[mballou]

I was able to watch liveTV from my OpenElec running on Raspberry Pi 2 before. But for some reason, every channel gets the "LiveTV error, exited early" message.

The server log shows PROT_COPY_CN_RECORDING_STOP. This is just for a local channel (channel 2) which shouldn't be encrypted in any way. I can watch the channel on the media center server directly.

This is in the log each time I try to view the channel:

-----------------------------------------

2015/04/17 21:08:08.581 Received client request: OE-LivingRoom|192.168.105.145|OpenLiveStream|262223035|0|2|KCBS/2
2015/04/17 21:08:08.581 OpenLiveStream> -----------------start------------------------
2015/04/17 21:08:08.581 OpenLiveStream> client: OE-LivingRoom requesting live stream
2015/04/17 21:08:08.583 LiveRemuxStream> live-tv started
2015/04/17 21:08:08.584 SetChannel> Channel: 2 : KCBS - FA134BB = { (2 : KCBS - 8C46) + [ 2 : KCBS - FA12AC8] }
2015/04/17 21:08:08.584 SetChannel> Tuners available for this channel: 4
2015/04/17 21:08:08.584 SetChannel> Tuner DecoyMethod: OnDemand
2015/04/17 21:08:08.584 SetChannel> ---
2015/04/17 21:08:08.584 SetChannel> Attempt: 0, Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-37-a7) Tuner 4 (00-00-22-00-00-80-37-a7) / bb243fca-3985-41d9-bbbc-5b9097598b74
2015/04/17 21:08:08.584 SetChannel> > Encrypted: False
2015/04/17 21:08:08.588 SetChannel> > RecorderInfo found: True
2015/04/17 21:08:08.589 SetChannel> > Recorder Content Protection: PROT_COPY_CN_RECORDING_STOP
2015/04/17 21:08:08.589 SetChannel> > Status: Available, client:
2015/04/17 21:08:08.589 SetChannel> *** requested number of available tuners found, stopping search ***
2015/04/17 21:08:08.589 SetChannel> ---
2015/04/17 21:08:08.589 SetChannel> available tuners found: 1 [decoys:0], requested: 1, searched: 1
2015/04/17 21:08:08.589 SetChannel> Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-37-a7) Tuner 4 (00-00-22-00-00-80-37-a7) will be used for the live stream
2015/04/17 21:08:08.591 SetChannel> Recorder acquired: True
2015/04/17 21:08:08.887 SetChannel> TuneRequest set
2015/04/17 21:08:08.889 RecordToWTV::Close> isPassive is False => COM recorder will be stopped
2015/04/17 21:08:08.890 Record> Error: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0xC00D0BBD): Exception from HRESULT: 0xC00D0BBD

Server stack trace:
at ehiProxy.IRecorder.SetContentRecordName(String wzFilename, IMSVidStreamBufferRecordingControl& ppRecordingIUnknown)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink._PrivateProcessMessage(IntPtr md, Object[] args, Object server, Object[]& outArgs)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Messaging.StackBuilderSink.AsyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg, IMessageSink replySink)

Exception rethrown at [0]:
at Microsoft.MediaCenter.Pvr.RecorderAsyncWrapper.SetContentRecordName(String wzFileName)
at ServerWMC.Worker.RecordToWTV.Record()
2015/04/17 21:08:08.891 LiveRemuxStream> process start error: Record> Can't start recording calling Close()
2015/04/17 21:08:08.891 LiveRemuxStream::Close> closed in 0.00 sec
2015/04/17 21:08:08.891 OpenLiveStream> error: Record> Can't start recording
2015/04/17 21:08:08.891 Finished request OpenLiveStream in 0.31s

[krustyreturns]

I have never see that drm flag before. Have you tried just rebooting your server machine? It may be that the com drivers are just stuck in a weird state.

[mballou]

Weird. I swear I restarted the server to try and fix this already. This time I turned the server off and unplugged the switched TV box from the cable company just in case too.

