zero length recording

[hzwaal]

Yesterday, something went wrong with a recording. According to the GUI the recording was successful, but playing it returns directly to the menu. Further inspection shows that the mpeg file has length zero.

The recording log also shows the following error. However, I have no clue what went wrong and how I can prevent it from happening again...

Log excerpt (I can post the full logs and/or db when needed):

2008-02-02 12:39:38.734 VERBOSE [13] Hour is currently 12. Conversions will happen between 1:00 and 6:00
2008-02-02 12:42:00.171 INFO [5] Found new programme requiring recording: NOS: Koninklijk jarig in Carre
2008-02-02 12:42:00.171 VERBOSE [5] Changing to channel (GBPVR.Backend.Common.NullTunerController): 22
2008-02-02 12:42:00.171 VERBOSE [5] Requesting IRecordingSource to start recording: E:\Recordings\NOS Koninklijk jarig in Carre\NOS Koninklijk jarig in Carre_20080202_12451600.mpg
2008-02-02 12:42:00.171 VERBOSE [5] DirectRecordingSource about to start recording oid:1 channel:22
2008-02-02 12:42:04.484 VERBOSE [5] recording started
2008-02-02 12:42:04.484 VERBOSE [5] Programme is now recording
2008-02-02 12:42:04.484 VERBOSE [5] RecordingFactory.save()
2008-02-02 12:42:04.578 VERBOSE [5] Save(): Updated existing scheduled recording
2008-02-02 12:42:04.578 VERBOSE [5] Adding E:\Recordings\NOS Koninklijk jarig in Carre\NOS Koninklijk jarig in Carre_20080202_12451600.mpg to parallel processing queue
2008-02-02 12:42:11.109 INFO [15] Running comskip on: E:\Recordings\NOS Koninklijk jarig in Carre\NOS Koninklijk jarig in Carre_20080202_12451600.mpg
2008-02-02 13:09:38.765 VERBOSE [13] Hour is currently 13. Conversions will happen between 1:00 and 6:00
2008-02-02 13:39:38.781 VERBOSE [13] Hour is currently 13. Conversions will happen between 1:00 and 6:00
2008-02-02 14:09:38.812 VERBOSE [13] Hour is currently 14. Conversions will happen between 1:00 and 6:00
2008-02-02 14:39:38.828 VERBOSE [13] Hour is currently 14. Conversions will happen between 1:00 and 6:00
2008-02-02 18:49:32.500 ERROR [5] Found expired lease. Stopping recording.
2008-02-02 18:49:32.500 VERBOSE [5] Received request to stop livetv: 1
2008-02-02 18:49:32.500 VERBOSE [5] Recording has passed endtime+padding. Stopping.

[Anthony]

The past couple of weeks "some" of my recordings have been ending up as zero byte files too. I don't know what's causing it to know what to fix.

I was recording "Man Made Marvels of Asia" last night on an analog channel (7 Discovery), and it came out as a zero byte file. There have been others as well, but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to which shows work and which ones don't.

I'm attaching my logs in hopes that someone can figure out the cause.

Thanks,

Anthony

[sub]

I'm guessing that for one reason or another your device has failed to lock onto a signal. Unfortunately you have disabled status checks so I'm unable to tell whether this was the case from the logs.

[Deusxmachina]

I'll toss out a dumb one.

I had similar, some days a recording would be zero, wasn't sure why it only did it sometimes and not others. Then one day I decided to fix it once and for all.

One of the tuner card antenna cables was unplugged, of course.

[Anthony]

Sub,

How do I enable the status checks?

Remember, the latest zero byte recording was on an ANALOG channel, not digital.

As for the antenna cables, checked those. And shouldn't I just record snow on an analog channel even if the cable was disconnected?

Thanks,

Anthony

[hzwaal]

The past couple of weeks "some" of my recordings have been ending up as zero byte files too. I don't know what's causing it to know what to fix.

I just had a look at your logs and it seems that your recording service is the cause. There are a number of entries when the config application is trying to inform the recording service of an EPG update where the recording service refuses the connection. There are also entries where the database is still locked and cannot be upgraded. To me it seems like the recording service is still running, even though it was asked to stop. You could try so stop it manually (through the tray icon) and see what happens and inspect the logs.

Judging from your errors I'd guess your problem is a different one from mine, even though the symptoms are the same.

[Anthony]

A lot of those errors could be caused by me, as I was rebuilding my EPG databases yesterday after adding some new channels to the listings.

But, I just checked task manager and the GBPVR recording service IS running.

Also, I recorded a few different shows yesterday after the EPG changes, and most turned out fine. There was only the one show I'm aware of that ended up as a zero byte file.

Guess I'll have to do more testing.

Anthony

[sub]

Sub,

How do I enable the status checks?

From memory you need to set <BDADisableStatusChecks> back to false in config.xml.

Remember, the latest zero byte recording was on an ANALOG channel, not digital.

As for the antenna cables, checked those. And shouldn't I just record snow on an analog channel even if the cable was disconnected?

The recording you indicated was attempted on digital:

2008-02-05 23:00:31.016 INFO BDARecorder:::StartRecording(Hauppauge HVR-1600 (ATSC), 1, D:\Man Made Marvels of Asia_20080205_23000000.mpg, T:27,10,2~P:4~V:65~A:69~PMT:64~N:>10.2 KOPB-SD (eng))

[Anthony]

Oops, I guess it was on a digital channel. I was thinking it was on a different channel for some reason. My mistake.

I'm not sure why I originally disabled the status checks, but I have set the DisableStatus checks back to false. I'll post logs again if the problem repeats.

Thanks!

Anthony

[hzwaal]

From memory you need to set <BDADisableStatusChecks> back to false in config.xml.

The recording you indicated was attempted on digital:

My recording was surely analog. Any guess what my problem could have been?