TyTool 10r4 - Extraction/Frame Accurate Editing/DVD output/Closed Captioning...

[jdiner]

I'm using TyTool 10r4 on my HR10-250. When I download files to my PC, it tends to cause problems with live tv on some channels. For example, live tv will pause for a second every 10 - 20 seconds when watching tonights football game while transfering a file. As soon as I abort the transfer, live tv is fine. Is this expected?

No not really. It runs at a lower priority in an attempt to prevent this very thing from happening. The HiDef is way more data, my guess would be that even though it uses the same drivers you are closer to the edge on performance. Writing "almost as much as you can" to the disk. Add the load of pulling data from it and you are going over the edge.

The Tivo is a decently underpowered device. My adivce make sure you are indeed running in the low priority mode. Then only download when not trying to record or doing anything else.

--jdiner

[bsd228]

I've seen similar behavior doing a dump while the hdtivo was recording a HD program. Playing back the movie later, I'd see occasionally glitches that would last some number of seconds, I suspect in the 5-20 sec range. Might coincide with the beginning of grabbing a new file? While it's cruising along though, no affect on the recordings

[Goob The Noob]

No not really. It runs at a lower priority in an attempt to prevent this very thing from happening. The HiDef is way more data, my guess would be that even though it uses the same drivers you are closer to the edge on performance. Writing "almost as much as you can" to the disk. Add the load of pulling data from it and you are going over the edge.

The Tivo is a decently underpowered device. My adivce make sure you are indeed running in the low priority mode. Then only download when not trying to record or doing anything else.

--jdiner

Thanks for the advice. How do I make sure that it is running in low priority mode?

[jdiner]

You know I was just thinking about this "skipping" problem. The low priority was the "fix" when running the external TCL script. The new version of the server loads the "show" data in the c code. I wonder if it is going to fast/hard and is now causing the problem even if the server is run at the lower priority. I also wonder if the priority is still being set on the new boxes. It used to have an if that indicated the use of an S1 DTivo versus S1 SATivo. Could be worth revisiting on the new boxes to make sure. And possibly add a sleep etc to keep the load lower on the HDTivo boxes.

Jamie any comments on that part of your code? The NowShowing translation?

--jdiner

[Jamie]

You know I was just thinking about this "skipping" problem. The low priority was the "fix" when running the external TCL script. The new version of the server loads the "show" data in the c code. I wonder if it is going to fast/hard and is now causing the problem even if the server is run at the lower priority. I also wonder if the priority is still being set on the new boxes. It used to have an if that indicated the use of an S1 DTivo versus S1 SATivo. Could be worth revisiting on the new boxes to make sure. And possibly add a sleep etc to keep the load lower on the HDTivo boxes.

Jamie any comments on that part of your code? The NowShowing translation?

--jdiner

The call to set the priority is still there. I've verified that it works on an S2, but I don't have an S1 to test with.

To verify the scheduling priority, find the tserver PID with ps or top, then run "getpri PID", where PID is the tserver PID. It should show "fifo 1". getpri is in AlphaWolf's all-in-one package, so many of you will already have it.

The tserver code sets the policy to "FIFO" and the priority to 1. This is lower than the realtime tivo processes, though it is still a realtime priority and is higher than normal timesharing processes (shells, etc).

The NowShowing list generation is fairly disk intensive and probably causes a lot of head seeking, since the data is scattered about in MFS. If the skipping only occurs when you're refreshing the show list, then I suppose that could be the cause. If the skipping occurs during stream transfers, then I don't think this is the issue.

The low level steam export code has a rate throttle option to sleep a small time interval between "chunks" to reduce the load on the tivo. tserver doesn't currently use it, but it would be easy to add a command line option to tserver to allow it to be set. Here's the description from the mfs_uberexport usage string:

       -r <ms>         Rate control (throttle)
                               -'ve  : no delay (default)
                               0     : sched_yield() between chunks
                               +'ve  : # of ms to delay between chunks

I could add the same command line option to tserver, if the extra control on the "throttle" would help. Right now tserver runs at full throttle with no rate limiting.

