Recording failed: Windows goes sleep between Emby "Wake" Task and start of scheduled recording.

[dpr59 2]

Hi,

I had a failed recording last night, and from looking at the sever log and Windows Task Scheduler, I think this resulted from an Emby issue. 

I am running Emby Server on a Windows 11 PC with a TV tuner.  The PC is configured to enter sleep mode if idle for 20 minutes.  I think Emby schedules a wake timer in Windows Task Scheduler to trigger 5 minutes before starting a recording. However, if the wake task runs while the PC is already awake and the 20-minute idle timer expires before the recording starts, the PC will go to sleep, causing the recording to fail. 

I am happy to be told otherwise, but if this is correct, then Emby need to do something to reset the idle timer to prevent the PC from going into standby mode between the wake task triggering and the scheduled recording commencing. 

It would be helpful if Emby could confirm the cause (or otherwise), and if I am correct commit to fix this in a future update. 

Apologies if my analysis is incorrect, and happy to take any advice on how to fix this (without keeping the PC awake 24x7).

Now the details.  I have attached the Emby log and a screen shot of the Windows Task Manager showing the scheduled wake event.

The recording which failed was set some days ago as part of a series record.  The recoding was of the Great British Menu, starting at 20:00 yesterday (11th March 2025), so with my three minutes pre recording padding, Emby should have set a Wake Task to run at 19:52 and a timer to commencing the recording at 19:57. 

From examining the logs myself this is what I think they tell us:

1.  Yesterday: The logs record that Emby set a timer to trigger to commence this recording several times during the day.  This last occurred at 19:51:44 with a delay of just over five minutes, i.e. nominally firing at 19:57.  

2.  19:52:  The Windows Task Scheduler (see screenshot) shows a completed task set to run at 19:52 to wake the PC.  The last run result is (0x0) which I understand means it ran successfully.   However, the Emby log entries indicate the PC was already awake at this time.

3.  19:54:06:  The Emby logs record a PC power mode change to "Suspend".

4.  20:11:40:  This is the next Emby log entry and records a "Timechanged" event.  I think this means the PC woke from sleep, and on reflection resulted from a user waking the PC.

5.  20:11:40 timer triggered to initiate recording of Great British Menu.  This is after the recording was scheduled to start recording at 19:57.  The recording commenced at this time and ended as expected.

Taking this information together, it appears to me that the PC went to sleep between the Emby initiated task to wake the PC at 19:52 and before Emby was able to commence the recording at 19:57.  Given the PC was already awake but largely inactive at 19:52, I think its idle timer expired at 19:54 and the PC went to sleep before Emby could start the recording at 19:57.  Hence, its not enough to set a wake task, Emby needs to prevent the PC sleeping during the five minutes until the  scheduled recording commences.

(NOTE:  there were two identical recordings created, but I think its best to focus on the failure of the scheduled recording to start on time, and not get into why the recording was duplicated.)

Apologies again if my analysis is incorrect, and I would appreciate any advice on how to fix this (without keeping the PC awake 24x7).

Regards

David Richards

embyserver-63877334400.txt

[Luke 42078]

Hi, we’ll take a look at it. Thanks for reporting.

[dpr59 2]

Thanks Luke, in the meantime I have disabled power saving during periods of likely recording.  If you need anything else from me, let me know,

David.