Topic: HD Homerun Prime No Tuner available (Read 2840 times)

jrdiandrea · « **on:** April 12, 2022, 11:02:31 am »

I’ve had this issue for quite a long time. But it’s gotten worse.

I have a HD HOMERUN Prime….3 tuners.

On my network i have 4 PCs running JRiver & 3 Shields using the HDHomerun App.

The PC/JRiver in my Theater operates independently.

Of the other 3 PCs, two are clients to the 3rd.

The Shields NEVER have a problem finding and connecting to a tuner.

But when i go to watch live tv on JRiver….if one of the Shields is watching live tv JRiver is unable to find a tuner.

I can manually switch tuners between 1, 2, or 0 and it will not connect. I get the failure message.

But, if I STOP the shield and then try JRiver it fires right up. I don’t get it. I thought JRiver automatically looked for an open tuner but that doesn’t seem to be happening. Is there something i can do to improve this?

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** April 12, 2022, 03:46:43 pm »

That sounds like all tuners are in use. Even if they aren't supposed to be.

Be aware that there is a current SiliconDust problem with the software needed, so be cautious about updating.

jrdiandrea · « **Reply #2 on:** April 12, 2022, 05:05:42 pm »

That could be but I just tested it. I made sure no tv is running live tv. Put one tv in. Opened HDHR menu and see that tuner 0 is engaged. The other two tunes are not engaged. All info is correct regarding channel etc.

Then i tried to play live tv on jriver and save result. “set channel failed on tuner device” is the message i get.

Thx for heads up on the software.

tzr916 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 12, 2022, 06:17:16 pm »

Are you using DMS mode in JR MC? or Direct Show? I think windows HDHR App, Shield, and other devices outside of JR MC use DMS. So if tuners are tied up via DMS, and then you try to use JR MC with Direct Show, you can run into tuner error messages in JR MC.
And if you try to go all DMS in JR MC, then you have to run tv setup on MC Clients, or the clients will try to pull via Direct Show and conflicts will arise.

jrdiandrea · « **Reply #4 on:** April 13, 2022, 05:14:20 am »

Thx for responding, tzr916.

I am using Red October JRVR which I suppose is Direct Show? I don’t know what DMS is. Using DMS and Setting up TV on all clients sounds like the only solution. But I don’t know if that is practical or appropriate in my setup.

tzr916 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 13, 2022, 07:44:58 am »

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/TV_Tuners

Yes, changing JR MC tuners from direct show to DMS seems like a big job. I haven't done it yet, because I have some low end Windows clients that are not capable of using JRVR and I am not accessing tuners outside of JR MC, like Shield or HDHR App on mobile devices or windows. But for your situation it is worth trying, as long as ALL your windows machines are capable of using JRVR.

Yaobing · « **Reply #6 on:** April 13, 2022, 08:33:24 am »

Quote from: jrdiandrea on April 13, 2022, 05:14:20 am

Thx for responding, tzr916.

I am using Red October JRVR which I suppose is Direct Show? I don’t know what DMS is. Using DMS and Setting up TV on all clients sounds like the only solution. But I don’t know if that is practical or appropriate in my setup.

Just having video set to Red October does not mean you are using DirectShow. You need to specifically check whether your channels are set up as OpenCable channels or DMS channels.

If you use OpenCable channels, instead of DMS channels, we do attempt to query the tuner and ask if it is available.

You could try ordering your tuners to reduce chances of conflict. But the best practice is to avoid using other apps.

jrdiandrea · « **Reply #7 on:** April 13, 2022, 08:43:06 am »

OK....yes....Open Channels. That is how it is setup. And as mentioned above, during my test last night Only one tuner of 3 was engaged in HDHR and yet I received the failure noted above. I switch jriver to the next tuner and still get a failure. Not until I manually stop playback on the shield can I connect to a HDHR tuner. Very odd behavior.

Yaobing · « **Reply #8 on:** April 13, 2022, 09:40:56 am »

What is the exact message you got in MC? It does not make sense to get "Tuner is not available" message, and I do not get it.

I ran some tests, and found that if I start a DMS channel on one computer, HDHomeRun seems to use Tuner0 for it. On a different computer, I ran OpenCable. I was able to tune if I choose Tuner1 or Tuner2 on the second computer. But if I try to force Tuner0, I do get an error. SetChannel failed, tuner in use.

