Tvheadend

While VLC is started from EPG, it does not find DVB subtitles from the transport. I suppose there should be some command line parameters added to it.

Is there any way to do this?

I am successfully running the standard build of tvheadend, but I am very interested in switching to EricV's build (for two reasons: our MKV recordings have no audio, even though live TV does, and my hearing-impaired wife requires subtitles, which aren't available in our MKV recordings or live TV).

Sadly, I'm a HUGE NEWB when it comes to Linux. Could someone provide some instructions or guidance on how to install EricV's build of tvheadend? I gather that I should back up my config files, grab the new build, compile it and run it... I'm just not sure how to do that.

Many thanks in advance!

Jaime

more specifically: I have been able to compile the build--I'm just not sure how to replace my existing installation with EricV's version. Thanks in advance!

First of all: on what linux flavor are you running? Did you install from a package? Can you rebuild a package on your system? If yes there is nothing speciual to do except removing everything in the /home/hts/.hts/tvheadend/dvr directory (Not the directory itself).

Thanks for the reply! I am on xbmcbuntu (xbmc freak, pre-frodo). I was actually able to get your build running, I ended up reinstalling xbmcbuntu altogether and just installing yours from the start. It's working now, but I don't see where in the interface I select *.ts output instead of MKV. I know it's a silly question, but could you point me to where that is? Thank you! Jaime

Depends if its for recording or streaming. Its both on the configuration menu. For streaming, on the channel you have two links. One is TS. For recording, you can define recording methods and you have matroska or TS.

Thank you for the reply! The build I compiled is from EricV-tvheadend-3913532.zip. The TS options should appear using this one, no? Unfortunately I'm not seeing the links you describe. Under Configuration --> Channels, the only link I see is "Play" (but I don't have the browser plugin, so this doesn't do much). Under Configuration --> Digital Video Recorder, the options are the same as they were when I was using the stock/standard TVheadend. Am I looking in the wrong place? Or using the wrong build? Sorry to bother you with this, I feel like I must be missing something obvious! Thank you, Jaime

The steps I took to install EricV's version of tvheadend (as I recall them):

• I unzipped EricV-tvheadend-3913532.zip
• From the command line I changed directories to the unzipped folder
• I typed ./configure
• This created a subdirectory called build.linux
• I changed directories to the build.linux
• I typed tvheadend

...and everything seemed to install OK from there. Funny thing is, I don't see the TS options in any of the interface. At first I was thinking that I installed from the wrong build, but if I go into the src folder, I can see tsmux.c and tsmux.h, which indicate that TS support is in the build I have, right? Did I miss a step during installation or do some part of that wrong? TVheadend is up and running fine (web interface is good, found channels OK, runs well from XBMC, etc), I'm just missing the option to record to TS.

Here are some screencaps of my setup:

http://screencast.com/t/wjY5zuYFLmZK

http://screencast.com/t/JzucfBhDvK6

I'm patient but sometimes I'm losing my nerves. When typing tvheaedend, do you think the old installation one is killed? If not, gien the way binding do sockets port works, who do you think are you using?

What does "ps ax | grep tvheadend" show?

I am sorry if I'm being a pest. If you don't have time to respond I completely understand.

the command you suggested shows:

1471 ? Ssl 0:09 /usr/bin/tvheadend -f -u xbmc -g video
1810 pts/0 S+ 0:00 grep --color=auto tvheadend

I thought I did a full reinstall of Linux and then only used the EricV build that I compiled (and once I did so, audio returned to my MKV recordings, which was a big difference from the stock 2.12 version).

If someone could post a screenshot of where the TS support is in the interface, that would help too.

Again, I totally understand if I am trying your patience, and don't hesitate to tell me if it's too much trouble to help me. Thank you! Jaime

So you have installed tvheadend? You said you did run it from the build directory. In that case it would show ./tvheadend and the parameter you typed.

Anyway there are only two solutions:
1) You did not execute the binary that has been produced from my tree
2) You picked upa wrong tree

instead of typing "tvheadend", give the full pathname for the binary in the build directory

Furthermore, isn't it important to run "sudo make install", so that the HTML skeleton stuff is installed to "/usr/local/share/tvheadend"?
I missed that too when I first switched to a version where this became necessary. Or is your tree different here?

Jaime: Nevertheless it is ok to run "sudo make install" after "make" (you did run "make" after "./configure --release", didn't you?), as tvheadend will then be installed to your filesystem, so a plain "tvheadend" call from anywhere in the shell should start the right binary then. You might check with "which tvheadend" to see where you path is pointing to (I assume this will be "/usr/local/bin/tvheadend").

