Remote HD-300 playback gives black screen.

[hb4]

I have an HD-300 that I use as a placeshifter (Plugged into a TCL w/Roku TV) to connect to Sage remotely, and it has been working perfectly for a couple years. Now, when I fire it up it works correctly except that when I select a program to playback I see a blank (black) screen with only the timeline showing. The timeline disappears normally and comes back when I hit pause - still with no video showing. I can hit 'Back' and continue to move around in Sage, but no videos will show.

Anyone have an idea where to start looking for a solution?

I can run Placeshifter on my remote laptop and it will play the video just fine but not the HD-300. I have access to the Server via a Remote Desktop app, so can view logs, etc.

EDIT: I ran a log, and here is an excerpt that shows some complaints... It stops complaining about invalid timestamps and starts waiting for transcode buffer to become available.

Fri 1/17 17:06:22.456 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906] [mpeg4 @ 0x11ffc10] Error, Invalid timestamp=395, last=395
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.460 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906]
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.464 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906] [mpeg4 @ 0x11ffc10] Error, Invalid timestamp=396, last=396
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.467 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906]
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.471 [XcodeDataConsumer@1948ffd] Waiting for transcode buffer to become available...
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.474 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906] [mpeg4 @ 0x11ffc10] Error, Invalid timestamp=397, last=397
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.478 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906]
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.482 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906] [mpeg4 @ 0x11ffc10] Error, Invalid timestamp=398, last=398
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.486 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906]
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.489 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906] [mpeg4 @ 0x11ffc10] Error, Invalid timestamp=399, last=399
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.493 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906]
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.497 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906] [mpeg4 @ 0x11ffc10] Error, Invalid timestamp=400, last=400
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.501 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906]
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.505 [XcodeStderrConsumer@1f63906] frame= 880p fps= 78 q=4.6 size= 2426kB time=13.30 bitrate=1494.3kbits/s
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.573 [XcodeDataConsumer@1948ffd] Waiting for transcode buffer to become available...
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.676 [XcodeDataConsumer@1948ffd] Waiting for transcode buffer to become available...
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.784 [XcodeDataConsumer@1948ffd] Waiting for transcode buffer to become available...
Fri 1/17 17:06:22.887 [XcodeDataConsumer@1948ffd] Waiting for transcode buffer to become available...

[hb4]

Well, four days later, 160 views, and no response. Hoping that there's someone out there that has some ideas about where to start looking for a fix. The black screen with everything else working seems to imply some sort of problem with how the Sage server handles the signal stream as/before it sends it to the HD-300.

[wayner]

Presumably you have tried hard rebooting your extender, and restarting SageTV? Have you also tried multiple types of video files?

[wnjj]

I really don't know all of the inner workings of placeshifter/transcoding but here's the bit I understand:

The transcoder is a customized version of FFMPEG (SageTVTranscoder.exe) that converts the video for use by the HD300 or other clients, as needed. Those error messages about the timestamps are coming from that program's stderr (FFMPEG source). The "Waiting for transcode buffer" is a result of nothing coming from the transcoding (Transcoder Java).

I suspect that something has changed in the format of the MP4's you are generating for your recordings, possible due to the your cable provider and that it has an issue with the (years old) FFMPEG code. I assume the placeshifter on a PC client may not require the transcoding so that's why it works.

Do older shows that you knew to playback before also have this issue?

Looking at the code that calls the transcoder exe, I see a debug flag you can set in sage.properties. Try setting "xcode_cmdline_debug=TRUE" and try again. You should see a line in the log file starting with "Executing xcoding process with args:" that will show what it's passing to the transcoder. That will allow you to run the transcoder from a command line to maybe shed some light on what is going wrong.

[JustFred]

From your sig, it appears that you're using an HDHR Prime and OpenDCT, so I'm going to take a guess that one of your program sources is cable tv via a CableCard. If correct, take a look at the details of each of the failing videos and see if they were all recorded from this source. If so, then wnjj's comment about your cable provider is relevant.

OpenDCT also has it's own version of ffmpeg, and it might be able to clean up the data stream. Start by updating your old v0.5.13 beta to the latest at https://bintray.com/opendct/Releases/OpenDCT/ . You might also have to look thru the OpenDCT thread if it's necessary to tweek some OpenDCT settings.

[hb4]

Thanks for the help! I have been using the same HDHR Prime, Cablecard, HD-300, OpenDCT version, and SageTV version successfully for several years with good results. I am on a Frontier DSL line and can view via a Placeshifter client with OK resolution, but the HD-300 has always been better. Recently I've seen sporadic 'black screen' events lasting 2-15 seconds, and this seems like a permanent version of those events.

Older shows that previously played now no longer play. I have cycled power on the extender but have not done a Factory Reset - not sure if I have firmware to flash, but I will look into that.

The Cablecard is the only source I am using and have used for many years. Given that I can't play old sources I am guessing it's unlikely that a change in the Comcast source is the problem. Just a guess.

I can use MCEBuddy to transcode a file and see if that will play. Any suggestions for a trial format. Also I believe I can have Sage transcode a file so I will try that as well.

I will set the trancoder flag and see what I find as well.

I have been using Emby with MCEBuddy to do just the comskip work - it seems to work much better, and the playback is far superior. The only feature that I need Sage for (beyond recording, but I am starting to use Emby for that as well) is to start viewing while recording is taking place. That feature boosts the WAF quite a bit.

Thanks again for the suggestions!

[KryptoNyte]

Not to derail your thread, but I would love to see someone do a write up on how to get an HD300 connected remotely, and ensure that the server is transcoding for the remote device. This is something I have tried numerous times and have never gotten it to work, in fact, as soon as the HD300 authenticates, it crashes to a black screen just before loading the SageTV UI.

[hb4]

FIXED: I did the Factory Reset procedure per the manual (remove power, hold 'back' button on remote, and plug back in) and it now plays videos. Gives me hope.....

Thanks all for the suggestions and really glad that the simplest solution worked.

I think the memory got zapped when we had the power line along the road in front of our house come down (It just separated at a splice about two poles down the road). Glad that's all it did.