DVBViewer does not tune channels with DMS

[zouza]

I did a clean install of DVBViewer 7.3.0.0 and then DMS Basic 3.3.0.0. DMS was connected to DVBViewer via Media Server Wizard, but when I tried to search for channels, a pop-up appeared with the warning "there is no matching dvb device available for this channel".
I didn't make any changes to the default settings of either software, and the PC is newly formatted, no network or firewall settings were changed, and I only have Windows Defender installed.

Without DMS, I can tune all channels with the tuner directly in DVBViewer. With DMS, I can only tune TS Streamings, but DMS timers don't appear in DVBViewer and vice versa.

 

 

This support.zip file was generated after the first run, where I only tried to search for channels, and applied the firewall rules available in the DVBViewer folder

support.zip

Edited September 12 by zouza
update informations

[HaraldL]

Seems you have not configured your hardware in DMS (has it's own hardware setup)

 

[zouza]

18 minutes ago, HaraldL said:

Seems you have not configured your hardware in DMS (has it's own hardware setup)

 

 

My hardware is detected by DMS, it is in the device list and I can record channels through DMS but I cannot watch them through DVBViewer

 

Spoiler

 

[Griga]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb HaraldL:

DMS (has it's own hardware setup)

 

Not necessarily. The DMS co-uses the DVBViewer hardware.xml as long as the settings are not changed in the DMS Options, so the user doesn't have to repeat  a special hardware configuration (like Unicable) in the DMS options manually after having installed the Media Server. When reading the hardware.xml the DMS drops virtual RTSP devices that are pointing to itself and re-enables DVB hardware that has been disabled by the Media Server Wizard, of course.

 

vor 5 Stunden schrieb zouza:

Without DMS, I can tune all channels with the tuner directly in DVBViewer.

 

This means, you already have a channel list. What happens if you try to tune one of these channels in DVBViewer with the DMS involved? Also "there is no matching dvb device available for this channel"?

 

I would like to see what happens on the client (DVBViewer) side.  Please reproduce the issue in DVBViewer Debug Mode, as recommended here, and create another support.zip. It will contain a DVBViewer.log that may reveal what's happening.

 

[zouza]

57 minutes ago, Griga said:

 

This means, you already have a channel list. What happens if you try to tune one of these channels in DVBViewer with the DMS involved? Also "there is no matching dvb device available for this channel"?

 

I would like to see what happens on the client (DVBViewer) side.  Please reproduce the issue in DVBViewer Debug Mode, as recommended here, and create another support.zip. It will contain a DVBViewer.log that may reveal what's happening.

 

 

Yes, I already have a list, with local OTA channels captured with the mygica s270 tuner and some live streaming channels.

I am uploading a new support.zip following the recommended steps, where I first tuned into an online streaming channel, and then tried to tune into an OTA channel.

 

I took the liberty of recording a video showing all the steps I did (I also show that I can watch the channels on VLC through DMS), you can see it in this link: https://youtu.be/QUy1FAo-uO0

support.zip

[Griga]

vor 9 Stunden schrieb zouza:

I am uploading a new support.zip following the recommended steps

 

Thanks. Now I can see what happens, but unfortunately not why it happens.

 

Your DVBViewer behaves as if the Media Server is not running. If both are installed on the same PC, they use a shared memory area for direct communication without a network connection. Before trying to establish a network connection to the Media Server, DVBViewer checks if it has already created an entry in shared memory. If not, DVBViewer assumes that the Media Server is not running. This is much faster than trying to connect to the Media Server via network and wait for the server response until a timeout occurs.

 

For some reason this mechanism is not working on your PC. DVBViewer doesn't find the Media Sever entry in shared memory. This can happen if DVBViewer is started before the Media Server has been started as a service, but according to your logs your Media Server was already running at 17:27:20 when DVBViewer was started and failed to receive one of your OTA (terrestrial) channels via the Media Server.

 

Since this is no known DVBViewer / Media Server issue and has not been reported up to now, there must be something special on your PC that prevents Media Server detection in shared memory, maybe something concerning access rights. Are you using a non-admin Windows user account?

