DVR Server Tuner Errors

Channels DVR Server Troubleshooting
#1

I was taking a look at the server logs and they are flooded with this error: could this be because one of my players was maybe on the live feed while the other was slightly behind on the recording? I never noticed any "forward facing" problems with playback anywhere (was able to stream the Super Bowl fine) but figured the devs would want to see this. It basically completely filled up the server log with that message sequence repeating several times a second.

2020/02/02 17:49:37.657877 [DVR] Starting job 1580686200-ch47.1 Super Bowl LIV on ch=[47.1]
2020/02/02 17:49:37.657959 [DVR] Waiting 4h10m22.342049441s until next job 1580702400-6 15 News at 10
2020/02/02 17:49:37.667658 [ERR] Failed to start stream on channel 47.1 via 1059D86A: HDHomeRun: 805 All Tuners In Use
2020/02/02 17:49:37.667730 [DVR] Error running job 1580686200-ch47.1 Super Bowl LIV: could not start stream on channels=[47.1]: HDHomeRun: 805 All Tuners In Use

#2

Yes, that's most likely what was going on. By default, Channels clients do not have tuner sharing enabled, so each client watching a channel is using a separate discrete tuner. Add to that the DVR also using a tuner, and you may exhaust your tuners sooner than expected.

Sporting events being shown on multiple screens is the best example of using tuner sharing. If you recorded the Super Bowl, and had tuned in to it on 2 separate clients, that would use 3 different tuners. However, if the clients had enabled tuner sharing, then only a single tuner would have been used.

#3

Gotcha - thanks for the useful reply. Where can I enable tuner sharing? I am using an HDHomeRun Extend which has two tuners.

#4

It is a setting on each client, in the DVR section of the Settings.

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#5

Ok cool - I’ll look for it tonight. Is there any disadvantage to enabling sharing?

#6

Depends on what hardware you are using for your DVR and how your network is setup.

With tuner sharing enabled, all streams first go to your DVR server, and then from the DVR server they are sent to the client device. This means that some extra network bandwidth will always be used by stream going from the tuner to the DVR. Also, you may experience some more lag between first tuning a channel, and it starting to play.

This setting only changes the route a stream takes to get to the client. It does not do anything like move your live buffer to the server or similar. Everything else functions just as before.

#7

The advantage of using one tuner for Clients viewing the same channel with tuner sharing ... in my opinion outweighs a little extra bandwidth.

#8

The disadvantage is that if you don’t have all of your devices connected via Ethernet the additional hop to get from your HDHomerun to your client can cause your network to get overloaded which will appear as strange artifacts in the playback.

#9

Ah ok - thanks for the clarification. Luckily my DVR server device (NVIDIA Shield) and all home playback devices (Shield and two Apple TV’s) are Ethernet connected. I don’t watch remotely often, would the artifact comment hold true there as well or is that always going through the DVR server first anyways?

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#10

Remote viewing and TV Everywhere streams always go first through the DVR server. Think of those sources/routes always having tuner sharing enabled.

#11

Does the same hold true for use on the phone in general? I don't see any tuner sharing option on there.

Not 100% related but when looking through the phone app settings I saw a "Play To Your TV" toggle - what is that used for?

#12

Not sure about Android phones, but iOS devices (including the iPad) have the tuner sharing option. It's on the Settings page under the DVR section, right under the Commercial Skip options.

#13

Oh, I’m on iOS but maybe I can’t even see the setting cause I’m remote at the moment? I only see connect to channels DVR and log out from remote DVR in that section (in addition to commercial skipping).

Update: it does show up when at home. Interesting that the option just disappears when away :slight_smile:

#14

Is the web player always consider remote viewing as well? Didn't notice the setting anywhere in there.

#15

Yes, because it's the DVR server handling it.

#16

So I turned on tuner sharing and actually did notice both some stuttering with playback and audio lip sync issues. I guess feeding everything through the DVR via tuner sharing does make a quality difference - even when over gigabit Ethernet! I turned it back off cause it was bothering me lol.

Thanks for the insights all.

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