How-To: MacOS X Firewire HDTV recording - Page 7

Okay I really need some help now... I did a clean install of Panther then System Update.

I downloaded the customized version of Virtual DVHS, created a new folder on my second internal drive, drag the folder and drop it on Virtual DVHS and the system crashed. (Same problem as before the rebuild)

I then download the SDK and tried that version and I get the same problem.

I am new to mac so I don't have a clue about where to start trouble shooting this issue.

From Mac Help:

My Mac runs slowly or I can't open a file or application

Occasionally the user permissions associated with files or applications become damaged, which can prevent a file or application from opening. This problem can also cause the computer to run very slowly. If you have either of these problems, you may be able to fix them by using Disk Utility to repair permissions on the startup disk.

You can only verify or repair disk permissions on the startup disk.

To repair permissions on the startup disk:

Repairing permissions is also a good maintenance task after updating the system or installing new software.[list=1][*]Open Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities, and select the startup disk in the left column.[*]Click First Aid.[*]Click Verify Disk Permissions to test permissions or Repair Disk Permissions to test and repair permissions.[/list=1]

Alternatively, you can try the Apple Hardware Test CD that may have been provided with your Mac or you can call the nearest Apple Store about getting one or bringing the Mac in, which might not be a bad idea since you bought it used.

Sounds exactly like my experience with the 3250.

And so far, I have not been able to get the Mac to record from the 3250, except when I have the D-VHS between the Mac and the 3250 (see my post on the top of page 6)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0&pagenumber=6

I'm sorta flip-flopping back and forth on theories...

(1) The Mitsubishi is not compatible with the box, something I hope Mits will fix, since the 3250 does work with D-VHS.

(2) The transport stream has errant data in it from the 3250. Sometimes, the JVC 30K gives a copy protection error, and downsamples to 480i on the recording and component outs. Turning the JVC and 3250 off, then back on, "fixes" this.

I don't know which it is, but I would suspect 4200 has the same issue.

If you get the Mits to display HD content over firewire from the 4200, PLEASE post what you did!!

-Pie

Will it convert Transport Stream to Program Stream (with audio and video both left intact) and then back again?

I compiled GOPchop 1.0.0, but it requires a program stream file.

-Pie

Thanks... tried this but still no luck... my first adventure into Mac is not starting out well.

For whatever it's worth I have a firewire equipped SA3250HD cable box, hooked to a JVC 40k D-VHS VCR. The 40k claims all the channels are copy protected. It won't record a thing. I hooked up a JVC 30k and it would record and playback the same channels. When I took the JVC 30k recording and put it in the JVC 40k, it exhibits the same problem, the 40k thinks the data on the tape is copy protected and it won't play it back. Does anyone have any idea why the 30k would think the channels are NOT copy protected, but the 40k thinks that they are? The 40k can record fine from OTA HDTV via my TV's HDTV tuner.

It is a used Mac. I do recommend getting it looked over at the nearest Apple Store. They can test your hardware for any issues. These things can happen.

I use vlc to stream the m2t file over http. On the roku I use MpegPSPlay (freeware) that listens for the http stream from vlc and plays the file on the roku and it goes out over component to my projector.

There is no firewire port on the roku or a hard disk.

dlan,

How much memory do you have installed on the G3 B&W/400? Click on About this Mac under the blue apple, upper left, to get the info.

Are you sure you have Panther (10.3)? That is exactly what happens if you try to run VirtualDVHS on Jaguar (10.2) without the firewire pre-release components installed...

Just a thought,
Zach

400 MHz PROCESSOR
512 MB RAM (2x128 and 1x256 I also tried using only 1 chip at a time)
2 9.1 GB SEAGATE SCSI DRIVE
ATI RAGE128 VIDEO CARD (16 MB)

Click on About this Mac under the blue apple, upper left, to get the OS version info.

Hardware Overview:
Machine Model: Power Macintosh G3 Series
CPU Type: PowerPC 750 (82.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 400 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 256 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: f4

System Software Overview:
System Version: Mac OS X 10.3.3 (7F44)
Kernel Version: Darwin 7.3.0

Here's the source and a Windows executable for the Transport Stream demuxer.
Command line only. Sorry, it doesn't remux into Program Stream. It does do
continuity counter checking for finding bitstream errors, PID dumping and
shows the Transport Stream bitrate along with demuxing a specific program
and specific video and audio streams from that program.

