Topic: Play radio by DVB Card (Read 7668 times)

BayensF · « **on:** March 11, 2012, 05:42:22 am »

Hello all,

I am very happy to see that MC is also supporting DVB C since version 17. When I watch a TV channel and move then to a Radio channel I can hear the radio channel in amazing quality. During radio playback the last frame of the TV broadcast is shown on the screen, I have no problem with this because the music of the radio channel is coming out of my speakers.

The problem is that when I don't play a TV broadcast first MC reports an error and after a view seconds comes back to the main screen. As we want Music with MC I prefer Radio in stead off TV Broadcast.

Anyone knows how I can tweak TV playback so it will play (only) Radio?

Today I use Internet Radio streams but it's far from stable and it's often only 64k, were through my DVB C card I will have a minimum of 128k.

Thanks in advance for any help!

With kind regards,

BayensF

NickF · « **Reply #1 on:** March 11, 2012, 10:01:37 am »

It may be best if this is moved to the TV Forum.

I have the same problem. I have created a log to cover the problem. I think that the program default is to expect a video stream and set up a graph for that. With radio, there isn't one. We get the error: Timeout waiting for writer to start.

Nick.

Sandy B Ridge · « **Reply #2 on:** March 11, 2012, 02:41:23 pm »

Another way of getting radio to play (without tuning a TV channel first) is to change to non-timeshifting mode (right click menu option) as soon as you can, and before the error pops up.
It then usually plays ok. The error seems to be in the bit of the TV graph that saves the stream. I'm guessing that it bombs out because it can't find a video stream.

SBR

BayensF · « **Reply #3 on:** March 11, 2012, 04:10:03 pm »

Thanks!

This is a more easy way to start a radio channel. Remaining problem is that it's not started at start-up of the HTPC. So if this can be solved.......

Rome was not build in a day! But I would appreciate very much when a solution is created by MC engineers. To me it seems easy, the thing too look at is NID for sound is always "0" when playing a radio channel.

To be continued?

BayensF · « **Reply #4 on:** March 29, 2012, 01:05:34 am »

As internet radio streams are not stable and are more and more blocked because of legal restrictions caused by author rights, we see a real need to have radio streams supported by dvb cards.

Is this in the scope of J River? Is it planned to have it in the final version 17?

It would be strange that one has to buy a FM USB dongle to have radio broadcasts when high quality signals are available by dvb cards.

And yes it works already if we tweak it a bit, but I would like J River to play radio automatically when I start up my HTPC without going first to set it to a TV broadcast before I can go to play it a radio broadcast.

Anyone?

Sandy B Ridge · « **Reply #5 on:** June 22, 2012, 01:16:56 pm »

Yaobing,

Any chance of adding a line (or two!) of code such that:

If Video PID=0; start in non-timeshift mode
Else start in timeshift mode

Should at least temporarily fix the problem with starting DVB radio channels.

Cheers,

SBR

NickF · « **Reply #6 on:** November 05, 2012, 07:12:49 am »

I had hoped to be able to cancel time shifting using a core command. MCC 28027 looks as though it should do this but I can't make it work. I want to use Radio stations without a PC display so right click to cancel time-shift isn't an option. Should this MCC work in this context? If not, is there an alternative?

Nick.

Yaobing · « **Reply #7 on:** November 05, 2012, 08:12:04 am »

28027 is MCC_TV_SET_SAVE_TIME_SHIFTING, used to change saving options when time-shifting is stopped (whether to save the session as a recording).

There is no command to stop time-shifting.

NickF · « **Reply #8 on:** November 05, 2012, 08:23:25 am »

Ah, I see. Any chance of creating one? Or is there a solution to playing Radio channels on the horizon?

Nick.

Mars · « **Reply #9 on:** November 05, 2012, 09:27:31 am »

I would also like to be able to play radio stations from the DVB-T Card with the Time Shift function.

I would use it to avoid the delay between live sports video events and my favorite Talk Host Radio Broadcasting (basically, FC Barcelona football games and "La Transmissió d'en Puyal" of Catalunya Radio). Currently I have to do it with an external program (WMC).

