NextPVR is running flawlessly, but I encountered a strange conflict with Avira

[tinstaafl]

I am running the latest NextPVR on Win7 Pro(x86) using the Hauppague WinTV Dual HD USB.

I have solved this issue, but I decided to post it just for the record in case anyone else experiences this.

A couple of months ago I began to investigate why my computer was mysteriously hanging (total lockup, no access to keyboard, mouse, etc.) and not going back to sleep on occasion. After examining all logs and ruling out the usual suspects, including running memtest for hours on end, I finally decided to rule out the antivirus I had been running.

While auditioning replacements, I decided to tryout other free AV's.

I use Avira on my other computers without any issue, so I thought I would give it a shot here. I have high confidence in this AV. But then, this is where things got weird ...

After I installed Avira and rebooted, everything looked good. The NextPVR services started as expected. Launched the NextPVR GUI, and looked in settings. The WinTV tuners were there and ready to go.

Tried launching live TV, and got an on-screen error something like "failed to start Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD ATSC Tuner 2". Tried several more times, same error. I tried excluding all of the NextPVR services and folders in Avira, without improvement. Nothing in Windows Event Viewer could be found related to this event.

Uninstalled Avira and the problem went away. I eventually found another AV solution that worked.

This event occurred back on May 24th, so my main NextPVR logs don't go back that far. However I did find a file in npvr\logs "ndigitalhost-26.log.3.txt" that captured this event:

2016-05-24 18:42:56.134 [DEBUG][1] Found parent process: NRecord
2016-05-24 18:42:56.603 [INFO][5] DigitalRecorder.StartStream(LIVE&C:\Users\Public\Videos\Pause Buffer\live-WBTV-DT-2113.ts)
2016-05-24 18:42:56.603 [INFO][5] Creating BDA graph
2016-05-24 18:42:56.666 [DEBUG][5] FindFilterByName failed to locate filter: Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD ATSC Tuner 2
2016-05-24 18:42:56.666 [DEBUG][5] Temp at 5/24/2016 6:43:06 PM
2016-05-24 18:43:16.494 [INFO][5] DigitalRecorder.StartStream(LIVE&C:\Users\Public\Videos\Pause Buffer\live-WCNCDT-2114.ts)
2016-05-24 18:43:16.494 [INFO][5] Creating BDA graph
2016-05-24 18:43:16.501 [DEBUG][5] FindFilterByName failed to locate filter: Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD ATSC Tuner 2
2016-05-24 18:43:16.517 [DEBUG][5] Temp at 5/24/2016 6:43:26 PM
2016-05-24 18:45:08.256 [INFO][10] DigitalRecorder.StartStream(LIVE&C:\Users\Public\Videos\Pause Buffer\live-WCNCDT-2115.ts)
2016-05-24 18:45:08.256 [INFO][10] Creating BDA graph
2016-05-24 18:45:08.264 [DEBUG][10] FindFilterByName failed to locate filter: Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD ATSC Tuner 2
2016-05-24 18:45:08.264 [DEBUG][10] Temp at 5/24/2016 6:45:18 PM
2016-05-24 18:50:15.080 [INFO][1] DigitalRecorder.StopHost()

[sub]

I remember at least one other user having issues with Avira in the past. A bit of pain it's interferring with the smooth operation of NextPVR - can give a bad impression of NextPVR, when it's really just a bug in that AV software. There isn't really anything I can do about it from NextPVR side of things.

[tinstaafl]

I remember at least one other user having issues with Avira in the past. A bit of pain it's interferring with the smooth operation of NextPVR - can give a bad impression of NextPVR, when it's really just a bug in that AV software. There isn't really anything I can do about it from NextPVR side of things.

Agreed! Avira can be great if it works for your setup. But from my experience, AV software can go deep into your system, affect some DLL's in mysterious ways. Best way to rule them out is to uninstall them!

In conclusion, I am now running Bitdefender Free on my home theater PC without issue (for me).

I am finding NextPVR to be the best drop-in replacement for BeyondTV that I have found yet. I used BeyondTV (no longer supported) for about 10 years. I have KODI, but rarely even open that up, as the NextPVR GUI does everything I need to do as far as watching TV.

Good work Sub!!! Enjoy it immensely :-)

[sub]

Great - glad you're enjoying it

[johnsonx42]

I believe the issue with Avira is that it intercepts and re-sends network communications. I noticed this recently in a non-nextpvr situation, where I was looking at what processes were generating network traffic on my PC at work and noted that most traffic either originated from or terminated at an Avira process. It's no surprise this would wreak havoc on NextPVR.