All kinds of issues with Live TV

[hansolo77]

Setup
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Recorder/Server:
Custom Built Windows Server Essentials 2012 R2
3 Tuner Cards, all Hauppauge, various analog and digital capabilities
Time Warner/Spectrum Standard Cable Ready service (we have digital HD with PVR, but only cable ready to the server), picks up about 70 channels
HD OTA Antenna picks up about 14 channels
Tuner cards and drivers all tested and working with SoftPVR
48tb Free Storage in Drive Pool used for overflow
120gb Dedicated SSD for NPVR
NPVR version 3.7.7

Player/Client:
Kodi 17.3 Krypton
NPVR plugin version 2.4.13.1
Connected on same network via Gigabit Ethernet (not wireless)

Problem
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History:
Everything was crazy complicated to get set up. I'm using (was it called?) Schedules Direct for EPG data. After a week or two of troubleshooting and banging my head on the wall I finally got it all working. Everything was going great. The system downloaded EPG like it should. It recorded TV Shows I scheduled to record. They all play back like they should. Even Live TV was working. Then I started doing more watching of stuff I downloaded, or stuff I could stream with my Netflix account. I neglected NPVR for a good 6-8 months. Every now and then, I would check to see if anything new had recorded, and it wasn't recording anything. Lately, I've just chalked it up as being the summer season and all my shows I watch are on break. But earlier today we had a string of thunderstorms come through the area and I wanted to watch our local news channel to see if they had a radar up and was talking about it. Well, that's when I realized my system isn't working like it should. I can browse the EPG with no problem, so that part at least still seems to be working right. But if I try to pick a channel to watch (not record) all I get is a black screen on my client.. It's like the server isn't transmitting the stream. However,, if I hit the STOP button on my remote, it will very quickly display a single frame of whatever was playing before returning me to the EPG. I did some further testing, and discovered it is doing this on all of my HD channels. Regardless if it's OTA or picked up through the cable company. If I switch to an SD channel, it works fine.

So is there something wrong with the versions I'm using? Was there some addition/subtraction to the code I need to fix? Some setting that got whacked? I just don't know what to do. I checked all the settings on the server side and they look correct based on what I remember seeing when it worked before. The only settings in the Client's addon is stuff like the Hostname, port, and pin. I suppose that could have gotten messed up. But the SD stuff and the EPG works so clearly the communication is there.

Any ideas? Here's a copy of my logs for you guys to look over if you think it'll help. Hopefully I've provided enough information. If you need more, just ask. I'm eager to make this work again.

[sub]

Ignoring Kodi for now, does live TV work in NextPVR itself?

Your logs don't show an attempt to watch live TV in NextPVR, so I'd suggest trying this, then zip and attach the logs again, so we can check what happened in that attempt.

[sub]

When I look at the recent recording attempts in the logs, it looks like everything went fine, but the device failed to lock onto a signal. Off the top of my head some possible reasons include:

- your cable companies has moved your channels around,
- or your cable company has stop broadcasting QAM digital cable channels (some companies have been doing this over the last year),
- or you've knocked a cable out.

I'd try scanning your channels in the Hauppauge WinTV software, to see if you're still receiving channels. If it still receives channels, then NextPVR should too.

[hansolo77]

Good calls all around.. I'm getting ready for bed but I will definitely check this out tomorrow. I don't think it's the channels changing/going off line because I'm able to see the last frame before I stop. I guess it's possible though. But wouldn't the local OTA channels still be working? Will need to experiment a bit tomorrow for sure. Thanks for the reply!

[sub]

I don't think it's the channels changing/going off line because I'm able to see the last frame before I stop. I guess it's possible though. But wouldn't the local OTA channels still be working? Will need to experiment a bit tomorrow for sure. Thanks for the reply!

Sure, if you're seeing video, it's like it's still there.

Is this in NextPVR or Kodi you're trying this? Try it in NextPVR, and post the logs immediately after the attempt.

[hansolo77]

I was able to play HD video from a digital tuner (cable) just fine. The only issue I have is with audio. Because I don't have audio out on my server, I don't have any drivers or codecs installed for that. But the video, being all black in Kodi, worked fine locally in the NextPVR program on the server. So the problem then is with the Kodi side of things?

[sub]

I was able to play HD video from a digital tuner (cable) just fine. The only issue I have is with audio. Because I don't have audio out on my server, I don't have any drivers or codecs installed for that. But the video, being all black in Kodi, worked fine locally in the NextPVR program on the server. So the problem then is with the Kodi side of things?

Yep, sounding like it.

I'm not expert with Kodi logs, but if you want to try watching the channel in Kodi with debug logging enabled, and post the kodi.log, I'll see if anything stands out.

[mvallevand]

Do you you have the mpeg2 decoder license installed on your RPi?

Martin

[hansolo77]

Do you you have the mpeg2 decoder license installed on your RPi?

Martin

I thought I did, but this IS a new Pi now that I think about it. OMG I'm going to be so irritated at myself if that's what it is lol. Will report back.

Update - it's not a new Pi, just a new install on a different SD card.. so yeah, it probably doesn't have it in the config.txt file. About to check.

[hansolo77]

Wasn't the problem. I copied over the keys from my old card, and still have the same problem.