SiliconDust HDHR mis-behaving and NPVR UI experience

[JavaWiz]

I noticed today that my SiliconDust HDHR locked up and was not responsive. I had to physically reset the device (via power cord) to get it working again.

While it was in this unresponsive state, NPVR behavior was that I'd get a black screen with no notice that there was a problem. See logs below, there is an obvious message "Error: unable to connect to device", however there doesn't seem to be a catch for this error in the code...

I would have suspected, NPVR would have iterated thru my tuner list until it either found a responsive tuner or exhausted the list (and returned an error message to the UI). I have a 2250 that could have served up the channel...

Thoughts?

Code:

2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      StartStream(10365:8 KTXL)
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      looking for capture source
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      checking: HDHomeRun Device 1318E35A
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      enabled and present
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      does not have channel
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      checking: HDHomeRun Device 1318E35A
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      enabled and present
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      does not have channel
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      checking: HDHomeRun Device 1318E35A
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      enabled and present
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      does not have channel
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      checking: IPTV Device
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      enabled and present
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      does not have channel
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      checking: HDHomeRun Device 1318E35A
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      enabled and present
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      has channel
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      live tv is possible
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      [email=HDHomeRunRecorder@1]HDHomeRunRecorder@1[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      [email=HDHomeRunRecorder@2.0]HDHomeRunRecorder@2.0[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      [email=HDHomeRunRecorder@2.1]HDHomeRunRecorder@2.1[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      [email=HDHomeRunRecorder@2.2]HDHomeRunRecorder@2.2[/email] nextPort=36314
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      [email=HDHomeRunRecorder@2.2.0]HDHomeRunRecorder@2.2.0[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      HDHomeRunRecorder@2.2.0@allocated
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      [email=HDHomeRunRecorder@2.3]HDHomeRunRecorder@2.3[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      Allocated port: 36314
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      [email=HDHomeRunRecorder@3]HDHomeRunRecorder@3[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      About to start HDHR device. Checking status for information sake... (could tell if it's already in use elsewhere)
2014-12-14 10:20:51.126 [DEBUG][9]      Executing: C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe 1318E35A get /tuner0/status
2014-12-14 10:20:51.846 [DEBUG][9]      [B]Error: unable to connect to device[/B]
2014-12-14 10:20:52.931 [DEBUG][9]      [email=SetTarget@2]SetTarget@2[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:52.931 [DEBUG][9]      Executing: C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe 1318E35A set /tuner0/vchannel 8
2014-12-14 10:20:53.333 [DEBUG][9]      [B]Error: unable to connect to device[/B]
2014-12-14 10:20:53.743 [DEBUG][9]      ForcedIP.xml does not exists
2014-12-14 10:20:53.743 [DEBUG][9]      [B]Unexpected error looking up ip from netmask: [/B]System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException: The given key was not present in the dictionary.
   at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key)
   at NShared.HDHomeRunRecorder.DetermineIP(String deviceIdentifier)
2014-12-14 10:20:54.262 [DEBUG][9]      NIC: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
2014-12-14 10:20:54.262 [DEBUG][9]      Executing: C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe 1318E35A set /tuner0/target rtp://192.168.1.30:36314
2014-12-14 10:20:54.263 [DEBUG][9]      [email=SetTarget@2]SetTarget@2[/email]
2014-12-14 10:20:54.263 [DEBUG][9]      Allocated Handle: 1
2014-12-14 10:20:54.276 [DEBUG][9]      Live TV handle: 0x250001
2014-12-14 10:21:04.354 [DEBUG][9]      Renew lease ok (0x250001)
2014-12-14 10:21:14.420 [DEBUG][9]      Renew lease ok (0x250001)

[sub]

The application doesn't attempt to keep working through tuners until finding a working one, but if you were attempting Live TV then it'd normally show a message to let you know it failed, and what reason was given. If you were recording it'd normally note the failure reason on the Recordings screen (pretty sure it wold try to start the recording on another tuner in this scenario too).

The HDHomeRun stuff is definitely not as well tested as Digital/Analog on this front though, and it's possible it's not reporting the error correctly.

[sub]

I've made a modification for the next build, which should capture this error and report it correctly.

[mvallevand]

Will this change test for existence of the HDHR? I use the HDHR-TC but I don't plug it in all the time (network and/or power). It would be nice if it wasn't available if it would failover to my internal ATSC tuners.

Martin

[sub]

Will this change test for existence of the HDHR?

We'll that's pretty much what's he want's fixed in this example. ie, unable to connect (aka "not there"). Seems reasonable that this should be reported.

With this change, if you attempt to use that tuner for live tv, you'll get shown the error message reported by hdhomerun_config.exe.

[JavaWiz]

As a side-note, I think the HDHR got in this weird state due to the RaspPi (running OpenElec) trying to play live TV via the NPVR plugin. Since the new version of Kodi, I am now getting the "Tuner Unavailable" message again.

I've noticed the HDHR getting into this state in the past, but I chalked it up to network error or something, however, now it seems to be related to the Kodi to NextPVR plugin losing state and being unable to establish a live connection.

Once I have some more time, I'll try to trace the issue between the Kodi logs and the NPVR logs....

[mvallevand]

We'll that's pretty much what's he want's fixed in this example. ie, unable to connect (aka "not there"). Seems reasonable that this should be reported.

With this change, if you attempt to use that tuner for live tv, you'll get shown the error message reported by hdhomerun_config.exe.

Ok I didn't know you use hdhomerun_config.exe to test the non-Prime HDHR's, I thought they were using BDA

Martin

[sub]

Ok I didn't know you use hdhomerun_config.exe to test the non-Prime HDHR's, I thought they were using BDA

The change I'm describing wont affect HDHR's that are accessed via the BDA drivers (ie types 'QAM' or 'ATSC' on the Settings->Devices screen).

The change is only for HDHRs used via an 'HDHR' device on the Settings->Devices screen.

[mvallevand]

Ok I 'd like to make the same request for ATSC and QAM then if possible.

Martin

[sub]

Ok I 'd like to make the same request for ATSC and QAM then if possible

If there is any errors returned by the BDA components, these are already logged, noted when starting live tv etc.