[happpyg]

I have had an issue for some time but never got around to figuring out the issue.  I have multiple Android TV's/Shields and Raspberry Pi's running Kodi with the PVRWMC plugin.  I find when watching live TV at what seems to be very regular 5 minute intervals (doesn't matter which device I stream from) the live TV will freeze/stutter and sometimes display the buffering wheel for anywhere betwen 1-10 seconds and then recover.  It never used to do this but started quite a while back now, we rarely watch live TV so let it go.

Here is a Kodi debug log from my Android TV.  I started live TV streaming on the 28/10 at 5:55pm, there were 3 short stutters at 6:00pm, 6:05pm and 6:10pm before I stopped the stream.
funekehica (paste)

Here are the ServerWMC logs (couldn't upload to paste.kodi.tv for some reason - hopefully this link works) : 
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5seaABQ-kzgYFqCbPZ...w?e=fr5iuo

I see lots of "GetSeriesTimers> EmptySeriesTimerDate could not be parsed: 12/31/2099", not sure if that is related.

Thanks!

[krustyreturns]

In the config setting (see debug tab) search for UseEmptySeriesTimerDate and set it to false, then save the config file and restart serverwmc.  That should get rid of that obnoxious error message at least.  Not sure why you are getting so many of those.

[happpyg]

In the config setting (see debug tab) search for UseEmptySeriesTimerDate and set it to false, then save the config file and restart serverwmc.  That should get rid of that obnoxious error message at least.  Not sure why you are getting so many of those.

Thanks Krusty!  Any ideas on the buffering/stuttering?  I'm not even sure where to go to troubleshoot and being a regular interval is weird, i've got no scheduled tasks etc running at that interval.

[krustyreturns]

See if cleaning up this problem makes a diff.

[happpyg]

See if cleaning up this problem makes a diff.

Tidied up some channels and tried again, still got the same issue and some errors in the log about not finding timers for the channels I disabled in WMC?
New ServerWMC Log here : https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5seaABQ-kzgYFvV6uF...g?e=Y4ZV7w

Is there anything else you can think of to help troubleshoot?

Thanks!

[krustyreturns]

For some reason this is happening:
2020/10/30 19:13:25.171 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 733 (threshold: 500)
2020/10/30 19:13:26.471 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 633 (threshold: 500)

so its waiting an unusually long amount of time for more tuner data, I assume this is the delay you see on screen.  Why this is happening is hard to say, is your server getting used for anything else that might be bogging it down?  Could something off with the tuners  (maybe reboot them?)?  The other really weird thing in the logs is that the recording and timer caches are failing, both getting time-out errors.  Which again might be a system problem or maybe somehow it is causing the problem - it might make sense that this is the problem cause since Kodi calls these periodically, I've never seen it time out before, I am not sure what is causing it.  You could try turning of the caching of recording/timer data cache and see if it makes a difference.  To do so, set UseRecordingCache and UseTimerCache to false, then save and restart.

[happpyg]

For some reason this is happening:
2020/10/30 19:13:25.171 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 733 (threshold: 500)
2020/10/30 19:13:26.471 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 633 (threshold: 500)

so its waiting an unusually long amount of time for more tuner data, I assume this is the delay you see on screen.  Why this is happening is hard to say, is your server getting used for anything else that might be bogging it down?  Could something off with the tuners  (maybe reboot them?)?  The other really weird thing in the logs is that the recording and timer caches are failing, both getting time-out errors.  Which again might be a system problem or maybe somehow it is causing the problem - it might make sense that this is the problem cause since Kodi calls these periodically, I've never seen it time out before, I am not sure what is causing it.  You could try turning of the caching of recording/timer data cache and see if it makes a difference.  To do so, set UseRecordingCache and UseTimerCache to false, then save and restart.

The PC is not used for anything else, it is my old/original Windows 7 MCE PC that just sits and is used as a Tuner head end and nothing else, WMC is not even open.   It is an older PC but has served me well for many years.  No other processes that I can see are using excess resources and it is rebooted daily.
Turning off the UseRecordingCache and UseTimerCache made no difference, should I turn them back on?



I have since done a bit more testing with Task Manager & Perfmon open watching CPU usage when the issue hit.  When it does the stuttering/buffering CPU usage does jump to 50'ish % for 2-6 seconds and it seems to coincide with entries like these 2 in the log:
- Received client request: localhost|192.168.9.62|GetSeriesTimers
- Received client request: azza|192.168.9.43|GetTimers
NOTE - 192.168.9.62 is an NVidia Shield, not sure why it is saying "localhost"?

