Messages

An imminent software update should fix that bug (and some others).

Would it be possible to give us a list of bugs that have been fixed (ie 11.3 to 11.6), bugs about to be fixed (ie 11.6-11.x), and known bugs in the future pipeline?

I cannot find a link for downloading 11.06 - I am chasing it up with the development team.

https://releases.icetv.com.au/generic/IceBox-Generic.x86_64-1.11.6.img.gz

For what it's worth, my BYOB (Lenovo i7) has been doing the same,"paused" but unresponsive - presumably sometime overnight, for the last two mornings.  Selecting another channel and then back to the "frozen" channel clears the issue.  A subsequent reboot yesterday did not stop the same effect from occurring this morning.  I haven't looked in depth at logs or for anything software-wise that might have changed.  Yet.

Maybe a time sync error can cause the intermittent hiccup?

Unless your battery is already running low, this seems a bit of a reach at the moment.

I'm not thinking of RTC drift but more an NTP sync delay.  I've seen windows grab delayed or incorrect time sync, not recently, but there was something time critical 10 years or so ago, that I mercifully don't remember now, but I do remember switching to "local" ntp servers to side-step the issue.

Firstly, I would check to see how many networks (not channels) you can manually record simultaneously via Kodi.  This should tell you fairy quickly how TVH is actually configured.

If this number does not match your expectations, perhaps TVH has a configuration issue with recognising its tuners.

If this is the case, double-check the link between the 'TV adapters' and the 'Networks' in the TVH Web UI.

http://<icebox_ip_address>/extjs.html#

In TVH, there is a chain of data structures that are required for a recording to occur.

A recording takes place on a 'channel'.  A 'channel' can be sourced from multiple 'services'.  Each 'service' originates from a 'mux'.  Each 'mux' comes from a 'network' and each 'network' is attached to one or more 'tv adapters' (tuners).

If you go into Configuration -> DVB Inputs -> Networks, you should see one called 'DVB-T Network'.  In Sydney, I have 60 'Services' and 'Mapped Channels' shown, although your location may be different.

Then go into Configuration -> DVB Inputs -> TV adapters and for all of your 'DVB-T' adapters, ensure that 'DVB-T Network' is included in the 'Networks' field.

If all of this is in order, then assuming that the timer in question gets all the way to TVH on the IceBox and then fails, perhaps enabling debugging/tracing on TVH may be able to provide some insights.

In TVH, you need to go into its Web UI -> Configuration -> Debugging.  If you press the Help button, you can get a list of the subsystems.

I would try logging for 'dvr' to see the timers.  I would also try 'epg' and 'epgdb' to see the EPG changes, although this will be very active and create a lot of log entries.  If an EPG change for the programme in question precedes a recording faulire, it may help narrow down the root cause.

Failing these, 'api' may show when TVH receives timer creation commands from the Ice add-on and 'uuid'/'idnode' may show when timer entries are created/edited/deleted.  'subscription' may also show when tuners are called into service, released or not available for live TV and/or recordings.

Because the Ice TV EPG is fed via XMLTV, it should also be possible for ICE to experiment by creating dummy EPG entries and see if they can force the error to occur.

It has been a while since I looked into how LibreELEC is built, however, I seem to recall that whilst Kodi is relatively up-to-date, it uses a very old version of TVH and perhaps you are encountering a bug that has already been identified and fixed long ago.

Thanks DMC,  Just a quickie here as I have to go out.  Sorry for the long quote too!

I can simultaneously, manually, record from four muxes.  I have 61 services and 61 mapped channels.  I've often had timers set for three muxes (ABC, SBS, Seven) with successful recordings

When the timer failure occurred most recently I shut down the BYOB, logged into ICE and transferred the timer list to my second BYOB.  The second BYOB immediately flagged the same timer errors.

Because boot or resume from suspend has been suggested as undesirable I am looking at NTP server queries to see how long each BYOB takes to get time sync.  There is a burst of four queries each to two NTP (1.* and 3.*) servers at bootup.  Maybe a time sync error can cause the intermittent hiccup?  I might point the NTP servers to 0.au.ntp.org and 1.au.ntp.org as well.

I appreciate what you're doing with TVHE and I would second your suggestion of ICE releasing their add-on if only that it would allow me to use an Rpi permanently .

I'll look at the remainder of your suggestions later in the day.

Regards, Rob

Hi Rob,

There are a couple of things to this.

The error message on the website doesn't necessarily mean it was a tuner availability issue, this is just the most common cause when the feature was first introduced so it's hard coded into the website. This just means that the timer was marked as failed at some point.

