T Series - Scheduling Conflicts Bug with IceTV

[bodogbodog]

I have made a Support call with IceTV and had confirmation back that there is a bug that has started to impact T Series Beyonwiz's (note I originally referred to only T2's but it's all T series units)

The symptoms are that you will start to see random scheduling conflicts being reported from your T2 - even though there is actually no real reason for a conflict ie one of the three tuners are available to make the recording

Note it's not happening with all recording - so just keep an eye out for random conflicts happening

I have been told it's a random type bug that has just started occurring and that IceTV are aware of it and are looking into it and will be working on it on Monday

So hopefully it will be resolved quickly

[MD]

Hi everyone,

Just to clarify it seems to be all T Series Beyonwiz PVRs using IceTV, not just T2s.

[bodogbodog]

Yes - my bad - the message I received from IceTV did say the T series - sorry about that

I'm also in contact with Peter - PRL who is one of the Beyonwiz Gurus via the Beyonwiz forums so supplying him with more details

[IanL-S]

I have not seen this with my T-2; presumably the same problem can arise with the U4 as it runs the same IceTV plug-in.

Ian

[prl]

The conflict caused by adding Seven News to bodogbodog's IceTV recordings appears to be a real conflict where there is no overlap in program schedule times, but there is an overlap in the padded times. I've posted the details in the corresponding discussion on the Beyonwiz forum.

I've also emailed Daniel Hall and bodogbodog.

[bodogbodog]

PPeter

Thanks for checking my Timers file and your email

Yes in that case on Wednesday evening the 4 recordings blew my three tuner limit on the T2 but I believe there were other cases of conflicts being reported (with spurious programs being included in the list of conflicts that weren't even running at that time) even when only one programme was scheduled - eg God Friended Me on 7HD tonight at 9.05pm - however I've rescheduled that program just now and it seems to be scheduling ok so hopefully it stays that way (although I'm not sure that the program is going to be anything great anyway  :lol: )

Thanks again for your quick attention to this - much appreciated

At the moment my weeks schedule is now clear of any conflicts  so I'll keep monitoring it

[prl]

PPeter

Thanks for checking my Timers file and your email

No problem.

Yes in that case on Wednesday evening the 4 recordings blew my three tuner limit on the T2 but I believe there were other cases of conflicts being reported (with spurious programs being included in the list of conflicts that weren't even running at that time) even when only one programme was scheduled - eg God Friended Me on 7HD tonight at 9.05pm - however I've rescheduled that program just now and it seems to be scheduling ok so hopefully it stays that way (although I'm not sure that the program is going to be anything great anyway  :lol: )

I don't think that there's doubt that there's a bug that causes the Beyonwiz to sometimes report timer conflicts when there are none, it's just that that your Seven News case wasn't an instance of the bug.

What you describe with God Friended Me sounds like it could be an instance of the bug. The problem can also sometimes resolve itself when earlier timers that make up the set of false conflicts are recorded and move off the active timer list, so that they're no longer examined by the conflict detection code.

Thanks again for your quick attention to this - much appreciated

At the moment my weeks schedule is now clear of any conflicts  so I'll keep monitoring it

No problem. If you or anyone else see the same problem, especially if the earliest timer involved is more than a couple of days ahead, I'm interested in getting a copy of the timers file and the text of the IceTV notification of the timer conflict. If you report it to IceTV, then Daniel Hall will probably forward the information on to me anyway, so you can post about it here, on the Beyonwiz forum or contact IceTV support and I should get the information no matter which you choose.

My best guess is that this looks like it's a problem with the Beyonwiz base code, not with either the IceTV server end or with the Beyonwiz IceTV plugin.

[bodogbodog]

Hi  - I am having problems which started a couple of days ago with IceTV reporting lots of scheduling conflicts for recordings which definitely do not overlap - is anyone else experiencing issues with their T2 and IceTV with scheduling conflicts?
I will lodge a Support Call with IceTV on this but just thought I'd see if others also had issues?

[prl]

If I'm to offer any help, I'll need more than "IceTV reporting lots of scheduling conflicts".

In similar reports, there have sometimes been issues with a tuner failing without the user noticing - that reduces the ability to make multiple recordings across different broadcasters, and sometimes the user neglecting to take padding into account when determining the number of overlaps.

