Live TV streaming (DVB-T) frequently doesn't start

nir.zamir · Post by **nir.zamir** » Tue May 21, 2013 8:20 pm

Hi,
I think ArgusTV is the perfect solution for me, without any competition (I've tried them all). You're really doing a fantastic job (and I'm a software architect

Below is the only issue I started to encounter after a couple of weeks using it, and is the only thing preventing me from using XBMC for live TV.

Here's my configuration:
Win7 x64, XBMC Frodo 12.2, ArgusTV 2.1 (single machine), DVB-T tuner

Frequently (almost always after not watching TV for a while, but inconsistent) when I try to open Live TV (which was stopped) on any channel, I get an 'ArgusTV Client unknown error' after waiting for two minutes or so. After several attempts it sometimes works out,
I think it's an XBMC issue (and not in the scheduler/recorder) because:
1. Restarting XBMC always fixes the issue.
2. Recordings (from the Recorder console or by the scheduler) work flawlessly even while hanging.
3. When it happens, the USB dvb-t dongle doesn't light its 'streaming led', and none of the ArgusTV streaming/recorder logs are updated..
4. When it doesn't happen, the streaming is keps with no issues.

I tried setting the service tuning timeouts to 20 seconds but it didn't help.

I enabled debugging in XBMC, and this is how the logs look like when it works and when not.

Here's how it looks like when it works:
00:24:02 T:6412 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
00:24:02 T:6412 DEBUG: PVRManager - PVR::CPVRManager::OpenLiveStream - opening live stream on channel 'Ch 10'
00:24:02 T:6412 DEBUG: opening live stream for channel 'Ch 10'
00:24:02 T:6412 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: ->_OpenLiveStream(3)
00:24:02 T:6412 INFO: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: Tune XBMC channel: 3
00:24:02 T:6412 INFO: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: Corresponding ARGUS TV channel: e4a77e18-2819-46bf-89b1-b84691a1a466
00:24:02 T:6412 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream, body [{"Channel":{"BroadcastStart":"","BroadcastStop":"","ChannelId":"e4a77e18-2819-46bf-89b1-b84691a1a466","ChannelType":0,"DefaultPostRecordSeconds":0,"DefaultPreRecordSeconds":0,"DisplayName":"Ch 10","GuideChannelId":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","LogicalChannelNumber":null,"Sequence":0,"Version":0,"VisibleInGuide":true},"LiveStream":null}]
00:24:02 T:6412 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: URL: http://127.0.0.1:49943/ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream
00:24:02 T:6412 DEBUG: CurlFile::Open(09E92020) http://127.0.0.1:49943/ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream
00:24:02 T:5948 DEBUG: ------ Window Init (DialogBusy.xml) ------
00:24:04 T:6412 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: TuneLiveStream result 0.
00:24:04 T:6412 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: Tuned live stream: \\zamir-htpc\d$\ArgusTV\Timeshift\Card1-1-0.ts.tsbuffer
...

and when it doesn't work:

00:30:36 T:4340 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
00:30:36 T:4340 DEBUG: PVRManager - PVR::CPVRManager::OpenLiveStream - opening live stream on channel 'Ch 2'
00:30:36 T:4340 DEBUG: opening live stream for channel 'Ch 2'
00:30:36 T:4340 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: ->_OpenLiveStream(2)
00:30:36 T:4340 INFO: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: Tune XBMC channel: 2
00:30:36 T:4340 INFO: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: Corresponding ARGUS TV channel: bd8dd817-3b46-45ee-b4c5-03b57e047396
00:30:36 T:4340 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream, body [{"Channel":{"BroadcastStart":"","BroadcastStop":"","ChannelId":"bd8dd817-3b46-45ee-b4c5-03b57e047396","ChannelType":0,"DefaultPostRecordSeconds":0,"DefaultPreRecordSeconds":0,"DisplayName":"Ch 2","GuideChannelId":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","LogicalChannelNumber":null,"Sequence":0,"Version":0,"VisibleInGuide":true},"LiveStream":null}]
00:30:36 T:4340 DEBUG: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: URL: http://127.0.0.1:49943/ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream
00:30:36 T:4340 DEBUG: CurlFile::Open(08F7DA10) http://127.0.0.1:49943/ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream
00:30:36 T:4340 INFO: XCURL::DllLibCurlGlobal::easy_aquire - Created session to http://127.0.0.1
00:30:36 T:5948 DEBUG: ------ Window Init (DialogBusy.xml) ------
00:30:47 T:6224 DEBUG: CAESinkDirectSound::Deinitialize: Cleaning up
00:30:47 T:6224 DEBUG: Suspended the Sink

