OpenDCT: An open source digital cable tuner.

[rmiller]

I recently installed OpenDCT and I am unable to tune to any channels.

I verified that the tuners are found within the "Setup Video Sources", yet when I tune a channel, I just get a black screen.

In reviewing my log, I see the following:
pri=3;type=1100;time=1491274994831;msg=The device input "DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 131866DF-1 on 127.0.0.1:9000 Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "24: Legacy" on KTXLDT on physical channel 708. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.;end=1491277380481;rep=33;VCaptureDeviceInput=DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 131866DF-1 on 127.0.0.1:9000 Digital TV Tuner;VCaptureDevice=DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 131866DF-1 on 127.0.0.1:9000;VPhysicalChannel=708;VChannelName=KTXLDT;VAiringID=478126;VTitle=24: Legacy;

I am currently running SageTV 7 on Windows with a HD HomeRun using a CableCARD. Video works just fine within the HD Homerun app.

Any recommendations?

Forgive me if this is addressed elsewhere, I searched through the forums and Google for quite a long time and couldn't find anything helpful.

Thanks!

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by rmiller

I recently installed OpenDCT and I am unable to tune to any channels.

I verified that the tuners are found within the "Setup Video Sources", yet when I tune a channel, I just get a black screen.

In reviewing my log, I see the following:
pri=3;type=1100;time=1491274994831;msg=The device input "DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 131866DF-1 on 127.0.0.1:9000 Digital TV Tuner" stopped producing data while recording "24: Legacy" on KTXLDT on physical channel 708. SageTV will try to reset the device. This may be caused by a channel that is no longer available.;end=1491277380481;rep=33;VCaptureDeviceInput=DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 131866DF-1 on 127.0.0.1:9000 Digital TV Tuner;VCaptureDevice=DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 131866DF-1 on 127.0.0.1:9000;VPhysicalChannel=708;VChannelName=KTXLDT;VAiringID=478126;VTitle=24: Legacy;

I am currently running SageTV 7 on Windows with a HD HomeRun using a CableCARD. Video works just fine within the HD Homerun app.

Any recommendations?

Forgive me if this is addressed elsewhere, I searched through the forums and Google for quite a long time and couldn't find anything helpful.

Thanks!

The logs from the OpenDCT side of things would be the most helpful, but the answer will likely be either the channels are copy protected or you need to upgrade the HDHomeRun firmware.

[BobbyDing]

I'm beginning to experiment with the tuner pooling feature on openDCT. I've been looking though the info available info and I have a question. What would the effect be if I set "sagetv.device.-xxxxx.encoder_pool=" for two hdhr connect devices (4 tuners) in the opendct.properties to the same name (such as atsc_west) instead of the default names of atsc_[ID]?

Thanks!

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

I'm beginning to experiment with the tuner pooling feature on openDCT. I've been looking though the info available info and I have a question. What would the effect be if I set "sagetv.device.-xxxxx.encoder_pool=" for two hdhr connect devices (4 tuners) in the opendct.properties to the same name (such as atsc_west) instead of the default names of atsc_[ID]?

Thanks!

They automatically pool based on having the same pool name. It doesn't matter much what you name the pool so long as the ones you want to perform as a pool have the the exact same pool name.

[makutaku]

I believe I've found a bug:

If OpenDCT encounters a channel with COPY_NEVER flag, it will get stuck on "Capture device is was already locked" indefinitely. So, if intelligent recorder happens to try a strange channel (that I should have disabled), nothing else will record until OpenDCT is restarted. (Or until I verify each one of the hundreds of channels in the line up ... )

Here's the relevant log:

[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl - FFmpeg Transcoder consumer thread is now running.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - Before avformat_find_stream_info() pos=18424 bytes_read=18424 seek_count=0. probesize: 165628 analyzeduration: 2000000.
[SageTVTuningMonitor-56] INFO SageTVTuningMonitor - The capture device has reported that the tuned channel is COPY_NEVER, stopping monitoring immediately.
[SageTVTuningMonitor-56] INFO BasicCaptureDevice - Displaying message in place of the recording '/var/media/tv/BlackChristmas-32028877-0.ts'
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - After avformat_find_stream_info() pos=0 bytes_read=411908 seek_count=2. probesize: 165628 analyzeduration: 2000000.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - current container duration = 0.0 seconds
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - avformat_find_stream_info() failed with error code 541478725. Trying again with more data.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl - Unable to detect any video.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl - FFmpeg Transcoder consumer thread stopped.
[NIORTPProducerImpl-746:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO NIORTPProducerImpl - High transfer latency detected. Double buffer enabled. 10ms
[SageTVRequestHandler-758:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Capture device is was already locked.
[SageTVRequestHandler-762:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-0] INFO HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Capture device is was already locked.
[SageTVRequestHandler-768:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-1] INFO HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Capture device is was already locked.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by makutaku

I believe I've found a bug:

If OpenDCT encounters a channel with COPY_NEVER flag, it will get stuck on "Capture device is was already locked" indefinitely. So, if intelligent recorder happens to try a strange channel (that I should have disabled), nothing else will record until OpenDCT is restarted. (Or until I verify each one of the hundreds of channels in the line up ... )

Here's the relevant log:

[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl - FFmpeg Transcoder consumer thread is now running.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - Before avformat_find_stream_info() pos=18424 bytes_read=18424 seek_count=0. probesize: 165628 analyzeduration: 2000000.
[SageTVTuningMonitor-56] INFO SageTVTuningMonitor - The capture device has reported that the tuned channel is COPY_NEVER, stopping monitoring immediately.
[SageTVTuningMonitor-56] INFO BasicCaptureDevice - Displaying message in place of the recording '/var/media/tv/BlackChristmas-32028877-0.ts'
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - After avformat_find_stream_info() pos=0 bytes_read=411908 seek_count=2. probesize: 165628 analyzeduration: 2000000.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - current container duration = 0.0 seconds
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegStreamDetection - avformat_find_stream_info() failed with error code 541478725. Trying again with more data.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegContext - Returning AVERROR_EOF in readCallback.call()
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl - Unable to detect any video.
[FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl-749:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO FFmpegTransSageTVConsumerImpl - FFmpeg Transcoder consumer thread stopped.
[NIORTPProducerImpl-746:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO NIORTPProducerImpl - High transfer latency detected. Double buffer enabled. 10ms
[SageTVRequestHandler-758:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-2] INFO HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Capture device is was already locked.
[SageTVRequestHandler-762:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-0] INFO HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Capture device is was already locked.
[SageTVRequestHandler-768:DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13258B6F-1] INFO HDHRNativeCaptureDevice - Capture device is was already locked.

I believe it's getting hung up writing out that file. It's one of the only logical explanations. Try changing error_videos_enabled=true to error_videos_enabled=false. It would have helped to have the time stamps in your post, but if it's hung up on the file, that would cause everyone else to pile up. The file writing was expected to be a fast thing and there wasn't a lot of consideration for what would happen if writing the file out hung things up. I know how to fix this, but I want to make sure I'm correctly understanding the problem.

Edit: The proposed fix will work, but not for the explained reason. I believe I made an error when implementing support for the media server for writing out error files and it will cause a deadlock. Basically we need a write lock to stop the consumer and we acquired a read lock to write out the error message. Before we didn't need to stop the consumer because it wasn't going to write to the file anyway. We do however need to close the media server connection if it's open so that we don't confuse SageTV, but I missed the part where that would acquire a write lock. I made changes and verified that they fix the problem. I'll post a new version soon because this is kind of a nasty problem to run into.

