NPVR "Recording Service Not Running at Recording Time"

[Graham]

... I could also just do a service restart on a regular basis (e.g. early in the morning when I restart Serviio).

Would that work?

That should have the same effect as a reboot.

The NPVR group in the Start Menu has two tasks to stop and to start the NextPVR Recording Service ... that might make a restart a bit easier.

[andrewj]

@Graham - thanks.
I've implemented a decent solution to this - once every hour my "ServiioRestarter" service now also checks the status of the NPVR recording service. If it's stopped, it restarts it. Full test to confirm, but this should recover cleanly when it fails, although there's always the risk that programmes scheduled immediately after the crash will be missed. If that happens I might have to make the check interval shorter.

We probably do need to identify the underlying problem in case it's something which might affect multiple users. When I see a crash next time I'll try and recover the dump file.

If anyone wants the code for the stop/restart service let me know. The NPVR bit is only about 10 lines of VB.Net
Thanks
Andrew

[andrewj]

Hi,
I have had another crash in the service. This time there were three errors in the Windows event log

Code:

An unhandled exception occurred and the process was terminated.

Application ID: NRecord.exe

Process ID: 10408

Exception: System.OutOfMemoryException

Message: Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown.

StackTrace:
Server stack trace:
   at NShared.DigitalRecorder.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(Channel channel, Int32 ignoreHandle)
   at NDigitalHost.RecorderRemote.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(Channel channel, Int32 ignoreHandle)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink._PrivateProcessMessage(IntPtr md, Object[] args, Object server, Object[]& outArgs)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink.SyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg)

Exception rethrown at [0]:
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
   at NUtility.IRecorder.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(Channel channel, Int32 ignoreHandle)
   at NShared.DigitalRecorder.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(Channel channel, Int32 ignoreHandle)
   at NShared.RecordingService.WorkerThread()
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

Then

Code:

Application: NRecord.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.OutOfMemoryException

Server stack trace:
   at NShared.DigitalRecorder.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(Channel channel, Int32 ignoreHandle)
   at NDigitalHost.RecorderRemote.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(Channel channel, Int32 ignoreHandle)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink._PrivateProcessMessage(IntPtr md, Object[] args, Object server, Object[]& outArgs)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink.SyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.IMessage, System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.IMessage)
   at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.MessageData ByRef, Int32)
   at NUtility.IRecorder.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(NUtility.Channel, Int32)
   at NShared.DigitalRecorder.IsLiveTVPossibleNow(NUtility.Channel, Int32)
   at NShared.RecordingService.WorkerThread()
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

Then

Code:

Faulting application name: NRecord.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5a298c2e
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7601.24000, time stamp: 0x5a4996d4
Exception code: 0xe0434352
Fault offset: 0x0000c54f
Faulting process id: 0x28a8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d3a2729a7f3e30
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\NPVR\NRecord.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 398f4d44-0eab-11e8-8610-005056c00008

I have checked C:\Temp, and there doesn't seem to be a dump file.

A bit more info: the problem seems to have occurred at the cut-over between two programs. Program A ran on BBC4 from 9-9.45, Program B on BBC4 from 9.45-1030 and program C on BBC1 from 9.30-10.30. Program A recorded OK, and Program C started recording, but the error occurred at 9.42 when program B tried to record as well. What should have happened is that Program A recording should have stopped at 9.45, and program B started recoding immediately after, but for some reason that didn't happen and NPVR tried to record all three at once.

Please could you try and identify the cause and what I might do to avoid a repetition?

Thanks
Andrew

[sub]

That's not an error I've seen any other reports of.

How much memory does your PC have?

[sub]

Program A ran on BBC4 from 9-9.45, Program B on BBC4 from 9.45-1030 and program C on BBC1 from 9.30-10.30. Program A recorded OK, and Program C started recording, but the error occurred at 9.42 when program B tried to record as well. What should have happened is that Program A recording should have stopped at 9.45, and program B started recoding immediately after, but for some reason that didn't happen and NPVR tried to record all three at once.

The default post-padding would have keep recording for a couple of minutes after the specified end time. Program C would also have started pre-padding a minute or so before the specified start time, so yes all three could have been recording at the same time.

[andrewj]

My PC has 14GB RAM. I haven't seen any problems with any other applications which suggest either that there's any problem with memory, or it's low. At the time both these last issues occurred, the machine was quiescent, with recording the only significant activity.

I have a Hauppage TV stick with 2x HD tuners (there is another SD tuner in the system but it has never been set up on NPVR). I am therefore limited to 2 concurrent recordings by NPVR. In that case if two programs run exactly one after the other while another is also recording it cuts the pre- and post- padding on the two which "butt up". This usually works fine, but it clearly didn't work last night, and on review could be the cause of some of the other failures.

Do we have any idea why that might be happening?
Thanks

[Graham]

I have a Hauppage TV stick with 2x HD tuners (there is another SD tuner in the system but it has never been set up on NPVR). I am therefore limited to 2 concurrent recordings by NPVR.

Apologies if I have misunderstood ... NextPVR is able to record all of the digital channels on a single frequency simultaneously using a single tuner receiving a digital signal as input.

[sub]

My PC has 14GB RAM. I haven't seen any problems with any other applications which suggest either that there's any problem with memory, or it's low. At the time both these last issues occurred, the machine was quiescent, with recording the only significant activity.

Maybe try stopping the recording service, and instead running "nrecord.exe RUN" from the command line, and see if you get any error on the screen when it happens.

I have a Hauppage TV stick with 2x HD tuners (there is another SD tuner in the system but it has never been set up on NPVR). I am therefore limited to 2 concurrent recordings by NPVR. In that case if two programs run exactly one after the other while another is also recording it cuts the pre- and post- padding on the two which "butt up". This usually works fine, but it clearly didn't work last night, and on review could be the cause of some of the other failures.

As Graham mentioned above, 3 x recordings BBC channels could be done with a single tuner on NextPVR. On digital TV, multiple channels are trasnmitted on each frequency. In the case of BBC channels, they're all transmitted together.

[bicbasher]

I have a similar issue where at 5pm, the recording service on the DVB-T side stops daily. Only way to resolve the issue is to reboot at the same time and then restart recording service.

[andrewj]

Hi,
I don't see NPVR recording more than 2 channels together, ever. For example last night it successfully recorded a complex set of butting recordings, but only by removing the pre- and post-padding which wouldn't be necessary if it could record more than 2. The frequency for all four channels involved is 54600. Do I need to make an adjustment to enable this? I've just ordered a second HD tuner, but if I could get around the problem I can return it.

On a separate note, NPVR seems to have tried to "recover" the missed recording from Saturday by recording BBC4 all last night. I have a 29GB file, which I estimate represents about 10 hours of recording and I had to manually stop and restart the service this morning. Any idea why? Logs attached...
Thanks
Andrew