Calling all MP New Zealanders (Both of you!!) (4 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

@Bleazle
Though effective, those kinds of workarounds aren't really conducive to getting problems fixed.
Ever post your log files... or do you know if the problem still occurs now?

 

[Bleazle]

I can't remember if I posted regarding this issue or not (I think I mentioned it on the 4TR forum back when it was still 4TR). I spent a lot of time Googling trying to find out why a Service might stop running (it was set to automatically restart x 3) but I never found the answer so eventually I made the VBS/BATCH script up (thanks to Google ) and that solved the problem (but I hear what you're saying).

I'm running ARGUS TV Server now and have yet to have a problem with it stopping so unfortunately I don't have any logs that I can post for you.

 

[rlevis]

The TV Server is run standalone. I exported to CSV but it didn't include any of the useful exception information, so exported to XML and that does.

 

[rlevis]

MP's TV Service used to stop working on me all of the time which didn't help with the WAF , so I created a "silent" BATCH file to check it was running every 15 minutes (you can set it to whatever you like) and restart it if it had stopped - never had a problem after that

I have something similar with a restart of TVServer at 6am every day using Windows Task Scheduler and a batch file with
net stop TVService, taskkill /f /im TvService.exe, net start TVService. The taskkill was due to the service not stopping sometimes. I did this a few years ago when the RAM usage would creep up over time and this resolved it.

However, I have got up in the morning on some occasions and found the service status set to "Stopping". You can't stop it or start it, and End Task in Windows Task Manager does nothing. A reboot of the PC is the only solution.

I don't have logs from that situation but it's probably related to a similar crash. Not sure why Windows can't forcefully terminate a process though.

 

[mm1352000]

The TV Server is run standalone. I exported to CSV but it didn't include any of the useful exception information, so exported to XML and that does.

Thanks, perfect.
Looks like a crash in TsWriter TimeShiftGetCurrentFilePosition(). I've seen a couple reports like this in the past year or two. For example:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/regeszters-mepo-local-development.121967/page-4
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/crash-logs-collected-by-watchdog-mp-1-3-0-beta.115736/

You haven't enabled the record from timeshift buffer feature have you?

I don't have logs from that situation but it's probably related to a similar crash.

I doubt it is related. I would be keen to see logs next time it happens, and interested to know if the daily restart is actually necessary still.

Not sure why Windows can't forcefully terminate a process though.

It could mean that the process is deadlocked.

 

[rlevis]

You haven't enabled the record from timeshift buffer feature have you?

As a matter of fact I did enable that in the main TV client in the lounge many moons ago, although it doesn't seem to work. I will disable it.

Not sure why adjusting the DVB EPG settings affects it, or may it doesn't. That could be the other issue with the possible deadlock situation.

We were on holiday with no one here when I logged in remotely twice to find the TV Server "Stopping", so that problem isn't related to the MP Client set to include the timeshift buffer when manually recording. I'm almost certain it is related to DVB EPG perhaps. I set the EPG period back to 12 hours and it's not failed in that way for weeks.

You may be able to answer this question. I have an MDPlugin configured for watching encrypted channels and I've seen this activated while no encrypted channels are being watched or recorded. I checked the log and it was simply grabbing EPG. Is that normal? I don't believe the EPG is encrypted.

 

[mm1352000]

You haven't enabled the record from timeshift buffer feature have you?

As a matter of fact I did enable that in the main TV client in the lounge many moons ago, although it doesn't seem to work. I will disable it.

Good idea. Experimental features are experimental for a reason.

Not sure why adjusting the DVB EPG settings affects it, or may it doesn't. That could be the other issue with the possible deadlock situation.

We were on holiday with no one here when I logged in remotely twice to find the TV Server "Stopping", so that problem isn't related to the MP Client set to include the timeshift buffer when manually recording. I'm almost certain it is related to DVB EPG perhaps. I set the EPG period back to 12 hours and it's not failed in that way for weeks.

How long ago were these problems?
We did have a serious deadlock problem with TsWriter and the idle EPG grabber which could have caused these symptoms... but that problem was solved in MP 1.6 PR and newer:
https://issues.team-mediaportal.com/browse/MP1-3224
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/tswriter-deadlock-potential-fix.114898/

In other words, if you experienced these problems ages ago they you should find you can set the period back to 4 hours and not worry about it. I'd be interested to know if you try this and hit a problem...

You may be able to answer this question. I have a plugin configured for watching encrypted channels and I've seen this activated while no encrypted channels are being watched or recorded. I checked the log and it was simply grabbing EPG. Is that normal? I don't believe the EPG is encrypted.

This is normal. The EPG is not encrypted, but TV Server tunes channels rather than transponders/multiplexes/frequencies when it grabs EPG. An indication that the EPG grabber was possibly bolted on as an afterthought.

 

[Benoire]

@mm1352000
Despite the troubles you face with the code, it is damn good that your heavily (might even say leading the pack/rabble?) involved in future version of the TVEngine currently...

Looks like I'm back on the MediaPortal grid Had some major issues with my Esxi tv system... Appears motherboard wasn't fully compatible with ESXi 5.5 for pass through... works perfectly in Xen Server 6.2. If I can get a spare DVB-S tuner then the offer still stands for a test system as a virtual machine that can be easily replaced should something screw up

 

[TommySharp]

Ahhhh the good old batch file....

Can't say I've ever experienced the tv service issues you guys are but I do reboot my server every Sunday night at 2am just to keep things running nicely.

 

[rlevis]

How long ago were these problems?
We did have a serious deadlock problem with TsWriter and the idle EPG grabber which could have caused these symptoms... but that problem was solved in MP 1.6 PR and newer

Unfortunately the holiday was just a couple of weeks ago and it was running 1.6.0.

Switching the EPG idle refresh timer back to 4 or fewer hours and trying to make it crash is not something I'm wanting to do as it's heavily used by the family.

May I ask how the "EPG grabbing while timeshifting/recording" works. I've never used it as it never made sense to me and couldn't find any information. Is this able to get all DVB-S channels EPG while recording one channel using the same tuner?