Etivo setup

[JustinD]

I attempting to install Etivo.
My motivation for doing this is the DivX addin. I would like to use this with my Creative Vision M player. I have tried and got it to work with tytools but the steps to get the video into my player are somewhat onerous with tytools and then AutoGK. So, of course, I thought it might be easier using Etivo. Thing is, it would seem, that I am missing some basic things that Etivo needs - not sure if this is right but I got stumped really early on with the mfsFTP request, as I couldn't get it to connect. Does the oztivo image have mfsFTP? I remember reading something about it having to be removed.

I also looked at the thread of dealdatabase and there doesn't seem to be any basic install instructions - probably because its so easy (but not for me):o

Any help by other people that set this up would be appreciated. I did see a post from "Thompson" regarding Etivo and I now assume I can configure the DivX to my players specifications (which is very cool).

[thomson]

Does the oztivo image have mfsFTP?

You will need to download and install the package in this DealDatabase post (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21915) (you may need to sign up to access the post).

Once you have done this you may want to install a small patch I created to solve a few issues I had with the way EtiVo uses the information collected from MFS_FTP. The thread is here (http://forums.oztivo.net/showthread.php?t=850) and also includes an example configuration for converting the files to a DivX playable on an N-Gage (scales it down to 208x160).

[JustinD]

Thomson,
thanks for the link. One question I have is whether Etivo will interfer with TivoWebPlus? Initially I thought the server ran on the tivo but now I see it runs on the PC so I assume it shouldnt matter.

I have downloaded your updates/config settings -thanks.

I guess I need to also find Vsplit as the latest tytools didn't include it - is that correct, and does it matter if I use an old version?
Also, mencoder/menplayer - do you have a link to a file that I can just download without all the compiling stuff (reading cavewomble's info)


thanks again - as this should be so much easier than tytools,

Also, Thomson - do you use etivo often and how have you found it?
Justin

[JustinD]

ok,just to show you how much I don't understand, I am having the following issues with just setting up basic Mfs_ftp and Etivo. First, in installing Etivo it is trying to communicate with Mfs and cannot. I got the following info from Putty:

[TiVo [p0] ~]# /var/mfs_ftp/mfs_ftp.tcl &
[1] 193
[TiVo [p0] ~]#
[TiVo [p0] ~]# couldn't open socket: address already in use
while executing
"socket -server newcsocket $port"
(procedure "setup_control_socket" line 4)
invoked from within
"setup_control_socket $info(port)"
(procedure "reset_control_socket" line 9)
invoked from within
"reset_control_socket"
(procedure "init_procs" line 13)
invoked from within
"init_procs"
(file "/var/mfs_ftp/mfs_ftp.tcl" line 1534)
[TiVo [p0] ~]# /var/mfs_ftp/mfs_ftp.tcl &
[2] 196
[1] Done /var/mfs_ftp/mfs_ftp.tcl
[1] 193
[TiVo [p0] ~]# [1] 193
while executing
^@"socket -server newcsocket $port"
(procedure "setup_control_socket" line 4)
invoked from within
"setup_control_socket $info(port)"
(procedure "reset_control_socket" line 9)
invoked from within
"reset_control_socket"
(procedure "init_procs" line 13)
invoked from within
"init_procs"
^@ (file "/var/mfs_ftp/mfs_ftp.tcl" line 1534)

I also got the following within Etivo when trying further testing - I think its the same thing

System.IO.IOException: Unable to write data to the transport connection. ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Send(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size, SocketFlags socketFlags)
at System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 size)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---

I am sure its something basic but I have no idea. Any help appreciated for the simple (such as myself)

Justin

[thomson]

You may want to test that MFS_FTP is running by using an FTP client to connect to your TiVo. I use FileZilla and the address is ftp://tivo:3105/, there should also be a log file called 3105.log in your MFS_FTP directory that may give you some pointers... I think you may be trying to start the application while it is still running (giving you the "port already in use" error) - you may like to read the documentation for the various ways of shutting down the service. If you are having trouble you may wish to check the MFS_FTP forums as it could be that somebody else has also run into the same problem.

The easiest way is follow the guide EtiVo DivX installation guide here (http://www.cavewomble.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mencoder/).

VSplit can be got from the distribution found in this post (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showpost.php?p=197503&postcount=2).

I have only played with EtiVo occasionally... a friend was having a few problems with it so I had a look (which resulted in the patch file being created)... and to test the setup I converted a few shows. Definitely not a regular user.

[JustinD]

thanks Thomson.
I worked it out based on what you said. I was able to ftp in to the port specified with Smart FTP. I then realised I hadn't specified the host name to ftp to with Etivo. I now have it working (no divx add-in installed yet).
Funny thing is, I cannot for the life of me work out the interface through telneting. The terminology used with Etivo and telnet is like another language.

