DCR-2650 - recording service not running

[roy]

Since I have started using the new DCR-2650 I have seen several instances where the recording service seems to lock up, causing failed recordings. It happened again last night. Logs are attached.

This morning when I checked nPVR, the tray icon was red, there was a tuner light lit on the DCR-2650, and recordings showed "The Daily Show" as in process. Previous recording "Always Sunny" did complete properly, but another recording, "Storytellers", in the middle of the night never started. Error seems to have been at the start of "Daily Show", which did create a 0 byte file.

I could tell the recording service is locked/crashed this morning when I double click the tray icon, and it does not open the tuner status. Restart the PC, then The Daily Show and Storytellers both show as failed with "recording service not available" error. EPG update did happen at 3am.

I don't see errors in the log. Is this a new USB cablecard tuner error?

Thanks

[BrettB]

Roy,

Your symptoms sound like what I was getting with the original 2.2.6 files and a channel name from the cable company with an "&" in it ("A&E HD"). Sub supplied a patch which would properly handle the "&" later. You aren't having exactly the same problem, because in my case, NRecord would "hang" when it tried to begin the recording and it wouldn't even start the graph and create a file. In your case, it appears that there is some problem filling the file which causes NRecord to "hang" when it tries to end the recording.

HOWEVER, it doesn't appear that you have all of the patches sub has made for DCR-2650 installed because your log isn't showing the tuner status message when it begins a recording. In my current NRecord.log files, I'll get messages like:

Code:

2011-09-22 00:30:00.456    [DEBUG][7]    allocating recording target filename: D:\NPVR Recordings\The Colbert Report\The Colbert Report_20110922_00310102.ts
2011-09-22 00:30:00.456    [DEBUG][7]    About to start recording (24912): D:\NPVR Recordings\The Colbert Report\The Colbert Report_20110922_00310102.ts
2011-09-22 00:30:00.456    [DEBUG][7]    About to start HDHR device. Checking status for information sake... (could tell if it's already in use elsewhere)
2011-09-22 00:30:00.456    [DEBUG][7]    Executing: C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe 20100465 get /tuner1/status
2011-09-22 00:30:04.665    [DEBUG][7]    Status: ch=none lock=none ss=0 snq=0 seq=0 bps=0 pps=0

2011-09-22 00:30:05.721    [DEBUG][7]    SetTarget@2
2011-09-22 00:30:05.721    [DEBUG][7]    Executing: C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe 20100465 set /tuner1/vchannel 860
2011-09-22 00:30:06.286    [DEBUG][7]    NIC: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
2011-09-22 00:30:06.286    [DEBUG][7]    NIC: Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-2650 (Model 143xxx)
2011-09-22 00:30:06.286    [DEBUG][7]    IP address: 192.168.140.210
2011-09-22 00:30:06.287    [DEBUG][7]    Executing: C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe 20100465 set /tuner1/target rtp://192.168.140.210:5001
2011-09-22 00:30:06.687    [DEBUG][7]    SetTarget@2
2011-09-22 00:30:06.688    [DEBUG][7]    Temp at 9/22/2011 12:30:16 AM
2011-09-22 00:30:06.688    [DEBUG][7]    Started recording (24912:D:\NPVR Recordings\The Colbert Report\The Colbert Report_20110922_00310102.ts)
2011-09-22 00:30:07.158    [DEBUG][7]    No C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Scripts\ParallelProcessing.bat

So you probably want to make sure that you've got all of the current patches installed.

- Brett

[BrettB]

Roy,

If you aren't running the latest firmware on the DCR-2650 ("2011-09-07 beta2" , I think), that might be your problem. I think that I was also seeing symptoms similar to yours when the DCR was getting "Out of memory" errors. (When that would happen, the DCR network adapter would disappear from Windows. If that happens, try just unplugging and replugging the USB cable--not the power cable--for the DCR. Then the device comes back, and you can use the management web interface to view the log and see "Out of Memory" errors. If you unplug the power cable, the device comes back in Windows, but the old log entries are lost.)

