Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rpalmer68]

About a week ago I've started having live TV playback problems where  I was getting "Timeout waiting for writer" errors when starting TV playback or when changing channels the playback would just freeze  and not change channels.  I could still do another channel change and sometime it would work and other tims it wouldn't.

I thought it was probably signal related so I have spent the last week trying to find/fix possible TV signal issues, including getting the signal tested (and the tests show I have plenty of signal level and the quality is good).  

I then noticed that my TV recording software wasn't having any problems recording programs using the same tuners/signal so turned my attention back to MC.

I turned off Timeshifting and suddenly I could start playback and change channels OK.  I tested this many times and had 100% success rate.

I then turned TS back on and once again would get timeout errors or channel changes not happening.

I'm not at a loss as to what has changed to cause this, it could still be external to MC, but I'm starting to think maybe it's not.

EDIT:  Have remove old logs

Thanks
Richard

[Yaobing]

Did it start with build 41?

[rpalmer68]

Did it start with build 41?

I'm not sure as I don't watch live TV all the time so it's hard to pinpoint when it may have started.

The odd thing is I have another PC running .44 and it doesn't seem to present with the problem, but it only has one tuner and runs Win7x32.

I really did think it was signal related until I found I could start playback perfectly 100% of the time when TS was turnd off.


Richard

[Yaobing]

I just wanted to make sure the problem was not caused by the little change I made in build 41.  It does not seem to be the the likely cause.  It is indeed odd, as there is no indication one way or the other in the logs.

Did you try rebooting?  Uninstalling and reinstalling?

[rpalmer68]

I just wanted to make sure the problem was not caused by the little change I made in build 41.  It does not seem to be the the likely cause.  It is indeed odd, as there is no indication one way or the other in the logs.

Did you try rebooting?  Uninstalling and reinstalling?

I have rebooted several times, this is my main server running library server etc so I haven't tried uninstalling yet as I didn't want to do this if you could see something obvious that may be causing it.

R

[rpalmer68]

As a further test I satrted playback with TS OFF, changed challels a few times and it all worked.  I then paused playback (so TS turned ON) and then continues playback.

 then changd channelsand playback froze and the channel change didn;t happen (although the OSD does show the new channel details).  I then cancelled timeshiftig and playback started again on the new channel.

I have disabled library server and tried different filters.

Richard

[rpalmer68]

OK today I uninstalled MC removed all registry entries and folders and reinstalled .47.

I used a new library and scanned the TV channels again... scanning worked fine and I got all my channels.

BUT still TV playback problems, timeout waiting for writer when I tried to even start TV playback. Sometimes playback would start but 90% of the time I get the timeout.

 So then I bit the bullet and did a full system restore from backup rolling back to the beginning of May (MC 15.0.35), when I certainl don't remember these issues.  Still the same problems!

Knowing people are going to scream SIGNAL/DRIVER/TUNER issues, I installed the TV playback software I used to use but stopped in preference to using MC.

I set it to use the same tuner as MC, scanned the channels and started to play back TV.

Playback is perfect, I changed channels 40 times all over the place, jumping from HD to SD etc and they all worked as they should.   The software also reports the tuner stats, and I have over 80% signal strenght and 95% quality.

So since that all worked perfectly I started MC again ad tried to start TV playback... timeout!

I disabled Timeshifting and then playback did start, but I still had issues changing channels, they wouldn't always change.

I can also confirm that if I set my recording software to use the same tuner as MC it can record any channel I  tell it to without any errors or timeouts.

So now I need some ideas... what can I test/try next??

I can confirm that the signal lock light on the correct tuner comes on when MC starts playback/changes channel, regardless of whether MC actually works.

I've tried different audio and video filters, I've even used the same ones my other software uses... still no good.

The odd thing is my 2nd HTPC is using the exact same tuner (but only one) and the same filters and the same antenna signal and it works fine on 15.0.44.  So there is somethng happening on my main HTPC that I just can't pinpoint. 

ideas... anybody??

Thanks
Richard

[JimH]

You might try swapping the tuners if they are identical.

Thanks for your patience and all the details.

[rpalmer68]

You might try swapping the tuners if they are identical.

Thanks for your patience and all the details.

Hi Jim,

I've tried 7 tuners, 5 identical and 2 different including the one from the working PC as well.

I am going to remove all the tuners except the one that works in the other PC, (but I can't do that until tomorrow when tonights recordings have finished) just in case it's a issue with multiple tuners and several all having the same name - I know this was a problem originally back in about MC12 but canlt imagine it is now.

It's just odd that everything except MC is tuning in fine, and even MC works better if TS is off.

Cheers
Richard

p.s.  Why do I have this feeling I'm going to kick myself when I work this out...?

[rpalmer68]

I think I've found the problem!

I started thinking about the last time I had an issue with timeshifting (after being prompted by another recent posting) and the solution was to run the install as Administartor.

So I closed MC and Media Server and tried running "Media Center 15.exe" as administrator, and suddenly I can start playback and change channels while timeshifting.

It's too late at night now to try to work it out, but I do  start Media Server at windows startup , so could this not be running at the right security level and when the MC UI is loaded on top it therefore is also not running with enough access?

