Need help setting up with Ceton

[rytomi]

Hi, first time poster at this forum.

I've been using WMC originally in Windows Vista, then in Windows 7 and 8.1 for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately as everyone knows Microsoft ditched WMC and now I'm looking for a solution to replace. I think I've decided Kodi with a NPVR back end seems to make the most sense.

I took one of my machines and fresh installed Windows 10 on it to try to get this solution working, and I'm pulling my hair out because nothing I can find on the internet seems to work.

I have both HDHomeRun Prime and Ceton InfiniTV tuners, but I am only trying to setup the INFINITV tuner for now... I'll get to the others later. It is an Infinitv 6 ETH.

Here's what I've done...
Installed the Ceton InfiniTV drivers.
I've installed the latest NPVR software 4.0.5.
I've installed the LAV codecs.

I used the devices tab in NPVR to run "device setup" on each of the tuners, they each found 946 channels (it shows 6 "DRI" Ceton Tuners).
On the decoders tab I set everything to LAV.
Changed the recording and buffer directory to my D: drive since that's a 1 TB.

I open NPVR and the guide shows every channel 6 times (I assume I can fix that later), but nothing will play. If I select "Watch" on a channel, or select "Live TV" then I get a "...please wait..." that appears for about 1 second and then nothing happens.

I've tried to follow every wiki and every guide and every forum post, but no amount of searching on this forum or google seems to find anything that works.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling everything, deleting and re setting up everything, but nothing changed.
I attached my whole logs directory.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[BrettB]

I open NPVR and the guide shows every channel 6 times (I assume I can fix that later), but nothing will play. If I select "Watch" on a channel, or select "Live TV" then I get a "...please wait..." that appears for about 1 second and then nothing happens.

To fix the problem with each channel being listed as unique on each tuner: The normal/easiest way to fix this is to delete all of the channels from tuners 2-6. Then when you go into the Device Setup for tuner 2, NextPVR should give you a message saying something like "You have another tuner like this already setup. Do you want to copy the configuration from that tuner?" Just respond yes to this prompt. Then it will make the channels available on this tuner the same as the channels on the first tuner.

Now, as for why NextPVR isn't getting any data from the tuners: The most common cause of this symptom is firewall or anti-virus blocking the network connection from the tuner to the NextPVR image. There are 3 different images which need access through the firewall: nextpvr.exe, ndigitalhost,exe, and nrecord.exe. (Humm, may ncablecardhost.exe now, too. I think that is a new one.) You might try temporarily disabling any firewall and/or anti-virus and see if it works. Then go from there to figure out what exceptions need to be added.

Also, does the Ceton have a web page or configuration program that you can look at while NextPVR is trying to use the tuner to see if the tuner is actually getting the command and tuning to the channel?

Finally, when you want us to help debug problems for you, you should always include ALL NextPVR log files. If you go into the Setup, on the main screen there is a button you can press which will zip up all of the appropriate log files and give you a nice .zip file to upload to the forum.

[rytomi]

To fix the problem with each channel being listed as unique on each tuner: The normal/easiest way to fix this is to delete all of the channels from tuners 2-6. Then when you go into the Device Setup for tuner 2, NextPVR should give you a message saying something like "You have another tuner like this already setup. Do you want to copy the configuration from that tuner?" Just respond yes to this prompt. Then it will make the channels available on this tuner the same as the channels on the first tuner.

Now, as for why NextPVR isn't getting any data from the tuners: The most common cause of this symptom is firewall or anti-virus blocking the network connection from the tuner to the NextPVR image. There are 3 different images which need access through the firewall: nextpvr.exe, ndigitalhost,exe, and nrecord.exe. (Humm, may ncablecardhost.exe now, too. I think that is a new one.) You might try temporarily disabling any firewall and/or anti-virus and see if it works. Then go from there to figure out what exceptions need to be added.

Also, does the Ceton have a web page or configuration program that you can look at while NextPVR is trying to use the tuner to see if the tuner is actually getting the command and tuning to the channel?

