HELP! — Can't tune local OTA channel 2 ATSC (with attached logs)

[oidarnam]

(Log files attached: Start server with fresh logs, recreate error by selecting CH 2, stop sever, upload logs.
Plex Tuner Service.log (54.4 KB)
Plex Media Server.log (316.2 KB)
)

It has been 10 months now that we’ve been unable to tune our local digital channel 2 (ATSC) with Plex OTA. I originally posted the problem in Live TV EPG - The update you’ve been waiting for but nothing has been fixed and no suggestions given on how I might troubleshoot or fix this myself, if need be.

In summary:

Channels 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 don’t tune on Plex. They do with Kaffeine with same tuner+antenna as well as my smart tv tuner with same antenna. We used to pick this up with Plex for years,

It appears the station moved up to ATSC channel 20 in late July 2024 where Kaffeine reports a frequency of 509.029 MHz 8-VSB as well as the various streams and audio channels. I think the channel was on a lower ATSC channel/frequency before and with lower power. Is there a way to see what channel info Plex is using?

The EPG schedule on Plex looks correct for channel 2 and Plex shows a good signal on this channel from tuner device.

As per my original post on the topic, local channel 2 announced a frequency switch in late July and asked viewers to rescan. This is about the time we lost the ability to tune those channels and dvr stopped recording. I’m not positive that this is related, but we’ve been able to tune channel 2 for years using Plex with the WinTV-quadHD. Rescanning on Plex didn’t help. I reinstalled tuner on Plex too.

I was able to get Kaffeine to find channel 2 on the same Hauppauge tuner (Kaffeine shows this channel as strongest in area just as the station notice said would happen after upgrades). I also went over to our smart tv tuner, which uses the same antenna, and a rescan found these channels too. But Plex keeps saying “Could not tune channel. Please check your tuner or antenna.” And like I said, Kaffeine finds the channel on same tuner and antenna Plex uses. So does the smart TV on the same antenna.

Channel Numbers:
2.1 KBOI-TV CBS2
2.2 CW+
2.3 Charge!
Country is USA
Zip Code is 83702 (Boise, Idaho)
Region would be Treasure Valley, Southwestern Idaho, and Eastern Oregon

Of course, there are a number of other zip codes in this viewing area. Mine is 83706.

Server Version#: Plex Media Server v1.41.7.9799
Player Version#: 1.109.0.329
Tuner Make/Model: Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD PCI
Guide/Lineup name: KBOIDT, KBOIDT2, KBOIDT3
Using XMLTV?: NO
Channel number/Name: 2.1 KBOI-TV CBS2, 2.2 CW+, 2.3 Charge!
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>

[oidarnam]

I see a similar type of error with a potential solution. Could it be similar sort of corruption when Ch 2 changed frequency? It wouldn’t be a power outage in our case as this server with tuner is on an UPS.

V4l failing to create compound device

Server Version#: 1.41.3.9314 Player Version#: 4.141.0 Tuner Make/Model: Hauppauge WinTV-QuadHD-ATSC [card=57,autodetected] We had a recent power outage and when I brought the server back up live tv was disabled and showing no active devices. When I try to re-enable or bring live tv backup I get an error stating there are no devices found. If I look at the Tuner logs this is error I see each time I attempt to open the live tv configuration screen from the webui. 38] INFO - [I] v4l::Device…

[oidarnam]

eric_11 Thank you, this solved my problem too, but it required configuring all the libraries and settings again. Certainly, somewhere in there is one or two corrupted files that would have fixed it without drastic measures. Deleting the tuner devices and adding them back should be enough to correct the error, IMHO, but it doesn’t.

[oidarnam]

And just for reference, the problem in my case seemed to be related to these log entries:
[plex sever log]

May 27, 2025 14:36:19.476 [130810474646328] DEBUG - [HttpClient/HCl#3e] HTTP/1.1 (0.0s) 404 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/compound_device093dvb%23v4l%23%2fsys%2fdevices%2fpci0000%3a00%2f0000%3a00%3a1c.1%2f0000%3a03%3a00.0%2f0000%3a04%3a01.0%2f0000%3a05%3a00.0%3a14f1%3a8880 (reused)
May 27, 2025 14:36:19.476 [130810406665016] ERROR - Error parsing content.
May 27, 2025 14:36:19.476 [130810406665016] ERROR - Error parsing XML: Error parsing file.
May 27, 2025 14:36:19.476 [130810406665016] ERROR - Grabber: Error obtaining device status.
May 27, 2025 14:36:19.477 [130810406665016] ERROR - DVR:Device: Error refreshing existing device device://tv.plex.grabbers.tunerservice/dvb%23v4l%23%2fsys%2fdevices%2fpci0000%3a00%2f0000%3a00%3a1c.1%2f0000%3a03%3a00.0%2f0000%3a04%3a01.0%2f0000%3a05%3a00.0%3a14f1%3a8880, marking as dead.

[tuner log]

May 27, 2025 14:36:19.475 [0x7e368e0d9b38] WARN - [E] web_service_t::get_device_status. Failed to make compound device for device uuid dvb#v4l#/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.1/0000:03:00.0/0000:04:01.0/0000:05:00.0:14f1:8880

[oidarnam]

@BigWheel I don’t know if anyone at Plex noticed this thread, but I think @eric_11 and my issue might be related and point to a bug in Plex (at least within Hauppauge tuner stack). Eric_11’s issue started with a unexpected server shutdown (power loss) and mine with a local channel frequency change. I followed eric_11’s rather drastic procedure and it fixed my problem as well. However, it seems to me that removing the tuner(s) and reattaching should have cleared whatever the problem was…but it doesn’t. Anyway, this is my guess.