proceed? I have cox cable if that makes any difference. Thanks!

I have the same problem. I'm on Comcast and have both a phase 2 and phase 3. No problem on the Phase 2, but on the Phase 3 I have the problem you describe. The only thing that fixes the Phase 3 is to actually power cycle it. As you say turning it on and off doesn't help. Of course the power cycle loses all the guide data, and it takes on the order of a day to get it all back.

I've been assuming that there was a hardware problem on my phase 3, since I didn't see any reports of this on this group. It seems now that I'm not alone.

How about others with a phase 3 and capdvhs?

marin8n

11-19-05, 12:43 PM

I have the same problem. I'm on Comcast and have both a phase 2 and phase 3. No problem on the Phase 2, but on the Phase 3 I have the problem you describe. The only thing that fixes the Phase 3 is to actually power cycle it. As you say turning it on and off doesn't help. Of course the power cycle loses all the guide data, and it takes on the order of a day to get it all back.

I've been assuming that there was a hardware problem on my phase 3, since I didn't see any reports of this on this group. It seems now that I'm not alone.

How about others with a phase 3 and capdvhs?

By "power cycle" do you mean unplug the box for a few minutes and plug it back in? I can do that easily and actually with cox it only takes a few minutes to get the guide info back (like 20 min). Do you lose anything else by doing that though?

11-19-05, 12:53 PM

By "power cycle" do you mean unplug the box for a few minutes and plug it back in? I can do that easily and actually with cox it only takes a few minutes to get the guide info back (like 20 min). Do you lose anything else by doing that though?

Yes, unplug the box. You lose nothing except temporarily the guide.

On Comcast I get video back immediately as soon as the box reboots. It takes maybe 10 minutes for it to reload the DVR features and get enough guide info for the current time. It takes on the order of a day to fill in the two weeks worth of guide it normally has. Future scheduled recordings are remembered by time/channel and just show as TBA untill the guide fills in.

RalphArch

11-19-05, 12:59 PM

I too am in the Bay Area and I don't have any of the premium digital (HD) channels like you, but I'm already having problems recording even the local broadcast channels. I can only record PBC and NBC. Are you still able to record the local broadcast channels where you are? I, however, am using my TV QAM tuner instead of the Comcast STB, but I don't think that should make a difference 5C-wise... or would it?

5c and unencrypted of course are different and obviously have different implications. For example in my area the DTV OTA channels are unencrypted, and therefor I can record them directly without using an STB from cable company on something like my MyHD mdp-30 with a qam tuner

However, since in our area the 5c flag is set to 0, even if these were encrypted (they are not) I would be able to record these freely via firewire out of the STB. So what makes a difference is what programs or media the cable company chooses to deliver with 5c=0.

The FCC says they cannot encrypt the local DTV stations but I don't believe that means they have to set the 5c flag to 0. It could legally be set to 5c=1 (copy once) so it could be blocked from non-5c compliant devices usinf firewire out.

pdp76

11-19-05, 01:50 PM

5c and unencrypted of course are different and obviously have different implications. For example in my area the DTV OTA channels are unencrypted, and therefor I can record them directly without using an STB from cable company on something like my MyHD mdp-30 with a qam tuner

However, since in our area the 5c flag is set to 0, even if these were encrypted (they are not) I would be able to record these freely via firewire out of the STB. So what makes a difference is what programs or media the cable company chooses to deliver with 5c=0.

The FCC says they cannot encrypt the local DTV stations but I don't believe that means they have to set the 5c flag to 0. It could legally be set to 5c=1 (copy once) so it could be blocked from non-5c compliant devices usinf firewire out.
I understand that encrypted digital is not the same as 5C encryption. The former meaning you need a cable box or cable card to decode and watch, the latter meaning copy protection, regardless of the former. However, would a cable box or cable card also have a secondary function of adding or removing 5C encryption?

RalphArch

11-19-05, 01:58 PM

I understand that encrypted digital is not the same as 5C encryption. The former meaning you need a cable box or cable card to decode and watch, the latter meaning copy protection, regardless of the former. However, would a cable box or cable card also have a secondary function of adding or removing 5C encryption?

you got the former right but not the latter. With 5c flag set to copy once (1), you could be unable to output the channel of interest to a computer via firewire from the cable company STB while at the same time, if it was an in the clear channel, a QAM tuner could tune and you could copy it directly off the cable. So in this case your cable operator could choose to block copying to non 5c compliant equipment like a computer with the 5c=1 flag from their STB while still complying with FCC regulations to deliver an unencrypted signal.

pdp76

11-19-05, 02:10 PM

you got the former right but not the latter. With 5c flag set to copy once (1), you could be unable to output the channel of interest to a computer via firewire from the cable company STB while at the same time, if it was an in the clear channel, a QAM tuner could tune and you could copy it directly off the cable. So in this case your cable operator could choose to block copying to non 5c compliant equipment like a computer with the 5c=1 flag from their STB while still complying with FCC regulations to deliver an unencrypted signal.
How about the opposite? If the 5c flag was set to 1 on the clear broadcast, and therefore prevent me from copying to my PC with my QAM tuner, could the STB or a cable card set it to 0, and thus allow me to copy it?

RalphArch

11-19-05, 02:32 PM

How about the opposite? If the 5c flag was set to 1 on the clear broadcast, and therefore prevent me from copying to my PC with my QAM tuner, could the STB or a cable card set it to 0, and thus allow me to copy it?

??? What QAM tuner do you have? If it is separate from a cable STB such as a computer card or an OTA tuner with a QAM tuner, it should be able to tune the clear channel without caring what the 5c flag is set to.

The cable company sets the 5c flag on the particular channel. So if they set it to 1, the cable box (say a motorola or whatever) - will only let it go to a 5c compliant device that will enforce the copy once. If they set the channel to copy freely (0) - you can get it over the firewire to a computer. If it is set to 5c=2 you can't even record it on the cable company's dvr.

So the box can't change the flag - the flag determines what the box can or will do with the particular channel.

pdp76

11-19-05, 03:17 PM

??? What QAM tuner do you have? If it is separate from a cable STB such as a computer card or an OTA tuner with a QAM tuner, it should be able to tune the clear channel without caring what the 5c flag is set to.

The cable company sets the 5c flag on the particular channel. So if they set it to 1, the cable box (say a motorola or whatever) - will only let it go to a 5c compliant device that will enforce the copy once. If they set the channel to copy freely (0) - you can get it over the firewire to a computer. If it is set to 5c=2 you can't even record it on the cable company's dvr.

So the box can't change the flag - the flag determines what the box can or will do with the particular channel.
Ok, that' the answer I was afraid of.... I was just grabbing at straws.... anyway, I have a Sharp LC37D5U with a built in QAM tuner. Yes, it tunes into the channels, regardless of the 5C flag, but what it boils down to is:

1) I can record 2 or 3 digital channels successfully to my PC with CAPDVHS, so I'm assuming FOR SURE, the 5c flags are not turned on for these 2 or 3 channels

2) For the other channels that I can tune into but cannot record (again, via the Sharp's tuner), I'm wondering if the 5c flag is turned on or not.... It doesn't sound like it's turned on, because other people in my area seem to be able to record them, but they are using a STB while I'm using the Sharp's QAM tuner. And from what you wrote in your reply, it shouldn't matter if I'm using a STB, Cable Card, or a generic QAM tuner like the Sharp's....the 5c flag setting is persistent regardless of what tuner I'm using. If it's on, then it's on, and if it's off, it's off, no matter what tuner it goes through.