Yaobing · « **Reply #10 on:** November 05, 2012, 12:21:06 pm »

I am taking SBR's advice so we will not run in time-shifting mode when video PID is 0, for DVB TV.

Sandy B Ridge · « **Reply #11 on:** November 05, 2012, 12:58:03 pm »

Quote from: Yaobing on November 05, 2012, 12:21:06 pm

I am taking SBR's advice so we will not run in time-shifting mode when video PID is 0, for DVB TV.

Erm...

Not exactly my advice about how time-shifting should work. My advice was only as a workaround to actually get DVB radio to work because the time-shifting mode was broken for channels with Video PID = 0. There should be no reason to treat DVB TV and DVB Radio channels differently. It is only broken because the time-shifting mode expects a Video PID >0. This is what needs fixing.

SBR

Yaobing · « **Reply #12 on:** November 05, 2012, 01:13:24 pm »

Quote from: Sandy B Ridge on November 05, 2012, 12:58:03 pm

Erm...

Not exactly my advice about how time-shifting should work. My advice was only as a workaround to actually get DVB radio to work because the time-shifting mode was broken for channels with Video PID = 0. There should be no reason to treat DVB TV and DVB Radio channels differently. It is only broken because the time-shifting mode expects a Video PID >0. This is what needs fixing.

SBR

That is exactly what I am doing, to find a short-term fix for DVB radio. It is not meant to be a permanent fix, which will be more complicated.

Sandy B Ridge · « **Reply #13 on:** November 05, 2012, 02:30:55 pm »

Quote from: Yaobing on November 05, 2012, 01:13:24 pm

That is exactly what I am doing, to find a short-term fix for DVB radio. It is not meant to be a permanent fix, which will be more complicated.

Ahh. OK. Cool.

Sorry for the confusion. Glad you're on it!

SBR

NickF · « **Reply #14 on:** November 05, 2012, 04:17:28 pm »

Quote from: Yaobing on November 05, 2012, 01:13:24 pm

That is exactly what I am doing, to find a short-term fix for DVB radio. It is not meant to be a permanent fix, which will be more complicated.

Thanks Yaobing. It will make it usable which is what we need so that's great.

Nick.

NickF · « **Reply #15 on:** November 09, 2012, 04:09:54 am »

Quote

18.0.69
9. Changed: In DVB television playback, if video PID is zero MC will not play the channel in time-shifting mode.

I just posted on a related thread in the MC18 forum that this works fine. I have tested on DVB-T and radio plays OK. Strangely, on DVB-S, it doesn't. Time-shifting is off but no audio. I will check to see if the channel is encrypted.

Anyway, thanks Yaobing. Another nice step forward.

Nick.

NickF · « **Reply #16 on:** November 09, 2012, 05:34:48 am »

I checked on the DVB-S Radio. The channels are not encrypted so should play. TV channels on the same frequency play OK.

I have created a log. This contains playing the DVB-S TV Channel (BBC PARLMNT) which plays OK, then playing the DVB-S Radio channel (BBC R3) which does not play, then playing the DVB-T Radio channel which does play (BBC Radio 1).

I hope this helps.

Nick.

csimon · « **Reply #17 on:** January 23, 2015, 07:56:58 am »

Are issues described in this thread resolved yet? I would like to plug in either a USB TV tuner or a network tuner for use as radio only, I'm not interested in TV. (DVB-S2)

Does anyone have experience using MC with a TV tuner for radio channels only? Does it work as you'd expect and want it to work?

Yaobing · « **Reply #18 on:** January 23, 2015, 03:19:41 pm »

Not sure. It has been a long time. Since then there have been some changes that may impact radio on DVB. You can just try it and see how it goes. If it still does not work, let me know and I will work on fixing it.

jmone · « **Reply #19 on:** January 23, 2015, 04:25:16 pm »

Late to this thread. I been able to play DVB-T digital radio for ages (I think since it was fixed so you don't have to have a Video Stream). What would you like me to check?
Thanks
Nathan

csimon · « **Reply #20 on:** January 23, 2015, 05:38:22 pm »

Quote from: jmone on January 23, 2015, 04:25:16 pm

Late to this thread. I been able to play DVB-T digital radio for ages (I think since it was fixed so you don't have to have a Video Stream). What would you like me to check?
Thanks
Nathan

Well, it's this video thing I was concerned about really. I'd like to be able to treat DVB radio as though it was just another audio source. I presume each channel would have to be put into separate items in a playlist which you can then access from Gizmo for example and just play it in a zone. I just don't want remotes or MC thinking it's a Tv channel and bringing up a full screen video window or anything like that.

