OpenDCT: An open source digital cable tuner.

[NetworkGuy]

Hi EnterNoEscape,

OpenDCT failed last night for the first time in a long time. When I went to look at the log files, there are over 50 log files created at the time of the failure.

Can you please take a look and let me know what happened?

The logs are too large to upload, so please use this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...3M?usp=sharing

This is a V7 system. The only change I made was to add a third HD300 yesterday.

Thanks,
John

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

Hi EnterNoEscape,

OpenDCT failed last night for the first time in a long time. When I went to look at the log files, there are over 50 log files created at the time of the failure.

Can you please take a look and let me know what happened?

The logs are too large to upload, so please use this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...3M?usp=sharing

This is a V7 system. The only change I made was to add a third HD300 yesterday.

Thanks,
John

The good news is that I don't think the problems have anything to do with running v7. The bad news is it looks like Comcast is giving you a badly formatted stream. The very latest version of OpenDCT had a timeout added so that detection wouldn't go on for an excessive amount of time. I can't tell from the logs what version you're using. It looks like it was cutting off for you at 30 seconds and just moving forward with what it had because it couldn't be sure if it had everything. This excessive amount of time spent detecting the streams is mostly what appears to be the cause your problems. Also it looks like the re-tuning monitor thread did something unexpected (that should be fixed in the latest versions) with this excessive tuning time which makes me think you're not on the the latest.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

The good news is that I don't think the problems have anything to do with running v7. The bad news is it looks like Comcast is giving you a badly formatted stream. The very latest version of OpenDCT had a timeout added so that detection wouldn't go on for an excessive amount of time. I can't tell from the logs what version you're using. It looks like it was cutting off for you at 30 seconds and just moving forward with what it had because it couldn't be sure if it had everything. This excessive amount of time spent detecting the streams is mostly what appears to be the cause your problems. Also it looks like the re-tuning monitor thread did something unexpected (that should be fixed in the latest versions) with this excessive tuning time which makes me think you're not on the the latest.

I do not think I am on the latest release. How can I check?

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

I do not think I am on the latest release. How can I check?

It looked like you were using Windows, so the version should be in Programs and Features. Also restarting OpenDCT will print the version out towards the start of the new log file.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

It looked like you were using Windows, so the version should be in Programs and Features. Also restarting OpenDCT will print the version out towards the start of the new log file.

It looks like I am on V5.21. I will upgrade to V5.24.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

T 8< The bad news is it looks like Comcast is giving you a badly formatted stream. >8

From what I can see they do that A LOT!! I still haven't converted over to OpenDCT and am still using SageDCT on my main Sage Server. Reasonably often I get recordings that won't play in SageTV. Putting them through SageTV's built in conversion process to MPEG4 works 90% of the time. Other times I'll have to try AppleTV format. In most instances it seems to come down to poorly defined streams.
On the conversions that don't work perfectly (about 20%?) I'll get the visually impaired audio track explaining everything you're "seeing" on the screen in addition to the standard audio, on some others I'll get the SAP audio channel on the converted files. Those can be weird because it will sometimes switch back to English after a commercial break, or air the commercials in English, but the program in Spanish.
So from my limited knowledge of the guts of it and only going on what I observe it sure looks like poorly constructed streams are pretty common on Xfinity/Comcast.

Why haven't I converted over to OpenDCT yet? Well it is mostly because my main SageTV machine is still running WHS 2003 32 bit. I have some other OS options (won't do linux, too many bad memories from the past), but what I have is all 64 bit and I'll lose my FW tuning of my STBs and have to try and get my old USBUIRT working on 2 STBs, building IR forts, etc, YUCK!

[BobbyDing]

Hi EnterNoEscape,

I have some questions....

At what point(s) does openDCT write back to its .properties file (when it starts, stops, new discoveries)? What might cause the openDCT to stop updating to that file even though it is still functioning with SageTV (playing dct video)? And is there a way to force openDCT to update the opendct.properties file?