So what I'm leaning towards now is that something is funky with my Sharp's QAM tuner is preventing me from recording some of the digital channels. Might be 5c related, might not..... I guess that's more investigation on my part.... Thanks for all your help thus far, if you have any more ideas, please let me know! :)

ghgard

11-21-05, 07:57 AM

I have the DCT 6412 Phase III and was really looking for a way to store material on my PC to free up HD space on the DVR and then move it back to the DVR to view at a later time. Is there any way to accomplish this? It seems that my DVR is always full and really need to free up some space. Thanks for any info

nathan_h

11-21-05, 11:36 AM

It's very possible to move un-encrypted stuff OFF the DVR to a PC. I don't think it's possible to move it back to the DVR. So you will want to send it from the PC to your TV.

ylsf

11-21-05, 07:47 PM

I used to have this working but I have since re-installed windows xp and followed the steps posted here again.

When I run CapDVHS I get a "program to big to fit in memory" message

When I run DCTrecord the program just crashes..

Any tips?

JimVR4

11-21-05, 11:51 PM

Ok, that' the answer I was afraid of.... I was just grabbing at straws.... anyway, I have a Sharp LC37D5U with a built in QAM tuner. Yes, it tunes into the channels, regardless of the 5C flag, but what it boils down to is:

1) I can record 2 or 3 digital channels successfully to my PC with CAPDVHS, so I'm assuming FOR SURE, the 5c flags are not turned on for these 2 or 3 channels

2) For the other channels that I can tune into but cannot record (again, via the Sharp's tuner), I'm wondering if the 5c flag is turned on or not.... It doesn't sound like it's turned on, because other people in my area seem to be able to record them, but they are using a STB while I'm using the Sharp's QAM tuner. And from what you wrote in your reply, it shouldn't matter if I'm using a STB, Cable Card, or a generic QAM tuner like the Sharp's....the 5c flag setting is persistent regardless of what tuner I'm using. If it's on, then it's on, and if it's off, it's off, no matter what tuner it goes through.

So what I'm leaning towards now is that something is funky with my Sharp's QAM tuner is preventing me from recording some of the digital channels. Might be 5c related, might not..... I guess that's more investigation on my part.... Thanks for all your help thus far, if you have any more ideas, please let me know! :)
This probably doesn't help much, but I was able to record Harry Potter on ABC through my 6412 STB. I'll try to record something OTA from my Mits set so we can see if the broadcasters are using 5C in the bay area.

bluefin

11-22-05, 12:02 AM

dr1394

11-22-05, 06:53 AM

I have recently captured a show whose 5c flag was set to 1. In doing so I experienced what most of you have experieince with CapDVHS not displaying the any info on the data tab (i.e 1920 X1080 or 34 Mbs), However, I did notice that CapDVHS was still capturing something. So I let CapDVHS run the full corse of a 5C=1 show, and the output file was very close to what I expected it to be--approx 15gb. So, CapDVHS is capturing SOMETHING!! Is it posible that all of the captured data is there, but is it waiting for the appropiate "keys" or hardware to authorize play back? If so, it is possible that "hypothetically speaking of course" someone could invent a magic piece of software that could "launder" these files if you will? Kind of like the way some of these AAC scrubbing utilities work (scrubbing the protection off of protected AAC files). Just wondering if anyone has any comments on this.
5C is pretty heavy duty encryption. The scrambling key is 56 bits, which means there's 72057594037927936 different possible values. The specific architecture of the scrambler (the M6 cipher) is a secret. Then on top of that, the scrambling key changes every 30 to 120 seconds.

So a "brute force" attack won't work. Also, trying to find patterns in the "cipher text" is hopeless since the "clear text" isn't text, it's compressed bitstream (which is pretty close to random bits itself).

Never say never, but the chance of someone building a 5C "scrubber" is very close to zero.

Ron

KermitZ

11-22-05, 08:11 AM

bluefin

11-22-05, 11:24 AM

5C is pretty heavy duty encryption. The scrambling key is 56 bits, which means there's 72057594037927936 different possible values. The specific architecture of the scrambler (the M6 cipher) is a secret. Then on top of that, the scrambling key changes every 30 to 120 seconds.

So a "brute force" attack won't work. Also, trying to find patterns in the "cipher text" is hopeless since the "clear text" isn't text, it's compressed bitstream (which is pretty close to random bits itself).

Never say never, but the chance of someone building a 5C "scrubber" is very close to zero.

Ron

Thanks for the response, allbeit not the news I was hoping to hear, but hey its not the end of the world.

dc10forlife

11-22-05, 11:43 AM

Since I haven't yet heard from anyone, I thought I would check again. Has anyone been able to get this to work with the 8300HD? I've tried many times and the best I can do is capture 25-30 seconds of video from a local station that I have saved to the 8300HD. CapDVHS then closes and within 2 minutes the 8300HD reboots. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I have the exact same problem. Passport 1.8.112 here with firewire enabled. A Passport 1.8.111 user reported being able to record just fine with the same drivers.

Try this thread on the 8300HD and firewire: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6380734&&#post6380734

rdewey

11-22-05, 04:05 PM

I have a new LG LCD TV, model 26LX1D. This TV has a built-in HD tuner and firewire ports. I tried what is suggested in this thread to copy programs to the PC, and while I can get the driver to load, I get 0 byte files only. Any suggestions?

mad62

11-22-05, 04:18 PM

I apologize in advance if this has already been mentioned, but I have Cox in Rhode Island, and all the channels appear to be "5C" except the broadcast channels, plus a few select channels (HBO1 works, but the other HBO's do not.)

I've got a Motorolla "dual tuner" DVR box from Cox. You appear to be able to get around the copy protection issue by first recording the show to the DVR, and then playing it back once the recording is finished. Any shows I've recorded off the "5C" channels are able to be recorded to the PC via Firewire no problem if you play them back from the DVR.

Obviously this limits it's use for a real-time type setup but at least it enables me to get the shows onto the PC at all. This is kickass!

This was posted back in September (post #1637). I've been skimming through the pages and want to know if this still holds true, or is this inaccurate misleading information?

tall1

11-22-05, 05:33 PM

This was posted back in September (post #1637). I've been skimming through the pages and want to know if this still holds true, or is this inaccurate misleading information?The latter.

RalphArch

11-22-05, 07:43 PM

This probably doesn't help much, but I was able to record Harry Potter on ABC through my 6412 STB. I'll try to record something OTA from my Mits set so we can see if the broadcasters are using 5C in the bay area.

you don't need to record something to check - you can see the channel's 5c flag directly in the service menu (when you turn off the stb with that channel tuned).

