[yalp ketew]

So... I had set up everything on my Wetek Play.

It took about 2 hours to set up... to get everything installed... mostly because of not having the correct instructions on the openelec website... AND outdated instructions... once I found the correct one, etc.

Anyhow... so it was working. I could see TV on my device... I could record TV.

Later I was installing a few programs... altering a few settings. I adjusted my picture view as the wetek play was sending pixels outside of the screen and I couldn't read the time properly as it was half-outside the screen.

I tried playing TV again... Nothing. Just "no free adapter".

WHAT HAS GONE WRONG?

I have no idea.

I tried restoring to a backup... that I had made, because I had problems before (I spent about 3 hours the first time setting up the device and then it crashed and lost all it's info)... so after one bad experience... I knew to use a backup.

So I restored to the backup, after a "known good" state. AND IT STILL DOESN'T WORK!

I checked my tvheadend web-API... on http://192.168.1.21:9981 everything seems OK. It has a DVB adapter.

I checked if I'm recording something... nope.

Why is this so hard? Why is everything so hard?

About 12 years ago i was using at TiVo.

It "just worked".

You plugged it in, turned it on... and it "just worked".


No 3 hour setup + crash + 2 hour setup + it stops working.

It just worked. No need to install drivers or tvheadend or webapis or setting up MUXES or DVB adapters.

You just plugged it in, turned it on, and it JUST WORKED. And this is 12 years ago.

Why is this different?

BTW It's not that this is "too hard for me". I am a computer programmer... I know about hard things. IT's that... THERE IS NO REASON THIS SHOULD BE SO HARD.

[Koying]

Did you restart tvheadend ?
Not using PVR at all, but that seems to hint at the dvb adapter being locked, whether right or wrong

[yalp ketew]

Did you restart tvheadend ?
Not using PVR at all, but that seems to hint at the dvb adapter being locked, whether right or wrong

I rebooted the device. I also tried shut down... then poweroff... then turn on again. No change.

I tried disable tvheadend (both frontend and backend)... and re-enable. No change.

Would my adapter be "locked" even if I physically turned it off and on again?

[oldtvwatcher]

I can offer little more than sympathy for you, but I agree, they make this stuff WAY too hard.

I will just say from personal experience that I never had good luck running TVHeadEnd on anything other than an Intel-based computer using a specific MSI motherboard (I'd tried a Gigabyte one that didn't work), under Ubuntu Server. I'm not for a moment suggesting that's the only configuration that will work (I was using some tuner cards that were a bit difficult to deal with, and I know next to nothing about Linux so I was at a definite disadvantage), but in my opinion trying to run TVHeadEnd on anything Atom-based (which I'm guessing the Wetek is, though I haven't actually looked it up) is going to be a lot more grief-inducing than trying to run it using more standard hardware. Oh, and for use with HDHomeRun devices I have a second server running on a 2009-era Mac Mini (also Intel-based) that also has Ubuntu Server installed on it.

That said, if it was working, you could always try taking screenshots of your settings, wiping everything clean, and starting over. If it again works for a while and then stops, I would wonder if it's running out of memory and/or storage space.

The other thing is, there are settings where it tries to grab EPG data from the signal, and periodically scan channels to make sure they are still working. I always turn all of those off. I get EPG data using zap2xml and I'll be the one to decide if I want to remove or disable a non-working channel, thank you very much (and it irritates me no end that these things are enabled by default). So in fact there can be background processes using a tuner even though you aren't actually watching anything.

Finally, there are several versions of TVHeadEnd, make sure you're using the most recent in either the stable (4.0) or development (4.1) branch. When you get a build for something like a Wetek it MIGHT (again I haven't researched this) be a much older version that's still rather buggy. Personally I would never try to run TVHeadEnd on something like a Wetek; I know some people do with varying degrees of success but to me that just seems like asking for problems. But that's just my opinion, and I tend to err on the side of caution and reliability (and also, to the extent possible under Linux, on whatever will be the least effort to maintain).

[rpcameron]

Sounds like it may be a permissions issue. Does the user that Tvheadend is running as (usually hts) have sufficient permissions to access your tuner device?

[yalp ketew]

Sounds like it may be a permissions issue. Does the user that Tvheadend is running as (usually hts) have sufficient permissions to access your tuner device?

How would I find that out?

[glenn 1990]

@yalp ketew

Screenshots of status/subscriptions ans status/streams could help a lot (at the time when "no free adapter" is shown). And what system are you using, libreelec? Tvheadend 4.0 or 4.1?

