HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

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jimls
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HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by jimls »

The HDhomerun shows up in the backend setup and displays the software version and VLC works with the HD config utility. Since the channels are the same (all US OTA) I used the existing "video source" and connected that source to the new inputs under "input connections". I tried looking at the backend log but didn't see anything that looked like it referred to the HDhomerun tuners. I installed it in addition to the two HVR1600 cards I have had and planned to drop the older cards once the HDhomerun was working. In the frontend status it shows 8 tuners and the last 4 have errors. Not sure why I have so many - I only have 4 actual tuners, the two 1600s and the dual HDhomerun.

I am running version 27+ fixes under Ubuntu 14.04
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bill6502
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by bill6502 »

Please mention the specific model of the HDHR. I'm guessing Model: HDTC-2US,
based on the above.

You're probably getting twice the number of tuners because "Max recordings" is set
to 2 in mythtv-setup. YourTuner...YourSource->Interaction between inputs->
Max recordings.

HDHOMERUN & ATSC don't appear to be compatible. My HVR-2200 and HDHR3-CC
are on different sources. I'd have expected a popup warning about that in mythfrontend.
My Max recordings is set to 1 for the HDHRs. That was based on the Wiki for that model.
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by jimls »

It's working now but I still show twice the tuners I have. It only allows recording for the tuners I have so I won't worry about that. Not sure if rebooting or what fixed it. The tuner is HDHomeRun Connect Duo HDHR5-2US and has two ATSC tuners.
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

I am happy to hear that your hdhomerun is now working correctly with your recorder because I just can't get mine to work correctly. I can feel your pain during those times things didn't work as they should for you!

I assume that since this forum is regarding MythTV, you were finally able to get your hdhomerun to produce recordings with MythTV.

This is my situation:
I have a two channel "Connect Duo" (Model: HDHR5-2US, Device ID: 10627502, Firmware: 20180327). Under my current configuration, I can open a MythTV Front End, "Watch Live TV", and while watching live, I can click within the front end to record the current show, which it does flawlessly; I can replay the recorded episodes later on any device, even over OpenVPN at a remote location, pretty cool right? Long live MythTV!!!

Please see my picture (attached), how only the last two shows listed actually recorded using "Live TV" then pressing "r" on the keyboard to record current live show but those scheduled to record unattended failed without warning or explanation.

The problem I have happens whenever I schedule recordings (but I am able to watch live TV). Initial testing of scheduled recording fails every time, I have scheduled a number of recordings (two at a time since I only have 2 tuners) using the front ends of various devices, verified that recordings (no more than 2 for my "Duo") are indeed scheduled, then closed all front ends leaving my server (back end) running overnight to pick up the recordings. The next day, I would check to see if my recordings were available just to discover they all failed, each and every one of them! The scheduled recording page shows that it attempted to record but failed, showing an "F" on the right side of the listing for the show that should have recorded but other than that, no explanation for the failure. All file permissions are correct on my system (Ubuntu Linux 18.04.1 "Bionic Beaver"), so I don't understand why I can record from "Live TV" and watch them later as "recordings" but unattended scheduled recordings fail every time.

Your question on this forum is very close to mine though maybe not exact, but since I recently signed up for this forum, the administrators have prevented me from creating any new posts claiming problems with spambots ... or maybe I am just not welcome here? I cannot find the link for creating a new thread in this forum nor can I send "Private Messages" so I am really blocked. If this tread is not exactly right for my question, please forgive me and offer me a useful answer here anyway because I am prevented from creating a new thread with a more appropriate topic and I desperately need an answer to a legitimate question. I spent good money on an awesome network tuner, but I can't get it to work and I am unable to ask the question I need to ask here because I can't figure out how to start a new forum thread.

Any assistance in this matter is truly appreciated, so, "Thank you in advance".
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Steve Goodey
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by Steve Goodey »

Hello,

https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Recording_Status_Character seems to indicate that "F"
F Recorder Off Line The required recorder is off-line.
just in case it's "f"
f Failed This showing was not recorded because the recorder failed.
Is there anything in the backend logs that might help?
Don't forget the Wiki.
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

Thanks Steve for your kind assistance both here on this forum and elsewhere.

Nothing found in any logs because the expected file /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log does not exist.
I appreciate your explanation that the "F" status means "off", not "failure" as I assumed. I don't understand why the tuners would power off immediately after completing a live recording and fail to record a show scheduled after the live recording.

Anyone have suggestions?
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Steve Goodey
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by Steve Goodey »

No problem.

You probably need to do a search on your system for mythfrontend.log and mythbackend.log using find or locate.

What version of operating system and what version of MythTV are you running? Is this a combined front/backend?

Not sure I said 'F' is off, I think the actual wording is the required recorder is off-line.

In mythtv-setup under Input Connections you could check that the starting channel is valid, I believe that is used for Scheduled Recordings but is not used for LiveTV.
Don't forget the Wiki.
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

Thanks again Steve for your kind assistance.
I can find mythfrontend.log but can't find mythfrontend.log as indicated by my search results:
# locate mythfrontend.log
/var/log/mythtv/mythfrontend.log
# locate mythbackend.log
#


No backend log! Then I ran mythtv-setup from the command line and discovered this
/usr/bin/mythtv-setup: 68: /usr/bin/mythtv-setup: gksu: not found

apparently, gksu has been removed from my distribution, Ubuntu Bionic Beaver (18.04) so the back end setup was unable obtain su permissions. I have since found a way to force gksu installation on my system and will let you all know if that fixes my problem.
MikeB2013
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by MikeB2013 »

The removal of gksu from *ubuntu 18.04, Debian Stretch/Buster and possibly others has been reported see mythtv trac ticket https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/13256

The work around is to run once in a terminal session after mythtv has been installed the following :
sudo adduser $USER mythtv

There is another problem with mythbackend not being stopped by mythtv-setup when it should. Again this has been reported see mythtv trac https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/13160

The fix for this has just been committed but may take a while to get through the various build systems.

