Empty recordings - happening a lot

dragon-it

Member
Recently changed the drive from an "always full" 1Tb drive which seemed to be increasingly suffering from disc issues to 2Tb one which seems fine. Seemingly unrelated to that, we used to have problems with empty recordings and they seem to be worse than ever over last couple of weeks to the extent half the time we just resort to watching the online versions etc.

I've looked through all the logs I can see on web-if but no particular help that I can see?

I did used to have multi-mode on allowing AR from main few channels and off for others, I've just turned it off for all in case part of it, but thought a recording was supposed to show differently if it didn't get a start signal?

What we are seeing is files like this, from activity.log where we get some recordings longer than they should be.

114 21/07/2018 04:17:39 - System booted (Scheduled event).
113 21/07/2018 02:05:05 - Recorded: The Big Bang Theory/The Big Bang Theory (148 minutes - E4)
112 20/07/2018 23:36:49 - Recorded: The Big Bang Theory/The Big Bang Theory (28 minutes - E4)
111 20/07/2018 22:00:23 - Recorded: Coronation Street/Coronation Street (26 minutes - ITV HD)
110 20/07/2018 21:02:03 - Recorded: The Big Bang Theory/The Big Bang Theory (10 minutes - E4)
109 20/07/2018 20:51:28 - Recorded: The Big Bang Theory/The Big Bang Theory (50 minutes - E4)

108 20/07/2018 20:03:24 - Recorded: Coronation Street/Coronation Street (31 minutes - ITV HD)
107 20/07/2018 18:31:11 - Recorded: The Simpsons/The Simpsons (29 minutes - Channel 4)
106 20/07/2018 18:01:34 - Recorded: The Simpsons/The Simpsons (29 minutes - Channel 4)
105 20/07/2018 16:59:04 - System booted (Remote control handset).
104 20/07/2018 04:17:35 - System booted (Scheduled event).
103 20/07/2018 02:45:05 - Recorded: The Big Bang Theory/The Big Bang Theory (136 minutes - E4)

Activity.log doesn't seem to show the "0" recordings but they end up as .hmt files like this:

The Big Bang Theory_20180716_2345.hmt (1.24 KiB)

The Simpsons_20180721_1020.hmt (2.02 KiB)
The Simpsons_20180721_1050.hmt (2.02 KiB)
The Simpsons_20180721_1330.hmt (2.02 KiB)
The Simpsons_20180721_1400.hmt (2.02 KiB)
The Simpsons_20180721_1430(1).hmt (2.02 KiB)

Did notice one file constantly complaining about a file existing which I have cleared that directory now OK:

17/07/2018 23:28:26 - ::dedup::run: /mod/webif/lib/ts.class:459: Error: error copying "/media/My Video/Peter Rabbit/_media_My Video_Peter Rabbit_The Tale of.nts" to "/media/My Video/Peter Rabbit/_duplicates/_media_My Video_Peter Rabbit__media_My V.nts": file already exists

Any suggestions what to look for on the box, I'm hoping settings all the channels to padding vs AR may help but would a not working AR recording show like this?

Steve
 
Do you have real time scheduling set up on this unit? This allows you to schedule a recording from Webif and have it appear in the schedule straightaway without rebooting. It is known that you can get occasional runaway recordings with RTS, though it is rare these days.
Be careful with multimode. I have reported this before, as have others: it works fine if you have AR as the default setting and change selected channels to padding, but if you have padding as default, AR recordings will fail with 'failed to track errors'.
 
Thanks, no I only use the traditional 'needs a reboot' amendment to schedules form the webif, most of them are long standing one set from the TV. I have it set on the TV interface with padding of 1min / 1min I think and did (inadvertently) not have the multi-mode app installed since replacing the disc. I've re-installed that and set all channels to Padding in there for now to see if that makes any difference.

I couldn't see any obvious logs of why it is deciding on starting/stopping recording, anyone know where it records that if anywhere?
 
Thanks, no I only use the traditional 'needs a reboot' amendment to schedules form the webif, most of them are long standing one set from the TV. I have it set on the TV interface with padding of 1min / 1min I think and did (inadvertently) not have the multi-mode app installed since replacing the disc. I've re-installed that and set all channels to Padding in there for now to see if that makes any difference.

I couldn't see any obvious logs of why it is deciding on starting/stopping recording, anyone know where it records that if anywhere?
If you don't want to use multimode then just uninstall the package. There is no need to set the unit up for padding with the remote control and set all channels to padding through webif too. If you do want to use multimode then set the box to AR and set any channels you want padded to padding through webif.
 
I would LIKE the channels that work best to use AR and others to use padding, I've just set them all back to padding through that for now in case it has been part of the empty recordings issue but suspect not.

Thanks for the response, I'm hoping there is some log that shows what it is trying to do ... badly!
 
I would LIKE the channels that work best to use AR and others to use padding, I've just set them all back to padding through that for now in case it has been part of the empty recordings issue but suspect not.

Thanks for the response, I'm hoping there is some log that shows what it is trying to do ... badly!
The only way to for AR and padding to both work successfully on one box at the same time is to set the box itself to AR with the remote control by having no padding at either the start or end. Then with multimode, move any channels you want padded to the padding list through webif. If you have padding set up on the box itself and try and use AR your AR recordings will fail: you will just get orphaned hmt files and zero length recordings.
 
Thanks, have changed the on-box back to "off" now then and see if that helps, maybe that is what has been causing those 0's
 
Thanks, have changed the on-box back to "off" now then and see if that helps, maybe that is what has been causing those 0's
The recommendation is that the box should be set to AR On and only those channels that really need it be be set to Padding, don't use the convert to AR option of multimode settings.
(I use it for Pick & Dave since I rarely record from other minor channels without AR)
It may help to use the Refresh Events option on the schedule page to ensure that currently scheduled recordings reflect your current settings.
 
It certainly seems better over last day or so. Going to leave it for few days then factory default it if needed.

thanks for all the suggestions

Steve
 
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