Unable to play or record Live TV

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#:1.13.8.5395
Player Version#:Apple TV/Ipad/Web - latest

As of yesterday I’ve been unable to watch or record tv. I can’t see anything that’s changed in the configuration of the Windows Server, and my only change on Plex was to refresh the guide as it was out of date (a separate issue).

The error I get in the logs is:

Sep 26, 2018 20:50:58.998 [3296] ERROR - [Transcoder] http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/dvb%23bda%230%23%40device%3Apnp%3A\\%3F\pci%23ven_1131%26dev_7160%26subsys_00116280%26rev_03%234%2612548e16%260%2600e5%23{71985f48-1ca1-11d3-9cc8-00c04f7971e0}\{3ff44ee5-8547-402a-94f3-d44700020001}/media/triplet%3A%2F%2F9018%3A16515%3A17664?param=<%3Fxml%20version%3D"1.0"%20encoding%3D"UTF-8"%3F> <tunedata><tt>4<%2Ftt><dq>0<%2Fdq><dr%2F><fr>474167<%2Ffr><md>0<%2Fmd><sr>0<%2Fsr><pl>0<%2Fpl><lf>8<%2Flf><l1>0<%2Fl1><l2>0<%2Fl2><ls>0<%2Fls><pp>0<%2Fpp><hz>0<%2Fhz><in>0<%2Fin><fc>0<%2Ffc><t>16515<%2Ft><n>9018<%2Fn><s>17664<%2Fs><en>0<%2Fen><%2Ftunedata> : Unknown error

…so not much use. I can’t tell if this is a transcoder error, or Plex struggling to access the (local) tv tuner.

Any suggestions on what to try next in resolving this?

2

It looks like this might be a build issue: Version 1.13.8.5395 and live TV broke

3

It’s definitely broke for me. I have a very unhappy wife right now.

1 Like
4

Please provide the full logs zip to compare with logs I have from another user.

Also if you have evidence of this arising only in 1.13.8.5395 then would like to know which version works and if you have logs from it for viewing same channel that is failing on 1.13.8.5395

5

Here are the logs where I just tried to watching channel 101 and it failed:

Plex Media Server Logs_2018-10-06_17-03-23.zip (1.0 MB)

I haven’t tried to go back to earlier versions to find a version that works, but there are enough people now with the same issue in version 1.13.8.5395 to make it more than just coincidence. Has someone looked at all of the code changes in this release to see which could have broken Live TV/DVR?

6

Thank you. The issue has now been referred to the development team. It appears to be on USB tuners

What tuner is it ?

8

A PCI E Dual Tuner

9

My Hauppauge wintv PCIe card works fine with 1.13.8.5395

What is the make and model ? And is it on the list of supported DVRs ? See https://support.plex.tv/articles/225877427-supported-dvr-tuners-and-antennas/

10

It is a TBS 6280.

It’s not on the list (neither are most tv tuners!) but worked before this version, and is working now I’ve gone back to the previous.

11

Thanks - is the previous version that works 1.13.5.5332 ?

12

Yup, thats the one.

13

@sa2000 - I started another thread as I have the same issue - 1.13.8.5395 - “There was a transcoder error” - I can’t record anything. I’ve got logs uploaded in that thread. I use a USB tuner (on the supported list).

14

The development team are unable to reproduce the error - so we will need volunteer(s) for extra diagnostics of the error when running 1.13.8.5395

What I am after is additional transcoder logging and in addition to logs, wireshark capture of the attempt to stream using Plex (wireshark to be zipped and sent to me by Private Message) and also curl capture of the stream.

I will give the details once I have volunteer(s)

15

I can help out with this, however I am not sure how a wireshark capture will help out. It is my recordings that are failing, and I have a USB tuner, so if I were to run a wireshark capture, well, quite simply there is nothing on the wire to be captured.

