Plex DVR tuner scan failing to detect Freeview HD channels with WinTv QuadHR that TVHeadend does detect

[robrt.hunter_gmail.com]

Server Version#: 1.23.6.4860
Player Version#: N/A
Tuner Make/Model: Hauppauge WinTV-QuadHD-DVB(885)
Guide/Lineup name: Freeview or Local Broadcast Lineup
Using XMLTV?: No
Channel number/Name: Anything on Mux at 618167KHz from Hannington, UK

As post describes, TVHeadend will detect the HD Channels (BBC1 One HD etc).

When TVHeadend is disabled and Plex enabled Plex fails to find the channels that TVHeadened could using the same hardware. Plex will find non-HD channels only.

The mux is referenced in many of the scanner definitions in /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared/scanners/dvbt/transponders/, including 4000.ini as 84=618167,,,8, which seems valid.

Generally scan with DVB-T/TS Europe (Full frequency range). Consistently returns many channels (approx 140, pretty much everything available in SD, although channel matching doesn’t work fully - in example below only 99 matches out 140 potential) but not the HD channels that TVHeadend will pick up as well on the same system.

A quick test can be conducted with using the custom scanner def (it should find 8 HD channels):

$ sudo cat /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resources/Tuner/Shared/scanners/dvbt/transponders/4099.ini
[SATTYPE]
1=4099
2=DVB-T/T2 Europe (Hannington HD Mux)

[DVB]
1=618167,,,8

returns zero channels.

So given it’s the same hardware and the two services are switched with sudo systemctl stop/start .... it must be a Plex software issue?

Pictures below of TVH and Plex comparison. Logging doesn’t really say much apart from having a look and finds zero channels when using the simplified scanner config above to target the mux (Grabber: Channel scan finished with 0 channels.)

System:

Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.8.0-63-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage

0 updates can be applied immediately.

dmesg output on startup indicating card is identified and correct firmware is loaded (otherwise TVHeadend would not work either):

