firewire_tester is used to help determine which type of connection to 
use with mythtv.  It can also help to stabilize a broadcast connection, 
which is sometimes required after rebooting your backend host or set top 
box (STB).

Jim Westfall (jwestfall@surrealistic.net)

firewire_tester <action> -n <node> [-P <port>] [-r <n>] [-v]
 Actions: (one is required)
    -b          - test broadcast connection
    -p          - test p2p connection
    -B          - attempt to fix/stabilize broadcast connection
    -R          - reset the firewire bus
 Options
    -n <node>   - firewire node, required
    -P <port>   - firewire port, default 0
    -r <n>      - run action <n> times, default 1
    -o          - output mpeg2 stream to stdout using p2p connection
    -v          - verbose

There are 2 types of connections that can be used by mythtv to talk to 
the STB to transfer mpeg2 data.  These are peer 2 peer (P2P) and 
broadcast.  You will need to determine which works best with your STB.

Best bet is to start with trying P2P.  First thing to do is change the 
channel on your STB to a known non-encrypted channel, then run the 
tester multiple times testing a P2P connection.  If they all come back 
successful then have mythtv use P2P.  If you find that it fails, then 
move onto testing broadcast.  Start by doing the -B action to attempt 
fix/stabilize broadcast connection.  Once it has then test broadcast a 
few more times with -b action.

example STB on node 0 that works best with a broadcast connection.

- test P2P connection a few times
$ ./firewire_tester -p -n 0 -r 5
Action: Test P2P connection 5 times, node 0, channel 0
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Success, 46 packets received
P2P: Testing...Success, 164 packets received
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed

- 2 out of 5 failed, not good.
- now use the -B option to try and fix/stabilize broadcast connection
$ ./firewire_tester -B -n 0
Action: Attempt to fix broadcast connection 1 times, node 0
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Success, 58 packets received
Broadcast: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Failed
P2P: Testing...Success, 48 packets received
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 75 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 49 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 42 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 31 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 112 packets
Broadcast Fix: Success

- worked! do a few more broadcast connection tests
$ ./firewire_tester -b -n 0 -r 5
Action: Test broadcast 5 times, node 0, channel 63
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 42 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 112 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 27 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 78 packets
Broadcast: Testing...Success, 103 packets

- looks good, configure mythtv to use broadcast connection type.