It is recommended to start/stop mythbackend using systemctl commands in a terminal session. So to run mythtv-setup do the following:
sudo systemctl stop mythtv-backend
mythtv-setup
sudo systemctl start mythtv-backend

And finally if you are running mythweb and have many channels you may see an error message
Warning: Unknown: Input variables exceeded 1000. To increase the limit change max_input_vars in php.ini. in Unknown on line 0

This is due to 20-mythweb.ini being installed in /etc/php/7.0/apache2/conf.d/ should be in /etc/php/7.2/apache2/conf.d fix with

sudo mv /etc/php/7.0/apache2/conf.d/20-mythweb.ini /etc/php/7.2/apache2/conf.d/20-mythweb.ini

also applies to Debian testing (Buster) which uses php7.2 see trac ticket https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/13255
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

Thanks MikeB2013 for your advice. I will try that out to see if it works. If it fails again after following your suggestions, I will go ahead and download the source and compile it myself.
I will let you know how it goes.
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

Serious problems with my apt package manager. Every time I try to update the OS packages hoping that something there is interfering with MythTV backend's ability to wake up my tuners, I run into an endless problem with dependencies, most significantly, I am no longer able to install FFMPEG! I keep getting messages similar to this:

ffmpeg : Depends: libavdevice57 (>= 10:3.3.8) but it is not going to be installed

So I try to install the dependency, such as thelibavdevice57 manually and I get more messages about dependencies that, for some reason, my stupid computer refuses to do saying, "[some package]: Depends: [Some other package] but it is not going to be installed"! Extremely aggravating that my computer simply refuses to follow my instructions.

The problem seems to be that FFMPEG, encoders, and many other media libraries have to be installed using PPAs for which I have many. Now they seem to be fighting one another!

I have to yet again do a clean install on my system and reinstall all my programs, either that or throw the damn thing out the window!

I will let you know if I get everything working correctly after I have formatted the partitioned and done a clean install. It will take time because I will have to back up gigabytes of data off my partition. Then I will install the latest Ubuntu Studio flavor.
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

Turns out that FFMPEG, which I have been trying to reinstall following a clean up of my repositories, appears to be on its way to getting phased out. Some of the other packages everyday seem to be on their way to obsolete as well (I use my system for audio & video editing, graphic design, and desktop publishing). I don't understand why valuable packages used by so many people every day are made obsolete. Since removed support for packages seem to be the issue, I will wait to reformat and update my system (developer of FFMPEG plans to release package compatible with Bionic Beaver sometime in September or October). Hopefully, MythTV does not rely on FFMPEG for transcoding or I will be stuck until October.

I still have the same problem after purging MythTV and reinstalling it:
Recordings originating from live tv and pressing "r" record without any problem but

* pressing "r" within the program guide to record a future program fails with error "F" indicating that the recorder is "off"
* I have verified that mythtv-backend is running at the time the program is supposed to record and have even left the front end
running without success.
* I don't understand why the recorder would be off when both the back-end and front-end are running on the host
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

Well, I bought a new hdHomeRun Quad since the one I have been trying to use is about 5 years old. Still doesn't work, can you believe that? A waste of money on hardware! Don't know what else to do any more. I have already removed obsolete packages from my computer and everything seems to be setup correctly, including MythTV, but I just can't get scheduled recordings to work no matter what. Has anyone had this problem before, everything seems to be set up correctly, but the recorder fails to pick up the show at the scheduled time?
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webwarriortx
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by webwarriortx »

Now I have 6 tuners, which is great for recording many shows at once, however, scheduled "recordings fail" to wake up the backend DVR.

As for my package manager that I was griping about earlier, turns out removing all "other software" from sources.list solved my problems and allows me to reinstall both MythTV, FFMPEG, and other media software. Not sure why removing all "other software" from apt sources would actually allow my system to fetch dependencies as it defies logic, that is, more sources should offer more resources to resolve dependencies, right? Wrong! But that's another unrelated topic except this information may help other people in the future; if you are unable to install MythTV via your repo, try disabling any PPAs or other third party sources of packages and try to again to install MythTV or other media related package... it just might work

I still have my original problem. MythTV DVR fails to wake my tuners when it is time to record a show. Now I have 6 hdHomeRun tuners properly configured, they record shows that are currently viewed as "Live TV", yet shows scheduled for a future time fail to record with the error "F" indicating the DVR is "off" which I am not sure what that means given that my backend is properly running on my server.

Simply put, the DVR records what ever shows I tell it to record from "Live TV" but at the end of the "Live Recording", the DVR drops into a coma! It just refuses to wake up itself or any of the 6 tuners I have available.

Anyone have a solution?

Thanks in advance
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Steve Goodey
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Re: HDHomerun works with vlc and shows up in backend setup but doesn't record

Post by Steve Goodey »

Responding to your PM here as requested.

First off I have to say I am not a MythTV developer, I'm sorry if I've given you that impression.

As to the problem with scheduled recordings I can only refer to my earlier suggestion to check the starting channel setting in mythtv-setup.

The lack of a mythbackend.log is a worry and sounds like a broken install although I see you tried a reinstall.
I wonder if starting mythbackend in a console redirecting it to a text file might give some clues when a scheduled recording fails.

Sorry I can't offer any further ideas as to your problem. It needs someone who knows what they are talking about to help further.

Steve (Not a developer).
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