Lots of recording and playback errors (Possibly since last NPVR update?)

[Rich A]

My HTPC has been running most reliably for several months. However, sometime in the last few weeks NextPVR has become erratic and I've had numerous problems.

In TV Guide, clicking on a show to watch gives me "Unable to communicate with recording service" or sometimes no error and it just goes back to the TV Guide.

Clicking on the tray Icon status shows no devices at all. (should be three)

Restarting recording service clears errors but when I try to watch a channel I get a new error: Unable to find available capture device (HDHR Stream not available) I also noticed that sometimes the NPVR tray Icon is "red" denoting a recording in progress. But there are NO devices showing in the Status. Usually that results in a recording error and loss of that recorded show.

I also loose most of my recordings. Typically if I have have 5 shows set to be recorded, I'll be lucky to end up with one good recording. I'm guessing it could be a recording service problem? It's intermittent but often.

Most of the time I have to resort to shutting down NextPvr and rebooting the computer. Then everything is back to normal .. but only for a while. Sometimes if I just let it sit for a while it will start working again. Weird.

In all instances using the HDHR View application tunes and plays all channels. This system has been ultra reliable up to now.

System is running Windows 7 Pro 32-bit. Recording device is a three tuner SiliconDust HDPVR Prime (cable card) Logs logs are attached.

[Graham]

My HTPC has been running most reliably for several months. However, sometime in the last few weeks NextPVR has become erratic and I've had numerous problems.
... Recording device is a three tuner SiliconDust HDPVR Prime (cable card)

This thread and patch may be relevant ... https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.ph...post525032

[Rich A]

This thread and patch may be relevant ... https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.ph...post525032

Thanks Graham,

I had already read that post and had applied it. That was just before I posted my problem on the forum. But that "may" have fixed it. Although I changed that DLL file I didn't re-boot the PC. And AFTER the change and re-boot, I subsequently had a full prime time recording night of about 8 one hour shows during that evening. Woke up this morning expecting maybe one or two complete recordings.

But the whole night's worth of recording all succeeded. I think perhaps it may be fixed. I still have something else to check though. My normal use of NextPVR is where I leave the PC running and only the NPR recording schedule running.

I only open the main application when I want to watch TV or set recordings etc. How ever, last night I left everything running 24/7. I left the main menu and GUI of NextPVR running and displaying on the screen. I just physically turned off the monitor. And today all was well.

I'm going to revert to my original work flow now and exit out of the NPVR main menu leaving only the Recording service running. Then tomorrow morning if everything still works, we've confirmed that it was the new *.DLL file replacement that did the trick.

Thanks .. Rich

[Rich A]

Happy to report that the fix was applying the new Nshared.dll. For the last 24 hours I've tried my best to break NextPVR and it is now back to being it's old reliable self. It was interesting to see how that old *.dll cause so many problems with this most recent program update. It just caused all kinds of intermittent problems with viewing and recording. Glad to see that Sub got this fixed in short order.

If this helps anyone else my procedure was to shut down NextPvr and the recording service. Then rename Nshared.dll to NsharedOLD.dll. Then load the new version of Nshared.dll. Then reboot the PC.

- Rich

[Matt C]

Hello,

I am having similar issues but mainly with recording. "Unable to connect to device" and recording failed is common. It seems it really increased after recent nPVR updates. I tried replacing the Nshared.dll with the older version but it did not seem to help.

It seems everything runs OK for a day or two, then it goes into "unable to connect to device" I am using a hauppauge 2650 tuner with mCard on Comcast QAM service.

I have tried:
Updated the firmware in the tuner card
Changed NShared.dll, now back to running 6/30/2018 version (although attached logs are from thread above version)
reinstalled npvr
reinstalled hdhomerun (trying beta release 20180802 tonight)
amplified incoming cable signal (via Motorola digital amplifier)

I have to reboot the PC and/or reboot the tuner card. Seems if I reboot the tuner only, it happens sooner (next day) vs rebooting PC and tuner seems to last a couple of days before it fails again.

Please help! I miss having reliable recordings.

Thank you for anything you can do!

Recent Logs attached.

Matt

[sub]

There is two errors that stand out in your logs.

1 - The first error is related to trying to access your I:\ Drive. It's like this is because I: drive is a network drive, or USB drive, and unavailable at the time NextPVR tried to use it.

2018-08-01 06:29:01.934 [DEBUG][8] PlaybackPositionHelper.DeletePlaybackPosition(E:\nPVR\Lakefront Bargain Hunt\Lakefront.Bargain.Hunt.S01E04.A.Northwoods.Cabin.ts)
2018-08-01 06:29:01.935 [DEBUG][8] - deleting extra recording: I:\nPVR\Lakefront Bargain Hunt\Lakefront.Bargain.Hunt.S01E02.A.Big.Wow.on.Alabamas.Lake.Wedowee.ts (8/20/2017 2:59:01 AM)
2018-08-01 06:29:01.971 [DEBUG][8] Unable to delete recording file: System.IO.IOException: The device is not ready.

at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.File.InternalDelete(String path, Boolean checkHost)
at System.IO.File.Delete(String path)
at NShared.RecordingService.WorkerThread()

2. A status check which is done before recording is returning an error. This is done by running the SiliconDust hdhomerun_config.exe command line show below. It looks like the device was working fine for the first few days the recording service was running, then on 2018-08-02 the hdhomerun_config.exe was no longer able to access the device, and every attempt to run it returned this "Error: unable to connect to device" error. That was the day you installed the hdhomerun beta release. Every attempt to use the device after that fails with the same error, and is marked as failed.

ie, This doesn't appear to be a problem of NextPVR's making. Maybe the most recent hdhomerun software is no longer for fully compatible with the now-old 2650 device, or the device needs rebooting?

2018-08-05 19:00:00.750 [DEBUG][8] Executing: C:\Program Files\Silicondust\HDHomeRun\hdhomerun_config.exe 201182EE get /tuner0/status
2018-08-05 19:00:01.218 [DEBUG][8] Error: unable to connect to device

[Matt C]

Thank you so much! I unplugged the external drive and so far everything has been working great! I think that was it. If the problem returns, I will upgrade equipment. I hope to find a tuner that takes an mcard as I am not sure Silicon Dust is still making their Prime product (out of stock). Thank you for such a fast reply and great advice/information.