Manual record issue

[ReplayHarry]

I looked through the forum and found nothing that was close to the problem I am having.
I am running NPVR 3.2.9 on Windows 8.1 with XBMC Froto. Using HDhomerun with cable card. I re-boot my HTPC normally once a day when I go to bed if nothing is recording at the time. So I know my PC doesn't have in lingering garbage.

Anytime I setup a new recording (manual or from the EPG) I always use X-newa and go directly into NPVR to do it.

The problem.
My cable seems to go to sleep if I go a long time without changing a station or doing something. This also happened back in my ReplayTV days. Got around it with Replay by setting a manual recording in the middle of the night.

So with NPVR I setup a manual recording on The Golf Channel starting at 12:30am and going for 10 mins. No pre-padding or post padding, and it is set for every day and keeping just 1 recording.

It does record the 10 mins (actually says it recorded 9mins 52 secs) and did fix my cable going to sleep. But in addition to recording the 10 mins (with name default) it puts out another recording that is empty also with the name default. It says it recorded 10 mins at 12:30am, but the file is null.

So why is it doing this? It is not a major problem, but is kinda annoying. In trying to fix it I have tried several things, like deleting the reoccurring recording and starting over. Tried changing the time slightly or changing stations. Nothing works. The funny thing is if I happen to be up right after 12:30am and take a look, I see just the single legit recording. So I delete it (through XBMC) and the strange thing is a null 10 minute recording at 12:30am shows up a little later. My EPG update is at 2:40am. So when I have done the delete, the null one shows up sometime after the EPG has been updated.

Anyone have any clues?

[sub]

What do you mean by "cable seems to sleep"? Do you mean your HDHomeRun stops working if you don't use it for a while? I don't remember seeing any other reports of a problem like this, so shouldn't be a problem for you either.

What does the HDHomeRun Config screen show at the time when NPVR attempts one of these recordings after too long?

[ReplayHarry]

Thanks for your quick reply.
The "going to sleep" problem I am almost 100% sure is an issue with Comcast cable as this happens with my ReplayTV too, which is connected to their cable box. Basically the box shuts off. No more issues on it since I put in a manual record in the middle of the night (many months ago).
So with NPVR, I am almost certain it too is an issue with Comcast. But before I put in the manual record I would sometimes miss a recording in the wee hours of the morning. The recording would seem to have worked as it showed up in my list of recordings. But when I tried to view it, it would be a null file with nothing there. X-NEWA would report a failed recording for it and then when I would go into to NPVR (with x-newa) it would say something like "recording service not started".

But... I am not complaining about missed recording now as none have been missed since I put in the manual recording at 12:30am (a wake up call so to speak), but just can't figure out why 2 manual recordings show up rather then one. One with 9mins and 52 seconds and the other saying 10 mins, but in reality it is a null file.

For sake of diagnosis, I will setup another manual recording for later this evening, just to see what happens. I'll report back.

[sub]

Thanks for your quick reply.
The "going to sleep" problem I am almost 100% sure is an issue with Comcast cable as this happens with my ReplayTV too, which is connected to their cable box. Basically the box shuts off. No more issues on it since I put in a manual record in the middle of the night (many months ago).

I can picture a cable box going into standby mode overnight, but you're using an HDHomeRun so there is no cable box to go to sleep.

You shouldn't have to be worrying about doing workaround recordings during the night. If you can post the logs showing a failed recording, then we can take a look at what's going wrong. You should also check the status in the HDHomeRun Config screen.

[ReplayHarry]

I will wait till tomorrow to send logs. I set a manual record for 4:50pm this afternoon and it recorded fine with no "extra" null file. I will wait to see what happens for the 12:30am manual recording and then send the logs tomorrow.

Yeah, I kinda agree with you on the cable card vs cable box issue, but that is the only explanation I could come up with on my own. Also when I was "missing" recordings (prior to putting in the manual recording), it would always be on a cable station. I have the HDhomerun antenna only box too and have never had it miss a recording no matter what time of the day or night.

Logs in the morning.

Another "by the way". When I setup the manual recording it seems to indicate I can name it what I want, but no matter what I do it never prompts me for a name and therefore is always "default". It appears I should be able to press the arrow keys to change the value like on other parameters, but the arrows do nothing on the name field. Pressing enter (or select) also does nothing. Is this a "feature" or a problem?