Another real quick way to check to just to have vlc player set to live and changing the channels. Guess what - you get no picture/video without 5c=0

I also think its not the broadcasters - the cable company sets the 5c status of the channels

HD @ IDT

11-22-05, 11:35 PM

I read the thread (at least the first 12 and the last 4 of it's 65 pages) tonight, installed the software and it worked first try! :) My sincere thanks to all that started this thread. I am very fortunate (at least for now), my CATV programming appears to be 5C free on all channels, including the movie and HD channels.

I am having one big problem that perhaps someone has seen and can explain how to resolve. When I recorded an HD channel (any HD channel), the right 1/4 of the picture is a pink block with what looks like several squiggly vertical lines inside. The left 3/4 of the picture plays perfectly and looks / sounds great. When I record any of the movie channels the picture is amazingly perfect with no pink box. I am using a P4 2.4mhz w/512ram, DCT-6200 w/7.15, CapDVHS and the VLC player.

I'm not sure if this is a record or playback problem, so I put the question in this thread, hope thats ok.

Also, I'm tired of reeding tonight, so can someone please tell me how to get my DCT-6200 into service mode so I can check all the channels for their 5C settings?

Thanks,

KermitZ

11-23-05, 07:34 AM

I have the exact same problem. Passport 1.8.112 here with firewire enabled. A Passport 1.8.111 user reported being able to record just fine with the same drivers.

Try this thread on the 8300HD and firewire: (referenced url had to be removed due to my haveing fewer than 5 posts..."To prevent the abuse of spam")

Thanks for the reply! From reviewing the thread that you provided, it's obvious that others are having a problem getting this to work with the 8300HD. For what it's worth, I have Passport 1.8.111 and it isn't working for me. Perhaps the poster that was able to get it to work can give us some pointers. To recap for those that might be able to help, after capturing 25-30 seconds of video, the CapVHS program closes and the 8300HD reboots within one or two minutes...happens every time . Drivers are set up correctly per the instructions. I have even tried the Timmmore drivers, as well as the firewire patch for SP2 mentioned in this thread, but I get the same results.
Any help in getting this to work would be greatly appreciated.

docanime

11-23-05, 01:38 PM

Just curious if anyone has gotten the video stream/AV/C Capture device recognized by Orb, the free streaming software?

MitsuHelp

11-24-05, 08:41 AM

Ok…have installed and connected the PC to my Mitsubishi (integrated QAM) TV. I can capture from the D-VHS and the SA3250 via firewire….any ideas why I can’t capture from OTA or direct cable into the TV? Should my TV find and add the PC through the firewire (netcommand)?
I have several “capture devices” (imaging device in hardware mgr) as reported by CapDVHS. I have gotten it to the point where I have had 4 devices to record from. One had details which matched my Mitsubishi TV, one was the SA3250 and the other was the Mits 2000U DVHS.
No matter what driver I install, JVC or Panasonic (AV/C tuner or DVHS) I can always record from DVHS or SA3250….but why not the integrated tuner be it OTA or through the QAM?
It’s like the TV is not streaming via firewire……what am I missing?
Thanks for the help and Happy Thanksgiving!

bdraw

11-25-05, 10:32 AM

I am confused as to what you can't do.

You can't record from the OTA intergrated tuner to your PC? But you can record from DVHS to your PC? If that is the case that is normall since the DVHS to PC has a real driver(JVC) and your TV does not. No your PC will not show up in your TV's netcommand because the PC isn't HAVi aware. You can install VividLogic's software which makes your PC Havi aware but it is buggy.

I would start over by deleting the 1394 devices out of device manager then plugging your TV directly into your PC and only into your PC. (NO other 1394 devices plugged into your TV other than the PC) Then follow the directions again from scratch. After you get it working then add the other components back to the 1394 network.

MitsuHelp

11-25-05, 03:37 PM

bdraw....will try again...thought I removed drivers & devices but SA3250 & DVHS...tried so many things....should have documented but I'm not at work so I'm being slack!

Yes.... can record
SA3250
DVHS
No.....CAN'T record from
Mitsubishi integrated tuner OTA or cable through QAM....no 5C issues (the cable channels that I am testing with are 4-copy freely

Thanks for the reply...will keep trying! BTW....played with this some last year and tried firebus....guess that's when I saw the PC as a device on the Mits....

bdraw

11-26-05, 08:13 PM

Not sure what the problem is but I can tell you that QAM recording from the integrated tuner does not work.

Can't remember why but I do remember that it is not supported by Mitsu.

Recording OTA from the integrated tuner on a Mits is what I used to write the original post.

MitsuHelp

11-27-05, 08:26 AM

"Not sure what the problem is but I can tell you that QAM recording from the integrated tuner does not work.

Can't remember why but I do remember that it is not supported by Mitsu."

??? This is something I have been trying to find out! Does anyone with a Mits. with an integrated tuner record direct cable (QAM tuner)? IF not....guess I need to have my TV repaired....never heard of such a thing!....Liking this Mits less and less! :mad:

bdraw

11-27-05, 05:09 PM

Doesn't work. If you want to know for 100% sure pm Kipp Jones he is the mitsu expert around here.

maintv

11-29-05, 12:08 AM

I can not find this info on this forum anywhere! I know I saw it --I have Win XP with service pak 2, computer will not "see" my JVC 40000 or 3000 DVHS unit when I plug either in to the firewire card in computer-even when I re-boot computer. I need service pak 2 for other programs to run. I installed the Windows fix that is supposed to correct the firwire problems--no help. I have Elecard and Video logic programs installed now--they work ok.
I use the 169time with dish 6000 STB set-up. Would like to play around with recording on the computer HD from firewire in.

Help!

mastahkaz

11-29-05, 06:14 PM

slim79

11-29-05, 07:13 PM

I have a question. Is there anything better than CAPDVHS to record the incoming stream? CAPDVHS works but seems a little hokey. My main problem with it is when I program it to record at a certain time, sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. Also, the end of all the text within the app is cut off so its hard to tell what exactly you're doing.

Is there any higher quality programs out there that do the same thing, maybe one with a nice interface and such? I'd be willing to pay for one so it doesnt have to be freeware.

Also, is there anything better than VLC for playback for TS files? I get random BSOD all the time when watching stuff in VLC.

I use CapDVHS myself. VLC can also be used to capture I am not familiar with any of the paid programs that will capture transport sreams. I to have problems scheduling with CapDVHS. Some other app. or process seems to cause and invalid date and time error to occur. What I do now is use windows task scheduler to launch CapDVHS just prior to a scheduled recording. I have started to use this in cunjunction with the channel.exe from

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commu...essageID=104152

By doing this you can automate the process of changing channels between recordings in your reserve or even launching the program prior to a scheduled recording. To schedule a channel change create a windows task to run channel.exe file with the following syntax

"C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channel.exe" / 2 770
(2 refers to the panel device # - you can determine this by running channel.exe -v and 770 is the channel to change to)

when creating the task for a channel change you will need to check --open advanced properties for this task when I click finish-- then add the -- / 2 770 -- to the end of the file path.

