Topic: DirecTV HR20 (Read 18334 times)

davemccorkle · « **on:** November 12, 2009, 05:15:41 pm »

I still cannot get Media Center 14 and my Direct TV HR20 to work together. I can see the audio, picture and video however they all have an (X) next to them and will not play. Bummer!

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** November 12, 2009, 05:24:37 pm »

You're running the UPnP server in build 96?

mesue · « **Reply #2 on:** November 14, 2009, 08:28:43 am »

It doesn't work for me either on the HR20. All videos except mpg showed the X icon. The mpgs showed a movie icon, but they don't play--just a black screen and then it kicks me back to the last menu I was in.

When I tried to show photos, it said they could not be accessed and then kicked me back to live TV.

This was using the DLNA setting for UPnP in JRMC14. I didn't try audio. I have Squeezeboxes for that.

Using the Windows Media Connect built into Windows Home Server, at least I can play photos, but they are stretched.

Since I got an email from J River advertising DirecTV DVR media share support, I was really expecting this to work. There's not much other incentive for me to upgrade.

prv321 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 14, 2009, 06:57:33 pm »

Hi - new to the forum.

I tried audio (build 96, HR20). It didn't work for me either. "MP3 Encoder" produced X's for all tunes. "Uncompressed Wave" made the X's go away, but they still wouldn't play.

Scott

davemccorkle · « **Reply #4 on:** November 14, 2009, 07:15:59 pm »

Yes I am running the UPNP server from 96. The other guys summed it up perfectly. Been waiting for it to work since version 12

JimH · « **Reply #5 on:** November 14, 2009, 07:42:25 pm »

water1 says it is working:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=54719.msg372573#msg372573

mesue · « **Reply #6 on:** November 14, 2009, 07:53:23 pm »

It would be good to know what settings water1 is using, which DTV receiver he has, and what formats he is streaming--maybe even some info about his network. A single post saying it works for one person does not mean much.

There is a huge community of DirecTV users over at http://www.dbstalk.com if you want to get more feedback on the media sharing with DirecTV receivers. Might not be a bad idea before sending out mass mailings advertising it as a working feature. ;-)

JimH · « **Reply #7 on:** November 14, 2009, 08:03:46 pm »

Quote from: mesue on November 14, 2009, 07:53:23 pm

Might not be a bad idea before sending out mass mailings advertising it as a working feature. ;-)

I'm sorry it isn't working for you. It is working for some users. It could be a difference in firmware. If you'll be patient, we'll find the answer.

davemccorkle · « **Reply #8 on:** November 14, 2009, 08:52:08 pm »

I use only mp3's and avi's

davemccorkle · « **Reply #9 on:** November 18, 2009, 06:33:51 pm »

Can we expect 14.0.101 to fix the issues?

prv321 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 18, 2009, 11:52:36 pm »

Update: O.K., audio does in fact work with uncompressed wave (as long as they're not DRM). DRM files won't play - many of my tunes in MC are WMA files from Rhapsody - all licenses are kept up-to-date. The WMA's I ripped from CD's work fine.

Videos are another story - like others, I have X's by everything and they won't play. When the server is running, Media Share menus are available on the HR20 complete with navigation by artist, genre, etc. It seems to work until you really try to play a video. Did water1 actually get a video to play, or just see that the Media Share menus became active on the HR20?

Scott

P.S. I have two HR20-100's. Same result on both.

davemccorkle · « **Reply #11 on:** November 19, 2009, 07:39:41 am »

I re-tested again last night and have the same results. All menus, sbub-menus, searign etc. work just not able to play the music or the videos. An "X" is next to each still. boo hoo

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** November 19, 2009, 08:17:53 am »

Quote from: davemccorkle on November 19, 2009, 07:39:41 am

I re-tested again last night and have the same results. All menus, sbub-menus, searign etc. work just not able to play the music or the videos. An "X" is next to each still. boo hoo

Are the files on a local drive on the server?

davemccorkle · « **Reply #13 on:** November 19, 2009, 05:55:07 pm »

The files or on my office-pc local to mediacenter.

davemccorkle · « **Reply #14 on:** November 27, 2009, 05:23:22 pm »

Any new news on this issue yet? My D-Link Media lounge just crashed yesterday!

bob · « **Reply #15 on:** November 30, 2009, 10:05:46 am »

Dave, have you tried build 101?

