The great Dreambox recording experiment

[dweeb4]

I see the Punt@L image has a feature to turn off TV to aid streaming - has anybody tried this yet or the Neutrino image - any improvement?

 

[señor ding dong]

Well, well, well...

Playback disabled on Neutrino 0.9b... just under 48 minutes without a single error, and that's usually one of the more troublesome channels.

Sequence Frame 71748(10-B) / Time 0:47:49 :
Info: End of MPEG2 sequence

Sequence Summary:

File Size Processed: 1.45 GB, Play Time: 00h:47m:49s
704 x 576, 25.00 fps, 10.00 Mbps (3.73 Mbps Average).
Average Video Quality: 18.22 KB/Frame, 0.37 Bits/Pixel.
MPEG Audio.
0 of 71748 video frames found with errors.
0 of 0 audio frames found with errors.
0 corrupted video bytes in file.
0.000000 seconds of video timestamp gaps.
0.000000 seconds of audio timestamp gaps.

End of Log

 

[dweeb4]

So it is probably the demux chip that's at fault as Dream said (I take back what I said about Dream) - does anybody know which chip that is & we could look at ways of possibly improving/changing it?

Also, what are the other images that work to maximise streaming like this?

 

[señor ding dong]

Neutrino images have always had this option, even on Dbox2, but I've never seen an Enigma image with a Playback on/off option. Where did you come across this Punt@L image? I've never seen an Enigma image with this option.

Like I said earlier, it might be worth it to have some of the Enigma mod'ers look at how the Neutrino recordings work, as they tend to produce far less errors, even with playback enabled, and their TS files are slightly different specs than Enigma ones.

Also, it's quite odd that the streaming top speed of Direct Recording on both Neutrino and Enigma is around 10mbit, when you can easily get 20mbit+ using server based recordings, but perhaps that's a limitation of the CIFS protocol? Not that you need more than 4-5mbit for most channels, but some people might find it handy to be able to record HD content to their PC, which can be done via server based recordings, btw.

 

[osborne82]

the puntal images are devleoped by team puntal (which im a member of) it has a feature called "stop tv playback" which was devloped by my m8 pcd we released the puntal images to the sat world a while back and peeps have reported the stop playback jobby has improved streaming dramaticly,

we will shortly be releasing a new puntal image (il set one up for specially for uk cable) again it will have the streaming stuff in

cheers

osborne82

 

[señor ding dong]

Does the Stop TV function also stop during recording, or just when streaming to PC/VLC?

Looking forward to testing the UK version.

 

[dweeb4]

Has anybody opened up a DM600 to see what chips are used - would be interesting to see what Mux chip is used.

Agreed about the images - if Neutrino recording is generally more error free than it's worth looking at their internals for coders

Edit: I looked inside the 500 box but couldn't identify any chip for MUx duties - is this done by the STB02500 chip?

 

[simonk1969]

the puntal images are devleoped by team puntal (which im a member of) it has a feature called "stop tv playback" which was devloped by my m8 pcd we released the puntal images to the sat world a while back and peeps have reported the stop playback jobby has improved streaming dramaticly,

we will shortly be releasing a new puntal image (il set one up for specially for uk cable) again it will have the streaming stuff in

cheers

osborne82

I look forward to this image also, I've tried the Nuetrino Ultra 0.9 image today but scrapped it after hours of frustration trying to get it to get it to save the services and bouquets, I get it all set up use the backup facility. Then as soon as the box is restarted or Nuetrino restarted if says ther are no sevices or bouquets setup. Tried to restore but it doesn't restore the bouquets.

 

[señor ding dong]

I look forward to this image also, I've tried the Nuetrino Ultra 0.9 image today but scrapped it after hours of frustration trying to get it to get it to save the services and bouquets, I get it all set up use the backup facility. Then as soon as the box is restarted or Nuetrino restarted if says ther are no sevices or bouquets setup. Tried to restore but it doesn't restore the bouquets.

Don't use the backup function, it doesn't work properly. Once your services and bouquets are set up, FTP into the box and and grab the servicex.xml and bouquets.xml to your PC. Also, if you delete channels from the RC, do it from the Bouquet Editor. Works for me. I have never had the disappearing services problem. Rememeber to turn off auto-scanning, if it's on.

Also, use Flash Wizard Pro to take a backup of the image, once you're up and running. Should something go wrong, it only takes a few minutes to restore the image.

 

[T4i]

the puntal images are devleoped by team puntal (which im a member of) it has a feature called "stop tv playback" which was devloped by my m8 pcd we released the puntal images to the sat world a while back and peeps have reported the stop playback jobby has improved streaming dramaticly,

we will shortly be releasing a new puntal image (il set one up for specially for uk cable) again it will have the streaming stuff in

cheers

osborne82

Looking forward to this, tried a Neutrino image over weekend and yes it improved my recordings. But Neutrino looks really fisher-price compaired with Enigma.

I look forward to the release.

 

[pt-1]

Looking forward to this, tried a Neutrino image over weekend and yes it improved my recordings. But Neutrino looks really fisher-price compaired with Enigma.

I look forward to the release.

Sometimes less is more ;-)

 

[dweeb4]

Hi pt-1,
Any chance you could put me in touch with Ghost from Dream who identified the demux chip as the weak link in the recording process on DM500C boxes.

I had a look inside but couldn't ID any chip which fit the bill (possibly the STB02500 chip) . I'm interested in seeing if there is a possible hardware fix/improvement

Does anybody know what chips are used in DM600C boxes that overcome the recording issue?

I know that software can have a bearing but the fact that turning off TV playback leads to less errors in recordings points to hardware issues - no?

Edit:Is this the Ghost that has posted on these forums? One other question occurs to me - does server recording relieve some of these rec. problems by off-loading some of the processing to the server end?

 

[T4i]

Sometimes less is more ;-)

And all the other times more is more. But if it's in the UK less is defo less.

 

[Devilfish]

I know it's a bit late and doesn't really matter now but I said I would post it.

Connected to a router with a crossover cable.

150 of 45240 video frames found with errors. But I guess you expected that.

 

[señor ding dong]

I know it's a bit late and doesn't really matter now but I said I would post it.

Connected to a router with a crossover cable.

150 of 45240 video frames found with errors. But I guess you expected that.

Heh, better late than never.

It appears to be about the average ratio of errors you've got there.

It's pretty clear now that Enigma images are completely useless for recording, though it would be interesting to see how well the one where playback can be disabled might fare, as this seems like a pretty solid fix on Neutrino.

 

[loorenzo]

hy
me again
so what is the best picture for recording
i am using dw 1.6.5
thanks

 

[señor ding dong]

Neutrino 0.9b with playback disabled during recording. Anything else will produce an unholy amount of errors.

 

[dweeb4]

Do any of the server based recordings on any image fare better than direct recording on Neutrino 0.9?

I imagine that some of the workload might be off loaded onto the server processor & make for a lighter load on the Dreambox (which seems to be the problem).

Could anybody answer my question about where the Mux/demux function is located inside the 500C - which chip?

 

[señor ding dong]

Do any of the server based recordings on any image fare better than direct recording on Neutrino 0.9?

I imagine that some of the workload might be off loaded onto the server processor & make for a lighter load on the Dreambox (which seems to be the problem).

Yes, server based recordings are much more solid then Direct Recording on Enigma images.

 

[middlewingnut]

I've been away and not read the whole thread, but I record the streams from my d500c rather than do direct recordings, and everything I record plays back perfectly - at least to my human eyes and ears - should I do the analysis of a recording or is this thread just for direct recording?