Problem with empty 0KB recordings

[mad-marco]

I'm hoping that someone can help me with this one.

The first recording that I make with NPVR works perfectly, playback is fine. Any subsequent recordings seem to record OK, but when you look at the file it is 0KB and doesn't contain any data. A reboot fixes the issue and the first recording works ok, any subsequent recordings fail.

My system looks like this:

Windows 7 32bit
NPVR 2.2.6 with Patches R2
Pinnacle PCTV Nano 73e

Any help would be appreciated.

[Reddwarf]

I'm hoping that someone can help me with this one.

The first recording that I make with NPVR works perfectly, playback is fine. Any subsequent recordings seem to record OK, but when you look at the file it is 0KB and doesn't contain any data. A reboot fixes the issue and the first recording works ok, any subsequent recordings fail.

My system looks like this:

Windows 7 32bit
NPVR 2.2.6 with Patches R2
Pinnacle PCTV Nano 73e

Any help would be appreciated.

You must post your logs (in C:\Users\Public\NPVR\Logs) when you report a problem or it will be anybody's guess what the problem is.

[mad-marco]

I ran a test and enclosed the logs.

Set the timer to record for 10 minutes, break for 10 minutes, then record for a further 10 minutes. I rebooted the PC before the recordings and as expected the first recording is OK and the second recording was empty.

Thanks for looking.

[Reddwarf]

I think Sub may have to have a look at this:

2011-11-08 00:10:01.314 [DEBUG][7] Calling LockChannel()
2011-11-08 00:10:01.343 [DEBUG][7] locked=0, present=0, strength=0, quality=-100 (took 16ms to check)
2011-11-08 00:10:01.343 [DEBUG][7] DigitalRecorderDVBT::Tune@8
2011-11-08 00:10:01.797 [INFO][7] DigitalRecorder.StartStream() allocated handle: 0x2

Obviously your tuner does not lock on the second recording. Do you normally get a good picture from that channel?

[mad-marco]

Yup, I get a really good reception on all channels.

It's very rare for me to see any glitches and it doesn't seem to matter which channels I record it's always the same pattern, first recording OK, subsequent recording empty.

[k1wi]

I just signed up to say I'm having the exact same issue with the same tuner, here in New Zealand - the log file is identical to mine.

I usually get a few recordings fine, but then they start failing - I'm just playing around with restarting nPVR etc, but my suspicion is that it is a hardware/driver issue as it did happen with the bundled PCTV software too. I also noticed it being an issue after I upgraded to the latest version of PCTV. If the OP is still around, what driver/PCTV version are you using?

I'm using the latest nPVR (patched)
Win764bit
Pinnacle 73e

I normally have a good signal on all the channels and it doesn't seem to be one channel specific either...

Regards,

k1wi

[johnsonx42]

In Config.xml, in the Recording section, try setting <KeepDigitalGraphsConstructed> to True. This essentially tells NRecord to leave the tuner running all the time, and just changes channels on the existing graph when a new recording starts. It's an old setting meant to work-around a different problem that has since been fixed, but it might help here.

[k1wi]

Thanks, I'll give that a go!

I wondered whether a solution might be to have NRecord try lock the channel a couple of times (but not indefinitely) when it fails to lock the first time. I.e. when it hits something like:

Code:

2011-11-08 00:10:01.343 [DEBUG][7] locked=0, present=0, strength=0, quality=-100 (took 16ms to check)