AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Digital Recorders (PVRs) General › Motorola DCT 3416 and AVCVideoCap - No Audio
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Motorola DCT 3416 and AVCVideoCap - No Audio

post #1 of 5
10/10/08 at 7:42pm
Thread Starter 
I've used this set up for many months successfully with my MacBookPro. Now when I attempt to *Capture From Device* things have changed. 1. The video freezes on the TV [so I am unable to watch the TV when the application is capturing video][while the application continues to work and the frame count adds up] and 2. there is no audio being recorded. When playing back the captured selection in MPEG Streamclip 1.9.1 there is no audio. Audio PID window is blank.

I've tried all I can think. Deleting the applications and reinstalling. Nothing seems to change.

What would cause the TV screen to freeze frame and why is AVCVideoCap not recording audio? Are there preferences that I'm missing? There are none in AVCVideoCap that can be set. The Preference option is grayed out.

Any help you can give me is appreciated. As I said I have used the applications for months, recording hundreds of programs and items off the DVR. I thought I understood the process.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 5
10/13/08 at 6:45am
Thread Starter 
After a lot of searching I found a couple of other threads on my problem. The latest being:

[unable to post URL but thread is named "FireWire play out is now broken on my Comcast DCT"]

Seems many of you have had this problem longer than I [in the Sacramento Comcast area].

raj provided the following work around which I plan to try today.
[indent]I found a work around! I will give you the basic thing here, and I'll post a tutorial on my blog tomorrow. These instructions are for my Mac, so YMMV.

With the firewire unplugged from your computer, start up the program on your DVR, and pause it a good bit before where you want to start recording.
Plug in the Firewire to your comp, and open your recording software, on my Mac I used AVCVideoCap from the Firewire SDK. You will notice when you plugged in the Firewire, the program started playing on your TV, even though it will still have the "pause" icon on your screen. This is good.
Actually start the recording. When you do this, the picture will pause again on your TV. At this point, press play on your remote to "unpause" your DVR. This process somehow makes the DVR now output audio AND video over the firewire.
__________________
raj
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 5
10/20/08 at 5:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdstout View Post

After a lot of searching I found a couple of other threads on my problem. The latest being:

[unable to post URL but thread is named "FireWire play out is now broken on my Comcast DCT"]

Seems many of you have had this problem longer than I [in the Sacramento Comcast area].

raj provided the following work around which I plan to try today.
[indent]I found a work around! I will give you the basic thing here, and I'll post a tutorial on my blog tomorrow. These instructions are for my Mac, so YMMV.

With the firewire unplugged from your computer, start up the program on your DVR, and pause it a good bit before where you want to start recording.
Plug in the Firewire to your comp, and open your recording software, on my Mac I used AVCVideoCap from the Firewire SDK. You will notice when you plugged in the Firewire, the program started playing on your TV, even though it will still have the "pause" icon on your screen. This is good.
Actually start the recording. When you do this, the picture will pause again on your TV. At this point, press play on your remote to "unpause" your DVR. This process somehow makes the DVR now output audio AND video over the firewire.
__________________
raj

Comcast broke it with the last firmware update about a month ago..

I can record live programs just fine, but not shows on the DVR disk.

Interesting, I'll have to try the workaround.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 5
10/27/08 at 4:55am
To the original post:

If user does not power up or power down the DVR Comcast properly then firewire problems will occur. In your case nothing you try is going to work. Replace the DVR but don't make the assumption that the "new" DVR is not going to have the same issue. I doubt if Comcast techs even check fif firewire operational let alone anything else when returned or exchanged.

Here's my sequence which never gives a problem with firewire and the DVR.
I use a 12 inch Powerbook G4 to upload recorded .m2t files off the Comcast box. PB must be powered off. DVR must be powered off. Connect firewire cable to PB first then to DVR. Power on the DVR first then power up the PB.

You will never have any problems with the transfer this way. When done, power off the PB first. Then power off the DVR then disconnect firewire cable.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 5
12/26/08 at 5:37pm
the workaround works. You still can't watch while recording though.... any input?
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Gaming & Content Streaming › Digital Recorders (PVRs) General › Motorola DCT 3416 and AVCVideoCap - No Audio