Directv HR23-600/700 Working (kind of)

[madmax569]

Hey, I love this software and have spent way too many hours playing around with it. I noticed that the software identified my HR23-600 and HR23-700 directv boxes and thought I would play around with trying to get PS3 media server to work with my upstairs tv which only has the HR23-600 attached to it. Having searched around the forums, I noticed that a few people have inquired (many months ago) as to directv and the ps3 media server but I could find no posts on someone getting it to actually work (including reading the 48 pages in the official thread). The most useful post I could find was by bhelton71 last year.

Hi all - trying to expand the 'supported' device list. The device I am using is a DirecTV HR2x satellite reciever. These devices support an extremely limited number of codecs - only the following: image/png, image/jpeg, video/mpeg, audio/l16.

Additionally, the video/mpeg also has to be specifically: mpeg2 w/mp2 audio in PS container or mpeg2 w/ac3 audio in a TS container. And the combined audio and video bitrate cannot exceed roughly 8 Mbps. So for now I am ignoring video and focusing on audio, although my main attraction to the ps3mediaserver project is dvd support.

This is my first forum post anywhere, so go easy on me. I also do not claim that I understand everything I am going to say here. But, I do have directv successfully playing mgeg video streams. The biggest problem I had was getting audio to work. I pretty much always got video to play but directv would tell me that there was no audio stream. I looked into it and assume I was getting no audio because Mencoder was sending a PS container with ac3 audio which the quote above implies the directv can't handle. I was not sure how to force mencoder to send mp2 audio or if this was even possible, so I stole one of the conf files and modified it to"TranscodeVideo=MPEGTSAC3". This made the following conf file:

Code: Select all

RendererName=DirecTV
RendererIcon=cat.png
UserAgentSearch=DIRECTV
Video=true
Audio=true
Image=true
SeekByTime=false
TranscodeVideo=MPEGTSAC3
TranscodeAudio=PCM
DefaultVBVBufSize=true
MuxH264ToMpegTS=false
MuxDTSToMpeg=false
WrapDTSIntoPCM=false
MuxLPCMToMpeg=false
MaxVideoBitrateMbps=7
MaxVideoWidth=1920
MaxVideoHeight=1080

I also added to the conf file a line implying it should transcode all extensions. However, this made Mencoder show up with an X next to my video files in directv. I therefore installed avisynth/cccp/ffdshow according to the instructions in the awesome howto/documentation thread. I set the audio mixer settings in ffdshow to 2.0 speakers since I am only using my tv speakers upstairs. If I go to the transcode folder on directv's mediashare and select avisynth/mencoder, the video and audio play perfectly. I was able to play my xvid and dvix encoded files with no problem. When I select avisynth/ffdshow, I get the same problem with directv telling me there is no audio in the file. The next thing I wanted to do was to play vob files. I went to the transcode directory with vob files but there are only X's next to all of the videos. I am not sure if I have set up something wrong or if avisynth cannot play vobs. I went to DVDfab, selected an episode of The Wire, ripped it to their generic xvid avi profile with 5mbps bitrate and audio passthrough (AC3 5.1 channel). This file played perfectly and looked really good. As I was playing this file though, directv would send me an error about exceeding its max bit rate. This is when I changed the max bitrate setting in the conf file from 8 to 7 and all worked perfectly last night.

I have a bluray rip in mkv format that plays beautifully on my PS3, however will only start playing on the directv and will then stop playing when the buffer runs out, which takes like 5 seconds.

I know I have been slightly vague in the above post, I just want to see the interest level in the directv before I take hours running many different tests and refining the conf file / settings for avisynth and whatnot. I am more than happy to run any tests anyone wants me to if it would help at all.

Should avisynth/menconder be able to recognize and play vobs in theory with MGEGTSAC3? Also, should I be able to get this bluray mkv rip to play? My computer is an AMD dualcore 3000, win7, 3 gb ram and using pms-setup-windows-1.20.409-BETA.exe. I assume that PS3M is trying to transcode the video in addition to the audio (which I do not think it does for the PS3) which is causing it to not play on the directv. The directv will play 1080 resolution Law and Orders that I have downloaded from my TIVO and then run through videoredo to remove the copyprotection or whatever it is that prevents me from watching these files on other computers.

[shagrath]

Should avisynth/menconder be able to recognize and play vobs in theory with MGEGTSAC3? Also, should I be able to get this bluray mkv rip to play? My computer is an AMD dualcore 3000, win7, 3 gb ram and using pms-setup-windows-1.20.409-BETA.exe. I assume that PS3M is trying to transcode the video in addition to the audio (which I do not think it does for the PS3) which is causing it to not play on the directv. The directv will play 1080 resolution Law and Orders that I have downloaded from my TIVO and then run through videoredo to remove the copyprotection or whatever it is that prevents me from watching these files on other computers.