I'm wondering if the disk just doesn't have enough bandwith to support recording two HD live buffers, playing back, and streaming a HD stream to the network all at once. Somebody who can recall the typical HD stream bit rates can do the math and compare against typical disk specs.

[wild123]

can someone please point me to a link that talks about missing 10 initial chunks? I've downloaded an episode (500mb) and tried to make a key and it says that's it can't because it's missing 10 initial chunks I've tried on 3 others with the same message. please advise. thanks

[bigcat400]

are the shows encrypted?

can someone please point me to a link that talks about missing 10 initial chunks? I've downloaded an episode (500mb) and tried to make a key and it says that's it can't because it's missing 10 initial chunks I've tried on 3 others with the same message. please advise. thanks

[Wolffpack]

I've been playing a bit with HD streams but keep running into the same problem mentioned before, "bad dump" messages and the video/audio is very choppy. Also GOPEditor only shows the show being edited without the controls/edits on the right side. I'm assuming this is the current status of TyTools HD stream capabilities. Is this correct?

Are there any other options available to convert a downloaded .ty file to MPEG or is my only option to capture from my HDTivo?

[wild123]

yes they are encrypted because i didn't do anything to decrypt them. is this something I need to do? how?

thanks!!

[mike0151]

try reading the tytool threads! I'm in the UK where we don't have that hassle but even I have read enough on here to know that. That's why I didn't answer because it has been asked and answered so many times

[bigcat400]

I always get "bad dump" errors too, but I am usually able to produce the mpeg from the ty one way or another, including tytool. Have you tried hdemux?

I've been playing a bit with HD streams but keep running into the same problem mentioned before, "bad dump" messages and the video/audio is very choppy. Also GOPEditor only shows the show being edited without the controls/edits on the right side. I'm assuming this is the current status of TyTools HD stream capabilities. Is this correct?

Are there any other options available to convert a downloaded .ty file to MPEG or is my only option to capture from my HDTivo?

[bigcat400]

Getting rid of encryption is about the first thing you need to do if you want to watch any extraction. I guess you need to search on how to do this for your specific tivo. I only know about the HDTivo. If this is what you have, you need to search for s2_unscramble if you want to decrypt already recorded shows. And look for the tivoapp hacks to prevent encryption on future recordings.

yes they are encrypted because i didn't do anything to decrypt them. is this something I need to do? how?

thanks!!

[Wolffpack]

I always get "bad dump" errors too, but I am usually able to produce the mpeg from the ty one way or another, including tytool. Have you tried hdemux?

That was to be my next step. I've tried MUXing sections of a half dozen shows with TyTool. Some turn out better than others but all have some problems. I'll see what hdemux gives me.

EDIT: Scratch that. Turns out my biggest problem is the lack of horsepower my capture/editing PC has. It's just a 866 Mhz with 512MB. The playback of MPEG files is choppy simply because that PC can't keep up. I also fixed the GOPEditor by using Options-->Resize to 1/2. Guess I need to start thinking about an upgrade.

[lrhorer]

like that brat who kept talking about setting up a private airline to do overnight deliveries. Sheesh! Like THAT would ever work...

What about that guy who's invented some new teleophone thingy? I don't think they'll ever get it to work.

[bigcat400]

I would think you definetely need an upgrade You may need a video card with enough memory bandwidth to play HD stuff on your pc as well.

That was to be my next step. I've tried MUXing sections of a half dozen shows with TyTool. Some turn out better than others but all have some problems. I'll see what hdemux gives me.

EDIT: Scratch that. Turns out my biggest problem is the lack of horsepower my capture/editing PC has. It's just a 866 Mhz with 512MB. The playback of MPEG files is choppy simply because that PC can't keep up. I also fixed the GOPEditor by using Options-->Resize to 1/2. Guess I need to start thinking about an upgrade.