Some recordings fail with server not running

[nikkilocke]

Some of the recordings I set up in the guide fail, with an error message about the server not being available.

I have a Hauppage TV card with two tuners, and it can record at least two channels at once (and sometimes does, with NextPVR).

The computer is set to sleep if inactive, but presumably NextPVR can wake it up if required for a recording?

Is there anything I can do to prevent this happening, please?

[Bobins]

You do not tell us what your system is nor have you included any logs for the offending time. We need this sort of info to help you.
I assume you are using a Windows PC.

NPVR should wake up the computer for recording if it's in a sleep state.
Check the windows system logs after the problem has occurred to see if the computer attempted to wake at the appropriate time.
There is a Windows timer that is normally hidden in the power settings called "Unattended sleep timer" that can cause problems unless disabled. (Google it for information).
You can use the Windows powercfg command to see if NPVR has scheduled Wake Timers for your recordings.

[mvallevand]

Two posts without logs not a good start.

Bobins trouble shooting notes are very good but a minor note is NextPVR doesn't wake your PC, it simply tells Windows to wake your PC so the troubleshooting is fixing Windows sleep not related to NextPVR at all.

If you shutdown the PC it will not wake

[nikkilocke]

Really sorry about the lack of logs - I hadn't found the logs at that point.

I Googled unattended sleep timer, and Advanced Power Options looks like the image I have attached.

I( have checked the System Event logs for events 1 & 42 - the system appears to go to sleep 1t 01:00 and wakes up again at 02:44. Why it doesn't sleep at other times, I don't know.

Here is an extract from nrecord.log - not sure what any of it means, or if that corresponds to the failed recording, or just an overlap. Should I send you all my logs, or is there something I should be looking for that I can extract for you?

Code:

2024-02-23 22:00:00.046 [DEBUG][9] DefaultDirectoryChoice: first
2024-02-23 22:00:00.048 [DEBUG][9] Preferred filename is 'Gogglebox.S23E02'
2024-02-23 22:00:00.049 [DEBUG][9] allocating recording target filename: e:\Recorded TV\Gogglebox\Season 23\Gogglebox.S23E02.ts
2024-02-23 22:00:00.049 [DEBUG][9] About to start recording (1016 on 26): e:\Recorded TV\Gogglebox\Season 23\Gogglebox.S23E02.ts
2024-02-23 22:00:00.049 [DEBUG][9] (Recording is due to be stopped at 23/02/2024 23:00)
2024-02-23 22:00:00.050 [DEBUG][9] Free space 290166284288  (e:\)
2024-02-23 22:00:00.050 [DEBUG][9] http://localhost:61903/stream/start?slipseconds=1200&target=e%3A%5CRecorded%20TV%5CGogglebox%5CSeason%2023%5CGogglebox.S23E02.ts
2024-02-23 22:00:00.050 [DEBUG][9] body:
<tuning>
  <type>DVB-T</type>
  <locator>
    <frequency>490000</frequency>
    <bandwidth>8</bandwidth>
  </locator>
  <service_id>8452</service_id>
  <tsid>8198</tsid>
  <onid>9018</onid>
  <service_type>1</service_type>
  <provider></provider>
</tuning>

2024-02-23 22:00:00.074 [ERROR][108] IsComplete(): An error occurred while parsing EntityName. Line 8, position 41.
2024-02-23 22:00:00.223 [DEBUG][9] <stream>
  <handle>0</handle>
  <reason>Device failed to start</reason>
</stream>