What is shown in display view playing now while playing a radio channel - black screen, cover art....?

I haven't got a Tv tuner yet but thinking about the Haupauge Nova DVB-S2 external USB box. Also like the look of some of the Sat>IP servers which are more sophIsticated but there are doubts whether they would work with MC.

jmone · « **Reply #21 on:** January 23, 2015, 05:47:01 pm »

Hear

is what I see:
- MC Client : Black Screen + Audio (it is treated as a Video going through RO)
- EOS (only client that will playback live TV) : Seems to start correctly by buffering the file etc but it then fails during playback (as I presume there is no Video Stream)

csimon · « **Reply #22 on:** January 23, 2015, 06:02:15 pm »

I guess if you instigate it remotely in a zone that is not the currently active zone, the audio will play but MC just won't attempt to show the video? So that is OK. That is actually what happens at the moment with video, except that in that case you DO want it to show the video! That limitation actually works in the favour of DVB radio.

And just to confirm, you can put radio channels into some sort of view or playlist that can be browsed as normal from eos or Gizmo?

jmone · « **Reply #23 on:** January 23, 2015, 07:00:28 pm »

Yup I created a smartlist as follows (you can even tag the entries with Coverart this way) so that the EOS/Gizmo etc will see them (I placed it at the top level).

jmone · « **Reply #24 on:** January 23, 2015, 07:41:42 pm »

Quote from: csimon on January 23, 2015, 06:02:15 pm

I guess if you instigate it remotely in a zone that is not the currently active zone, the audio will play but MC just won't attempt to show the video? So that is OK. That is actually what happens at the moment with video, except that in that case you DO want it to show the video! That limitation actually works in the favour of DVB radio.

Tested (with both Gizmo and EOS) and is as you say. You can "play" the DVB-T Radio station to a MC zone that is not selected and you just hear the audio.

csimon · « **Reply #25 on:** January 24, 2015, 04:41:09 am »

Wonderful! Thank you.

csimon · « **Reply #26 on:** February 02, 2015, 05:55:31 pm »

I've set up my new USB DVB-S tuner and it all appears to be working fine for radio. However, as implied in the earlier posts above, it always starts in time-shifting mode and requires a right-click once it has started playing in order to turn it off. Is there any way of disabling timeshift permanently, or at least issuing a MCWS or core command to turn it off? (I'm using VoxCommando so can send any command, but it's on a HTPC where the display might not be on and where there isn't a permanent keyboard). I just feel that the's no point in the PC continuously writing temporary video files needlessly to disk).

Yaobing · « **Reply #27 on:** February 02, 2015, 06:53:19 pm »

The option not to start digital TV in time-shifting mode was removed a long time ago, because we thought it was not necessary (who wouldn't want time-shifting when watching TV?).

csimon · « **Reply #28 on:** February 03, 2015, 03:53:54 am »

I'm listening to radio, and I don't want timeshifting!

I might eventually use MC as a second PVR for recording TV but to be honest would not want it to viewing live TV as MC is more awkward to use than my TV and my PVR, also I tried it last night and the video output is choppy so I guess my PC is not powerful enough (it handles Bluray video in ROHQ fine but for some reason this TV output is not working well). So basically, timeshifting is just a waste of resources.

I'm using it for radio to save having another satellite receiver on all the time and having to feed its audio output into the house's audio system and then switch it manually with a separate remote control...with the tuner on the PC and MC controlling it I can just say to Voxcommando "Listen to BBC Radio 6" and job done, very convenient.

