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[BryanC]

I've been having problems recently with MC not releasing the TV tuner device after a scheduled recording. If I stop playback manually from a TV channel, there are no problems and MC releases the device.

This manifests as a "tv tuner device not available" error if I try to open a TV channel. It also causes playback to fail for regular video files since it appears that MC still has the TV channel open ("Live") in the playback status display and will not release it even when trying to play a different file.

The remedy for me is to kill and restart MC via the Task Manager. MC freezes when trying to close it in this state, although I can otherwise navigate the UI as long as I don't try to shut down the program.

I'm using a Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick.

[Yaobing]

Please capture a log and email to me.  yaobing at jriver dot com

Turn on logging, and repeat what you described.

[BryanC]

Logs sent.

[Yaobing]

I saw two things in the log.  One of the tuners was in un-released state, and when MC tried to use it for viewing a channel live it failed to accept the tuning parameters.  The tuner had been in that state before you reset the log.  So I am not able to tell how it got in that state.  The second thing I saw in the log, which I can reproduce easily, was a bug introduced in build 86.  I have fixed it for the next new build:

Fixed: During live TV playback running "Restart Player" context menu command would lead to loss of video (black screen).

I can not tell if these two things are related.  Please let me know whether the above also fixes the tuner not-released problem.

[BryanC]

I saw two things in the log.  One of the tuners was in un-released state, and when MC tried to use it for viewing a channel live it failed to accept the tuning parameters.  The tuner had been in that state before you reset the log.  So I am not able to tell how it got in that state.  The second thing I saw in the log, which I can reproduce easily, was a bug introduced in build 86.  I have fixed it for the next new build:

Fixed: During live TV playback running "Restart Player" context menu command would lead to loss of video (black screen).

I can not tell if these two things are related.  Please let me know whether the above also fixes the tuner not-released problem.

OK, sending another log now.

[Yaobing]

Did you setup EPG to load in background every two hours?  I see attempts every two hours.

[Yaobing]

Here is what I found out:

Your second tuner appears to be malfunctioning.  No matter what we try to load it for, watching a channel live, loading EPG, or recording a channel, it fails to tune.  The EPG loading does not have a graceful recovery.  So the faulting tuner simply is stuck in EPG loading process, but can not do anything because it failed to tune.

[BryanC]

Would it be helpful to send additional logs when this happens, or is the problem not being logged?

[RoderickGI]

Your second tuner appears to be malfunctioning.

I believe that means your tuner is broken.

You are using this USB tuner, correct? http://www.pctvsystems.com/Products/ProductsNorthAmerica/HybridproductsUSA/PCTVHDStick/tabid/173/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Could it have been damaged when a cable was pulled, or the PC moved, or something? Maybe try re-seating it, or a different USB port. Check that the USB port still works with other devices. Sometimes a laptop USB port can be damaged if the device plugged into it is bumped, twisted or inserted too hard. Even a USB port on a motherboard could be damaged. I would always use a USB extension cable with such devices, even short ones, for just that reason.

But it probably just means that the tuner has died, has failed, is broken, and needs replacing. More logging isn't going to help with that.

[BryanC]

SOLVED!

My motherboard uses the Asmedia 1042 USB 3.0 chipset, which I've come to find out does not adhere to the USB spec. This is the port that I had my TV tuner connected to since the problems started occurring. I've since moved it to a USB 2.0 port and the problems have gone away.

[RoderickGI]

Well done finding the source of the problem.

Don't you hate it when manufacturers don't follow the standard. My old PC has an NEC USB 3.0 chipset, and while it mostly works, it does suffer from being an early example of the technology.

You would think manufacturers would learn to do it right, given standards are available, but I'm hearing similar issues with USB 3.1 Gen1, and now Gen2 implementations. Ho hum. 

Now enjoy TV without failures! 

[BryanC]

So this problem resurfaced and I discovered that the main culprit is scanning for OTA EPG data. It seems that whenever I exited a show I had been watching for a while, MC would immediately start to try downloading EPG data, which would block access to the tuner. If you have a tv tuner with multiple tuners, this wouldn't be a huge problem, but I've found that it is best to just disable OTA EPG data altogether. I could not figure out how to disable OTA EPG scanning after it was enabled so I ended up redoing my entire TV setup config and now everything is working correctly.

I would suggest that MC includes a disclaimer in the FAQ or in the TV settings that doing OTA EPG scans with a single TV tuner may prevent access to the tuner during the scan.