Do this for each channel that you will be recording from and schedule the task between recordings in the reserve that are scheduled on different channels at different times ( you will also want to check --does not "video power off" at reserve-- in the CapDVHS Settings Tab so the box doesn't power off and not accept the channel change prior the next recording on a different channel)

confusing enough? Sorry if I am not very clear and I used the whole page

mastahkaz

11-29-05, 07:41 PM

slim79

11-29-05, 09:25 PM

No that makes sense. The way I was doing it is just setting my Comcast box to record certain shows weekly. Then setting that same time in CapDVHS. The box automatically changes to the correct channel when the show I want to record is on, then CapDVHS SHOULD start recording. Only problem is, it only actually records automatically 3/5 times. I have no idea why it doesnt do it sometimes either.

Which cable box do you have? Not all are supported by the channel.exe but I was able to get tim to help me getting my MOXI changing channels via firewire. About the playback...I usually use WMP unless I am watching live with VLC. I don't see a lot off difference with the players. currently using sonics video and audio decoders.

mastahkaz

11-29-05, 09:41 PM

moto 6200

slim79

11-29-05, 10:42 PM

moto 6200
same here. do you use the panasonic driver? the installer from the green button makes it install as motorola 6200 and also installs the driver for the panel device which allows the channel changing.

slim79

11-29-05, 10:48 PM

files from tim's installer at green button. you don't need the rest of the app unless you have MCE.

i can't seem to download my attachment when I click on it, however if I right click and click save target as it works.

hjohns1

11-29-05, 11:23 PM

I have posted a modified version of the CapDVHS at the following location....
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eweathersix/other.htm
....which corrects the text that is displayed in the application by changing the font that it uses.

I have also seen the 'Invalid Date And Time' bug. I found that after I defined a timed recording, or multiple ones, that if I then selected the first row in the grid (the first timed recording), I would no longer get the error. If I selected an empty row following the one or two that I defined, there was a good chance that the error would occur. When I say 'selected' I just mean to just click on it to highlight it.

-BJ Johns

RalphArch

11-29-05, 11:39 PM

Also, is there anything better than VLC for playback for TS files? I get random BSOD all the time when watching stuff in VLC.

recent thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6589497&&#post6589497) discusses

slim79

11-30-05, 12:56 AM

It seems that FrontPage is causing the date time error for me. If I open FrontPage 2003 regardless of where the selection is highlighted it causes the error.

mrstrauss

11-30-05, 11:10 AM

Thank you for all the good information. I want to try this with my Moto 6412 STB but am stuck on what cable to order. I plan to use my Dell Laptop with 4 pin IEEE 1394 so I think. Would the other end be 6-pin M ?

What is the MAX length that firewire will work? Thanks again.

Clarence

11-30-05, 06:42 PM

Yes, the 6412 end is 6-pin M. I had a hard time finding firewire cables locally... BB, CC, etc.
Most were only 3/4/6 ft.

But I found tons on ebay. The one I got is either 12' or 15'... works fine, no dropouts. It was <$5.

gryphn

11-30-05, 11:03 PM

pstahl

12-01-05, 01:21 AM

I have several dumb questions. Why do you want to hook you PVR to your PC. Is it easier to record to than a DVD recorder? Do you have to record in real time like with a DVD recorder? Do you get a Digital quality recording? I read through quite a few of the post but no where near the 65 pages and I'm still confused. I guess I need a copy of " How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP" for dummies! Thanks for any replies.

Pete

pio!pio!

12-01-05, 03:25 AM

I use CapDVHS myself. VLC can also be used to capture I am not familiar with any of the paid programs that will capture transport sreams. I to have problems scheduling with CapDVHS. Some other app. or process seems to cause and invalid date and time error to occur. What I do now is use windows task scheduler to launch CapDVHS just prior to a scheduled recording. I have started to use this in cunjunction with the channel.exe from

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commu...essageID=104152

By doing this you can automate the process of changing channels between recordings in your reserve or even launching the program prior to a scheduled recording. To schedule a channel change create a windows task to run channel.exe file with the following syntax

"C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channel.exe" / 2 770
(2 refers to the panel device # - you can determine this by running channel.exe -v and 770 is the channel to change to)

when creating the task for a channel change you will need to check --open advanced properties for this task when I click finish-- then add the -- / 2 770 -- to the end of the file path.

Do this for each channel that you will be recording from and schedule the task between recordings in the reserve that are scheduled on different channels at different times ( you will also want to check --does not "video power off" at reserve-- in the CapDVHS Settings Tab so the box doesn't power off and not accept the channel change prior the next recording on a different channel)

confusing enough? Sorry if I am not very clear and I used the whole page
when scheduling a channel change, do you need the forward slash?

When I do it from the command line I don't use a forward slash (ex. 'channel -v 2 251' to change to channel 251 w/ verbose on...I guess w/o verbose would be 'channelw 2 251')

JimVR4

12-01-05, 02:01 PM

mastahkaz

12-01-05, 02:37 PM

Help with Moto DCT 6412.

I've read the thread carefully and followed the directions in the first post. It still aint working.

Windows XP media center edition recognizes a new device when I plug in the box via firewire, but it comes up as "AV/C Panel". If I hit cancel it comes up with "New Hardware - error installing...blah blah"
I've tried everything I can think of. When I manually select the drivers I downloaded (linked from this thread) windows claims they "do not contain information about your new hardware".
Also when I go through the 'show all hardware' list of devices there is no option for the Panasonic D-VHS AV/C Device.

I'm pissed.. this should not be so complicated. Any ideas?

I had the same problem. The instructions on the first page are not up to date with the newer versions of XP.

Basically when the new hardware stuff comes up you just keep hitting "cancel".

I ended up getting it to work just by screwing around. Im not at home so I can't exactly look to see what I did, and my computer here at work is not running XP. But from what I remember....

When the hardware stuff pops up just cancel out of it. Then go into your device manager (control panel > system) and you'll want to manually add the hardware. I think you need to add it under "imaging devices" or something like that. Then it should give you a list of devices to chose from and this is where you'll specify that you have the disk and stuff. Once you have it read the disk the Panasonic device will show up in a list of things to install. Then you just go from there.

Hope this will help, it may not be exactly right but thats somewhat of how I got it working. But I know that the instructions on the main post were way off from what I actually had to do. I think this is because the interface has changed quite a bit for adding hardware since it was posted.

seanm2

12-01-05, 05:19 PM

OK I got the video feed to record on my laptop via above instructions, BUT

1- there is no sound, and 2- it plays back at double speed.

does anyone know what setting I can change to make the recording worth the effort??? (Im using capdvhs3066)

ps the instructions were great! I think I just need to tweak it !!!!!

sm
Report Post

gryphn

12-01-05, 05:45 PM

seanm2

12-01-05, 06:26 PM

My recording plays back at double speed and no sound! how to I fix this?

slim79

12-01-05, 07:49 PM

when scheduling a channel change, do you need the forward slash?

