Server Version#: 1.32.8.7639 (x64)
Player Version#:
Operating System: Windows Server 2019 v1809 OS Build 17763.5122
Tuner Make/Model: WinTV-DualHD USB, HDHomeRun Flex Duo
Guide/Lineup name: Local Broadcast Listings
Using XMLTV?: No
Channel number/Name: N/A
Installed WinTV-DualHD and successfully configured DVR services. Plex version at the time was 32-bit. For the first week things were running fine and I was able to watch available channels and DVR a couple shows. After the first week I started receiving the “Could not tune channel. Please check your tuner or antenna.” error when trying to view any local Live TV channels. Updating WinTV drivers, moving USB ports, un-configuring/re-configuring Plex DVR made no difference and the error message persisted. Running WinTV native app on the server showed no problems accessing live TV content. Isolated issue to Plex and not WinTV drivers/installation on the server.
Un-installed Plex server and installed 64-bit version. Same error: “Could not tune channel. Please check your tuner or antenna.”
Un-installed Plex, backed up %localappdata%\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases files.
Reinstalled Plex with fresh DB data and attempted to configure Live TV but with a fresh install Plex could not detect the WinTV-DualHD tuner.
Shut down Plex and restored previous DB files and poked around for solution with no luck.
Obtained an HDHomeRun Flex Duo 2 device and added it to the network. Device has no problems scanning for local channels via antenna.
Unconfigured Live TV/DVR and re-configured it. Even with WinTV-DualHD USB device removed from the server Plex still “saw” the device. I tried to add the HDHomeRun which it found but presented a “Can configure later” option and wouldn’t let me complete the addition of the device.
Shut down Plex. Cleared the records in the com.plexapp.plugins.library.db table and commited changes. Re-started Plex. I was then able to reconfigure the Live TV/DVR successfully. It no longer detected the WinTV-DualHD hardware and adding the HDHomeRun was successful. It scanned for local channels and completed the guide update. Tried to viw a live TV channel and again received the same error: “Could not tune channel. Please check your tuner or antenna.”
Finally figured I’d look at the actual logs. Logs show a problem starting the Plex Tuner Service:
Dec 11, 2023 13:17:21.865 [8208] ERROR - [ChildProcessMonitor] Jobs: failed to start child process C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Tuner Service.exe: CreateProcessW(omitBinary ? NULL : (LPCWSTR)pathify(job->binary).c_str(), (LPWSTR)utf8to16(cmdLine).c_str(), NULL, NULL, TRUE, dwCreationFlags, (LPVOID)env.c_str(), !m_workingDirectory.empty() ? m_workingDirectory.c_str() : NULL, &si, &processInfo): Access is denied.
Dec 11, 2023 13:17:21.865 [8208] ERROR - [ChildProcessMonitor] Plex Tuner Service.exe failed to start
Dec 11, 2023 13:17:21.865 [9616] DEBUG - [ChildProcessMonitor] Jobs: 'C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Tuner Service.exe' exit code for process 0 is 195948557 (failed to spawn child)
The tuner service continuously tries to start in the remainder of the logs:
Dec 11, 2023 13:19:00.258 [12996] DEBUG - Grabber: Plex Tuner Service not running; retrying in 10 seconds.
Unsure how to proceed from here.
The DVR storage directory is on a Synology NAS with CIFS services enabled. The account running the Plex server has full access to the storage directory on the CIFS share. It had successfully written to that location previous as I’ve got DVR recordings that Plex wrote to. Permissions haven’t changed.
Any suggestions on how to proceed are welcome.
Plex Media Server Logs_2023-12-11_11-14-06.zip (24.1 KB)
