Recording Service fails to process timers after wake from standby

[subvertbeats]

So this weekend I configured my HTPC to be more energy efficient and go into standby when not being used.

I have everything working great with standby (either automatically or manually - from Windows or from DVBViewer OSD Menu).

Away mode works fine also when I have any web clients connected to the Recording Service.

 

The problem I am seeing is that when the machine wakes from sleep, often the recording service doesnt process the timers.

You can see the timers exist (in the past) in the web UI.

If I manually (or using the DVBViewer Recording Service control system tray app) restart the recording service, then the timers start to get processed (for any tasks that can run such as my XEPG task - of course missed recordings wont start, they just get removed).

 

So to workaround this I have created a batch file that simply stops and starts the DVBViewer Recording Service, and have triggered the batch file to run via Windows 7 Task Scheduler whenever the system resumes from sleep.

 

Is this issue happening with anyone else?

Any ideas what might be wrong - I dont really want to use the workaround...

 

Thanks,

Edited January 17, 2011 by subvertbeats

[majstang]

More info is needed.

http://www.DVBViewer.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=2210

[subvertbeats]

Ooops, thanks for the reminder

support.zip

[majstang]

Ok, at a first glance you should disable Away Mode. This problem could be caused by a compatibility issue between your computer's Away Mode System and your 64-bit version of Windows. The Away Mode System is only compatible with 32-bit versions of Windows.

[subvertbeats]

Just FYI, I have stopped using the batch file I described in my first post since I think it was restarting the service before the service had done a device reset on my TBS DVB-S2 cards - hence I was getting no picture most times after resume.

 

Ive done quite a lot of searching but havent found anyone else with the same symptoms (unless its posted in the German forum).

 

Unfortunately it means I have to leave my HTPC on 24/7, which I really do not want to do, since its a huge power hog.

 

Thanks in advance for any help....

 

TV Card: 2 x TBS 6981 Dual DVB-S2 with driver 2.0.0.11

MoBo: Gigabyte P55-US3L Rev 1.0 with F7 BIOS with latest drivers from Gigabyte

GFX Card: ATI 5750 1GB with Catalyst 10.10e

[subvertbeats]

Ok, at a first glance you should disable Away Mode. This problem could be caused by a compatibility issue between your computer's Away Mode System and your 64-bit version of Windows. The Away Mode System is only compatible with 32-bit versions of Windows.

 

Thanks for the reply. So 3 things....

 

1. Please help me understand a little more about what you mean. Do you mean the away mode implementation in DVBViewer Recording Service is compatible with 32bit versions of Windows only?

 

2. If I disable away mode, then how do I stop the computer going into standby state when recording?

 

3. I dont believe the problem I am reporting is related to Away mode, since this happens after resume from full standby. If I resume from away mode, everything is fine.

Edited January 17, 2011 by subvertbeats

[majstang]

1. Please help me understand a little more about what you mean. Do you mean the away mode implementation in DVBViewer Recording Service is compatible with 32bit versions of Windows only?

Yes, if Google it all the forums I visited points to this conclution.

 

2. If I disable away mode, then how do I stop the computer going into standby state when recording?

You cant when the standby call is made...Vista and later. RS should give you a heads up before making the standby call though. This messagebox gives you an opportunity to cancel the standby.

 

3. I dont believe the problem I am reporting is related to Away mode, since this happens after resume from full standby. If I resume from away mode, everything is fine.

Well, it sure doesnt hurt to try disabling away mode and see the result. If so, do it in both BIOS and windows.

[subvertbeats]

Thanks again majstang

 

1. If this is truly the case I would suggest this incompatibility be highlighted somewhere (a good place might be the Recording Service install guide wiki page

 

2. This is ok - I previously had my remote power button put the machine in standby.

So when we were done watching TV, we'd hit that button and the machine would be instructed to manually go into standby. If Recording service was recording something then the machine would just go into away mode, and then be put into standby after the recording was finished by RS.

Since disabling away mode, if I manually send the machine into standby, then it goes into full S3 standby, even if a recording is active!

So instead, I have now mapped my remote power button to simply close DVBViewer.