[roy]

Roy,

If you aren't running the latest firmware on the DCR-2650 ("2011-09-07 beta2" , I think), that might be your problem. I think that I was also seeing symptoms similar to yours when the DCR was getting "Out of memory" errors. (When that would happen, the DCR network adapter would disappear from Windows. If that happens, try just unplugging and replugging the USB cable--not the power cable--for the DCR. Then the device comes back, and you can use the management web interface to view the log and see "Out of Memory" errors. If you unplug the power cable, the device comes back in Windows, but the old log entries are lost.)

Brett, thanks for looking at this. I think I do have all the latest patches, and the latest firmware, but I'll double check tonight.

I did try unplugging and replugging the USB this morning when it was locked up, but it did not come back, the tuner light stayed lit, just the left most light turned red, so I rebooted. I didn't check if it was still in devices, or look at the DCR log, I'll look at that also tonight.

[BrettB]

I did try unplugging and replugging the USB this morning when it was locked up, but it did not come back, the tuner light stayed lit, just the left most light turned red, so I rebooted. I didn't check if it was still in devices, or look at the DCR log, I'll look at that also tonight.

FYI, I'm pretty sure that the unplugging and replugging the USB won't help the NRecord process get "unstuck"--I always had to stop and restart the service when it got in that sort of hung situation. But, it did allow me to access the DCR log which was where I found the memory errors. Since I got that firmware upgrade installed, my system has been quite solid with multiple recordings both on the DCR and the other QAM tuners every day. (Of course, now that I say that, I'll have problems... :eek: )

[roy]

Would the patch provided to "correctly release hdhomerun prime tuners" possible be a fix here?

[BrettB]

Of course, now that I say that, I'll have problems... :eek:

Yep, it happened... :mad:

At 22:05, the recording service "hung" when it tried to stop the graph for Against the Wall which has a 0 byte .ts file.

The DCR log shows

Code:

20110926-00:58:42 CableCARD: vchannel 836 (279MHz-56) access = subscribed
20110926-01:58:39 CableCARD: vchannel 836 unknown (not found)

I'm not sure why it had problems with the vchannel 836 at 1:58 when it was fine at 0:58. But, no matter what the cause, NPVR's recording service needs to be able to handle the 0 byte .ts file and not hang. Hopefully, sub will be able to find the cause and get us a patch soon.

[roy]

Yep, it happened... :mad:

I'm not going to say if it's happened again to me, but I'll provide logs if it does.

[sub]

Yep, it happened... :mad:

At 22:05, the recording service "hung" when it tried to stop the graph for Against the Wall which has a 0 byte .ts file.

The DCR log shows

Code:

20110926-00:58:42 CableCARD: vchannel 836 (279MHz-56) access = subscribed
20110926-01:58:39 CableCARD: vchannel 836 unknown (not found)

I'm not sure why it had problems with the vchannel 836 at 1:58 when it was fine at 0:58. But, no matter what the cause, NPVR's recording service needs to be able to handle the 0 byte .ts file and not hang. Hopefully, sub will be able to find the cause and get us a patch soon.

If you're able to reproduce the problem with tuning failing, and no data sent to NextPVR, you could try the following to collect more info for me:

Create a c:\temp directory, and set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\npvr\LogNetPush=1 (DWORD), then reproduce the problem and zip/attach the c:\temp\netpush.txt log file.

[BrettB]

If you're able to reproduce the problem with tuning failing, and no data sent to NextPVR, you could try the following to collect more info for me:

Create a c:\temp directory, and set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\npvr\LogNetPush=1 (DWORD), then reproduce the problem and zip/attach the c:\temp\netpush.txt log file.

sub,

At this point, I don't know how to force it to have a problem and not send data to NextPVR. But can I just set this registry entry and then if/when it happens, grab the netpush.txt log file?