Black Screen Woes

[jrockow]

Weird problem I've had a couple of times now.

When I check my recordings, one of them shows up as black screen only.
The entry is in the directory listing, and there is a .TS file, but it's 0 KB.

After that, if I try to watch a "live" show on that channel, I get the same black screen.
My DCR-2650 doesn't indicate it's locked on a channel.

It appears to me that the channel is mapped properly, it just doesn't work.

In the past I deleted the channel and rescaned and added back, and that seems to correct it, for a time anyhow.
I believe it has happened on different channels, not always the same one.

I have included the log file, which looks OK to me?
The show in question is "Jane the Virgin" from 10/13/2014 at 9:00 PM.
I'm running the current version of NPVR.

It looks to me like it may be a DCR problem?
I run 3 of them, but in the past I didn't record which one had the problem.

I'm looking for ideas on how to troubleshoot, and what's the best way to recover from it.

Thanx!

[jrockow]

UPDATE:

I tested watching the channel on each of the 3 DCR-2650s and still no go.
At this point I don't believe it's a DCR-2650 problem.

Can anyone tell me the specific file or table I should be looking at to track down the missing channel.
I looked at the "channel-mapping" table and that looks OK to me.

I hate to just delete and rescan the channel, as this has happened before and I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

[mvallevand]

I think this gives the channel list http://<ipaddress>/lineup.xml?show=unprotected

Martin

[jrockow]

Martin

Thanx for your response.

I wasn't sure which IP address to use, so I tried the NPVR server and also the DCR-2650s.
Got the same reply to all; "IE cannot display the webpage".

I tried a wildcard search for "lineup.xml" and couldn't find it that way either?

[sub]

Do an "ipconfig /all" in command prompt to see the address of the DCR-2650.

[jrockow]

Sub,

I already tried those addresses and got the IE error.

WAIT: I just tried running the DCR diags utility and noticed something odd.
The IP addresses reported by the diags are different than what I have in my ForcedIP.xml file.

It appears as though the addresses I put in the ForcedIP file are the "IPv4 Addresses".
The addresses reported by the diags are the "DHCP Server" addresses.

When I tried those, I did get what looks like it could be the lineup.xml file.
There were only 2 lines displayed;
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<Lineup />

Which address should I use in the ForcedIP file?

I temporarily changed the addresses and then I couldn't get any channel to work.

Presumably I would have to recreate all the channels using the new IP address?

How in the heck did this thing work as long as it did if I used the wrong addresses ?

[sub]

When I tried those, I did get what looks like it could be the lineup.xml file.
There were only 2 lines displayed;
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<Lineup />

This looks like it was the right address of a DCR device, but it looks like either you don't have any unprotected channels, or your cablecard has become unbound. (I'm guessing the latter)

[jrockow]

Sub,

When you say "This looks like it was the right address", I assume you mean the DHCP address, and not the IPv4 address?
I want to be sure, because for the past few months I have been using the IPv4 address. (marked "preferred" in the ipconfig report)

Anyhow, I deleted all the channels, changed forcedip.xml to use the DHCP addresses, and tried adding just 1 channel.

I still don't see anything different when I look at the lineup.xml file; no channels listed.
Now if I try to watch that channel I just added, the tuner locks in, but all I get is the black screen.
I tested all 3 tuners and got the same results.

Can you explain what you mean by "your cablecard has become unbound".
Remember, all 3 tuners act the same.

I know I'm probably missing something basic!

[jrockow]

It just gets weirder!

I changed forcedip.xml back to the IPv4 addresses, and now I get the channels to play again.
However, if I use the IPv4 address in IE when viewing the lineup.xml I still get the display error; no lineup file.

I just wish I knew for certain which address I should be using.

[jrockow]

I just discovered if I drop the "show=unprotected" from the IE URL I do get a complete list of channels displayed.
That is, using the DHCP address, not the IPv4 address, so I assume I should use the DHCP address in the forcedIP.xml file? please confirm.