live tv

[oldschool 7]

I found the attachment management, so nevermind on that question.

[krustyreturns 191]

Ah, I think that's the problem.  Serverwmc requires the 'recorded tv' folder be a share access for 'everybody'.

 

The credentials entry on the folder swmc tab is specific to xmbc running on non-windows clients, it doesn't do anything if the client is windows (mbs case).  

 

You aren't seeing the channel logos in the guide for the same reason.

 

Sorry about the confusion.  The next version of the mbs plugin and swmc will provide checks for this stuff and warnings, but the 'everybody' restriction will still be there. Also, the swmc window interface needs to be updated to differentiate between stuff that applies to xbmc and mbs.  Hopefully I'll  get time to do that before the next release too (looking doubtful though).

Edited January 31, 2014 by krustyreturns

[krustyreturns 191]

By 'images on the guide', do you mean you aren't seeing any data in the guide view?  Or just that you aren't seeing images?

 

Are your recordings visible?  If so, what happens when you play them?

 

Also, just as a sanity check, if you type '\\SPARE1\Users\Public\Recorded TV\' into the start menu on your mbs machine, does your network rec tv share open?

[krustyreturns 191]

Yikes.  I could be wrong of course, but I still think the problem is the shared path.  The next version will have a check so that we'll know for sure if that's the problem, this version its hard to tell.

 

I am lost where we are not.  On the start menu on the mb3 computer - using the SAME LOGIN that mb3 was started with -  type:

\\SPARE1\Users\Public\Recorded TV

 

it opens right?  and has the files inside it that you expect?

[oldschool 7]

By 'images on the guide', do you mean you aren't seeing any data in the guide view?  Or just that you aren't seeing images?

 

I see data in the guide view, I just don't see the channel logos (added with My Channel Logos)

 

Are your recordings visible?  If so, what happens when you play them?

 

No - no recordings are listed when I click the Recordings tab inside the web browser. It still gives me the error message "The added or subtracted value results in an unrepresentable date-time. Parameter Name: VALUE".

 

Also, just as a sanity check, if you type '\\SPARE1\Users\Public\Recorded TV\' into the start menu on your mbs machine, does your network rec tv share open?

 

Yes. It seems to take about 15 seconds, but it finally does list the contents of that folder. It is password protected on the network it seems like, so I have to use login credentials on the requesting machine to access it, but yes, I'm able to see it in a file browser window. I tried it on the server, and I had to put in the password, but it shows it now (and I remembered credentials on there). Even after logging into the server using the credentials, I still get the "added or subtracted" error.

 

[oldschool 7]

I went to the server (Server 2008) with MB3 installed. I went to Start and in the search box I typed in "\\SPARE1\Users\Public\Recorded TV" and hit enter. The file browser opened up and immediately shows the folder from the computer with ServerWMC installed and the recorded TV files in it (WTV files). Normally those files are moved 5 minutes after they are recorded. The folder also includes the TempXBMC and TempRec folders. I can access that all from the server as well as the PC that I'm using to browse the webUI for Media Browser.

[Guest virtualtinker]

While trying to repoint my recordings, it seems that WMC crashes every time I try to start a live feed.  To begin with, if WMC is pointed to the default location on C for where recordings go, watching live TV and recording seems to work fine.  The problem only occurs once I change the default media location to my NAS drive.  Regarding the NAS drive, my WMC server also serves as a FlexRaid tRaid drive.  All of my drives are pooled into a non-removeable drive, D.  If I try and record from WMC, the stream records fine to the D drive.  However, once I try viewing a life feed via MBS, the ServerWMC crashes every time as soon as I click play.  If I repoint WMC to record back on the default C drive location, the live feed works fine again.  The computer is Windows 8.1, fully patched.  The only additional software installed is WMC, ServerWMC, FlexRaid, MediaBrowser Server, and a VNC server.

 

I've attached the SWMC log file from the last crash.  If there are any other questions I can help answer, or any other logs needed, let me know.  Thanks for any help!

[krustyreturns 191]

@@virtualtinker

 

I don't believe wmc can use a NAS for the recorded tv drive, it has to be a local drive.  Maybe search the wmc forums to see if there is a workaround.

[krustyreturns 191]

@@oldschool

 

Does server 2008 play a wtv file? 

