Recordings end early with "No TV Signal"

Post Reply
resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

Recordings end early with "No TV Signal"

#1

Post by resarfekim » Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:02 am

Lately, a lot of my DVR recordings are ending with "No TV Signal".
Recording is crystal clear up until then. And live TV looks great as well.
Was working great for years, problem seems to have started a few weeks ago.

Today I power cycled all my components (Tuning Adapter, HD HomeRun, Cable Modem, PC), the problem persists.
Any advice on how to troubleshoot this? Is there a way to make it continue recording if the signal momentarily drops?

Windows 8.1 WMC, HD HomeRun, Spectrum Cable (San Diego).

Thanks for any help!
Mike

Space

Posts: 2838
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:44 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#2

Post by Space » Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:57 am

Did you check the system log in the HDHomeRun to see if there are any error messages?

I recently had a show stop recording about 36 minutes in with the "No signal" error, and I looked in the log and saw this:

Code: Select all

20190416-06:01:46 CableCARD: tuner1 628 History HD (auto:195MHz-659) access = subscribed
20190416-06:38:08 CableCARD: extended_channel/0x000000 timeout error (cchost_extended_channel:459)
20190416-06:38:08 CableCARD: technical error 0 (cchost_extended_channel:460)
20190416-06:38:08 CableCARD: message: A technical problem is preventing you from receiving all the cable services at this time. Please call your cable operator and report error code 161-0 to have this problem resolved.
20190416-06:38:08 CableCARD: M-CARD reset
20190416-06:38:12 CableCARD: Motorola card (0000:0625)
20190416-06:38:12 CableCARD: authentication status: authentication in progress
20190416-06:38:12 CableCARD: authentication status: authentication success, validation success
I figure what happened here is that the cable company did something on their end that caused interruption in service (the recording was happening at 3am local time, so probably some maintenance).

Of course a low signal can also cause this, in which case you can also look at the HDHomerun to see the signal levels, although the level may only drop at random times.

resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#3

Post by resarfekim » Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:09 am

Space wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:57 am Did you check the system log in the HDHomeRun to see if there are any error messages?
Thanks for the reply Space.

Here is from the log. At 8:12pm, Tuner 1 and 2 ended their stream. Tuner1 was recording, Tuner2 was live tv.
I searched through Event logs, and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary during that period. Though I did discover this "No TV Signal" issue had been happening since Aug 6th 2018, and I guess I've just been living with it. But now the wife is giving me the ol' "why don't we just get a cable box?" routine...

Other than the System Log, could there be any other logs related to the HDHR, TA, or WMC?

20190426-02:30:01 Tuner: tuner1 rtp stream ended (stop request)
20190426-02:30:01 Tuner: tuner1 streaming rtp to 192.168.1.100:5001
20190426-02:30:02 Tuner: tuner1 tuning 7 KNSDHD
20190426-02:30:02 CableCARD: tuner1 7 KNSDHD access = subscribed
20190426-02:33:01 Tuner: tuner2 rtp stream ended (stop request)
20190426-02:47:15 Tuner: tuner2 streaming rtp to 192.168.1.100:5003
20190426-02:47:15 Tuner: tuner2 tuning 1500 TVJHD
20190426-02:47:15 CableCARD: tuner2 1500 TVJHD access = subscribed

20190426-03:00:00 Tuner: tuner1 rtp stream ended (stop request)
20190426-03:00:01 Tuner: tuner1 streaming rtp to 192.168.1.100:5001
20190426-03:00:01 Tuner: tuner1 tuning 45 AETVHD
20190426-03:00:02 CableCARD: tuner1 45 AETVHD access = subscribed

20190426-03:03:00 Tuner: tuner0 rtp stream ended (stop request)
20190426-03:12:19 Tuner: tuner1 rtp stream ended (stop request)
20190426-03:12:19 Tuner: tuner2 rtp stream ended (stop request)

20190426-04:23:35 Tuner: tuner0 streaming rtp to 192.168.1.100:5002
20190426-04:23:35 Tuner: tuner0 tuning 46 TWCHD
20190426-04:23:36 CableCARD: tuner0 46 TWCHD access = subscribed

Signal Strength on the CableCard Menu screen shows 100%. But as you said, that may drop. Any way to log Signal Strength?

I couldn't figure out how to paste in a screenshot... so I copied files here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vTJr9 ... amabLhEa6-

Thanks again!

Space

Posts: 2838
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:44 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#4

Post by Space » Fri Apr 26, 2019 9:31 am

Do you have a tuning adapter? Do you have many splits in the cable before it gets to the HDHR?

unclebun

Posts: 150
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2017 11:06 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#5

Post by unclebun » Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:38 pm

We happen to have Charter Spectrum too, though I doubt it has anything to do with that. But we have always had that same kind of problem occur. We live in a small condo complex where we are the only full time residents, and have associated it with times when vacationers arrive. We will go a week and every recording goes perfectly, then the weekend arrives and we have recordings stop partway through because of no signal (according to the WMC screen message). I put a signal amplifier on the line and it seemed to work. But the cable company removed it, saying that its 7 dB boost put the signal strength too high. Of course that was on a weekday morning when nobody else was here.