Not sure, will have to look tomorrow, but this is a BIG step forward.

Richard

EDIT: Hmm, I just tried to run as administrator again and this time TV is timing out again, while last time it was slick and changing perfectly.

The only difference is I ran MC14 first to test playback in that, it also failed.  I then ran MC15 as admin and it worked (after windows made a few prompts about secutity).    I'll have to test more tomorrow... bother I thought I'd found it!

[Yaobing]

I wonder if it is a filter registration issue.  You can try manually registering the following files (regsvr32 in a command prompt started with administrator rights):

MJTSFileReader.ax
MJTSFileWriter.ax
MJTVControl.dll

all inside TV subfolder in MC15 installation.

[rpalmer68]

I wonder if it is a filter registration issue.  You can try manually registering the following files (regsvr32 in a command prompt started with administrator rights):

MJTSFileReader.ax
MJTSFileWriter.ax
MJTVControl.dll

all inside TV subfolder in MC15 installation.

That didn't help.  Neither did running MC as admin again.

The strange thing is sometimes Playback does start, but then I can't change channels other times I get the timeout error.

Have checked my other playback s/w again and it is still working fie this morning....

I'm going to run MC14 again and then go back to MC15 as that was the sequence last night that worked.


Will report back soon.....

Richard

[rpalmer68]

OK, this is interesting, frustrating, and probably useless information...but.....


I confirmed MC15 TV was not working (either timeout or won't change channels).

Closed MC15.
Ran Mc14, said YES to the UNC prompt.
Started TV playback, responded YES to the three UNC prompts (wanting to regiser the filters mentioned above)
TV playback started and I could change channels with TS ON.  So far so good.
I stopped playback and closed MC14
I ran MC15, and answered YES to the UNC prompt again
Started TV playback (3 UNC prompts for filters again) and playback started and I could change channels fine.
Stopped playabck
Started playback again, this time I get the "Timeout waiting for writer"
Stopped playback and tried again, same error.
Stoppd playbak and tried to start a different channel, playback started so tried to change channels and MC wouldn't change channels.

Tested other payback software and confrmed that still worked OK with same tuner and MC using.

So not sure what this tells us, but the first time I run MC TV works correctly, but if I stop playback and tey again then things go wrong....  GO FIGURE!!!

This s Win7 x64 and it has got all it's updates, while the other working machine is Win7 32 and hasn;t had an update done for a while (there are 22 important updates outstanding).

Richard

[JimH]

It isn't this problem, is it?

[jmone]

FYI - I just got the same problem (but it is not easily reproducable on my system).
1) Ran MC on my Win7 64-Bit PC using HDHomeRun
2) Double Clicked on a TV program in Std View
3) Goes to Full Screen, Channel Info comes up as usual
4) Timeout error and the playback info at the top still says "waiting"

Funny thing is that you can still see what filter graph has been build (attached) and it looks like the TS part is fine, but there is no playback section.

[rpalmer68]

It isn't this problem, is it?

I doubt it as it works the first time MC runs, and I have done an uninstall (remove registry settings) and reinstall previously.

Will check though.

[jmone]

I can reproduce this error (I'm guessing but in my case it seems to be potentially related to the the HDD not being ready.  I record to a separate HDD, and the test was:
1) Exit MC and Server
2) Don't access the HDD used for my media for some time
3) Start MC/Server and double click on a TV Schedule (TS On) - got the error.  Pressed Stop and double clicked again and all was fine.  (the log shows both of these).

[rpalmer68]

Thanks Nathan.

I just tried changing my timeshift folder from my local disc to my NAS, but I still get the timeout error.

Also ran diags on my hdd and it's passd without any errors.

Looking at the timeshift folder I can see the the TS files being created but like Nathan the playback graph isn't being built.

The TS files are not growing, they are created but aren't being fed with any data, so the issue must be somehwere in the file writer section I'd assume.

I have attached a log of me starting playback and getting the timeout, with more logging options enabled, in case it helps.

Richard

[jmone]

I'm guessing that this is the symptom from not being able to read/write the TS file so you may be facing another issue that is causing it......

[rpalmer68]

As a further test I set 4 recordings going on 4 different channels (at he same time), the same channels I have been trying to start playback on.

All 4 recordings have recorded correctly and I can watch them back.

Richard

[rpalmer68]

Yaobing, I have emailed you additonal logs using the new files you sent.

I'll attach them here as well in case anybody else in interested in them.

One logs is from the Timeout message at playback start, the other when changing channes and the display freezes.

Cheers
Richard

Edit:  Have added TV_Log2.zip.  In this log I start TV playaback on channel Nine HD and I get the timeout, I then change channels to Nine Digital (which is the SD version of Nine HD) and this tunes in, I then change channels it Nine HD and MC changes correctly.  If I then stop playback and start it again on NineHD I get the timeout and can then repeat the whole process.  This happens like this every time I try it.

[rpalmer68]

The latest builds of MC15 (after 15.0.58)  resolve the DVB-T playback issues some of us were experiencing.

Thanks Yaobing!