LiveTV not working, various error messages

[ftingdal]

Server Version#: Synology 1.19.5.3112
Player Version#: Web and LG WebOS (latest)
Tuner Make/Model: HD HomeRun Quattro
Guide/Lineup name:
Using XMLTV?: No
Channel number/Name: Any

Unable to tune to any of the channels. On the LG TV I get “Buffering” for about 20 seconds, followed by “Playback Error - A file associated with this item is not accessible on the server.”

When I access a channel in the web application, I get “Playback Error - Could not tune channel.”.

However, I’m able to tune the channel just fine using the HD HomeRun application on my Windows machine.
Plex Media Server Logs_2020-09-08_19-19-30.zip (3.8 MB)

[schickdaddy]

I’m having the same issue. Started about 24 hours so… no live tv eve will tune in. Only the Plex live tv. Any renote was servers stream fine. Tried iOS, Roku, and fire stick!! None of them m Will tune to a channels

[hokierulz]

I’d suggest starting with checking DNS resolution and internet connectivity for your NAS. I’m seeing a number of errors indicating it is having issues resolving host names and is getting timeouts. A few examples from the logs, though there are many more.

Sep 08, 2020 19:04:53.121 [0x7f5035e3f700] WARN - HTTP error requesting GET https://plex.tv/media/providers?X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (6, Couldn't resolve host name) (Could not resolve host: plex.tv)

and

Sep 08, 2020 19:05:18.182 [0x7f5035e3f700] ERROR - Error issuing curl_easy_perform(handle): 28
Sep 08, 2020 19:05:18.182 [0x7f5035e3f700] DEBUG - HTTP simulating 408 after curl timeout
Sep 08, 2020 19:05:18.182 [0x7f5035e3f700] WARN - MyPlex: Updating device connections failed, retrying in 10 seconds.

and

Sep 08, 2020 19:05:32.676 [0x7f4fb3a23700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET https://epg.provider.plex.tv/lineups/5cc83d734aca09001d073bd4/channels?X-Plex-Api-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sep 08, 2020 19:05:32.676 [0x7f5035b51700] ERROR - Error issuing curl_easy_perform(handle): 28
Sep 08, 2020 19:05:32.676 [0x7f5035b51700] DEBUG - HTTP simulating 408 after curl timeout
Sep 08, 2020 19:05:32.676 [0x7f5035b51700] ERROR - HTTP 408 downloading url https://epg.provider.plex.tv/lineups/5cc83d734aca09001d073bd4/channels?X-Plex-Api-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sep 08, 2020 19:05:32.676 [0x7f5035b51700] DEBUG - EPG[cloud]: failed to retrieve channel information during guide refresh
Sep 08, 2020 19:05:32.676 [0x7f5035b51700] WARN - EPG[cloud]: Failed to load EPG.

[ftingdal]

Hi Hokierulz,

Thanks for the help. Seems something I did on the Synology skrewed up my DNS settings. Fixed them, and live TV seems to be working now on many of the devices (LG TV’s/Windows Edge Browsers). It also enabled getting thumbnails and a bunch of other stuff that seemed odd in Plex.

However, one of the PC’s is still not able to connect. The message I get on this machine is “Playback Error - could not tune channel (no activity)”. This PC is using the same DNS servers as the rest, and everything is going through the Synology. Any ideas what might be going on? I’ve uploaded the logs in the hopes that you’ll see.

BTW, which log were you looking in for the DNS errors?Plex Media Server Logs_2020-09-09_18-31-13.zip (3.4 MB)

[hokierulz]

The best place to start troubleshooting is in the “Plex Media Server.log” file. Plex will also roll log files based on log file size and Plex Server restarts. It keeps the most recent with a number added to the end. For example, “Plex Media Server.log” is the log currently being written, “Plex Media Server.1.log” is the next newest, “Plex Media Server.2.log” the next, etc. Occassionally other log files are needed, but this is where the vast majority of issues are found.

I think the tuning error you received is from the following error:

Sep 09, 2020 18:18:35.309 [0x7fe42cb43700] ERROR - [Transcoder] http://192.168.7.206:5004/auto/v26.5: Server returned 5XX Server Error reply
Sep 09, 2020 18:18:35.310 [0x7fe4794f4700] DEBUG - Jobs: '/volume1/@appstore/Plex Media Server/Plex Transcoder' exit code for process 17422 is 1 (failure)
Sep 09, 2020 18:18:35.310 [0x7fe42ffff700] DEBUG - TranscodeSession: session failed while waiting for duration
Sep 09, 2020 18:18:35.310 [0x7fe42ffff700] ERROR - Failed to start session.
Sep 09, 2020 18:18:35.310 [0x7fe472183700] DEBUG - Streaming Resource: Terminated session 0x7fe4084fc820:4839aa80-55d6-4951-95ca-c20fc3b43f52 with reason Recording failed. Please check your tuner or antenna.

Usually the “Server returned 5XX Server Error reply” coming back from your Quatro means that Plex made a request to tune a channel, but all tuners on your Quatro were already in use and your Quatro rejected the request. Any chance something other than Plex was tuning your Quatro, for example a HD Homerun client being used instead of Plex? Plex assumes it has dedicated access to a tuning device, so if something else tunes a channel on your Quatro then Plex won’t know about it. I do see the following indication shortly after in your logs that all four tuners were in use:

Sep 09, 2020 18:18:59.039 [0x7fe42f159700] DEBUG - Grabber: Failed to get signal strength/quality from device http://192.168.7.206:80 for tuner 0: ERROR: tuner busy
Sep 09, 2020 18:18:59.039 [0x7fe42f159700] DEBUG - Grabber: Failed to get signal strength/quality from device http://192.168.7.206:80 for tuner 1: ERROR: tuner busy
Sep 09, 2020 18:18:59.039 [0x7fe42f159700] DEBUG - Grabber: Failed to get signal strength/quality from device http://192.168.7.206:80 for tuner 2: ERROR: tuner busy
Sep 09, 2020 18:18:59.040 [0x7fe42f159700] DEBUG - Grabber: Failed to get signal strength/quality from device http://192.168.7.206:80 for tuner 3: ERROR: tuner busy

As an aside I noticed that you have hardware transcoding enabled, but your GPU isn’t being used:

Sep 09, 2020 18:18:13.942 [0x7fe42fa23700] DEBUG - TPU: hardware transcoding: enabled, but no hardware decode accelerator found

I’m no expert on Synology, but in the Plex NAS compatibility list they reference this FAQ for Intel Jxxx CPUs about broken Intel IHD drivers and how to work around, which should be for your NAS. Your CPU is going to be working harder than it needs when Plex needs to transcode since it isn’t using the GPU.