MythTV failing to record on one channel

[GlenCollins]

Hi all,

I've had a fully functioning MythTV system for a while and recently did a sync and emerge world. This updated my mythtv to "media-tv/mythtv-0.21_p20877"

At around the same time I started to get an issue with recording. When I schedule any recording (manual or through guide) for one particular channel (Channel 9) it doesn't record. All other channels record fine.

Going to watch the recording simply gives an error that the "Recording Unavailable" "The file for this record can not be found", which is the same type of error reported in the mythfrontend terminal (i.e the file isn't found). And I can confirm the file isn't there (yet other channels record fine to the same path, so it could't be a permissions issue).

Initially I thought this may have been a particular tuner issue, but I tried forcing the recording to use others in my system and the same issue.

What makes this issue even weirder is I can watch live TV on this channel no problems, with any of the tunners (and live TV is writing to the same path).

I've since stopped the backend and emerged back to version "media-tv/mythtv-0.21_p19961-r1" and also my previous version "media-tv/mythtv-0.21_p18314-r1" and these versions still have the same issue.

Anyone know what may be causing this?

Emerge Info

Code: Select all

Portage 2.1.6.13 (default/linux/amd64/2008.0, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.9_p20081201-r2, 2.6.24-gentoo-r3 x86_64)
=================================================================
System uname: Linux-2.6.24-gentoo-r3-x86_64-AMD_Athlon-tm-_Dual_Core_Processor_4850e-with-gentoo-1.12.11.1
Timestamp of tree: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:45:02 +0000
app-shells/bash:     4.0_p28
dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7-r1, 2.1.8-r1
dev-lang/python:     2.4.4-r13, 2.5.2-r7, 2.6.2-r1
dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r6
dev-util/cmake:      2.6.4
sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.11.1
sys-apps/sandbox:    1.6-r2
sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.63-r1
sys-devel/automake:  1.5, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10.2
sys-devel/binutils:  2.18-r3
sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.1
sys-devel/libtool:   2.2.6a
virtual/os-headers:  2.6.27-r2
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"
CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -pipe -msse3"
CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo /etc/udev/rules.d"
CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -pipe -msse3"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
FEATURES="distlocks fixpackages parallel-fetch protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-orphans userfetch"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://ftp.iinet.net.au/linux/Gentoo/"
LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1"
LINGUAS="en_GB"
MAKEOPTS="-j3"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/"
PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.au.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="3dnow X a52 aac aalib acl acpi alsa amd64 apache2 apm avahi berkdb bluetooth bzip2 cairo caps cdinstall cdr cli cracklib crypt cups dbm dbus dri dts dv dvb dvd dvdr encode exif ffmpeg flac fortran ftp gb gdbm gif gnome gphoto2 gpm gtk gtkhtml hal iconv ipv6 isdnlog java javascript jpeg jpeg2k lame latin1 lirc lm_sensors mad mime mmx mozilla mp3 mpeg mplayer msn mudflap multilib mysql mysqlib ncurses nls nocd nptl nptlonly nsplugin nvtv ogg opengl openmp pam pcre pdf perl png pppd python quicktime readline reflection samba session spell spl sse sse2 ssl svg swat sysfs tcpd tiff truetype unicode usb v4l vcd videos vorbis wmf xine xml xorg xprint xscreensaver xsl xv xvid xvmc yahoo zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic auth_digest authn_anon authn_dbd authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock dbd deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers ident imagemap include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation proxy proxy_ajp proxy_balancer proxy_connect proxy_http rewrite setenvif so speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en_GB" LIRC_DEVICES="devinput" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="nv nvidia"
Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, FFLAGS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

And some of my mythbackend.log (in verbose mode)

(I watched some live TV (channel 9), then exited, then manual recording of NineTest kicked in, then finished, then manual recording of TenTest kicked in, then finished, then watched short bit of live TV (channel 10).)