[EnterNoEscape]

• Normalized how bytes streamed are handled between consumers.
• Adjusted the default minimum bytes to stream via the SageTV media server to lower values (64k). This makes the transfers less efficient, but it also makes OpenDCT appear more responsive to SageTV.
• The media server (upload ID) is now enabled by default.
• Added single attempt connection failure recovery when the program is unexpectedly disconnected from media server for FFmpeg and raw. This cannot be done for the media server remuxer because it would result in an overwrite of the previously written stream data.
• Made error messages asynchronous to the monitoring thread so they cannot monopolize the monitoring lock if they get stuck.
• Fixed lock acquisition ordering when using the media server and an error message is to be written. We were going from read to write without releasing the read which caused a deadlock. Now we start with a write and transition to a read which is allowed.

[makutaku]

Thank you! The latest version is working great so far!

I even tried a copy_never channel and nothing strange happened - it continued recording the others normally.

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by scoful

I can't believe I haven't seen this before. I've been running SageDCT for a few years. How's the stability of OpenDCT versus SageDCT?

As long as you don't have a Ceton Infinity4 you should be OK. I had such high hopes for OpenDCT, but it looks like it's not going to work for me.

There doesn't seem to be a solution atm for a communication problem between OpenDCT and the Infinity4. I'm constantly getting "Missed Recording Due to Conflict". Some sort of timing issue from any sleep state.

@EnterNoEscape
Would I be able to move back to SageDCT now that I've upgraded to V9 and Schedule Direct?

[KarylFStein]

Originally Posted by AlphaCrew

As long as you don't have a Ceton Infinity4 you should be OK. I had such high hopes for OpenDCT, but it looks like it's not going to work for me.

There doesn't seem to be a solution atm for a communication problem between OpenDCT and the Infinity4. I'm constantly getting "Missed Recording Due to Conflict". Some sort of timing issue from any sleep state.

@EnterNoEscape
Would I be able to move back to SageDCT now that I've upgraded to V9 and Schedule Direct?

I ran an InfiniTV4 for a while and didn't have this problem. (Now running the 6 tuner model, still PCIe.) But I also run my server 24/7, so no resuming from sleep.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by AlphaCrew

As long as you don't have a Ceton Infinity4 you should be OK. I had such high hopes for OpenDCT, but it looks like it's not going to work for me.

There doesn't seem to be a solution atm for a communication problem between OpenDCT and the Infinity4. I'm constantly getting "Missed Recording Due to Conflict". Some sort of timing issue from any sleep state.

@EnterNoEscape
Would I be able to move back to SageDCT now that I've upgraded to V9 and Schedule Direct?

Based on the behavior I have observed in your logs I really don't understand how SageDCT even starts to communicate with the InfiniTV 4 coming out of standby. I've never trusted standby on anything I consider a server, but that's besides the point. There's no reason why you couldn't use SageDCT again on v9.

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

Based on the behavior I have observed in your logs I really don't understand how SageDCT even starts to communicate with the InfiniTV 4 coming out of standby. I've never trusted standby on anything I consider a server, but that's besides the point. There's no reason why you couldn't use SageDCT again on v9.

Not sure, but I can definitely say I did not have this problem with SageDCT, it just 'worked'. That said it was not as efficient as OpenDCT, so it consumed more system resources.

This is not a server, it's only purpose in life it to record TV shows, cut the commercial and hand them over to my main server storage. It doesn't do anything else so it make no sense to keep it running 24/7.

I just checked, and it seems that box was running hybrid sleep again, so I switched it back to 'standard', but If I'm not mistaken it fails on any sleep state..

I think the difference is OpenDCT may pool the turners on system resume, while SageDCT just expected them to be there. Since this 'checking' fails in a timely manor, it causes the scheduling system to kick in and reschedule the show as a 'conflict' because there are no turners detected. Even if I start the computer 20 min ahead of any show, OpenDCT still fails.

I'm sure you know the details but OpenDCT is doing some type of 'checking' where I don't think SageDCT did.

Of course all this is just conjecture..

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by AlphaCrew

Not sure, but I can definitely say I did not have this problem with SageDCT, it just 'worked'. That said it was not as efficient as OpenDCT, so it consumed more system resources.