[    4.207977] cx23885: cx23885 driver version 0.0.4 loaded
[    4.208144] cx23885: CORE cx23885[0]: subsystem: 0070:6a28, board: Hauppauge WinTV-QuadHD-DVB(885) [card=60,autodetected]
..............
[    4.558748] tveeprom: Hauppauge model 166200, rev B4I6, serial# 4036013235
[    4.558749] tveeprom: MAC address is 00:0d:fe:90:ac:b3
[    4.558750] tveeprom: tuner model is SiLabs Si2157 (idx 186, type 4)
[    4.558751] tveeprom: TV standards ATSC/DVB Digital (eeprom 0x80)
[    4.558751] tveeprom: audio processor is CX23885 (idx 39)
[    4.558752] tveeprom: decoder processor is CX23885 (idx 33)
[    4.558752] tveeprom: has no radio, has IR receiver, has no IR transmitter
[    4.558753] cx23885: cx23885[0]: hauppauge eeprom: model=166200
[    4.558755] cx23885: cx23885_dvb_register() allocating 1 frontend(s)
[    4.558766] cx23885: cx23885[0]: cx23885 based dvb card
[    4.558768] cx23885: dvb_register(): board=60 port=1
[    4.566613] i2c i2c-1: Added multiplexed i2c bus 4
[    4.566615] si2168 1-0064: Silicon Labs Si2168-B40 successfully identified
[    4.566616] si2168 1-0064: firmware version: B 4.0.2
[    4.569521] si2157 2-0060: Silicon Labs Si2147/2148/2157/2158 successfully attached
[    4.569546] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (cx23885[0])
[    4.569550] cx23885 0000:04:00.0: DVB: registering adapter 0 frontend 0 (Silicon Labs Si2168)...
[    4.569942] cx23885: cx23885_dvb_register() allocating 1 frontend(s)
[    4.569944] cx23885: cx23885[0]: cx23885 based dvb card
[    4.569945] cx23885: dvb_register(): board=60 port=2
[    4.576209] i2c i2c-1: Added multiplexed i2c bus 5
[    4.576211] si2168 1-0066: Silicon Labs Si2168-B40 successfully identified
[    4.576212] si2168 1-0066: firmware version: B 4.0.2
[    4.577847] si2157 2-0062: Silicon Labs Si2147/2148/2157/2158 successfully attached
[    4.577860] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (cx23885[0])
[    4.577862] cx23885 0000:04:00.0: DVB: registering adapter 1 frontend 0 (Silicon Labs Si2168)...
[    4.578094] cx23885: cx23885_dev_checkrevision() Hardware revision = 0xa5
[    4.578099] cx23885: cx23885[0]/0: found at 0000:04:00.0, rev: 4, irq: 17, latency: 0, mmio: 0xf7400000
[    4.578275] cx23885: CORE cx23885[1]: subsystem: 0070:6b28, board: Hauppauge WinTV-QuadHD-DVB(885) [card=60,autodetected]
[    4.930979] tveeprom: Hauppauge model 166201, rev B4I6, serial# 4036013235
[    4.930981] tveeprom: MAC address is 00:0d:fe:90:ac:b3
[    4.930982] tveeprom: tuner model is SiLabs Si2157 (idx 186, type 4)
[    4.930983] tveeprom: TV standards ATSC/DVB Digital (eeprom 0x80)
[    4.930983] tveeprom: audio processor is CX23885 (idx 39)
[    4.930984] tveeprom: decoder processor is CX23885 (idx 33)
[    4.930984] tveeprom: has no radio
[    4.930985] cx23885: cx23885[1]: hauppauge eeprom: model=166201
[    4.930987] cx23885: cx23885_dvb_register() allocating 1 frontend(s)
[    4.930996] cx23885: cx23885[1]: cx23885 based dvb card
[    4.930998] cx23885: dvb_register(): board=60 port=1
[    4.937994] i2c i2c-6: Added multiplexed i2c bus 9
[    4.937995] si2168 6-0064: Silicon Labs Si2168-B40 successfully identified
[    4.937996] si2168 6-0064: firmware version: B 4.0.2
[    4.940492] si2157 7-0060: Silicon Labs Si2147/2148/2157/2158 successfully attached
[    4.940507] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (cx23885[1])
[    4.940509] cx23885 0000:05:00.0: DVB: registering adapter 2 frontend 0 (Silicon Labs Si2168)...
[    4.940836] cx23885: cx23885_dvb_register() allocating 1 frontend(s)
[    4.940837] cx23885: cx23885[1]: cx23885 based dvb card
[    4.940838] cx23885: dvb_register(): board=60 port=2
[    4.947582] i2c i2c-6: Added multiplexed i2c bus 10
[    4.947584] si2168 6-0066: Silicon Labs Si2168-B40 successfully identified
[    4.947585] si2168 6-0066: firmware version: B 4.0.2
[    4.949232] si2157 7-0062: Silicon Labs Si2147/2148/2157/2158 successfully attached
[    4.949248] dvbdev: DVB: registering new adapter (cx23885[1])
[    4.949250] cx23885 0000:05:00.0: DVB: registering adapter 3 frontend 0 (Silicon Labs Si2168)...
[    4.949524] cx23885: cx23885_dev_checkrevision() Hardware revision = 0xa5
[    4.949529] cx23885: cx23885[1]/0: found at 0000:05:00.0, rev: 4, irq: 18, latency: 0, mmio: 0xf7200000
..............
[  169.310220] si2168 6-0066: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw'
[  169.935958] si2168 6-0066: firmware version: B 4.0.11
[  169.942416] si2157 7-0062: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
[  169.990483] si2157 7-0062: firmware version: 3.0.5
[  169.993542] cx23885 0000:05:00.0: DVB: adapter 3 frontend 0 frequency 0 out of range (48000000..870000000)
[  170.002001] si2168 6-0064: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw'
[  170.009259] si2157 7-0062: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
[  170.031643] si2157 7-0062: firmware version: 3.0.5
[  170.622407] si2168 6-0064: firmware version: B 4.0.11
[  170.628863] si2157 7-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
[  170.677925] si2157 7-0060: firmware version: 3.0.5
[  170.681002] cx23885 0000:05:00.0: DVB: adapter 2 frontend 0 frequency 0 out of range (48000000..870000000)
[  170.686459] si2168 1-0066: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw'
[  171.306181] si2168 1-0066: firmware version: B 4.0.11
[  171.312638] si2157 2-0062: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
[  171.361164] si2157 2-0062: firmware version: 3.0.5
[  171.364248] cx23885 0000:04:00.0: DVB: adapter 1 frontend 0 frequency 0 out of range (48000000..870000000)
[  171.369884] si2168 1-0064: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw'
[  171.989589] si2168 1-0064: firmware version: B 4.0.11
[  171.996049] si2157 2-0060: found a 'Silicon Labs Si2157-A30'
[  172.045104] si2157 2-0060: firmware version: 3.0.5
[  172.048203] cx23885 0000:04:00.0: DVB: adapter 0 frontend 0 frequency 0 out of range (48000000..870000000)