Everything works fine after starting everything back up.

Thank you

[mballou]

The problem is coming back very consistently. Im not sure what triggers it. I can watch one or two channels, but when I switch the channel, I get this error with the same error in the log. Rebooting the server fixes it.

Ive tried with both the openelec client on raspberry pi 2 and the Windows Kodi client. Both clients can make the problem happen.

serverwmc Log posted: http://xbmclogs.com/pttnpqfs6


Server is 1.0.0.56.
Client is Kodi 14.2 on raspberry pi 2.

Problem occurred switching from channel 2 to channel 4. both local unencrypted channels.

[krustyreturns]

I don't know what is happening here either. Any other software making use of the tuners? You can go into the settings file of serverwmc (debug tab) and search for OnlyCopyFreeTuner and change its setting to true, ex:
<OnlyCopyFreeTuner>true</OnlyCopyFreeTuner>

then save the file and restart swmc. This will make swmc skip trying to use tuners with this drm setting. This should stop the error, unless all of your tuners are set the same way.

If all the tuners are set that way, try this experiment: start wmc, instead of rebooting, and watch live-tv on the same channel. Assuming it works, retry swmc after doing it, this will see if wmc resets the tuner state.

[CT324]

Sorry for the thread resurrection and long post, but the same thing was happening to me. Possible fix - or at least workaround - discussed below.

Setup: Main server PC is windows box running ServerWMC and WMC on a windows box with Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIe internal card. Server PC drives a TV and streams to several other computers running Kodi connected via LAN.

Periodically and intermittently, I would receive the "LiveTV error, exited early" error on every channel, every client. This intermittent error seems to occur after attempting to watch or record copy-once shows either on Kodi, or directly on WMC. I have Verizon Fios, and several of the Fox channels such as NGC, FXX and others added copy protection in August. Copy-once channels watch and record just fine in WMC, even when the error is occurring with Kodi/ServerWMC.

The problem seems to be in the interaction between ServerWMC and the Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIe card, when one or more tuners are tuned to a copy-once channel, even if the streaming or recording is finished. The tuners get "stuck" when they have been used to watch (on WMC) or record (on Kodi/ServerWMC) copy protected channels. Kodi/ServerWMC/WMC don't seem to be able to re-tune them to a copy-freely channel.

If ServerWMC attempted to use the "stuck" tuner, the "LiveTV Error, exited early" would appear accompanied by a log entry similar to one below.

Rebooting the computer containing the Ceton InfiniTV 6 PCIe card resets the tuners and problem goes away for a while until tuners get stuck again. Going to the local Ceton tuner web page and manually tuning a tuner stuck on a "copy-once" to a non-copy protected channel also works without rebooting.

The fix of changing the setup file to <OnlyCopyFreeTuner>true</OnlyCopyFreeTuner> was a partial solution and a step forward. After this, ServerWMC/Kodi would find a free tuner, and not get hung up on a stuck tuner, thus avoiding the error. However, when all the Ceton tuners had been tuned to copy-once channels, all of them were stuck and so attempting to watch live TV in Kodi resulted in the "Waiting" circle spinning for about 10 seconds, then fading away with no live stream starting. I don't have the log entry for this; as attempting to obtain it while writing this post would result in the WAF dropping to an unacceptably low level.

So then, I went to my LAN web page for the InfiniTV and changed the channel on the stuck tuner from a copy-once channel onto a random copy-freely channel. Kodi/ServerWMC started working normally. It would be nice to find an automatic way of doing this re-tuning.

I would like to thank Krusty for his effort on this fine piece of software. While not perfect, it's the best PVR back-end I have found, and it's the heart of my media center. Hopefully the information in this post will help others and can be used to make ServerWMC even better.