There is a setting to control how much timeshifting is kept, in terms of hours. If there was an item in there to turn it off (zero hours maybe) then that would be ideal. At least provide the option for those who don't want timeshifting.

jmone · « **Reply #29 on:** February 03, 2015, 04:01:14 am »

For what it is worth, the timeshift files should be small as there is no video and it should be deleted when stopped. I can check if you want

csimon · « **Reply #30 on:** February 03, 2015, 04:02:52 am »

I've checked and the files do get deleted when playback is stopped. I'm not concerned with disk space, I'm more concerned with unnecessary processor and SSD activity.

jmone · « **Reply #31 on:** February 03, 2015, 04:14:58 am »

Think of it as an "audiophile" buffer

csimon · « **Reply #32 on:** February 03, 2015, 04:30:29 am »

Not going there!

(Although there might be an argument there about increased processor activity...)

But my "HTPC" is low power and so the less work it's doing the better. I'm getting 30%-40% processor usage while playing a radio channel from the tuner, normally it's around 5-10% while playing audio. I don't know at the moment how much of that would be overhead by the tuner's driver. And I just don't feel comfortable about continuous video files being written on my SSD!

csimon · « **Reply #33 on:** February 03, 2015, 12:15:16 pm »

Quote from: jmone on January 23, 2015, 07:00:28 pm

Yup I created a smartlist as follows (you can even tag the entries with Coverart this way) so that the EOS/Gizmo etc will see them (I placed it at the top level).

I'm having trouble getting the cover art to work! I created a Smartlist with File Type = tvlb as indicated in order to list all the TV channels as database items. I then tagged the radio channels with a Media Sub Type of "Radio" and created a view under Audio with Media Type = TV and Sub Type = Radio. The channels are listed fine under this view but if I right-click on one to set the cover art there is no Cover Art option in the right-click menu. How did you get the cover art tagged?

mwillems · « **Reply #34 on:** February 03, 2015, 02:39:07 pm »

Quote from: csimon on February 03, 2015, 03:53:54 am

I might eventually use MC as a second PVR for recording TV but to be honest would not want it to viewing live TV as MC is more awkward to use than my TV and my PVR, also I tried it last night and the video output is choppy so I guess my PC is not powerful enough (it handles Bluray video in ROHQ fine but for some reason this TV output is not working well). So basically, timeshifting is just a waste of resources.

This is a sidelight, but you might want to check to make sure you've unselected the "Crop Edges" option under video/tv, see: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89620.0 That setting caused live TV to be unwatchable for me until I disabled it, even thought I can run MadVr with nearly maximum settings otherwise. It's disabled by default on new installations, but you may still have it ticked if you installed before the change.

csimon · « **Reply #35 on:** February 03, 2015, 02:43:10 pm »

Quote from: mwillems on February 03, 2015, 02:39:07 pm

This is a sidelight, but you might want to check to make sure you've unselected the "Crop Edges" option under video/tv, see: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89620.0 That setting caused live TV to be unwatchable for me until I disabled it, even thought I can run MadVr with nearly maximum settings otherwise. It's disabled by default on new installations, but you may still have it ticked if you installed before the change.

Already done while setting it up! My thinking was 1:1 pixel mapping to the TV for HD channels.

jmone · « **Reply #36 on:** February 03, 2015, 03:36:11 pm »

Quote from: csimon on February 03, 2015, 12:15:16 pm

I'm having trouble getting the cover art to work! I created a Smartlist with File Type = tvlb as indicated in order to list all the TV channels as database items. I then tagged the radio channels with a Media Sub Type of "Radio" and created a view under Audio with Media Type = TV and Sub Type = Radio. The channels are listed fine under this view but if I right-click on one to set the cover art there is no Cover Art option in the right-click menu. How did you get the cover art tagged?

It's probably the Media Type that means you can't see the Coverart options, but as a work around use the Covertart from the Recent List (just do it on some other media first and it will then work on the TV entry) - see pic.

csimon · « **Reply #37 on:** February 03, 2015, 04:57:59 pm »

OK, thank you. Based on that I've also tried it by changing the Media Type to Audio and that worked too. Don't know if any functionality is lost by doing that but they still play OK.

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Author Topic: Play radio by DVB Card (Read 7668 times)