DVR setup fails

Live TV & DVR
,
1

erver Version#: 1.21.1.3876 Running inside a docker container on a proxmox host. ( Buster, Kernel: Linux 5.4.78-2 )
Tuner Make/Model: Hauppauge - WinTV-soloHD

I am a plex pass user situated in Europe.
DVR used to work on my setup but a software update somehow killed the feature.

I did a lot of debugging to narrow down the problem:

  • Used the tuner on a different device --> works
  • Used the tuner in a different docker container (tvheadend) on my proxmox host --> works (meaning that host and USB device passtrough are working.)
  • I recreated the plex docker but all attempts are leading to the same error.

ā€˜Plex Tuner Service.1.logā€™ looks like this:
Unfortunately no specific error message that helps me with debugging this.

Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.513 [] INFO - [I] Tuning request. 858167, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.521 [] INFO - [I] Exiting streaming thread for tuner 0, frontend 0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.532 [] WARN - [W] CV4lTunersStreamSrc::Start. pthread_setschedparam failed 1
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.532 [] INFO - [I] Starting streaming thread for tuner 0, frontend 0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.532 [] INFO - [I] tuner 0, demux 0. adding PID 20
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.870 [] INFO - [I] web_service_t::process_device_status
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.870 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. getting v4l device list
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.870 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. Successfully opened frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.872 [] INFO - [I] web_service_t::process_device_status
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.872 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. getting v4l device list
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.872 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. Successfully opened frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.874 [] INFO - [I] web_service_t::process_get_scanners
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.874 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. getting v4l device list
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:44.874 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. Successfully opened frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.888 [] INFO - [I] web_service_t::process_device_status
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.888 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. getting v4l device list
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.888 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. Successfully opened frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.890 [] INFO - [I] web_service_t::process_device_status
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.890 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. getting v4l device list
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.890 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. Successfully opened frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.892 [] INFO - [I] web_service_t::process_get_scanners
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.892 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. getting v4l device list
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:47.892 [] INFO - [I] v4l::DeviceGetList_impl. Successfully opened frontend /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.588 [] INFO - [I] CTVSChannelScanner::Tune. Wait for lock timeout
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.588 [] WARN - [E] dvb_channel_scanner_t::do_scan_attempt. Tune failed for 858167,,,8,,
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.588 [] INFO - [I] channel_scanner_t::scan_channels. Scanned 49 transponder out of 49. Channels found 0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.588 [] INFO - [I] CTVSStreamSource::Term. Waiting for streaming thread to stop
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.638 [] INFO - [I] Stop device request for tuner 0, frontend 0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.639 [] INFO - [I] Exiting streaming thread for tuner 0, frontend 0
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.639 [] INFO - [I] CTVSStreamSource::Term. Streaming is stopped
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.639 [] INFO - [I] CTVSStreamSource::Term. Stream source is stopped
Jan 20, 2021 19:01:49.639 [] INFO - [I] channel_scanner_t::scan_thread_function finished

Is this issue known? How can I get my DVR working?
If possible i would like to avoid downgrading to an ancient version.
FAQ did not mention these kind of errors

2

Is it possible that this issue got mitigated in the windows version but somehow did not find its way into the linux release?

3

Seeing similar issue on my (new) Linux box, just re-opened previous ticket as I had the exact same issue before on my Windows machine which was fixed by an update 2-3 months back.

4

Exactly, and it seems we are not the only ones.
I will scan the forum and collect all related topics.

5

Related topics:

Seems like all these topics boil down to the same conclusion.
Problem got fixed 2-3 months ago for windows.
Problem still exist for Linux servers.

Looking forward to a reply from the Plex support team.
Would be awesome if this problem gets fixed for Linux servers as well.

6

Is this DVB-C as in the case for @Broekmanium ?

There was a fix for DVB-C channel scanning but that relies on Plex Tuner Service establishing the vid and pid (vendor id and product id) for the tuner

7

@obtain-disk @Broekmanium I have raised an issue with the development team

I do need confirmation if this is DVB-C only as we had a fix recently for that and may be it is not working on linux / docker
It was released in 1.20.3.3401 Plex Media Server

  • (DVR) dvb-c Hauppauge soloHD/dualHD tuners fail to scan channels (#11826)

Also would help to have full logs zip with debug logging enabled beforehand

Thanks

8

Hi @sa2000,

Thank you again for your efforts, much appreciated. Please find the requested information below, let me know if you need any additional information or if I have to test something.

Arch Linux (kernel 5.10.9)
PMS 1.21.1.3876
Hauppauge WinTV-DualHD
Netherlands, DVB-C (scanning 316Mhz Caiway fast scan profile)

On my (old) Windows server this succeeds and afterwards it asks me for a network ID after which the channels are found. On my Linux box it fails a few seconds after the initial scan channels.