Sample log of the problem occurring:

2015/12/21 19:04:13.234 OpenLiveStream> -----------------start------------------------
2015/12/21 19:04:13.235 OpenLiveStream> client: myComputer requesting live stream on channel FNCHD-618
2015/12/21 19:04:13.235 LiveRemuxStream> live-tv started
2015/12/21 19:04:13.236 SetChannel> Channel: 618 : FNCHD - 90E8CAF = { (618 : FNCHD - 7AE1612) + [ 618 : FNCHD - 90E7A6E] }
2015/12/21 19:04:13.236 SetChannel> Tuners available for this channel: 6
2015/12/21 19:04:13.236 SetChannel> Tuner DecoyMethod: OnDemand
2015/12/21 19:04:13.236 SetChannel> ---
2015/12/21 19:04:13.236 SetChannel> Attempt: 0, Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (01-02-03-04) Tuner 6 (01-02-03-04-05-06-07-08) / verylongipV6addressgoeshere
2015/12/21 19:04:13.236 SetChannel> > Encrypted: False
2015/12/21 19:04:13.238 SetChannel> > RecorderInfo found: True
2015/12/21 19:04:13.239 SetChannel> > Recorder Content Protection: PROT_COPY_CN_RECORDING_STOP
2015/12/21 19:04:13.239 SetChannel> > Status: Available, client:
2015/12/21 19:04:13.239 SetChannel> *** requested number of available tuners found, stopping search ***
2015/12/21 19:04:13.239 SetChannel> ---
2015/12/21 19:04:13.239 SetChannel> available tuners found: 1 [decoys:0], requested: 1, searched: 1
2015/12/21 19:04:13.239 SetChannel> Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (01-02-03-04) Tuner 6 (01-02-03-04-06-06-07-08) will be used for the live stream
2015/12/21 19:04:13.240 SetChannel> Recorder acquired: True
2015/12/21 19:04:13.240 SetChannel> TuneRequest set
2015/12/21 19:04:13.241 RecordToWTV::Close> isPassive is False => COM recorder will be stopped
2015/12/21 19:04:13.241 Record> Error: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0xC00D0BBD): Exception from HRESULT: 0xC00D0BBD
*** Note that IP addresses and client names have been changed in the logs above

[krustyreturns]

Good info, I will look into this. Does using wmc to change the channel to a copy freely one also unstick the tuner?

[CT324]

Krusty,

Thank you very much for looking into this, and for Version 1225 which is now on my system. The new version did not seem to affect these error messages.

The short answer to your question is, "Yes, using WMC to change the channel to a copy freely one also unsticks one of the tuners."

The longer answer is more complicated. I have been receiving two types of errors in Kodi when attempting to watch Live TV at different times, depending on what I have been watching previously since the last reboot.

(1) The first error type reported by Kodi is "All tuners for this channel are busy". Tuning live TV is unsuccessful when this error occurs. This seems to occur when most of the tuners (or maybe the last tuner ServerWMC tries before giving up?) are stuck on a local broadcast channel. Here in Northern VA with Verizon FiOS, for these channels the local Ceton InfiniTV web page reports "Copy Protection: none". Tuners in this state seem to be associated with the message "PROT_COPY_NEVER" in the ServerWMC logs.

(2) The second error type reported by Kodi is "Live TV Error, Exited Early." Tuning live TV is unsuccessful when this error occurs. This seems to occur when most of the tuners (or maybe the last tuner ServerWMC tries before giving up?) are stuck on a Copy-Once channel such as FX, FXX, or NGC. The Ceton web page reports "Copy Protection: Copy Control Information: "One Copy" (0x02)". Tuners in this state seem to be associated with the message PROT_COPY_CN_RECORDING_STOP in the ServerWMC logs.

The strange thing is that I am able to tune local channels via ServerWMC the first time after a reboot or manual tuner un-sticking. I can watch the tuner live TV in Kodi or record it just fine upon this initial tuning. However, these tuners are then stuck to the local channel and unavailable for subsequent retuning by ServerWMC until manually unstuck via WMC, or the Ceton web page, or a reboot.

