Universal Media Server | Forum

PSA: The nature of Mediashare only allows for the video(if you can stream it) for about 5 minutes then the screensaver kicks in -- i did not realize this untill after i got it working, Becasue DirecTV has not nor will they update Mediashare from BETA to release use and stream to this render at your level of comfort... it gets annoying

That being said... i wont further try to troubleshoot this until DirecTV updates their Mediashare =)

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Profile for DirecTV 
# Boxes Tested: H23-600, H25-500, HR34-700 (Genie), HR24-500 (DVR)
# See PS3.conf for a description of all possible configuration options.
#
# This profile is still in an experimental stage.
# You are encouraged to experiment and report back the results on the forums
# at http://www.universalmediaserver.com/forum/
#
# Know Issues: if three or more boxes are trying to watch the same movie at the same time, 
# the third box will jump into someones stream; not interrupting the original streamer.
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RendererName=DirecTV HR
RendererIcon=directvhr.png
UserAgentSearch=DIRECTV
UserAgentAdditionalHeader=DLNADOC/1.00 DIRECTV VIIV devices INTEL_NMPR/2.1
Video=true
Audio=true
Image=true
SeekByTime=false
TranscodedVideoFileSize=0
AutoExifRotate=false
#--------------------Meat and Potatos-----------------------------------------
#
# CustomMencoderOptions: Overrides the MEncoder custom options in UMS for
# this renderer. The below has been Tweeked for DirecTV MediaShare!
#
# to customize the TV limitation options if set on your DirecTV box
# after "expand=::::1:16\/9:4" add ",1280:720" for 720p
CustomMencoderOptions = -channels 2 \
-lavdopts debug=0:threads=4 \
-lavcopts autoaspect=1:vcodec=mpeg2video:acodec=mp2:abitrate=192:\
threads=8:keyint=0:vqscale=1:vqmin=1:vrc_maxrate=8192:vrc_buf_size=8192 \
-aid 0 \
-nosub \
-noautosub \
-ofps 24000/1001 \
-vf softskip,expand=::::1:16\/9:4,scale=1280:720 \
-lavdopts fast \
-mc 0.1 \
-af lavcresample=44100 \
-srate 44100 \
-o
CreateDLNATreeFaster = true

• Known Issues:
• If Three Boxes are watching the same movie, at the same time, the fourth box, trying to watch the same movie will jump into someones stream; not interrupting the original streamer.
• Audio is limited to 2 Channel
• Current settings in CONF are set for 720p; depending on what resolution your DirecTV box is set to (for example, if you disabled 1080i/p on one box you will need to keep this string "-vf scale=1280:720"; to view it in 1080 change it to "-vf scale=1920:1080" (i have it set to this because one box in my house is set to max resolution to 720p). Note: I find that the 720p setting is an Excellent viewing on a 52 inch Samsung tv.

• Tested on the following boxes successfully:
• H23-600
• H25-500
• HR34-700 (Genie)
• HR24-500 (DVR)

In answer to the original post, I totally agree. There is no reason the Media share feature shouldn't support more formats/codecs. As is, it only supports MPEG. It should at least support H.264 in a MP4. This is what DirecTV uses for HD content; why not over my local network with Media Share?

dcd:
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, if not, a correction... No media server, WMP11, TVersity or otherwise will stream an MP4, avi, mov, etc to the DirecTV receiver. The only reason TVersity works is, it transcodes everything that's not MPEG into MPEG so the DirecTV receiver can play it. The limitation on file types & codecs is with the DirecTV receiver firmware.

hapzfl:
I'm also using an older version of TVersity, and it works great. You should give it another try. Once installed, add the NAS drive to the library of TVersity, just as dcd suggested. You should then be able to stream everything to Media Share. Your system isn't too slow, I'm able to stream SD video from my old Athlon 64 3200.

stepco2292
The bitrate of an DVD is close to 30mbps. This is too high for Media Share to handle. You could TVersity to transcode it on the fly, or use something like DVDShrink to lower the bitrate of the mpeg files before trying to stream to Media Share.

dcd
stepco2292 is not using conversion software, he's using WMP11.

bob_nielsen
Nov 6, 2010 at 9:11:02 PM | #41 Quote Quick Reply More Options
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkvisfx
I am Mac based. I have EyeConnect running as my media server, I have the HR20-700 which sees the EyeConnect and can access all of the folders I designated. It can even see and play my DVD rips though without the audio. But, it does seem to be limited to MPEG-2 files.

What are the exact specs I need to encode my files into so that they will play back properly from EyeConnect (EyeConnect does not transcode and Tversity is not available for the Mac) I can manually encode and transcode just about anything to anything, I just need the specifics.

