TV server occasionally crashing (2 Viewers)

ben1210

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    Getting so much pleasure out of Media Portal. However very occasionally, perhaps once a fortnight the TV Server crashes and trying to start it up results perhaps in a bit of sound coming through, albeit a bit stuttery but no picture.

    All is fixed immediately with a package-tvengine.exe re-run.

    I've had a quick look around the forum and have just now unticked the 'Grab EPG whilst idle' box in config to see if that stops the issue - this does mean however I have nothing ticked in the DVB EPG, is this good practice.

    Attached TV logs, during which this loss of service occured sometime after a recording of Bad Girls 23.55 - 01.05 and 14.30 on 11/10/2012.

    Any advice greatly appreciated.
     

    mm1352000

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    Hello ben1210

    Could it possibly have been around 11:07am when the crash occurred?
    I'm interested to know how you know that the crash has happened because the TV service seems to restart at 11:19 without any indication as to why it stopped or started again. Is it the stuttery video that gives it away?
    There is very little to go on in the log file.
    Is it possible to post logs using the watchdog:
    http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/3_Forums/2_Log_Files

    ...so that we can check the system event log and other details?
    You can follow the instructions for non-reproducible problems to give us all the available info.

    Cheers,
    mm
     

    ben1210

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    Many thanks for responding.

    Certainly could of been 11:19

    This problem has so far only occurred when the TV is not in use, meaning that it's when I switch on MePo TV server that I notice the problem. The problem manifests itself by when attempting to choose a channel the screen goes black and sometimes audio comes through however this audio stutters, I may occasionally get a still image of the TV channel. Trying to then back escape out of TV server is slow and unresponsive. The only solution is to wait and hope that I get back to homepage where I can then exit MePo and re-run package-tvengine.exe

    Please note the only change made recently to config was to untick 'Grab EPG while idle' - I dont think this as helped because I experienced a crash / error last night at around 21:00. Whats interesting is that this was perhaps the first time the error occurred whilst in use. Basically I went from watching a program in MP TV series to Live TV and got into what seemed to be the error I've been talking about. Again a package-tvengine.exe fixed all and TV server was then fine.

    Should I continue to leave all settings as is or can I re-enable 'Grab EPG while idle' - I ask this as unticking this has certainly had an effect in that quite a number of channels EPG data is now missing?

    non-reproducible logs attached as requested
     

    ben1210

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    :( Switched on the TV server this morning and just could view a static pixelated image - we were watching live TV fine last night.

    non-reproducible logs attached

    re-run package-tvengine.exe fixed issue
     

    mm1352000

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    Heya Ben

    Sorry for the sluggish response. It has been a busy weekend.

    Should I continue to leave all settings as is or can I re-enable 'Grab EPG while idle' - I ask this as unticking this has certainly had an effect in that quite a number of channels EPG data is now missing?
    You can re-enable that setting... at least for the moment. It will not make any difference to the problem you're seeing, but I guess you're aware about the other problem with that function.

    non-reproducible logs attached as requested
    Cheers.
    In the latest logs I can see tons of continuity errors in your TsWriter log files.
    This generally indicates one of two things:
    1. Bad signal.
    2. HDD stress.

    There are a couple of other things it could be, but those are the most common.
    From the looks of your tv.log file I think the second situation applies here.
    I suspect you have a real-time scanner such as MS Security Essentials, Windows Defender or other scanning the MP and TV Server program and/or timeshifting and/or recording directories. If you make an exception for those directories it should (fingers crossed) solve the problem.

    mm
     

    ben1210

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    Ok, brilliant, I dont think its a bad signal - when scanning, signal strength seem high and of a good quality. Also never had a problem before re signal strength.

    I've switched off real time protection in MS SE, this seems a blanket on/off switch. There was an exclusion by directory function but this seemed to be for security scans - but I'm not sure. Anyway, we'll see if it was the real time scanner as time goes by.

    Your help is really appreciated. Thanks
     

    ben1210

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    OK, first impressions after the real time protection disable is that surfing around TV channels seems smoother. Certainly channel changes are faster and not a sniff of brief pixelation on the new channel chosen.

    Will monitor over the next few days and report back.

    Again thanks for taking the time to respond. I need to find that Paypal login and donate...
     

    ben1210

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    Heya Ben

    Sorry for the sluggish response. It has been a busy weekend.

    Should I continue to leave all settings as is or can I re-enable 'Grab EPG while idle' - I ask this as unticking this has certainly had an effect in that quite a number of channels EPG data is now missing?
    You can re-enable that setting... at least for the moment. It will not make any difference to the problem you're seeing, but I guess you're aware about the other problem with that function.

    non-reproducible logs attached as requested
    Cheers.
    In the latest logs I can see tons of continuity errors in your TsWriter log files.
    This generally indicates one of two things:
    1. Bad signal.
    2. HDD stress.

    There are a couple of other things it could be, but those are the most common.
    From the looks of your tv.log file I think the second situation applies here.
    I suspect you have a real-time scanner such as MS Security Essentials, Windows Defender or other scanning the MP and TV Server program and/or timeshifting and/or recording directories. If you make an exception for those directories it should (fingers crossed) solve the problem.

    mm

    Week goes by and not a single crash!

    Although, irritatingly quite a number of BBC channels aren't view-able. BBC News, BBC Three, BBC Four, Cbeebies and CBBC 'cant be found' when clicked on. All other BBC channels are fine.

    I've tried re-scanning both TV servers, the channels are found but when entering Media Portal and clicking on them, nothing appears

    Attached is a TV log file - you can see at 17.14 that I try and watch BBC News

    Any tips?
     

    mm1352000

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    Week goes by and not a single crash!

    MP is generally very stable. :)

    Although, irritatingly quite a number of BBC channels aren't view-able. BBC News, BBC Three, BBC Four, Cbeebies and CBBC 'cant be found' when clicked on. All other BBC channels are fine.

    I've tried re-scanning both TV servers, the channels are found but when entering Media Portal and clicking on them, nothing appears

    Attached is a TV log file - you can see at 17.14 that I try and watch BBC News

    Any tips?
    I recall somebody saying that BBC Three and Four had shifted recently.
    When I compare the tuning details in your log file with king of sat they don't match:
    http://en.kingofsat.net/pos-28.2E.php

    So did you click "update satellite list" before scanning?
     

    porky996t

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    Hi Ben & mm,

    I had the BBC problem last week. I think it was DragonQ who confirmed that they had moved. I did a satellite card rescan, with "enable channel movement detection" checked, and after the scan recombined the newly found BBC channels. After this, all was well - also remember Ben to scan for the BBC Four & Three channels after 7pm (when broadcasts start) or they will not show up.

    EDIT - BBC News also moved; I just noticed today that I hadn't recombined it. I had no EPG for it, so that made me realise. After recombining the channel the EPG and channel came back.
     
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