[mvallevand]

Another "by the way". When I setup the manual recording it seems to indicate I can name it what I want, but no matter what I do it never prompts me for a name and therefore is always "default". It appears I should be able to press the arrow keys to change the value like on other parameters, but the arrows do nothing on the name field. Pressing enter (or select) also does nothing. Is this a "feature" or a problem?

It loosk like web client may not support this. When I hit enter nothing happens.

Martin

[ReplayHarry]

Ok, I hope I have attached the correct logs to help you diagnosis this.

[sub]

What time was a recording in there that failed?

[sub]

Was it this recording:

Code:

2014-07-27 03:00:07.940    [DEBUG][9]    Started recording (18422:1:D:\Recorded TV\Harry\Golf\European PGA Tour Golf\European PGA Tour Golf_20140727_03000600.ts)

It looks like that recording has started fined, with no errors noted. As mentioned above, it'd be worth checking the HDHomeRun Config utility while the recording is in progress. From there you'll be able to tell if it's locked onto a signal, and is streaming, and what the bitrate is.

[christheman]

Thanks for your quick reply.
The "going to sleep" problem I am almost 100% sure is an issue with Comcast cable as this happens with my ReplayTV too, which is connected to their cable box. Basically the box shuts off. No more issues on it since I put in a manual record in the middle of the night (many months ago).
So with NPVR, I am almost certain it too is an issue with Comcast. But before I put in the manual record I would sometimes miss a recording in the wee hours of the morning. The recording would seem to have worked as it showed up in my list of recordings. But when I tried to view it, it would be a null file with nothing there. X-NEWA would report a failed recording for it and then when I would go into to NPVR (with x-newa) it would say something like "recording service not started".

But... I am not complaining about missed recording now as none have been missed since I put in the manual recording at 12:30am (a wake up call so to speak), but just can't figure out why 2 manual recordings show up rather then one. One with 9mins and 52 seconds and the other saying 10 mins, but in reality it is a null file.

For sake of diagnosis, I will setup another manual recording for later this evening, just to see what happens. I'll report back.

This sounds like a problem I was having with Time Warner cable, related to their migration to SDV (switched digital video). If you look around on the internet and read between the lines, it becomes obvious that most mysterious cable issues are due to this.

Not all digital cable channels use SDV, which can make it frustrating to diagnose. My cable system is currently a mixed bag of SDV and non-SDV, with some of the upper HD channels being more problematic among SDV culprits. In a couple cases, the cheap 2nd TV set DTAs don't even receive these channels, although I paid for them.

The problem is that SDV requires 2-way communication, you don't actually have all the channels all at once at your digital tuner to select from. Instead, your tuner sends a request to the cable company, and then they allocate your requested station to a frequency, and then you receive it.

After some time, they reallocate that frequency for something else unless it gets a signal from your cable tuner that it is still receiving that channel. Some cable boxes will ask you to confirm if you are still watching that channel, while others will just say "Cannot Find Channel". All cable tuners suffer from this, it does not necessarily mean you have a bad tuner or firmware issue.

That aside, and besides possibly having a bad piece of equipment, you might have bad cable wiring. Cable wiring is very sensitive, and I have read that oftentimes a weak return signal is the culprit (it cannot always get the "in use" response from your tuner). That may be due to circumstances beyond your control.

The cable service and single-tuner cable box I was using got much worse in this last year and did this to me at least once every 24-48 hours. It was a brand new box when I got it, and good wiring. I got it due to the digital switchover. All the SDV blackouts were unacceptable for me since I had to babysit it for important recordings, which kind of defeated the purpose of having a PVR. And once it lost the channel, it would remain "lost" for any consecutive shows on the same channel until I retuned it.

I figured all this out for myself the hard way over some time and frustration, and as a result I have migrated to DirecTV, since as a satellite services they don't use cheapshot tactics like SDV to duct-tape their service together. The only issues I will have now are if it rains or snows heavily. I have yet to find out how often I will need to clear off the snow from the satellite dish, but the installers said to just whack it with a broom, so it can't be all that fragile.

A bit long, but I hope that helps someone.
Chris