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Version 6.1.6.0 with DVM Media Server 2.1.6 and two tuners


John Tikis

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I have been using the DVBViewer/DVB Media Server for some years now and I am a satisfied customer to this excellent family of products. I am using two AverMedia Volar 2 HD USB sticks for HD TV reception within a Windows 10 box and everything was running fine.

 

After updating to the latest versions (6.1.6.0/2.1.6), I can only use one of the two tuners within DVBViewer! If I schedule, however, two simultaneous recordings belonging to two different DVB transport streams (forcing both USB tuners to function simultaneously), I can record any content just fine! Therefore, on a hardware/driver level, the USB tuners work out fine.

 

It seems that the interoperability between the two products has been somewhat lost or disrupted.

 

I attach the hardware settings of both DVBViewer and DVB Media Server, along with the error message during DVBViewer startup. Also, please note that any firewall has been disabled.

 

Any help? :)

 

as.png

as2.png

as5.png

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1 hour ago, John Tikis said:

I attach the hardware settings of both DVBViewer and DVB Media Server,

 

A support.zip would be more useful.

 

Are you sure that you have installed the full version of the DVBViewer Media Server? The restricted DMS Basic version only delivers a single stream to remote DVBViewer clients. Read more about it here.

 

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2 hours ago, Griga said:

 

A support.zip would be more useful.

 

Are you sure that you have installed the full version of the DVBViewer Media Server? The restricted DMS Basic version only delivers a single stream to remote DVBViewer clients. Read more about it here.

 

 

Hello!

 

Thanks for the fast reply!

 

I have the support.zip ready. Can I PM it to you or send it in a more private way than a forum post?

 

Regarding your DVB Media Server question, I was using version 2.1.5 and I upgraded to the full 2.1.6 one (just double-checked!)

Edited by John Tikis
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4 hours ago, John Tikis said:

Can I PM it to you or send it in a more private way than a forum post?

 

Yes. But the discussion will continue here.

 

The error message in your screenshot above is related to audio hardware (see Options -> DirectX -> Audio -> Audio Renderer). It is created by the DirectShow playback system. The text does not originate from DVBViewer, but Microsoft. As far as I can see It is not related to DVB hardware or a RTSP network device as its representative in DVBViewer network clients.

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On 2/15/2020 at 10:08 PM, Griga said:

 

Yes. But the discussion will continue here.

 

The error message in your screenshot above is related to audio hardware (see Options -> DirectX -> Audio -> Audio Renderer). It is created by the DirectShow playback system. The text does not originate from DVBViewer, but Microsoft. As far as I can see It is not related to DVB hardware or a RTSP network device as its representative in DVBViewer network clients.

 

No problem :) Just sent you the support file.

 

The DirectShow setting (Audio Renderer) has been the same (unaltered) for ages. Just checked and they are exactly the same for tuner 1 as in tuner 2, however the issue appears only with tuner 1.

 

directx1.png

directx2.png

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4 hours ago, John Tikis said:

Just sent you the support file.

 

Unfortunately you didn't follow the advice to reproduce the issue in DVBViewer debug mode. Additionally there is no svcdebug.log present in your support.zip, because you have switched "Write debug log" in the Media Server options off. So there is nothing that gives insight into what is going on.

 

I wonder why your Systeminfo.txt doesn't enumerate an audio device. That seems to match the error message in your screenshot above. Usually there is at least a sound chip appearing as "Realtek High Definition Audio" or something similar.

 

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If you mean "advice to reproduce" as not switching on the debug mode, you're right.

 

I just sent you a new support zip via PM with debug mode switched on @ the media server level and DVBViewer started with the --debug flag.

 

I hope that something more will have been recorded this time to reflect the issue..

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The DVBViewer.log indicates the issue quite clearly: DVBViewer is not able to build the audio branch of the DirectShow filter graph, because the audio renderer can't be instantiated. So only the DVBViewer source filter and two video filters are present in the end:

 

Quote

19.02.20 19:18:31.477 Used Filter:         EVR Renderer (Custom)
19.02.20 19:18:31.477 Used Filter:         LAV Video Decoder (Video A)
19.02.20 19:18:31.477 Used Filter:         DVB Source (Standard)

 

At the same time the Media Server log (svcdebug.log) shows no issues. The server responds as intended and without errors.

 

On 2/17/2020 at 12:14 AM, John Tikis said:

The DirectShow setting (Audio Renderer) has been the same (unaltered) for ages.

 

Obviously something unhealthy has happened in your PC concerning audio output. SystemInfo.txt doesn't enumerate audio hardware, DVBViewer is not able to use it. So I'd say check if your audio hardware is showing up in the Windows device manager. Maybe Windows lost it somehow, the driver must be re-installed, dunno...