My current theory is that there is a certain combination of EPG updates that cause this, but I have not been able to track down the exact combination as yet. There are some updates and fixes that are being prioritised at the moment ready for the next batch of IceBox's to arrive so it will likely be a couple of weeks before I will have a chance to try and test all the scenarios to find the one that causes this.

Thanks Daniel,

When I embarked on the BYOB exercise I was originally hoping to implement an RPi solution in order to reduce power consumption.  (About $0.58 per peak kW/h here.) The Pi works well but of course I can't schedule recordings with ICE.  So I have played with the two PC's initially hoping that the ICE plugin (and the server end) would be a little more developed, and I'm still waiting!  Many years of pretty much flawless performance with Topfield and Beyonwiz PVR's sucked me in.

Unfortunately perhaps, my major career was aviation based, instrument landing systems, nav-aids, radio communications and so on, mostly back in the analog days, so my programming expertise is somewhat limited. The BYOB is forcing me to get re-acquainted with Linux though.

Meantime I appreciate what's happening in the background and I'll hang in for a bit longer...

Cheers, Rob

[consistent]

TVHeadend can have difficulties when a timer is updated by a minute or so (for me this mostly on ABC); it apparently deletes the timer and can either schedule the recording of the previous episode of the program or the next instance of the same episode. I have seen both happen. In each case it results in the program not being recorded at the time intended. It is IceBox specific, the same programs record properly on my Toppys and Beyonwizs.

I think there will probably be a fix buried somewhere in the kludge that is LibreElec + TvHeadend + Kodi +Ice.  I have trawled all the relevant wikis and forums and ended up being amazed that anything works at all.

When I decided to repurpose a bunch of hardware, two pc's and Rpi, I recreated everything from scratch a few times and never experienced many obvious problems until installing the ICE specific version - which wouldn't install at all until Daniel Hall issued a patch. Transferring recordings from one box to another is ridiculously stupid but I have a work-around for that.  The initial straightforward copy of a recording ends up apparently "deleted" by TVHeadend... 

I'm using the "Amber" skin rather than the generic Kodi skin but the occasional recording snafu seems independent of that at least. I experimented with different skins to see whether any of them caused major issues.   The "Amber" menu structure is better but still suffers from Kodi's inability to implement sensible, consistent, remote control functions.

Having said all that I've come close to thinking that, as we use streaming options a lot now, maybe the ancient method of reading the guide and manually setting timers might suffice but I'll persist with the BYOB path for now.  Often now I'll set a timer to record a series and then binge the lot online anyway.

[We have seen an incorrect error come back now and then if the IceBox has been off or a while and then turns back on. We are actively working on a fix and have some ideas as to why this happens so hopefully we can get it resolved asap]

Hi Rob,

It looks as if you are a BYOB user and I see you are using our tuners so could you tell us your setup as there are no known issues such as you described now we have new SSDs?

Thanks MD.

Well, it has happened before, and Daniel posted on 31/8/23 " We have seen an incorrect error come back now and then if the IceBox has been off or a while and then turns back on. We are actively working on a fix and have some ideas as to why this happens so hopefully we can get it resolved asap. "

I have two BYOB boxes, a Lenovo M920Q (i7, 16GB, Samsung 1tB SSD) and a Lenovo M700 (i5 8GB Crucial 1tB SSD).  When the M700 came up with the errors I switched to the M920 and the same errors returned. At least one of the machines is always up these days.

I appreciate that intermittent faults can be excrutiatingly difficult. The only thing I can see in each case is that the guide time for the particular program seems to be off by a minute or two when the problem has popped up.

And, for info, I have three Ice/Hauppauge tuners.  I purchased the third for testing a Raspberry Pi (4B) implementation of LibreElec/Kodi with the ICE XMLTV guide feed.  That works exceptionally well, but the third tuner does not behave normally when used with either of the Lenovo boxes.  It is fine from a cold boot but fails to initialise if the box is resuming from suspend mode.  The first two tuners don't exhibit the problem.  Not an issue with the Pi of course.

But if Daniel is right, could even an otherwise apparently A-OK tuner introduce some corruption when it is initialised following resumption from suspend or even a reboot?

Regards, Rob


 

[Foreign Correspondent]

I am still seeing these errors:  This is the third similar error this week.

Foreign Correspondent

'Series 2023, Episode 24'

ABC TV HD, 8:02pm, Thu, 12 Oct 2023, 34 minutes

Recording Options

This show is part of a series recording but will not be recorded. (There were not enough tuners to record this airing. It has been moved to the next airing on 2023-Oct-15 12:58:00)



8.02 PM??  With four tuners, I'm only recording from two networks this Thursday.  So is the problem with the Ice PlugIn/TvHeadend/Kodi/LibreElec or is it at the server end?