AND THIS IS WHERE IT'S STUCK... until it writes (after two minutes):

00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: CCurlFile::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream.
00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: can not write to http://127.0.0.1:49943/ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream
00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: TuneLiveStream failed
00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: Tuning failed, unknown error
00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: Could not start the timeshift for channel 3 (e4a77e18-2819-46bf-89b1-b84691a1a466)
00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening [pvr://channels/tv/All TV channels/2.pvr]
00:32:51 T:6568 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
00:32:51 T:6568 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit() deleting input stream
00:32:51 T:4496 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
00:32:51 T:4496 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player)::Put MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
00:32:51 T:4496 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
00:32:51 T:4496 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting

I strongly believe the key is the existence of the line:
INFO: XCURL::DllLibCurlGlobal::easy_aquire - Created session to http://127.0.0.1
When it exists, the streaming doesn't start..

Your help would be GREATLY appreciated..

Post by **andrewNZ** » Tue May 21, 2013 9:04 pm

Welcome, glad you like the product

Being unable to tune the second time, is a semi-common issue. This may or may not be the same issue.
One quick setting to try is, in ARGUS TV Recorder Console. Go to the Cards section, select the card and open the Advanced settings with the button at the bottom of the page. Check the box for resetting the graph when idle.

nir.zamir · Post by **nir.zamir** » Tue May 21, 2013 9:19 pm

Thanks Andrew.

I'm sorry I forgot to mention that, but I already tried what you suggested (and it didn't help).
I think there are times that it happens the first time (after starting XBMC) as well but this is quite rare from what I noticed.

I hope this doesn't mean I'm on a dead end

Do you think it might be an XBMC general issue? If I'm not mistaken it happened a few times with NPVR when I tried it a few months ago. If you do think so, maybe you're in a better position to approach XBMC development (I posted in the PVR forum but no reply..). I saw someone else had a very similar issue with XBMC and ArgusTV/MediaPortal without resolution.

Post by **andrewNZ** » Tue May 21, 2013 10:19 pm

nir.zamir wrote:I hope this doesn't mean I'm on a dead end

I'd like to think it's solvable, but in reality, I have no idea. I guess we'll see what some of the XBMC experts here have to say.

Post by **Red_F** » Tue May 21, 2013 10:48 pm

From your debug logging:

Code: Select all

00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: CCurlFile::CReadState::Open, didn't get any data from stream.
00:32:51 T:6568 ERROR: AddOnLog: ARGUS TV client: can not write to http://127.0.0.1:49943/ArgusTV/Control/TuneLiveStream

It looks like the addon is not getting any response from the ARGUS TV server on the tuning request. That would indicate a tuning problem within the ARGUS TV server. This observation is supported by your observation that when this problem occurs " none of the ArgusTV streaming/recorder logs are updated..".

Looks like the XBMC/addon combination is left waiting while ARGUS TV is just idling and not responding.

Mmmm, maybe it would be an idea to ask Dot-i to log all the incoming REST API requests/responses. That way we can see what ARGUS TV think it is receiving/responding.

nir.zamir · Post by **nir.zamir** » Tue May 21, 2013 10:51 pm

Thanks guys!

So do you need anything from me or you are contacting the necessary experts?
I will gladly help with anything you need.

Nir

nir.zamir · Post by **nir.zamir** » Wed May 22, 2013 7:18 pm

By the way, what do you think about my theory:

I strongly believe the key is the existence of the line:
INFO: XCURL::DllLibCurlGlobal::easy_aquire - Created session to http://127.0.0.1
When it exists, the streaming doesn't start..

Post by **Red_F** » Wed May 22, 2013 7:47 pm

That looks like a debug message from the internal XCURL library within XBMC. I can't really say if the message is good or bad.

nir.zamir · Post by **nir.zamir** » Wed May 22, 2013 8:57 pm

ok..

So do we have any next steps? Should I contact XBMC in some way? Can you help me with that?

Thanks a lot!
Nir

Post by **Red_F** » Wed May 22, 2013 9:12 pm

Dot-i and me are thinking how we can add API request logging to ARGUS TV server.

When that is present you could install that version and enable logging. Then we can see if for some reason XBMC is not sending the requests properly to ARGUS TV. If that is so, we can submit a bug report to XBMC.

So you probably need some patience until we get the additional logging.

ARGUS TV