Here's the usage:

xport

Example:

xport \\mpeg\\test.m2t 1 1 1
program = 1, video channel = 1, audio channel = 1
Program Number = 0 (0x0000), Program Map PID = 31 (0x001f)
Program Number = 1 (0x0001), Program Map PID = 48 (0x0030)
ts rate = 25051200

number of packets for pid 0x0000 = 53
number of packets for pid 0x001f = 1
number of packets for pid 0x0030 = 54
number of packets for pid 0x0031 = 41881
number of packets for pid 0x0033 = 707
number of packets for pid 0x0034 = 1055
number of packets for pid 0x1fff = 870

The demuxed files are always called bits0001.mpv and bits0001.mpa. The .mpa
file can contain AC3.

Ron

 

demux.zip 44.41796875k . file

It looks like my problem might be firewire related... it also crashes if i run DVHSCap and FWBusyBus 1.0 reports "No 1394 OHCI FireWire interfaces were found."

This system has 2 built in FireWire ports.

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure I know what is going on here. It was recently reported to Apple's FireWire developer mailing list that using VirtualDVHS on a system with the older PCI-Lynx type FireWire link chip causes the system to kernel-panic. The G3 B&W system uses PCI-Lynx instead of the more modern OHCI that is in all recent systems.

This is due to how the FireWireMPEG.framework initializes the DCL program in the MPEG2Receiver object.

For now, I'd suggest that you install a OHCI FireWire card into one of the PCI slots in the system, and connect your STB or HDTV to that card instead.

VirtualDVHS will always detect and use a FireWire card in a PCI slot, instead of the built-in FireWire.

Additionally, I'll look to see if I can suggest a simple code change to the MPEG2Receiver.cpp that could work-around this known bug (now that root cause has been established).

This problem should be addressed in a future OS update.

One more thought, it may be that using Jaguar, with the pre-release FireWire components in SDK18 instead of using Panther will eliminate this problem as well.

However, I'd still suggest using Panther with an PCI OHCI card instead, because of the better performance of Panther.

I got the same results using the PCI OHCI card from my PC.

I also removed the built in firewire card.

Comcast just switched out my SA3250HD and now my G5 see's it over the Firewire! Question though. How do I play the .M2T file in VLC? Thanks in advance

=============== Sent AVC Command ===============
cType: Status
subUnit: 0xFF
opCode: Output Plug Signal Format (0x18)
FCP Command Frame:
01 FF 18 00 FF FF FF FF

=============== Received AVC Response ===============
response: Not Implemented
subUnit: 0xFF
opCode: Output Plug Signal Format (0x18)
FCP Response Frame:
08 FF 18 00 FF FF FF FF

Compare-swap to output plug 0 successful. OldVal=0x80000092 NewVal=0x81008092

Screenshot here (Mac's take PDF): OSX Desktop

Did you set up the transport stream library by dropping a folder on the VirtualDVHS icon?? Do you have a .m2t file to play???? If so, load VLC player for Mac OS X from http://www.videolan.org Then, control button-click on the .m2t file and "open with" VLC. Please let us know. Seeing the Not Implemented is troublesome as it should read Implemented/Stable after clicking on Output Plug Signal Format button.


Edited to add: SA 3250 users may need to reboot the 3250 while connected to the Mac to establish the Firewire connection.

I did do the drag and drop from my HDTV folder to Virtual DVHS. OSX won't let me choose VLC with Open With for the .M2T file.

Select "other" and navigate to and select VLC. You may have to toggle the Enable dropdown from Recommended Applications to All Applications in the Choose Application window.

Got it.

The other way is to launch VLC. Under File, select Open File, click on the Browse button and then navigate to the file, click to highlight, click Open, then click OK and then when file starts mouse to Video and select Half Size.

If you get the file-application association set-up, be sure to mouse to Video and select Half Size. You can also try Fullscreen. Press the Esc button to get back to desktop and Half Size window.


Let us know how it goes.