not sure if this is best in here or the Android (Nvidia Shield) section and I fully realize this may not be Channels related at all but very strange , fairly predictable behavior we've noticed. Our signal strength is very strong on all the main network channels and works perfect the majority of the time but usually pretty predictably at night in the 10pm'ish range when we watch the news or something every 5 min or so it will start to glitch out on us and then of course audio/video is way off unless you change channels and go back. Can't figure out whats unique about time of day when my server resources look fine
Are you using an OTA HDHR or TVE? Signal strength leads me to think OTA HDHR. If so, I had this issue about a year ago. In my case every day from 3:00pm - 5:00pm I would experience the same as you describe, and only on two channels. In my case (OTA HDHR) I had recently had an attic antenna installed. Unbelievable signal quality and strength. After much research, I found an LTE filter was needed due to new cell towers that were installed in my area. Once I put the LTE filter on the line, I never had the problem again.
No idea if this is your problem, but if you can't find the root cause to your issues, and you are using OTA, the filters are under $20.
Search Amazon for: Channel Master LTE Filter or similar.
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I had a similar problem that one day I couldn’t get my local CBS. After putting on the LTE filter it was amazing how many other channels I got, in addition to CBS looking it’s best ever.
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Another idea that you could investigate - Check around your immediate home and neighbors for lights that are on timers or sensors. See if there is any correlation with your issue. Some types of lights (LED especially) can give off electromagnetic interference (EMI) especially when they age. We had a similar issue with a low pressure sodium (orange) streetlight in front of our house and you would not believe the crazy behavior our garage door opener had when I replaced the lights with LED bulbs. Worth checking out.
thanks for everyones input! yup we have a Clearstream 4 Max antenna in a garage attic that routes down to our basement into a channel master distribution amp and tapping right into the antenna w/ laptop shows the signal strength damn near perfect so pretty weird but definitely will start w/ the LTE filter since thats a pretty cheap test. the LED light thing is interesting too...i dont THINK we have anything around that would be affecting it but ya never know! we do have LED lights throughout the house
so following up on this , unfortunately the LTE filter did not help. So we have channels installed on Ubuntu Server on w/ a quad core i5 CPU and 8gb ram so didnt look like resources was an issue. We also just installed Plex on that same desktop to test and so far Live TV does not have those same issues as we are getting w/ Channels. Only difference is we're using a USB tuner plugged into that box for plex and a network tuner for channels
I have had an issue with the location of the HDHR in relation to the WiFi/Router.
In my current setup I was forced to relocate my WiFi/Router due to EMI being manifested in the HDHR tuners. SD will not admit this is an issue. If your WiFi/Router are in close proximity to the HDHR tuner(s) it is a simple enough thing to relocate one or the other.
In my case the Router now sits behind the TV in the living room and all the other network asscociated gear is in the basement. Doing this solved my issue which is pretty much what you are describing symptom wise. I don't believe the EMI I was experiencing was occurring at a certain time each day, but I honestly do not recall.
One other thing I can recall is the power supply causing a similar issue - not time related of course but same channel(s) on different tuner(s) having worse/bad signal levels than the other tuner in the same unit - weird but true SD replaced the power supply for free problem gone.
Hope any of that helps - please keep us updated of your findings.
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thanks for your ideas here! i'm trying to look around to see if we might have something similar going on here. so our antenna is in an external garage attic which the previous owners built and ran an underground conduit into the house basement (which is awesome since i get a perfect signal up there and the antenna is protected). so i have a single run from there to my booster and split to 2 devices (1.)HDHR and 2.) usb tuner ). One thing i am testing now is i realized when i setup my HDHR i couldnt find a short ethernet cable so i just used a 50' cable i had go from that into my network switch. wondering if that extra run (or cable) is the issue i just swapped it to a 4' cable that i know is good . so far 2 days and i'm good but we do get lucky from time to time so need some more time to see if we are better. i'll report back !
