EPG123 issues, possibly self-inflicted

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jwk

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EPG123 issues, possibly self-inflicted

#1

Post by jwk » Sun Feb 02, 2020 12:44 am

Things are working now, but would please take a look at my attached log and here's the history of this install.

This was a fresh install of Windows 7 SP1, WMC and EPG123 with 6 HDHR- 4-2US (Connects) and 1 HDHR3-CC (Prime). I'm not sure the following description is 100% accurate, it is the best of my recollection.
During the install I cancelled out of the Guide installed as required, installed PlayReady (1.3), Installed my OTA and CC tuners. At the completion, I either didn't see my FiOS channels or they didn't work, don't remember for certain which it was. I checked the HDCP and audio protected path status, found that the audio path was not protected and determined pretty quickly that was due to having an EDID Detective Plus inline going to my previous less-well behaved receiver, and not having a cable tuner prior to this install, not having a protected audio path wasn't an issue with OTA broadcasts. After removing the box I had protected video & audio paths but still couldn't get any FiOS channels. Next, I ran the Cable Advisor (which I hadn't run before because I took it as meaning it was going to just check to make sure I had protected A/V paths and check to see if a cable tuner is attached. It turned out to do a lot more, checking to make sure necessary files were installed, updated or installing some system files, and then said it had to update PlayReady, while I though v1.3 was the latest for WIndows 7, and the next version up was for Win 8.1. On a side note, I'd done a lot of researching on installing a cable tuner in WMC, a lot of this never came up and a lot more was vague and/or ambiguous. I wish I'd kept better notes on the install, but once I started down this rabbit hole my logical mind started behaving more like a Roomba, bumping into walls and other objects trying to find a way out before the whole install went to shit.

After installing the PlayReady update the Cable advisor immediately started scanning my OTA tuners, and since I didn't want to go through the length process of scanning the OTA tuners and then the cable tuner FiOS channels (which took a great deal of time for the later) again, I cancelled out of the install at that point. I think this is where I nuked the OTA tuner database, because when I started WMC, I could see the cable channels and they all worked, but had no OTA tuners in the guide. Instead of running the whole install again, I manually entered my OTA channels (I only had about 15 or so) in WMC, like you would if you had any missing channels. Next I re-ran EPG 123 using the client and setting the time a few minutes ahead of the actual time to simulate an actual scheduled update. Afterwards the schedule was populated for all channels and I had a green EPG123 icon in the WMC main menu and everything worked fine, scheduled recordings worked like clockwork.

A day or two later I noticed the EPG123 icon had turned red. When I looked at the log, there was a lot of stuff I couldn't decode, but I did see some errors pertaining to OTA channels 5, 7 and 9 (as I recall), checked the program guide and everything looked okay. I checked it again a day or two later, this time checking all the way to the end, and found that the guide for those 3 stations had not been updating with the rest of the channels during that last day or two. I went through my installation again and everything looked as it should, all channels I tested were working, so I decided to try running another scheduled update.

This time I ran it at 10:50:00 as you'll see in the attached tracelog. I tried to run EPG123 client after about 15 minutes (not really knowing how long it should take to update the OTA and CC guides. EPG123 wouldn't start up at the time (I didn't realize that this was a sign it was still running the update). I tried it again a few more times over the next hour and the client still wouldn't open, it was late so I went to be.

The next morning, I check the guide and I had a green EPG123 icon again. I tried to run the client again and this time it was working. I check the log to see how long it took to run, and found that it was running from 10:50 pm as scheduled until I think about 1:50am? (I think the 8:30ish times at the end of the log are me checking the following morning to see if it had completed it's run).

Anyway, seems to be running okay right now and all channels are updated to the same date/time 14 days out from the last update, although I'm still getting the channel 5.x and channel 9.x errors saying that they have no tuners associated with them, even though they were installed manually with the rest of the OTA channels in the exact same way.
Attachments
trace_log (Wstn-64-SSD 02-01-2020).zip
(12.56 KiB) Downloaded 40 times

jwk

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#2

Post by jwk » Mon Feb 03, 2020 11:05 pm

Hey Gary, I know it's a long post but could you take a look at the log file and tell me what you think? The post is just to explain the chronology of events. It seems to have taken 3 hours to update, which seems excessive.

Thanks,
jwk

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garyan2

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#3

Post by garyan2 » Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:48 am

Sorry, I did look at it but thought you understood why. It took 2:59:42 to import the guide listings because it was waiting for you recordings in progress to end. It started to the import procedure at 10:50:43 PM but you were recording "The Replacements" on BRAVO until 10:54 PM; post-padding and buffer moved that out to 10:58 PM. EPG123 didn't update at that time because you were starting to record "Ronin" on AXSTV until 1:45 AM. The actual import did not start until that was complete at 1:49 AM. 10:50 PM to 1:49AM is 3 hours.

Delaying the import while recording is by design, so nothing to be concerned about there.