[yalp ketew]

I tried ssh into my device.

I don't know linux or kodi, but I tried a few things... ssh and ps.
These lines might be interesting


2097 root 514:48 /usr/lib/kodi/kodi.bin --standalone -fs --lircdev /run/lirc/lircd
2253 root 1:42 tvheadend -B -C -u root -g video -c /storage/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/service.multimedia.tvheadend

2253 1 root S 262m 30.5 1 0.0 tvheadend -B -C -u root -g video -c /storage/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/service.multim

there is no "hts". only "tvheadend". I can copy/paste the full "ps" command.

PID USER TIME COMMAND
1 root 0:11 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd
2 root 0:00 [kthreadd]
3 root 0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
5 root 0:00 [kworker/0:0H]
6 root 0:02 [kworker/u4:0]
7 root 0:01 [migration/0]
8 root 0:00 [rcu_bh]
9 root 0:09 [rcu_sched]
10 root 0:00 [migration/1]
11 root 0:00 [ksoftirqd/1]
13 root 0:00 [kworker/1:0H]
14 root 0:00 [khelper]
15 root 0:00 [kdevtmpfs]
23 root 0:00 [suspend]
103 root 0:21 [kthread_hdmi]
508 root 0:00 [writeback]
511 root 0:00 [bioset]
512 root 0:00 [crypto]
514 root 0:00 [kblockd]
526 root 0:00 [khubd]
629 root 2:40 [kworker/1:1]
630 root 0:00 [rpciod]
638 root 0:00 [kswapd0]
683 root 0:00 [fsnotify_mark]
700 root 0:00 [nfsiod]
703 root 0:00 [cifsiod]
730 root 0:00 [khvcd]
764 root 0:00 [iscsi_eh]
787 root 0:00 [NULL_task_for_h]
788 root 0:00 [cpu_hotplug_gdb]
789 root 0:00 [cpu_idle_gdbs]
835 root 0:00 [binder]
847 root 0:00 [ge2d_monitor]
857 root 1:16 [kthread_di]
866 root 0:00 [dwc_otg]
869 root 0:00 [dwc_otg]
900 root 0:04 [aml_nftld]
903 root 0:04 [aml_nftld]
929 root 1:08 [aml_nftld]
1000 root 1:50 [kthread_h265]
1014 root 0:05 [irq/60-sdio]
1017 root 0:00 [irq/101-mmc_in]
1018 root 0:00 [irq/102-mmc_out]
1025 root 0:00 [rtc]
1035 root 0:16 [kthread_hdcp]
1037 root 0:00 [cec_work]
1067 root 0:00 [deferwq]
1074 root 0:00 [ubi_bgt0d]
1100 root 0:04 [jbd2/data-8]
1101 root 0:00 [ext4-dio-unwrit]
1108 root 0:04 [loop0]
1138 root 0:00 [kworker/1:2]
1161 root 3:39 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald
1306 root 0:00 [kworker/u5:0]
1710 root 0:00 [irq/51-ts0_irq]
1714 root 0:00 [cfg80211]
1719 root 0:00 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-udevd
1986 root 0:00 [wl_event_handle]
1987 root 0:04 [dhd_watchdog_th]
1988 root 0:14 [dhd_dpc]
1989 root 0:00 [dhd_sysioc]
2001 root 0:00 /usr/sbin/eventlircd -f --evmap=/etc/eventlircd.d --socket=/run/lirc/lircd --release=_UP
2009 dbus 0:01 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation
2024 root 0:00 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind
2025 root 0:00 /usr/bin/brcm_patchram_plus --patchram /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm20710a1.hcd --baudrate 3000000 --use_baudrate_f
2034 root 0:00 /sbin/crond -f -S
2045 root 0:00 /usr/sbin/connmand -nr --config=/etc/connman/main.conf
2048 root 0:02 /usr/bin/wpa_supplicant -u
2062 root 0:00 [hci0]
2063 root 0:00 [hci0]
2066 root 0:00 [kworker/u5:2]
2068 avahi 0:06 avahi-daemon: running [OpenELEC.local]
2071 root 0:00 /usr/bin/rpcbind
2072 root 0:02 /usr/bin/nmbd --configfile=/run/samba/smb.conf
2074 root 0:00 /usr/bin/smbd --configfile=/run/samba/smb.conf
2082 root 0:00 {kodi.sh} /bin/sh /usr/lib/kodi/kodi.sh --standalone -fs --lircdev /run/lirc/lircd
2097 root 515:22 /usr/lib/kodi/kodi.bin --standalone -fs --lircdev /run/lirc/lircd
2253 root 1:42 tvheadend -B -C -u root -g video -c /storage/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/service.multimedia.tvheadend
2285 root 0:00 [kdvb-ad-0-fe-0]
2636 root 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -D
2662 root 0:00 [kworker/u4:2]
2663 root 0:00 [kworker/0:1H]
2675 root 0:00 /usr/bin/smbd --configfile=/run/samba/smb.conf
2677 root 0:05 [kworker/0:1]
2687 root 0:00 [kworker/0:2]
2689 root 0:00 sshd: root@pts/0
2691 root 0:00 -sh
2699 root 0:00 /usr/bin/smbd --configfile=/run/samba/smb.conf
2701 root 0:00 [kworker/0:0]
2703 root 0:00 ps