I'd be interested in knowing if in build 101, you set "don't convert" for audio and tried to play the mp3's, then "always convert" and choose "uncompressed wave" what your results are.

davemccorkle · « **Reply #16 on:** December 02, 2009, 07:25:19 pm »

Setting the always convert audio to uncompressed wave worked! woo hoo.

Still haven't got the video yet but half way there!

Thanks

JimH · « **Reply #17 on:** December 02, 2009, 07:34:55 pm »

Thanks for the report. We're working on video now.

bob · « **Reply #18 on:** December 02, 2009, 07:37:24 pm »

Quote from: davemccorkle on December 02, 2009, 07:25:19 pm

Setting the always convert audio to uncompressed wave worked! woo hoo.

Still haven't got the video yet but half way there!

Thanks

WHen you get around to build 106 it'd be nice to know if any of the video formats worked. I'd try a generic mp4 (like something you could play on a ipod or psp), a mp2/ac3 or mp2/aac like a ripped dvd, and a wmv 8 or wmv 9 file. My guess would be since the native format is probably mp2/mp2 (like a tivo) or mp2/ac3 or mp2/aac that those formats should be the most compatible.

water1 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 03, 2009, 07:06:06 am »

Hopefully, the announcement below when implemented will improve compatibility.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. and BEAVERTON, Ore., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) today announced the addition of DIRECTV as the newest Promoter Member within the organization. DIRECTV, the world's largest pay TV provider, joins existing DLNA Promoter Members in implementing the Alliance's vision of connecting the digital home with DLNA Certified® products, allowing consumers to easily enjoy, manage and share photos, video and music across devices, regardless of manufacturer.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/dlna-adds-directv-as-newest-promoter-member,1071725.shtml

bob · « **Reply #20 on:** December 03, 2009, 08:49:10 am »

Quote from: water1 on December 03, 2009, 07:06:06 am

Hopefully, the announcement below when implemented will improve compatibility.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. and BEAVERTON, Ore., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) today announced the addition of DIRECTV as the newest Promoter Member within the organization. DIRECTV, the world's largest pay TV provider, joins existing DLNA Promoter Members in implementing the Alliance's vision of connecting the digital home with DLNA Certified® products, allowing consumers to easily enjoy, manage and share photos, video and music across devices, regardless of manufacturer.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/dlna-adds-directv-as-newest-promoter-member,1071725.shtml

I'd expect that to help IF they provide a firmware/OS update on the HR20.

dcwebman · « **Reply #21 on:** December 03, 2009, 08:58:54 am »

Quote from: bob on December 03, 2009, 08:49:10 am

I'd expect that to help IF they provide a firmware/OS update on the HR20.

There are always updates coming down for the HR20 adding new features and such, so it wouldn't surprise me.

davemccorkle · « **Reply #22 on:** December 03, 2009, 06:55:24 pm »

I did try 106 now with the same result on the video. All of my movies are in AVI format. All 3000 of them! Do not want to convert them if possible.

bob · « **Reply #23 on:** December 04, 2009, 08:13:29 am »

What video and audio codecs are you using inside of your avi containers?

Grumpy · « **Reply #24 on:** December 04, 2009, 08:23:46 am »

I just checked this again and it is working. I can play any MPG video on my server. I could not get any of the avi's i have to play. That is not a big deal for me because I only have a few avi's in my collection anyhow. Oh, I'm using build 106.

davemccorkle · « **Reply #25 on:** December 06, 2009, 03:38:32 pm »

Is the AVI format dying?

