Failed recording, file is 219 MB in stead a few GB and doesn't play

[Sheik Yerbouti]

In previous versions I sometimes got a recording that was really small (200 MB) and didn't play at all. I was hoping this was solved with the latest version (out of process recording), but unfortunately it happened again. I tried to record "De Wereld draait door (VARA)" at 19:29, it recorded something, but it's only 219 MB and it doesn't play. The file properties show the file was last edited at the end time of the show, so npvr was definitely recording, just without audio and video . Logs attached.

Chris

[johnsonx42]

interesting logs.

Everything looks normal when it starts "De Wereld draait door (VARA)" at 19:29, and it allocates Handle 5 to that recording. It appears to have gone to sleep some time between 19:41 and 19:52... this seems to mean something has already gone wrong, as it shouldn't sleep during a recording.

NRecord says it started recording "Goede tijden, slechte tijden" at 19:59, yet there's nothing about that in the NDigitalHost.log. (oh, I see... there's one instance of NDigitalHost per tuner, but only the first instance gets to write a log... sub, each instance needs a unique log name)

Then NDigitalHost started recording "Wie is de Mol (AVRO)" at 20:29, it says it stopped the previous recording (Handle 5) because the frequency changed, yet NRecord doesn't request Handle 5 to be stopped until a minute later at 20:30.

Somebody seems confused.

[whurlston]

Somebody seems confused.

That would be me... trying to read English, Dutch and techspeak all in the same post. :p

[sub]

I think johnsonx42 is correct. It looks like it's gone to sleep during the recording, and woke at 9:52.

[johnsonx42]

I think johnsonx42 is correct. It looks like it's gone to sleep during the recording, and woke at 9:52.

If that were the cause of the problem though, I would think the file would still be playable up to the point it went to sleep (certainly here if a recording aborts for any reason, up to and including pulling the plug on the box, the partial recording file is still playable). The very fact that it went to sleep at all seems to point to a problem that had already occurred earlier, else the system would be too busy to go to sleep... unless of course something forced it to sleep.

[sub]

If that were the cause of the problem though, I would think the file would still be playable up to the point it went to sleep (certainly here if a recording aborts for any reason, up to and including pulling the plug on the box, the partial recording file is still playable).

Yes, thats usually the case, but it depends what sort of channel it is. Shiek does multidec etc, so if something has also failed with that, it could have been recording fine, but the file is full of encrypted video and not playable.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Yes, thats usually the case, but it depends what sort of channel it is. Shiek does multidec etc, so if something has also failed with that, it could have been recording fine, but the file is full of encrypted video and not playable.

I still have the file, how can I check what's inside. If it has been recording fine, but encrypted, the file should be a lot bigger.
All other recordings (starting at 19:59) recorded just fine.

Chris

[sub]

I still have the file, how can I check what's inside. If it has been recording fine, but encrypted, the file should be a lot bigger.
All other recordings (starting at 19:59) recorded just fine.

I dont think it recorded fine. Your machine definitely went to sleep during the recording. I can see the log messages about it waking it.

I was just indicating the bit you do have might be encrypted so not be playable.

You could try downloading the free 'tsreader lite'. It'll show if the transport stream is encrypted. If you try this and need help interpretting the screen, post a screenshot of tsreader after you open the .ts file.

[mvallevand]

All other recordings (starting at 19:59) recorded just fine.

That's because it woke up again a minute error. Your machine woke up for the first recording, recorded some data but after it stopped writing data it went back to sleep.

Martin

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Thanks for looking into this. I've installed tsreader lite, but when I open the file it can't calculate the bitrate and it stops. VLC doesn't play the file either. If anyone is interested, I could put the file on my site to download. Obviously something went wrong and I've seen it before. Is it possible to introduce some more logging for the next time it happens? I never see anything about multidec in the logging, my nslu2 is never giving me any trouble with decoding, but maybe I had networkproblems and the server couldn't be reached? With more logging we could analyze this further.

Chris