So it might well be a signal that drops in strength. The problem is that WMC cannot recover from it and just stops working instead.

resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#6

Post by resarfekim » Fri Apr 26, 2019 4:05 pm

Space wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 9:31 am Do you have a tuning adapter? Do you have many splits in the cable before it gets to the HDHR?
I have one cable coming in, which splits to the Cable Modem and to the TA. And the TA Out goes to the HDHR.

Space

Posts: 2838
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:44 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#7

Post by Space » Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:16 pm

I would advise to add another quality 2-way splitter (your cable company may give you one for free if you don't have one) or swap out the 2-way splitter with a three-way splitter (again, your cable co. may give you one for free), and then attach the cable modem, TA and HDHR directly to the splitter(s).

There is no need to have the output of the TA attached to the HDHR and it usually results in a degraded signal, a good quality splitter is much better and has solved many problems for many people.

Using two 2-way splitters or a single 3-way splitter will result in 1 output with 50% of the signal, and two outputs with 25% of the signal.

One of the 25% outputs should be connected to the TA, and the other 25% should be to the cable modem or the HDHR. You can try using the 50% on the cable modem and 25% on the HDHR and see if that fixes your problem, if not, you can try swapping them and put the 50% on the HDHR.

I am not sure, but I think it is a good idea to give the stronger signal to the cable modem, but it would probably still be fine with the 25% signal, so if the 25% does not work on the HDHR you can try swapping them.

I understand that your existing setup has been working for years prior, so I am guessing that if this fixes it there is still some other issue that causes the signal to be degraded at times. But I always advise to not use the output of the TA, as the splitter inside TAs is almost always bad quality. It may just be that your signal occasionally drops below the threshold for some other reason (maybe just a loose connection somewhere in the path), and combined with the bad TA splitter results in outages. By getting rid of the bad TA splitter, the signal may still be strong enough to maintain the picture even with the degradation caused by the more recent issue (loose connection, cable going bad, etc.).

resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#8

Post by resarfekim » Sat Apr 27, 2019 1:37 am

Thanks for the suggestion. Hooked up a second splitter (got one from Spectrum). 50% going to Modem, 25/25% going to HDHR and TA. Recording 3 channels now.
If I get a failure, I'll try hooking the HDHR to the 50%. Will update soon!

resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#9

Post by resarfekim » Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:34 pm

Ok, splitting the TA/Modem/HDHR in various ways resulted in no improvement.
But before I went to sleep, I removed the Modem from the equation, so only the TA and HDHR were connected.
It successfully recorded multiple streams all night long!
Reverted back to original config (using the new splitter to rule that out), and failed recordings returned.

So does this suggest maybe a defective Modem, or a weak signal? What's the solution if it's a weak signal - have Spectrum add another run?

Space

Posts: 2838
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:44 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#10

Post by Space » Sat Apr 27, 2019 7:37 pm

Could be a bad modem or weak signal. You can try just connecting only the modem and the HDHR to see if the problem persists (you will be unable to record SDV channels without the TA attached). If it fails then it points towards the modem interfering with the signal, since 50% signal worked fine when it was just the HDHR and the TA.

You can also try a different cable for the modem connection if it fails to rule out the cable rather than the modem.

If the 50% modem/HDHR works, then it looks like a weak signal and you can have the cable company come out to test the signal. If it is good to your house then you may have to swap out the cable that goes from the demarc (where the cable comes in to your house) to your splitter.

One other thing, do you watch any SDV channels? If you don't and the 50% modem/HDHR works, then you can just leave the TA out all together, as you will not need it. You should still have the signal checked though.

resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#11

Post by resarfekim » Sun Apr 28, 2019 6:45 pm

Not sure how which are SDV channels. Will find out and test that soon.

The cable guy is coming out Wednesday. And I'll stop by Spectrum tomorrow after work and pick up a cable modem, see if that helps.

Space

Posts: 2838
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2013 9:44 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#12

Post by Space » Mon Apr 29, 2019 1:04 am

The SDV channels in your area may very well be ones you never watch, in which case you don't even need the TA. SDV is nothing but trouble from my experience. You can often tune to an SDV channel and it tells you there are no available channels to view it. Fortunately, FiOS doesn't use SDV and my old cable company only used it on obscure channels or ones to which I didn't subscribe.

Here is some talk on this:
https://www.avsforum.com/forum/25-hdtv- ... rkets.html

resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#13

Post by resarfekim » Sat May 04, 2019 12:14 am

Cable guy came over and tested the signal. Said it was pretty good, but installed an Attenuator before the splitter. Measured the signal again, and said it look right on.
I recorded a bunch of shows yesterday afternoon and evening, and so far no errors, but I'll give it a few days before I'm a happy camper. Will let you know!

jachin99

Posts: 1293
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2016 3:36 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#14

Post by jachin99 » Tue May 14, 2019 3:14 pm

When you have it setup, and working regularly you should try making a copy protected recording, then cloning the VM to see if the copy protection key survives the cloning process. I know someone else has mentioned trying this, and there are a few of us around the forums looking for a success story.

resarfekim

Posts: 39
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:05 pm
Location:

HTPC Specs: Show details

#15

Post by resarfekim » Fri May 31, 2019 3:45 am

jachin99 wrote: Tue May 14, 2019 3:14 pm When you have it setup, and working regularly you should try making a copy protected recording, then cloning the VM to see if the copy protection key survives the cloning process. I know someone else has mentioned trying this, and there are a few of us around the forums looking for a success story.
jachin99 - I think you replied to the wrong thread.

Post Reply