Can Not Get Shield DVR to Function

Channels DVR Server Troubleshooting
#1

Simple to explain issue with a hopefully simple solution.

Channels DVR on my Shield TV isn't functioning. Of the five programs I've tried to record over the past week, zero recorded. I'm getting the "failed: program missed" every time. I don't know if it's a setting, the DVR sleeping (I've done everything I can think of to make it stay awake perpetually), or something with the hard drive.

I'll gladly add details/setup if the solution requires more information.

Thanks!

EDIT: The portion of the log for the entirety of the recording process, with IPs [[X]]ed out. Not sure if the "broken pipe" prior to recording is related, but it's happened a number of times randomly throughout, mostly when not recording.

2020/12/20 02:37:38 write tcp [[XXXXXXXXXX]]->[[XXXXXXXXXX]]: write: broken pipe
GET /dvr/files HTTP/1.1
Host: [[XXXXXXXXXX]]
Accept: application/json
Accept-Charset: UTF-8
Accept-Encoding: gzip
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Length: 0
User-Agent: ChannelsApp/3.0.3 (Google Chromecast; AndroidTV 10 API/29; com.getchannels.dvr.app 112012236; en_US; America/Chicago)


2020/12/20 02:43:57.938697 [DVR] Waiting 3h51m2.061313506s until next job 1608467700-ch32.2 Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)
2020/12/20 06:35:00.000897 [DVR] Starting job 1608467700-ch32.2 Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) on ch=[32.2]
2020/12/20 06:35:00.683533 [TNR] Opened connection to 1074C7E7/0 for ch32.2 Movies!
2020/12/20 06:37:32.363990 [WRN] Buffer for 1074C7E7 ch32.2 is more than 50% full (clients=1, len=33555368)
2020/12/20 06:38:49.272687 [WRN] Buffer for 1074C7E7 ch32.2 is more than 75% full (clients=1, len=50331736)
2020/12/20 06:39:59.929457 [WRN] Buffer for 1074C7E7 ch32.2 is more than 95% full (clients=1, len=63754936)
2020/12/20 06:40:12.837889 [WRN] Buffer for 1074C7E7 ch32.2 is more than 99% full (clients=1, len=66439576)
2020/12/20 08:00:00.682763 [TNR] Closed connection to 1074C7E7/0 for ch32.2 Movies!
#2

It would be good to review the logs on the DVR web UI to see if there are any errors present. If so, wouldn’t hurt to submit diagnostics as well.

#3

I have Channels DVR installed on a 2017 Shield and it has been rock solid for more than a year. Perhaps my settings will help.

  1. DVR is installed on Shield internal storage
  2. External USB drive is installed as removable storage
  3. Under Shield Settings - Screen Saver - Put Device to Sleep (Never)

Moreover, I second what @Macnbaish said above

#4

The only thing that seemed to fix my instability issues using the Shield as the server was to format the external hard drive as exFat. NTFS seemed to cause weird issues. If you search my history here you’ll see the craziness I went through!

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Recording Skipping Over Sections
#5

Thanks. I've looked them over and didn't say anything immediately suspicious during recording, but I've added the important bit to my post.

#6

Your #3 is an interesting one. I did everything I could to keep it from sleeping, including all of the developer options. What I didn't do, is deal with the screen saver setting you mentioned. I've modified that, and I'll run a few test recordings this evening.

I guess I'm wondering...would the logs show up as they did (seemingly fine) for the recording even if the Shield had indeed been asleep and no recording?

Thank you for pointing this out, we'll see if it's the culprit.

#7

Thanks for the tip. I'm hoping it's something else, as I've got years of content and roughly 7TBs on the drive! A reformat would certainly not be ideal.

#8

UPDATE

Still not working. Shield is definitely awake, and I set a 6:30 - 7:00 recording. It's now 7:30 and it did not record, and still shows up under Scheduled as if it hasn't even aired yet.

Also, I can't access my Settings page on the web to make sure everything is proper.

#9

The buffer filling messages indicate the DVR cannot write to the storage. I’m not a shield expert but make sure you have the storage configured properly and all permissions are correct as well.

#11

Makes sense. I can't do much related to permissions and config via Shield, which is why not being able to get the DVR Settings page to load on the web makes this significantly more difficult. I may have to uninstall the DVR server and do it again if nobody has a suggestion...

#12

How about a shell session via adb?

#13

Who's a-what-now? :rofl:

I'm computer proficient and I'm Shield proficient, but if we're talking about terminal or something of that nature here, that's above my paygrade. I'd sooner reinstall the DVR server and keep it straightforward, but thanks!

#14

I had the EXACT SAME ISSUES and as I said in an earlier post, the ONLY thing that fixed it was reformatting my external hard drive connected to the Shield as exFAT.

I feel your pain and went through the same thoughts, thinking I could fix it some other way and believe me tried EVERYTHING else, but alas I ended up biting the bullet and reformatting the drive, sacrificing the recordings, etc. To me it wasn't a huge deal, so if it is to you, you may be able to find a way to save them to a different drive and then send them back to your main drive after reformatting to exFAT.

I also found it does work a little better using either a self powered USB drive (one plugged into the wall, not using the USB power from the Shield) or an SSD (Solid State) hard drive rather than a disc based one.

#15

This makes sense because the NTFS driver available for linux/android uses FUSE and is very slow on embedded systems. The exFAT driver is a proper kernel driver and can max out your I/O throughput.

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#16

Yes, I believe I read that in my many, many hours of troubleshooting somewhere and I am sure you or someone else mentioned it, and after many moons of trying everything else, I finally got past my stubborn jackass nature and did it and it's been fine ever since! :laughing:

I think this should be added to the Shield setup webpages and info so other new folks just starting out with the Shield can implement it immediately when first setting up their servers on the Shield, before a lot of recordings get added and much troubleshooting and frustration happens!

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#17

UPDATE

Appreciate the help, guys. As it turns out, it was dead simple. The darn HDD wasn't waking up. It was idle, perpetually, for no particular reason that I can think of. May have happened on a Shield update, as every Shield update seems to break everything, all of the time, every time. Fingers crossed it stays awake now.