'Sidecar' plug-in for the HDR/HD Fox T2

R

raydon

Well-Known Member
I'm pleased to announce the release of this new utility for users of the custom firmware. It's called 'sidecar', and as the name suggests, it can generate new sidecar files from any native .ts file.

New .hmt files are built, pre-populated with metadata extracted from the PMT and EIT streams embedded within the transport stream. However, any .ts that has been shrunk using 'stripts' will already have had the EIT stream removed and in this case only a basic default .hmt can be created with no EPG information. In both cases the user must provide the channel number and channel name for the new .hmt since this information is not available in the .ts file metadata.

New .nts files are created by parsing the entire source .ts file, indexing every single video frame and associated Presentation Time Stamps in order to build an .nts entry for each individual frame. For this reason it can only work on unencrypted recordings. Creation of new .nts files is relatively slow because of the amount of pre-processing that needs to be done on the source (takes a bit longer than a manual decrypt operation).

Generation of new .hmt or .nts files is initiated from a new option available via the Opt+ drop-down menu in the media browser. This opens a new page for user input and output selection. A percentage progress bar is provided, as well as a self updating, estimated time to completion figure. Also shown is an output pane containing detailed metadata from the .ts file used for .any .hmt file creation, along with regular updates at one minute intervals detailing real-time source file analysis when generating a new .nts.

The utility can also be used from the command line. Just enter 'sidecar' to list the available options.

I'd also like to extend my thanks to af123 for beta testing this utility, and for his help in providing the plug-in hooks which enable the integration into the web interface media browser.
 
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raydon said:
it can generate new sidecar files from any native .ts file.
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What is the scope of "native"? I assume this utility can rebuild a "bad nts" dodgy BBC FOUR recording, but what about a naked .ts imported from a Foxsat?
 
Black Hole said:
What is the scope of "native"?
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Native means native to the HDR/HD Fox T2, which is what it was built for, and is all that I will guarantee.
Black Hole said:
I assume this utility can rebuild a "bad nts" dodgy BBC FOUR recording,
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Correct, but I assume you won't believe that until you've proved it for yourself.
Black Hole said:
but what about a naked .ts imported from a Foxsat?
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It can create sidecar files for non-native .ts imports, including those from the Foxsat HDR, but success is not always guaranteed. It's very much a case of try it and see. In the case in question, imports from the Foxsat HDR, it will play both SD and HD recordings, with either MPEG or AC3 audio, and provide the options of sub-titles and audio-description track if they exist in the source. However, the .hmt file created will be the basic default, since event information tables are not contained in recordings created on this unit.
 
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raydon said:
Correct, but I assume you won't believe that until you've proved it for yourself.
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That is over-egging the pudding - I only require extraordinary evidence when the claim is itself extraordinary. Post 3 was a request for information and clarification for the benefit of all, there is no need to be cynical about it.

If it does not corrupt your sensitivities too much, another question: is there a similar utility for the Foxsat?
 
Black Hole said:
That is over-egging the pudding - I only require extraordinary evidence when the claim is itself extraordinary. Post 3 was a request for information and clarification for the benefit of all, there is no need to be cynical about it.
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Not so, the tone of your post was hardly appreciative, people usually start by saying thank you when given something for nothing. It would appear that it is you alone, on this forum, who can determine what is extraordinary and what isn't. I can assure you that no cynicism was intended, my comment was based purely on repeated observations of your reluctance to accept anything outside of your own personal experience, unless proven to you beyond shadow of doubt.

Black Hole said:
If it does not corrupt your sensitivities too much, another question: is there a similar utility for the Foxsat?
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If you mean an "on the box" utility, then no. It is possible to create one from the same sources, but the Foxsat simply does not have the CPU power to do this in an acceptable time. AV2HDR already provides the same function 'off the box'
 
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It doesn't work for TS files copied over from a Humax DTR-T1000 Youview box. I appreciate that it wasn't designed to do this, but I thought it was worth a try.
BTW, if anyone is having problems getting the sidecar package to run within Web-If, try clearing the browser cache.
 
I've just noticed that when a basic default .hmt is created, the name presented in the Media List contains the full path as well as the name i.e "/media/ My Video/RecordingName" instead of just "RecordingName". I will correct this with an update shortly.
 