I can't find the permissions of tvheadend because I don't know where it exists on the filesystem and "find tvheadend" says it's not found.

[yalp ketew]

I finally found it:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5807272 Sep 11 12:26 /storage/.kodi/addons/service.multimedia.tvheadend/bin/tvheadend

I don't know what that means.

glenn: "Screenshots of status/subscriptions and status/streams"

How do I get those? I tried typing "status" into ssh but nothing happened.

I'm using the default system that comes with my device, which is openelec.


This is my tvheadend version:
/storage/.kodi/addons/service.multimedia.tvheadend/bin/tvheadend: version 4.0.8 ~ OpenELEC Tvh-addon v6.0.4

[yalp ketew]

I DID enable "powersaving" on my DVB adapter (through the web api at 192.182.1.21:9981 )... I don't know if that caused the problem... it shouldn't have. I mean it is supposed to mean "power saving" not "make my DVB adapter unusable".

Besides... I DID disable powersaving after the adapter stopped working.

I also did a restore from backup.

Nothing fixed it. But maybe there's a bug where if you just touch "powersaving" it all goes wrong?

[glenn 1990]

@yalp ketew

I was talking about screenshots of the status tabs in the tvheadend webinterface like you described earlier "http://192.168.1.21:9981"

But yes, powersettings can cause problems with some tuners while it works ok for others, that's why it's disabled by default.

[yalp ketew]

@yalp ketew

I was talking about screenshots of the status tabs in the tvheadend webinterface like you described earlier "http://192.168.1.21:9981"

But yes, powersettings can cause problems with some tuners while it works ok for others, that's why it's disabled by default.

Here are my screenshots: http://elfdata.com/tmp/

OK well... how do we fix the problem with "power save"? I tried turning the device off and unplugging it already.

[rpcameron]

The permissions I as referring to are for your DVB capture device, not the application. However, it appears that Tvheadend is running as root (which by itself isn't necessarily bad ...) so permissions issues going to be the problem.

Have you tried seeking help in the OpenELEC forums? The OE devs change files around to the point where if you're not familiar with the way they do things, it's a mess.

[yalp ketew]

The permissions I as referring to are for your DVB capture device, not the application. However, it appears that Tvheadend is running as root (which by itself isn't necessarily bad ...) so permissions issues going to be the problem.

Have you tried seeking help in the OpenELEC forums? The OE devs change files around to the point where if you're not familiar with the way they do things, it's a mess.

Thanks. I tried your suggestion of asking there. But no one is answering:

http://openelec.tv/forum/82-dvb-t-t2-sup...ore#166596

[black_eagle]

There is a guide by zag here for TVHeadend. I guess its possible you missed something in your initial setup. Note that disabling/enabling or even uninstalling and re-installing will not remove the configuration data (I could be wrong about that but I don't think so), so if it is a config issue, you would either have to fix it in the web interface or delete all the config data manually and restart from scratch.

However, something that did occur to me is that you said you watched some TV and yet your screenshots show no muxes or channels which I suspect would make TVH tell you that there is no free adapter as it can't switch to a channel.

BTW, in spite of what @xbmclinuxuser says, I have TVH running perfectly happily on an AMD based system with a Gigabyte mobo and Hauppage WinTV cards designed for Windows so although it could be hardware related, the fact that the adapters are showing in TVH would lead me to suspect not at this point, especially given that you said it worked initially.