The stuttering/buffering is happening at exact 5 minute intervals.
I've attached a new log here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5seaABQ-kzgYFwhHf3...w?e=GqwNdG

Times it started stuttering/buffering within 2-3 seconds either side of the times below (1/10/2020):
- 13:22:38
- 13:27:38
- 13:32:38

Around these same times I also saw a lot of entries like this:
- 2020/11/01 13:28:12.124 GetSeriesTimers>  Channel: 203 : Double J - 1CB19A = { (200 : Double J - 1CB193) + [ 200 : Double J - 1CB1CA, 200 : Double J - 1CB1FB] } ID did not match any ID in current Channel list, for title: Megastructures

I deleted a lot of those timers and since doing that things do seem to be a lot better but there are still a few like this one that have a blank title and i'm not sure how to find/remove them as I can't see anything that looks strange in the series list and there are no blanks?
- 2020/11/01 13:28:11.630 GetSeriesTimers>  Channel: 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB27D = { (38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB276) + [ 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB2A9, 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB379] } ID did not match any ID in current Channel list, for title: 

I'm still seeing lots of these type entries: 2020/11/01 13:21:43.270 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 544 (threshold: 500).  What is it doing here, is this guide info or recorded items info?

Not sure if this is all related but if you can give me some tips on how to clean them up I can test again?

Thanks!

[krustyreturns]

For some reason this is happening:
2020/10/30 19:13:25.171 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 733 (threshold: 500)
2020/10/30 19:13:26.471 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 633 (threshold: 500)

so its waiting an unusually long amount of time for more tuner data, I assume this is the delay you see on screen.  Why this is happening is hard to say, is your server getting used for anything else that might be bogging it down?  Could something off with the tuners  (maybe reboot them?)?  The other really weird thing in the logs is that the recording and timer caches are failing, both getting time-out errors.  Which again might be a system problem or maybe somehow it is causing the problem - it might make sense that this is the problem cause since Kodi calls these periodically, I've never seen it time out before, I am not sure what is causing it.  You could try turning of the caching of recording/timer data cache and see if it makes a difference.  To do so, set UseRecordingCache and UseTimerCache to false, then save and restart.

The PC is not used for anything else, it is my old/original Windows 7 MCE PC that just sits and is used as a Tuner head end and nothing else, WMC is not even open.   It is an older PC but has served me well for many years.  No other processes that I can see are using excess resources and it is rebooted daily.
Turning off the UseRecordingCache and UseTimerCache made no difference, should I turn them back on?



I have since done a bit more testing with Task Manager & Perfmon open watching CPU usage when the issue hit.  When it does the stuttering/buffering CPU usage does jump to 50'ish % for 2-6 seconds and it seems to coincide with entries like these 2 in the log:
- Received client request: localhost|192.168.9.62|GetSeriesTimers
- Received client request: azza|192.168.9.43|GetTimers
NOTE - 192.168.9.62 is an NVidia Shield, not sure why it is saying "localhost"?

The stuttering/buffering is happening at exact 5 minute intervals.
I've attached a new log here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5seaABQ-kzgYFwhHf3...w?e=GqwNdG

Times it started stuttering/buffering within 2-3 seconds either side of the times below (1/10/2020):
- 13:22:38
- 13:27:38
- 13:32:38

Around these same times I also saw a lot of entries like this:
- 2020/11/01 13:28:12.124 GetSeriesTimers>  Channel: 203 : Double J - 1CB19A = { (200 : Double J - 1CB193) + [ 200 : Double J - 1CB1CA, 200 : Double J - 1CB1FB] } ID did not match any ID in current Channel list, for title: Megastructures

I deleted a lot of those timers and since doing that things do seem to be a lot better but there are still a few like this one that have a blank title and i'm not sure how to find/remove them as I can't see anything that looks strange in the series list and there are no blanks?
- 2020/11/01 13:28:11.630 GetSeriesTimers>  Channel: 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB27D = { (38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB276) + [ 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB2A9, 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB379] } ID did not match any ID in current Channel list, for title: 

I'm still seeing lots of these type entries: 2020/11/01 13:21:43.270 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 544 (threshold: 500).  What is it doing here, is this guide info or recorded items info?

Not sure if this is all related but if you can give me some tips on how to clean them up I can test again?

Thanks!

When you say "things do seem to be a lot better", do you mean that there are less of these timer error messages or that the buffer problem has been reduced? 

For the timer you posted it looks like it is a series timer set on a channel that is no longer in your channel list in wmc.  Try going into wmc and choose edit channel list, and see if this channel 38 (which I am guessing is an audio only channel) is turned off.  If so, turn it on and maybe then you'll see the timer that is set on it so that you can delete the timer from in there.   Swmc gets all these timers from the wmc database so the timer must be set in there somewhere.  Possibly having timers set on non-existent channels is messing swmc up somehow (why, I don't know), so getting rid of all of these would be a good thing to try.

That warning error message is from the background remuxer that is streaming the live tv data.  It posts this warning when it waits an unusually long amount of time for new video data to appear.  Getting these message once and a while is no big deal, but when you get a bunch of them you'll start to see buffering problems.