Plex returned to start state with:

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/*

TVHeadend ref images:
TVH version:

Tuners:

Mux selected showing 8 HD services found (and the services can be streamed to VLC):

Channels in mux:

Plex hardware identified:

Setup config:

Scan result with 0 HD Channels vs LBL EPG:

Scan result with 0 HD Channels vs Freeview EPG:

[robrt.hunter_gmail.com]

Same problem in:

• plexmediaserver_1.23.5.4801-bc4dd58bb_amd64,
• plexmediaserver_1.23.5.4862-0f739d462_amd64,
• plexmediaserver_1.23.6.4810-15ce0e21a_amd64,
• plexmediaserver_1.23.6.4860-1715b7caf_amd64.

[Unibears]

Same problem here. TV head end see’s HD perfectly fine, plex not at all, i’ve also tried a manual test to try get the HD channels and not one found.

[robrt.hunter_gmail.com]

I’ve tried newer release (Plex Pass) and I’m still experiencing the problem. The original host was an old Z77/i7-3770K system but I have exactly the same problem with a X570/5800x system (WinTV Quad in a PCI-E slot set to x1 to avoid the mpeg risc opcode error as mentioned in Hauppauge winTV-quadHD PCIe DVB-T/T2/C not working on Arch / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux Forums and other places.)
For now I’m passing the lovely, clear, HD pictures the card generates from TVHeadend (stable 4.2.8) to Plex via a locally modded Antennas (in docker) (GitHub - TheJF/antennas: 📡HDHomeRun emulator for Plex DVR to connect to Tvheadend.).

[Biskyt]

I’m having the same issue. I originally had it with a Geniatech MyGica T230 USB tuner, which isn’t officially supported. So I went out and bought a WinTV dualHD USB tuner AND got a plex pass, thinking that as this is officially supported then it must surely work. But exactly the same issue. So it doesn’t sem to be exclusive to the WinTV range. However, both of the Geniatech and the WinTV do use a Silicon Labs Si2168-B40 demodulator, so that could be a common link…

Both Tuners are working fine in TVheadend on the same server.

I’ve also done all the usual things like remove the tuner from the media_providers in the library database and rescan.

I’m using the (latest) linuxserver docker image, which is sporting PMS 1.24.5.5173.

I’ve also tried the official plex-pms docker image - with a totally clean setup, but to no avail.

I was wondering if it could be related to the PSB3 Mux (which has the Public Service HD Channels) using QAM256, as opposed to QAM64 of all the other Muxes? But that may be specific to my area…

Other things I’ve tried include:

