Still new to Channels and trying to figure this out. I searched and found this topic (In Home DVR (Not Internet Dependent)) but that was from 2016 and was talking about DVR.
We were just watching TV through Channels when my internet went down. While the modem was rebooting the TV channel froze.
When the internet was finally back up the channel started up but was stopping and starting. We backed out of the channel then went back in and it started playing fine (albeit missing the 2-3 minutes it took to get internet back).
Is this normal for the completely local OTA TV signal/Extend/ATV to need internet to watch my OTA TV stations through the app?
Are your modern and router the same device? If so, then a reboot can definitely interrupt traffic, even LAN-only traffic.
Oops, sorry, guess I did not give enough info. I know better than that.
No, my modem is in bridge mode, my router/Ap (one of my APs) is an Asus RT-N66U. The Extend and the ATV are connected to a switch across the room. The Extend is pulling an IP, the ATV is static (not that that should matter).
During the time the modem was rebooting the router was working fine as my VNC sessions to my Plex server and my secondary media server both worked fine. The machine I was using for VNC and the secondary server were both connected (wired) to the router and the Plex server was connected to the same switch as the ATV and Extend.
Probably still need more info. If the 2 devices are on the same switch, are on the same subnet/vlan , and both have IPs already, then you could walk over there and pull the uplink to the switch right now and it should stay up.
If your devices are configured across a bridge, and are logically separate, then they would need the router up to provide routing
No, not on separate VLANs, all on the same subnet.
However, when I take that switch off the router it freezes the TV video. Plug back in, video resumes.
Disconnect modem from router and video freezes again. When it reconnects it eventually says “Connection Lost” on the app.
Finally I tried this myself today. I have my ATVs connected via MoCA to the DVR and HDHRs (2 Extends) via a single unmanaged switch. When I disconnect the switch from my router, everything stays up fine as well as launches new sessions.
My wifi WAP is connected directly to the router, so there wasn’t a path back for my iOS devices.
So it seems like there is something misconfigured, maybe as simple as a subnet mask typo that is forcing all packets through the router.
Hmm, no, nothing mis-configured. My ATV is 192.168.15.58/255.255.255.0. My Extend is 192.168.15.87/255.255.255.0
Part of it is the fact that my son changed the ATV to a wireless connection. (The problem with teaching your kids how the network is configured. He needed a network cable and didn’t want to drive to storage to get one.) So when I unplug the switch it obviously loses connection.
That explains the switch problem but not the internet problem.
well, good luck tracking that down.
Definitely sounds like something about your network config is causing this. I can unplug my cable modem while watching TV and it keeps playing without issue.
@rsava: check to make sure that you do not have multiple paths (cables) from the switch to the router.
Spanning tree is meant to prevent loops in a network.
Changing the ports affected can cause temporary “blocking” of all ports on some switches/devices while the spanning tree protocol recalculates the paths needed to restore connectivity so that if possible and a new “root” bridge is selected.
If you are SURE that there is only one path between the switches, then you can disable spanning tree on some devices to see if that helps. (for the Asus it may need the Merlin Alternative firmware to allow disabling spanning tree)
Thank you! It was the spanning tree. I disabled it (I run Merlin already) and still had connectivity after unplugging the modem. However it messed up other parts of my network so it is back on.
Many thanks @TeddyR and thanks to the others who helped. I really appreciate it!