Tuner Failure In the Middle of Recording

[dislecksea]

I have an issue. We only watch Sage on our HD100 - we don't watch it on a pc - so I don't know if this is a server issue or an extender issue. My signature has my setup details. I have not yet requested official support b/c I want to make sure that it is not me missing something.

Here is the problem: We are watching a show and everything is going fine. Then, the show will suddenly jump forward a few minutes. According to the timer at the bottom, it is only jumping forward a few seconds, but it is definitely minutes. Interestingly, it also resets the aspect ratio on my TV when it happens. I have already deactivated automatic commercial jumping as I was thinking that it may have been some sort of problem there, but it hasn't helped.

Any suggestions?

[Clift]

Sounds like a bad recording. I would enable debug logging and check that out.

Is it doing it in the same spot each time?
Have you tried playing the same file on a computer to see?

[dislecksea]

Clift,
It happens on multiple recordings but not in the same spot that I have noticed. And I haven't watched it on the computer because the only computer with Sage is my server, which I don't believe would handle HDPVR recordings very well.

As to Debugging, I am afraid that I don't quite know what to do or what to look for in the log. Can you point me to something that would educate me?

Thanks

Miles

[freedml]

Your server should be easily able to play any recording. Watch the cpu usage and it will probably be 30% or less while watching.


I'd love to know how to detect a less-than-perfect recording from the error logs!

[dislecksea]

OK - we found one where it happened and I went down in the basement and watched it on the server. Indeed, the problem occurs there also.

HELP! WAF is suffering!

[Clift]

Originally Posted by freedml

Your server should be easily able to play any recording. Watch the cpu usage and it will probably be 30% or less while watching.


I'd love to know how to detect a less-than-perfect recording from the error logs!

I may have been incorrect, but I thought if there was an error in decoding it would show up in the logs.

[dislecksea]

So are we saying this is a Sage issue and not an extender issue?

[spacecadet]

In the Sage UI, if you look at the recording detail for a bad recording, how many files are listed?

Under normal circumstances, one recording would be wholly contained in one file. However, last year I had a device conflict problem on my server that was causing the tuner to fail in the middle of recordings. Sage will restart the failed tuner after some period of time (~5 min), the restart creates a 2nd file AND you will have lost the part of the show that aired while the tuner was down.

If you're seeing multiple files associated with the bad recordings, you may have a similar issue (tuner failing in the middle of a recording). If this is the case, check the Sage debug log for a message like: "ENCODER HALT" (I can't remember the exact text, but a message like this would indicate that a tuner is failing to record).

[dislecksea]

It seems that we have a winner! As Spacecadet suggested, there are indeed two .ts files in my recording directory. I am going to need some help troubleshooting this problem, but I am now going to move this over to the software forum, since I know it is not an extender issue.

[dislecksea]

It appears that my HDPVRs have started failing in the middle of recordings. When using the extender (the only way we watch Sage) it would appear that the show would jump forward several minutes and the aspect ratio would reset to the default. Well, after some troubleshooting over in the extender forum I discovered that for recordings with skips I have not one .ts file but two. It has been suggested that this is due to having a recorder fail and Sage restarting it a few minutes later.

Now, as suggested I have enabled debug logging. However, I am wondering if you lovely folks can suggest steps I should take should I discover that there is a "Encoder Halt" in the logs. Also, is there anything else I should be looking for in the logs other than "Encoder Halt" that might give us some useful info? I just want to start putting together a plan to resolve the issue.

Thanks!

Miles

* merged *

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by dislecksea

It seems that we have a winner! As Spacecadet suggested, there are indeed two .ts files in my recording directory. I am going to need some help troubleshooting this problem, but I am now going to move this over to the software forum, since I know it is not an extender issue.

Glad I could help narrow it down. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where to tell you to take it from here. I would definitely look for the "ENCODER HALT" message in the debug log file to confirm that a failing tuner is causing the problem (stop the server, set debug_logging=TRUE in Sage.properties, restart the server).

In my case, the problem was caused by a PCI modem that I had just installed in the server. Once I removed the modem, the problem went away. So, if you can think of anything that might've changed recently in your setup (since the problem began), that'd be a good place to start investigating.

[dislecksea]

Ah, thanks for moving this to the right forum.

[spacecadet]

Originally Posted by dislecksea

Now, as suggested I have enabled debug logging. However, I am wondering if you lovely folks can suggest steps I should take should I discover that there is a "Encoder Halt" in the logs.

I found an old log file and the exact error message to look for in the log is:

"SEEKER HAS DETECTED A HALT IN THE ENCODER...TRYING TO RESET IT"

[dislecksea]

OK, I have now confirmed in the log that I do indeed get the following entry:

"SEEKER HAS DETECTED A HALT IN THE ENCODER...TRYING TO RESET IT"

So, anybody have any suggestions for me as how to resolve it? The only thing I have added to the computer in the past several months is a UPS.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Skirge01]

You may have a conflict between the two HD-PVR's. Try running HCWCLEAR and reinstalling them again. Also, have you noticed this happening on only one of the HD-PVRs or both of them? Finally, are you using the SPDIF connection?