Clearly, this is different from your observation. My test is different from your situation too as I am not using Shields.

jrdiandrea · « **Reply #9 on:** April 14, 2022, 07:58:28 am »

I appreciate your reply. However nothing has changed on my end. My experience is still as i described in my first post. HDHR shows Shield using tuner 0 and tuners 1 & 2 s not used. Yet JRiver will not play when set to either of them.

“set channel failed on tuner device”

JimH · « **Reply #10 on:** April 14, 2022, 08:07:33 am »

Did you try power cycling everything?

Yaobing · « **Reply #11 on:** April 14, 2022, 08:45:56 am »

Check your device setting, in "TV Options \ Manage Devices...". Select each Prime tune and click Configure...

Make sure all of them are set to "OpenCable", instead of "Disabled".

Then you should move Tuner1 and Tuner2 above Tuner0 in the list of devices.

jrdiandrea · « **Reply #12 on:** April 15, 2022, 10:00:06 am »

Yes, this is all correct in my settings.

This morning I did reboot eveything including the HDHR. Same results. However.....this time, after a failure notice, I changed the tuner on the "Host" jriver. I had been changing it on the client that I happened to be trying to watch at the time. I then went back to the client and jriver played the channel fine. I guess that makes sense as a client of the host but what would happen if I then went to another client to play the "3rd" tuner? Don't feel like experimenting now but at least I've gotten this far.

Thank you

tzr916 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 15, 2022, 01:14:50 pm »

Since you are NOT using DMS tuner mode, you must disable ALL tuner setup on Clients. Any guide setup, and channel setup, and manage tv devices (tuners) must be disabled on Clients (including any tuners that may show up as DMS on clients). Tuner selection/use and guide is ALL handled on the Server machine. I would also recommend you disable any devices (tuners) that may show up as DMS on the Server.

jrdiandrea · « **Reply #14 on:** April 15, 2022, 05:31:36 pm »

I turned off the TV feature under “General” on both clients. But there always have been 3 Open Cable & 3 DMS tuners listed under manage devices. I have no idea how to delete the DMS tuners. If it’s important and will improve performance if like to do it. How do i do that?!!

tzr916 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 15, 2022, 05:40:53 pm »

You don't need to delete the tuners in the device list, just disable them. For each and every device/tuner, click the configure button, then choose disabled. After they are all set to disabled, click Ok.

jrdiandrea · « **Reply #16 on:** April 15, 2022, 05:44:58 pm »

Jeez. I should have figured that out. )

Thank you

Yaobing · « **Reply #17 on:** April 15, 2022, 09:56:09 pm »

I think this is now all clear.

The Prime tuners on Windows are supported as OpenCable, using DirectShow. The way we do it, we call for a specific tuner each time we need one because we want to manage the availability of tuners. Each time we test a tuner, we ask for its playing state. If it is "PLAYING', we know that the tuner is in use by some app, MC or third-party. If the state is STOPPED, we can grab and use it.

The trouble is, if someone uses a tuner as DMS, it seems that the DMS server and the OpenCable server are not talking to each other. So if anyone uses Tuner0 as a DMS tuner, and MC asks what its state is as an OpenCable tuner, it still returns STOPPED.

So currently the only way to avoid this conflict is to order your tuners so that Tuner0 is ranked lower than Tuner1 and Tuner2. Most likely, a third-party app using a DMS tuner would just do it in an "automatic way", such as it uses the first available tuner, which usually is Tuner0. By favoring Tuner1 and Tuner2 inside MC, you have the best chance of avoiding the conflict.

Yes, you should be able to run your second client to view a different channel, as long as the above conditions are true, i.e. you put the two tuners that the third-party app is least likely to use on top of the list.

tzr916 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 16, 2022, 08:27:02 am »

Quote from: Yaobing on April 15, 2022, 09:56:09 pm

... it seems that the DMS server and the OpenCable server are not talking to each other ....

If MC is setup using DMS only, would the conflict still happen in MC when using DMS tuners outside of MC?

Yaobing · « **Reply #19 on:** April 16, 2022, 08:47:44 am »

Using DMS, we essentially give control back to the device. Although we try to create exactly the same number of tuners, on a particular instance of MC, we actually don't have control over which tuner to use because the channel URL contains the word "/auto/" and the device itself will pick the available tuner. Therefore different instance of MC (on multiple computers) will be competing for tuners without coordination.

It may be possible for MC to specify a particular tuner (I should confirm with the SiliconDust folks, but in my tests it seems to be the case), but then I must implement a sure way of testing whether a tuner is available, and I don't know how to achieve that yet. So for now, it's in the hands of the SiliconDust server.

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Author Topic: HD Homerun Prime No Tuner available (Read 2840 times)