JimH · « **Reply #26 on:** December 06, 2009, 04:03:30 pm »

AVI is a container format. It could contain any kind of file format.

davemccorkle · « **Reply #27 on:** December 10, 2009, 04:51:46 pm »

I use DIVX for my video codec and MP3 for audio

Ram1 · « **Reply #28 on:** February 27, 2010, 12:49:26 pm »

Quote from: JimH on December 02, 2009, 07:34:55 pm

Thanks for the report. We're working on video now.

Any new news on this? It seems that this thread sort of unraveled after about December. I'm running 151 with two HR20's as well as a D-Link 520 and soon to be a hacked Xbox (MC on every TV

).

If it isn't currently being developed, I think a transcoding capability would be the best way to handle the video. At this point and time, I can use Nero MediaHome to play video on the HR20's, but it can transcode to mpeg-2 (which is required for the dtv boxes).

Thanks!

JimH · « **Reply #29 on:** February 27, 2010, 06:21:07 pm »

There have been some changes. What isn't working? Do you have video conversion set?

Ram1 · « **Reply #30 on:** February 28, 2010, 09:31:39 am »

I only get mpeg-2 videos available on the HR20s when I DO NOT have "Convert Videos" set in the advanced options. The rest of my videos have "X" next them on the HR20s (which is the vast majority of my videos). If I set the "Convert Videos" option for the DLNA/UPNP server, I get "X" next to ALL of my videos (including the ones that are mpeg-2).

I'm not sure where any settings for the video conversion would take place (something that would be similar to audio conversion setting to set encoding type, bitrate, etc.). Maybe that is something that I need to mess with if it is possible from options elsewhere (Tools->Options->Video?).

********

Another point off this particular topic that drives me crazy is that the HR20's screensaver (Directv logo) kicks in after 5 mins when I'm playing image slideshows. I think this is an issue on the HR20, though, as it happens with other media server software. I wish there was a way to disable this, but there doesn't seem to be any.

bob · « **Reply #31 on:** March 01, 2010, 09:36:16 am »

Quote from: Ram1 on February 28, 2010, 09:31:39 am

I only get mpeg-2 videos available on the HR20s when I DO NOT have "Convert Videos" set in the advanced options. The rest of my videos have "X" next them on the HR20s (which is the vast majority of my videos). If I set the "Convert Videos" option for the DLNA/UPNP server, I get "X" next to ALL of my videos (including the ones that are mpeg-2).

I'm not sure where any settings for the video conversion would take place (something that would be similar to audio conversion setting to set encoding type, bitrate, etc.). Maybe that is something that I need to mess with if it is possible from options elsewhere (Tools->Options->Video?).

Video is a work in progress. We are working on making the transcoding options visible as well as trying to prevent transcoding when possible by making the DLNA flags for video depend on the codecs and not the mimetype.

If you set the PS3 compatible flag in advanced options, the result will be mpeg2 video instead of wmv (the default). Try that and see if you get better results.

Ram1 · « **Reply #32 on:** March 01, 2010, 11:41:19 am »

Well, the Playstation 3 setting was promising... all my videos did show up with the "X" next to them on the HR20. However, none of them could play the audio stream of the video (the HR20 gave a message that the audio was unsupported, but did I want to play the video with out the sound). Even the mpeg-2 vids that I have that worked without the PS3 setting gave that audio error, so I imagine that both PS3 and HR20 use mpeg-2 but different audio stream support.

Thanks for your efforts, I know that it will get worked out eventually... now if Directv would support FF/RWD on their MediaShare video content, it would be worthwhile (that's their issue, though... doesn't matter what media server is used).

*******

Incidentally, that other issue that I was having with the Directv screensaver kicking in after 5 mins. of an image slideshow has been resolved. I found info elsewhere that stated that if you hit the "Dash" button of the remote three times after the screensaver has kicked in, that will disable it. What wasn't mentioned that I figured out on my own was that once you do the Dash-Dash-Dash trick, you need to reboot the Directv box.

