On 7/24/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">John P Poet</b> <<a href="mailto:jppoet@gmail.com">jppoet@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<div><span class="gmail_quote"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On 7/24/06, Allan Wilson <<a href="mailto:allanwilson@gmail.com">allanwilson@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>> On 7/22/06, John P Poet <<a href="mailto:jppoet@gmail.com">jppoet@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>><br>> >
<br>> I have been struggling to get *reliable" firewire communication<br>> between my computer and my SA3250HD cable box. I got it working last<br>> night, and scheduled a half dozen shows to record on different
<br>> channels, throughout the night. They all recorded just beautifully.<br>><br>> Today I noticed a recording start up, and the SA3250HD trying to<br>> change channels but it went to the wrong one. I stopped the recording
<br>> and changed the channel myself. Then I tried to capture via<br>> test-mpeg2 but got a zero length file. After about 30 minutes of<br>> randomly trying things, I got the firewire to work again.... for a<br>
> while. A few hours later it was out of sync, again.<br>><br>> If I use 1394commander to reset the bus, and use plugctl to prime the<br>> bus, and get the channel changed to a good one, and use test-mpeg2, I
<br>> can get eventually get a valid video stream. Once test-mpeg2 is<br>> working, I can start myth backup and it will work -- for a while.<br>><br>> I have not been able to figure out the sequence of events needed to
<br>> get the 1394 bus resynchronized when it looses it. Sometimes just<br>> resetting the bus is enough. Other times it seems like various<br>> combinations of plugctl and test-mpeg2 are necessary.<br>><br>
> I get the impression that people with Motorola boxes have a bit more<br>> success with this, than those of us with Scientific Atlanta boxes.<br>><br>> The very first time I ever successfully captured video via firewire,
<br>> It was after I followed Allan's directions here:<br>><br>> <a href="http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/209409#209409">http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/209409#209409</a><br>
><br>> Unfortunately, those instructions do not work every time.<br>><br>> Since I cannot remember where I got it, I am attaching the version of<br>> sa3250ch.c that works (most of the time) for me.<br>>
<br>> John<br>><br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> mythtv-users mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:mythtv-users@mythtv.org">mythtv-users@mythtv.org</a><br>> <a href="http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users">
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users</a><br>><br>><br>><br>><br>><br>> Just an idea but could you be changing to an encrypted channel that causes<br>> you to loose your connection to the cable box. I had to create a new listing
<br>> and tie that listing to my firewire tuner so that firewire would only pickup<br>> recording and change to channels it could get to. Just an idea<br>><br>> Allan<br><br><br>Yeah, I did the new lineup from the beginning. Only channels above
<br>100 show up via the firewire.<br><br>For kicks I tried tuning HBO and grabbing data via test-mpeg2, but got<br>a zero byte file. As soon as I switched to a "valid" channel,<br>test-mpeg2 was able to grab data again.
<br><br>I still do not have a reliable recipe to get data via the firewire.<br><br>I do seem to need to get the firewire synchronized *after* starting<br>mythbackend. If I have it working, *then* start mythbackend, it<br>
looses the sync. So, I start mythbackend, then proceed to beat on it<br>with various techniques until test-mpeg2 produces some data -- at that<br>point myth will work fine until I restart mythbackend or try to use<br>live tv.
<br><br>John<br>_______________________________________________<br>mythtv-users mailing list<br><a href="mailto:mythtv-users@mythtv.org">mythtv-users@mythtv.org</a><br><a href="http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users">
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users</a><br></blockquote></div><br>For what it is worth, I have to do the same thing. Start the backend and get the firewire going but once I have it going over my SA3250HD then it usually works fine for weeks at a time. If you need any details that I may be able to provide ask away and I will pass on what I can. I will throw this out there though, I had lots of problems with firewire to begin with and through persistance and help of people on this list I was able to get it to work reliably and it was worth all the effort. So keep at it and let me know what I can do to help
<br><br>Allan<br>