Thanks.
To get audio with EyeConnect videos, you need to have the file in transport stream (TS) format. Program stream (PS) will work if the audio is not DD5.1, however. You can convert using MPEG StreamClip (http://www.squared5.com). I prefer to use iSedora, since it will transcode other formats and is easily configurable, although I have some issues with the latest version. This version works fine for me; http://www.isedora.com/dl/isedora-1.6.8.dmg


jkvisfx
Nov 7, 2010 at 12:23:14 AM | #42 Quote Quick Reply More Options
Thanks Bob.

So far, I am experimenting with Adobe Media Encoder. One of the presets for MPEG2 worked though, it was set to interlace for NTSC 29.97fps and letterbox to 4x3 video so, I went into the settings and am now experimenting with VBR 2-pass encoding instead of 1-pass, 23.976 fps (24p) video at 16x9 and am playing with the bit rates. I am also trying to see if it will deal with 5.1 Dolby Digital or if I have to downmix it to stereo surround. I am attempting to find an optimal recipe.

jkvisfx
Nov 7, 2010 at 5:12:58 AM | #43 Quote Quick Reply More Options
OK. Got a recipe that works though it's a bit cumbersome to get there.

Using MPEG Streamclip, I transcode to a lossless Quicktime format, in this case, Sheer Video. I use the MPEG Streamclip to mix down the audio to stereo.

Then using Adobe Media Encoder, I convert to a straight ahead MPEG-2 file.

Almost all of my DVDs are 24p feature films that are 16x9 widescreen so, I set AME to 23.976fps, 16x9 aspect ratio. I use 2-pass VBR encoding with target data rates set at 2.4Mbps, 5Mbps, and 8.5Mpbs. I encode the audio as stereo MP3 at 256bps.

The result is an MPEG-2 filed with audio and video muxed together that plays in Quicktime Player with audio and plays on my DTV HD DVR properly formatted for 16x9 and, because of the relatively high data rate, has lost very little quality.

Now, what I would really like is a utility that will directly transcode all the VOB files into a single, playable MPEG-2 file without actually having to re-encode the picture. And, it needs to run on the Mac.

Anybody aware of anything like this?

bob_nielsen
Nov 7, 2010 at 6:04:58 PM | #44 Quote Quick Reply More Options
I think you can do that with MPEG Streamclip (I use "convert to TS") or Handbrake, although I haven't tried either recently.

VisualHub is a good video conversion program for the Mac, but it is no longer available.

I often run into issues where the file quits with a message that the data rate is too high, which is a bummer. Since I got a Blu-ray player that plays video files (Samsung BD-C5500) I rarely use Media Share on my Directv receiver anymore.

jkvisfx
Nov 8, 2010 at 8:48:10 AM | #45 Quote Quick Reply More Options
Thanks Bob. You saved me a whole lot of time and hassle.

As it turns out, "Convert to MPEG with MPEG-2 audio..." is the correct choice for export. No two-stage transcoding, no having to figure out the right recipe, just plain and simple.

I have a Sony Blu-ray player that is supposed to be able to do the same but, with most of the media server packages I tried, the video files didn't even show, and when they would show, it wouldn't play them. So, I gave up on that idea.

I also switched to Playback instead of EyeConnect. Seems to work a little smoother.

bob_nielsen
Jan 6, 2012 at 10:00:02 PM | #4 Quote Quick Reply More Options
If the MPEG2 video is in TS (transport stream) format rather than PS (program stream), AC3/DD5.1 audio should work.

Topic: Auto Xcode to DirecTV Script (comments/suggestions/improvements welcome) (Read 337 times)
JSinger
Newbie

Posts: 3


Auto Xcode to DirecTV Script (comments/suggestions/improvements welcome)
« on: September 28, 2011, 01:11:20 AM »
All the dude ever wanted was a concise explanation of a DirecTV MediaShare compatible container and compatible audio & video formats to encode into it. Just some plain and simple files that DTV HDx could decode on its own via any generic DLNA server (with no need for a proxy on-the-fly transcoding DLNA server).

Unfortunately one can't play 'Dragnet' on google and get "just the facts." After wading through 1K+ forum posts saying "just install mediawhore2k+ (or whatever)" I just iterated through the mpeg containers and file formats until the results met expectations. It wasn't the first time, but I forgot how I'd done it and had wiped the videos,

Container:
MPEG-PS (works consistently)
MPEG-TS (works consistently)
MP4 (works under very limited constraints; not recommended)

Video:
MPEG-2 (mpeg2video)
MPEG-2 (mpeg2enc)

Audio:
MP2 (Twolame) (different bit-rates work, but needs to be encoded @ 48 KHz)

Working with the above, you can tweak the settings to what works best to get a decent picture through DirecTV's MediaShare (though you can only pause; no RW or FF and, of course, no playlists).

