How to debug recording issues

Channels DVR Server Troubleshooting
#1

Hi there,

For few days / few weeks , I’m experiencing some problems with recordings on every channel.
It’s random. The video can starts then it freezes (at some point) and it exists to main menu.
it never did that before. I’m wondering if I have a sudden signal drop or if the drive of my server is silently dying. Is there a way to identify if I got
signal drop when the program was recorded? I don’t understand the info of « debug
log »

When i use the app of my hdhomerun , everything seems fine.

Server is: 2025.08.01.1845 (linux)

it happens on every client. iphone, appletv, chrome

#2

On the DVR web UI you can go to Support > Logs and see what happened while it was recording

#3

Do you keep logs longer than what I can find in Support > Logs?
Or there is a garbage collector which purges old
logs.
The two examples I kept are pretty old. All others were deleted :frowning:

#4

Unless you're running Channels DVR in the latest docker container, it doesn't rotate its log file.
You can see more of the log file from the DVR web UI
https://getchannels.com/docs/getting-started/faqs/subscription/#how-can-i-view-more-of-the-channels-dvr-server-log
Don't ask me why it's in the Subscription FAQ's

1 Like
#5

This did the trick!

#6

So this is the log during the recording of a known problematic show. It crashes at 7’04 after the beginning. I guess if something was wrong i should see an entry in the logs at about the same time right, i.e. 21:07:04. I don’t know how to read the result of the signal. the show (Société Distincte has started on 2025/09/22 21:00:00

2025/09/22 21:04:40.007430 [DVR] Running commercial detection on file 3422 (2025-09-22-2000.mpg)
2025/09/22 21:08:47.872341 [DVR] Commercial detection 2025-09-22-2000.mpg finished with 8 markers in 4m7.864993602s (4 threads).
2025/09/22 22:00:00.002225 [TNR] Sharing existing connection to 107BE862/0 for ch10.1 CFTM-DT (clients=2, len=0)
2025/09/22 22:01:00.010969 [TNR] Closed connection to 107BE862/1 for ch2.1 CBFT-DT
2025/09/22 22:01:00.029155 [SNR] Signal statistics for "TV/Société distincte/Société distincte S01E03 Lenveloppe rouge 2025-09-22-2100.mpg": ss=84%,83%-87% snq=100% seq=99%,15%-100% bps=18454534,17948736-19776096 pps=1580,1537-1688
2025/09/22 22:01:00.058437 [SNR] Buffer statistics for "TV/Société distincte/Société distincte S01E03 Lenveloppe rouge 2025-09-22-2100.mpg": buf=0% drop=0%
2025/09/22 22:01:00.063517 [DVR] Finished job 1758589200-92 Société distincte

is the 15%-100% for seq bad?

#7

Yes, and you should show the log from when it started recording.
Paste the log between two lines of 3 backquote characters
```
Paste Here
```

That recording was corrupted. Try playing the recorded file in VLC or another player.

