Blank screen on LiveTv

[ReggiePerrin]

Hi

I wonder if someone can help with this issue please? The PCH is effected by the problem, but I think it's a NPVR software issue hence posting it in this forum. I've also checked the other threads and I don't see anything similar.

Symptoms:-
Intermittent, but frequent, blank screen in Live tv.

Occurs:-

1. When starting livetv from the guide.
2. When changing channels
3. After watching TV for approx an hour (the registery was changed to increase the duration of livetv recording to 1 hour before a new TS is created)

Setup:-

WHS running NPVR v1.5.36 (updated with Johnsonx42's zipped patch files), Hauppauge Nova DVB-S and Pinnacle 7010i Tuners (Server)
PCH A100 (only running client)

To 'fix' the blank screen.

1. The PCH has to be cold-restarted, as it doesn't respond to the warm restart command.
2. The NPVR server has to be cold-restarted. The NPVR service can be stopped and restarted without having to cold-restart the server, but the satellite tuner will not detect any channels during a scan using 'Server-NPVR-Setup-Devices-Device Setup-scan'. The other tuners do still detect channels when a scan is initiated before the cold-restart.

Things tried/noted.

1. Swapping the order in which tuners are used doesn't effect the problem, i.e. both the Hauppauge and Pinnacle tuner cards 'hang' and can only be used again after the server is restarted.
2. Device Manager shows the hung card as still working.
3. Nothing in the Servers event logs to suggest something has gone wrong.
4. Hauppauge drivers have been updated to the latest available versions.
5. 0 byte TS files are being created in the LiveTv folder; these have to be manually deleted after restarting the service.
6. The NPVR v1.5.36 upgrade was done using mvallevand's NMTinstall2 utility

Workaround:-

Looking at the MVP and Nrecord logs it appears to be a problem with nrecord.exe, so I downgraded from version .36 of nrecord.exe to version .31 (the last known stable version that worked on my setup). All other files were left at the patched .36 version.

I've now been running the 'custom' setup for a few hours with no issue. Interestingly the TS files that NPVR creates are being deleted after livetv is stopped. So I guess that it's not nrecord that deletes the old TS files??

I've attached two sets of logs to help with this one. The first one shows the problem with v36 of nrecord.exe, the second set is using v31 of nrecord. Also attached is a directory listing of c:\program files\npvr to show the versions of files being used (with .31 of nrecord)

Thanks in advance for any help on this
cheers
Richard

[mvallevand]

Could you include web.log it probably is the most important file for this. Note I only test the default (ie. no registry setting) time and for the longest time .31 (original not patched) was the best for me too, but I am having good luck with .36 now.

Martin

[ReggiePerrin]

Scratch that... within .2 milliseconds of my Daughter getting hold of the remote she managed to reproduce the hang event. :-)

For clarity: the .31 nrecord.exe workaround doesn't work.

[ReggiePerrin]

Could you include web.log it probably is the most important file for this. Note I only test the default (ie. no registry setting) time and for the longest time .31 (original not patched) was the best for me too, but I am having good luck with .36 now.

Martin

Hi

All the logs from the latest hang.

cheers
Richard

[mvallevand]

There doesn't seem to be the info I expected, could you remove the registry setting and try again. I see it stop growing at 13:58:17.359 and it looks like mvpmcx2 started playing the same file again but there is no logging if this second play in the log.

Martin

[ReggiePerrin]

I might have found the cause of the problem, it looks like another app on the server. I've deinstalled the thing and am testing ATM.. so far so good.

Martin thanks for having a look. I'll post what app caused the issue, it might help others, if testing works out. Otherwise I'll remove the reg hack as you suggest and post more logs.

cheers
Richard

[mvallevand]

That's positive news. I recommend trying without the big buffer when you have time anyway.

Martin

[mvallevand]

I did an afternoon test of LiveTV and it did eventually causing a black screen (requiring soft power off) on the NMT after 3 hours and 31 rolling files with the reset required (logs attached). NRecord did continue to create files (that were not deleted) right up until I stopped it at live-WDIV-4549-44.

Martin

[ReggiePerrin]

5 hours of testing and not a glitch or a hiccup, a new record

In case this helps anyone else:-

I also had DVBLink's TVSource and network pack installed on the server; The Hauppauge Tuner was not part of the DVBLink configuration and was for exclusive use by GBPVR/NPVR. To 'prove' that this software was not the cause of the problem and before I started this thread, I disabled the DVBLink service and enabled the Pinnacle tuners in NPVR to check that it wasn't a problem with the Hauppauge Driver/card (thinking about it, I should have put this info in my OP).

It appears that even with the DVB service disabled it was somehow 'interfering' with all the tuners, and causing the blank screens. Now that I've deinstalled the software, NPVR (with .36 nrecord.exe) is working flawlessly.. Fast and no problem channel changes, TS files are cleared out, etc.

Obviously two minutes after I post this message NPVR will hang; sods law

Martin: Thanks and I'll let it run for a few days before reseting the buffer size as you recommend.

[mvallevand]

I started a test last night at 22h and I was pretty active on my host PC for few hours and it ran well so I decided to let it run over night. LiveTV was still playing when I woke up and everything was responsive when I stopped it just after 7h. So after 10+ hours, and 15GB of traffic I would say sub has nailed this.

Martin