Topic: 'No television tuner is available to fulfill your request...' (Read 10988 times)

Donald G Lawton · « **on:** December 04, 2015, 08:33:30 am »

Access is erratic; it will work fine for weeks and then I get that message for weeks. I went through all setup procedures again and again with no success.

Windows 10
MC 21
DLNA is enabled
Firewall is properly configured
MC Setup sees all three tuners (HDHomeRun)
All three tuners are available (not in use by any other device)

Again, it has worked fine with the same setup.

Screen shots in attached PDF.

Tuners all work with HDHomeRun View from this computer.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Yaobing · « **Reply #1 on:** December 04, 2015, 10:50:34 am »

Did you try playing a channel right after you start MC? If so, you may get that error. Wait for half a minute or so, you should be fine. If that is not the case, something else is going on.

Donald G Lawton · « **Reply #2 on:** December 04, 2015, 05:37:55 pm »

Thanks Yaobing for your quick reply, but that doesn't solve the problem. I tried accessing the cablecard immediately after starting MC, 15 minutes after, and 30 minutes after - same result.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 04, 2015, 05:55:24 pm »

Can you go to the Television settings, click on the advanced section at the bottom, and choose show status? What does it say in there for each tuner?

Are ANY of the green lights on the front of the HDHomeRun Prime? If so, how many?

It might be worth a try to temporarily turn your firewall off to test...this is of course assuming you have a router with a built in firewall. I do tech support for a software package that uses Gig networks to run video walls, and I can tell you that the Windows firewall can do weird things...while we're at it, are there any 3rd party firewalls installed? Also, what antivirus are you running?

Donald G Lawton · « **Reply #4 on:** December 04, 2015, 06:23:19 pm »

As you can see below, all three are 'Not available'

=== Television Devices ===

Device 0: Microsoft LifeCam HD-5001 CFFF1F7794E81AA5 (analog)
State: Idle

Device 1: HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13172420-0 860BE0D53A77CCE9 (OpenCable)
State: Not available

Device 2: HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13172420-2 65F4A8FF3FE02C81 (OpenCable)
State: Not available

Device 3: HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 13172420-1 B70983AEF13148AD (OpenCable)
State: Not available

=== Actions ===

I shut down the windows firewall (no third party firewalls) - no change.

I'm using Webroot SecureAnywhere. I shut down active protection - no change.

Yaobing · « **Reply #5 on:** December 04, 2015, 06:32:08 pm »

Unplug the power of HDHomerun and plug it back to reset it.

Donald G Lawton · « **Reply #6 on:** December 04, 2015, 06:49:36 pm »

Bingo!

Thanks again.

Don Lawton

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #7 on:** December 05, 2015, 06:42:40 am »

It would be nice if the "status" view of the Tuners was easier to get to. Then one could take a quick a look to be sure the Tuners are available, say before going to bed when shows are scheduled to record.

The best location, IMO, would be to right click on the "Media Server" icon and have "Tuner Status" as a selection/menu choice. Second best place, or main location, I think would be directly under "Television" in the Standard View - so you don't have to drill down to it.

Once the TV settings are complete there is usually no reason to go back into them again - but it is desirable to check on the Tuner Status before an important recording is to occur.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #8 on:** December 05, 2015, 10:37:55 pm »

I was sure I found a shortcut to that on the Standard View menu once upon a time . . . but it must have just been via the "TV Option" button at the bottom of the Television view in Standard View, because I can't find it anywhere else again.

I would prefer an MCC Command that I could assign to a remote control button, or add to Theatre View as an "External Program" link anywhere I wanted, so the display would pop up over Theatre View. The display has the OK button highlighted by default when it is displayed now, so a simple press of OK on the remote control dismisses the pop up.

After all, I would really want to see the "Tuner Status" display from within Theatre View. I don't use the Media Server icon in the Windows status bar, as I rarely see the status bar when using the HTPC normally. I only see it when I am doing maintenance using Standard View.

Not that I really need a quicker access to the Tuner Status display, because I don't have tuner availability issues on the server, and while I have rarely seen the issue on my Client PC, the Status display doesn't show Server Tuners from the Client. But it would be handy from those who have tuner availability issues. Visibility from a Client may be an issue though. That may require an MCWS command and a way to launch the command from the Client.

