090211: DVBV/DVBVSrv - Questions, suggestions and bug reports

[MMatej]

* 090211: DVBV/DVBVSrv - Questions, suggestions and bug reports

 

Good morning.

 

Please, let me know if you prefer if I split such message in several categories in the future and post possible items in their own treads.

 

*** 1) First I have a question or better a plea for clarification regarding calculation of the ChannelID for the (DVB-S) radio channel.

 

I am unable to calculate correct ChannelId for at least one of my favourites - the Fritz radio using the following formula:

(TunerType +1) shl 29 + APID shl 16 + SID

 

For the radio in question - the Fritz - I would calculate the value of "1129541417"as the ChannelID. However the DVBV uses the value "59076145" in the favourites.Xml for this station.

 

Would you please explain to me the algorithm uses by the DVBV?

 

Here is the channel's description:

 

[Channel0]

TunerType=1

Frequency=12266

Polarity=h

Symbolrate=27500

FEC=2

APID=851

VPID=0

PMTPID=850

PCRPID=851

AC3=0

TelePID=0

SID=28457

StreamID=1093

NetworkID=1

LNB-Selection=1

LNB=10600

DiseqC=5

DiSEqCValue=0

Root=Astra 19.2°E

Name=Fritz

Category=ARD rbb

Encrypted=16

SatModulation=0

Group=0

Language=ger

EPGFlag=0

Volume=0

Audiochannel=0

OrbitalPos=192

 

 

*** 2) Bug report - DVBVSrv - beta relase 1.4.7.41, using transcoding with the VLC 0.8.6i.

 

I consistently get the following behaviour:

 

a) I tune and watch (a transcoded) the first channel.

I try to tune a different channel and I am unsuccessful. However if I refresh the web page twice the transcoding will start. When I am in the stream setup form for the second time (I have finished watching the first channel) and I press the "start streaming" button I get first an incomplete rendered HTML response with no dropdown for the channel selection. On first refresh from browser I get the HTTP error 501 (Unimplemented) and on the second refresh I get a complete HTML page and the streaming starts.

 

*** 3) Possible bug - DVBVSrv beta 1.4.7.41 - unicast server mode, DVBV beta 4.0.1.1 - client mode (different PC), DVBSource 3.3.3

 

I have problems tuning some radio streams with the DVBV Client. I know that I should investigate more this issue before reporting a problem but I was just wondering if someone else has reported the same problem before I go and invest more time. The channels in question are on the Hotbird - RTV Slovenija transponder. I am including the favourites.XML excerpt just to save space. I can provide you with full channel details.

 

<entry name="3">1090325640|RADIO SI</entry>

<entry name="6">1090456721|RA.OGNJISCE SI</entry>

 

*** 4) Bug report - DVBV beta 4.0.1.1 - invalid encoding in the Favorites.XML.

 

The Favorites.XML is supposedly in the UTF-8 encoding. However at least windows-1250 (CP1250) characters are not encoded correctly. I think that it is a simple HTML encoding of a 8-bit character instead of the correct UTF-8 encoding.

 

Bellow is an INVALID excerpt - notice that "" is an 8 bit char. It is an equivalent of "Š" in the HTML encoding.

 

<entry name="Header">port</entry>

 

 

*** 5) Suggestion: The DVBV as UPNP Renderer.

 

I'd suggest that you implement a UPNP rendere functionallity in the DVBV. I think it would be a great addition. There are many servers available and many control points for the UPNP but there is only a small number of (Windows) UPNP renderes available. It would also make a great and standardised remote control protocol for the DVDV. I could control the TV or better the DVBV using my mobile phone or my Nokia tablet or using any PC with the control point software like Kinksy. I think it would make a great feature.

 

Currently I am actually thinking about replacing the DVBV (client) on my HTPC with the XBMC just because of this feature.

 

*** 6) Suggestion: Implement transcoding in the DVBVSrv UPNP server.

 

I have several devices that are not capable of rendering full bit rate of the DVB-S stream. It would be great if I could use the transcoding feature with the UPNP server. The web interface if of course an option but If I'd like to use the UPNP control point to control the remote rendered I am out of luck.

 

*** 7) Bug report: DVBVSrv beta 1.4.7.41, DVBV beta 4.0.1.1

The EPG info received from the DVB-S stream in CP1250 is not rendered correctly by the Web service HTML interface or by the EPG window of the DVBV. However the imported XMLTV information in the same codepage is rendered correctly. What I mean by incorrect rendering is that the special national characters are not rendered at all. They are skipped in both – in the web service HTML rendering and in the EBPG window of the DVBV.

Just as a side-note: Would it not be better to make all the HTML pages of the web service in Unicode (UTF-8). I mean, you cannot expect only one encoding to appear in pages because the EPG from foreign countries will almost certainly contain foreign characters.

 

Thank you for your excellent software. I really appreciate your work and I am very happy with the product and even more I am happy with your latest developments. I consider your software to be a great investment.

 

--

Best regards,

Matej Mihelič.

[MMatej]

*** 7) Bug report: DVBVSrv beta 1.4.7.41, DVBV beta 4.0.1.1

The EPG info received from the DVB-S stream in CP1250 is not rendered correctly by the Web service HTML interface or by the EPG window of the DVBV. However the imported XMLTV information in the same codepage is rendered correctly. What I mean by incorrect rendering is that the special national characters are not rendered at all. They are skipped in both – in the web service HTML rendering and in the EBPG window of the DVBV.

