Live TV: no video and broken audio (1 Viewer)

gyring_eddy

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    My setup is 1 dedicated server + 1 dedicated client HTPC + client installed on my main PC.

    For about 2 months whenever I try and watch live TV 90% of the time I get a blank screen with snippets of broken audio, the remaining 10% it works normally. HD Channels are worse than SD but both fail more often than not. Previously my server + client setup was working normally. Old recorded shows from before the problem started play fine, but newer ones are often corrupted and unplayable, with much smaller file sizes than normal. Other videos play fine. I've tried the following:

    1) Transferred aerial from TV tuner to TV - all channels perfectly viewable (HD not tested because TV does not support it). Other TVs in the house connected to the same aerial + splitter/booster work fine also.

    2) Disabled TVService and ran SmartDVB on server - all channels perfectly viewable, including HD.

    3) Uninstalled MediaPortal 1.4.0 and reverted to 1.3.0 (clean install) on server and clients. Problem seemed to be solved - all channels worked reliably for a period of several hours, but the problem resumed the next day. Repeated steps 1 and 2: still fine.

    4) Tried reverting to an older TV tuner driver, same problem.

    5) Tried TV codecs other than LAV, same problem.

    TVService and SmartDVB report signal level as ~5% (rather low) but quality as 100% consistently. Built-in tuners on TVs seem to tune reliably always regardless, and report a much higher signal level >90% and 100% quality (more sensitive tuners?)

    6) Connected a standalone signal tester directly to the aerial and also to the lead coming from the booster to my server - both report low signal (1/8 LEDs lit) but this has always been so even when it works. I tried repositioning the aerial to receive a nearer transmitter offering a more limited service and got an OK signal (5/8), but had the same problem. Ordinary TVs and SmartDVB still fine.

    The only measure so far which seems to have solved the problem, if only for a time, was reinstalling MediaPortal. This, coupled with the fact that SmartDVB running on the same server using the same TV card is always fine, suggests a problem with MediaPortal, but I'm starting to go a bit demented so could be completely wrong.

    Logs are attached, if anyone can make sense of this I would love to hear from you.
     

    Owlsroost

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    What happens if you install MP client on the server and view TV using that (i.e. like the situation with using SmartDVB to view TV on the server) ?

    Your hardware/OS installations look fairly new - when these problems started were there hardware/OS changes at the server ?
     

    Owlsroost

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    You have lots of 'PMT Pid wasn't found on the PAT. Channel may have moved, try a new channel scan' messages in the TsWriter logs - have you tried deleting all the channels and re-scanning ?
     

    gyring_eddy

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    Good question regarding running the client on the server, I'll try this and get back to you. The only change I've made to the server since it was working OK was to upgrade MP from 1.3.0 to 1.4.0.[DOUBLEPOST=1375654950][/DOUBLEPOST]I've rescanned multiple times, including when moving the aerial. I'll do it again while I'm tinkering.[DOUBLEPOST=1375655145][/DOUBLEPOST]One question re: installing client on server - can I install the client alone as I would on a dedicated client, or should I install as single seat?
     

    gyring_eddy

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    OK, I've installed the MP client v1.3.0 on the server PC. I've run MP client on the server and watched one HD and one SD channel successfully, then did the same using the MP client on my PC - also successful. All seems to be working now, but this has happened before! New logs from both computers are attached. I didn't rescan this time, but it doesn't look like it was necessary.
     

    Attachments

    • tvserver_log_2.zip
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    Owlsroost

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    As this is a dedicated server, one issue that a few people have had is the CPU/system power saving being too aggressive and causing issues with (presumably) tuner drivers, causing the sort of continuity errors in your TsWriter logs (which basically mean data has gone missing/corrupted).

    One user had to run a small Windows game all the time just to generate enough CPU usage to stop it going dropping into too low a power state...see https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...-open-tswriter-continuity-error.106792/page-8
     
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    gyring_eddy

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    Thanks for that, interesting reading. Unfortunately everything seems to working now (not often I say that), so I'll have to wait for it to start misbehaving again before testing any of the ideas in that thread. My problem seems to be more intermittent/less reliably reproducible than the other guy's, but anything's worth a shot.

    Thanks again for all your help so far, I'll keep the thread updated as and when.
     

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