GreggP · « **Reply #9 on:** January 19, 2016, 12:55:47 pm »

I get the "No television tuner is available to fulfill..." message a lot. I've noticed this problem recently when I wanted to watch a live college basketball game. I usually go to my computer to watch the game just a few minutes before the start. If it doesn't work after several attempts, I simply close MC21 and use WMC, which will always work.

I have 5 tuners - my HDHomeRun Prime has 3 OpenCable (CableCard) tuners and my HDHomeRun Dual has 2 ATSC tuners. I am running MC21 on a server and watching TV from a client.

I'm still in the process of evaluating MC21's television capabilities. We have been using WMC for a long time and are very comfortable with the WMC UI and performance. So far, I don't think MC21 will pass the WAF for TV, but maybe with some serious tweaking of Theater View, I can get it there. However, if it continues to have problems with my tuners, it may not be a viable alternative.

I'll try playing a different channel and it may work after several attempts, but what will happen if I'm not home and MC21 is set to record a program?

BTW, power cycling the HDHomeRuns may not be an option if another family member is watching TV on another computer running WMC.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 19, 2016, 03:42:22 pm »

If you are using WMC to use TV on the same network with the same HDHomeRun Primes, then you should expect problems like this. MC has no idea what tuner WMC is using, so it will cause issues while it is trying to allocate tuners.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #11 on:** January 19, 2016, 03:46:21 pm »

Do you see the problem on a MC Client PC, or on the Server?

I have seen it a few times recently after playing live TV on a Client, and doing lots of mucking around. Typically the Server has gone to sleep and then been woken by my TV request. But also sometimes it just happens. I haven't tried to document the events that lead it to happening.

The quick and simple fix is to go into Options/Television/General/Manage Devices, and then exit out again. I can't remember if the fix works when you Cancel out of that dialogue, or if you have to OK your way out of it. I think just Cancel works.

Anyway, if you can document what you were doing exactly, like multiple Clients watching recorded and/or Live TV, what the Server was doing, and so on, Yaobing may be able to find and fix the cause. The issue has been improved over the last few months, but there may still be some problem.

Also share how you have set up MC (Server is HTPC in lounge, Clients in bedrooms, etc.), what OS you are using (Windows what), what version of MC. The current public release is MC21.0.37. You have already listed the tuners, but maybe model numbers would help Yaobing. Even your network setup and components may make a difference. One user was having trouble with a HDHomeRun and it turned out to be his router was the problem. The connection to the tuner wasn't being maintained properly.

Ah. Muzicman0 makes a good point. Even if only the WMC Service that runs all the time in the background is still running, it will cause problems. Even when not being used to watch or record a program, WMC uses a tuner to get OTA EPG data, and seems to "touch" each tuner every now and then, probably to maintain connectivity.

GreggP · « **Reply #12 on:** January 19, 2016, 04:56:29 pm »

Quote from: muzicman0 on January 19, 2016, 03:42:22 pm

If you are using WMC to use TV on the same network with the same HDHomeRun Primes, then you should expect problems like this. MC has no idea what tuner WMC is using, so it will cause issues while it is trying to allocate tuners.

That's interesting since multiple instances of WMC don't have any problems sharing the 5 tuners across several PCs on the network.

OK, since WMC is superior and is the preferred program for the rest of my family, then this will continue to be a problem. I guess we'll just need to punt on recording TV with MC until we can no longer use WMC. I was hoping to thoroughly test MC's TV functionality on my PC so I could become more familiar with it and eventually transition all of the other computers on our network from WMC to MC.

GreggP · « **Reply #13 on:** January 19, 2016, 05:12:24 pm »

Quote from: RoderickGI on January 19, 2016, 03:46:21 pm

Do you see the problem on a MC Client PC, or on the Server?

I have seen it a few times recently after playing live TV on a Client, and doing lots of mucking around. Typically the Server has gone to sleep and then been woken by my TV request. But also sometimes it just happens. I haven't tried to document the events that lead it to happening.

The quick and simple fix is to go into Options/Television/General/Manage Devices, and then exit out again. I can't remember if the fix works when you Cancel out of that dialogue, or if you have to OK your way out of it. I think just Cancel works.

Anyway, if you can document what you were doing exactly, like multiple Clients watching recorded and/or Live TV, what the Server was doing, and so on, Yaobing may be able to find and fix the cause. The issue has been improved over the last few months, but there may still be some problem.