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circling back on this what we've noticed now is, we no longer have it hang / pixelate so much but now what happens is somewhat frequently it will almost act like it pauses for a second every 10 -15 seconds and then continues (way more annoying than it sounds). we have plex on the same Ubuntu server as Channels and when we switch over to Plex live tv we dont see that issue at all. So what the only differences left here are:
- Channels vs Plex
- Channels we are using a HDHR quad network tuner / Plex is using an older USB dual hauppauge tuner
I dont think Channels works w/ a plug in tuner yet does it?
Can you submit diagnostics from the app the next time it happens.
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you bet! if it happened last night i'd imagine its too late, hey?
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Yea I need it a few minutes afterwards
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ahh gotcha. ok i submitted one a little bit ago so you can ignore that and i'll try tonight if it happens. I noticed too that when we pause live tv on our Shield it only stays paused for 5-10 min which i know means our available storage on the Shield is maybe getting low so could that cause issues like this too?
alright i finally remembered to submit something after we experienced this. tonights wasnt as terrible as some nights but definitely occurred. I just submitted a diagnostic w/ the video player option (may have submitted twice by mistake). Just to recap if it helps....we have server dvr installed on an ubuntu server desktop and running channels client on an nvidia shield. we always notice it on channel 12.1 which shows a perfect signal whenever i test it and oddly enough when we watch anything recorded from that channel (from earlier in the night) it never has an issue so only when we're watching Live TV later at night do we notice it
Every Wed night, when the new Ep of Swat records, in the last 2 min of the episode, it always breaks up a tiny bit....every ep i have recorded, always that same time frame.
Channels reports 1% of the file had signal issues....
No idea why or what happens at that exact time, that causes the brief signal issues.
Just the nature of OTA antenna tv....
thanks for the feedback! for us its just so weird that EVERY recording is rock solid but live tv, not so much and it seems to usually just be at night (but could just be thats when we actually watch live tv). and its not consistent how much it does it.....every so often we'll go an hour w/ no issues and then other days its completely unwatchable
Signal things is very very unique to each persons environment and antenna hardware and placement.
I do strongly recommend having a LTE filter in line with any antenna. I use the Channel Master LTE filter.
Also, don't recommend using an amplifier, unless you absolutely have to.
They can introduce noise, and also they will amplify any interference that happens on the same radio frequencies, which can result is worse issues.
You also can end up over powering already strong channel signals, again, resulting in more issues than with no amp.
Antenna placement is key, and even just inches one direction or the other, can have drastic affects on certain channels. It is best to look at one of those websites that will show u a map of where your stations transmitter towers are, and you can use that as a guide to best figure out what side of your home would be best overall, like, the east side, for me.
Try many locations, best is most often in or over a window, as high up as possible.
If you own a home, and can have a large roof mounted antenna professionally installed, that would be the best for sure.
Also, especially if your antenna is indoors, be sure is not near to a wifi router, or led light bulbs, or other electronics, as many of them can cause interference.
Certain LED lights, and even wall dimmers, I have had personal issues with.
I had a WYZE LED smart bulb, that whenever I turned it on, a couple specific channels would become unwatchable, even when it was off, but still was hooked up, those channels had lower signal and some issues, removed the bulb entirely, and those channels work fine. I read online many others report some LED lamps give of strong RF interference that has cause them OTA headaches as well.
I use a Mohu Ranger antenna, mounted inside my apartment, above a window that faces east.
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thanks for the feedback! yup i am pretty well versed on how touchy these things can be (placement, angles, interference, etc). In our setup we have an external garage w/ an attic which is where we have our Clearstream 4 Max mounted and pointed int the direction of the towers (used an app to get the angle correct and used a laptop/app and a usb tuner once the antenna was mounted going right into the antenna to monitor signal strength, drop outs ,etc to get the angle right. all the major channels show a almost perfect signal. That has a run underground (pvc) into our house basement . we were getting some signal issues due to the longer run so we threw in a channel master distribution amp right before the line goes into the HDHomeRun. I did try adding in a LTE filter from a suggestion ehre but didnt seem to help either
if you are using a amp or filter, they should be closest to the antenna. you want to amp the signal before it degrades.
but as was mentioned, amps can overdrive the signal to the point that the HDHR likes it less than a weaker signal.
nighttime does tend to have more electrical interference since thats when people turn on all those lights.
Make sure you update tuner firmware.