 

The "Default DirectSound Device" selected in DVBViewer -> Options -> DirectX -> Audio  refers to the audio hardware that has been configured as standard device in Windows (because there may  be two or more audio devices present in a PC).

 

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The PC where the DVBViewer/Media server combo is installed is mainly used for recording TV shows in order to be watched later. Therefore, the Directsound error is an issue, however not a critical one for the current operation.

 

However I noticed the following behavior which interrupts the recording of TV shows: Let's say I want to record 3 shows, A-B-C. Shows A & C are on the same Terrestrial Transport Stream (TS1) and show B is broadcast on another Transport Stream (TS2). A & B showtimes overlap as well as B & C. That means that Media Server selects Tuner 1 for show A, Tuner 2 for show B and Tuner 1 again for show C.

 

Result: Shows A & C are recorded properly and show B is never recorded! I went through the debug log and I saw repeated entries for Tuner 2, similar to the following:

 

TRecording ($010E9800)    Tick             No data within one minute, restarting!

 

The tuners are directly attached to the PC and both UDP 554 and UDP 8554 ports are open in the firewall.

 

I assume that the Media Server cannot get data from the second tuner (i.e. tune to a signal) and it never uses it. I might be wrong.. I performed various restarts and there are no errors shown within the Windows Device Manager. Also, both tuners get the terrestrial signal from the same source.. I swapped the antenna cables between the two tuners but the same behavior persists.

 

This behavior was not observed with previous versions of Media Server, if that helps somehow.

 

Last but not least, I have defined a custom task to convert TS files to MKV automatically via Handbrake. This task did not run during the last two days, despite being declared so within the relevant Timer entry. No explanation on that as well, however this is also not on top of my list as I can always convert the files manually, even though this is an inconvenience. Not recording the TV show at all is the critical one!

 

I sent you a support.zip via WeTransfer (link via PM)..

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16 hours ago, John Tikis said:

TRecording ($010E9800)    Tick             No data within one minute, restarting!

 

Obviously the second tuner doesn't deliver data. However, there is no evidence that it is caused by DMS bug. I would test two things to narrow the cause down:

  • Does the second tuner work at all? For this purpose uncheck "use device" for the first tuner in the DMS hardware options.
  • Does using an older DMS version fix the issue? You can find previous installer versions in the DVBViewer program directory \ setup folder. If not, go to the download area -> older versions section and try DMS 2.1.4.
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I performed both suggested actions:

 

(1) I disabled the working tuner (1) and with only (2) active, the same effect (No data within one minute)
(2) I installed the 2.1.4 version of Media Server, with the same effect.

 

I, however, performed some additional debugging:

 

(1) I removed tuner (1) from the PC and tried to record using tuner (2) with Media Server AND view a TS using DVBViewer and a locally-accessed tuner (not via the Media Server RTMP) - All good! The tuner recorded the show using Media Server and I was able to watch terrestrial Transport Streams using DVBViewer.

 

(2) I performed the above after swapping tuners (1 attached, 2 removed) - All good!

 

Therefore, the issue was presented when both tuners are attached, regardless whether they are active within the Media Server or not.

 

I have performed dual recordings many times in the past, they might have been using the same Transport Stream however (thus the same hardware tuner). Therefore, I cannot verify with absolute certainty that the setup was working properly with 2.1.4 (the tests above with this version failed).

 

The above buggered me and I re-scheduled a dual recording (2 different Transport Streams) using both tuners after all the above tests were conducted. With no obvious explanation (the settings are exactly the same) the recordings were performed!

 

I do not know whether this is interim or permanent or what caused this, I have sent you an updated support.zip if you can or wish to investigate it. I'll keep performing multiple test recordings the following days hence I'll be monitoring this issue up close and personal!

 

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On 3/2/2020 at 2:44 PM, John Tikis said:

Therefore, the issue was presented when both tuners are attached, regardless whether they are active within the Media Server or not.

 

Indicates a driver issue. We already had that in the past with (particularly cheap far-east) devices from the same manufacturer that were not properly designed for running two or more of them in the same PC. Somehow they muddled their BDA tuner and receiver components up, so that tuner component 2 got internally connected to receiver component 1 or the other way round. Maybe only one of your devices is affected by this issue, so it depends on the order in which they are registered / initialized in your system. Hard to know what's really going on inside...

 

Usually you are more on the safe side in this respect with tuners from different manufacturers or with devices containing dual tuners that are designed for being used at the same time.

 

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Thank you for the information. I checked the manufacturer's website for any newer driver version but no new drivers have been issues (more than a year now).

 

Will keep your advice for future upgrades/purchases!

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