HDHomerun Prime & MediaPortal 1.5 (1 Viewer)

John Ladd

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I have updated HDHomerun prime with the Dec 2013 firmware updates. It is on a Comcast system with a cable card, paired successfully. I can watch all three tuners using 3 SD QuickTV viewers. HDHomerun setup is set for MediaPortal.

When I try to setup the TVServer, the program only finds the QAM tuners, but lists the three cable tuners as Unknown. I have found that when I do a hard reset(unplug and restart) of the HDHomerun Prime device while the TVServer program is still running, the TVServer correctly identifies the three tuners and I can make all of my channel settings. I am using this as the TVServer for XBMC.

Secondly, when I finish watching LiveTV and close out XBMC, the tuner that was being used remains locked and uses up incredible amount of internet bandwidth so all internet access become pathetic. I have to unplug the HDHomerun Prime to get the tuner to be released and recover the internet bandwidth.

I can provide logfiles, but I am not sure that they will proper display when I reset the HDHomerun Prime for the start-up or release issue.

Appreciate any support.
 

mm1352000

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    Hello and welcome John :)

    When I try to setup the TVServer, the program only finds the QAM tuners, but lists the three cable tuners as Unknown. I have found that when I do a hard reset(unplug and restart) of the HDHomerun Prime device while the TVServer program is still running, the TVServer correctly identifies the three tuners and I can make all of my channel settings.
    So, first: I take it you know that "Unknown" means the tuner is not detected. Key point especially for CableCARD tuners: not detected at the time you open TV Server configuration. If TV Server is working correctly, it should only take a few seconds to detect your tuner after the service is started. If it is taking 5+ minutes to detect or you have to power on and power off to get TV Server to detect the tuners - in other words, TV Server only detects the tuners when they broadcasts their SSDP NOTIFY message - then something is not right. I've seen this behaviour before when people attempt to use TV Server in a VM or when there is something fishy/complex about the network configuration. Otherwise, simply restarting TV Server configuration should show that the TV service has detected the tuners.

    An additional comment about this topic posted recently that might add to the explanation above:
    https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...for-mediaportal-1.112585/page-62#post-1048244

    I am using this as the TVServer for XBMC.
    Yep, that should be fine. :)

    Secondly, when I finish watching LiveTV and close out XBMC, the tuner that was being used remains locked and uses up incredible amount of internet bandwidth so all internet access become pathetic. I have to unplug the HDHomerun Prime to get the tuner to be released and recover the internet bandwidth.
    Internet bandwidth, or local network bandwidth?
    Tuners not unlocking has been reported to be caused by firewall issues... and in fact, the above issue about tuner detection can also be affected by firewalls. I suggest you disable all firewalls (don't forget the Windows firewall) temporarily to confirm this issue goes away (and see if it helps with tuner detection), then check your configuration for TvService.exe and SetupTv.exe. These two applications require public and private access to your network. I've seen various issues reported over the years where public access has been granted without private access...

    I can provide logfiles, but I am not sure that they will proper display when I reset the HDHomerun Prime for the start-up or release issue.
    I think they would be helpful.
    They will at least show if the TV service is detecting your tuners at all on startup. There are also log entries showing when TV Server detects tuners being added or removed "dynamically".
    The release issue can really only be seen in something like a Wireshark trace. I'd expect to see icslap packets when the RTSP TEARDOWN request (ie. the request to unlock the tuner) is sent.

    mm
     

    John Ladd

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    I re-configured my network so the HDHR and the HTPC are on the same sub-port with an unmanaged switch. I start MP TVserver with the HDHR already powered up with these results:
    Initial+Server.jpg

    You can see it identifies the card, it just can't determine the type or state, even though I have set them up previously.

    Then I recycled the HDHR and without shutting down the MP TVServer, the status changed within 20 seconds to the following:
    Second+Server.jpg


    When I first start MP TVServer, even though it shows the unknown or n/a status, HDHR QuickTV runs just fine. Also, I had tried to use NextPVR TVServer, and the tuners show up just fine. I have attached the debug log files following starting MP TVServer and having the tuners not found, and then after I recycle the power on HDHR Prime.
    I thought by getting the Netgear router WNDR3700 v2 out of the communication path that the HDHR tuners would be found more reliably. It appears that it hasn't helped.

    Hopefully there is something useful in the detail. I appreciate your help.
     

    mm1352000

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    Hello again John

    I re-configured my network so the HDHR and the HTPC are on the same sub-port with an unmanaged switch. I start MP TVserver with the HDHR already powered up with these results...
    Okay - so tuners not detected. The logs confirm this.

    You can see it identifies the card, it just can't determine the type or state, even though I have set them up previously.
    The tuners are listed because TV Server knew about them previously. It hasn't actually detected the tuners at all.

    Then I recycled the HDHR and without shutting down the MP TVServer, the status changed within 20 seconds to the following...
    Yes, so that is what you'd normally expect to see. Tuners detected and available for use within ~5 seconds.

    When I first start MP TVServer, even though it shows the unknown or n/a status, HDHR QuickTV runs just fine. Also, I had tried to use NextPVR TVServer, and the tuners show up just fine.
    As far as I'm aware, QuickTV and N-PVR both use libhdhomerun for their HDHR support. Without getting into too much detail, libhdhomerun uses a proprietary way of detecting and controlling the tuners (which is why Ceton tuners aren't natively supported by N-PVR). MP uses standard non-proprietary communication/interfaces. In other words, it isn't really a fair comparison... but I do take your point that the tuners are available on the network.

