Set up Plex DVR can't find Hauppage WinTV-DualHD

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Hello all…

A few months ago I got an email from plex and really liked the OTA DVR feature. I bought a plex pass and researched a tuner to buy, and settled on the WinTV-DualHD due to its linux compatibility.

I’m running archlinux with kernel 4.18.10 on x86_64. The model of the WinTV-DualHD I have is the 01595.

I know the tuner is installed and configured properly, since I can scan my channels with w_scan and watch TV using VLC and Kaffeine.

But, Plex can’t find it. I’m following the steps explained at https://support.plex.tv/articles/225877347-live-tv-dvr/#toc-0 . Any ideas?

Server Version#: 1.13.8.5395
Player Version#: 1.13.8.5395

Many thanks,
Greg

2

Hi

I used this article
https://support.plex.tv/articles/225877427-supported-dvr-tuners-and-antennas/

It does say * Linux compatibility is based on Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS. See this page for kernel and driver information for Hauppauge tuners.

I have it working on Ubuntu with the Hauppauge kernel in the link.

Not sure how different archlinux is.

Cheers

Adam

3

Thanks for the reply Adam.

That was the exact page that I used to determine which tuner to buy. I didn’t, however, read the fine print or visit the hauppage website. Ubuntu is officially supported, but Linux is not, so buyer beware.

From the research I’ve done, the packages on the hauppage website build kernel support for the tuner. Based on https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-dualHD , both tuners were supported out-of-the-box as of kernel version 4.17. I am running 4.18, and have confirmed support via dmesg. I can also view and configure both tuners using Kaffeine.

To diagnose and troubleshoot the device, I installed the linuxtv-dvb-apps and w_scan packages.
I had to modprobe the modules dvb_usb_rtl28xxu, rtl2830 and rtl2832 before the utilities started picking up the tuner.

When trying to discover the tuner, the following appears in the PMS log:

Oct 07, 2018 09:21:06.402 [0x7f07bebfa700] DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:40354 (Loopback)] POST /media/grabbers/devices/discover (6 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (gr0x0rd)
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:06.403 [0x7f07bebfa700] DEBUG - DVR:Device: Discovering and refreshing all devices.
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:06.403 [0x7f07bebfa700] DEBUG - DVR:Grabber: HDHomerun discovered 0 compatible devices.
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:06.404 [0x7f07bebfa700] DEBUG - HTTP requesting POST http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/discover
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:08.822 [0x7f07bebfa700] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from POST http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/discover
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:08.824 [0x7f07cfbff700] DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:40354] 200 POST /media/grabbers/devices/discover (6 live) GZIP 2422ms 470 bytes (pipelined: 12)
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:09.612 [0x7f07bfbfc700] DEBUG - BPQ: [Starting] -> [Processing]
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:09.615 [0x7f07bfbfc700] DEBUG - BPQ: generating queue items from 0 generator(s)
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:09.615 [0x7f07bfbfc700] DEBUG - BPQ: generated 0 item(s) for queue
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:09.615 [0x7f07bfbfc700] DEBUG - PlayQueue: 0 generated IDs compressed down to a 2 byte blob.
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:09.615 [0x7f07bfbfc700] DEBUG - PlayQueue: 0 generated IDs compressed down to a 2 byte blob.
Oct 07, 2018 09:21:09.618 [0x7f07bfbfc700] DEBUG - BPQ: [Processing] -> [Idle]

It would seem the question is, what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for PMS to discover the tuner? Obviously the Hauppage packages for Ubuntu enable this… I’ve just got to figure out what it is.

I’ll try reaching out to Hauppage support, and see if they can provide some guidance. I may be able to clone their PPA git repository, create a PKGBUILD file and leverage arch’s AUR method to install the necessary components using pacman.

Thanks for reading.

~g

4

Hopefully Hauppage support can be of some help

Good Luck.

Adam

5

Here’s an update from Jerry with Hauppage support:

We have no experience with Arch Linux, but as stated by Linuxtv.org the stick is now supported on kernel 4.17 or higher and you have 4.18 installed so it is seen properly.

From our talks with Plex in the past during initial testing of our products, they would highly rely on w_scan as a test to make sure the stick and channel finding are working properly.

But why Plex Server is not seeing the stick, only Plex can help you.

The fact that I used w_scan for troubleshooting the device tells me that I’m on the right track, but as Jerry alludes to, only someone at Plex will be able to help move this issue forward. I purchased a Plex Pass for this feature, hopefully that counts for something.

@Plex, any ideas?..

6

Problem solved! It was a permissions issue.

All of the software able to use the tuner were running under my user account, but since PMS runs under the user plex, I added it to the video group:

sudo gpasswd -a plex video

After this, PMS was able to find the tuner.

Cheers!
~g

1 Like
7

Nice result.

Good work

8

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