When I do it from the command line I don't use a forward slash (ex. 'channel -v 2 251' to change to channel 251 w/ verbose on...I guess w/o verbose would be 'channelw 2 251')

I guess not

bdraw

12-01-05, 07:56 PM

I had the same problem. The instructions on the first page are not up to date with the newer versions of XP.

I don't use this method anymore. There is no way for me to re-write the directions for sp2. If someone else will do it step by step I will update the first post.
PM me with the steps or just post them here.

bdraw

12-01-05, 07:57 PM

My recording plays back at double speed and no sound! how to I fix this?

This is a playback issue.
You can search on the HTPC forum for TS (transport stream) playback. There is alot of information there.

But the problem is more than likly the wrong codec.

bdraw

12-01-05, 07:59 PM

Jim, thanks but I did follow the directions very carefully... over and over again. AAHHRRG!
Mastahkaz, I've tried manually adding the hardware but when I hit 'Have Disk...' and select the Meitape.inf file I get an error saying 'The specified location does not contain information about your hardware."

The only time I don't get this message is if I try to add it under "Imaging Devices" (or show all hardware) but when this happens the list of devices goes blank.

Thanks for your help.

It is a pain, because it isn't the correct driver so XP tries to fight it. But until there is a better driver it is better than nothing.

Keep trying you will get it. Some people just go back to sp1. Some hardware like the SA8300HD has a problem with sp2 and no one seems to be able to get it to work. There is a thread just on that subject here.

bdraw

12-01-05, 08:01 PM

gryphn

12-01-05, 08:10 PM

JimVR4 - you were right.. the key was to restore the system. Thanks man.

slim79

12-01-05, 08:41 PM

Jim, thanks but I did follow the directions very carefully... over and over again. AAHHRRG!
Mastahkaz, I've tried manually adding the hardware but when I hit 'Have Disk...' and select the Meitape.inf file I get an error saying 'The specified location does not contain information about your hardware."

The only time I don't get this message is if I try to add it under "Imaging Devices" (or show all hardware) but when this happens the list of devices goes blank.

Thanks for your help.
The drivers I posted a page or so ago had support for the 8300 tuner and panel maybe using that version would help.

pstahl

12-02-05, 01:34 AM

DVD recorders don't record HD, so you would have to down convert to SD.
This is for archiving. PVR's are for time shifting.

Not sure what you mean by PVR's are for time shifting. Also after you archive it, do you normally burn it to a DVD? These HD files have to take up a lot of room. Also sounds like with the 5C encrypition being used more that there won't be many channels to record/archive. Thanks for the reply bdraw.

holl_ands

12-02-05, 03:48 AM

I have several dumb questions.
Q: Why do you want to hook your PVR to your PC (VIA FIREWIRE):
A: IN ORDER TO RECORD A FILE ONTO THE PC THAT CAN BE VIEWED FOREVER....

Q: Is it easier to record to than a DVD recorder?
A: NO, IT'S A ROYAL PAIN IN THE UKNOWWHAT...

Q: Do you have to record in real time like with a DVD recorder?
A: YES, Firewire output is simultaneous with what you watch at the PVR.
Hmmm...and it SHOULD output Firewire when playing back a PVR recording...but cannot confirm....
But I am not aware of any super fast file transfer capability....

Q: Do you get a Digital quality recording?
A: YES, THE FIREWIRE SIGNAL CONTAINS THE MPEG2 DIGITAL PROGRAM, INCLUDING BOTH MANDATORY PCM STEREO SIGNAL AND DD5.1 SURROUND SOUND.
IT WILL BE IN WHATEVER RESOLUTION WAS BROADCAST (e.g. 480i, 720P, 1080i).

I read through quite a few of the post but no where near the 65 pages and I'm still confused. I guess I need a copy of " How to record via IEEE 1394 (Firewire) to Windows XP" for dummies! Thanks for any replies.

Pete

FYI: The "5C" copy protection scheme in intended to prevent unauthorized copies via the Firewire interface.
Currently, PCs can only record those programs (e.g. local HD channels) that are marked as COPY FREELY.....except when the cable companies mess up the copy protect flags....

PCs (whether WinXP or Linx) currently do not implement the "5C" copy protect scheme and hence cannot record programs marked as COPY ONCE (e.g. most digital cable channels) and COPY NEVER (e.g. PPV/VOD). And some people still have problems getting COPY FREELY to work.....

Most D-VHS recorders implement "5C" via a Firewire interface and therefore can record both COPY FREELY and COPY ONCE programs (but not COPY NEVER).
I have an ever growing tape collection that includes the best HD programs found on HDNET, inHD1/2, DISC-HD, SHO-HD, HBO-HD and local HD channels.
Most of them are in beautiful Hi-Def with Surround Sound.

Some DVD Recorders and Hard Drive Recorders have Firewire interfaces.
However, most do not implement "5C", so cross check very carefully if you intend to use them for anything other than COPY FREELY.

I have heard that certain Apple MACS can be equipped with a "5C" compliant D-VHS Emulator software, but you'll have to research to verify this rumour.

Microsoft has announced that it is working on integrating a CableCARD capability, so that the 2007 version of Media Center will finally be able to record ALL of the digital cable channels (except those programs marked as COPY NEVER).

pstahl

12-02-05, 04:25 AM

Holl_ands,

Thanks for the reply. That really helped me understand whats going on.

pdp76

12-02-05, 11:54 AM

Microsoft has announced that it is working on integrating a CableCARD capability, so that the 2007 version of Media Center will finally be able to record ALL of the digital cable channels (except those programs marked as COPY NEVER).
Are you suggesting that adding a Cable Card into the mix will actually help a PC record even COPY FREELY or COPY ONCE programs? I am in the group of people having problems copying local broadcast channels from my TV onto my PC (my TV has a digital QAM tuner and a firewire output). These channels are supposedly COPY FREELY, but I can only copy one or two channels, not all of them. Do you think getting a Cable Card for my TV will help my situation?

JimVR4

12-02-05, 01:37 PM

I don't use this method anymore. There is no way for me to re-write the directions for sp2. If someone else will do it step by step I will update the first post.
PM me with the steps or just post them here.
Is there a bettery way and you've just been holding out on us?? :D

I've been having trouble with a preconfigured system that is running MCE2005. Everything seems to be loaded properly but when I queue up a capture I'm getting just the last few minutes captured when I had set it to capture for hours. No such problem on an XPSP2 system that I have used to grab about 12 movies so far. I'm hoping the issue is the bloatware that comes on a preconfigured system and my plan is to do a fresh install with MCE2005 when I get it from Newegg next week. Has anyone used an MCE2005 system successfully for these captures?

I'll grab screen shots of the driver installation under MCE2005 since this should be identical to the XPSP2 installation process.

holl_ands

12-02-05, 04:35 PM

Are you suggesting that adding a Cable Card into the mix will actually help a PC record even COPY FREELY or COPY ONCE programs? I am in the group of people having problems copying local broadcast channels from my TV onto my PC (my TV has a digital QAM tuner and a firewire output). These channels are supposedly COPY FREELY, but I can only copy one or two channels, not all of them. Do you think getting a Cable Card for my TV will help my situation?
Gee, your TV's QAM tuner to Firewire output should be working the same if all of the COPY FREELY channels are set right....
But since it's not, something must be disfunctional...like the cable co isn't setting ALL of the copy protect flags correctly...
[This was a common problem over a year ago...]

