Live TV freezes very often using Technisat Skystar HD2 (1 Viewer)

[roger_77]

Hi all,
I hope someone can help me cause the live tv function in Mediaportal is starting to give me a real headache.

Problem:
Whenever I watch live tv, the screen just freezes and audio stops.
Sometimes I can watch 2 hrs of live tv before it happens while other times it happens almost instantly. Mediaportal itself still works properly, I can go back into the menu stop live tv and start it again but that doesnt seem to fix the issue. Usually the problem is back in a matter of seconds.

I have searched through all the forums and tried so make sense of the threads while using some of the codes I found in the log files but unfortunately I have had no luck so far.

The issue with live tv is the only thing that prevents me from having a stable environment right now....and thus, getting approval from the rest of the family. I really appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks a lot in advance for your support.

Attached below are the log files (they are small as the problem occurred immediately after deleting the previous log files)

 

[mm1352000]

Hello

I can't see any problem in those log files, so I suspect the problem is client-side. Please post full logs using the watchdog/debug tool:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/3_Forums/2_Log_Files

mm

 

[roger_77]

Hi mm,

WOW - thank you so much for the quick response!!! Really appreciate your help![DOUBLEPOST=1405498252][/DOUBLEPOST]As requested, the full logs from the debug tool. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[mm1352000]

Ahhhh, this time I see a possible problem on the server side:
[2014-07-16 09:59:36,748] [75a8ba0] [870] - Recorderid 6e Continuity error... f ( prev d ) - bad signal?
[2014-07-16 09:59:36,748] [75a8ba0] [870] - Recorderid 79 Continuity error... 2 ( prev 0 ) - bad signal?
[2014-07-16 09:59:36,748] [75a8ba0] [870] - Recorderid 7a Continuity error... 2 ( prev 0 ) - bad signal?
[2014-07-16 09:59:36,748] [75a8ba0] [870] - Recorderid 7d Continuity error... c ( prev 3 ) - bad signal?
[2014-07-16 09:59:36,748] [75a8ba0] [870] - Recorderid 82 Continuity error... b ( prev 0 ) - bad signal?
[2014-07-16 09:59:36,748] [75a8ba0] [870] - Recorderid 78 Continuity error... c ( prev 4 ) - bad signal?

You have the power connected into the tuner, right?
Signal strength/quality good as far as you know? No video corruption like this:
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/9316/lavp1.jpg

...or audio pops/crackles?

@Owlsroost
These are symptoms, right?
[2014-07-16 10:02:28,796] [170befe8] [11dc] - CTsReaderFilter:uration - correction to predicted duration: 165.629 s
[2014-07-16 10:02:24,852] [Log ] [ViewModeSwitcher] [DEBUG] - FrameGrabber: Timed-out waiting for grabbed frame!

 

[roger_77]

I'm not sure what you mean with "power connected into the tuner".

Neither video nor audio show any signs of corruption. Even when it freezes, the video quality is still good.....just frozen.

 

[mm1352000]

I'm not sure what you mean with "power connected into the tuner".

I have a TechniSat SkyStar HD2 also. It looks like this:
http://www.hartware.de/media/reviews/936/pcikarte_hi.jpg

The white 4 pin connector at the end of the card is for a connection to the PC's power supply.

Neither video nor audio show any signs of corruption. Even when it freezes, the video quality is still good.....just frozen.

Okay.

 

[Owlsroost]

@Owlsroost
These are symptoms, right?
[2014-07-16 10:02:28,796] [170befe8] [11dc] - CTsReaderFilter:uration - correction to predicted duration: 165.629 s
[2014-07-16 10:02:24,852] [Log ] [ViewModeSwitcher] [DEBUG] - FrameGrabber: Timed-out waiting for grabbed frame!

Yes, they are both symptoms of the timeshift file not being written i.e. there is no new data available.

roger_77 - I notice this error in MediaPortal.log:

[2014-07-16 09:59:45,302] [Error  ] [FileSystemManager Thread] [ERROR] - AddWatcher exception on dir=d:\htpc\musik, ex=System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Error reading the d:\htpc\musik directory.
   at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.StartRaisingEvents()
   at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.set_EnableRaisingEvents(Boolean value)
   at MediaPortal.Util.Utils.AddWatcher(String dir)

Is there a possible problem sometimes with drive D: ?

Have you tried moving the timeshift files to drive C: ? (they are here currently - D:\HTPC\Temp files\)

(But agree with mm that this feels more like a problem with the tuner card stopping/freezing)

 

[roger_77]

Ah, ok now I get what you mean.

As far as I know, the PCI Card requires a connection to the power supply otherwise the Operating System wouldn't be able to recognize the card.

Nonetheless, I did actually check whether there was a connection to the power supply. It was a bit loose, so I not only plugged it in firmly but also re-installed the card.

Unfortunately it did not change the situation and the problem still occurred. I added a new debug file as the error messages may be different now that the connection to power supply is ruled out as root cause.[DOUBLEPOST=1405512647][/DOUBLEPOST]Hi Owlroost,

I have not had any issues with my D drive yet. Though I will change the folder to my C drive to rule out this option as well. Thanks[DOUBLEPOST=1405513382][/DOUBLEPOST]Ok - changing it to C drive also doesn't make a difference. If its helpful, I can provide another debug log file.

 

[Owlsroost]

Could the tuner card be overheating ?

The latest logs show the same sequence of a group of continuity errors (in TsWriter.log) followed by TsReader running out of data, which suggests that the tuner card has problems (or the antenna feed to it).

If you run live TV with MP in windowed mode, and have an explorer window open for the timeshift folder, check if the timeshift files continue to be updated when playback freezes - that should tell you if it's a TV server or client problem.

 

[roger_77]

Temp inside the case doesn't get above 55C so I doubt overheating could be a problem.

Here is what's interesting. When Live TV froze, I switched to my Timeshift folder and watched the buffer there. The quality of the buffer files isn't nearly as good as the quality in Mediaportal itself. Here is do notice video corruption.
The length of the buffer file also seemed longer than what I watched directly in Mediaportal.

Hope this helps anything