Thanks so much,

Bobby

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

Hi EnterNoEscape,

I have some questions....

At what point(s) does openDCT write back to its .properties file (when it starts, stops, new discoveries)? What might cause the openDCT to stop updating to that file even though it is still functioning with SageTV (playing dct video)? And is there a way to force openDCT to update the opendct.properties file?

Thanks so much,

Bobby

It will save before it starts the detection of capture devices and it will save after all expected capture devices have been loaded which is a manual setting. You actually need to tell it how many to expect, because that number can't be retained reliably. The idea would be if it can't find everything again, the program stop and restart everything again. If that number is 0 (default), then it will likely save the properties file before all capture devices have actually been loaded. It also saves it any time a setting is changed through the JSON interface and saves it on shutdown. After thinking about all of that, I supposed periodic saving like SageTV does wouldn't be a bad idea.

[willieb]

EnterNoEscape,

Since you seem to be in a question-answering mood today , Can I ask one? I got myself up and running with unRAID / Docker this past weekend. The piece I was not able to get working was my Ceton Infinitv4 with OpenDCT from my Docker. I just dont think there are dirvers in the kernel. I notice in your sig you've got 2 infinitv devices and you run an unRAID setup. So how do you do it? Do you use a Windows VM to tune the Cetons or something else? Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by willieb

EnterNoEscape,

Since you seem to be in a question-answering mood today , Can I ask one? I got myself up and running with unRAID / Docker this past weekend. The piece I was not able to get working was my Ceton Infinitv4 with OpenDCT from my Docker. I just dont think there are dirvers in the kernel. I notice in your sig you've got 2 infinitv devices and you run an unRAID setup. So how do you do it? Do you use a Windows VM to tune the Cetons or something else? Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I don't use the OpenDCT Docker container. Also, I've actually got 3 InfiniTV devices. I have them all hosted on a different CentOS 7.3 boxes using DKMS to dynamically rebuild the kernel module when the kernel upgrades. I'm running the latest Linux version of OpenDCT on that computer too. They are also bridged to the primary NIC so they are accessible to any computer on the network. I mostly use that configuration for development. That computer is also running some redundant services so that I can turn off either box and not disrupt more important services.

I don't recommend doing what I'm doing unless you have reasonable experience with Linux and building kernel modules. As you might have suspected, I often don't do what's considered normal.

[willieb]

Is this even English?? Now you are just showing off! Ok. It is enough for me to know that short of getting them to compile the drivers into the DVB plugin I am not going to have my Ceton working. Gives me an excuse to order that HDHR Prime I guess... (although I lose a tuner that way).

[BobbyDing]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

It will save before it starts the detection of capture devices and it will save after all expected capture devices have been loaded which is a manual setting. You actually need to tell it how many to expect, because that number can't be retained reliably. The idea would be if it can't find everything again, the program stop and restart everything again. If that number is 0 (default), then it will likely save the properties file before all capture devices have actually been loaded. It also saves it any time a setting is changed through the JSON interface and saves it on shutdown. After thinking about all of that, I supposed periodic saving like SageTV does wouldn't be a bad idea.

Thank you. By "capture devices" you mean "Devices" and not "Tuners" (just want to be sure)? I was going to ask if there was a way to add a one time save setting (update .properties after 60 seconds, then it delete the setting), but a periodic would do as well.

Thanks!
.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

Thank you. By "capture devices" you mean "Devices" and not "Tuners" (just want to be sure)? I was going to ask if there was a way to add a one time save setting (update .properties after 60 seconds, then it delete the setting), but a periodic would do as well.

Thanks!
.