Finally, when you want us to help debug problems for you, you should always include ALL NextPVR log files. If you go into the Setup, on the main screen there is a button you can press which will zip up all of the appropriate log files and give you a nice .zip file to upload to the forum.

I'm only using the built-in Windows Defender for my AV/Firewall solution. In the settings for that, there are allowed exceptions for: NCableCardHost, NDigitalHost, NextPVR, and NRecord. All these were added automatically by the setup.

I've attached the additional zip for the log file as directed.

The Ceton device webpage shows no attempts for tuning of a channel which I click Live TV.

[BrettB]

I'm only using the built-in Windows Defender for my AV/Firewall solution. In the settings for that, there are allowed exceptions for: NCableCardHost, NDigitalHost, NextPVR, and NRecord. All these were added automatically by the setup.

I've attached the additional zip for the log file as directed.

The Ceton device webpage shows no attempts for tuning of a channel which I click Live TV.

OK. I'm not seeing much in those logs besides the normal startup messages.

Can you try doing a recording (rather than watching Live TV)? (It might seem counter-intuitive, but with NextPVR, Recording is more basic than Live TV.)

Try doing a quick record of something currently on. Make sure that the NextPVR status shows it as "Recording". (You can look at the Recordings | What's New page and also use the Tray app to Show Status.) Maybe also tell us which tuner the tray app Show Status says is trying to do the recording. Also check the Centon page at that point.

Let that run for a minute or two. Then you can cancel the recording.

Then zip and upload the logs.

[Graham]

OK. I'm not seeing much in those logs besides the normal startup messages.

The last entry in the nrecord.log is at 10.47.

Simply stated, NextPVR has three components ... 1) the NextPVR front end which is what you see on screen and where your setup the config and schedule and watch recordings ... 2) The NextPVR Recording Service runs contionuously in the background and manages recording start and stops ... 3) blah-host processes that actually connect to tuners and capture the broadcast stream.

It may be that the Recording Service failed at some point. What happens if you reboot? This will force a restart of all NextPVR processes.

[rytomi]

Ok, so I checked and the "NPVR Recording Service" is running.

I deleted 5 out of the 6 tuners so that 1) I would only see one of each channel in the guide, and 2) so that I would know what tuner it's going to target.

Went into NPVR and opened the guide. Scrolled all the way down (can't seem to find a way to quickly go to a channel) to channel 809 (it's my basic CBS channel in HD). Everything says "no show details" because I haven't setup a guide yet. I clicked on the current time and selected record, then clicked OK. Nothing happened. I clicked on the show again and this time clicked quick record... again nothing happened.

My device status box simply says "Devices" in it with no other information (and that never changed). My tuner never showed a inkling of activity.

New log attached.

Edit: I've also tried rebooting multiple times... no change.

[BrettB]

Ok, so I checked and the "NPVR Recording Service" is running.

I deleted 5 out of the 6 tuners so that 1) I would only see one of each channel in the guide, and 2) so that I would know what tuner it's going to target.

My device status box simply says "Devices" in it with no other information (and that never changed). My tuner never showed a inkling of activity.

New log attached.

The NRecord.log shows

Code:

2018-03-04 15:23:50.680    [DEBUG][10]    non-existant capture source: 32

Indicating that it is trying to use capture device id 32, but it doesn't exist. Maybe you could give us a screen capture image of the NextPVR Settings Devices screen?

[rytomi]

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[Graham]

Record.log it's saying … non existent capture source ... It appears that the database where nextpvr does it's config has got in a pickle ... Exit nextpvr, delete npvr.db3, start nextpvr and it will create a new database.

[rytomi]

Record.log it's saying … non existent capture source ... It appears that the database where nextpvr does it's config has got in a pickle ... Exit nextpvr, delete npvr.db3, start nextpvr and it will create a new database.

Where is this file (I don't see it the NPVR program directory), and will I need to reconfigure the tuner again for trying to see if it works?