Recordings truncated for no apparent reason (1 Viewer)

[nick8571]

Oooh, that looks interesting, and the time matches... no, the MCE service isn't disabled, but it didn't seem to be causing a problem before, so I left it alone. Having said that, if there were a conflict, wouldn't it be expected to interrupt *any* MediaPortal recording at the time it kicks in, not just one channel (BBC1 HD)?

Still, something more to go on... I'll disable the WMC scheduler service and see what happens tomorrow. I'll be very embarrassed (although relieved) if this was the problem all along.

edit: Well, I happened to keep a recording of Breakfast from 19/06/2012, which cut off prematurely at 07:41, according to the on-screen clock. Guess what, the system log for that date shows the WMC scheduler kicking in at 07:37:09, and stopping at 07:39:40. Not exactly bang-on, but surely way too close to be a second coincidence (possibly my system clock was a bit astray on that date). How the hell did I not see that before?

On second thoughts, I *won't* disable the service for the time being... I'll wait for the expected cutoff tomorrow morning and see if there's another time match.

I suppose it's too soon to crack open the Bollinger, but this is looking very promising... either you are a genius, or I am an idiot. Probably both.

 

[elliottmc]

Do this from within MediaPortal configuration (see screenshot).

It could be something as simple as a task within MCE that occurs at the same time every day, although you did say you can record the program in SD.

Mark

 

[nick8571]

Do this from within MediaPortal configuration (see screenshot).

OK, I'll do that tomorrow after I've confirmed (or not) another correlation between Media Center activity and the time at which TsWriter stops... errr... tswriting.

I've had a quick look at the previous times I've reported failures, and there definitely seems to be a pattern, but it's not always precise (can be several minutes out). Also, the WMC scheduler ran between 07:09 and 07:13 on Saturday 7th July, yet on that occasion there was *no* premature cutoff, so I guess I'm not home and dry quite yet...

 

[nick8571]

Well, the recording stopped at 8:01 this morning according to the Breakfast on-screen clock, and I've got this in the system log:

10/07/2012 06:50:56;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Application Experience service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 07:10:58;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Multimedia Class Scheduler service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 07:55:05;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the running state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 07:59:09;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:01:07;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the running state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:01:17;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:02:48;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the running state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:02:59;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:03:32;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the running state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:03:43;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:04:40;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the running state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:04:51;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:05:24;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the running state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:05:35;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Windows Media Center Scheduler Service service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:46:00;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Google Update Service (gupdate) service entered the running state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 08:46:00;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Google Update Service (gupdate) service entered the stopped state.";"1073748860"
10/07/2012 10:03:16;"Service Control Manager";"(0)";"Information";"The Multimedia Class Scheduler service entered the running state.";"1073748860"

It's starting to look pretty conclusive, although it doesn't explain why *only* BBC1 HD is affected... maybe something weird about that particular transport stream which makes it more liable to failure? Still, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth at this stage.

I'll disable MCE now, and see what happens tomorrow *crosses fingers* ...

 

[elliottmc]

How many tuners do you have? Maybe MCE services are using the one tuner you have that is capable of HD recording, or at least the only one that MP has this channel on, so that it will only affect BBC1 HD ?

However, I would agree that it is pretty conclusive. Having two different programs/services trying to use the TV tuner is never a good idea

 

[nick8571]

The TBS 6981 is a twin DVB-S2 tuner (both HD-capable) - I've even had "Daybreak" on ITV1 HD recording at the same time as "Breakfast" on BBC1 HD, and Daybreak carries on quite happily where Breakfast fails. Both recordings are scheduled to start at the same time (05:57), but Breakfast always starts a fraction earlier, which made me wonder if the first priority tuner was a bit weaker, but Daybreak recording on its own (obviously using the first available tuner) still completes with no problems.

I'll feel very silly if it is in fact a conflict of services (as looks very likely to be the case), but in my defence I was completely thrown off by the fact that only BBC1 HD is affected... the only explanation that makes sense is that something about the strength or composition of the BBC1 HD stream makes it more vulnerable to interruption than other channels. Even then, it seems odd that it would manifest as a silent failure of TsWriter with no other obvious symptoms.

I won't be counting my chickens anyway until I've had a few days of incident-free recordings...

 

[elliottmc]

So since 'Breakfast' starts first, it will always use the higher priority tuner in MP. If this is the tuner that MCE services use (for whatever) then it will be affecting the tuner rather than the channel.

An easy test for this is to change the priority of the tuners in this card.

 

[nick8571]

If it were that simple though, then in theory an alternative channel (eg ITV1 HD) recording on its own should be similarly affected, as it would also be using the higher priority tuner? That doesn't happen, it's *only* BBC1 HD, either in isolation or concurrently with something else.

I'll put juggling the tuner priorities on the "to do" list anyway, but first I'd really like to see what happens with the MCE services disabled.

 

[elliottmc]

If it were that simple though, then in theory an alternative channel (eg ITV1 HD) recording on its own should be similarly affected, as it would also be using the higher priority tuner? That doesn't happen, it's *only* BBC1 HD, either in isolation or concurrently with something else.

I'll put juggling the tuner priorities on the "to do" list anyway, but first I'd really like to see what happens with the MCE services disabled.

But does ITV1 HD record fine on its own at that particular time of day? I am working on the (possibly incorrect) assumption that there is a scheduled task.

 

[nick8571]

But does ITV1 HD record fine on its own at that particular time of day? I am working on the (possibly incorrect) assumption that there is a scheduled task.

Yes, Daybreak on ITV1 HD from 06:00 to 08:30 seems unaffected, even on its own.

AFAIK the WMC scheduler service is supposed to run at system startup and keep running in the background, not to run as a scheduled task itself at specific times. I'm guessing it's misbehaving for some reason on my system, but hopefully killing it will solve the problem.