I did end up scripting the whole thing for practical purposes (iow.. protection from human memory error). Feel free to use the script as is, modify it, make suggestions or whatever. It's my meager contribution back to the //AD community.

Installation / Instrux:
Copy the script to %avidemux_dir)%\scripts\auto
When you start or restart Avidemux, load the file to be transcoded
Next, select the menu item "Auto -> DirecTV_PS"
This will setup a fairly standard "Video," "Audio," and "Format" settings
Feel free to experiment from there.

When you perform the actual transcode, I strongly recommend using "*.mpg" when naming the save file.
Then all that remains is moving the .mpg file to your DLNA server's "DirecTV Xcodes" directory. There will be no meta-data, so give some thought when naming the file.

That about wraps it up. I look forward to any feedback (even if it's just to say "it works, nice job").

Enjoy..

JS

The script (written and tested with...Avidemux© 2.5.4 (r7200) on WinXP)

Code: Select all

//AD
// This is rough.. could use a Wiz dialog,
// but it does work in most cases.
// Just add any tweaks after selecting the 'Auto' script
// Jim Sensel -- [email protected]
//
// This script has been tested as it was intended to be used and, in that regard, worked without failure or complication.
// While you are free to use and/or modify it, you do so at your own risk.
//

var app = new Avidemux();

if (app.video == null)

    displayError(QT_TR_NOOP("A video file must be open to use this Auto Wizard."));

else {

	//** Video **
	app.rebuildIndex();

	//** Postproc **
	app.video.setPostProc(3,4,0);

	//** Filters **

	//** Video Codec conf **
	app.video.codecPlugin("DBAECD8B-CF29-4846-AF57-B596427FE7D3", "mpeg2video", "2PASSBITRATE=2000", "<?xml version='1.0'?><Mpeg2Config><Mpeg2Options><minBitrate>0</minBitrate><maxBitrate>2400</maxBitrate><xvidRateControl>false</xvidRateControl><bufferSize>256</bufferSize><widescreen>true</widescreen><interlaced>none</interlaced><gopSize>16</gopSize></Mpeg2Options></Mpeg2Config>");

	//** Audio **
	app.audio.reset();

	if (app.audio.targetTrackInfo.length > 0) {
		app.audio.codec("TwoLame",128,8,"80 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 ");

		if (app.audio.targetTrackInfo[0].channelCount == 2)
			app.audio.mixer = "NONE";
		else
			app.audio.mixer = "STEREO";
	}

	app.audio.normalizeMode=0;
	app.audio.normalizeValue=0;
	app.audio.delay=0;
	app.audio.drc=true;
	app.audio.resample=48000;
	app.audio.scanVbr();

	app.setContainer("PS", "00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ");
}

« Last Edit: November 26, 2011, 12:38:39 PM by JSinger »