But I encountered something else strange: I am not able to edit different DVR settings anymore. The drop down selector will not show any saved configuration. If I modify the loaded default settings and save it to a new configuration this config file is written but you cannot choose it neither for editing nor for the DVR configuration to use for recordings.

Any hint on that?

But I encountered something else strange: I am not able to edit different DVR settings anymore. The drop down selector will not show any saved configuration. If I modify the loaded default settings and save it to a new configuration this config file is written but you cannot choose it neither for editing nor for the DVR configuration to use for recordings.

Any hint on that?

I have got that too. Usually is was because I did not stop correctly tvheadend before reinstalling a new .deb. The solution I have been using is: remove /home/hts/.hts/tvheadend/dvr/* including the log file that may contain ref to removed config names. Reboot recreate the config (takes less than a minute).

THANK YOU, Eric and Markus! At last, success.

I was doing several things wrong (obviously): I had not done a "make," or a "sudo make install." Once I did that, I was still not seeing the new options for the TS format... then I realized that there were multiple versions of the tvheadend binary on my system (not sure how that happened, as this was on a fresh install of XBMCbuntu / XBMCfreak, although it dawns on me that it may have come with tvheadend pre-installed). But I could tell there was a good EricV binary and an old "stock" binary on my system, because when I stopped the service and then specified the EricV binary, I would see the new options, until I rebooted, and then I would go back to stock again.

In any case, also following the directions from here:

https://www.lonelycoder.com/redmine/boards/5/topics/4433

(That is, doing a "sudo nano /etc/init.d/tvheadend" and changing "usr/bin/" to "usr/local/bin")

Everything started working!

Thank you again for all of your kind assistance. I realize that those of us in the "know enough to be dangerous" category with Linux can probably be pretty annoying, so I really appreciate the patience and troubleshooting!

Cheers!

Jaime

Hopefully my last question: what's the appropriate file extension when selecting "Raw Transport Stream" in the DVR section of the Configuration? Thanks!

Jaime Vazquez wrote:

Hopefully my last question: what's the appropriate file extension when selecting "Raw Transport Stream" in the DVR section of the Configuration? Thanks!

You have exhausted you support budget :-) The right answer is mpeg ts container. The raw transport stream will dump the whole mux with all programs on the trsponder. Very heavy and unacceptable by most player.

Hi there, weve had some luck getting EricV's branch working on the QNAP NAS.
[[http://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=276&t=52511&p=276191#p276191]].

There is one issue that remains, in that having multiple DVR configurations (/dvr/config) does not seem to work anymore.

I cant create or select a dvr configuration in the webUI, and if I manually create the file in the config it is not picked up by the webUI.

Does the TS patch introduce code that breaks the DVR config part of TVHeadend? Does anyone know if there is a workaround, or if it is a coding issue?

Cheers, Nathan

Ah, some googling reveals that new functionality has been added to secure the DVR configurations. I checked the "All Configs" for my admin user, and the multiple DVR configuration returned... Sorry for the posting, and the confusion... all sorted.

Hi there, i'm not sure if this is the correct location to post, but here goes. We've managed to get EricV's branch working on the QNAP NAS. Everything seems to be working properly, and the MPEG/TS files are being output.

I've had a couple of recordings that record ok, but do not skip properly. Seems that there is some incorrect metadata in the files.

Here is the MediaInfo for the files that do not skip properly. Any ideas as to how they got into this state?

General
ID : 1 (0x1)
Complete name : Z:\Movies\Parents\League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen.mpeg
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 10.2 GiB
Duration : 15h 15mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 592 Kbps

Video
ID : 514 (0x202)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Codec ID : 2
Duration : 24s 360ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 060 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 90.0 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.027
Stream size : 3.08 MiB (0%)

Audio
ID : 672 (0x2A0)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 15h 15mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 5 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -532ms
Stream size : 2.87 GiB (28%)
Language : English

And

General
ID : 1 (0x1)
Complete name : Z:\Recordings\AFL Live- Richmond v Gold Coast\AFL Live- Richmond v Gold Coast.2012-07-14.mpeg
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 14.4 GiB
Duration : 3h 32mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 9 712 Kbps

Video
ID : 1073 (0x431)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=18
Codec ID : 2
Duration : 3h 32mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 8 845 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 11.0 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : Component
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.227
Stream size : 13.1 GiB (91%)
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 1075 (0x433)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format profile : Dolby Digital
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 3h 31mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -280ms
Stream size : 582 MiB (4%)
Language : English

Nathan McAullay wrote:

Hi there, i'm not sure if this is the correct location to post, but here goes. We've managed to get EricV's branch working on the QNAP NAS. Everything seems to be working properly, and the MPEG/TS files are being output.

