Multiple Failed Recordings

[Last.To.Know]

Hello.

I had a couple of "Failed recordings: Unable to track" a couple of days ago.

I powered down, waited for the click and then turned off at the back.

I waited 5 minutes and then powered up again.

Last night, another batch of "Failed recordings: Unable to track".

I set a new recording this morning with the same result.

The red recording ring failed to appear.

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[Black Hole]

Specifics required: exactly what were you trying to record; what is your tuned set (available from WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Mux Info); which service was on the live output when the recording was due.

However, I presume there will be nothing untoward found from those details, and if you don't want to wait around for a long discussion with (probably) no conclusion, what I suggest is a Factory Reset.

 

[Last.To.Know]

Thanks for the reply, BH.

"what were you trying to record"
All recordings were from HD channels:-
BBC1
BBC2
C4
C5

"WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Mux Info"

Cambs & Beds

PSB3/BBC B

DVB-T2 (HD;6

"which service was on the live output"
250 BBC Red Button

A Factory Reset sounds drastic.
What would I lose?

 

[EEPhil]

A Factory Reset sounds drastic.
What would I lose?

Channels and recording schedule - so make a note or take a photo first. If the Fox is anything like later models a factory reset will offer you the option of formatting the disk. DON'T otherwise you will lose recordings!

 

[Black Hole]

A Factory Reset sounds drastic.
What would I lose?

Nothing, so long as you are adequately prepared: Restoring User Settings after Restore Factory Defaults

Thus, with the appropriate use of boot-settings, tunefix, and auto-schedule-restore, the only thing left to configure manually after a factory reset (followed by a reboot) is the networking.

Frankly, I'm amazed if you've never been through the process before. There can be very few of us who have never had a random factory reset event, and you're much better off performing a planned one than have one forced upon you.

The fact is that a simple reboot does not flush a screwed-up database, but a Factory Reset will.

The details you provided in post 3 are inadequate to trace back the EPG flag events which control AR recordings (prpr is running a log). If the HDR were running properly, "failed to track" means the trigger flag was not received within the valid timing window, which can mean the broadcaster did not transmit them correctly (it happens). Other causes include late schedule changes (eg due to over-running live sport), or mixed transmitters. However, as you say this is spread over multiple services, and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt re transmitters (again, your information is incomplete), multiple recording failures do not appear to be down to the originator (although if they are all on a common mux perhaps we can suspect the transmitter itself?). Another possibility is the current process for the regionalisation of BBC ONE HD.

If you want to hold on to the hope that the problem is external, that's up to you.

 

[Last.To.Know]

Thank you, BH for your fulsome and informative reply.

I have boot-settings, tunefix, and auto-schedule-restore installed, so I will attempt the restore this afternoon.

FAO prpr

Failed recordings
Richard Osman's House of Games (BBC TWO HD - Wed Apr 26 18:00:00 BST 2023 - 18:30)
Celebrity Eggheads (Channel 5 HD - Wed Apr 26 18:30:00 BST 2023 - 19:00)
Match of the Day (BBC ONE HD - Wed Apr 26 22:40:00 BST 2023 - 00:05)
Keeping Up with the Joneses (Channel 4 HD - Thu Apr 27 02:00:00 BST 2023 - 03:40)

BH, if there is any more information I can provide which may be helpful for the future, let me know.

 

[prpr]

Have you got tunefix-update installed?
As you are in the East, which is one of the regions affected, if you haven't or haven't done a retune since 11:00 yesterday then you won't get ANYTHING recorded on any channel on PSB3 (the one with all the HD services).

A reset seems a bit drastic.

I'm afraid my logger is currently broken, due to it only being half written, being a lash-up of bits, and now I'm having signal problems again which is causing errors which the lash-up can't cope with. And I'm away and have no time either.

 

[bottletop]

Thanks for the reply, BH.

"what were you trying to record"
All recordings were from HD channels:-
BBC1
BBC2
C4
C5

"WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Mux Info"

Cambs & Beds

PSB3/BBC B

DVB-T2 (HD;6

"which service was on the live output"
250 BBC Red Button

A Factory Reset sounds drastic.
What would I lose?

So, are you saying all recordings failed?
Or only HD recordings failed and other i.e. SD recordings were ok? If so then maybe it's specific to one mux?

 

[Black Hole]

Have you got tunefix-update installed? ...if you haven't and haven't done a retune since 11:00 yesterday then you won't get ANYTHING recorded on any channel on PSB3

But that wouldn't affect anything before 11am yesterday?

I had a couple of "Failed recordings: Unable to track" a couple of days ago.

Even if it did, would they be "failed to track"? I guess they might.

A reset seems a bit drastic.

We have tools which make it not very drastic at all, but you have boosted the likelihood of this having an external cause. Nonetheless, a Restore Factory Defaults (which includes a retune) followed by a WebIF-mediated "Restore User Settings" will address that particular problem.

if there is any more information I can provide which may be helpful for the future, let me know.

The issue here is that you provided only the vaguest of information in your first post, and then filtered the information presented in the second post. When asking questions, always look at your post from the perspective of somebody trying to help.

 

[Last.To.Know]

Have you got tunefix-update installed?
As you are in the East, which is one of the regions affected, if you haven't and haven't done a retune since 11:00 yesterday then you won't get ANYTHING recorded on any channel on PSB3 (the one with all the HD services).

Really? What happened? I could view C4 and ITV1 live through the Humax last night.
[Edit] Yes, I have tunefix-update installed.

So, are you saying all recordings failed?
Or only HD recordings failed and other i.e. SD recordings were ok? If so then maybe it's specific to one mux?

All recordings for last night.
I only record HD.

The issue here is that you provided only the vaguest of information in your first post, and then filtered the information presented in the second post. When asking questions, always look at your post from the perspective of somebody trying to help.

