TV server on VMware ESXi 4.1 (3 Viewers)

[Benoire]

@Dirk23 It could be down to the number of write operations. How many other VMs are running and on that same HDD (and I don't mean partitions but the actual HDD)? I had trouble with HD channels as they're around 9mbps and with enough other IOPS it saturated the HDD and caused immense troubles. I also had to use the pcipassthru.msienabled = false in my config to allow this to work (within reason).

Out of curiosity, did you have any trouble with the stream cutting out after a few hours?

 

[Dirk23]

I also had to use the pcipassthru.msienabled = false in my config to allow this to work (within reason).

I can't find any Information about the pcipassthru.msienabled = false . What do i have to do and where do i have to do that?

Out of curiosity, did you have any trouble with the stream cutting out after a few hours?

I didnt let it stream for long time, because of the errors i ran in, sorry!

I switched the timeshiftimg to a different HDD i inserted to the ESXi where no other VM is running on, but i still hat discontinued Packages. I'm now switching the TVServer to a SSD where only the ESXI Host is running on. Maybe that helps?!?

 

[seppi2204]

Hi,
just want to share my experience with my ESXi 5.5 Server. The Server is up and running a VM (Windows 8.1) with Mediaportal 1.6 installed. I passed through an ATI HD 6570 to display the output on my TV. For TV i tried to get my Technisat Cablestar working, but the latency with this was just too big - audio stuttering, pixelized picture. Now i bought an elgato EyeTv Hybrid stick, this one works flawelss since 3 months.

Maybe this helps someone else and saves some money

 

[Benoire]

Hi,
just want to share my experience with my ESXi 5.5 Server. The Server is up and running a VM (Windows 8.1) with Mediaportal 1.6 installed. I passed through an ATI HD 6570 to display the output on my TV. For TV i tried to get my Technisat Cablestar working, but the latency with this was just too big - audio stuttering, pixelized picture. Now i bought an elgato EyeTv Hybrid stick, this one works flawelss since 3 months.

Maybe this helps someone else and saves some money

My biggest issue has been the stability of the stream. The ESXi server has suitable latency, can playback 1080i streams without trouble but after around two hours the client loses the stream and then it all goes pearshaped. The server is still able to record if it is recording, but the client loses that connection. I've tried using a passed through ethernet device, as well as a virtual nic and they both do the same. If I drop back to baremetal OS install then all works fine as you would expect.

I'm now toying with V10 machines, EFI boot to try and see if the 5.5 native VM is better than the 5.1 VM8.

 

[Dirk23]

Even with the tvserver VM on an SSD and a 2nd HDD with no VM on my Tvserver reports discontinued Packages and the LiveTV is unwatchable. I cant figure Out why!
Has anyone a DVB-S2 TVServer configuration Running on an VM Host like esxi? What Hardware are you using?

Regards

Dirk

 

[Benoire]

Dirk have you checked the latency? There is a program you can download that checks pci latency. If the latency is too high then you end up with packet errors. I can't remember where I saw it so I'll have a look on my pc later. I presume it works fine as a bare metal is install? Did you try I setting pcipassthru0.msienabled = falae in the advanced configuration?

 

[Dirk23]

Dirk have you checked the latency? There is a program you can download that checks pci latency. If the latency is too high then you end up with packet errors. I can't remember where I saw it so I'll have a look on my pc later. I presume it works fine as a bare metal is install? Did you try I setting pcipassthru0.msienabled = falae in the advanced configuration?

You mean DPC Latency Checker ( http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml )? I used this on the Win7 VM and the Latency was perfectly green

where do i set this "pcipassthru0.msienabled = false"?
On a normal pc Running tvserver with my Hauppauge USB Workshop Perfect.

Regards

dirk

 

[Benoire]

You mean DPC Latency Checker ( http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml )? I used this on the Win7 VM and the Latency was perfectly green

where do i set this "pcipassthru0.msienabled = false"?
On a normal pc Running tvserver with my Hauppauge USB Workshop Perfect.

Regards

dirk

So to add this item (and it is one per device passthrough and it must match the passthrough device number, i.e. 4 devices will yeild a final line of pcipassthru3.msienabled = false) you must edit settings, go to the second tab on the top level and select general. In that area there will be a section called advanced with a table of settings. Add the line there.

Would recommend you copy the VM first as once added the lines cannot be removed. I'm not an expert so please forgive me but as I understand it it is all to do with msi-x interupts. A host pc has xxxx amount of these vectored interupts, normally it is not a problem on a bare metal install as the os can play around with them natively however with a hypervisor, the host takes a number of them leaving VMs with a lot less. Sometimes, some pci cards can cause trouble by exceeding the available amount leading to problems... This mode changes the handling and makes it less demanding. I had trouble of the stream not lasting more than 5 minutes before shutting off, after adding this line per pci device it was ok for around 2 hours but then still died.

I'm not trying out Xen 4.3.1 to see if that would work. Harder to manage as there are no guis but I've seen full GPU passthrough work fine in a windows 8 vm and also read tv tuners work. Xen is a full hypervisor built on your choice of linux but most of the commands are issued through SSH or via cfg files until the VM has booted.

What is your hardware? Mine is as follows:

AMD FX-6100 6 core cpu
Gigabyte GA-970-UD3 (with IOMMU)
14GB Ram
LSI SAS controller
HDDs
2 x TBS 6981s.

 

[Dirk23]

Unfortunately i dont pass pci Cards to the VM, but a usb2 Hauppauge sat Receiver. What do you Think, should i try to insert the pcipassthru thing?

My Esxi Hardware is:
intel core i5 3,2 GHz
16 GB RAM
Asus P7h55-m usb3
128gb SSD SATA6
1TB HDD

 

[Benoire]

Unfortunately i dont pass pci Cards to the VM, but a usb2 Hauppauge sat Receiver. What do you Think, should i try to insert the pcipassthru thing?

My Esxi Hardware is:
intel core i5 3,2 GHz
16 GB RAM
Asus P7h55-m usb3
128gb SSD SATA6
1TB HDD

Ah my bad sorry, started to answer this again on my phone.

Are you able to pass through the USB ports to the VM directly, rather than through a hub?

Windows as a VM requires full HVM capability for passing through, where as linux can be paravirtualised wthout the need for IOMMU. It might be worthwhile seeing if you can pass the hardware through to a linux VM running TVheadend or MythTV as that could help narrow down the other issues.