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raydon said:
I'm pleased to announce the release of this new utility for users of the custom firmware. It's named 'sidecar', and as the name suggests, it can generate new sidecar files from any native .ts file.
Click to expand...
Wow, Christmas has come early! Thanks for this. I'm kinda surprised though, but let's leave that there...
MontysEvilTwin said:
Yes: 'Sync Error: Could not find any 0x47 sync bytes.'
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I tried it on an "import" and got this. Turns out that Humax .ts files are 192 byte packets (really .m2ts files, with the 0x47 at offset 4), whereas normal .ts files are 188 bytes (with 0x47 at offset 0).
Converting 188 to 192 with ffmpeg, renaming back to .ts, then feeding it into sidecar makes it work.
It would be nice if it could detect both formats and work seamlessly...
 
prpr said:
Wow, Christmas has come early! Thanks for this. I'm kinda surprised though, but let's leave that there...
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Peace on Earth and goodwill to all men. And you did say thanks... :rolleyes:
prpr said:
I tried it on an "import" and got this. Turns out that Humax .ts files are 192 byte packets (really .m2ts files, with the 0x47 at offset 4), whereas normal .ts files are 188 bytes (with 0x47 at offset 0).
Converting 188 to 192 with ffmpeg, renaming back to .ts, then feeding it into sidecar makes it work.
It would be nice if it could detect both formats and work seamlessly...
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For that you should use AV2HDR-T2. I've got an update in the pipeline. :D
 
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@MontysEvilTwin. I've just placed a sidecar v1.1 update into the repository which corrects the name error mentioned in my post #9. I've also changed the sync byte check to report if an 188 byte packet format is found, rather than just give a sync byte error. Try this on your source before posting any sample. It may be that you just need to convert it with ffmpeg, as explained above by prpr.
 
The TS files are 188 bytes, so it is the same issue as described above. I got more information from Web-If:
Code: 
  libpostproc    52.  0.100 / 52.  0.100
[mpegts @ 0x41bb30] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5000000
[mpegts @ 0x41bb30] Could not find codec parameters (Unknown: none ([5][0][0][0] / 0x0005))
[mpegts @ 0x41bb30] Could not find codec parameters (Unknown: none ([11][0][0][0] / 0x000B))
[NULL @ 0x438870] start time is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[NULL @ 0x457020] start time is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[NULL @ 0x45d290] start time is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x41bb30] PES packet size mismatch
Input #0, mpegts, from '/media/usb-drive2/Recordings/YouView/File.ts':
  Duration: 02:00:35.47, start: 49873.027744, bitrate: 2781 kb/s
  Program 8277
  Program 8325
  Program 8377
  Program 8384
  Program 8385
  Program 8442
    Stream #0:0[0x579]: Video: mpeg2video (Main) ([2][0][0][0] / 0x0002), yuv420p, 720x576 [SAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], 1380 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 90k tbn, 50 tbc
    Stream #0:1[0x57a](eng): Audio: mp2 ([4][0][0][0] / 0x0004), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 192 kb/s
    Stream #0:2[0x57b](eng): Audio: mp2 ([4][0][0][0] / 0x0004), 48000 Hz, mono, s16, 64 kb/s (visual impaired)
    Stream #0:3[0x597](eng): Subtitle: dvb_subtitle ([6][0][0][0] / 0x0006)
    Stream #0:4[0xbbc]: Unknown: none ([5][0][0][0] / 0x0005)
    Stream #0:5[0x1f40]: Unknown: none ([11][0][0][0] / 0x000B)
  Program 8448
  Program 8452
  Program 8500
Unsupported codec with id 0 for input stream 4
Unsupported codec with id 0 for input stream 5
These play fine on the HDR-FOX as long as the accompanying NTS and HMT sidecars are not in the same folder.
 
MontysEvilTwin said:
The TS files are 188 bytes, so it is the same issue as described above. I got more information from Web-If:
These play fine on the HDR-FOX as long as the accompanying NTS and HMT sidecars are not in the same folder.
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OK good, you could still convert to 192 byte format if you want the sidecars in order for seeking to work. That would probably enable subtitles and audio description track as well, since I notice these are in the source video. I'm sure prpr can provide the command line arguments for ffmpeg to do this if you ask him nicely.
 
MontysEvilTwin said:
It doesn't work for TS files copied over from a Humax DTR-T1000 Youview box. I appreciate that it wasn't designed to do this, but I thought it was worth a try.
BTW, if anyone is having problems getting the sidecar package to run within Web-If, try clearing the browser cache.
Click to expand...

Out of interest, how are you managing to get the files off of the youview box?

I have the BT version, but rarely use it becaude of the inability to export files in any way.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
 
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