Also share how you have set up MC (Server is HTPC in lounge, Clients in bedrooms, etc.), what OS you are using (Windows what), what version of MC. The current public release is MC21.0.37. You have already listed the tuners, but maybe model numbers would help Yaobing. Even your network setup and components may make a difference. One user was having trouble with a HDHomeRun and it turned out to be his router was the problem. The connection to the tuner wasn't being maintained properly.

Ah. Muzicman0 makes a good point. Even if only the WMC Service that runs all the time in the background is still running, it will cause problems. Even when not being used to watch or record a program, WMC uses a tuner to get OTA EPG data, and seems to "touch" each tuner every now and then, probably to maintain connectivity.

In this particular situation, I am running JRMC21 on a client in my home office. The server is a headless PC (which I control with Remote Desktop), which is always awake. As for my network setup, I have an Asus RT-N56U router, wired to a Netgear 8-port gigabit switch, hardwired to the JRMC21 server, my office PC, my wife's personal PC, a family room HTPC, and an unRAID server (in addition to 2 networked printers, and the HDHomeRuns). I haven't had any problems using these tuners with WMC so I doubt there are any issues with my networking hardware. If the problem boils down to an incompatibility between MC and WMC, then WMC wins out for its superior TV features. I'll continue to use WMC for TV until it is no longer supported and MC for music and movies.

Thanks for your help.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #14 on:** January 19, 2016, 06:37:08 pm »

I'm sure WMC installations on multiple PCs are aware of each other and therefore share tuners properly. But you couldn't expect MC to be aware of WMC use, or visa versa, unless the tuner itself reports its status correctly. Sometimes they don't. I would also note that it seems that WMC keeps a tighter grip on its connection to networked tuners than MC does, which again is why it interferes with MC's use of the tuners a lot. MC connects to networked tuners via DLNA, and seems to release them pretty quickly if not in use.

Other people in your situation have been able to assign some tuners to WMC and others to MC, but with your configuration it doesn't sound like you could. Maybe when you are ready to test MC's TV functionality again a separate tuner purchase may make it easier. You can always assign all the tuners to MC once you are forced to switch over.

GreggP · « **Reply #15 on:** January 19, 2016, 06:50:04 pm »

Quote from: RoderickGI on January 19, 2016, 06:37:08 pm

I'm sure WMC installations on multiple PCs are aware of each other and therefore share tuners properly. But you couldn't expect MC to be aware of WMC use, or visa versa, unless the tuner itself reports its status correctly. Sometimes they don't. I would also note that it seems that WMC keeps a tighter grip on its connection to networked tuners than MC does, which again is why it interferes with MC's use of the tuners a lot. MC connects to networked tuners via DLNA, and seems to release them pretty quickly if not in use.

Other people in your situation have been able to assign some tuners to WMC and others to MC, but with your configuration it doesn't sound like you could. Maybe when you are ready to test MC's TV functionality again a separate tuner purchase may make it easier. You can always assign all the tuners to MC once you are forced to switch over.

It sounds like WMC will be suported for a couple more years, so I guess I have plenty of time. Hopefully, MC will be improved so it satisfies our UI requirements by then. Technically, I'm impressed with how far the TV features have come with regards to CableCard support and channel mapping. I'll keep playing with it to monitor the progress.

RoderickGI · « **Reply #16 on:** January 19, 2016, 06:57:39 pm »

Yeah the improvements in the last six months have been very good. It is still a bit quirky, but the details are being fixed progressively.

The problem with WMC is not when support will stop, but from what I have read support it is slowing down now, and it is only going to get worse.

The switch to Rovi was a case in point, where the data seems to be of lower quality. But then, Microsoft expect to use that data with the Xbox One TV functionality, so it should be good. Confusing.

Anyway, at least Microsoft is still providing free EPG data from Rovi (for America users, not me!), and will be for the foreseeable future, as long as the Xbox One exists.

GreggP · « **Reply #17 on:** January 19, 2016, 07:53:17 pm »

Quote from: RoderickGI on January 19, 2016, 06:57:39 pm

Yeah the improvements in the last six months have been very good. It is still a bit quirky, but the details are being fixed progressively.

The problem with WMC is not when support will stop, but from what I have read support it is slowing down now, and it is only going to get worse.

The switch to Rovi was a case in point, where the data seems to be of lower quality. But then, Microsoft expect to use that data with the Xbox One TV functionality, so it should be good. Confusing.

Anyway, at least Microsoft is still providing free EPG data from Rovi (for America users, not me!), and will be for the foreseeable future, as long as the Xbox One exists.