[Guest virtualtinker]

@@virtualtinker

 

I don't believe wmc can use a NAS for the recorded tv drive, it has to be a local drive.  Maybe search the wmc forums to see if there is a workaround.

 

@@krustyreturns

 

My NAS and Windows box are the same machine.  Flexraid sits on top of Windows and uses local drives and pools their storage together to create something like a file level raid with a parity drive similar to a RAID 5 or 6.  In the case of my raid, I setup the storage pool so Windows thinks it's a non removable drive.  As such,  WMC was able to successfully record to the pooled Flexraid drive because it thinks the drive is local.  The only problem I had was when trying to start a live feed via SWMC with WMC pointed to the pooled Flexraid drive.  As mentioned that crashes every time a feed is opened.

 

Does that make sense?  I can try and post some pictures or if you have some kind of screen sharing software, I can try and go into more detail to better explain how Flexraid works.  I'm sure there are a good number of other users using Flexraid as well, so I would more than welcome hearing their experiences in setting up the DVR piece as well.

[krustyreturns 191]

Its making more sense, thanks for the background.  So wmc can both play live-tv and store recordings on this 'D' drive? And swmc was working when you just had the normal rec tv folder, but crashed after you moved it?

 

Looking at the log file it looks like the tuner & stream start up okay, but the problem happens in the remux (my code not MS), basically here:

 

2014/02/01 00:35:39.308 Uncaught Thread Exception: System.ArgumentException: Handle does not support synchronous operations. The parameters to the FileStream constructor may need to be changed to indicate that the handle was opened asynchronously (that is, it was opened explicitly for overlapped I/O).

 

Since I have never seen this weird ass error before, I assume it is due to your NAS setup, but is there anything else that is running or looking at the files when it is on the NAS directory?

 

Assuming the answer is no, it looks like the OS wants me to open as an async filestream rather than what I am doing now.  I will have to look into this some more and maybe give you an experimental build to try, are willing to debug if I do?  Maybe scarecrow who knows the code also will have some ideas before then.

Edited February 1, 2014 by krustyreturns

[Guest virtualtinker]

Aside from media browser and a nightly scheduled task initiated by Flexraid, nothing I have points to data within the storage pool.

 

I'm wondering if it could possibly have something to do with the parity. So there are two versions of Flexraid with the biggest difference having to do with how parity is handled. In the case of the version I have, parity is calculated and written real time on new writes. The older version you needed to set a scheduled task to write parity. As the new version only came out in November, I don't know how many users here even have the version I'm running.

 

In any case, I am more than happy to assist in any way I can to help you troubleshoot my issue. Just let me know what you want me to do on my end. Thanks for everything!

[krustyreturns 191]

@@virtualtinker

 

Still wondering about this:

Was swmc working when you just had the normal rec tv folder, but crashed after you moved it?  Or did you not  try it?

[Guest virtualtinker]

@@krustyreturns

 

Both live feed and recording work when writing to the default C drive location. SWMC only crashes once the recording location is swung over to D. If I repoint WMC back to C, everything is sunshine and rainbows again.

 

I'm out now but when I get some time today, I will try tinkering with some of the settings and see if I can isolate specifically what causes the crash.

Edited February 1, 2014 by virtualtinker

[careca 11]

Just fyi -I have the recorded tv folder repointed to the D drive and SWMC works just fine. I guess the problem is related to the fact that the location in question is part of the Flexraid drive pool.

[Guest virtualtinker]

Okay, I think I have it figured out what SWMC isn't playing nice with.  There are a number of performance tweaking settings that I think are unique to tRaid (a Raid-F user will have to correct me on this one).  There is a specific setting, Tagged Command Queuing that seems to be causing all the problems.  Once I disable this feature, both the live feeds and recordings seem to work fine on the pooled storage drive.

 

If you want to read more about TCQ and how it works specifically for Flexraid, then try this link, http://forum.flexraid.com/index.php/topic,2585.msg17912.html#msg17912.  In any case, I am going to leave this disabled as I know now that this is what's causing all the trouble.  If you want to try and work around it, then I am more than willing to try and experimental builds, but it would be good for you guys to be aware in any case, as this could come up again with any future tRaid users and SWMC.

 

Thanks for such an amazing product!