[bodogbodog]

Thanks Peter - PRL - much appreciated. I held off on specifics until I could determine if it was just me or a widespread issue

Looks like it was just me and Daniel from IceTV helped out with this advice - the complete power down appears to have done the trick. I checked the tuners before the reboot and all 3 were showing up as working. One of those wonderful quirky things that a reboot fixed

Here's what Daniel advised

We have seen this in the past when a tuner has 'disappeared' from the Beyonwiz while it is running. Are you using the USB tuner at all? Can you try rebooting the Beyonwiz and then rescheduling the failed timer. You can check how many tuners the Beyonwiz can currently see by going into the main menu then into "Information" and then "Devices".

If it fails again you will need to check the tuners within the Beyonwiz to ensure they are all working correctly.

To test whether tuners are actually running properly, it's a bit tedious. You need a time when no recordings are running or expected to start during the time it takes for the test. Then:
1.   Check the current tuner in use. OK from live TV, and if no recordings are running, a single tuner should be indicated as a green letter A-D just to the left of the infobar panel that shows signal strength/quality. The signal panel is at the far right-hand end end of the infobar and has two coloured bar indicators, each with a percentage on the right-hand end of the bar. The tuner here will usually be tuner A, but it won't necessarily be tuner A. If the infobar is removed too quickly, press OK again while the infobar is showing and show the detailed second infobar. This will lock the infobar display. Press OK a third time, or press EXIT to remove the second infobar display.
2.   If the tuner indicated in step 1 is working, note it as OK, otherwise as having a problem.
3.   In MENU>Setup>Tuners>Tuner allocation>Preferred tuner, use LEFT/RIGHT to change to a tuner that hasn't been checked so far, and then GREEN Save to set the preferred tuner. EXIT back to live TV.
4.   Change the channel to a channel from a different broadcaster from the one currently showing on live TV. This forces tuner allocation to happen and to select the new preferred tuner. The should infobar will now show the new tuner. Note whether it's working properly.
5.   If all tuners haven't been checked yet, go back to step 3. Otherwise, go back to step 3, but simply change the preferred tuner back to Tuner A, and then you're done.


Regards,
Daniel Hall
CTO
TV TV Australia Pty Ltd trading as IceTV

[prl]

Thanks Peter - PRL - much appreciated. I held off on specifics until I could determine if it was just me or a widespread issue

Looks like it was just me and Daniel from IceTV helped out with this advice - the complete power down appears to have done the trick. I checked the tuners before the reboot and all 3 were showing up as working. One of those wonderful quirky things that a reboot fixed

Thanks for getting back on it. The T2 has a strange bug (possibly in the USB tuner drivers) that sometimes causes the USB tuner to be misidentified - it shows up in the devices list, but as a Satellite or Cable tuner, not a FTA (DVB-T or DVB-T2) tuner. Although it's listed in the devices list, it can't be used for recordings in that state, so the T2 acts as though it only has two tuners when recording and also when checking whether a new recording will conflict with existing ones.

In MENU>Information>Devices, the Beyonwiz-supplied "Mini DVB" USB tuner should identify itself as Tuner C and "DVB-T TV-Stick (DVB-T)". If Tuner C is there, but the description has DVB-S (satellite) or DVB-C (cable), then the misidentification problem has happened.

As Daniel suggested, rebooting should fix the problem (check after rebooting).

There's a detailed and at times quite technical discussion on the Beyonwiz forum in Bug - Terrestrial USB tuner identified as non-terrestrial if you want all the gory details.

[grumpy_geoff]

...
As Daniel suggested, rebooting should fix the problem (check after rebooting).

A restart of the GUI will be quicker than a reboot and will have the same end result.

[prl]

Yep. I just couldn't remember for sure and didn't feel like trawling through the discussion to make sure.

[prl]

The "missing in action" tuner problem can have some quite odd results, especially when a recording scenario using all the tuners is created and then, when the recordings start, one of the tuners is missing or isn't recognised properly.

[grumpy_geoff]

The USB tuner could go "missing in action" due to carking it, but if it's functioning I don't think it changes its mode subsequent to what is assigned to NIM Socket 2 within seconds of UI start.
I had one die here and on the next boot from deep standby the T2 continually went into an attempt to spawn the UI (from memory it kept reporting a "framebuffer" issue).
I'd seen the same issue/message previously with an external USB HDD, so I knew to immediately suspect the USB tuner.

It's my opinion that a T2/T3 owner that is using a USB tuner should keep their PVR in standby when not in use.
They should check the USB tuner mode any time that enigma2 is started (i.e. GUI restart, boot, reboot), and restart the GUI if the tuner isn't assigned neither a DVB-T nor DVB-T2 mode.
Unattended system reboots can still be an issue, though.
Unless of course they're employing the USB tuner monitoring work-around script that some smart-ar5e posted on the 'Wiz forum