Here's a snippet from the logs of Server WMC searching though tuners containing both types of errors and skipping tuners stuck on non copy-free channels until it finds a tuner already on a "copy free" channel, which it is then able to re-tune to the desired live TV show. Full logs are linked at bottom of this post, and contain a few more examples. Note that my ServerWMC settings file already contains the non-default setting <OnlyCopyFreeTuner>true</OnlyCopyFreeTuner>.

2015/12/27 10:29:11.082 OpenLiveStream> -----------------start------------------------
2015/12/27 10:29:11.083 OpenLiveStream> client: Kodi^LIVINGROOM requesting live stream on channel TLCHD-639
2015/12/27 10:29:11.083 LiveRemuxStream> live-tv started
2015/12/27 10:29:11.083 SetChannel> Channel: 639 : TLCHD - 90E8CC2 = { (639 : TLCHD - 7AE162C) + [ 639 : TLCHD - 90E7AE3] }
2015/12/27 10:29:11.084 SetChannel> Tuners available for this channel: 6
2015/12/27 10:29:11.084 SetChannel> Tuner DecoyMethod: OnDemand
2015/12/27 10:29:11.084 SetChannel> ---
2015/12/27 10:29:11.084 SetChannel> Attempt: 0, Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-93-0c) Tuner 6 (00-00-22-00-00-80-93-0c) / 5f3bcf0a-6aee-4ede-8828-bcb5ee2ff644
2015/12/27 10:29:11.084 SetChannel> > Encrypted: False
2015/12/27 10:29:11.086 SetChannel> > RecorderInfo found: True
2015/12/27 10:29:11.086 SetChannel> > Recorder Content Protection: PROT_COPY_CN_RECORDING_STOP
2015/12/27 10:29:11.086 SetChannel> > skipping this tuner since its not Copy_Free
2015/12/27 10:29:11.086 SetChannel> Attempt: 1, Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-93-0c) Tuner 5 (00-00-22-00-00-80-93-0c) / e77348a6-f71c-48b7-b7a5-8710ec7ea2ae
2015/12/27 10:29:11.086 SetChannel> > Encrypted: False
2015/12/27 10:29:11.087 SetChannel> > RecorderInfo found: True
2015/12/27 10:29:11.087 SetChannel> > Recorder Content Protection: PROT_COPY_NEVER
2015/12/27 10:29:11.087 SetChannel> > skipping this tuner since its not Copy_Free
2015/12/27 10:29:11.087 SetChannel> Attempt: 2, Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-93-0c) Tuner 4 (00-00-22-00-00-80-93-0c) / b8b1d4b1-8dbd-45b5-8ce3-55913d8b3b56
2015/12/27 10:29:11.087 SetChannel> > Encrypted: False
2015/12/27 10:29:11.088 SetChannel> > RecorderInfo found: True
2015/12/27 10:29:11.088 SetChannel> > Recorder Content Protection: PROT_COPY_FREE
2015/12/27 10:29:11.089 SetChannel> > Status: Available, client:
2015/12/27 10:29:11.089 SetChannel> *** requested number of available tuners found, stopping search ***
2015/12/27 10:29:11.089 SetChannel> ---
2015/12/27 10:29:11.089 SetChannel> available tuners found: 1 [decoys:0], requested: 1, searched: 3
2015/12/27 10:29:11.089 SetChannel> Tuner: Ceton InfiniTV PCIe (00-80-93-0c) Tuner 4 (00-00-22-00-00-80-93-0c) will be used for the live stream
2015/12/27 10:29:11.090 SetChannel> Recorder acquired: True
2015/12/27 10:29:11.090 SetChannel> TuneRequest set
2015/12/27 10:29:11.097 LiveRemuxStream> wtv recording started in 0.01 sec
2015/12/27 10:29:11.097 LiveRemuxStream> stream output file: LiveTV_Kodi^LIVINGROOM_Digital Cable_639_2015_12_27_10_29_11.ts
2015/12/27 10:29:11.098 LiveRemuxStream> started remux thread: 'TLCHD-639:151948482'

