I'm not sure whether this should be here or in IceTV EPG Content.
We've had a couple of recording oddities in the last couple of days:
We have first run series recordings for "Hard Quiz" and "Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell" set for Wednesday nights on ABC HD.
On 30 Sep, IceTV set timers correctly for both shows, but also set a recording with title "Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell" for the timeslot (exactly the same times) as the recording for Hard Quiz.
When the recordings ran. we ended up with two recordings with the name "Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell", but the earlier one actually had the content for "Hard Quiz".
We also have a first run series recording set for "Media Watch" for Monday nights on ABC HD. On Mon 28 Sep, IceTV set a timer, and it ran correctly. But it also set a timer for the "encore" of "Media Watch" at 00:15 on the morning of Tue 1 Oct which also recorded.
Everything that we wanted to record got recorded, but it was all a bit odd.
We have a first runs series recording set for "Father Brown" for Saturdays on ABC HD, but on Sat 26 Sep, IceTV set a recording for the repeats of Father Brown being run on 7TWO (Canberra) - it recorded "The Sins of Others", s5 e11. The ABC is currently showing season 8.
Our T4's My Week is showing a one-off recording for Ross Noble: El Halbador s1e1, ABC Comedy, 23:10 tonight. ACT Guide.
I didn't set a recording for that.
I had some odd recordings too (mostly on 10Shake, I think.) One I remember was Tosh.O (never heard of it) It usually gives a reason why, (if it picked up a keyword or something) but this gave no reason
Having a look through and most of these timers appear to be a holdover from the duplicated guide data that caused all the problems with the Topfield's this week.
I have tweaked some things and forced all series recordings to be re-checked which should clear up any outstanding random timers.
OK. Thanks, Daniel
Thanks for the update Daniel - I had some random recordings on my U4 and one T2. Good to know that it is now sorted.
Ian
Since Daniel replied, I got a recording of Rage from ABC that I never programmed. Presumably the same issue.
Yes, prl, that was one of the ones I got.
Not sure if it is a related issue or not but I have started getting the following error message on mt T2s:
Message from recorder: Recording failed: Can't allocate program source (e.g. tuner)
In the first two cases the timer did not record, last night I got the message and the timer in fact recorded successfully. Could it be something to do with having extended pre and post padding - the recording last night started at 20:00 but the error message implied the error occurred at 20:40. The recording was scheduled for 9GemHD.
There should not be a tuner issue as rarely would I have three networks recording on the same T2.
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 06, 2020, 09:18:44 AM
In the first two cases the timer did not record, last night I got the message and the timer in fact recorded successfully. Could it be something to do with having extended pre and post padding - the recording last night started at 20:00 but the error message implied the error occurred at 20:40. The recording was scheduled for 9GemHD.
Any live/timeshifting or streaming TV occurring at that time?
How many timers and networks involved at that time?
Any errors showing in the timer log entries for that timer (press INFO on the completed timer)?
I use the T2 for recording rather than watching, so time shift is disabled. No streaming on the T2.
I have deleted the recording so cannot check the information.
Cannot confirm the number of timers that were recording - I decided to install the latest Beta to see if that resolved the problem. Doing so deleted the completed timer listing. Also it deleted most of the recordings - I copied the one I wasted to my PC, edited them to remove pre- and post padding and any add, then used TFtool to convert them to native Toppy recording, and copied them to one of my Toppys.
As far as I am aware at the time there would have been recordings being made on 7Two, 9GemHD and Bold.
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 06, 2020, 03:09:45 PM
I have deleted the recording so cannot check the information.
The completed timer should still have been present in the timer list, but...
Quote from: IanL-S
Cannot confirm the number of timers that were recording - I decided to install the latest Beta to see if that resolved the problem. Doing so deleted the completed timer listing. Also it deleted most of the recordings
A firmware flash doesn't delete any recordings, it affects flash memory only.
I take it you didn't backup your settings before the beta install, nor restore that backup afterwards?
Quote from: IanL-S
As far as I am aware at the time there would have been recordings being made on 7Two, 9GemHD and Bold.
That would be three providers needed for tuning, one more than a twin-tuner T2 can handle - do you have a USB tuner attached?
Each of my T2s has a USB tuner.
Had a seniors moment - it was not the firmware update that deleted the recording, I deleted them myself. I did not do a save of setting before I did the firmware update (on some to the T2s) - I have 3 of them and did the updates over the last 36 hours; it may be on the one I did today that I restored a rather ancient backup made in March or there about - thus no history.
It is really weird that this started happening in the last few days - not happened previously (had the T2s for several years now).
Quote from: IanL-S on October 06, 2020, 04:38:03 PM
Each of my T2s has a USB tuner.
...
It is really weird that this started happening in the last few days - not happened previously (had the T2s for several years now).
It's a pity you don't have the timer logs, as it'd show which tuners were used for the recordings.
If you still have the two successful recordings from that time, then take a look at the contents of the {recording}.ts.meta file relevant to each recording. You should see a "Tuner-{x}" entry on the 5th line. Then you can deduce which tuner was to be used for the failed timer.
