Does anyone else has the feeling that mp is getting worse in terms of live tv? (1 Viewer)

[RicoHTPC]

Most of the time in the changelog there are no changes at the tv section which makes it even odder

Yes I know.
Still I experience drawbacks and I wanted to check if others do as well.

 

[gpnash]

Have to agree with you. Only be using MP1 since 1.7 and am at 1.13 now. I'm using a ceton eth 6 as my tuner.
I've found my biggest gain in stability was getting rid of MySQL. MySQL and sqllite were far to buggy to be believed.
After starting with ms sql 2012 11.0 speed of listings and memory usage have improved a lot.
however, the live tv code doesn't seem to deal with the eth 6 correctly often becoming confused as to the status of each tuner. If the eth 6 restarts itself
the server doesn't know what to do and the end user gets "unknown error". At other times, (if the tvservice abends during live playback) the server thinks the
tuners are idle when looking at the eth 6 you can see it "PLAYING". The tvservice does not correctly reset the tuners when it should.
if only silicondust had a 6 tuner box... I know ceton has not been very responsive to changes since MS screwed them with MCE

 

[mm1352000]

@gpnash
Thank you for your feedback.

It sounds like you have some exceptional problems with your setup. I'm absolutely certain TV Server's CableCARD tuner support code hasn't changed since MP 1.5 when it was introduced. Therefore I struggle to understand how the problems you described could have been introduced between 1.7 (1.7.1) and 1.13. Either way, I'd encourage you to file bug reports:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/forms/mp1-bug-report.1/respond

MySQL and sqllite were far to buggy to be believed.

MP 1 only supports MySQL and SQL Server, so how did you assess SQLite?

however, the live tv code doesn't seem to deal with the eth 6 correctly often becoming confused as to the status of each tuner.

True, it's possible that TV Server could become confused as to the state of a CableCARD tuner. However I'd have only expected that to happen in exceptional error conditions. If it were happening "often" as you described, I'd definitely consider that to be a problem that ought to be reported.

If the eth 6 restarts itself...

That sounds odd. Under what conditions would the ETH 6 restart itself?

...the server doesn't know what to do and the end user gets "unknown error".

Actually TV Server should "know what to do" because it has been specifically designed to cope with tuner disconnection. Without more detail I honestly can't imagine how even a tuner disconnection would cause TV Server to generate an unknown error. If you file a bug report then we can investigate whether TV Server can handle the situation better.

At other times, (if the tvservice abends during live playback)...

First and foremost: TV Server should not be "abending". Please file a bug report for this!

...the server thinks the tuners are idle when looking at the eth 6 you can see it "PLAYING".

This would be expected given the circumstances.

The tuner status shown by TV Server is the status from the perspective of TV Server. In other words, if TV Server shows "idle" it's because TV Server is not using the tuner at the time. This does not mean that the tuner itself is actually idle. The situation you described - TV Server crashes and the tuner is left playing - is only one example of a situation where TV Server's tuner status does not reflect the actual tuner status. Another example would be when other software uses the tuner.

If we can stop TV Server from crashing then the tuner won't be left in an inconsistent state, and that would resolve the problem. So again: please file a bug report so the crashing can be investigated.

The tvservice does not correctly reset the tuners when it should.

TV Server is not able to reset CableCARD tuners even if it wanted to. There's no such capability/function available in the tuner access/control interface.

 

[mm1352000]

@RicoHTPC
Okay. I can only suggest that everybody reports any problems they find (...as you have been doing - thanks! ) so they can be fixed. Ultimately that's the best way for everybody to get a stable setup.

 

[gpnash]

sqllite came with the tvseries plugin. Many Sqllite problems including it returning a numeric datatype when the column was string and contains "42".

Ceton has designed it's products to handle some problems within MCE and when it detects these conditions it will restart itself. That's all I could get from ceton support on the issue.

When I start up the client (on my htpc that is also my server) and select a channel and the ceton thinks it's playing but the server thinks it's idle I'll get an unknown error balloon in the client.
I've also watched the tuners by starting the service within the server setup "manual control" and I see them go from n/a n/a to atsc idle and back again to n/a n/a.. if that happens the client also gets an unknown error balloon, in addition to the "no free tuners" message.

