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[tzr916]

Last night's episode of "The Strain" 10pm ended up with a TS file that is Zero bytes. All the details are there like title, channel, time, duration, etc but the file won't play. Also this morning on the Server tv screen was an error message about "Failed to Parse.......". Tv logs say recording started and stopped on time. Two other recordings during the same time period were NOT defective.

This has happened only a few other times on various channels. Last time before this was July 10 "The Last Ship" 9pm.

Here is the log file for last night's "The Strain" 10pm:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B82GqdDf8HSyM1JiYXUxTzB1Zlk/view?usp=sharing

[tzr916]

Happened again last night for "Z Nation". Woke up to message on the server screen that said "Error Tagging files....." and one of the three shows that were recording from 9pm to 10pm ended up with ZERO Bytes file size and will not play back. All other recordings before, during, after are not affected. Log file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B82GqdDf8HSybC1POENlaXlpVnM/view?usp=sharing

[Yaobing]

Sorry about the problems.  Your last set of logs did not provide any clues.  I will take a look at the new set.

[tzr916]

Last nights "The Strain" failed again. Error message on Server screen when I got up this morning saying "Error tagging or moving file....path.filename". Zero bytes for the show, meanwhile 2 other shows recording at the same time were not affected, show before and after not affected. Log file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B82GqdDf8HSybWg0NEM5QUhQMzg/view?usp=sharing

Going to see if deleting these series recording rules / adding them back in helps...

[Yaobing]

Can you tell me which channel was "The Strain" on?  And what was the episode name of the one that failed on Sunday night?

[tzr916]

Can you tell me which channel was "The Strain" on?  And what was the episode name of the one that failed on Sunday night?

Channel 741 FX
episode "White Light"


Just happened again while I was sitting here watching tv. "Bizarre Foods" Zero Bytes, other shows recording at the same time not affected. Appears to happen right at the end of the recording.... Will upload log tomorrow. 

[tzr916]

Last nights log file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B82GqdDf8HSyV2hxV2FsT3RWdlU/view?usp=sharing

Zero bytes Bizarre Foods episode was named "Baltimore", air time 6pm, channel 755.

This episode ran again at 9pm and I was able to set one time manual recording which ran without incident.

[Yaobing]

All instances seem to have one common theme.  The tuner involved just did not stream any additional audio and video data, despite having sent initial samples.  As a result there is no data that inform MC what types audio and video the channel streams, and no data is written to the TS file.

We will have to keep an eye out on additional clues.

[tzr916]

Does it tell you which tuner was used in each case? Were they the same Ceton tuner number?

I went ahead and rebooted the Ceton tuner. It's been a while since I last rebooted it. Guess it's time to make it a regularly scheduled task.

[Yaobing]

Not the same tuner.

[tzr916]

Happened again last night. Can't give you a log file because I just upgraded to the latest version so (it appears) the logs got reset.

[tzr916]

Still happening in v76.
Server had on screen message about "tagging error" regarding the zero byte show.
Unable to clear that on screen message, another tuner still recording (for 6 hours) until I forced MC to close using CTL+ALT+DEL.
No log file available because MC installed the latest version during restart.

It had been more than 8 days since rebooting the Ceton tuner, so I am pretty sure the Ceton tuner is to blame. Still working on an automated Tuner reboot system.

[tzr916]

Two in one night, same channel, likely same tuner:
9p - Scorpion
10p - local news

Got a log:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B82GqdDf8HSyTkFFenZSdTVnTDQ



Be great to figure this out. Or put in some mechanism that can sense when a recording is zero bytes in the first 2 or 3 minutes, then automatically kill the recording and start it over (maybe on a different tuner).

[RoderickGI]

One of the issues that has come up recently with HDHomeRun tuners is that the Power/Plug Pack starts to fail after a few years. If any electronic device is getting less power than it needs, you will see all sorts of strange and weird, undiagnosable problems.

If your Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH is a few years old, would it be possible to source a new and maybe more powerful Plug Pack and see if the problem disappears?

If you do decide to try that, make sure you source a good quality Plug Pack, not a cheap and nasty one. Poor quality power can be just as bad as not enough power. I always spend extra on power supplies of all types after being disappointed many times by poor units, even when they had great specifications. Go for a good brand name unit if possible, or at least research feedback from other users before buying.

[tzr916]

This problem ALWAYS happens on the Ceton not the HDHRP. But the Ceton does the heavy lifting (the HDHRP is only used for 5 or 6 specific channels). I don't mind trying another power supply but when this happens there are usually other shows recording before/during/after that record just fine. And the tuner is not locking up, so some later time that specific tuner number seems to be available and will work after the bad recording happens. At one point I though the cause might be due to running the Ceton for more than 7 or 8 days continuously, but lately I have been manually rebooting the Ceton every 3 or 4 days and the bad recordings are still happening.

[RoderickGI]

Yep, I understood all of that before replying.

Although you have confirmed that the Ceton does the heavy lifting, and the problem happens even though the Ceton has records correctly before, during, and after the problem has occurred. No doubt the Ceton uses more power when more tuners are being used. Possibly there is a fan in it that comes on or speeds up when it gets warm?

This all sounds consistent with power supply problems; either insufficient power, or poor quality power. Obviously I can't say that power is the issue, but at this stage, I would certainly be trying a better or at least newer power supply. I can't find any specs for the supplied power supply, but if it is say a 2 Amp unit, I would try to buy a quality 3 or 5 Amp unit of the same voltage output to see if the problem goes away.

[Yaobing]

The log shows that both recordings were attempted with the same tuner.  The local news was started before Scorpion ended, and since they are on the same channel, the same tuner was used.  The tuner was not streaming any packets for some reason.  I did not find any log lines that, for example, show PMT tables were parsed upon tuning to the channel (which should have happened right after the tuner was tuned to the right channel).

Next time, if you are able to catch it "in the act" - while recording is still being attempted, type Ceton device's ip address in a browser and display the devices' status page.  See if you are able to find anything unusual.