 

For further investigation please try the following:

• Close DVBViewer and stop the Media Server as service by using its tray menu (click its blue tray icon).
• Launch the Media Server as application by double-clicking DVBVservice.exe in the DVBViewer program directory. This will let a small window appear. Now the Media Server is running in your user account, not as a service in the system account.
• Launch DVBViewer and check if it detects the Media Server.

 

[zouza]

5 hours ago, Griga said:

For further investigation please try the following:

• Close DVBViewer and stop the Media Server as service by using its tray menu (click its blue tray icon).
• Launch the Media Server as application by double-clicking DVBVservice.exe in the DVBViewer program directory. This will let a small window appear. Now the Media Server is running in your user account, not as a service in the system account.
• Launch DVBViewer and check if it detects the Media Server.

 

 

Yes, aunching media server by DVB service.exe DVBViewer detects DMS. However, I am using the windows admin account and don't even have another one.

After that i tried some things like disabling UAC or enabling media streaming options in network control panel. i don't know if these features can interfere... but it was an attempt

[Griga]

Am 13.9.2024 um 13:46 schrieb zouza:

Yes, launching media server by DVB service.exe DVBViewer detects DMS.

 

This proves that the issue is somehow related to creating or accessing the shared memory area. Either the DMS is not able to create it at an early point in time on Windows startup, or it creates it in a way that prevents DVBViewer from accessing it.

 

In the meantime I did some researches concerning the matter, but without finding a starting point for handling this issue or fix it. The Windows functions for shared memory are quite basic and straightforward, without much DMS and DVBViewer code being involved.

 

As already said, this issue has not been reported before. I am not able to reproduce it, not even to induce it artificially, except by starting DVBViewer first and then the DMS as service. In this case DVBViewer is responsible for creating the shared memory, but due to limited rights the shared memory is restricted to the user account DVBViewer is running in, so it is not visible for the DMS running as service in a system account. Only an application running with admin or system rights (like the DMS as service), is able to create a "global" shared memory that can be accessed from all user accounts.

 

Thus the problem resulting from DVBViewer being started first can be circumvented bei either starting DVBViewer with admin rights (allowing it to create a global shared memory) or by starting the DMS as application running in the same user account (being able to access the restricted shared memory created by DVBViewer).

 

So just for a try and finding out more, launch DVBViewer with admin rights. Does it change anything in your case?

 

Another thing you can try is the following:

• Open the Windows start menu, type services.msc and hit Enter. It opens a list of all services.
• Find the DVBViewer Media Server entry, right-click it and select Properties in the context menu.
• Set the Start Type from Automatic to Automatic (delayed start). This lets the DMS start automatically, but much later after Windows startup.
• Reboot and wait until the DMS tray icon changes from grey to blue.
• Launch DVBViewer and try if it works. If not, change the start type back to Automatic. (Manual as start type wil not start the DMS unless you do it manually in its tray menu).

 

[zouza]

On 9/17/2024 at 3:47 AM, Griga said:

Another thing you can try is the following:

• Open the Windows start menu, type services.msc and hit Enter. It opens a list of all services.
• Find the DVBViewer Media Server entry, right-click it and select Properties in the context menu.
• Set the Start Type from Automatic to Automatic (delayed start). This lets the DMS start automatically, but much later after Windows startup.
• Reboot and wait until the DMS tray icon changes from grey to blue.
• Launch DVBViewer and try if it works. If not, change the start type back to Automatic. (Manual as start type wil not start the DMS unless you do it manually in its tray menu).

 

 

I also tried this but it didn't work. For now the only alternative was to go back to version 7.2.5.0 of DVBViewer, with this version I'm not having any troubles.

 

(this problem is really weird)

[Griga]

Am 18.9.2024 um 14:59 schrieb zouza:

For now the only alternative was to go back to version 7.2.5.0 of DVBViewer, with this version I'm not having any troubles.

 

This is an important information. There were changes concerning the shared memory handling in 7.3.0 (compared to 7.2.5) due to the handling of multiple DVBViewer/DMS instances, but nothing that could explain the issue at first sight.