[happpyg]

For some reason this is happening:
2020/10/30 19:13:25.171 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 733 (threshold: 500)
2020/10/30 19:13:26.471 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 633 (threshold: 500)

so its waiting an unusually long amount of time for more tuner data, I assume this is the delay you see on screen.  Why this is happening is hard to say, is your server getting used for anything else that might be bogging it down?  Could something off with the tuners  (maybe reboot them?)?  The other really weird thing in the logs is that the recording and timer caches are failing, both getting time-out errors.  Which again might be a system problem or maybe somehow it is causing the problem - it might make sense that this is the problem cause since Kodi calls these periodically, I've never seen it time out before, I am not sure what is causing it.  You could try turning of the caching of recording/timer data cache and see if it makes a difference.  To do so, set UseRecordingCache and UseTimerCache to false, then save and restart.

The PC is not used for anything else, it is my old/original Windows 7 MCE PC that just sits and is used as a Tuner head end and nothing else, WMC is not even open.   It is an older PC but has served me well for many years.  No other processes that I can see are using excess resources and it is rebooted daily.
Turning off the UseRecordingCache and UseTimerCache made no difference, should I turn them back on?



I have since done a bit more testing with Task Manager & Perfmon open watching CPU usage when the issue hit.  When it does the stuttering/buffering CPU usage does jump to 50'ish % for 2-6 seconds and it seems to coincide with entries like these 2 in the log:
- Received client request: localhost|192.168.9.62|GetSeriesTimers
- Received client request: azza|192.168.9.43|GetTimers
NOTE - 192.168.9.62 is an NVidia Shield, not sure why it is saying "localhost"?

The stuttering/buffering is happening at exact 5 minute intervals.
I've attached a new log here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aq5seaABQ-kzgYFwhHf3...w?e=GqwNdG

Times it started stuttering/buffering within 2-3 seconds either side of the times below (1/10/2020):
- 13:22:38
- 13:27:38
- 13:32:38

Around these same times I also saw a lot of entries like this:
- 2020/11/01 13:28:12.124 GetSeriesTimers>  Channel: 203 : Double J - 1CB19A = { (200 : Double J - 1CB193) + [ 200 : Double J - 1CB1CA, 200 : Double J - 1CB1FB] } ID did not match any ID in current Channel list, for title: Megastructures

I deleted a lot of those timers and since doing that things do seem to be a lot better but there are still a few like this one that have a blank title and i'm not sure how to find/remove them as I can't see anything that looks strange in the series list and there are no blanks?
- 2020/11/01 13:28:11.630 GetSeriesTimers>  Channel: 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB27D = { (38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB276) + [ 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB2A9, 38 : SBS Radio 2 - 1CB379] } ID did not match any ID in current Channel list, for title: 

I'm still seeing lots of these type entries: 2020/11/01 13:21:43.270 Parse>  Warning, Number of attempts at getting new wtv data was large: 544 (threshold: 500).  What is it doing here, is this guide info or recorded items info?

Not sure if this is all related but if you can give me some tips on how to clean them up I can test again?

Thanks!

When you say "things do seem to be a lot better", do you mean that there are less of these timer error messages or that the buffer problem has been reduced? 

For the timer you posted it looks like it is a series timer set on a channel that is no longer in your channel list in wmc.  Try going into wmc and choose edit channel list, and see if this channel 38 (which I am guessing is an audio only channel) is turned off.  If so, turn it on and maybe then you'll see the timer that is set on it so that you can delete the timer from in there.   Swmc gets all these timers from the wmc database so the timer must be set in there somewhere.  Possibly having timers set on non-existent channels is messing swmc up somehow (why, I don't know), so getting rid of all of these would be a good thing to try.

That warning error message is from the background remuxer that is streaming the live tv data.  It posts this warning when it waits an unusually long amount of time for new video data to appear.  Getting these message once and a while is no big deal, but when you get a bunch of them you'll start to see buffering problems.

Thanks, yes the stuttering/buffering is improving as I fix/remove those "ID did not match".  All of them were set in Kodi as "Any Channel" yet when you look at the properties they did have a channel specified.  The buffering is still happening and seems to be around the "GetSeriesTimers" events, I do have about 170 timers now (years of not pruning them).  I'll clean them up and test it for a day or 2.




Thanks!

[happpyg]

All seems well now since cleaning up a heap of old series timers - I had approx 250 which shows how long my MCE PC has been running for!  Down to about 20 now.

Thanks!
Aaron

[JoshDi]

All seems well now since cleaning up a heap of old series timers - I had approx 250 which shows how long my MCE PC has been running for!  Down to about 20 now.

Thanks!
Aaron

I too have stuttering and buffering sometimes with ServerWMC on Windows 7 x64 with two InfiniTV 6 Ceton cards. I am using epg123 to populate my guide. 

Recently, I noticed that WMC had 9999 channels loaded (channels 1-9999). I am only using around 200 channels in the 500-900 and 1799-1850 range. I deleted the other channel blocks that I don't use and wont ever use. This has sped up my WMC and ServerWMC streams significantly! I suggest people trying this if they have similar issues.