[krustyreturns 191]

Nice work!!  I think this fits with something I found about what the error is actually due to:

 

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12608190/handle-does-not-support-synchronous-operations-with-createfile

 

I may still look into it when I finish on what I am working on now, but its great to know the workaround. If I do decide to try something I will hit you up to test.  If you find the workaround is unacceptable due to performance let me know that too.

 

@@careca,

Thanks for the info.

[oldschool 7]

@@oldschool

 

Does server 2008 play a wtv file? 

No - Server 2008 doesn't come with WMC.

 

The host machine with WMCServer on it does play WTV files though.

[Guest virtualtinker]

@@krustyreturns

 

Okay, so I've had some time to use it when pointed to my Flexraid storage pool and the performance is pretty terrible.  I've had SWMC randomly crash, reboot my machine, somehow crash my storage pool, and generally perform poorly when it's not wrecking other chaos.  Videos start but hang permanantly within a few seconds.  Other times the videos don't even start at all.  I also have had that asynchronous error pop up again.  I tried lowering the bitrate of the transcode to the 720p 1.5 mb (prior I was using 720p 4 mb), and even at that low a bitrate, I was still having issues.  Just to make sure the problem was the storage pool and not something with my hardware or other settings, I repointed my recording drive back to my C and had no problem playing an HD live stream at 720p 4mb.  DVR works fine when pointing to the storage pool; it's only when the transcoding process against the live stream.

 

I copied off a piece of my log from earlier tonight; it doesn't have all of the issues I've run into, but I'm guessing it should have something.  If not, I'll keep messing with it more and do a better job of grabbing log files as problems occur.  If there's anything else you want me to do, screenshots of settings, testing different scenarios, screen sharing etc., let me know.  I'll do whatever you need me to do to help you troubleshoot and get my wife to stop griping at me that I make things more difficult.

Edited February 4, 2014 by virtualtinker

[Guest virtualtinker]

@@krustyreturns

 

Okay, I think I figured out the next problem.  There is a vague setting in the tRaid performance options named "Direct I/O".  The setting's helper tooltop is pretty vague as to what it does, but when I disabled it, the live feed seems to work pretty well and only has the occasional stutters from the transcode instead of being totally unusable.  I've attached the log file from the past 10 or so minutes after disabling Direct I/O in case there is anything in there of interest to you.

 

Funny that none of Flexraid's performance tools seem to be any good with SWMC.  I pretty much had to disable everything.

 

 

 

Edit 10:35 CST:  Okay, further testing and the stuttering still occurs even as I crank down the bitrate. I went as low as 480p and was still having a good amount of stuttering. I pull up the logfile and I still am seeing quite a bit of asynchronous errors. I have updated the attached log file which contains everything since disabling Direct IO. I have one more setting I can try in the storage pooling options (storage pool caching), but after that, I've pretty much disabled every tweak I see that has to do with manipulating the data. I will try that tomorrow morning.

Edited February 4, 2014 by virtualtinker

[scarecrow420 8]

Are you in a position to try out XBMC with ServerWMC backend at all?  It would highlight whether the problem sits in the MB3 plugin or transcoding etc, or ServerWMC itself...

[Guest virtualtinker]

@@scarecrow420

 

I can give it a try tonight; I am currently at work and XBMC doesn't seem to be RDP friendly.

 

I did do some additional testing and turning off storage pool caching caused SWMC to crash every time I turned on a live stream so that went back on.  However, I did find that if I changed the profile from energy efficient to performance, then that cleared up pretty much all the stuttering so the video plays fairly well now.  However, after anywhere from 1-3 minutes or so, the stream just suddenly stops.  Looking at the log, most of the time I couldn't see anything saying why the stream stopped.  However, there were a couple of instances where that asynchronous error message came up.  I've attached the most current log file for that.  As I said, I will try and see if I can get XBMC setup tonight to help rule out whether the problem is specific to SWMC or something on related to MBS or the transcoding itself.

Edited February 4, 2014 by virtualtinker

[Guest virtualtinker]

@@scarecrow420

 

The live stream still drops using XBMC.  Looking at the log, it looks similar to the prior logs I've uploaded in that I see the asynchronous messages still.