Code: Select all

2009-10-10 10:51:13.867 Scheduled 11 items in 0.2 = 0.06 match + 0.14 place
2009-10-10 10:51:59.987 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2009-10-10 10:51:59.994 adding: mediapc as a client (events: 0)
2009-10-10 10:51:59.996 TVRec(1): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-10-10 10:52:00.008 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2009-10-10 10:52:01.084 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 7.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-10-10 10:52:01.513 Finished recording Pixel Pinkie: channel 1009
2009-10-10 10:52:02.567 Finished recording Pixel Pinkie: channel 1009
2009-10-10 10:52:02.612 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 7.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-10-10 10:52:02.651 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2009-10-10 10:52:02.660 Unable to read configuration file mysql.txt
2009-10-10 10:52:02.661 Empty LocalHostName.
2009-10-10 10:52:02.737 Using localhost value of mediapc
2009-10-10 10:52:02.743 New DB connection, total: 1
2009-10-10 10:52:02.747 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 10:52:02.748 Closing DB connection named 'DBManager0'
2009-10-10 10:52:02.750 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 10:52:02.751 New DB connection, total: 2
2009-10-10 10:52:02.752 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 10:52:02.754 Current Schema Version: 1214
2009-10-10 10:52:02.761 Preview Error: Previewer file '/partitions/mythtv-1/1009_20091010105200.mpg' is not valid.
2009-10-10 10:52:02.763 Preview Error: Run() file not local: '/partitions/mythtv-1/1009_20091010105200.mpg'
2009-10-10 10:52:02.768 Preview Error: Preview process not ok.
			fileinfo(/partitions/mythtv-1/1009_20091010105200.mpg.png) exists: 0 readable: 0 size: 0
2009-10-10 10:53:03.767 TVRec(1): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-10-10 10:53:04.132 Finished recording Pixel Pinkie: channel 1009
2009-10-10 10:54:00.534 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2009-10-10 10:54:00.695 Scheduled 11 items in 0.2 = 0.03 match + 0.13 place
2009-10-10 10:54:19.039 Expiring 0 MBytes for 1009 @ Sat Oct 10 10:30:00 2009 => Pixel Pinkie
2009-10-10 10:54:19.041 Expiring 42 MBytes for 1009 @ Sat Oct 10 10:30:00 2009 => Pixel Pinkie
2009-10-10 10:54:29.947 TVRec(2): ASK_RECORDING 2 29 0 0
2009-10-10 10:54:30.531 TVRec(1): ASK_RECORDING 1 29 0 0
2009-10-10 10:55:03.034 TVRec(1): Changing from None to RecordingOnly
2009-10-10 10:55:03.061 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2009-10-10 10:55:03.103 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 7.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-10-10 10:55:03.110 Started recording: NineTest (Manual Record) "Sat Oct 10 10:55:00 2009": channel 1009 on cardid 1, sourceid 1
2009-10-10 10:59:00.013 TVRec(1): Changing from RecordingOnly to None
2009-10-10 10:59:00.042 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2009-10-10 10:59:00.182 Scheduled 11 items in 0.1 = 0.01 match + 0.13 place
2009-10-10 10:59:00.374 Finished recording NineTest (Manual Record) "Sat Oct 10 10:55:00 2009": channel 1009
2009-10-10 10:59:00.374 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2009-10-10 10:59:00.516 Scheduled 11 items in 0.1 = 0.01 match + 0.13 place
2009-10-10 10:59:30.147 TVRec(2): ASK_RECORDING 2 29 0 0
2009-10-10 10:59:30.495 TVRec(1): ASK_RECORDING 1 29 0 0
2009-10-10 11:00:03.017 TVRec(1): Changing from None to RecordingOnly
2009-10-10 11:00:03.411 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2009-10-10 11:00:03.589 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 7.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-10-10 11:00:03.596 Started recording: TenTest (Manual Record) "Sat Oct 10 11:00:00 2009": channel 1010 on cardid 1, sourceid 1