In this case actually I mean total tuner count. This matters because you can tell OpenDCT explicitly to either only load specific tuners or always exclude specific tuners. I apologize if this sounds a little confusing. I've always just say capture device when when referring to individual tuners and parent capture device when referring to one device that contains many tuners. The terminology gets a little gray when you're referring to a collection of devices that kind of do the same thing, but technically are different in nature. For example, a tuner could also be an encoder (like the HDHomeRun Extend), but an encoder (like the HD-PVR) is typically not a tuner (unless you count IR blasting). I think capture device covers both since it doesn't refer to the actual method of capture, just that it's capturing something.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by willieb

Is this even English?? Now you are just showing off! Ok. It is enough for me to know that short of getting them to compile the drivers into the DVB plugin I am not going to have my Ceton working. Gives me an excuse to order that HDHR Prime I guess... (although I lose a tuner that way).

One of the reasons I went with CentOS is because it's a very stable OS, but also because the InfiniTV drivers wouldn't compile correctly with newer Linux kernels and I didn't want to sort out why. If you do look into getting them to compile it into the DVB plugin, I would point them to this repo since it appears to actually be fixed for newer kernels. The developer tried to push the changes to the main repo, but it looks like whomever was maintaining it isn't paying attention anymore.

[willieb]

I posted a note to CHBMB a couple days ago and got no reply. I chalked it up to my post count of 1 and was planning on trying again in a few days. I just read your message though and went over there to check and lo and behold he had replied! He looked into it and said drivers are too old. I just directed him the the ones you pointed me to. We'll see what happens! Thanks again!

[CHBMB]

Originally Posted by willieb

I posted a note to CHBMB a couple days ago and got no reply. I chalked it up to my post count of 1 and was planning on trying again in a few days. I just read your message though and went over there to check and lo and behold he had replied! He looked into it and said drivers are too old. I just directed him the the ones you pointed me to. We'll see what happens! Thanks again!

Bloody hell, give me a chance, I got a 13 day old baby at home... I've posted a response to you here and seen what EnterNoEscape has helpfully mentioned, sounds like we're both of the same opinion to be honest.

[EnterNoEscape]

Looks like you'll still end up needing to do some legwork yourself to keep this working through upgrades. I had a feeling they might be a little hesitant given that Ceton has effectively abandoned their InfiniTV users. I was never particularly happy with their Linux support to begin with. You could also pass them through into a Windows VM, but it just seems so wasteful to run a VM to expose what's basically a fancy network adapter.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

Looks like you'll still end up needing to do some legwork yourself to keep this working through upgrades. I had a feeling they might be a little hesitant given that Ceton has effectively abandoned their InfiniTV users. I was never particularly happy with their Linux support to begin with. You could also pass them through into a Windows VM, but it just seems so wasteful to run a VM to expose what's basically a fancy network adapter.

Could just buy a Prime.. ;-) Used ones go for around $75 on eBay

[willieb]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

Looks like you'll still end up needing to do some legwork yourself to keep this working through upgrades. I had a feeling they might be a little hesitant given that Ceton has effectively abandoned their InfiniTV users. I was never particularly happy with their Linux support to begin with. You could also pass them through into a Windows VM, but it just seems so wasteful to run a VM to expose what's basically a fancy network adapter.

Yeah, I see that from his reply. But honestly that is more than fair. I think he is in the UK so he gets less than zero benefit from any of this. I will see if I can get this working. If I am reading him right I just need to replace the files on my flash boot drive and give it a go. Should be able to try tomorrow night.

On the updates, the last time I did any significant Linux compiling was early 2000s but if this works I guess I'll shake out the cobwebs and see if I can run the scripts he mentions and keep it going with upgrades until it doesn't work anymore. That or buy the HDHR Prime . I'll post back any progress.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Could just buy a Prime.. ;-) Used ones go for around $75 on eBay

To me the issue isn't how much a Prime costs. The issue is the monthly rental. I can either get 3, 4 or 6 channels per CableCARD. I wonder which one I'm going to pick. I wouldn't necessarily recommend InfiniTV to a new user, but if you've already got them, they do still work fine on modern hardware.