Also, not sure if anyone may have seen another, unrelated development request/question over here...
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=55908.msg381588#msg381588

Thanks again!

bob · « **Reply #33 on:** March 04, 2010, 03:31:57 pm »

Quote from: Ram1 on March 01, 2010, 11:41:19 am

Well, the Playstation 3 setting was promising... all my videos did show up with the "X" next to them on the HR20. However, none of them could play the audio stream of the video (the HR20 gave a message that the audio was unsupported, but did I want to play the video with out the sound). Even the mpeg-2 vids that I have that worked without the PS3 setting gave that audio error, so I imagine that both PS3 and HR20 use mpeg-2 but different audio stream support.

Thanks for your efforts, I know that it will get worked out eventually... now if Directv would support FF/RWD on their MediaShare video content, it would be worthwhile (that's their issue, though... doesn't matter what media server is used).

You can mess with the transcoding options in the ffmpeg.xml file in the program/plugins directory. It's the upnpdvd entry. Right now it's set to encode like a dvd with ac3 sound. I'd guess that if you changed the preset to send mp2 sound it would work.

bob · « **Reply #34 on:** March 08, 2010, 11:37:41 am »

in ffmpeg.xml in the plugins directory try changing ntsc-dvd to ntsc-svcd and report back results. This is about the same as tivo quality. I'd think this would give you audio. It works fine on the devices I have here to test on.

Ram1 · « **Reply #35 on:** March 08, 2010, 02:34:31 pm »

Well, I tried working with the ffmpeg.xml and the upnpdvd setting, and needless to say, ntsc-svcd and svcd didn't work for a target. Incidentally, now it is back to not working at all, even with the Playstation 3 setting checked. I thought it might be the HR20 (maybe something pushed down from Directv), but I'm still able to play video using the transcoding option in Nero MediaHome.

I'm not sure what to try next. Is there a temp location where something cached needs to get cleared out? The HR20 acts like it's going to play something... with the live TV audio/video going to a black screen, but then it just bounces back to the live program after two or three seconds of the blank screen.

bob · « **Reply #36 on:** March 09, 2010, 09:37:28 am »

It's interesting. I thought images were broken on the playstation 3. I just forgot it can get scrambled sometimes, especially when one is messing around with what we are sending it. It hadn't been shutoff for a while as well. I just shut it off and restarted it and all of a sudden images and videos stated working again, sigh.
Try this line, I'm using it as I write to stream converted video to the playstation 3 and it says both the video and audio are mpeg2.

<upnpdvd>-target ntsc-svcd -ps 2000000000 -b 2000k -minrate 2000k -maxrate 2000k</upnpdvd>

I mess with these a lot. I'm not sure the extra parameters really make that much difference. Note that this will not work on every input file in the universe. You can run task manager and watch the cpu level. If stuff is transcoding ok the cpu level will be pretty harsh unless you are converting small videos or have awesome hardware.

If things are funky it's a good idea to powercycle your device.

Ram1 · « **Reply #37 on:** March 10, 2010, 11:28:01 am »

Quote from: bob on March 09, 2010, 09:37:28 am

It's interesting. I thought images were broken on the playstation 3. I just forgot it can get scrambled sometimes, especially when one is messing around with what we are sending it. It hadn't been shutoff for a while as well. I just shut it off and restarted it and all of a sudden images and videos stated working again, sigh.
Try this line, I'm using it as I write to stream converted video to the playstation 3 and it says both the video and audio are mpeg2.

<upnpdvd>-target ntsc-svcd -ps 2000000000 -b 2000k -minrate 2000k -maxrate 2000k</upnpdvd>

I mess with these a lot. I'm not sure the extra parameters really make that much difference. Note that this will not work on every input file in the universe. You can run task manager and watch the cpu level. If stuff is transcoding ok the cpu level will be pretty harsh unless you are converting small videos or have awesome hardware.

If things are funky it's a good idea to powercycle your device.

Thanks very much, Bob! That appears to be doing it for me now (sound included). I think the bitrate parameters are what make the difference. I don't recall where, but I believe I've seen that the HR20s can't do more than something like 6000k to 8000k total bitrate (video + sound). Without it explicitly being specified, it might be that my original video bitrates were to high and unconverted to mpeg2.

Thanks again...

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