1 Like
#8

There is nothing relevant

  
2025/09/22 21:00:00.002156 [DVR] Starting job 1758589200-51 Avant le crash on ch=[2.1]
2025/09/22 21:00:00.002476 [TNR] Sharing existing connection to 107BE862/1 for ch2.1 CBFT-DT (clients=2, len=0)
2025/09/22 21:00:00.019115 [DVR] Recording for job 1758589200-51 from 107BE862 ch2.1 into "TV/Avant le crash/Avant le crash S03E03 2025-09-22-2100.mpg" for 1h0m59.997616092s
2025/09/22 21:00:00.019202 [DVR] Starting job 1758589200-92 Société distincte on ch=[10.1]
2025/09/22 21:00:00.019389 [DVR] Waiting 21h58m59.980612436s until next job 1758668340-50 Indéfendable
2025/09/22 21:00:00.019494 [TNR] Sharing existing connection to 107BE862/0 for ch10.1 CFTM-DT (clients=2, len=0)
2025/09/22 21:00:00.020071 [DVR] Recording for job 1758589200-92 from 107BE862 ch10.1 into "TV/Société distincte/Société distincte S01E03 Lenveloppe rouge 2025-09-22-2100.mpg" for 1h0m59.980605189s
2025/09/22 21:00:00.175293 [IDX] Generating video index for job 1758589200-51
2025/09/22 21:00:00.203383 [IDX] Generating video index for job 1758589200-92
2025/09/22 21:01:00.048271 [SNR] Signal statistics for "TV/Les armes/Les armes S02E03 Un jeu dangereux 2025-09-22-2000.mpg": ss=83%-87% snq=100% seq=99%,15%-100% bps=18454058,17948736-18709760 pps=1579,1537-1602
2025/09/22 21:01:00.063961 [SNR] Signal statistics for "TV/Dumas/Dumas S02E03 2025-09-22-2000.mpg": ss=100% snq=99%,0%-100% seq=99%,17%-100% bps=18251126,18094624-18499200 pps=1562,1549-1584
2025/09/22 21:01:00.094739 [SNR] Buffer statistics for "TV/Les armes/Les armes S02E03 Un jeu dangereux 2025-09-22-2000.mpg": buf=0% drop=0%
2025/09/22 21:01:00.107534 [SNR] Buffer statistics for "TV/Dumas/Dumas S02E03 2025-09-22-2000.mpg": buf=0% drop=0%
2025/09/22 21:01:00.117701 [DVR] Finished job 1758585600-78 Les armes
2025/09/22 21:01:00.193423 [DVR] Waiting 21h57m59.80657974s until next job 1758668340-50 Indéfendable
2025/09/22 21:01:00.198449 [DVR] Processing file-3423: TV/Les armes/Les armes S02E03 Un jeu dangereux 2025-09-22-2000.mpg
2025/09/22 21:01:00.222582 [DVR] Finished job 1758585600-77 Dumas
2025/09/22 21:01:00.290619 [DVR] Waiting 21h57m59.709383617s until next job 1758668340-50 Indéfendable
2025/09/22 21:01:00.901974 [DVR] Processing file-3422: TV/Dumas/Dumas S02E03 2025-09-22-2000.mpg
2025/09/22 21:01:00.910328 [DVR] Running commercial detection on file 3423 (TV/Les armes/Les armes S02E03 Un jeu dangereux 2025-09-22-2000.mpg)
2025/09/22 21:04:39.621298 [DVR] Commercial detection for Les armes S02E03 Un jeu dangereux 2025-09-22-2000.mpg finished with 12 markers in 3m38.711054811s (4 threads).
2025/09/22 21:04:40.007430 [DVR] Running commercial detection on file 3422 (TV/Dumas/Dumas S02E03 2025-09-22-2000.mpg)
2025/09/22 21:08:47.872341 [DVR] Commercial detection for Dumas S02E03 2025-09-22-2000.mpg finished with 8 markers in 4m7.864993602s (4 threads).
2025/09/22 22:00:00.002225 [TNR] Sharing existing connection to 107BE862/0 for ch10.1 CFTM-DT (clients=2, len=0)

I can see that seq is bad as well for other recordings but there was no problems to watch them.

These are the logs of the show. Found on show detail page > Option > View Debug log

at=2025-09-22T21:00:00.210894973-04:00 loc=0 skipped=76
at=2025-09-22T21:00:00.391663267-04:00 loc=854348 pkt=4545 pid=48 what=pat_and_pmt offset=20944 length=833592 contiguous=false changed=true packets=2
at=2025-09-22T21:01:00.094859389-04:00 indexer=ads edl="unsupported value type" disconts="unsupported value type"
at=2025-09-22T22:00:00.251443941-04:00 loc=0 skipped=72
at=2025-09-22T22:00:00.387355319-04:00 loc=902848 pkt=4803 pid=48 what=pat_and_pmt offset=95200 length=807836 contiguous=false changed=true packets=2
at=2025-09-22T22:01:00.058503161-04:00 indexer=ads edl="unsupported value type" disconts="unsupported value type"

That recording was corrupted. Try playing the recorded file in VLC or another player.

I understand the video was corrupted but I tried to see if some (new) interferences are make the signal drop or if it comes from my hardware. Like I said, everything has been great for years. Never faced this kind of issues.

#9

The signal stats collected from your HDHR tuner by Channels DVR during a recording are showing issues.
SS - Signal Strength - shouldn't drop below 60%
SNQ - Signal Quality - shouldn't drop below 50%
SEQ - Symbol Quality - shouldn't drop below 100%

It could be your antenna or how it's aimed, amp, wiring, splitters, terminators, cellular or other interference, or the tuner itself.

Best to contact Silicon Dust (the experts) to help troubleshoot the signal issues.
You can get help in their Support Forum here HDHomeRun Setup & Troubleshooting - Silicondust

#10

Those are meaningless for an HDHR tuner source with MPEG-TS streams.
They're only useful for HLS streams like TVE or Custom M3U sources.
And then you would need the developers to interpret them.

#11

I'm surprised to see that the seq goes that down. I'll write in SiliconDust Forum.
I don't think it's related to my gear. Probably some interferences that appeared in the neighborhood
Thank you very much for the help.

#12

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