 

2014/02/04 18:41:46.074 GetRecordings>    Transfered: RecTV folder files: 0,  watched files: 0

2014/02/04 18:41:46.074 GetRecordings>    Ignored:  local files: 0, temp files: 0

2014/02/04 18:41:46.074 GetRecordings>    Weird files:  no program: 0, no channel: 0, orphaned: 0

2014/02/04 18:41:46.074 GetRecordings>    Misc:  content protected: 0, icons: 0, instantRec: 0, metaDataReads: 0

2014/02/04 18:41:46.074 Finished request GetRecordings in 0.05s

2014/02/04 18:41:55.050 Parse> Exception: 

2014/02/04 18:41:55.050 Parse>   Pass: mux2ts

2014/02/04 18:41:55.050 Parse>   Guid count: 54074

2014/02/04 18:41:55.052 Parse>   Header: Guid: TIMING_GUID, len: 88, pad 0, sId: 55, WtvCnt: 11393, isValid: True

2014/02/04 18:41:55.052 Parse>   re-throwing exception

2014/02/04 18:41:55.060 Remux> error: System.ArgumentException: Handle does not support synchronous operations. The parameters to the FileStream constructor may need to be changed to indicate that the handle was opened asynchronously (that is, it was opened explicitly for overlapped I/O).

   at Remuxer.demux.microsoft.WtvToPesDemuxer.parse(JobStreamI stream, MuxManager muxManager)

   at Remuxer.muxer.MuxManager.mux(JobStreamI stream)

   at Remuxer.Remux.Start()

2014/02/04 18:41:55.275 Remux> requesting D:\Recorded TV\TempXBMC\LiveTV_Media-PC_Digital Cable_681_2014_02_04_18_40_08.wtv be saved from deletion

2014/02/04 18:41:55.275 Remux> ENDED, >>>>>>>>>> Run Time: 1.74 min <<<<<<<<<<

2014/02/04 18:41:55.311 StreamFileSize> error: remux is no longer running

2014/02/04 18:41:55.912 StreamFileSize> error: remux is no longer running

2014/02/04 18:41:57.699 Received client request: Media-PC|CloseLiveStream

2014/02/04 18:41:57.700 CloseLiveStream> -----------------start------------------------

2014/02/04 18:41:57.704 StreamProc::Close> remuxer was not running

2014/02/04 18:41:57.705 RecordToWTV::Close> isPassive is False => COM recorder will be stopped

2014/02/04 18:41:57.805 StreamProc::Close> wtv closed successfully

2014/02/04 18:41:57.857 StreamProc::Close> wtv file size: 174,850,048

2014/02/04 18:41:58.139 StreamProc::Close> WTV FILE SAVED FOR DEBUG: D:\Recorded TV\TempXBMC\LiveTV_Media-PC_Digital Cable_681_2014_02_04_18_40_08.wtv

2014/02/04 18:41:58.190 StreamProc::Close> ts file size: 170,885,120

2014/02/04 18:41:58.488 StreamProc::Close> file deleted: D:\Recorded TV\TempXBMC\LiveTV_Media-PC_Digital Cable_681_2014_02_04_18_40_08.ts

2014/02/04 18:41:58.488 StreamProc::Close> closed in 0.78 sec

2014/02/04 18:41:58.488 Close> closed stream for client: Media-PC

2014/02/04 18:41:58.488 CloseLiveStream> -----------------done-------------------------

2014/02/04 18:41:58.488 Finished request CloseLiveStream in 0.79s

[scarecrow420 8]

cool thanks for confirming.  Obviously something in the standard c# code we are using to access the fie system is not liking how flexraid presents the pooled drive.  We might be able to look into changing things as the error message mentions but I feel if those changes ran too deep, we might not want to do it considering things work fine on everyone elses setup.  It could just be that you need to dedicate a data volume outside your flexraid setup for the live/instant recorded TV streams.  You could then use our post processing feature to move completed recordings onto the flexraid volume, and have that setup as an additional watched folder.  

[Guest virtualtinker]

Having to get a dedicated drive was what I was thinking also if making this change proved to be too invasive.  What I am curious right now is if the storage pooling works the same with FlexRaid's Raid-F solution as it does with the tRaid (what I use).  I'm also curious if my issue is simply a one off somehow or if it could be reproduceable using, say, the FlexRaid trial.  If I can get a computer appropriate for it, I might just try and see if I can do a trial and reproduce it just to confirm.

 

In any case, thanks for looking up to this point.  If after messing with it, you feel making this just isn't going to happen, I guess I'll be looking at getting that additional drive.