NPVR "Recording Service Not Running at Recording Time"

[Graham]

The only oddity was that the first program to record got split into two - a short 3s snippet, followed by a second file with the main recording. ... Is this a known behaviour?

Not a known behaviour ... but might be a one off. Post logs if it happens again.

A few of us, myself included, have commands to reboot in the PostUpdateEPG.bat so that we get a reboot every night ... it's probably not necessary but it doesn't hurt.

[sub]

First I recorded 4 programs simultaneously, two HD on one frequency and two SD on another at overlapping timeslots. This all worked and padding seemed to be correct. The only oddity was that the first program to record got split into two - a short 3s snippet, followed by a second file with the main recording. There doesn't seem to be any explanation in the logs or Windows event logs for this, but I'm wondering if it was the process of "starting up" the second tuner. Is this a known behaviour?

Yeah, this isn't known behaviour, and it shouldn't be doing that. I'm pretty sure it'll be you getting that crash and it starting another tuner. Hopefully you'll get windows making a dump file at some stage.

[andrewj]

I added my new twin HD tuner to the system and did a test recording 8 programs in parallel! That worked, but I got the same behaviour with the first program on the list - a short 3s clip, and then a second file which was fine.

The error occurred with "A Place in the Sun Summer Sun_20180213_15001600.ts" which started recording at 15.12 yesterday.

Nothing reported as an error or warning in the Windows logs. The NPVR service didn't stop and have to be restarted. No sign of a crash.mdmp file.

Logs attached, but I don't know how much they help. I can't see anything obvious.

Thanks
Andrew

[Graham]

I got the same behaviour with the first program on the list - a short 3s clip, and then a second file which was fine.

From the logs, it looks as if the NextPVR services started immediately before NextPVR started recording. What happens if you schedule multiple recordings that start more than thirty minutes in the future, re-boot (to reset everything) and then wait patiently until at least five minutes after the recordings should have all begun?

[NND]

I'd be very interested in that. If you could periodically (maybe, hourly?) test that the NPVR Recording Service is running, and restart it if it isn't, that would be great. However, how could we then make sure your own service is running? : )

[andrewj]

From the logs, it looks as if the NextPVR services started immediately before NextPVR started recording. What happens if you schedule multiple recordings that start more than thirty minutes in the future, re-boot (to reset everything) and then wait patiently until at least five minutes after the recordings should have all begun?

That might be a factor here. I had literally just installed the new tuner, rebooted, and as soon as the system was stable went straight into NPVR and hit record as many times as possible before it started complaining it had run out of tuners. I'm happy to accept that the "broken clip" might have been a side-effect of this.

As of writing, things seem to be stable, but I've just noticed I missed another program over the weekend, so we'll just have to monitor things and see whether the missed recording problem recurs.

Thanks all for your help so far
Andrew

[andrewj]

Attached, for the use of anyone who wants it, is the VB.Net source code and executables for my service which monitors Serviio and the NPVR Recording Service, and detects if the latter has stopped and restarts it. That element runs every minute, so even if it crashes mid-recording it should recover fairly promptly. All actions and diagnostics are written to the Windows Event Log under the source name "ServiioRestarter".

If you just want that behaviour you can just move the executable from the Release directory somewhere appropriate, edit the Install.bat file to match the location and run it as admin to install, although you may get an occasional complaint in the log if it can't also find Serviio.

I'd be very interested in that. If you could periodically (maybe, hourly?) test that the NPVR Recording Service is running, and restart it if it isn't, that would be great. However, how could we then make sure your own service is running? : )

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?": If you check that the ServiioRestarter service (or whatever you call it) is set to automatic then it will always start at start-up, and there's no good reason to crash.

Of course, you could write a second service to monitor ServiioRestarter, and make sure it is running, and another service to monitor that one. It might be better to make your machine part of a ZooKeeper cluster, and they can all monitor each other to continuously elect a master, but that maybe overcomplicating things a bit

I hope this is of some use to someone...
Andrew

[Graham]

Attached, ... is the VB.Net source code and executables ...

Thank you ... may I pick you up on one small detail ... the attachment appears to have come loose and fallen off.

[andrewj]

Silly me - fixed now