Throwing a CableCARD into the fray might let you access COPY FREELY programs that you can't access now....or whatever is disfunctional will remain so....
It's a long shot, but only way to find out is to try it....of course your PC still shouldn't have access to COPY ONCE programs.

slim79

12-02-05, 11:43 PM

Is there a bettery way and you've just been holding out on us?? :D

I've been having trouble with a preconfigured system that is running MCE2005. Everything seems to be loaded properly but when I queue up a capture I'm getting just the last few minutes captured when I had set it to capture for hours. No such problem on an XPSP2 system that I have used to grab about 12 movies so far. I'm hoping the issue is the bloatware that comes on a preconfigured system and my plan is to do a fresh install with MCE2005 when I get it from Newegg next week. Has anyone used an MCE2005 system successfully for these captures?

I'll grab screen shots of the driver installation under MCE2005 since this should be identical to the XPSP2 installation process.

Have you been to:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com/community/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=26&MessageID=104152

Paul Chiu

12-04-05, 01:32 PM

As of today, Capdvhs 3.0.6 works again with TWC 701-HD via the 3250HD box and IEEE 1394 connect.

The settings that works with both video and sound is 188, PTS, and Check Private Stream. File extension ".ts" is used and playback on PowerDVD looks like an exact copy. Bit rate is about 14-15mbps. Not that great in that regards.

Does anyone still use CAPDVHS out there with 3250HD and TWC?

Please let us know if you can get any channel other than 701-HD to work with Capdvhs..

wabos42

12-05-05, 12:22 PM

EHHoffman

12-06-05, 10:27 AM

I have a Motorola 6412/2000 and am trying to get started on a journey that will allow me to copy video files from this unit to my computer to allow copying to dvd.
When I connect a usb cable to the unit, Windows Xp (sp2) does not recognize that anything is connected. I have read somewhere here that I need to check which version of firmware that I have but cannot find the post that describes the procedure.

Thanks

As far as I know, the USB ports have never been active. Doesn't matter though for what you want to do as the USB port isn't what is used; its the 1394 port. Read the first post in thread to get you started.

--Eric

mikeyufo

12-06-05, 12:57 PM

I have a question for anyone. Can you point
me in the right direction?

I'm trying to copy VHS tapes to my Window XP machine and burn them
into DVDs.
I have a very high end VHS (JVC HM-DH30000U). It's full digital
and has a FireWire output. When I plug it into the PC's Firewire,
it does not find the correct drivers, even if I tell the PC to go
to "Sound, video, game controllers" on the device manager and
select JVC TAPE DEVICE. It gives the famous "yellow
questionmark", meaning wrong driver. The Intervideo WinDVD
creator software will not recongnize this device at all. I called
JVC and they are no help. Compaq/HP are no good either.

Where do i get the driver? VCRs do not come with software. Can
you help? This seems so simple, but it will not work for me. The JVC is not recognized by Windows XP at all as a Video Capture Device, it does however see my Logitec Quick-cam. JVC finally told me the FireWire connection on this model is an INPUT for camcorders only. I guess I'm trying to force the unit to do something it wasn't meant to do.....???

Thanks in advance!
MICHAEL

JimVR4

12-06-05, 01:09 PM

The JVC is not recognized by Windows XP at all as a Video Capture Device, it does however see my Logitec Quick-cam. JVC finally told me the FireWire connection on this model is an INPUT for camcorders only. I guess I'm trying to force the unit to do something it wasn't meant to do.....???

I had suggested A/D conversion however according to the following post the JVC should have a working digital output. I'll defer to the discussion to see how this plays out.

jimg

12-06-05, 02:57 PM

I have a question for anyone. Can you point
me in the right direction?

I'm trying to copy VHS tapes to my Window XP machine and burn them
into DVDs.
I have a very high end VHS (JVC HM-DH30000U).

...

Full details are in the "How to record via IEEE 1394 [sticky] thread"... however, let's see if we can get you oriented so you can make sense when you read it.

---

1) Your Intervideo DVD application only records standard definition, not HD.
In the future, when the Blue-Ray or DVD-HD technology gets mainstream there will be upgraded DVD drives and versions of DVD authoring software. Unfortunately we're not there yet. If you want to make DVDs (at the lower DVD resolution, see the end of the next section.)

---

2) The JVC 30K does high-def firewire both IN and OUT. (with the appropriate caveats for copy protection [such as from D-Theater tapes]). The HD firewire input typically comes from a HD Set Top Box, TV with a built-in HD tuner, or a PC that has a HD tuner card. The JVC cannot take analog inputs (external or from the tuner) and convert to digital, (indeed none of the above sources can!).

As a quick example: With my HD Set Top Box that has firewire output, is tuned to a HD program and has the firewire enabled, I can tune the JVC to I-1 and it will display that HD channel via it's component outputs. If I press record, it will record that firewire stream. After recording I can playback that HD stream to the component outputs. That HD stream will also be sent out the firewire ports, where my PC can capture it with "DVHSTool" or "CapDVHS". (Do a search in this Recorders forum for more info on these programs.) To be captured (transport stream or .ts) file will then need to be downrez'd via a recent version of: QuEnc, Nero, TMPGEnc, etc. that have .ts support. That output is DVD ready. Note: it's DVD quality, not HD quality.

----

3) As for XP seeing the JVC 30K, if you got that yellow flag on the JVC tape device, that means the driver is loaded, but there is an error. Usually it's a case where it doesn't "handshake" with the device properly. Best to remove the driver and power off the PC. Then on the JVC set-up menu, do the iLink reset, and unplug it (don't just turn it off). Check your firewire connections at both the PC side and the JVC side. Now plug in the JVC, and turn it on, and on the channel select, select "I-". Then power up the PC. You should get the new device found dialog box. One for the Tuner, which you want to ignore. The second for the Tape Device which you want to continue and let Windows search for it. (The driver is part of the Windows XP Pro driver collection.)

holl_ands

12-06-05, 05:20 PM

2) The JVC 30K does high-def firewire both IN and OUT. (with the appropriate caveats for copy protection [such as from D-Theater tapes]). The HD firewire input typically comes from a HD Set Top Box, TV with a built-in HD tuner, or a PC that has a HD tuner card. The JVC cannot take analog inputs (external or from the tuner) and convert to digital, (indeed none of the above sources can!).

The JVC 30K, as well as my JVC 40K, can take an analog input via either Video/S-Video input
or the internal VHF/UHF tuner and will convert it to MPEG2 in order to make an SD digital recording.
I do this all the time since it looks better than configuring for standard VHS/S-VHS recording.

Are you saying that this digital recording cannot be played back via Firewire???
Seems to me that it should work same as any other MPEG2 recording....

wabos42

12-07-05, 08:00 AM

As far as I know, the USB ports have never been active. Doesn't matter though for what you want to do as the USB port isn't what is used; its the 1394 port. Read the first post in thread to get you started.

