Remote playback is failing

I’ve read through the forums here, but haven’t been able to fix remote playback of recordings (or live tv).

I can access https://my.channelsdvr.net/ on my iPhone. i.e. I can see my DVR config screen via mobile safari.

When I click on a recording in the channels app, I get a bunch of log output (will paste below).

Channels DVR version: 2018.04.05.2059 (running via docker on a CentOS 7 host).

Log output below… Any suggestions?

I feel very uneasy about exposing port 8089 to the internet. Ideally, I would be able to simply add the DVR manually to the channels app running on my phone when I’m connected to my home VPN (instead of relying on mDNS which doesn’t make it across the VPN). Can I request that as a future feature?

As an aside… when I add the HD Home Run IP manually when on the VPN, live TV works just fine - such is the speed of mobile internet these days… perhaps my remote recording issues can be fixed by having an option to stream the original DVR stream without transcoding when on cellular…

2018/06/06 14:34:04 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 0s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x2d86e40] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x2d86e40] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x2d86e40] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x2db86c0] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[aac @ 0x2dbaa00] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2018/06/06 14:34:05 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 1s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:05 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 1s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3e29e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3e29e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3e29e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x3e9f780] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:06 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 2s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:06 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 2s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3ce7e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3ce7e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3ce7e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x3d5d680] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:07 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 3s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:07 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 3s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x260fe00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x260fe00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x260fe00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x2685680] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:08 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 4s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:08 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 4s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x2863e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x2863e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x2863e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x28d9500] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:09 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 5s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:09 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 5s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3880e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3880e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3880e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x38f6540] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[aac @ 0x38de5c0] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2018/06/06 14:34:10 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 6s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:10 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 6s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3e93e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3e93e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3e93e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x3ef02c0] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[aac @ 0x3ef2600] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2018/06/06 14:34:11 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 7s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:11 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 7s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x26a6e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x26a6e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x26a6e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x271c780] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:12 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 8s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:12 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 8s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x234ce00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x234ce00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x234ce00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x23a92c0] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:13 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 9s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:13 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 9s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x2eb0e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x2eb0e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x2eb0e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x2f0dbc0] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[aac @ 0x2f0ff00] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2018/06/06 14:34:14 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 10s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:14 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 10s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3cede00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3cede00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3cede00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x3d4a2c0] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:15 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 11s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:15 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 11s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x347be00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x347be00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x347be00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x34d8540] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:16 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 12s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:16 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 12s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3a43e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3a43e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3a43e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x3aa0ac0] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[aac @ 0x3aa2e00] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2018/06/06 14:34:17 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 13s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:17 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 13s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3b5ce00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3b5ce00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3b5ce00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x3bb9740] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:17 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 14s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:18 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 14s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x2ec7e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x2ec7e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x2ec7e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x2f24540] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[aac @ 0x2f26940] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2018/06/06 14:34:18 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 15s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:18 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 15s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x2276e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x2276e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x2276e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x22eca40] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:19 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 16s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:19 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 16s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x22a9e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x22a9e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x22a9e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x231f540] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:20 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 17s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:20 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 17s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3f4de00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3f4de00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3f4de00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x3fc3500] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:21 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 18s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:21 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 18s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x26abe00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x26abe00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x26abe00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x27082c0] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
2018/06/06 14:34:22 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 19s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:22 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 19s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x297be00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x297be00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x297be00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x29d8f00] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).
Error initializing output stream 0:0 -- Error while opening encoder for output stream #0:0 - maybe incorrect parameters such as bit_rate, rate, width or height
[aac @ 0x29db300] 2 frames left in the queue on closing
2018/06/06 14:34:23 [HLS] Stopping transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 after seek to 20s (out=0s, finished=true)
2018/06/06 14:34:23 [HLS] Starting transcoder for file41-d0b0fe6340b4 at 20s from 178.x.x.x (redacted) (encoder=h264_vaapi, resolution=720, deinterlacer=blend, bitrate=4000)
[mpegts @ 0x3135e00] start time for stream 3 is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
[mpegts @ 0x3135e00] Dropped corrupted packet (stream = 1)
[mpegts @ 0x3135e00] Could not find codec parameters for stream 2 (Unknown: none ([3][0][0][0] / 0x0003)): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
[h264_vaapi @ 0x31ab280] Encoding entrypoint not found (7 / 6).

One option if you control your DNS servers is to override the custom domain assigned to your account with the private VPN IP address of your DVR. Then you can disable port-forwarding but still use the “remote dvr connect” option in the app.

This seems like a bug in the hardware transcoder. I’m guessing its related to the docker setup or perhaps missing/old drivers in CentOS.

Can you try switching the DVR to Software transcoding to see if that fixes the issue?

1 Like

Thanks you for the quick reply… Software transcoding fixed the remote playback issue (how I didn’t notice this option before…)

Regarding the DNS suggestion… are you suggesting that I can configure my remote domain - i.e. change it from https://[redacted].channelsdvr.net:8089 to a domain that I control? If so, I’m struggling to find where that can be configured.

Thanks again.
Paul

What I was suggesting is that you configure your own DNS server inside your VPN, and that instead of abcd.channelsdvr.net returning your public address it would return the address of your choosing.

But there’s another simpler way that also just occurred to me. When you click on Login to Remote DVR, safari opens up with a webpage that has an “Authorize” button. You can click-and-hold to copy the URL for this button, and then edit it to change the “https://xxx.channelsdvr.net” to “http://x.x.x.x” instead.

1 Like

Thanks… you caught me editing a dnsmasq config file [which was succecssful] :slight_smile:

Regards,
Paul

I’d like to figure out the hardware transcoding errors. Does that happen on all recordings and live tv as well?

Yes, it happens on recordings and live tv, and for both SD and HD recordings/broadcasts. I think the SD broadcasts I tried were mpeg2, but the HD stuff is h264. I’m more than happy to do some further debugging.

1 Like

Is the error the same on SD/MPEG2