TV recording doesn't start if DVD is playing (1 Viewer)

[cewillis]

Haven't forgotten, but going out of town for a couple of weeks. Back later.

 

[cewillis]

mm,

Have more information, but no hard evidence. The problem recurred yesterday, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to get logs or the existing schedules. Here's the story.
I had a program scheduled to record for 1 hr at 4 pm, and others later in the evening.
I put in a DVD to have it ready to play later, but then decided I didn't want to chance missing the later recordings, so I took the DVD back out. This was about 1 pm.
About 4:30, I discovered that the 4pm recording did not record. It was still in the displayed schedules, but not recording. I was able to schedule another recording (from the guide). Having no time to get logs at that time, I rebooted the computer.
This tells me 3 things:
1) The scheduler thread had not died or locked up (your speculation).
2) This problem has nothing to do with the DVD actually playing (no DVD in the player).
3) The problem has nothing to do with using the remote during playback (my speculation).

But --- the only times I have ever seen a scheduled recording not start was when a DVD had been involved somehow since the last reboot.
So what do you say -- this is some flaky thing with my configuration, and not worth pursuing further? Or should I keep trying to pin it down?
I will probably update to W7 and some later MP version (2.? I hope) sometime next year.

Cal

 

[mm1352000]

Hello again Cal

So what do you say -- this is some flaky thing with my configuration, and not worth pursuing further? Or should I keep trying to pin it down?

It does seem like something specific to your PC/configuration, because I've not seen any other similar/related reports in all my years working on MediaPortal.

Whether we pursue this further is completely up to you and what you want to do. I'm happy to look at logs for as long as you want to continue to provide them. If you decide to call off the search at any point that's also fine by me. To be absolutely clear though: without your input I can't do anything to independently investigate, because I'm not able to reproduce the problem myself and because nobody else has reported it.

 

[cewillis]

I'll keep checking then, but there doesn't seem to be any reason to export schedules, since the scheduler thread was still working -- right? I agree there's nothing anyone can do without real diagnostic info.

 

[mm1352000]

but there doesn't seem to be any reason to export schedules, since the scheduler thread was still working -- right?

I still think you should export them. Definitely doesn't hurt to confirm that TV Server knew about the schedule.

 

[cewillis]

I noticed something else - after trying to reproduce the problem for a couple of hours. After starting a dvd, and then stopping for a minute to schedule a TV show, I could not cause the problem despite numerous tries. The next day I noticed that a show scheduled to record every week (scheduled before messing with the DVD) did not record. Once again, too late to get any useful logs, due to auto-restart every morning.
So I don't know if this means anything -- but I can at least test in that order.

 

[mm1352000]

Once again, too late to get any useful logs, due to auto-restart every morning.

Restart doesn't kill/delete logs. There are usually 5 days or restarts (can't remember which) worth of log files. If you use the watchdog/debug-tool with option 3 it should pick them up. Then just make sure you mention the relevant date/times, channel name(s) and program name(s), and hopefully I'll be able to spot something.

Regards,
mm

 

[cewillis]

May have something useful. I put in 2 new schedules using 'New' in Schedules: these were for 0.5 hour at 9:45a and 10:30a Then put in a dvd and played it.
A little after 11a, I stopped the dvd, and the schedules had not recorded. Log and exported schedules attached. I don't think I got what you wanted for exported schedules, though, as the export was after the scheduled recordings. To get the export you want (I think), I have to stop a dvd during a scheduled recording (that isn't) - which I can do, if I can get this to recur.

edit: I see there is a bunch of earlier stuff in tv.log -- but the record times above are correct.

edit2: I had other programs scheduled to record at 12pm and 1pm -- they did not. At ~1:15 I saved MP2, TV2, and export2.
The 1:00 program was still in schedules, but not in recorded tv or active recordings.
I think this last set accurately and completely captures the problem. (if something has indeed broken MP somehow)

edit3: 2 other things.
MP did not automatically go to standby, as it should if no activity -- so it appears to 'think' it's recording.
After reboot, the remainder of the 1pm schedule started recording.

 

[mm1352000]

Ahhhh, interesting.