16

I think the development team were hoping we can get wireshark to capture loopback traffic but I do know that this would be complex and probably not possible on windows

We can stick with the extra transcoder logging and curl.exe stream capture

So a couple of tests. One with curl and one for Plex - using 1.13.8.5395

  1. Enable Debug Logging for the transcoder. Using RegEdit, locate this in the registry
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server
    Right Click on Plex Media Server and select New → String Value and give the new item the name TranscoderLogLevel - note it is case sensitive. Give it a value of debug. Exit Regedit
  2. Ensure debug logging is still enabled on the server (settings / server / general / show advanced)
  3. Restart the server
  4. Attempt to stream live video from channel 2
  5. Collect the logs when you get the error

For the next test, it will be using curl.exe and will need you to find the server security token so it can be used in requests. To find the server token, copy it out of PlexOnlineToken in the registry area - or follow the steps here and use a Plex Web token - see https://support.plex.tv/articles/204059436-finding-an-authentication-token-x-plex-token/

Now download curl.exe from curl - Download - link for windows downloads curl for Windows
Download the curl project 64-bit - current version 7.61.1
unzip and pick the curl.exe from the bin folder and copy it to a test directory - eg
%LocalAppData%\Plex Media Server\DVR-Curl-Tests

The test in curl would basically try to capture the stream from channel 2 from the tuner (whilst Plex Media Server is running - but not using any tuner at the time)

So let us restart the server for this test
Wait few minutes

So start a command line window

cd to the directory you saved curl.exe in
CD %LocalAppData%\Plex Media Server\DVR-Curl-Tests

Then prepare this text to paste into the window
curl.exe "http://127.0.0.1:32600/devices/compound_device041dvb%23bda%23usb%23vid_2040%26pid_0265%230013943755%23/media/triplet%3A%2F%2F8746%3A27%3A1201?param=%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221%2E0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Ctunedata%3E%3Ctt%3E4%3C%2Ftt%3E%3Cdq%3E0%3C%2Fdq%3E%3Cdr%2F%3E%3Cfr%3E578000%3C%2Ffr%3E%3Cmd%3E0%3C%2Fmd%3E%3Csr%3E0%3C%2Fsr%3E%3Cpl%3E0%3C%2Fpl%3E%3Clf%3E8%3C%2Flf%3E%3Cl1%3E0%3C%2Fl1%3E%3Cl2%3E0%3C%2Fl2%3E%3Cls%3E0%3C%2Fls%3E%3Cpp%3E0%3C%2Fpp%3E%3Chz%3E0%3C%2Fhz%3E%3Cin%3E0%3C%2Fin%3E%3Cfc%3E0%3C%2Ffc%3E%3Ct%3E27%3C%2Ft%3E%3Cn%3E8746%3C%2Fn%3E%3Cs%3E1201%3C%2Fs%3E%3Cen%3E0%3C%2Fen%3E%3C%2Ftunedata%3E%0A&X-Plex-Token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" > DVRChan2Grab.ts

The xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx at the end you need to replace with the server token string

When you have that text ready including the quotes - paste into the command line window and press Enter key

If it is successful, you will see the time and size incrementing as it writes the stream capture to the file DVRChan2Grab.ts in that directory
You can break-in after a few minutes and check the file with a video player.
Upload the DVRChan2Grab.ts file to dropbox ot similar service

Upload your logs zip from the first test and link to where the ts file was uploaded

Thanks

17

Ok cool I’ll do that later on tonight.

I was wondering if you were meaning loopback capture - it is possible using RawCap - https://www.netresec.com/index.ashx?page=RawCap - so I could also set that up if needed.

I’ll post the results later on. Cheers.

18

Test1_Plex Media (3.0 MB)

Logs uploaded and .ts file uploaded. The initial failure (trying live TV in Plex Web) was around 10.40pm.

The curl worked and I was able to watch the .ts file.

Cheers.

19

That would be very useful to the developers if you can - coupled with the server logs with debug logging for the transcoder for the same period.

20

Ok I’ll try to get that sorted. I have done it all minus the rawcap capture (posted above). I may be able to get to it in a few hours.

21

Test1_Plex Media Server Logs_2018-10-10_10-58-37.zip (1.6 MB)

Ok there’s another test. Zip file has two .pcap’s, first one is trying to watch using the web client, second one is using curl (which works).