    I have attached the debug log files following starting MP TVServer and having the tuners not found, and then after I recycle the power on HDHR Prime.
    Thanks (y)
    TV Server is clearly having trouble detecting your tuners.
    One thing that doesn't help is that it appears you have "delay before detecting..." set to 15 seconds:
    http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...ration/06_General#Delay_for_TV_card_detection

    Please set that back down to zero.

    I thought by getting the Netgear router WNDR3700 v2 out of the communication path that the HDHR tuners would be found more reliably. It appears that it hasn't helped.
    It was a good test.
    Did you also try disabling all firewalls as suggested? The process for this test would be:
    1. Disable all firewalls.
    2. Restart the TV service.
    3. Check how quickly the tuners are detected automatically.
    In other words, don't reboot the tuner.

    Another thing you can try is disabling IPv6 on your network adaptor.
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852
    Refer to the steps under the heading "Unbind IPv6 from a specific network adapter".

    Finally, I've also attached a debug tool which should pick up all the UPnP devices on your network. Can you please:
    1. Download and extract the files into a folder somewhere on the TV Server PC.
    2. Run UPnPDeviceSpy.exe.
    3. See how long it takes for it to pick up your PRIME.
    I note this tool uses the exact same code as TV Server does... so if it is able to detect your tuner quickly, it tells us that the problem is with TV Server or configuration for TV Server (ie. both TV Server configuration and external configuration like firewalls etc.). If not, it tells us there is some kind of funky network issue in your environment or we have a code problem.
    I also note that the tool should list two entries for the PRIME - a DRI (ie. native CableLabs tuner) interface and a DLNA interface (which is part of the Silicondust project connect thing).

    Hopefully I haven't confused you with such a long reply. Summary of key points:
    1. I acknowledge TV Server is having trouble detecting your tuner.
    2. I'm suggesting three things you can try to help resolve the problem:
      • disable all firewalls
      • disable IPv6 on your network adaptors
      • try the MP2 device spy tool
    Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Looking forward to the test results... :)

    mm
     

    Attachments

    • MP UPnP Device Spy.zip
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    John Ladd

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    Thanks for your recommendations, but no joy...

    Reset the "delay before detecting" to 0, made had no effect.

    Turned off Windows firewall, and the tuners were still not found. Turned off IPv6 in the adapter card and restarted the PC. Confirmed the firewall and IPv6 were still off. Started the MP TVServer application and it still did not find the tuners. Waited five minutes, and the tuners were still not present. Did a restart of the HDHR and all the tuners were found.

    Ran the MP2 Device Spy tool. Snapshot below. Immediately found all of the devices, with the two tuners that you warned me of. No delay, all the devices were shown as soon as opened up the device folder. No reset of the HDHR unit required.

    HRuF66hqzbVBhvqT3rHwS4_f8OjtikQsXfi_REJwiQ=w288-h162-p-no


    Based on the outcome of this evaluation, appears there is some difference between the spy tool and the TVServer program. Is there anything specific you need to see from the spy tool? I highlighted the HDHR tuner when I captured the screen shot.

    Thanks for the help in trying to get this resolved. I haven't been playing any television through XBMC so I don't know if the tuner is still hanging open. One problem at a time. Once again, thanks.
     

    mm1352000

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    Hello again John

    Thanks for the test results. (y)

    Based on the outcome of this evaluation, appears there is some difference between the spy tool and the TVServer program.
    Yes, I'd agree. The question would be what that difference could be.
    @Valk @morpheus_xx
    Do either of you have any tips for tracking down problems like this?

    mm
     

    Valk

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    I have no idea about the HDHomerun Prime or how it's integrated into MP1 / MP2. If it uses the MP2 UPnP framework to access the resource (from what I assume is the dlna provider) then it's probably best to tackle this after I finish the (breaking) changes I'm doing to the MP2 UPnP framework.

    For now yes it means sorry I have no idea :p.
     

    mm1352000

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    Thanks Valk :)

    I have no idea about the HDHomerun Prime or how it's integrated into MP1 / MP2.
    TVE 3 (MP1) only for the moment.

    If it uses the MP2 UPnP framework...
    It does.

    ...to access the resource (from what I assume is the dlna provider)
    It is not DLNA.
    Basically it is a UPnP tuner.
    Device discovery is SSDP; tuning is custom interfaces defined by CableLabs (US cable TV organisation); streaming is standard UPnP connection manager and AV transport services.

    ...then it's probably best to tackle this after I finish the (breaking) changes I'm doing to the MP2 UPnP framework.

    For now yes it means sorry I have no idea :p.
    I'm not asking you to tackle code, and definitely not asking you to understand how CableCARD tuners work. I was only hoping that with your superior understanding of the MP2 UPnP and Windows networking stacks that you might be able to suggest a way to debug this problem.

    The problem here is very narrow and fundamental.
    In as few words as I can say it...
    Both TVE 3 and the MP2 UPnP device spy tool use the same UPnP DLLs.
    The device spy tool detects the tuner immediately.
    TVE 3 can't detect the tuner until the tuner broadcasts NOTIFY packets.

    In other words, seems like there is a difference in behaviour of the SSDP code when using M-SEARCH due to the different environment in which the library is used. Could be a network or configuration issue. I don't know.

    Still nothing? (I had to ask... :p )
     

    Valk

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    Really have nothing but I'd say it isn't a networking problem as the spy tool works flawless. Only thoughts are:
    A binding conflict stopping the UPnP Library receiving messages (something else is catching them first)?
    Can you run the TV Server through a debugger and step through the request / response code? That would be the best way to debug this issue.

    Currently I'm focused on the ContentDirectory part, ConnectionManager is on the to-do list.
     

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