Logs show that TV Server definitely tried to record the 9:45 and 10:30 recordings.
2014-12-04 09:44:02.312500 [scheduler thread(9)]: Scheduler: Time to record KOLDHD 9:44 AM-10:15 AM Manual (KOLDHD)

However your tuner didn't want to play ball:
2014-12-04 09:46:33.828125 [scheduler thread(9)]: dvb: RunGraph returns: 0x8007001F

Not 15 minutes earlier the tuner was working fine:
2014-12-04 09:34:14.234375 [scheduler thread(9)]: Scheduler: Time to record KOLDHD 9:34 AM-10:00 AM Flip My Food With Chef Jeff
...
2014-12-04 09:34:14.859375 [scheduler thread(9)]: atsc:Tune:ATSC:tv:unknown KOLDHD Freq:193250 ONID:0 TSID:0 SID:3 PMT:0x20 FTA:True LCN:10000 phys:11 maj:13 min:1 mod:Mod256Qam
...
2014-12-04 09:34:20.609375 [scheduler thread(9)]: subch:0-0 tswriter StartRecording...

So, what could have caused this?
My answer would be: the suspend + resume cycle at 9:36:44 - 9:39:44. Not all hardware and/or drivers can handle suspend/resume reliably.

In my experience, once a driver decides it isn't happy, all subsequent tune requests - both for live TV and recordings - won't work correctly. This pattern continues until the TV service or PC are restarted.

Sometimes timing can also be important. By timing, I mean the delay for "card" detection in the general section of TV Server configuration. Any attempt to interact with the tuner driver before it is ready can trigger the problem.

If I were you, at this point I would confirm that live TV is not working. I say live TV, because it would be affected in just the same way as recordings... and is probably easier to test.
After that I'd try to restart the TV service and see if live TV starts working again.
If it does, I'd do some focussed standby/resume testing to confirm that the tuner stops working after standby/resume relatively consistently. It may not be 100% consistent due to our inability to measure/predict when Windows will load the tuner driver. You'll know the problem is triggered by standby/resume as long as it breaks live TV at least a few times.
After confirming the problem, I'd try to increase the previously mentioned "card" (tuner) detection delay. It's a bit tricky to know what value to use, but I'd probably start at 30 seconds and increase in 10 second blocks until the problem is no longer reproducible. Values of less than 10 seconds probably won't make any difference; values of 60 seconds or more may be necessary for slow systems, or systems with a lot of peripheral hardware.

Regards,
mm

 

[cewillis]

mm,

Much appreciate your looking at this, and your expertise. But a few points --
1) Unless I am seriously mistaken:
The event at ***09:39:45.750000 [(6)]: TV service: Starting*** in tv.log is a startup (reboot) event, not a resume from standby. It corresponds to the first event at ***09:39:29.875000 [Info.][MPMain(1)]: Main: MediaPortal v1.2.3.0 is starting up on Windows XP ( Service Pack 3 ) [5.1.2600.196608]*** and to ***09:39:47.609375 [Info.][MPMain(1)]: Main: The TV service has started successfully.*** in Mediaportal.log. So it seems to me that everything before the reboot, including starting to initiate standby (not suspend), is not relevant to this discussion. Right? Wrong? (I was having some non-related, operator caused problems before -- thus the reboot and fresh start.)
There are no standby/resume cycles during this entire test time from 9:39:44 until 11:07:43. The dvd was playing for most of this time. from 9:40:36 until 11:02:46.

2) I absolutely, positively, 99.93% guarantee that this issue is related to starting a dvd. Whatever that is could of course somehow cause standby/resume to not work. But I routinely do several, at least 4 or 5 standby/resume cycles daily, and I have NEVER (99.93%) seen this issue without a dvd start involved.

3) Referring to post $22 above, I've almost convinced myself that 'the problem' is only with schedules that existed before starting the dvd. I have not been able to reproduce the problem by adding scheduled recordings after starting the dvd despite several tries, and it may be easier to reproduce for already existing schedules (worked 2 out of 2 tries). Does this suggest any possible area that could get broken?
So my swag is that live TV will also work OK. I'll try to repeat this, and try live TV.

I really hope that all this is clear, and that I'm not completely off base.
So, do I have point 1) right? If so, do you still suggest the same test procedures?
Do 2) and 3) suggest any other possibilities?

Thanks, mm.
Cal