Whilst I try to be as detailed as possible in order to be helpful (and thus allow you to be helpful to me), I may not know what you need to know.

Or I may not know how specific I need to be.

 

[bottletop]

..
All recordings for last night.
I only record HD.

That wasn't obvious to me when I read the first post.
Currently we only have one mux for the HD channels. This mux may also have 5Select and TBN UK.
What you need to do is something like
Record a short clip on both, say, BBC1 and BBC1 HD.
That will ensure you record using 2 muxes. If the SD one records ok and the HD one doesn't, then you have your answer, as @prpr eluded to earlier.

 

[RobH1]

I switched on last night to watch MOTD (SD) and noticed no red recording light for the event in HD. I had no signal for HD channels (Caldbeck).
Retuned TV this morning, all is well, FoxT2 also.

 

[Last.To.Know]

As per BH's advice, I did a Restore Factory Defaults (AKA "factory reset") operation Menu >> Settings >> Installation >> Factory Default.

Everything appears to be functional and my settings, recording schedule etc. are back thanks to boot-settings, tunefix, and auto-schedule-restore.

If Richard Osman's House of Pain, sorry, Games is recorded, I'll consider this a success.

I'd like to thank BH and everyone else in the thread for their help.

 

[prpr]

But that wouldn't affect anything before 11am yesterday?

Correct. The service information (in simplistic terms, the EPG) for the old PSB3 setup went away at 11:00 yesterday, and was replaced by the service information for the new setup. This was to support the second phase of BBC ONE HD regionalisation in England. The media streams use the same IDs so the video/audio continues to work (in most cases).
The EPG disappears, but you are not immediately aware because the Humax software caches it all.
Any recordings in progress when the change happened (e.g. the snooker on BBC TWO HD) wouldn't have got the stop signal, which is what happened. Any triggers for the new service/transport stream IDs won't work on the old services configured on people's receiving kit until they retune to pick up the new IDs.

Really? What happened? I could view C4 and ITV1 live through the Humax last night.

See above.

[Edit] Yes, I have tunefix-update installed.

Had it updated to version 1.0.128 and have you rebooted since it did so? Obviously not. Anyway I see you've retuned, so it's moot.

as @prpr eluded to earlier.

AvP: alluded

 

[Last.To.Know]

Correct. The service information (in simplistic terms, the EPG) for the old PSB3 setup went away at 11:00 yesterday, and was replaced by the service information for the new setup. This was to support the second phase of BBC ONE HD regionalisation in England. The media streams use the same IDs so the video/audio continues to work (in most cases).
The EPG disappears, but you are not immediately aware because the Humax software caches it all.
Any recordings in progress when the change happened (e.g. the snooker on BBC TWO HD) wouldn't have got the stop signal, which is what happened. Any triggers for the new service/transport stream IDs won't work on the old services configured on people's receiving kit until they retune to pick up the new IDs.

See above.

Had it updated to version 1.0.128 and have you rebooted since it did so? Obviously not. Anyway I see you've retuned, so it's moot.

AvP: alluded

Ah, so that'll be why I'm seeing BBC ONE EastHD in my schedule, EPG...

 

[inspiredron]

In the last couple of months I have had 2 isolated examples of this type of failure. I receive programs from the Wrekin transmitter. Recently I have used the Humax very little but I set it up to record the recent David Attenborough series on the UK wildlife. Episode 2 failed with the failed to track error. All the remaining episodes recorded perfectly. Last night (28/4) I attempted to record a Channel 5 HD program at 8pm and that failed. I did not notice that the red ring had not brightened as I was actually watching the same program - using my TV tuner directly rather than the hdmi output from the Humax. The channel 5 program was not delayed. In both cases I was recording the HD channel - 101 and 105 respectively. No other recordings were being made or accessed at the time of either failure.
I have not done a factory reset recently though the intermittent nature of the fault seems to indicate that the problem lies with reception of the trigger rather than the Humax itself. In exploring after discovering the latest failure I noticed that the signal level was reported inadequate on Channel 56 which I believe is on the same mux as 105 (5HD). 5HD is received perfectly on the Humax with no artefacts.
I think that is all that I can tell you clever chaps to help me to debug this issue. I'd appreciate any thoughts. Might I fare better if I stick to SD channels for important recordings?

 

[inspiredron]

As an addition to the above - there was a fleeting message on my TV a couple of weeks ago that HD channels needed s retune. I did this on both TV and Humax and now BBC1 HD carries regional news following national news instead of the old message that regional news was not available on 1HD. So I shouldn't be affected by the EPG issue mentioned above.

 

[Black Hole]

I have had 2 isolated examples of this type of failure

That is not unusual and not something we can do much about. If the broadcaster fails to flag the transmission correctly, the recorder (waiting for the correct programme flag) doesn't see it within the valid time period and registers it as a "failed to track" fault. This might also occur if a programme is delayed to outside its valid window.

The problem discussed in this thread is systematic rather than isolated.

More info: Things Every... (click) section 3.

 

[philbean]

I've been getting a few recently too.
Seems to be BBC One HD at fault for me.
Have I Got News last week.
Blue Lights tonight.

 

[prpr]

OK here:
01 19:01:51 Event 17537:14526 4F:02 started 19:00:00 01:00:00 "MasterChef" "/m/VOFC" "/m/V9VX" 01 20:00:58 Event 17537:14527 4F:03 started 20:00:00 01:00:00 "Blue Lights" "/p/66WUDY" "/p/66WANM" 01 20:59:56 Event 17537:14528 4F:04 started 21:00:00 00:20:00 "BBC News and Weather" "/m/VOFE" "/b/474WY"

There is no "BBC One HD" any more. That's the old non-regionalised name.