Tuner: sussing out the bad one of 4

[legoschmego]

I'm getting a few bad recordings at random on my more difficult channels. And i want to rule out if it's one of my 3 USB Hauppauge 955Q - Is there a place in the UI where I can see which USB tuner is giving me problems? I'll attach a log - if that will help. The problem channel tends to be 22.3 NHKWorld 
Thanks!

(right now i have one non-955Q, which i think is doing great! the 855Qs seem to be labelled Cx23100, i have two of them in now - as per the log)

[mvallevand]

I saw this one of the 955Q devices

2023-07-27 21:32:18.216 [DEBUG][4] Unexpected error on ATSC put_TunerRequest: 0x80070651

and two late night shows fails. Sub would need to explain how NextPVR recovers from this and how sub differentiates them given they show as the same device in NextPVR.

You also have the transcode after recording option enabled which generated a lot of spam so the logs don't capture the issue well, but it showed the transcode failing. Is this a feature that you need to use?


Martin

Martin

[legoschmego]

I thought i turned off the transcode option. I don't think i need it, will check again and reboot. The fact that software doesn't differentiate between these 955Q sticks means my troubleshooting them will be harder, I had hoped the serial numbers would reveal in the logs. Can you recommend the best USB ATSC tuner stick? (I'm behind a hill, in San Francisco where there is a lot of interference, yet the transmitter tower is not that far - but still i have trouble with reception, even after hi-gain, roof antenna, etc) I'm looking for the best stick reception-wish out there, I may already have it in the form of 955Q ?

[mvallevand]

I am not sure if NextPVR differentiates tuners 1 and 2, as I said that is for sub. Get Filter Check from here https://github.com/sub3/NextPVR/wiki/FilterCheck and zip and attach the output. It might make a difference after sleep etc.

Single devices with multiple tuners will typically work better than one antenna with splits to individual tuner "sticks".

Martin

[sub]

And i want to rule out if it's one of my 3 USB Hauppauge 955Q - Is there a place in the UI where I can see which USB tuner is giving me problems?

Honestly, it's pretty difficult to tell which is which with usb tuners.

I think the HVR955Q have a light on them, which gives you an indication when they're being used. I'd probably schedule four overlapping recordings on different frequencies, maybe starting 5 minutes apart, and note down which time the light comes on for each, and then check which had the bad recording.

[mvallevand]

The tuner itself worked for one recording and then started failing so a simple test won't work either. What I though might be happening is the USB devices could get switched after a resume.

I was also concerned with how long the post processing was taking as shown in necord.log. If the recording did stop around 21:00 why is it still being processed 3.5 hours later.

2023-07-28 00:31:28.176 [DEBUG][119] [FFMPEG]: file:E:\TV2308\Japan Railway Journal\Japan Railway Journal_20230727_20302100.ts: corrupt input

It seemed to have been stopped short too.

2023-07-27 20:58:18.202 [INFO][5] Got GET request: /stream/stop?handle=45

I am also seeing this new message in many user logs in 6.1.4. Is this from built in transcoding (which is what I am assuming)

2023-07-28 01:30:58.405 [ERROR][82] IsComplete(): Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Martin

[legoschmego]

Thanks, I used basic process of elimination using live tv on a fringe station to conclude that one of the USB 955Qs is doing a (slightly, but often crucial) better job than the other Hauppauge tuners I have. It was very frustrating over years to get a lot of failed and random jumbled reception, now I'm down to one and can see clear-eyed other issues/tweaks I need to pursue with NextPVR. I'm going to buy another generic USB tuner with return privileges to test it against the best Hauppauge 955Q that I have. I'll report back then

[legoschmego]

I tried another generic $30 tuner USB 'stick' from Amazon and its performance was poor. I'll just have to accept that one of these 955Q are superior to any other Hauppauge product, be it in my hand or available - and I'm just going to lean on it and 'survive' with one tuner. If anybody can recommend an awesome tuner, perhaps better than Hauppauge offerings, any bus type, I'd be willing to try anything.