Full set of logs are at the links below. These encompass the last 24 hours on the newly released Version 1225 of ServerWMC, and show both types of errors. The first 4 links are the ServerWMC logs. The last link is the Ceton InfiniTV log file (dates in Ceton logfile show 7 and 8 Jan, but really are 26, 27 December).

http://pastebin.com/raw/S4gAhnJQ

http://pastebin.com/raw/i3JczrS5

http://pastebin.com/raw/5zmHxDYV

http://pastebin.com/raw/zyb36SY3

http://pastebin.com/raw/YYTdR6pX

[krustyreturns]

Thanks for this info. In the double checking department: Are you sure nothing else is running that may have an effect on the ceton tuners? Or that there isn't a setting on the ceton that could affect this?

[CT324]

I'm reasonably certain there is no other software affecting the ceton tuners. While it's hard to prove a negative, there is just not that much running on the system. Even after disabling the firewall/AV and Plex services, my system still displays the symptoms described above. The ceton tuner settings are all at their default values. WMC changes channels just fine, but ServerWMC seems to have a problem getting tuners to move off of copy-once channels until the next system reboot. There are no other programs/services running on my system except for the standard MS stuff and non-HTPC hardware drivers. There are definitely no other PVR back ends running on this or any other system on my network.

While troubleshooting and recreating the symptoms, I noticed that ServerWMC was not able to load EPG guide data from WMC when all six tuners were either playing or had been deliberately tuned to a copy-once channel via Kodi. When restarting Kodi, the "TV" menu option was not available. Terminating and restarting ServerWMC had no effect. Changing tuners in WMC or on the web page did not unstick the tuners to ServerWMC, but WMC itself worked as expected. Rebooting the computer returned the system to a fresh state and Kodi/ServerWMC worked within the limitations described above.

This is all quite puzzling. It would appear that there is perhaps an issue with ServerWMC communicating the tuning request to WMC, or WMC relaying that request to the Ceton, or perhaps the Ceton is only willing to communicate directly with WMC for tuners that have been tuned to anything other than a "copy freely" channel. It might be some poorly documented "feature" of the CableLabs DRM baked into the tuner/WMC relationship...

[krustyreturns]

Serverwmc communicates to the same tuner driver that wmc and the recording service do, however it can't do the magic the later do to authenticate for drm. It appears that once tuned to a drm channel and stopped, swmc can't grab the channel to do a channel change. I don't get why this isn't a problem that gets reported more (only in thread), so I can't help thinking its something on your system (or your tuner or your cable provider). I am now looking for a way to reset the tuner when this is detected, hopefully I'll find something you can test out, I'll get back to you on that.

Is your tuner firmware up to date?

[CT324]

The Ceton utility says that the tuner firmware is up to date and displays a green check. The version is 14.10.3.163, which is a beta firmware -- with a release date of 03 October 2014. It does not seem like Ceton is putting out many firmware updates these days. There was something on the GreenButton boards about a pre-beta version from January 2015, version 15.1.13.152, for which Ceton lists the following changes:


-Remove legacy (CGMS-A, APS, RC) Copy Protection Support
-Improve ability to lock OOB signal in a poor signal environment
-The removal of legacy copy protection support will resolve issues that people had recording Copy Freely (CCI 0x00) channels after CableCARD firmware updates.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/view...=68&t=8352

I have not tried this pre-beta firmware yet. It can only be downloaded through that forum, and not via the normal method of updating the firmware via the Ceton utility program. I might give it a shot in a few days after the New Years football games. the comments are mixed; #142 says that "if you don't have any channels that drop in old commercials that have CGMS-A that triggers a copy once on an open recording, then it's unlikely you'll notice any change with the beta FW." It does not sound like that is my problem, but who knows at this point.