Just as a side-note: Would it not be better to make all the HTML pages of the web service in Unicode (UTF-8). I mean, you cannot expect only one encoding to appear in pages because the EPG from foreign countries will almost certainly contain foreign characters.

 

I have double checked the behaviour of the XMLTV imported EPG information in CP1250. I've made a mistake when I wrote that the Web service HTML correctly displays the special national characters from CP1250 in the imported descriptions. DVBV EPG Windows shows the characters correctly. However in the web service HTML output all these characters are replaced with question marks (?).

 

I am unable to verify the origin of the EPG information on this particular channel at this moment - I can not say for certain if it is a result of the XEPG 0.3.0.1 import directly to the Recording service using XML items method or if it comes from the EPG captured from the DVB-S stream. I am at work and I can connect to the web interface but I am unable to see the configuration. However I can be categorical about the fact that in the EPG Windows using the same epg.dat file I see the Slovenian (CP1250) characters and over the web interface of the recording service I see question marks in their places.

 

I apologise for the incomplete report.

 

--

Matej.

[MMatej]

* Incompatibility/Bug report

 

I believe that there is incompatibility between VODSource filter of DVBV in general with the AAC+ shoutcast DirectShow filter from Orban (http://www.orban.com/plugin/).

 

I use this filter to listen to the following internet radio station (AAC+ stream):

 

icyx://shoutcast.netsi.net:8220/

 

DVBViewer is unable to build the necessary graph to listen to such a stream. I have included .murl file as well.

 

* A question - request for documentation - VODSource filter (scast:// url syntax)

 

I was unable to find any documentation regarding the scast:// url syntax. I hope I was looking in the right places.

 

I was able to deduce that VODSource.ax makes a request for a simple search to the shoutcast.com server. However here is where my problem lies.

I'd like to listen to the following station:

 

scast://Radio Fantasy Slovenia

 

If you go to the shoutcast.com and try to make the search manually you will see that there are two results to this query - a low quality 56kbps MP3 stream and a high quality 128kbps AAC+ one. My problem is that I'd like to listen to the SECOND ONE - the one with the higher quality.

 

How can I make such a search?

 

If it is impossible to expand the query parameters to include either the bitrate or to sort the results descending according to the bitrate I'd like to ask you for the following extension to the scast:// syntax:

 

scast://Radio Fantasy Slovenia[2]

 

"[integer]" would describe the index into the results array. The example describes that I want the second radio station that corresponds to my query.

 

--

Best regards,

Matej.

support_network_client.zip

[MMatej]

*** 7) Bug report: DVBVSrv beta 1.4.7.41, DVBV beta 4.0.1.1

 

The EPG info received from the DVB-S stream in CP1250 is not rendered correctly by the Web service HTML interface or by the EPG window of the DVBV. However the imported XMLTV information in the same codepage is rendered correctly.

 

With the latest beta of both - DVBV and DVBRecSrv this problem propagates to the network DVBV client as well as it downloads the EPG information from the recording service. All the extended CP1250 characters in EPG become question marks in the EPG Window in the DVBV and in the web (HTML) EPG pages.

 

This problem DOES NOT occur with the EPG information imported into the recording service by the XEPG (0.3.0.3 beta). It only occurs with the EPG captured from the satellite.

support_network_client.zip

support_DVBVservice.zip

[MMatej]

* A question - request for documentation - VODSource filter (scast:// url syntax)

 

I was unable to find any documentation regarding the scast:// url syntax. I hope I was looking in the right places.

 

I was able to deduce that VODSource.ax makes a request for a simple search to the shoutcast.com server. However here is where my problem lies.

I'd like to listen to the following station:

 

scast://Radio Fantasy Slovenia

 

If you go to the shoutcast.com and try to make the search manually you will see that there are two results to this query - a low quality 56kbps MP3 stream and a high quality 128kbps AAC+ one. My problem is that I'd like to listen to the SECOND ONE - the one with the higher quality.

 

How can I make such a search?

 

If it is impossible to expand the query parameters to include either the bitrate or to sort the results descending according to the bitrate I'd like to ask you for the following extension to the scast:// syntax:

 

scast://Radio Fantasy Slovenia[2]

 

"[integer]" would describe the index into the results array. The example describes that I want the second radio station that corresponds to my query.

 

I was able to find a workaround for the shoutcast search! As the VODSource filter does not escape the web query before sending it to the shoutcast.com I was able to append additional parameters to the GET parameters.

 

By putting the following into the .MURL file...

 

URL=scast://Radio Fantasy Slovenia&maxbitrate=999&mode=bitrate

 

... I was able to force the DVBViewer to send out the following web query...

 

http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/search_...mp;mode=bitrate

 

... which filtered out the low bitrate (duplicate) stream.

 

Perhaps you should put such examples into the documentation and the wiki.

 

HOWEVER: It looks like DVBV is unable to playback the AAC+ shoutcast stream, so it simply goes to the next station in the folder.

 

--

Best regards,

Matej.

Edited February 20, 2009 by MMatej

[MMatej]

HOWEVER: It looks like DVBV is unable to playback the AAC+ shoutcast stream, so it simply goes to the next station in the folder.

 

It was a codec problem. Monogram AAC is at this point unable to decode AAC+ stream. The only two filters that I have found to be able to decode this streams are Elecard AAC decoder, which is a commercial software, and Orban AAC Shoutcast source, which is incompatible with the DVBV.

 

Neither ffdshow with libfaad2/libreal decoder, DivX 7 AAC or CoreAAC is able to decode the stream.

Edited February 20, 2009 by MMatej