Pressing record while watching live tv forces to use a second tuner (1 Viewer)

GuiltyNL

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  • January 26, 2013
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    I'm testing my IPTV setup with an m3u list for my Octopus Net Tuner.

    And I noticed that when I watch live TV and I press 'Record' the TV Server fires up a second tuner to record the channel I'm already watching.

    That seems a bit odd, because I would have expect that he would use the same tuner.

    Is this by design? Or do I have to change a setting somewhere?
     

    mm1352000

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    And I noticed that when I watch live TV and I press 'Record' the TV Server fires up a second tuner to record the channel I'm already watching.
    TV Server will do this by design if the first tuner (ie. the tuner you're using to watch TV) has a lower priority than the second tuner.
     

    GuiltyNL

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    Ok clear, and what would the behaviour be if the second tuner is already occupied?
     

    mm1352000

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    and what would the behaviour be if the second tuner is already occupied?
    I prefer not to give any more guessed answers that may or may not be correct/applicable for whatever scenario(s) you're actually encountering.
    So, if you think there's a problem, I'd be happier to check the log files and confirm the problem or explain what's going on.
    :)
     

    GuiltyNL

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    Ok! :)

    What I will do first:

    1) Is try to get the Octopus scanning my missing channels
    2) Setup the my final working MePo config
    3) Let reproduce the behaviour as above
    4) Post logfiles here when I'm ready :)
     

    GuiltyNL

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    Ok I have tested it. What I did:

    1) Watch Live TV on my development MePo Laptop
    2) Let my wife watch TV on my current Kodi setup (that I want to say goodbye ;) )
    3) Press Record during watching Live TV

    1) MePo says it starts recording (and it does).
    2) My Live TV stream stops
    3) When I try to restart the stream, it says 'Unkown Error' (I think because he tries to start the second tuner, but that one is occupied by Kodi)

    So it seems MePo is - in my setup - not able to record a programme and also watch live tv on the same tuner and the same channel at the same time.

    Full logs are attached!
     

    mm1352000

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    Hello again

    I think a few things need to be clarified. Most importantly...

    1. The two virtual DVB-IP tuners that you've configured in TV Server Configuration aren't associated with the Octopus Net's physical tuners. Actually TV Server has no idea that any physical tuners exist. When TV Server tunes a channel for live TV using virtual tuner 2, the ON automatically chooses which physical tuner to use based on it's own internal logic. It may choose the first physical tuner... or it may choose the second one. Again I emphasize: TV Server is completely unaware of these details. From TV Server's perspective it's just receiving streams.

    2. The virtual tuners in TV Server are meant to represent the number of streams you can receive simultaneously. Viewing live TV is one stream; recording a channel is a second stream... even if that channel is already being viewed live. This is a unique and important difference for TV Server's DVB-IP tuner handling when compared to handling for other tuner types.

    1) Watch Live TV on my development MePo Laptop
    2) Let my wife watch TV on my current Kodi setup (that I want to say goodbye ;) )
    Just to point out...
    There are two possible outcomes from the perspective of the ON and physical tuner usage:
    1. If the development laptop and Kodi setup request channels that are broadcast on the same frequency, the ON should use only one physical tuner. It could be the first tuner or the second tuner; that decision is up to the ON.
    2. On the other hand, if the development laptop and Kodi setup request channels that are broadcast on different frequencies, the ON must use both physical tuners.

    3) Press Record during watching Live TV

    1) MePo says it starts recording (and it does).
    2) My Live TV stream stops
    The best way to understand what happens here is to think in terms of streams.

    You've configured two virtual tuners, so the total stream capacity is two streams.
    At the time you press record, TV Server is using one stream (virtual tuner 2) for live TV (NPO 1 HD). That means one stream is used, and one stream (virtual tuner 3) available.
    As explained above, starting a recording requires a new stream. TV Server thinks that should be fine because there's one stream available.
    So, TV Server tries to start the stream (using virtual tuner 3). This fails because the ON returns an error:
    21-02-2017 23:23:57.207 [1130] [{98DA11B9-FB1E-4B85-9CB3-D51613F769AE}] [Verbose] MPUrlSourceSplitter_Protocol_Rtsp: instance 'Main': CurlWorker(): RTSP response:
    RTSP/1.0 404 Not Found
    CSeq: 4


    21-02-2017 23:23:57.210 [1df4] [{98DA11B9-FB1E-4B85-9CB3-D51613F769AE}] [Error] MPUrlSourceSplitter_Protocol_Rtsp: instance 'Main': Initialize(): RTSP SETUP response status code not success: 404 (Not Found)

    According to the SAT>IP specifications, error code 404 means:
    The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI.
    Returned when requesting a stream with a streamID that does not exist.

    This is weird because TV Server didn't send a request with a streamID. :confused:
    21-02-2017 23:23:57.186 [1130] [{98DA11B9-FB1E-4B85-9CB3-D51613F769AE}] [Verbose] MPUrlSourceSplitter_Protocol_Rtsp: instance 'Main': CurlWorker(): RTSP request:
    SETUP rtsp://@192.168.100.20/?freq=386.000&msys=dvbc&sr=6900&mtype=256qam&pids=0,2000,2001,2101,2011,2012,2013,2001,18 RTSP/1.0
    Transport: RTP/AVP;unicast;client_port=50002-50003
    CSeq: 4

    Anyway, based on your user priority config, TV Server thinks recording is more important than live TV. Therefore it stops your live TV stream in order to try to make it possible to perform the recording. This is successful. That's why you saw your live TV stream stop and the recording start successfully.

    3) When I try to restart the stream, it says 'Unkown Error'
    This comes from the ON error mentioned above.

    (I think because he tries to start the second tuner...
    ...on the same tuner...
    Again I emphasize: TV Server is completely unaware of the existence of the physical tuners. This means that it isn't possible for TV Server to intentionally "try to start the second tuner" or use "the same tuner" for two streams. TV Server just says "please tune channel X". If the request succeeds, all is good; if it fails... well, it's not TV Server's fault.

    ...but that one is occupied by Kodi)
    The ON can decide to use the same physical tuner to provide streams for KODI and TV Server.

    So it seems MePo is - in my setup - not able to record a programme and also watch live tv on the same ... channel at the same time.
    Based on the error in the log files, I think the limitation comes from the Octopus Net.
     

    GuiltyNL

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    Ok clear. I do understand what you mean.

    Viewing live TV is one stream; recording a channel is a second stream... even if that channel is already being viewed live. This is a unique and important difference for TV Server's DVB-IP tuner handling when compared to handling for other tuner types.
    Also I do understand what's happening, I only don't understand why MePo isn't able to see: hey someone want a recording of the stream that is already open, let's use this same stream, as it is open already. ;)

    The following is no critism, but something you guys me be able to use to improve the TV-Server:

    The Kodi setup uses DVBLink TV Source and when TV Source receives a recording command from Kodi, it starts recording and the live-tv keeps playing on the clients. When I look in the DVBLink setup, it uses one stream / one tuner for the recording and the live-tv.

    So I don't know how they do this technically, but it does work.

    Also when DVBLink is recording two different channels. It will use the two tuners the ON has. When I want to tune live tv of a third channel. DVB Link will say: alle tuners occupied. When I want to tune to live tv of one of the channels that is being recorded, it will start to display that channel.

    I think the difference is that DVBLink is aware of the two tuners in the ON.

    In reality it can be a pain when a second recording will start while watching live TV on the channel that will be recorded. I don't think my wife will understand why the live stream will stop because of a recording on that same channel.
     

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