• Upgrading the OS on my server (which is a Rock64 SBC) to a completely new OS (Now DietPi 7.7.3, which has kernel 5.10 (previously I had an older beian build with 4.4 kernel, and that didn’t recognise the WinTV at all).
• Doing a scan with the full UK frequency, Full Europe frequencies, plus a custom transponder file with only the frequencies nedeed for my local Transmitter (Sudbury), as well as a custom transponder scan with only the frequency of the HD Mux
• Testing the Tuner using PMS on my nVidia Shield TV (2017).
  • This actually worked fine and picked up all the avaiable HD Channels!! - But I don’t want to use the shield as a PMS for many other reasons - least of which is it seemed to crash after viewing a live channel, sleeping the shield, waking it and trying to tn=une a live channel again!
• Using Antennas as an HDHomeRun proxy from TVHeadend to Plex
  • This also works, and the HD channels are viewable / tuneable in plex. However, I really don’t want to run this setup, as it puts even more strain on a small SBC with little power available. I’ve found that recordings are often dropping out part-way through. My assumption is that it just cannot handle the load of TVH streaming the channel via HTTP, Antennas proxying the stream, then Plex decoding and storing out to disk. Or could just be an issue with Antennas…
• Using TVHproxy to proxy between TVH and Plex as an HDHomeRun proxy
  • Results exactly the same as Antennas (unsurprisingly)

For now I’m going to cancel my plex pass and go back to using TVHeadend as the DVR, Kodi for Live TV and mounting the recordings folder into my Plex TV Shows library. Far from ideal, but at least it worked.

I’ll be really intereseted to see if this gets fixed soon. If I can help with any logs or other information in the meantime, just ask. It is fairly easy to switch betwen TVH and Plex with my Docker set up.

[Biskyt]

I’ve just tried the new PMS 1.25.0.5220 and can confirm that it does not resolve the issue

[ChuckPa]

How far back do you need to go (PMS version wise) to get it working again?

I’m hoping to point Engineering to a “Last Known Good” starting point.

Also going to need some DEBUG (not VERBOSE) log ZIP files which capture trying to add .

There must be errors flying around in there somewhere.

[Biskyt]

Hi @ChuckPa
I’ve just tried going back as far as 1.14.x (started at 1.19.x, then 1.18.x, 1.17.x…). I wasn’t able to go back any further as I couldn’t find docker images for older versions.

I did a UK Full Frequency scan on all. But all only found 133 out of 149 channels. All were missing the PSB3 mux, which should be:

So I have installed a fresh copy of 1.25.x, run a scan and downloaded the logs, which are attached below
Plex Media Server Logs_2021-11-13_17-07-08.zip (136.2 KB)

I can see a few warnings in the logs stating “Tune failed for” lots of the 68200KHz frequencies

And here is a copy of the transponder file that I used (you may want to add this to this default UK list):

[SATTYPE]
1=uk-Sudbury
2=DVB-T/T2 - UK, Sudbury
3=GB

[DVB]
0=6
1=658000,,,8
2=634000,,,8
3=538000,,,8
4=554000,,,8
5=602000,,,8
6=682000,,,8

My best guess is tht the Plex Tuner Service on linux cannot handle either the QAM256 or the MPEG4 encoding? I have tried changing the 8 at the end f the transponder file to 256, but that makes no difference.

The MUX that isn’t being picked up is DTG-6. The other ones that work are either DTG-3 or DTG-8. The encoding for each DTG type is below:

DTG-3 64QAM 8K 2/3 24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-6 256QAM 32KE 2/3 40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4
DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2

Full details for the Sudbury transmitter, with all channels and frequencies can be found here: Sudbury (Suffolk, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy for 22 years

Let me know if there is any other information that you need.

[Lewis2e]

Sorry for the “me too” type post but yeah… me too, It’s actually a relief to find someone confirming that it’s not just me.

I’ve had this problem with two tuners now. First a Hauppauge WinTV-DualHD and now a Geniatech T230 DVB-T2 (USB ID 0572:c688). It’s been driving me insane. I actually returned the Hauppauge tuner because I convinced myself it was faulty.

A full European frequency scan returns pretty much all SD channels. No HD channels ever appear, even though tvheadend can see them (as can the WinTV Windows application if I plug it into my laptop with the same antenna connection).

Running Ubuntu Server on a Raspberry Pi 4 (5.13.0-1016-raspi aarch64).
Server version version 4.69.1