Do you have a special requirement for you to use AviSynth? the regular mencoder engine works fine (in most cases :p). It's a good question about mpegtsac3 and avisynth. To be honest, I don't think I even tried it. Also, a bluray mkv rip would be extremely difficult to play because DirectV does not support H264, so you have to transcode to mpeg2, and according to your findings, the bitrate must not exceed 8mbps. So, basically unachievable...

[madmax569]

Do you have a special requirement for you to use AviSynth? the regular mencoder engine works fine (in most cases :p). It's a good question about mpegtsac3 and avisynth. To be honest, I don't think I even tried it. Also, a bluray mkv rip would be extremely difficult to play because DirectV does not support H264, so you have to transcode to mpeg2, and according to your findings, the bitrate must not exceed 8mbps. So, basically unachievable...

ok cool, I thought it was unachievable to transcode mkv to mpeg2, so I can cross that off the list of things to get working. Assuming I am not making some stupid mistake, I am using avisynth because using mencoder will result in only video playing but no sound on the directv. I think it is because mencoder sends AC3 in a program stream and the directv can only handle mp2 in a program stream. Avisynth lets me send a transport stream with AC3 which the directv is able to handle. So I have set up the conf file with MPEGTSACS and use avisynth and all works well (audio and video play perfectly on my tv speakers). Vob files show up with only an X in directv indicating they cannot be played using my setup. vobs would play fine when I used MPEGAC3 and mencoder, but there would be the same problem of having no audio. Oh well, I can just rip all my non bluray DVDs to mpeg just in case I want to watch them in the room with only the directv.

Brilliant job on the chapters option in the transcode folder. I no longer have to worry about starting and stopping in the middle of shows.

[shagrath]

I am using avisynth because using mencoder will result in only video playing but no sound on the directv. I think it is because mencoder sends AC3 in a program stream and the directv can only handle mp2 in a program stream. Avisynth lets me send a transport stream with AC3 which the directv is able to handle.

But the regular mencoder engine also supports the mpegtsac3 option ?

[madmax569]

But the regular mencoder engine also supports the mpegtsac3 option ?

Hmmm, with mpegtsac3 option in the conf file, all my files show up with an "X" in directv (for mencoder) indicating that they are not supported (or at least the receiver doesn't think so). Avisynth/mencoder works perfectly. However I see in an unrelated post where you say:

Not so hard, if you manage to create with mencoder a valid, streamable mp4 file (and not an AVI container, a mpeg4 one).

All of my files that work with avisynth are using an avi container created with DVDfab. I am not sure if this is applicable under my situation, but I will try it with an mp4 file.

[shagrath]

Hmmm, with mpegtsac3 option in the conf file, all my files show up with an "X" in directv (for mencoder) indicating that they are not supported (or at least the receiver doesn't think so). Avisynth/mencoder works perfectly. However I see in an unrelated post where you say:

I think I got it, once again it's a DLNA issue with this renderer. With Mencoder, the mpeg stream is marked as a real TS one, and with AviSynth, it's marked as a PS one (even if the stream produced is a TS). That means there's an inconsistency in the server, but if I fix it, neither AviSynth or Mencoder will work in your case ....

[madmax569]

I think I got it, once again it's a DLNA issue with this renderer. With Mencoder, the mpeg stream is marked as a real TS one, and with AviSynth, it's marked as a PS one (even if the stream produced is a TS). That means there's an inconsistency in the server, but if I fix it, neither AviSynth or Mencoder will work in your case ....

Oh, interesting. It figures that fixing the inconsistency would break my ability to play files on the Directv. Could this be an option implemented in the conf file? i.e. A switch that reintroduces this inconsistency with avisynth sending out a TS stream marked as a PS. Or is this something not really feasible?

[shagrath]

Oh, interesting. It figures that fixing the inconsistency would break my ability to play files on the Directv. Could this be an option implemented in the conf file? i.e. A switch that reintroduces this inconsistency with avisynth sending out a TS stream marked as a PS. Or is this something not really feasible?

Yes, I'm adding a new parameter to disable this "parameterization" (DLNA.ORG_PN to be precise), so you can work something

[shagrath]

Just got another idea... if you change the mime type in the conf file, maybe Mencoder will work (no guarantee, hack for fun :p)

MimeTypesChanges=video/mpeg=video/mpeg2

[madmax569]

Just got another idea... if you change the mime type in the conf file, maybe Mencoder will work (no guarantee, hack for fun :p)

MimeTypesChanges=video/mpeg=video/mpeg2

While providing me with a good visual, attempting to hack Mencoder with a mime was unsuccessful. The directv no longer put an "X" in front of the files (for Mencoder). However, when I tried to play them, my screen would go to black for a few seconds and then directv would go back to live TV. I scanned the debug file, but nothing stood out to me. I can attach it if you are interested.