Tvheadend

James Fry wrote:

Hi Folks,

I am a long time thv user.
About a year ago I started a transition from tvh on a RPi v1 with USB DVB-T2 tuner, to tvh on ubuntu VM with a HDHomeRun connect (UK version).
Initially I also added the HDHR to the RPi, too and running both TVHs in parallel.

I am finding a problem with recordings coming from HDHR on both installs of TVH.
The recording completes with no problem, but many players have problems with playback of the files:

tvh may say the recording completes OK, but if there's errors in the stream these errors will remain.

These errors can be caused by a number of issues.

1. Poor signal that your hardware isn't reporting correctly.
2. Dodgy network. Your using a HDHR which sends the data via Ethernet, if your network isn't great or is utilised a lot this can lead to errors.

Kodi - playback is OK unless I try to ffwd/search through the file, in which case it hangs
MrMC (on Apple TV) - playback will not start
VLC (on PC) - Playback of video works fine, but audio is patchy
Plex apps - playback does not start
TVHClient app (iOS, tvos) - playback issues, no ffwd/search

Strangely I have no such issues when recording DVB-T2 channels from the RPi via the USB tuner.

You could try setting QOS on your router and in Tvheadend.

This is driving me nuts and is forcing me to think about looking at other options for the HDHR (e.g. Plex DVR, Channels DVR).

I think it would drive anyone nuts.

I need to retire the RPi and my VM server is not near an aerial point - hence the HDHR.

The RPi is great for small things, but nothing too media heavy. If you want to use a small board, I would've chosen something with a gig Ethernet and additional usb buses - all of which the Pi lacks.

Does anyone have any pointers to resolve this please?

If you would like I'd be more than willing to take a gander over teamviewer.

Mark Clarkstone wrote:

James Fry wrote:

Hi Folks,

I am a long time thv user.
About a year ago I started a transition from tvh on a RPi v1 with USB DVB-T2 tuner, to tvh on ubuntu VM with a HDHomeRun connect (UK version).
Initially I also added the HDHR to the RPi, too and running both TVHs in parallel.

I am finding a problem with recordings coming from HDHR on both installs of TVH.
The recording completes with no problem, but many players have problems with playback of the files:

tvh may say the recording completes OK, but if there's errors in the stream these errors will remain.

These errors can be caused by a number of issues.

1. Poor signal that your hardware isn't reporting correctly.

Both the USB tuner (pctv 290e) and HDHR connect are plugged into the master aerial amp/distribution hub.
Both tuners report very good signal.
Nonetheless from experience over the years (mythtv with PCI DVB tuner) I know that stream error are a fact of life... but that most players are resilient to an extent.
I guess I could script a stream fix on every recording, but this was never necessary recordings with the 290e tuner.
Also the way the recordings from HDHR "fail" is very consistent. There is no element of one working but not others.
I have recorded the same program on both tuners concurrently and can demonstrate the difference.

I was speculating that the problem could be in the way that the HDHR packetises the TS stream.

1. Dodgy network. Your using a HDHR which sends the data via Ethernet, if your network isn't great or is utilised a lot this can lead to errors.

Network from the HDHR and RPi are both hardwired 100mbit ethernet into the same GbE switch. The ubuntu VM running my other tvh instance is connected via GbE from that same switch.
Pretty sure that the networking from the HDHR to both RPi and VM server is not to blame since watching live TV is working well - no glitches, artefacts etc

Kodi - playback is OK unless I try to ffwd/search through the file, in which case it hangs
MrMC (on Apple TV) - playback will not start
VLC (on PC) - Playback of video works fine, but audio is patchy
Plex apps - playback does not start
TVHClient app (iOS, tvos) - playback issues, no ffwd/search

Strangely I have no such issues when recording DVB-T2 channels from the RPi via the USB tuner.

You could try setting QOS on your router and in Tvheadend.

This is driving me nuts and is forcing me to think about looking at other options for the HDHR (e.g. Plex DVR, Channels DVR).

I think it would drive anyone nuts.

I need to retire the RPi and my VM server is not near an aerial point - hence the HDHR.

The RPi is great for small things, but nothing too media heavy. If you want to use a small board, I would've chosen something with a gig Ethernet and additional usb buses - all of which the Pi lacks.

Agree - this is why I am moving to tvh on ubuntu on a xeon ESXi server

Does anyone have any pointers to resolve this please?

If you would like I'd be more than willing to take a gander over teamviewer.

Thanks indeed for the offer.
I think I will try some more tests 1st.
Actually my RPi has dropped off the network recently and I didnt get round yet to check if its fatal hence my drive to get the HDHR solution working.

I wonder if the "DSCP/TOS for streaming" option in tvh might make a difference..

Mark Clarkstone wrote:

I wonder if the "DSCP/TOS for streaming" option in tvh might make a difference..

Thanks for the idea. I'll take a look at this tonight.
Does it rely on any QoS settings in my network devices e.g router?

James Fry wrote:

Mark Clarkstone wrote:

I wonder if the "DSCP/TOS for streaming" option in tvh might make a difference..

Thanks for the idea. I'll take a look at this tonight.
Does it rely on any QoS settings in my network devices e.g router?

All the option does is tells your router to use a certain QoS setting, it's up to the router to honour it.

Set DSCP to 41
by the way this must be set to default

WMM must be set ON/Enabled on WIFI (client and server)
QOS enabled on swith

If I understand it, these settings are for streaming recordings.
I dont think this is where my problem lies - I can copy the file locally or open it from network share and I still observe the playback problems.

Last night I tried recording transport stream (.ts) files rather than matroska.
I dont think it made any difference.

Next I plan to try using ffmpeg to stream fix a recording so check whether stream errors were introduced.