You do, however, have errors on your OTA channel 5.2, 5.3, and 9.1. Do they work in the guide? Can you tune to them and watch them?
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#4

Post by adam1991 » Tue Feb 04, 2020 2:18 am

garyan2 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:48 amIt started to the import procedure at 10:50:43 PM but you were recording "The Replacements"
(he has excellent taste--I think I'll turn that movie on, come to think of it)

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#5

Post by jwk » Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:17 am

Thanks Gary,
Well, I just learned something new, I just told Space I thought you could do an epg update even when you were recording, and obvioiusly (now) I didn't realize that would cause the update to be delayed. Once I started the update process I couldn't get back into the client to look at the log, so I didn't know what was going on.

Yes, I saw those errors on 5.2, 5.3, and 9.1 two times; the first time, when I noticed the EPG123 logo was red, that that was what caused me to look at the log. At that time, everything seemed to be working, and yes, I watched programs on both, and recorded programs on 9.1; it's unusual for me to record anything on 5.2 or 5.3, I do record one series on 5.1, but don't know if it aired during the time period the EPG123 logo was red. It turned green again at the next scheduled update, and haven't seen it red again since.

Just checked the log again, I've been recording all day at random times, and it's tried to update a number of times, still getting:

[2/3/2020 5:38:28 PM] [ INFO] There are no tuners associated with "5.2 : WTTGDT2 - AEA9F = { (5.2 : WTTGDT2 - 8B7C2) + [ ] }".
[2/3/2020 5:38:28 PM] [ INFO] There are no scanned lineups associated with MergedChannel "5.3 : WTTGDT3 - AEABD = { (5.3 : WTTGDT3 - 8B7C4) + [ ] }".
[2/3/2020 5:38:28 PM] [ INFO] There are no tuners associated with "5.3 : WTTGDT3 - AEABD = { (5.3 : WTTGDT3 - 8B7C4) + [ ] }".
[2/3/2020 5:38:28 PM] [ INFO] There are no scanned lineups associated with MergedChannel "9.1 : WUSADT - C9399 = { (9.1 : WUSADT - 8B7CE) + [ ] }".
[2/3/2020 5:38:28 PM] [ INFO] There are no tuners associated with "9.1 : WUSADT - C9399 = { (9.1 : WUSADT - 8B7CE) + [ ] }".

every time it tries to update. Everything is working though AFAIK, and EPG123 logo continues to be green.

Go figure... it seems to be working, so I'll let it go for now until I do the install on my other WMC as soon as I get a new RTC backup battery from Amazon. I also got a second used HDHR3-CC Prime today, and I've got to get that checked out before the time to return if it doesn't work expires. Wish SiliconDust would get the 6- stream version out the door soon! One of those would take care of all my needs by itself.

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#6

Post by garyan2 » Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:45 am

So I must be missing some tuning overrides making me think there are no tuners associated with those channels. Could you make a backup using the [Backup] button in the client and send me the zip file? I'll have to see what is going on so I don't falsely report a problem. Please send to support@garyan2.net.

Thanks.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#7

Post by jwk » Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:53 am

Will send email shortly. I checked my other WMC that has OTA only channels installed- no errors like this, been running since 1-2, only issue in log was not being able to connect to Schedules Direct one day, vaguely remember other people posting same day- that build still running on v1.3.4.
This build (with CableCard & OTA) running on v1.3.5, if that makes any difference. I don't know if you read through the encyclopedia I wrote above, this (CC & OTA) build was the one where it kept having to update and re-run channel scans until I cancelled out at the beginning of the 3rd (I think) OTA channel scan and I had to manually enter the OTA channels, so maybe I corrupted that part of the data when cancelled out, so keep in mind it might be due to my impatience, hence the "Possibly self inflicted" in the title.

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#8

Post by jwk » Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:02 am

Backup sent 12:01am

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#9

Post by garyan2 » Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:00 am

Okay, everything is working correctly. If you notice in the image below, you have 2 each 5.2, 5.3, and 9.1 channels. One of each pair has an empty 'TuningInfo' value and those are what is being put in the trace.log file. They are also not visible in WMC. Since you do have those channels with tuner info you are able to tune to the channel and watch/record.

I would suggest you delete the channel in the client that do not have any TuningInfo.
noTuners.PNG
This was more than likely a result of all the fun stuff you were doing when scanning OTA.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

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#10

Post by jwk » Tue Feb 04, 2020 10:08 pm

Thanks Gary, I realize now, that I didn't notice this before because I've been looking at channels in the Client Guide Tool only in the Scanned (Digital Antenna (ATSC) view or the Scanned (Digital Cable (CableCARD) views, and the duplicate channels only can be seen in the All Scanned Sources view.

Deleting the unwanted channel entries in the Client Guide Tool... I didn't find anything specific about this in the Installation and User's Guide... it appears this is done by highlighting the offending entry in All Scanned Sources and clicking on the red "X" above the list, judging by what the tool tip revealed when hovering over it.
This brings up the question, what is the green "+" that has a tool tip that says "Add tuner channels", when it says in the manual to use the Windows facility of [settings]=>[TV]=>[Guide]=>[Add Missing Channels] from the Tasks menu strip?
Do they both do the same thing? Or is the "+" button just to add an entry in the Guide Channels to match up with the entry made in Windows? (as I remember, when I added OTA channels in Windows, I didn't have to take any further action for them to appear in the Guide channels)... Or something else?

Thanks
jwk
Last edited by jwk on Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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#11

Post by jwk » Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:12 pm

No more tuner errors, thanks Gary!

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