--Eric
Actually I did read the 1st x-pages of this topic and I still get zero response from the unit. I have connected the cable to the front panel USB port and the back panel Firewire port with the same results. I do not know which version of firmware I have as I cannot get into the screen that shows that info per other posts on this topic.
I am probably in the wrong forum with this question as I am more interested in copying movies already recorded from the 6412 to my pc than trying to record movies via the firewire to my pc.

Thanks for the response.

Wabos42

Guzzoo

12-07-05, 10:40 AM

I have my system set-up and am recording SD off of one STB via Windows XP/MCE 2005.

I have another box (DCT6412) set-up and am recording HD via firewire.

All of my channels except the locals (SD & HD) have the 5C=1 however I can record and change file types (DVRMS to MPG & TS to MPG) on all of them except for the other HD channels and the premium channels. So I assume those have more protection than 5C.

Here's the question, if I buy a 5C compliant D-VHS recorder and tape the channels like HBO can I then play the tape back and record it thru one of the capture programs on the pc or will it still be protected.

EHHoffman

12-07-05, 11:29 AM

I am probably in the wrong forum with this question as I am more interested in copying movies already recorded from the 6412 to my pc than trying to record movies via the firewire to my pc.

While I haven't worked with your specific STB, I don't think it is much(any?) different then the other MoTo boxes in this regard. There isn't any "file-mode" copy feature. To get something from your STB to the PC via FW you actually have to play it on the STB. The PC sees no difference in "watching live" vs watching something recorded to the HD in the STB. What ever the STB is displaying is simply made available on the FW port.

As far as not getting any response when connecting it to you PC via FW, I would say you need to verify that the ports are active on the STB. There is a screen in the setup menu of the STB which relays this info. Wish I could help you there but I don't know specifically what the procedure is with your model. I'm sure someone here on the forum could tell you though.

--Eric

EHHoffman

12-07-05, 11:33 AM

Here's the question, if I buy a 5C compliant D-VHS recorder and tape the channels like HBO can I then play the tape back and record it thru one of the capture programs on the pc or will it still be protected.

My understanding is that it would still be protected. That is after all, what the 5C flag is supposed to do; any device that is "5C compliant" isn't going to allow you to make that second copy of protected content.

--Eric

Guzzoo

12-07-05, 11:58 AM

Thanks Eric,

That's what I thought, but after reading post #1972 I had hoped that it might be possible. I guess he was talking about OTA HD.

Why can I record and manage some 5C=1 recordings and not the others like HBO etc...?

EHHoffman

12-07-05, 01:01 PM

Why can I record and manage some 5C=1 recordings and not the others like HBO etc...?

I would only be guessing but... Normally, 5C flagged files are encrypted. It may be quite possible to flag a transmission as 5C but not have the stream encrypted. I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of that would be. But if, as you say, you have files flagged 5C=1 and can work with them with tools that are not 5C compliant, then that suggests it is the case. Maybe it's just an improper setting on your CableCo's side.

Are any of these recordings from true digital channels? On my system, the first 100 channels are actually analog and get converted to a TS stream by the STB for delivery over FW port.

--Eric

Guzzoo

12-07-05, 01:24 PM

Yes, most are true digital. All of my channels except for the locals show 5C=1 even the channels I know are analog. I spent over an hour last night checking each channel in the setup menu. I recorded channels 78 (analog GAC) & 121 (digitl vh1Country) with the 5C=1 last night and was able to convert to mpg, I then recorded channel 300 ( digital HBO) and could not convert it. So I have to assume that they can do more than just 5C protection or like you say, improper settings thru the cable co?

Thanks for your replys.

lazarus000

12-07-05, 03:23 PM

i more than a little lost here... :(

i have:

SA 3250HD with active firewire
windows xp SP 2
firewire connected from mobo to time SA 3250HD tuner.

(i don't need a PCI tuner card, do i?)

i follow the directions and it seems to installed the meivdah drivers correctly.

Tuner AV/C Device driver details even shows (SA 3250) in the device manager.

but all of the video recording and viewing software i use don't show any video signal.

any help would be more than appreciated

EHHoffman

12-07-05, 03:54 PM

So I have to assume that they can do more than just 5C protection or like you say, improper settings thru the cable co?

I did a little more reading on the subject. From what I can tell, there is definately a distinction between the 5C flags and encryption. Since the 5C flag was really only intended for OTA transmission, and the FCC originally thought that they could mandate that all hardware manufactured obeyed the rules of the flag (copy always, copy once, copy never), there wouldn't be any need for encryption.

It has since been ruled that the FCC overstepped its bounds in making that mandate, effectively making the 5C flag useless by it self, since you can buy hardware that simply ignores the flag. (The MyHD 120/130 cards are examples of this.)

The cable industry already has better protection measures and didn't need to implement 5C except in the case where it was retransmitting OTA signals -- where it is required to simply pass it on as-is. Because this then requires them to have 5C support in their boxes, many(most) have also started flagging their non-OTA content with it as well. Whether or not the signal is encrypted is completely unrelated to 5C though. You could easily have a cable channel marked as 5C=Copy Always (or not 5C marked at all) and yet still not be able to view it outside of the STB because it is encrypted. The STB is the only thing that can decrypt such channels.

--Eric

EHHoffman

12-07-05, 04:06 PM

... but all of the video recording and viewing software i use don't show any video signal.

What software have you tried? It has to be software that knows how to talk to a FW tuner type device such as CapDVHS or DCTRecord.

DCTRecord (my favorite )
http://home.comcast.net/~brzez2/dctrecord.html

CapDVHS (more popular)
http://home.earthlink.net/~weathersix/other.htm

--Eric

lazarus000

12-07-05, 05:26 PM

What software have you tried? It has to be software that knows how to talk to a FW tuner type device such as CapDVHS or DCTRecord.

DCTRecord (my favorite )[/url]

CapDVHS (more popular)[/url]

--Eric

thanks for the response

with the CapDVHS i get a "cannot find capture device" message

with DCTRecord there aren't any record device options at all that i can find

Guzzoo

12-07-05, 05:26 PM

Eric,

Thanks for the research. That pretty well explains it.

All the talk about 5C had me really confused.

I'll just be thankfull for what I have at the moment, cause it looks like it may get worse before it gets better!

Guzzoo

12-07-05, 05:44 PM

LazarusOOO,

I'm no expert, and mine worked the 1st time by following the instructions.

But here are a couple of thoughts.

Go to device manager and uninstall your STB. Unplug the firewire and restart your system. Plug your firewire back in and go thru the setup again. You want to setup a AV/C Recorder, not your STB. When you uncheck the known device box, it should give you a window to select a Panasonic mfg , once you select that the other window should let you choose a recorder, do that then direct it to the driver you downloaded. Once you do that a capture device should showup in CapDVHS.

RalphArch

12-07-05, 06:16 PM

I did a little more reading on the subject. From what I can tell, there is definately a distinction between the 5C flags and encryption. Since the 5C flag was really only intended for OTA transmission, and the FCC originally thought that they could mandate that all hardware manufactured obeyed the rules of the flag (copy always, copy once, copy never), there wouldn't be any need for encryption.

