Locast streaming and recordings failing

[Esteban]

This began yesterday after several weeks of success. The NPVR status shows extra-locast as a device, but when I try to watch through channels I get: starting device ... please wait, then streaming failed (transcoder exited error). Recordings fail as well. Restarting the server didn't change anything, nor did rebooting. I can stream just fine directly at locast.org. Logs attached.

[mvallevand]

If you run the following command at the command line to get the URL

"C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\scripts\locast\locast.bat" 1077

what do you see?

Martin

[Esteban]

Running the command first it validates my user information correctly, but then I see that it's showing the location as Phoenix again. It should be LA/803; that's what it shows in the browser at locast.org. I'm not running a VPN.

[mvallevand]

Is it still last_dma = 803 in locast.ini?

Martin

[Esteban]

Yes: last_dma = 803

[Esteban]

OK, I figured out how to copy & paste from the command prompt. Here's the whole cmd display.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>"C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\scripts\locast\locast.bat" 1077
Namespace(format='smart', tune='1077', base=None, stream=False, reverse=False, default=None)
1077
extralocast v0.70
Logging into Locast using username xxx...
Validating User Info...
User Info obtained.
User didDonate: True
User donationExpire: 2021-04-18 10:21:54
Getting user location...
Getting location via IP Address.
Got external IP 107.77.xxx.xx.
Got location as Phoenix - DMA 753 - Lat\Lon 33.7102\-112.1376
Getting station info for 1077...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\scripts\locast\LocastService.py", line 488, in get_station_stream_uri
    videoUrlRes = json.loads(videoUrlReq.text)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python39\lib\json\__init__.py", line 346, in loads
    return _default_decoder.decode(s)
  File "C:\Program Files\Python39\lib\json\decoder.py", line 337, in decode
    obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
  File "C:\Program Files\Python39\lib\json\decoder.py", line 355, in raw_decode
    raise JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 1 column 1 (char 0)

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\scripts\locast\locast.py", line 197, in <module>
    print (locast.get_station_stream_uri(opts.tune))
  File "C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\scripts\locast\LocastService.py", line 495, in get_station_stream_uri
    print("Error when getting the video URL: " + videoUrlReqErr.message)
AttributeError: type object 'JSONDecodeError' has no attribute 'message'

[mvallevand]

Check your PMs

Martin

[Esteban]

All working now. Restarting my router must have given me a new IP that Locast recognized as Los Angeles when I ran the command again.

[drbenjamin]

Hey guys

First off, thanks Martin for this wonderful extra! After years of using your MVPMC software, we cut the cord this summer so thought no more NPVR. The prospect of getting OTA Locast shows into NPVR (w/ Comskip!) is very tantalizing.
I updated to v5, followed the wiki install and set my extras device channels to use Schedules Direct. Updated the EPG, but when I try to watch or record I get a blank screen, I ran the command in this thread and got the identical output except my location is Seattle (819) which is correct. Am a donator and able to watch locast on the same machine in a web browser. Attaching logs, grateful for any help!

[mvallevand]

If you type

"C:\Users\Public\NPVR-data\scripts\locast\locast.bat" 1572389491520

What do you see? It should be something like

Code:

Namespace(format='smart', tune='1572389491520', base=None, stream=False, reverse=False, default=None)
1572389491520
extralocast v0.70
Logging into Locast using username ..............
Validating User Info...
User Info obtained.
User didDonate: True
Getting user location...
Getting location via provided zipcode 98101
Got location as Seattle - DMA 819 - Lat\Lon 47.6109\-122.33642
Getting station info for 1572389491520...
Determining best video stream for 1572389491520...
Found 0 Playlists
No variant streams found for this station.  Assuming single stream only.
https://sea.locastnet.org/proxy/sea/variant....m3u8|Referer=https://www.locast.org/cities/819&Origin=www.locast.org&User-Agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:82.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/82.0

Martin