My guess, in the absence of any details, is it was the USB tuner. If I take a further guess, the failure occurred because either the USB tuner wasn't detected or was in a non-terrestrial mode (not DVB-T nor DVB-T2 mode).
Any time you start the GUI (from a deep standby or GUI restart), you should check the USB tuner mode (MENU>>Information>>Devices). Restart the GUI if it's not DVB-T/T2.
@grumpy_geoff, thanks for the advice about the meta file. The first thing I checked was if the USB dongle was being detected, in Openwebif the USB tuner was recognised. One is only DVB-T, the other two are DVB-T/T2; only one support DVB-C if I recall correctly.
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 07, 2020, 09:36:33 AM
The first thing I checked was if the USB dongle was being detected, in Openwebif the USB tuner was recognised. One is only DVB-T, the other two are DVB-T/T2; only one support DVB-C if I recall correctly.
The "Recording failed: Can't allocate program source (e.g. tuner)" error happens at tuner allocation in the recording prepare time (starting 20sec before the start of the recording). The tuner may not have been accessible then, but was accessible again when you checked.
BTW, I recently changed my padding from 5/25min to 5/24 min - this reduces tuner allocation contention between recordings from different broadcasters where the scheduled start time of the second is 30 min after the start time of the first.
I suspect part of the problem may be long pre- and post padding, but why it should start happening now is unclear.
Found the email for latest instance, and the error was timed 20 seconds before the recording started.
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 07, 2020, 01:50:29 PM
Found the email for latest instance, and the error was timed 20 seconds before the recording started.
That's in line with the error being produced at recording setup time, which starts 20 seconds before the recording start time.
The ability to make the recording is tested when the recording timer is created by IceTV, and each time it is is modified (when the program start or end times change, for example). Not having enough tuners to add or change the recording generates a different error message back to IceTV, "Timer conflict" errors.
So it definitely seems that between when the timer was created, modified, or near-in-time recordings were created or modified), the number of available tuners has changed, most likely by the failure to detect the USB timer.
Quote from: IanL-S on October 07, 2020, 01:50:29 PM
..., but why it should start happening now is unclear.
The USB tuner isn't hot-swappable, so if you bumped the connection then it'd not be available for use even if you re-inserted it correctly. You must then reboot.
@grumpy_geoff, so you have to reboot rather than restart the GUI?
As far as I am aware all three have been rebooted in the last two or three days. Will give them another go just to be sure.
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 07, 2020, 05:43:35 PM
@grumpy_geoff, so you have to reboot rather than restart the GUI?
If the USB tuner is in a non-terrestrial mode (one of DVB-C, DVB-C2, or DVB-S2) then a GUI restart will usually get the mode re-assigned (assuming the tuner is detected).
A reboot is needed to reload the drivers et. al. if the tuner is removed and then replaced. I think it's something like the USB drivers are quick to detect the removal and thus the DVB drivers unload, but on re-insert the DVB drivers don't reload (thus a boot is required). Apparently the USB tuner stuff is quite an entangled "maze".
Would I be correct to assume that if the USB Tuners show the correct settings (DVB-T or DVB-T2) in Openwebif that the turner is both recognised and working?
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 08, 2020, 10:18:08 AM
Would I be correct to assume that if the USB Tuners show the correct settings (DVB-T or DVB-T2) in Openwebif that the turner is both recognised and working?
Not necessarily, that's just enigma2 detailing what was there at the last GUI start, but it may not be operational.
The below entries are from the "messages" log file when I unplugged the USB tuner, you can see from the second line that the tuner instance was nuked (the "r820t" reference is because I am using a Rafael Micro R820T / Realtek RTL2832U tuner/demodulator USB dongle).
Oct 8 07:58:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: usb 1-1.7: USB disconnect, device number 3
Oct 8 07:58:16 beyonwizt2 user.info kernel: r820t 0-001a: destroying instance
I plugged the tuner back in after roughly one second of being unplugged and the tuner still shows up in OWIF, as possibly the USB interface is available but the tuner interface has gone as per above. It can still be set as the preferred tuner, but a zap to a service fails to tune (as expected).
After restarting the GUI, the USB tuner isn't available in Setup>>Tuners>>Tuner configuration. After a reboot, it's back to being available.
Thanks for the clarification, it much appreciated. So if in doubt, do a GUI restart to confirm the configuration.
Ian
Quote from: IanL-S on October 08, 2020, 03:29:36 PM
So if in doubt, do a GUI restart to confirm the configuration.
Actually, the only way to be sure is to force the use of the USB tuner to see if it's available. Either (i) go into Setup>>Tuners>>Tuner allocation and set Tuner C as the preferred tuner, or (ii) set off two recordings on different broadcast networks. Then zap to a broadcaster not currently being used as this will force the USB tuner to be used, then check live TV on that new broadcaster; if it works then fine, if not then reboot. Then reset Tuner allocation back to "auto" if you used method (i).
The reason for the above is sometimes a GUI restart is enough, and at other times it's not (likely to do with how messed up the drivers get).