Recording import not working from recordings on mapped drive

[drlava]

I'm upgrading from version 3 and have gone between version 4 and 5, leaning toward 5 because that is where active development is taking place. (Thanks Sub)

One issue is that with V5, when I try to import my 375 or so shows with the web interface, it says 'no shows imported'.  There doesn't appear to be a means of import via the windows native app settings menu anymore.  

Import worked fine with V4.  In case of formatting compatibility, I then exported from V4 and tried to import to V5, still no dice.   

The recordings are on a mapped drive, so I did a test.  I removed all recordings from the xml file but one. Still no go, until I copy the one recording over to a local drive and change the path, then it works.
So the issue appears to be that V5 web interface can't import recordings from mapped drives currently (5.1.0.201216). Note this is on Microsoft Edge V 87.

Secondly,
I also cannot find any log generated relevant to this issue in the "NPVR-data\logs" folder.  Due to the web interface nature of this version's settings?  Are the web interface logs stored somewhere else?

Final, unrelated question, how can we choose the transcoding compression type (x264/5 for example)? I only saw a setting for bitrate.

[Graham]

when I try to import my 375 or so shows with the web interface

Secondly,
I also cannot find any log generated relevant to this issue in the "NPVR-data\logs" folder.  Due to the web interface nature of this version's settings?  Are the web interface logs stored somewhere else?

Final, unrelated question, how can we choose the transcoding compression type (x264/5 for example)? I only saw a setting for bitrate.

Forgive me if I am teaching you to suck eggs ... The export/import process in V4 and V5 is creating and reading an .xml files.  When you "export" in V4 ... you create an .xml in the V4 data folder public\npvr ... When you import in V5 ... you are reading an .xml file ... You need to copy the file created by V4 to the V5 data folder.

The recording file location needs to be the same for both the V4 service and the V5 service (e.g N:\Recordings or \\nas\recordings).

You can copy the V4 npvr.db3 to V5 as an alternative to export/import ... https://github.com/sub3/NextPVR/wiki/updates-upgrades

V5 buffers logs in memory and flushes the buffer to disk when you use the web app to zip the logs.  I do ... Settings -> About ... and then click the button to zip the logs ... and open the zip file in Explorer/File Manager when asked if I want to Open or Save.

[mvallevand]

Typically you would have have used needed to use one of several methods (often running the service as user) to see network drives on V4. You should use the same method in V5

Martin

[drlava]

Hi Graham and mvallevand, thanks for your input.

Graham, diving into the weeds, I am aware that the xml is only information about the imports, and NPVR has to locate the file based on the path supplied in the xml import.  This is how I was able to isolate and test the local vs mapped drive issue in the OP.  I didn't know that the web settings immediately passes this info to the service for checkout.. good to know.

I have assigned the "NextPVR Service" to the user which has access to the mapped drive, and which worked in V4 with this exact same import and mapped drive, and restarted the service.  

In V4, when you assigned the recording directory to a mapped drive, it gave the system account access warning for the recording service, so it was clear what needed to be done.  

Here in V5, that same fix does not appear to be working (to change the service settings to log in as a different user with mapped drive access).

Logs attached, including"

"2020-12-27 11:34:49.088 [ERROR][1] Recording directory does not exist: E:\Shows\"
(it does exist)

also

"2020-12-27 11:24:06.568 [DEBUG][4] - not adding non-existant file:E:\Shows\WordGirl\WordGirl.S01E17.Two.Brains.Forgets;.Banned.on.the.Run.ts"
(it does exist) and if the file is local it imports fine.  Even with the semicolon.

[mvallevand]

Here in V5, that same fix does not appear to be working (to change the service settings to log in as a different user with mapped drive access).

Yes it still works likely a misconfiguration or you didn't restart the service.

I have an import utility that bypasses reading the xml files and copies the database row instead when the file exisits, even on another folder.

Martin

[drlava]

Ok, this thread has some useful info and recommendations from Windows experts:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1827...-a-service
There are a few options.. map a drive with a symlink, and use "UNC" paths instead of an explorer mapped drive being a second.

I can't explain why the explorer-mapped drive solution appears to work with V4, but now after doing a search and replace in recording-backup.xml to change the mapped drive to the UNC network share path (\\server\share\) now it's importing fine. The same goes for using a shared folder for the new recordings folder in settings.

thanks all.

[mvallevand]

I think that link helps explain one other difference. Is you V5 ticked to interact with the desktop? UNC on Windows is far better approach as long as no username or passwords are involved.

Martin

[drlava]

The 'allow to interact with desktop' checkbox for the service in windows service manager is only a setting for the local service account, not when you specify a local user account. My expectation is that when a local user account is selected, it automatically is allowed to interact with the desktop.
UNC also works when usernames and passwords are involved, so long as there's a matching account on the server machine with access to the share, it would appear.