2009-10-10 11:02:19.425 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 7.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-10-10 11:02:19.461 Expiring 5298 MBytes for 1009 @ Fri Oct 9 09:00:00 2009 => Mornings With Kerri-Anne
2009-10-10 11:04:00.649 TVRec(1): Changing from RecordingOnly to None
2009-10-10 11:04:00.685 Finished recording TenTest (Manual Record) "Sat Oct 10 11:00:00 2009": channel 1010
2009-10-10 11:04:00.685 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2009-10-10 11:04:00.846 Scheduled 10 items in 0.2 = 0.03 match + 0.13 place
2009-10-10 11:04:01.040 Finished recording TenTest (Manual Record) "Sat Oct 10 11:00:00 2009": channel 1010
2009-10-10 11:04:01.179 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2009-10-10 11:04:01.183 Unable to read configuration file mysql.txt
2009-10-10 11:04:01.184 Empty LocalHostName.
2009-10-10 11:04:01.185 Using localhost value of mediapc
2009-10-10 11:04:01.199 New DB connection, total: 1
2009-10-10 11:04:01.217 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 11:04:01.219 Closing DB connection named 'DBManager0'
2009-10-10 11:04:01.220 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 11:04:01.286 New DB connection, total: 2
2009-10-10 11:04:01.287 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 11:04:01.291 Current Schema Version: 1214
2009-10-10 11:04:03.973 AFD: Opened codec 0x902b50, id(MPEG2VIDEO) type(Video)
2009-10-10 11:04:04.002 AFD: codec MP3 has 2 channels
2009-10-10 11:04:04.003 AFD: Opened codec 0x902f30, id(MP3) type(Audio)
2009-10-10 11:04:04.130 Preview: Grabbed preview '/partitions/mythtv-1/1010_20091010110000.mpg' 720x576@64s
2009-10-10 11:16:24.024 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2009-10-10 11:16:24.055 adding: mediapc as a client (events: 0)
2009-10-10 11:16:24.058 TVRec(1): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2009-10-10 11:16:24.087 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2009-10-10 11:16:25.168 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 7.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-10-10 11:16:25.548 Finished recording Video Hits: channel 1010
2009-10-10 11:16:26.650 Finished recording Video Hits: channel 1010
2009-10-10 11:16:26.761 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 7.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2009-10-10 11:16:26.870 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2009-10-10 11:16:26.876 Unable to read configuration file mysql.txt
2009-10-10 11:16:26.877 Empty LocalHostName.
2009-10-10 11:16:26.878 Using localhost value of mediapc
2009-10-10 11:16:26.893 New DB connection, total: 1
2009-10-10 11:16:26.902 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 11:16:26.904 Closing DB connection named 'DBManager0'
2009-10-10 11:16:26.905 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 11:16:26.908 New DB connection, total: 2
2009-10-10 11:16:26.909 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2009-10-10 11:16:26.914 Current Schema Version: 1214
2009-10-10 11:16:26.928 Preview Error: Previewer file '/partitions/mythtv-1/1010_20091010111624.mpg' is not valid.
2009-10-10 11:16:26.943 Preview Error: Run() file not local: '/partitions/mythtv-1/1010_20091010111624.mpg'
2009-10-10 11:16:26.953 Preview Error: Preview process not ok.
			fileinfo(/partitions/mythtv-1/1010_20091010111624.mpg.png) exists: 0 readable: 0 size: 0
2009-10-10 11:16:57.034 TVRec(1): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-10-10 11:16:57.423 Finished recording Video Hits: channel 1010
2009-10-10 11:17:20.156 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 5.0 GB w/freq: 15 min