2024-02-23 22:00:00.223 [DEBUG][9] Failed to start recording on allocated device (1016:e:\Recorded TV\Gogglebox\Season 23\Gogglebox.S23E02.ts): 'Device failed to start'
2024-02-23 22:00:00.223 [DEBUG][9] Looking for second chance device to perform recording...
2024-02-23 22:00:00.226 [DEBUG][9] Checking if multi-record possible...
2024-02-23 22:00:00.228 [DEBUG][9] Failed to start recording... (1016:e:\Recorded TV\Gogglebox\Season 23\Gogglebox.S23E02.ts): 'Device failed to start'
2024-02-23 22:00:00.253 [DEBUG][9] Looking for alternative airings of Gogglebox: S23E02 (New: Gogglebox-S023E002-)
2024-02-23 22:00:00.254 [DEBUG][9] LoadListingByAdvancedRules(channel=7160,advancedRules=unique_id='New: Gogglebox-S023E002-')
2024-02-23 22:00:00.288 [DEBUG][9] No alternatives on 15 Channel 4+1, so looking on other channels
2024-02-23 22:00:00.288 [DEBUG][9] LoadListingByAdvancedRules(channel='all channels',advancedRules=unique_id='New: Gogglebox-S023E002-')
2024-02-23 22:00:01.248 [ERROR][108] IsComplete(): An error occurred while parsing EntityName. Line 8, position 41.
2024-02-23 22:00:01.349 [ERROR][108] IsComplete(): An error occurred while parsing EntityName. Line 8, position 41.

Sorry for posting like a dumb user - but I am one at the moment. If I understood what was going on, and what the log output meant, I would have been better. Hoping to learn! I take it the source code of NextPVR server is not open source? Looking at the source code is always my default response!

[mvallevand]

When we get the logs we can tell you more. There are errors here that are not sleep related

The wiki is a better place to look for this kind of help plus as I posted you would need to look at the Windows source not NextPVR for Windows issues. I have no doubt that NextPVR is requesting the wake for recordings.

Martin

[Bobins]

As Martin said, Windows controls power and NPVR purely asks Windows to wake the PC ready for record. Problems like this are usually Windows not NPVR.
Your power setting shouldn't have both Sleep & Hibernate enabled. "Unattended Sleep" needs a registry setting enabled to allow it to show up in the Power options. (A Google search should give you the instructions on how to make the setting visible.) By default, Windows will sleep again within 2 minutes if nothing happens after it wakes. This is because Microsoft set the "Unattended Sleep" timer to 2 minutes.
Once you've made it visible, set it to Zero.

From a Windows Command prompt (started as "Administrator") type
powercfg /h off
This will disable hibernation

type powercfg /waketimers
This should show you what wake timers are programmed (i.e. NPVR wakeup requests).

type powercfg /requests
This should show you what items are currently keeping the system awake (i.e. would prevent sleep).
There should be nothing in this list under each device.

We would need FULL logs (not snippets) with an indication of what recording was requested and when in order to offer further advice.

Ray

[nikkilocke]

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg /waketimers
Timer set by [SERVICE] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\svchost.exe (Sys
temEventsBroker) expires at 19:50:03 on 26/02/2024.
  Reason: Windows will execute 'NT TASK\Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\mcupdate_
scheduled' scheduled task that requested waking the computer.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 02:43:59 on 27/02/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 19:55:29 on 26/02/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 20:25:29 on 26/02/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 21:55:30 on 26/02/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 20:55:30 on 27/02/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 00:00:30 on 01/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 20:55:30 on 01/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 03:10:30 on 02/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 20:55:30 on 03/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 20:55:30 on 03/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 22:10:30 on 03/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 22:25:30 on 03/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 19:55:30 on 04/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 20:25:30 on 04/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 22:35:30 on 04/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 23:10:30 on 04/03/2024.

Timer set by [PROCESS] \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Program Files\NextPVR\NextPVRServ
er.exe expires at 23:40:29 on 04/03/2024.

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg /request
DISPLAY:
None.

SYSTEM:
None.

AWAYMODE:
None.

EXECUTION:
None.

PERFBOOST:
None.

Those seem OK to me, yes?

I will wait until I get another failed recording, and send full logs then.

Thank you for all your help, and for bearing with me.

[Bobins]

The powercfg responses show that there are no processes at the current time blocking the system from sleeping.
It also shows that NPVR has scheduled a a number of wake requests prior to attempting a recording.

So yes, that looks like it should work. Any failure to sleep or wake is therefore down to something in windows.
I do recommend you sort out the Unattended Sleep and disable hibernation.

Ray.

[mvallevand]

The issue is not sleep related so you are wasting time going down this path. Please upload the requested zipped logs.

[nikkilocke]

Will do as soon as another recording fails, so I can give you a programme and time.