NFO  2012-06-21 17:30:24.482 [New I/O server worker #1-1] Starting transcode/remux of Hitchhikers_Guide.avi
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.622 [New I/O server worker #1-1] Creating pipe \\.\pipe\mencoder1340325024622
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.794 [Thread-101] Waiting for pipe connection \\.\pipe\mencoder1340325024622
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.857 [mencoder.exe-23] Starting "C:\Program Files\Universal Media Server\win32\mencoder.exe" -ss 0 -quiet E:\Media\Movies\G-I\Hitchhikers_Guide.avi -quiet -quiet -oac lavc -of mpeg -quiet -quiet -mpegopts format=mpeg2:muxrate=500000:vbuf_size=1194:abuf_size=64 -ovc lavc -channels 2 -lavdopts debug=0:threads=2 -lavcopts autoaspect=1:vcodec=mpeg2video:acodec=ac3:abitrate=448:threads=2:keyint=5:vqscale=1:vqmin=2:vrc_maxrate=9000:vrc_buf_size=1835 -quiet -quiet -subdelay 20000 -quiet -quiet -ofps 25 -quiet -quiet -lavdopts fast -mc 0 -noskip -af lavcresample=48000 -srate 48000 -o \\.\pipe\mencoder1340325024622
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.857 [mencoder.exe-23] Reading pipe: \\.\pipe\mencoder1340325024622
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.857 [mencoder.exe-23] Attaching thread: mencoder.exe-23
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.872 [Thread-105] MEncoder SB34 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.872 [Thread-105] Custom build by SubJunk, http://www.spirton.com
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.872 [Thread-105] 
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.877 [Thread-105] success: format: 0  data: 0x0 - 0x2bbe6800
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.878 [Thread-105] libavformat version 54.6.100 (internal)
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.881 [Thread-105] AVI file format detected.
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.882 [Thread-105] [aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.882 [Thread-105] [aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.912 [Thread-105] VIDEO:  [XVID]  592x256  12bpp  25.000 fps  798.0 kbps (97.4 kbyte/s)
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.913 [Thread-105] [V] filefmt:3  fourcc:0x44495658  size:592x256  fps:25.000  ftime:=0.0400
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.913 [Thread-105] 
==========================================================================
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.914 [Thread-104] Requested audio codec family [mpg123] (afm=mpg123) not available.
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.914 [Thread-104] Enable it at compilation.
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.914 [Thread-105] Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.915 [Thread-105] libavcodec version 54.23.100 (internal)
INFO  2012-06-21 17:30:24.944 [StartPlaying Event] renderer: 172.10.1.30, file: E:\Media\Movies\G-I\Hitchhikers_Guide.avi
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.953 [Thread-105] AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 127.0 kbit/4.13% (ratio: 15871->384000)
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.953 [Thread-101] Result of \\.\pipe\mencoder1340325024622 : true
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.953 [Thread-105] Selected audio codec: [ffmp3float] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG layer-3 audio)
DEBUG 2012-06-21 17:30:24.953 [Thread-105] 

6.1. Selecting codecs and container formats

Audio and video codecs for encoding are selected with the -oac and -ovc options, respectively. Type for instance:

mencoder -ovc help
to list all video codecs supported by the version of MEncoder on your machine. The following choices are available:

Audio Codecs:

Audio codec name Description
mp3lame encode to VBR, ABR or CBR MP3 with LAME
lavc use one of libavcodec's audio codecs
faac FAAC AAC audio encoder
toolame MPEG Audio Layer 2 encoder
twolame MPEG Audio Layer 2 encoder based on tooLAME
pcm uncompressed PCM audio
copy do not reencode, just copy compressed frames

C:\Program Files\Universal Media Server\win32>mencoder -ovc help
MEncoder SB35 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
Custom build by SubJunk, http://www.spirton.com


Available codecs:
copy - frame copy, without re-encoding. Doesn't work with filters.
frameno - special audio-only file for 3-pass encoding, see DOCS.
raw - uncompressed video. Use fourcc option to set format explicitly.
nuv - nuppel video
lavc - libavcodec codecs - best quality!
vfw - VfW DLLs, read DOCS/HTML/en/encoding-guide.html.
qtvideo - QuickTime DLLs, currently only SVQ1/3 are supported.
xvid - XviD encoding
x264 - H.264 encoding

by MykMyers
If you are using DirecTV’s MediaShare to view videos from your PC on your DirecTV receiver, you may find the following information useful.

In order to use MediaShare, you must have your receiver connected to your home network with wired ethernet or a wireless ethernet adapter. You must also share some of your folders on your PC so that they are visible to MediaShare over your LAN. Please see DirecTV for more information and instructions, as they are too lengthy to post here.

After you sort out any networking issues, you should be able to see your PC when you press your DirecTV remote’s Menu button, and select the Photos and Videos option from the menu. You can then see your PC and drill into the options to play your MP3s, view photos or watch videos.

And now the reason for this post….watching videos in MediaShare. My thought was to rip a DVD to my hard drive on the PC, and just watch it in full quality from there instead of loading the physical DVD into the DVD player. Talk about stupid, I know, but I wanted to try it.

Videos to play back in MediaShare can only be in one format: MPEG2. That’s it. Nothing else. In addition, you have to remain below a certain threshold of video quality or else the video cannot be played. I DO NOT know what that threshold is, but here are some settings that I used that worked with some testing.

Audio: 192Kbps

Audio Sample: 48000

Audio Format: MP2 — This is KEY! Any other format will result in NO SOUND in the finished file’s playback!!

Video Quality – 1800 — is pretty good, not like the DVD source though. 1000 was rough. I didn’t try higher than 1800

Video Frame Rate – 29.97. I used this because it was a default in my converter

Video Format – MPEG2 – This is KEY!

I don’t have enough time to see what the upper quality limit is, and the error message in DirecTV only says that the quality level exceeds something, so I can’t offer much help on that error. But that error message is what prompted me to at least document what worked so far and hopefully I’ve helped more than just me out with this post.