I can, and will, set a recording locally but the fundamental reson for subscribing in the first place is to, well, set and forget, and have the freedom to set recordings remotely.

I'm trying to be patient with these issues but would appreciate feedback, with some indication of any rectification progress.  I'm retired now and have limited funds for luxuries like my ICE subscription.

Regards, Rob

[Done a full EPG download]

• Done a full EPG download - click on the KODI settings [top left of screen], then select "Add-ons", then select "My add-ons", then select "Services" [IceTV should be build 0.1.50], the select "configuration", and "Force full guide update" should be highlighted, click on OK.
• Turn the IceBox off.
• From you IceTV account, resend all timers for the IceBox (this is done under the "My Recorders" tab, in settings).
• Turn the IceBox on.

This reminds me a bit of some of the early ICE days...  I've been using ICE since the first ICEBox (the hacked ASUS router).

I just performed the above procedure and there is still a bunch of yellow exclamations for Monday and Tuesday.  I don't, obviously, know where the glitch is occurring but my gut thinks a bug or bugs in the ICE plugin.

I don't know how many techs are working on these issues, but I suspect Daniel Hall is run off his feet; we can all maybe just be a bit patient while bugs are (hopefully) squashed for good?

We have seen an incorrect error come back now and then if the IceBox has been off or a while and then turns back on. We are actively working on a fix and have some ideas as to why this happens so hopefully we can get it resolved asap.

Thanks Daniel.  Since I first posted, "Antiques Roadshow" has re-established itself correctly, but ABC News is still saying "There was an error scheduling this show to device IceBox. Could not find airing in the guide (no shows returned), cannot schedule timer. This show is part of a series recording."  Just for fun I'm about to reboot the box to see if that makes any difference.

Edit:  Nah.  Reboot only initiated another "Failed Timer" message...

[Problem 1]

Problem 1
The first thing I would to is to check that all of the tuners are activated. Assuming you are using an IceBox do this using TVHeadend server. You open web page with the following URL:
http://{ip address of my icebox}:9981/

You then select configuration then DVB inputs, you should then check that for each tuner the DVB-T is set to "enabled". I have had USB tuners that have become dislodged, both on IceBox and Beyonwiz. If you have a Beyonwiz then check the settings to make sure that each turner is set to DVB-T or DVB-T2.

Problem 2 This happens when a PVR attempts to set a timer for a time when there is no EPG data present. I have this happen frequently with my Topfield 7100+ and occasionally on the IceBox. The timer should be set once the EPG data is available.

Hope this helps

Ian

Thanks Ian.

I'm talking about a BYOB IceBox with 2 x dual tuners;  I am confident that each tuner is enabled and has been thoroughly tested - ie the hardware is A-OK. Perhaps IceTV has a crystal ball that says on Sunday 3/9 my tuners will die?? 

I think Daniel's response might explain it except that I can't create either timer for that day even after deleting then trying to re-create them so there's a glitch there, for that day only it seems.

[This show is part of a series recording but will not be recorded. (There were not enough tuners to record this airing. It has been moved to the next airing on 2023-Sep-04 11:00:00)]

Help!  There seems to be a Sunday 3/9/23 ban for me!   

1. Antiques Roadshow:  I have four available tuners but "This show is part of a series recording but will not be recorded. (There were not enough tuners to record this airing. It has been moved to the next airing on 2023-Sep-04 11:00:00)"
 
 2.  ABC News:  "There was an error scheduling this show to device IceBox.Could not find airing in the guide (no shows returned), cannot schedule timer. This show is part of a series recording."  Well, it is most certainly in the guide...

So with four tuners available, and nothing else to be recorded that day, the system has said "I can't do that, Dave",  - or Rob in this case...

This is not, of course, the end of the world, but a glitch that might be worth investigating.  I've deleted the timers and re-established them but with the same weird result.

In /Kodi Settings/System/Display there is an entry where "Delay after change of refresh rate" can be turned on or off.  I wonder if that is relevant to your HDMI processing - with any change of resolution as you scroll thru menus?

My setting is 'off' and the (BYOB) Icebox HDMI is switched to the TV via my AV receiver.  I can't check now but when I can I'll look to see if there's any noticeable difference.

You can get instant record via the Flirc by selecting the Flirc's "Microsoft WMC" controller.
Programming the Microsoft WMC controller's Record button gives you Instant Record.

Thanks for that!  Much appreciated...