Why do you have such a name: .mpeg? You should name them .ts. You chnaged the extension expicitly? And if you coverted them, most chnace is that the conversion did broke...

Hi EricV, I just specified "mpeg" as the extension, as I thought thats what was in it. I can change it in TVHeadend, but I dont think it will make a difference. I dont do any post processing, it is just what I put in the DVR config.

I seem to have isolated the skipping to a specific channel (one) on HD.
Here is another recording that has problems skipping. This is the MediaInfo, and below is hte XBMC logs, which seem to describe errors with the audio?

MEDIAINFO
General
ID : 1 (0x1)
Complete name : /home/macdoodles/Documents/MotoGP/MotoGP.2012-07-16.mpeg
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 14.9 GiB
Duration : 2h 42mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 13.1 Mbps

Video
ID : 514 (0x202)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Codec ID : 2
Duration : 2h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 12.0 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 90.0 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.308
Stream size : 13.6 GiB (92%)

Audio
ID : 672 (0x2A0)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 2h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 5 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -611ms
Stream size : 522 MiB (3%)
Language : English

06:37:08 T:3011709248 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening: nfs://192.168.1.100/Multimedia/Recordings/MotoGP/MotoGP.2012-07-16.mpeg
06:37:08 T:3011709248 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Thread CDVDPlayer start, auto delete: false
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Opening video stream: 0 source: 256
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Creating video codec with codec id: 2
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CDVDVideoCodecFFmpeg::Open() Creating VDPAU
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: vdp_device = 0x00000001 vdp_st = 0x00000000
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: VDPAU Decoder capabilities:
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: name level macbs width height
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: ------------------------------------
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: MPEG1 0 8192 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: MPEG2_SIMPLE 3 8192 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: MPEG2_MAIN 3 8192 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: H264_MAIN 41 8192 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: H264_HIGH 41 8192 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: VC1_SIMPLE 1 8190 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: VC1_MAIN 2 8190 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: VC1_ADVANCED 4 8190 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: MPEG4_PART2_ASP 5 8192 2048 2048
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: ------------------------------------
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Mixer feature: VDP_VIDEO_MIXER_FEATURE_NOISE_REDUCTION
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Mixer feature: VDP_VIDEO_MIXER_FEATURE_SHARPNESS
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Mixer feature: VDP_VIDEO_MIXER_FEATURE_DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Mixer feature: VDP_VIDEO_MIXER_FEATURE_DEINTERLACE_TEMPORAL_SPATIAL
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Mixer feature: VDP_VIDEO_MIXER_FEATURE_INVERSE_TELECINE
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Mixer feature: VDP_VIDEO_MIXER_FEATURE_HIGH_QUALITY_SCALING_L1
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CDVDVideoCodecFFmpeg::Open() Using codec: MPEG-1/2 video (VDPAU acceleration)
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Creating video thread
06:37:08 T:2800745280 NOTICE: Thread CDVDPlayerVideo start, auto delete: false
06:37:08 T:2800745280 NOTICE: running thread: video_thread
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Opening audio stream: 1 source: 256
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Finding audio codec for: 86019
06:37:08 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Creating audio thread
06:37:08 T:2783959872 NOTICE: Thread CDVDPlayerAudio start, auto delete: false
06:37:08 T:2783959872 NOTICE: running thread: CDVDPlayerAudio::Process()
06:37:08 T:2783959872 ERROR: CDVDPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet
06:37:08 T:2783959872 NOTICE: Creating audio device with codec id: 86019, channels: 5, sample rate: 48000, no pass-through
06:37:08 T:2800745280 NOTICE: (VDPAU) screenWidth:1440 vidWidth:1440 surfaceWidth:1440
06:37:08 T:2800745280 NOTICE: (VDPAU) screenHeight:1080 vidHeight:1080 surfaceHeight:1080
06:37:08 T:2831436608 NOTICE: Thread Vdpau Output Thread start, auto delete: false
06:37:08 T:2831436608 NOTICE: COutput::OnStartup: Output Thread created
06:37:08 T:2831436608 NOTICE: VDPAU::COutput::CreateGlxContext - created context
06:37:08 T:2831436608 NOTICE: VDPAU::COutput GL interop supported
06:37:08 T:2831436608 NOTICE: VDPAU::COutput: vdpau gl interop initialized
06:37:08 T:2755636032 NOTICE: Thread Vdpau Mixer Thread start, auto delete: false
06:37:08 T:2755636032 NOTICE: CMixer::OnStartup: Output Thread created
06:37:08 T:2755636032 NOTICE: (VDPAU) Creating the video mixer
06:37:09 T:2831436608 NOTICE: VDPAU::COutput::InitBufferPool - Output Surface created
06:37:09 T:2831436608 NOTICE: Previous line repeats 8 times.
06:37:09 T:2831436608 NOTICE: VDPAU::COutput registered output surfaces
06:37:09 T:2800745280 NOTICE: fps: 25.000000, pwidth: 1440, pheight: 1080, dwidth: 1440, dheight: 808
06:37:09 T:2800745280 NOTICE: Display resolution DESKTOP : 1920x1080 @ 60.00 - Full Screen (12)
06:37:09 T:3011709248 NOTICE: Using GL_TEXTURE_2D
06:37:09 T:3011709248 NOTICE: GL: Using VDPAU render method
06:37:09 T:3011709248 NOTICE: GL: NPOT texture support detected
06:37:09 T:3011709248 NOTICE: GL: Using GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object
06:37:09 T:2800745280 WARNING: CRenderManager::WaitForBuffer - timeout waiting for buffer
06:37:14 T:2783959872 WARNING: Previous line repeats 5 times.
06:37:14 T:2783959872 ERROR: CDVDPlayerAudio::DecodeFrame - Decode Error. Skipping audio packet
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: eof, waiting for queues to empty
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: closing audio stream
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Closing audio stream
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::WaitUntilEmpty
06:37:14 T:2783959872 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(audio)::Get - asked for new data packet, with nothing available
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Waiting for audio thread to exit
06:37:14 T:2783959872 NOTICE: thread end: CDVDPlayerAudio::OnExit()
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Closing audio device
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Deleting audio codec
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: closing video stream
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Closing video stream
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CDVDMessageQueue(video)::WaitUntilEmpty
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: waiting for video thread to exit
06:37:14 T:2800745280 NOTICE: thread end: video_thread
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: deleting video codec
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CVDPAU::Release pre-cleanup
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit() deleting demuxer
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit() deleting input stream
06:37:14 T:3011709248 NOTICE: ----------- no buffer, out: 1, current: 1, display: 0
06:37:14 T:2860575552 NOTICE: Thread Background Loader start, auto delete: false
06:37:14 T:3011709248 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
06:37:14 T:3011709248 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
06:37:14 T:3011709248 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
06:37:14 T:3011709248 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
06:37:14 T:3011709248 NOTICE: (VDPAU) Close
06:37:14 T:3011709248 NOTICE: (VDPAU) FiniVDPAUOutput
06:37:14 T:2755636032 NOTICE: CMixer::OnExit: Output Thread terminated
06:37:14 T:2831436608 NOTICE: VDPAU::COutput: vdpau gl interop finished
06:37:14 T:2831436608 NOTICE: COutput::OnExit: Output Thread terminated