I've read a lot of complaints about the EPG problems with WMC, but haven't had any problems with my EPG data. Maybe it depends on who your Cable TV provider is.

Donald G Lawton · « **Reply #18 on:** May 08, 2017, 04:10:03 pm »

Quote from: Yaobing on December 04, 2015, 10:50:34 am

Did you try playing a channel right after you start MC? If so, you may get that error. Wait for half a minute or so, you should be fine. If that is not the case, something else is going on.

Yes. I've been using MC with this setup for 5 years now. Thanks for the suggestion.

gtgray · « **Reply #19 on:** May 09, 2017, 10:02:43 am »

Something broke in 22.0.105. I have been using JR MC for years. Now since this last update MC does not see any of my Homerun Prime tuners. I am well aware of aware of the drill to restart the Prime. MC does see my OTA Homerun. This began yesterday. The Prime is working. I can acess it via my Nvidia Shield. The Prime does show up under Playing Now in Standard View but whenever I try to select a channel from the guide it responds with 'No television tuner is available to fulfill your request...'

muzicman0 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 09, 2017, 10:34:50 am »

This is the same problem I am seeing, but I haven't been able to figure out what is actually causing it. I think it may be that the tuners aren't being released properly. I gt a state of 'undefined' on some of the tuners on my clients.

Yaobing · « **Reply #21 on:** May 09, 2017, 11:50:10 am »

Quote from: gtgray on May 09, 2017, 10:02:43 am

Something broke in 22.0.105. I have been using JR MC for years. Now since this last update MC does not see any of my Homerun Prime tuners. I am well aware of aware of the drill to restart the Prime. MC does see my OTA Homerun. This began yesterday. The Prime is working. I can acess it via my Nvidia Shield. The Prime does show up under Playing Now in Standard View but whenever I try to select a channel from the guide it responds with 'No television tuner is available to fulfill your request...'

Do you see the Prime tuners under "Show status" in TV view? If so, does the "State" say "Undefined" as muzicman0 saw?

I did fix a bug for the next release. Make sure you test it when the next build is out.

tzr916 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 09, 2017, 07:15:40 pm »

Quote from: gtgray on May 09, 2017, 10:02:43 am

Something broke in 22.0.105.....

I have not noticed any problems here with my prime.

Yaobing · « **Reply #23 on:** May 09, 2017, 08:10:37 pm »

I should add that the "bug" that I fixed normally only manifest itself in debug build of MC, that is why I did not even add an MC history item for that fix. As I do not really know why sometimes the tuners are not available, I just threw that "fix" out and see if it would have any effect.

Also, if the state is "not available" it usually means the tuner is in use by some other program, or it was left in "in use" state by MC (due to not properly releasing it). Usually you can fix that by powering it off and then back on.

tzr916 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 11, 2017, 06:01:21 pm »

Quote from: tzr916 on May 09, 2017, 07:15:40 pm

I have not noticed any problems here with my prime.

Ding ding, something is wrong, alright.....

It's not just HDHR. It's all tuners.

Rebooted my Server PC after a Win10 update this morning. Finished watching DVR shows for a few hours. Went to watch live tv and saw it skipped tuner 1 of my Ceton and went to tuner 2! Looked under Tuner Status and 3 out of 6 of my Ceton tuners are showing "undefinded". Rebooted the Ceton, waited 10 minutes and now MC says all 6 tuners are "undefined". Restarted MC & Server service and then all tuners are saying "Idle" within less than 2 minutes.

Yaobing · « **Reply #25 on:** May 11, 2017, 06:14:26 pm »

For now, after MC is started, wait until all tuners are discovered, then go to TV Options > Manage Devices. Select the device that is "Undefined", and click Configure. Make sure the type is still OpenCable (which it should), and click OK (not Cancel). See if that will put the tuner back to "Idle". Unfortunately, you will have to do this every time MC is restarted. We should not have this problem in the next build.

Yaobing · « **Reply #26 on:** May 11, 2017, 06:16:39 pm »

Quote from: Yaobing on May 09, 2017, 08:10:37 pm

I should add that the "bug" that I fixed normally only manifest itself in debug build of MC, that is why I did not even add an MC history item for that fix. As I do not really know why sometimes the tuners are not available, I just threw that "fix" out and see if it would have any effect.

I guess I was wrong. The bug does show up even in release builds.

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Author Topic: 'No television tuner is available to fulfill your request...' (Read 10988 times)