Comparing records for 9 and 10 there appears to be no real differences, yet 9 isn’t recording (writing) files when initiated by a scheduled.

Ideas please

[CoreDump]

You have some errors related to non local FS, maybe not related but try to fix them first. Are your storage groups on local FS or network FS?

A (mandatory) rule for Mythtv is to backup database BEFORE any modification/setup/update, and on a routine basis (done every night for me). If you run a version of myth that screw up your database, reverting would be not helpful (I had once one bug with channel frequencies).

[GlenCollins]

Storage locations are direct to a local partition, so not sure what those errors are.

Now given I haven't backed up, I'll try and backup the tables now (might be able to rescue something out of them later, but if not so be it).

Now if I want to start afresh what is the best way to fully remove/uninstall mythtv (including all of it’s settings)?

Obviously I'll need to work out how to remove the applicable data from the database (given I don’t have anything else using the database is there any easy way to clear this) and what other files may be on my system that mythtv would reference that an emerge won’t overwrite?

Thanks for any help.

[cdstealer]

Hi Glen,
For me, if you wanted to completely blat your Mythtv installation I would do the following:

PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL AND BE 100% AS YOU WILL BE ROOT AND COULD BREAK YOUR SYSTEM!

1. Backup the DB (assuming you are reinstalling)
/usr/bin/mysqldump -uroot -p******** mythconverg > /path/to/destination.sql

2. Remove the database
mysql -uroot -p********

DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS mythconverg;
delete from user where user='mythtv';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

3. Remove Mythtv binaries
for f in `emerge -p -e world | grep myth | awk '{print $4}'`; do emerge -avC =$f; done

4. Clear up dependancies
emerge -p --depclean (remove the "-p" if you are sure what is to be removed)

5. Make sure the above hasn't broken anything
revdep-rebuild -p (remove the "-p" if you are sure what is to be reinstalled)

6. Remove Mythtv user
userdel -r mythtv

Obviously any manual modifications may need to be undone.

However, looking at you frontend log /partitions/mythtv-1/ does not exist, hence:

Preview Error: Previewer file '/partitions/mythtv-1/1010_20091010111624.mpg' is not valid.
Preview Error: Previewer file '/partitions/mythtv-1/1009_20091010105200.mpg' is not valid.

might be worth checking
mount & your fstab

I also noticed some other errors in your log:
Unable to read configuration file mysql.txt

This should exist in (by default) /home/mythtv/.mythtv/

Code: Select all

DBHostName=localhost

# By default, Myth tries to ping the DB host to see if it exists.
# If your DB host or network doesn't accept pings, set this to no:
#
DBHostPing=no

DBUserName=mythtv
DBPassword=********
DBName=mythconverg
DBType=QMYSQL3

# Set the following if you want to use something other than this
# machine's real hostname for identifying settings in the database.
# This is useful if your hostname changes often, as otherwise you
# will need to reconfigure mythtv (or futz with the DB) every time.
# TWO HOSTS MUST NOT USE THE SAME VALUE
#
#LocalHostName=my-unique-identifier-goes-here

# If you want your frontend to be able to wake your MySQL server
# using WakeOnLan, have a look at the following settings:
#
#
# The time the frontend waits (in seconds) between reconnect tries.
# This should be the rough time your MySQL server needs for startup
#
#WOLsqlReconnectWaitTime=0
#
#
# This is the number of retries to wake the MySQL server
# until the frontend gives up
#
#WOLsqlConnectRetry=5
#
#
# This is the command executed to wake your MySQL server.
#
#WOLsqlCommand=echo 'WOLsqlServerCommand not set'

[tld]

Hi all,

I've had a fully functioning MythTV system for a while and recently did a sync and emerge world. This updated my mythtv to "media-tv/mythtv-0.21_p20877"

At around the same time I started to get an issue with recording. When I schedule any recording (manual or through guide) for one particular channel (Channel 9) it doesn't record. All other channels record fine.

Going to watch the recording simply gives an error that the "Recording Unavailable" "The file for this record can not be found", which is the same type of error reported in the mythfrontend terminal (i.e the file isn't found). And I can confirm the file isn't there (yet other channels record fine to the same path, so it could't be a permissions issue).

Quite a few users (including myself) have had occasional problems where mythtv thinks it's recording and in fact creates no file just as you're seeing. It causes the exact errors you're seeing, as it's looking for an mpg that isn't there. This was happening to me occastionally, but often enough to be annoying.

Users on the mythtvtalk.com forum suggested going into mythtv-setup to the input connections and enabling "quick tuning" on all of them. Mine were set to "never" and I changed them to "always" and so far I haven't had any such failure since.

Definitely give it a try, certainly before trying radical re-installs etc. It also tends to make livetv channel changes faster.

However, looking at you frontend log /partitions/mythtv-1/ does not exist, hence:

Preview Error: Previewer file '/partitions/mythtv-1/1010_20091010111624.mpg' is not valid.
Preview Error: Previewer file '/partitions/mythtv-1/1009_20091010105200.mpg' is not valid.

might be worth checking
mount & your fstab

Actually that's not what his log is saying at all...it simply can't find the mpg file.

Tom