Nathan McAullay wrote:

Hi EricV, I just specified "mpeg" as the extension, as I thought thats what was in it. I can change it in TVHeadend, but I dont think it will make a difference. I dont do any post processing, it is just what I put in the DVR config.

I seem to have isolated the skipping to a specific channel (one) on HD.
Here is another recording that has problems skipping. This is the MediaInfo, and below is hte XBMC logs, which seem to describe errors with the audio?

The problem can be in the tvheadend demux/remux that does not detect AC3, or in the xbmc audio settings. Do you output to HDMI or to speakers? Did you try to play with vlc that is better when playing ts?

Hi EricV, i output the video and audio over HDMI directly to the TV. I'll try to playback one of the files using VLC on another PC, although that wont be a long term viable solution, as I use OpenElec as an appliance to drive the TV's. Is there information I can provide to get to the bottom of it, and where would I log this information? Cheers Nathan

Nathan McAullay wrote:

Hi EricV, i output the video and audio over HDMI directly to the TV. I'll try to playback one of the files using VLC on another PC, although that wont be a long term viable solution, as I use OpenElec as an appliance to drive the TV's. Is there information I can provide to get to the bottom of it, and where would I log this information? Cheers Nathan

Thats's what I suspected. With HDMI, you can configure audio to make it pass through. So check the way its configured. Second, depending on openelec version, you may be using different audio engine. So please be more specific about openelec version. If you can post 20s of your file on a public ftp so that I can check the file?

Ok, I'll go away and figure out about openelec audio (HDMI/AC3/passthrough). I have a limited (but growing) appreciation of the ALSA setup for HDMI, but I'll give it a shot.

I am running 1.95.4-PVR (ION) (I tried 1.95.5 but it had some other issues that made it not loungeroom friendly).

Is there a tool you recommend to extract 20 seconds from a 10+Gb file? I'm not sure if something like avidemux will "correct" some of the details you wish to see?

Cheers,

Nathan