It has since been ruled that the FCC overstepped its bounds in making that mandate, effectively making the 5C flag useless by it self, since you can buy hardware that simply ignores the flag. (The MyHD 120/130 cards are examples of this.)

The cable industry already has better protection measures and didn't need to implement 5C except in the case where it was retransmitting OTA signals -- where it is required to simply pass it on as-is. Because this then requires them to have 5C support in their boxes, many(most) have also started flagging their non-OTA content with it as well. Whether or not the signal is encrypted is completely unrelated to 5C though. You could easily have a cable channel marked as 5C=Copy Always (or not 5C marked at all) and yet still not be able to view it outside of the STB because it is encrypted. The STB is the only thing that can decrypt such channels.

--Eric

Eric - your discussion is regarding the broadcast flag; that is a different animal from the 5c (read 5 company 1394 content protection architechture - see here (http://www.dtcp.com/data/wp_spec.pdf)

see here (http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000717032165/) for a discussion of the broadcast flag; implementation of which was delayed by the courts decision and which the entertainment industry is pushing legislation for congress to authorize use of the flag. But it really dealt with a different issue - hardware manufactured after a certain date had to recognize (honor) the flag. That's one reason I went out and bought an MDP MyHD 130 HD card. Even though the broadcast flag would be in the stream - hardware manufactured before a certain date did not have to recognize the flag (which would block copying)

proposed legislation: http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/broadflag110305.pdf

slim79

12-07-05, 09:29 PM

I do not know which version of firmware I have as I cannot get into the screen that shows that info per other posts on this topic.

using the front panel.... have you tried powering the box off and then pressing the select button. i think this should get you to the diagnostic screen...one of the pages should have firmware info. otherwise this info is usually displayed by going to the cable box setup info in the Menu. on my remote i press Menu... then select Setup... then select cable box... and arrow to the right on display info.

wabos42

12-08-05, 08:48 AM

using the front panel.... have you tried powering the box off and then pressing the select button. i think this should get you to the diagnostic screen...one of the pages should have firmware info. otherwise this info is usually displayed by going to the cable box setup info in the Menu. on my remote i press Menu... then select Setup... then select cable box... and arrow to the right on display info.
Thanks for the response. I have tried every key sequence suggested in other posts. I can in fact get to the setup screen, but it does not have a Cable Box option. There must be something different about my unit or Cox as most of the posters here seem to use Comcast.
At this point, based on another post I am going to move on and purchase something like a Panasonic Es30 or perhaps another DVR. This is way more trouble than it is worth (to me).

wabos42

12-08-05, 08:55 AM

While I haven't worked with your specific STB, I don't think it is much(any?) different then the other MoTo boxes in this regard. There isn't any "file-mode" copy feature. To get something from your STB to the PC via FW you actually have to play it on the STB. The PC sees no difference in "watching live" vs watching something recorded to the HD in the STB. What ever the STB is displaying is simply made available on the FW port.

As far as not getting any response when connecting it to you PC via FW, I would say you need to verify that the ports are active on the STB. There is a screen in the setup menu of the STB which relays this info. Wish I could help you there but I don't know specifically what the procedure is with your model. I'm sure someone here on the forum could tell you though.

--Eric
Thanks for the response. As I suspected, what I really want to do doesn't seem to be possible at this point. Perhaps someday we will be able to 'network' the box but not now. In the meantime I will shop around for a Panasonic ES30 or equivilant. I have a TV card and DVD recorder in my PC but cannot use in for the premium channels nor is the quality good enough.

Thanks again.

Wabos42

EHHoffman

12-08-05, 10:08 AM

Eric - your discussion is regarding the broadcast flag; that is a different animal from the 5c (read 5 company 1394 content protection architechture - see here (http://www.dtcp.com/data/wp_spec.pdf)

Ah.. suddenly things are much more clear... thanks.

--Eric

lazarus000

12-09-05, 11:10 AM

lazarus000

12-09-05, 12:54 PM

thanks for response

i get 4 devices that show up when i plug it in

av/c tuner
av/c panel
unknown
unknown

any idea about how to tell which one is the proper one for install?

now i get this error message when i try and use capdvhs

80040217 cannot grab samplegrabber

Guzzoo

12-09-05, 01:53 PM

You want the av/c tuner, if you let it set all of them up, you can go into device manager a disable the unknowns. It might make you setup the av/c panel also but that doesn't hurt anything. What your trying to do is emulate the Panasonic d-vhs recorder.

If your stb is supported, it might work as the turner. I went back thru mine last night and it worked as the DCT6412, but it set up 2 of them. I just disabled the one that didn't work.

The first time it worked with the generic recorder also...

You have to have a tuner for capdvhs to work.

Guzzoo

HD @ IDT

12-09-05, 10:48 PM

I am having a problem that perhaps someone has seen and can explain how to resolve. When I recorded an HD channel (any HD channel), the right 1/4 of the picture is a pink block with what looks like several squiggly vertical lines inside. The left 3/4 of the picture plays perfectly and looks / sounds great.

When I record any SD channel the recorded picture is perfect with no pink box.

I am using a P4 2.4mhz w/512ram, DCT-6200 w/7.15, CapDVHS and the VLC player.

I'm not sure if this is a record or playback problem, so I put the question in this thread.

Thanks,

HD

TheWalt

12-10-05, 12:43 PM

Alright- I've been following this thread and getting my Motorola 64xx DVR to talk to my computer through firewire.

My problem that I'm encountering is that I can get the video to record, but on playback it pauses (and I get audio loss) every 2-5 seconds, but for just a split second. I searched and searched on choppy playback or stutter, but haven't found people having the same issue.

EDIT - 5C is the cause of my problem... -

The initial post covered everything needed to get me up and running.
Thanks for your help-

lazarus000

12-10-05, 03:04 PM

Guzzoo

12-10-05, 04:22 PM

If it doesn't show the recorder, does it sow a turner? if so try that.

You might also try the generic option that shows before you un check the box for known devices.

If all else fails, go to page 53, post #1571 and download and install that patch, once you do that it might let you set up your own box.

TheWalt

12-10-05, 06:15 PM

Allright- I discovered my issue... it IS the 5C. Both the pre-recorded show I was trying to copy and the tv channel I was testing the video stream actually were 5C implemented. After changing the channel a few times, everything worked like a champ. Thanks for the thread, this is fantastic (though the 5C is preventing my original intent for recording to my computer :( )

SFDave

12-10-05, 06:23 PM

I have a Sony KDE50-XBR950 Plasma TV with an OTA tuner. It has a separate "media box" with several connection options including firewire. If I connect it to my PC, Windows XP fails to find a driver, although it correctly identifies the media box as a "Sony MBD-XBR950" under "Other devices". Does anyone know where I can find a driver that would work with Windows? Are there generic DTV drivers? I'd like to be able to capture OTA broadcasts from my TV tuner, just like I do from my STB (Motorola DCT-6412).