I am currently getting my hands on a copy of Microsoft's information server so that I can run the Etivo web interface. Given that I only have XP home on my pc that will take a little work. I am hoping the final outcome will be worth it as it seems a little challenging at the moment. :o

Also, I am running it on my 2nd pc, which is only a 900mhz PIII - the WMV9 encoding activity might push it a little hard.

[JustinD]

So I have now got it working and have encoded one file already. It actually works pretty well just with WMV. The issue that I am now faced with is that it, like tytool, treats the .ty files as if they are 4x3 format, so the resulting file looks a little squished. I now need to find out how I can make the Windows Media Encoder know that its dealing with a 16x9 picture. Apparently there is a .wme file in the Etivo directory that is the script for what Etivo wants the media encoder to do - not sure if it would have the ability to override the 4x3 flag on the .ty file if that is what has happened.

Yet to get the IIS working but I am using Etivoface, which seems to provide all the basic functionality without having to deal with command line stuff.

[thomson]

I found WME9 encoding very slow... and the quality was somewhat lacking. I am guessing the .wme files would be able to do what you want... you can definitely do this via DivX by altering the "scale" parameter in the .xml configuration file. For instance I scale to 208x160 as all my feed are 4x3, but could make this 208x120 for a 16x9 feed.

[JustinD]

thanks for your insight with DivX. I have been mucking around with WME and its a bit of a bi%!@. It will not allow me to tell it the actual file size in pixels it is receiving (720x576) as it says its an unsupported format. From a quality perspective, I am only looking to use Etivo for watching programs on a 2.5 inch screen so wmv seems ok, just not too flexible. At the moment I am testing it with cropping the sides 5% each and seeing how it works out on (320x240) resized from the standard .ty file input size.

You are right about WME taking forever. I just did (aspect not fixed) an encoding of Supernatural with all the endpad time = 80mins total. It took about 4-5 hours to do this on my PIII.:eek: That said, I will have the encoding done overnight so it shouldn't be an issue unless it had more than one program to do.

If I get no joy with WME I will look to install the Divx add-in. I just want to see whether the core etivo app is reliable enough for the effort first as I have experienced WME stopping early a few times, although I think a re-boot fixed that.

[JustinD]

thomson,
you were right about WME - it ended up that I couldn't get it to work. Whenever I changed the configuration to take into account the size differences and cropping WME would truncate its coding so that I would only get 11mins of a 50 min recording.

So I installed the DivX addin and it has worked well so far. I have only tested it with a small recording of 5 mins so I have to see whether I don't have problems with mencoder on a large file.

The current issue that I am trying to resolve, and given that I am using your .xml config file (which works well with changed scaling), is that I am experiencing a green line on the right side of the picture.
Would you know what the syntax would be to make mencoder crop a little off the right and left side of the picture? That way I could lessen the black bars a little (top and bottom) while removing the green line.

thanks,

[thomson]

The current issue that I am trying to resolve, and given that I am using your .xml config file (which works well with changed scaling), is that I am experiencing a green line on the right side of the picture.

You will need to experiment a little, but you should be able to add a crop command before the "scale=w:h" parameter. The syntax is "crop=w:h:x:y". So your flags should look something like (the figures are made up):

-mc 0 -ss 0.1 -vf crop=570:400:40:0,scale=208:120 -ovc lavc ...

If you wish to experiment a little more you can have a read of the manual page here (http://tivo-mplayer.sourceforge.net/docs/mplayer-man.html). be warned that if you have a typo or error in the flags then the encoding will fail... and it's not so easy to figure out what went wrong so it is best to make one change at a time.

[JustinD]

thanks for the info. Things were going well until I found that the encoder (mencoder) was starting to fry my PIII. When it would run I would get this burnt smell from the PC. So I changed to my 3.0 PIV PC. I left it to encode last night to find it had rebooted during the night with an IO error (whatever that is) during encoding and it now seems a little wobbly - could be a clean install in the making:(
Funny, it should be able to handle it as AutoGK and tytools with its DVD converter isn't exactly light on the CPU. I was also mucking around with the vbitrate as the quality was a little weak and it seemed to me that this should be the thing I should tweak (my guess). I had cranked it from 80 to 800 and the picture was much smoother but 4x the size. When the PC crashed it was set at 400 (the compromise level). Maybe that was the problem - or I need a new, faster PC (my wife won't like that talk).

[thomson]

I had cranked it from 80 to 800 and the picture was much smoother but 4x the size.

Values such as 700 are quite normal, I was just using 80 because the destination was a small screen on a mobile and I was wanting to keep the playback smooth on its little processor :)

[JustinD]

All seems to be working well now - I was able to do a system restore (who would figure that it would be Microsoft coming to the rescue:eek: ).
I re-installed etivo with the DivX addin and I have mucked around with the configuration settings and I have been able to crop the borders. I think I will continue to play with the settings.

Now that I am largely over my initial learning curve, I need to work on my relationship with my wife :D