Then the machine will go into standby automatically by Windows standby timeout period, or will be sent into standby by RS when finished a recording.

 

3. So, I did one quick test, and at first I thought it had failed. But the Web UI for RS said it was recording (timer list) and the recording appeared in the list of recordings.

But the recording TS file was not in my recordings directory.

I found the file in C:\Users\Videos\ (I dont have this path set anywhere in RS or DVBViewer)

I have a theory that RS had woken the machine to start the recording, before the USB recordings disk had come back online, and so started to record in the default Windows video directory.

Im going to try using an internal drive for recordings...

 

Will report back. Thanks again for the help.

Edited January 17, 2011 by subvertbeats

[majstang]

1. I agree!

2. If you wanna have it the way you and your family are used to, have a look at this script I've created. It's a quite big thread but very well worth to investigate if you want more powermanagement "intelligence":

http://www.DVBViewer.tv/forum/topic/41387-another-intelligent-hibernationscript/

It will solve the backside of not being abled to cancel standby when recording is in progress.

3. Wise choice using internal drive for recordings.

 

ADD: It did hit me that I'm not sure how these scripts will work on 64-bit Windows, since I haven't tested it on such a system yet.

Edited January 17, 2011 by majstang

[subvertbeats]

Hi again majstang.

 

Thanks for the link, I will investigate...

 

An update. I changed the recording drive to an internal drive, and still had issues.

Ive now unchecked 'Reset after standby' in the properties of each tuner in RS setup.

Previously I had enabled this to see if it would help with the issues I was having.

Since unchecking that option, the limited tests I have done with the internal recording drive seem to have worked.

 

I will keep an eye on the situation and see if it is truly resolved, or if Ive just been lucky in this test.

[majstang]

Hmm...I have seen this issue before when recordings suddenly gets located to the default Windows video directory and I have a vague memory the mods of this forum explained the cause for it, but can not seem to find that topic. Maybe moderators could help out?

[subvertbeats]

Hmm...I have seen this issue before when recordings suddenly gets located to the default Windows video directory and I have a vague memory the mods of this forum explained the cause for it, but can not seem to find that topic. Maybe moderators could help out?

 

In this Older beta announcement topic: http://www.DVBViewer.tv/forum/topic/34700-DVBViewer-pro-42xx-beta/

 

Change: If the selected/default recording folder is not found the DVBViewer tries all folders in the recording folder list and takes the first one, which can be used. If no folder was found the default user/public video folder is used.

 

So I think my theory about using that drive because the USB drive hadnt woken in time might have been correct

[majstang]

So I think my theory about using that drive because the USB drive hadnt woken in time might have been correct

Yes, you seem to be right! However the peculiar thing is how unchecking 'Reset after standby' (reset of DBA-devices) could make any difference regarding locating the recordings into the right folder!? Logical there should not be any relation between these two things. Default for "Recording Folder" is "Auto" and you might need to set it to your actual recording folder. That includes changing the "Recording Folder" setting for all your search presets one by one, cuz they inherit the current Recording Folder setting when the search preset is made and then delete all your old recording timers. Then run the Tasks/AutoTimer. Your new recording timers will then inherit your current Recording Folder setting.

[subvertbeats]

I think the device reset was a red herring - in fact in device manager the TBS 6981 cannot be disabled so I believe the device reset via DVBViewer does nothing.

 

I wondered if RS creates any useful logs for me to investigate if recordings fail?

[majstang]

I wondered if RS creates any useful logs for me to investigate if recordings fail?

Well, that can be discussed! In my opinion there is room for improvements here. Of course it is always hard to achieve a perfect error logging system, when the error is often caused by something outside of the control of the Recording Service. For example a faulty USB or firewire driver, a faulty DVB-card or its driver or in your example having a USB harddrive not connecting fast enough after standby. If having these kind of issues there is often no traces about it in the RS logfile. The log often just stops without any clue on what happened. Things as discontinuities and number of errors while recording you can see however, but often not why they occur.

Logfiles to check is:

- svcdebug.log (located in the configfolder of DVBViewer)

- If having "create logfile" checked in WebRS/Configuration/Recorder you can see the number of errors (located in your recording folder)

Edited January 19, 2011 by majstang