 

For getting more insight, I have created a little tool that does nothing but display the current shared memory content (-> attached). Maybe it will reveal what is going on. Simply store SharedView.exe in the DVBViewer program folder, launch it while the Media Server and DVBViewer are running and copy the displayed text to here by using the right-click menu or Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C. If there are parts that you don't want to become public, please send me a personal forum message.

 

SharedView.zip

[zouza]

4 hours ago, Griga said:

 

This is an important information. There were changes concerning the shared memory handling in 7.3.0 (compared to 7.2.5) due to the handling of multiple DVBViewer/DMS instances, but nothing that could explain the issue at first sight.

 

For getting more insight, I have created a little tool that does nothing but display the current shared memory content (-> attached). Maybe it will reveal what is going on. Simply store SharedView.exe in the DVBViewer program folder, launch it while the Media Server and DVBViewer are running and copy the displayed text to here by using the right-click menu or Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C. If there are parts that you don't want to become public, please send me a personal forum message.

 

SharedView.zip 191.46 kB · 1 download

 

 

Here is the result from SharedView.exe of both versions.

 

7.2.5

Spoiler

User: Neto Souza
Config path: C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\

Global shared memory opened:

Handle: 00000000
Application: DVBViewer Media Server
User: SISTEMA
Used hardware: |BDA Tuner Filter 0|
Config path: C:\ProgramData\CMUV\DVBViewer\
Exe path: C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\DVBVservice.exe

Handle: 000707E0
Application: DVBViewer Pro
User: Neto Souza
Used hardware: 
Config path: C:\ProgramData\CMUV\DVBViewer\
Exe path: C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\DVBViewer.exe

 

 

7.3.0

Spoiler

User: Neto Souza
Config path: C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\

Global shared memory opened:

Handle: 00000000
Application: DVBViewer Media Server
User: SISTEMA
Used hardware: 
Config path: C:\ProgramData\CMUV\DVBViewer\
Exe path: C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\DVBVservice.exe

Handle: 00080782
Application: DVBViewer Pro
User: Neto Souza
Used hardware: 
Config path: C:\ProgramData\CMUV\DVBViewer\
Exe path: C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\DVBViewer.exe

 

(the user "SISTEMA" is equivalent to SYSTEM, my OS is in pt_BR)

 

[Griga]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb zouza:

the user "SISTEMA" is equivalent to SYSTEM, my OS is in pt_BR

 

Thanks. That causes the problem. DVBViewer expects the name of the user account the service is running in to be "SYSTEM". It doesn't take into acount that the name is localised (also see here).

 

This wrong assumption is used since many years, and in 7.3.0 also for checking if the Media Server is running as service. A work-around may be to let the Media Server (as service) use the name and password of your user account. It can be set up via services.msc on the properties -> login tab. However, this is no good solution, even if it works in your case, and I will look for a better one... I will provide a test version for you when it's done.

 

[zouza]

1 hour ago, Griga said:

 

Thanks. That causes the problem. DVBViewer expects the name of the user account the service is running in to be "SYSTEM". It doesn't take into acount that the name is localised (also see here).

 

This wrong assumption is used since many years, and in 7.3.0 also for checking if the Media Server is running as service. A work-around may be to let the Media Server (as service) use the name and password of your user account. It can be set up via services.msc on the properties -> login tab. However, this is no good solution, even if it works in your case, and I will look for a better one... I will provide a test version for you when it's done.

 

 

 

Thank you, I appreciate the attention and support, and I will wait for a definitive solution

[Griga]

12 hours ago, zouza said:

I will wait for a definitive solution

 

I've sent a personal forum message (PM) to you.

 

BTW: It would be nice if you could avoid full quoting of the complete previous post every time, which creates a lot of useless text. If you want to refer to a certain part of a previous post, use the mouse to select it and click on the "Quote selection" pop-up, like I did it above.

 

[zouza]

11 hours ago, Griga said:

I've sent a personal forum message (PM) to you.

 

ok, I just tested it and now it's working fine! Tuning OTA and streaming channels.

Appreciate the support.