Logging 2021-01-26 (GMT+1)

  1. Enabled verbose/debug logging.
  2. Restarted PMS at 17:50:13
  3. Ran a scan DVB-C, Netherlands, 316MHz fast scan (Caiway)
  4. Extracted the logging, I have only included the Tuner log for now as the others expose personal information. Can I send these somewhere privately if needed?
    Plex Tuner Service.log (35.2 KB)
9

Please send me the corresponding Plex media server by private message

10

Hi there,

Thanks for forwarding this to the development team.
I ran some checks after updating to the last version: 1.21.2.3939.
I tried both DVB-C and DVB-T/T2, unfortunately both fail.
From the logs it looks like the same problem arrises in both scanning session.
WARN - [E] dvb_channel_scanner_t::do_scan_attempt. Tune failed for 113000,V,6900,,QAM64

For your reference: DVB-C started at 18:32:05
DVB-T/T2 scan started at 18:47:04

I added the Tuner logs. Are you interested in the other logs as well?

Best regards,

O.

Plex Tuner Service.log (483.9 KB)

11

Please send me the corresponding Plex Media Server.log

If it is dvb-t failing as well then it would not expect it to be related to the recent fix

12

I have sent you a PM with the plex media server log. Thanks again for helping out.

13

Thanks

I have added it to the evidence set I referred to our development team

The Server development team have asked if this is a general issue affecting all Plex Tuner Service managed DVRs on Linux and Docker.

Have you looked into the Hauppauge drivers ?
See
Hauppauge | TV Tuners for Plex
and
Hauppauge Support | Linux

Also there are some forum threads relating to DVR and permissions / groups
(I donā€™t know if information there is still valid)
e.g.

and

14

It seems that this is a general problem for USB tuners on Linux with Plex running inside a docker container. (Plenty of people affected)

I did have a look to that page and those instructions but concluded that everything should be available inside the docker container. I double checked if my host/hardware could be causing this issue. i ran a tvheaded docker which worked fine with my USB tuner.

Yes, I checked permissions. All looks fine, furthermore as stated before, tuner works in a different container. So a this point - for me - it seems that the Plex container is causing the problem.

15

This is not only a linux issue. It is a generel problem with usb tuners on DVB-C. I see it on a Synology NAS and Windows and a MacBook. A working USB DVB-C Dongle will not find any station. IĀ“ve seen a lot of posts here having that issue. My guess it has to do with a wrong XMLTV file. But nobody answered my request. Guess IĀ“m quitting after my test-month thenā€¦

18

Hi @sa2000 ,

Any update(s) from the development team regarding the issue (for me just on Linux, not Docker)? Iā€™m not expecting a fix this soon but just knowing that someone is working on it would be nice. Many thanks in advance!

19

I donā€™t have any update

Do you have a windows machine you can install a temporary test environment on for Plex Media Server to see if it works ok on windows on the current release 1.21.4.4079-1b7748a7b

Are you able to test both dvb-c andn dvb-t and establish if the issue is just dvb-c on linux/docker ?

20

I replied to one of your other posts with this:

what lineup/guide are you using after entering country and post code ? What post code ? and any tuner channels visible on the setup screen (on left side)

Do you have a windows machine you can try Plex Media Server on to see if dvb-c scanning works ?

What DVR make / model ? Is it USB or networked?

Logs covering setup / scan of the issue on synology and wndows comparison would be useful

see
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201643703-reporting-issues-with-plex-media-server/

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/

21

Hi @sa2000,

I found the problem on my side (should have seen it earlier)ā€¦ Could have sworn the correct firmware file was in the kernel already for the Hauppauge devices but apparently not. I ran e.g. dmesg so many times and never saw the error:

[499707.765054] si2168 10-0064: Direct firmware load for dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw failed with error -2
[499707.765071] si2168 10-0064: Direct firmware load for dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw failed with error -2
[499707.765074] si2168 10-0064: firmware file 'dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw' not found

The following post triggered me:

After installing the correct firmware file in /lib/firmware and restarting plex, it worked for me.
https://github.com/OpenELEC/dvb-firmware/raw/master/firmware/dvb-demod-si2168-02.fw

Thanks for your support! Might be good to add this to a troubleshooting list somewhere.

22

Excellent news. Thanks for the feedback. If we are to document firmware update - it would need to be referencing Hauppauge web pages rather than github OpenELEC repo.

There are these Happauge web pages

Hauppauge | TV Tuners for Plex

Hauppauge Support | Linux

Do we need to ask Hauppauge to update these ? There are DVR model specific lnked pages