HDHomeRun tuner not released after stopping Live TV (Kodi + IPTV Simple Client + Emby for Kodi Next Gen)

[hetkoznap 5]

First of all I’m not sure exactly what’s causing the problem (Emby Server, IPTV Simple Client, Emby for Kodi Next Gen, Kodi, HDHomerRun), but I have to start troubleshooting somewhere, so I apologize in advance if this issue isn’t related to the Emby Server.

Environment:
- Emby Server 4.9.5.0 on DietPi 10.4.2 (Debian 6.12.90-2 amd64)
- HDHomeRun HDHR5-4DT (fw: 20260326) 
- Kodi 21.3 on NVIDIA SHIELD Pro
- Emby for Kodi Next Gen Kodi addon 12.4.21
- IPTV Simple Client Kodi addon 21.11.0

When I start a Live TV channel through Kodi using the IPTV Simple Client addon, stopping playback does not release the HDHomeRun tuner. The tuner keeps streaming indefinitely until I restart the Emby server. If you switch channels the second tuner will also be occupied. The HDHomeRun HDHR5-4DT has four tuners, so after the fourth channel the fifth won't start.
Importantly, this issue only occurs when using the IPTV Simple Client addon in Kodi. When I start/stop playback using the HDHomeRun Kodi addon, the native Emby for Android app, the Emby web interface or the Emby for iOS app the tuner is released correctly every time.

- The issue is not caused by another client actively watching the same channel
- The issue is not present when using other methods to watch TV
- Restarting the Emby server immediately releases the tuner, confirming Emby holds the connection (but it isn't shown on the web dashboard after stopping the channel)

I upgraded from Emby Server 4.9.3.0 to 4.9.5.0 shortly after its release and I believe the issue started around that time — though I cannot confirm this with 100% certainty.

I am not sure which component is responsible. It could be:
- A bug in Emby Server 4.9.5.0
- A bug in the Emby for Kodi Next Gen addon (delayed or missing session close)
- A bug in the IPTV Simple Client addon (not properly signalling stream stop to Emby)
- A combination of the above
- Or anything else

Thank you for looking into this!

embyserver.txt

[Luke 42555]

@quickmicthe sequence is:

/playbackinfo?isplayback=true&autoopenlivestream=true

... start streaming from static.mpegts

...stop streaming

/playbackinfo?isplayback=true&autoopenlivestream=true

... start streaming from static.mpegts

...stop streaming

report playback stop

So you've opened two live streams but only closed one.

First, you probably want to find out why it starts, stops calls playbackinfo again, then starts again. Once you know why, then there are several possible courses of action:

• If the user stopped and then started again, then there should have been a playback stop report after the first stream attempt
• If the user did something that requires a stream change like changing quality, then you should add &livestreamid=xxx to the second /playbackinfo request. This will prevent it from opening a second live stream.
• If this is error recovery and you're going to retry, then it's the same as above
• If this is just normal behavior for the kodi video player where it might disconnect/reconnect, then you might not need the second /playbackinfo

[quickmic 1732]

@hetkoznap

I will check it, how did you stop the livetv on Kodi?

Did you press the stop button after waching livetv?

Did you just select another livetv channel without stopping the the first tvstream?

Did you watch/select other content without actively stopping the tvstream?

Did you toggle the audio stream or some other videos/audio settings while playing livetv?

Did Kodi go to standby at any point?

Did Kodi crash at any point ?

Can you send me a kodi debug log via PM please. Debug mode can be enabled in plugin menu -> services -> emby for kodi next gen -> advanced -> debug log.

 

fyi, streams are perfectly stopped on my setup. Maybe also try the default Kodi skin to rule that out.

Edited 22 hours ago by quickmic

[hetkoznap 5]

Quote

Did you press the stop button after waching livetv?

Yes. I pressed the Select button twice on the Shield's remote (not frantically, there was at least 2-3 seconds between button presses). The first press brought up the Kodi interface/overlay, the second stopped the live TV.

Quote

Did you just select another livetv channel without stopping the the first tvstream?

No. In the log I uploaded I just stopped the live TV but previously I tried switching channels without stopping. If I remember correctly when I switched channels the HDHomeRun didn't start using a different tuner; instead the broadcast switched to the new channel on tuner0 but when the I stopped the TV broadcast the channel stuck to that tuner just the same. After stopping the channel I tried to start another TV stream, then the new stream would start up on tuner1 because tuner0 was already playing the previously "stopped" channel.

Quote

Did you watch/select other content without actively stopping the tvstream?

No.

Quote

Did Kodi go to standby at any point?

No.

Quote

Did Kodi crash at any point ?

No.

Additional information:

- I tried Emby for Kodi Next Gen versions .13 and .18 also but the same problem persisted with those as well. After each version change I performed a factory reset in the addon.
- At first I had Kodi 21.2 installed when I noticed this behaviour. I then updated to 21.3 but that didn't fix the problem. I even tried resetting Kodi and setting up everything new too.

 

Edited 22 hours ago by hetkoznap

[hetkoznap 5]

1 hour ago, quickmic said:

Can you send me a kodi debug log via PM please. Debug mode can be enabled in plugin menu -> services -> emby for kodi next gen -> advanced -> debug log.

fyi, streams are perfectly stopped on my setup. Maybe also try the default Kodi skin to rule that out.

I'll send you the log in one or two hours!

I'm using the default skin. The reason I tried resetting Kodi because previously (long before this problem occured or I noticed) I tried a couple of different skins but in the end I stayed with the original skin, but that meant that Kodi had a lot of addons installed I didn't needed, so that's why I tried resetting it to get rid of those addons and start fresh.

[quickmic 1732]

I think I found the problem... I try to fix it.