I'm currently retired, was an ibm mainframe system programmer for over 30 years at Oakland community college in Michigan. done a lot of work with sql server when the college opted out of mainframe computing for the "cheaper" unix world (boy was that a mistake). I became the windows server support person at that point. I'm more used to fixing code than submitting bug reports but if you can point me to the documentation that describes what you want I'll try and collect it. unfortunately I didn't feel I deserved support because I haven't contributed, not in a happy place financially. can program in anything, prefer to use visual basic (less prone to memory problems and easier to maintain than C or F and given 90% of the time you're in someone else's method anyway the languages really don't matter much anymore)

thanks and keep up the good work. My eth 6 may have it's own problems but I figure if we can trap all of it's errors we make better programs

 

[BlueMax1916]

@mm1352000

here is my problem report from a week ago -> https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/mp1-live-tv-freezes-on-change-to-certain-channel.133747/


Cheers

Blue Max

 

[mm1352000]

@gpnash
Thanks for the additional details.

...but if you can point me to the documentation that describes what you want I'll try and collect it.

The link I already provided should cover it:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/forms/mp1-bug-report.1/respond

As indicated:

• forum profile system specifications should be filled in (you've done this )
• fill in the title, description, and steps to reproduce
• attach log files; instructions for acquiring log files are linked

From my perspective it'd probably be best and most productive to start by reporting one problem - the TV Server crashing/dying/abending problem. That seems to be the most critical, and the root of the other problems that occur when the tuner is left in an inconsistent state (i.e. TV Server says the tuner is idle, but it's not => unknown errors etc.).

Don't worry if you don't know how to trigger the crash. That's normal and absolutely fine. In the report:

• Say roughly how frequently TV Server crashes/abends (X times per day/week/fortnight/month).
• Say what you're doing in MediaPortal when TV Server crashes/abends (or rather, when you notice it has crashed/abended). For example, does it happen:
  • when you're trying to change channel
  • all of a sudden when you're happily viewing live TV
  • when you leave MediaPortal for a few hours, or overnight, or for a few days
• Say when the problem last occurred. The more specific you can be in terms of date and time, the better.
• Provide log files. Use the supplied Watchdog tool (linked in the start menu) with option 3 ("export all currently present logs") to get a zip file containing all your log files, then use the "upload a file" function to attach the zip file to the report. Hopefully the log files will show at least one instance of the crash occurring.

That would be an excellent starting point.

unfortunately I didn't feel I deserved support because I haven't contributed, not in a happy place financially.

Please don't feel obliged to contribute financially. We really appreciate it when people do decide to do that, but it's not expected. We provide support regardless.
Actually, reporting problems is a really helpful way to contribute in itself because it helps to make MediaPortal better for everybody.

 

[mm1352000]

here is my problem report from a week ago

Okay, I'll take a look at the log files now and respond in that thread. Thanks.

 

[gpnash]

*geesh* My ceton eth6 problems appear to be environmental. Since the weather has gotten warmer I haven't had any issues at all tuner has been up for over 13 days and the htpc has been restart three times for patches (ok missing a couple of seconds of audio during commercial changes or channel changes and after a day of tv watching the audio starts to get out of sync with the picture (clicking the TV ON button on the TV menu, once to turn it off and again to turn it on resyncs the audio))

so my guess is that the MP1 problems I saw were the result of the ETH6 rebooting and the tvserver not knowing what to do. If it happens again I'll try and get a bug report started, maybe there some information there that will allow you to notice when the tuners go away.

 

[dturner_69]

Well, I can't fault the TV element of MP. It does exactly what it says on the tin, and has never caused me any grief whatsoever, I run a quad tuner setup, and it just works !. I switched over from MS Media Center some time ago, and have never regretted the move. MP is far more configurable, and I have found it way more reliable. Keep up the superb work, I recommend it on a regular basis, knowing that whatever people need, MP will be up to the job.