the tuner you were using was required...message

[DrBoost]

I'm hoping someone here can help me resolve this. I've searched quite a bit and it seems I need someone to look at the log to figure out the issue here.
I'm running NPVR on a Windows 7 64bit machine.
At least 1/2 the time I try to change channels I get the message indicated. every time, I hit OK, then Live TV and it goes right to the channel I was switching to. So the tuner is switching the channel, it's just not being outputted?
Anyway, here's a log. the problem happened about 6:51 or so.


I don't see if there is an attachment. I hope so.

And thank you all very much in advance.

[DrBoost]

I don't see the log. How do I attach one? I clicked on the manage attachments icon, found the log and hit Upload.

[Graham]

I don't see the log. How do I attach one? I clicked on the manage attachments icon, found the log and hit Upload.

The attachment hasn't worked even though you seem to have done it right. Please try the attachment again. You need to zip the log folder and attach the zip file. There is a button in ... NextPVR Settings --> About ... that will make the zip for you. Plus, to make it easier to find stuff in the logs, please tell us the date and time that the "tuner was required" message appeared. Thanks.

[DrBoost]

Thanks Graham, I didn't zip it. Here's the file. The last issue happened this morning (2/19/2016) at about 6:51.

[DrBoost]

Bumpin beca I hope someone can help me. I don't want to have to fine another PVR program to use.

[Graham]

I've searched quite a bit and it seems I need someone to look at the log to figure out the issue here.

The NextPVR process that connects to the tuner and receives the stream is ndigitalhost and the ndigitalhost-27.log has ...

2016-02-19 06:52:12.187 [DEBUG][13] locked=0, present=0, strength=41000, quality=0 (took 0ms to check)

The "locked=0, present=0 ..." indicates that the tuner is telling NextPVR that it is unable to lock onto a signal. There are similar messages earlier and later where the tuner is able to lock onto a signal. This could be indicating that the signal to the tuner is intermittently dodgy. What happens if you do a test with all splitters and extension cables removed from the signal feed to the tuner?

[DrBoost]

Thanks for the response. This usually happens with a few channels, but I was thinking, I really only watch a few. So I'll see if it happens with any others.
I've never missed a recording because of this issue, I don't know if that tells you anything. I also noticed that, let's say I switch from channel 5 to 6 and I get the message; I hit ok, taking me back to the main menu. When I go to Live TV it is always on channel 6 (or the channel I was trying to switch to). Again, I don't know if that is a clue.
My cable goes from the antenna on the roof through one connection (outside of the house) then directly to the tuner. And it's as short a run as is physically possible.

I really appreciate your help.

[Graham]

I've never missed a recording because of this issue, I don't know if that tells you anything.

The recording process has a built-in retry mechanism and there may be problems with recordings that are being overcome by the retry.

NextPVR stores the the Live TV "current channel" and tunes to that channel the next time that Live TV is started. It seems likely that NextPVR stores the "current channel" as soon as you switch the channel and before you get any error message.

It is widely believed that the TV tuners for computers are less sensitive than the tuners in televisions. It may be that your signal is on the edge of acceptability and occasionally wobbles too low causing a tuning problem. My own experience has been that a borderline signal can be affected by wet weather, wind in the nearby trees and all sorts. My only suggestion is to review the content of the ndigitalhost log whenever there is a problem. It would indicate a signal strength problem if you always see the "locked=0 present=0" after an error.

[sub]

NextPVR uses a lease/renewal scheme, where the client askes recording service for a tuner (lease), then has to tell the recording service every 10 seconds (renewal) that it's still using the tuner. If the recording service detects the client hasn't renewed it's lease in 15 seconds, it decides something has gone wrong in the client, like it's hung or died or been killed, so it frees the tuner back up for other clients or recordings that might want to use it.

In your case, something is causing your machine to take an exceedingly long time (30+ seconds) to do a step that is normally very quick, and during this time the lease expires, and the recording service stops the device. The message you're seeing is a little deceptive, but this same method is used when a recording is stolen from live tv to perform a recording (ie, client tries to renew it's lease, and the server tells it 'no - your lease is no longer valid').

So the solution to your problem is working why it's going so slow at times.

A first step is to probably work out if it's the recording side or the playback side that is causing it to go slow. You could probably only windows explorer, looking at the live tv buffer directly, try one of these channel changes, quickly check a file is created and growing before the error happens. This should tell use the recording side is ok.

[DrBoost]

Thanks for the input Sub. I tried to do what I think you asked, but I don't think I fully understand what you mean. Here's what I did.
I opened windows explorer in a window on top of NPVR. Then I selected NPVR and changed the channel. AS SOON as I hit ENTER I selected the WE window that was already opened to the live tv buffer folder, and watched. Nothing happened at all. But, is a WE explorer window real-time? I have a feeling I'm not doing something correctly.
BTW, I have my TV as the monitor. Should I grab a second monitor so I can monitor the folder?

Thanks for your time.