This is not a server, it's only purpose in life it to record TV shows, cut the commercial and hand them over to my main server storage. It doesn't do anything else so it make no sense to keep it running 24/7.

I just checked, and it seems that box was running hybrid sleep again, so I switched it back to 'standard', but If I'm not mistaken it fails on any sleep state..

I think the difference is OpenDCT may pool the turners on system resume, while SageDCT just expected them to be there. Since this 'checking' fails in a timely manor, it causes the scheduling system to kick in and reschedule the show as a 'conflict' because there are no turners detected. Even if I start the computer 20 min ahead of any show, OpenDCT still fails.

I'm sure you know the details but OpenDCT is doing some type of 'checking' where I don't think SageDCT did.

Of course all this is just conjecture..

The latest versions of OpenDCT don't actually unload the tuners when going into standby, but it still waits for the network adapters to become available before it starts listening for requests. I could add an option to skip that wait completely for you if you're willing to test it.

[NetworkGuy]

When I was using SageDCT, it also "just worked". As long as I only recorded 4 items at a time. When I tried to record 5, it would not have enough system resources and I would miss some of the records, or they would have gaps. I was always checking to ensure only 4 shows at a time were being recorded.

Since switching to OpenDCT last year, I have had approximately 3 problems:

1. Bad coax cable to the HDHomeRun Tuner
2. Undiscovered condition not handled properly by OpenDCT
3. Priority conflict issue

In all three cases, the support I received with OpenDCT was fantastic. Since SageDCT was not supported, I was on my own.

In the long run, I would stick with OpenDCT to get it working.

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

The latest versions of OpenDCT don't actually unload the tuners when going into standby, but it still waits for the network adapters to become available before it starts listening for requests. I could add an option to skip that wait completely for you if you're willing to test it.

I would absolutely be willing to try anything to continue using OpenDCT.

Thanks

[EnterNoEscape]

• Added property to allow disabling network adapter checks when coming out of standby. The property is pm.network.wait_for_network_on_resume and defaults to true. Change this property to false to disable network adapter checks when resuming from standby.

[AlphaCrew]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

• Added property to allow disabling network adapter checks when coming out of standby. The property is pm.network.wait_for_network_on_resume and defaults to true. Change this property to false to disable network adapter checks when resuming from standby.

Thanks a million, I have updated and set the flag to false. Now we wait...

[technazz]

Im getting pausing when im recording multiple IPTV streams. Can watch the streams at the same time on VLC without 'pausing'. I've attached the logs for you to look at.

Thanks!

Chris

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by technazz

Im getting pausing when im recording multiple IPTV streams. Can watch the streams at the same time on VLC without 'pausing'. I've attached the logs for you to look at.

Thanks!

Chris

It looks like you're using the FFmpeg consumer on one stream and the raw consumer on the other. I recommend since the streams are already being processed by FFmpeg on the streaming side of things to use raw for everything. It looks like the consumer is getting stalled out a lot. Try evening out the thread priorities. You can do that by changing those properties to the following:

consumer.ffmpeg.thread_priority=9
consumer.media_server.thread_priority=9
consumer.raw.thread_priority=9

I believe you're already familiar with changing the consumer for a capture device since one of them is actually using the raw consumer.

[technazz]

Ok made the changes so far so good thanks!

Ill see how it works over the next few days.

Chris

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

It looks like you're using the FFmpeg consumer on one stream and the raw consumer on the other. I recommend since the streams are already being processed by FFmpeg on the streaming side of things to use raw for everything. It looks like the consumer is getting stalled out a lot. Try evening out the thread priorities. You can do that by changing those properties to the following:

consumer.ffmpeg.thread_priority=9
consumer.media_server.thread_priority=9
consumer.raw.thread_priority=9

I believe you're already familiar with changing the consumer for a capture device since one of them is actually using the raw consumer.