Cant playback recordings from Kodi

The hatterman

TVheadend running on a Pi (raspbian), Kodi running on an android tablet (7.1.1). Everything works just fine, with one exeption. When I select a recording using the Kodi interface, it will not play. The screen goes black for a small fraction of a second (like something is about to play) then instantly returns to the list of recordings.

The recording is actually fine. I can play it by selecting it from the TVheadend web frond end. I can also scp it onto any number of other boxes and just play it. I can also copy it into a folder on the android tablet and play it using Kodi.

Live TV is fine, the guide is fine, audio is fine, scheduling recordings is fine .... just cant play them directly using Kodi on the tablet.

Any help appreciated.

Robert Cameron

Without details, help will be limited. Assuming you are using Tvheadend 4.3, if you had searched the forums you would have discovered this is a known bug with the experimental/developmental builds.

The hatterman

What details do you want in order to provide help ? If you had asked me for particular details I would be more than happy to provide them. I am asking for help my friend, I am not a developer, I am just a user.

I am always saddened when I receive replies in forums with this condescending tone. I have merely asked a question, which I thought I was encouraged to do as I am quite enthusiastic about this project.

Anyway, I fixed the problem. My recordings now stream.

Robert Cameron

The hatterman wrote:
> What details do you want in order to provide help ? If you had asked me for particular details I would be more than happy to provide them. I am asking for help my friend, I am not a developer, I am just a user.
>
> I am always saddened when I receive replies in forums with this condescending tone. I have merely asked a question, which I thought I was encouraged to do as I am quite enthusiastic about this project.
>

> Anyway, I fixed the problem. My recordings now stream.

Considering that there are multiple branches of Tvheadend, knowing which you are using would be quite important. The current stable release (4.2.x), the current development builds (4.3.x), and old or out-dated versions (anything else). If no one knows the version you are using, it's impossible to offer any insight as to what your problem might be.

You also have not indicated what OS your Tvheadend is running on, nor which kernel version it is using; both details would also greatly help, especially if the problem ended up being related network or driver issues which can vary between kernels. Also unknown is which version of Kodi you are running, as well as which version of the Tvheadend/HTSP addon you are running.

While you did indeed merely ask a question, you also asked for help and support. However, without any pertinent details about your setup, help will be limited to guesswork because you haven't provided the necessary information to aid in the situation.

I also don't quite see how how my reply was condescending. I said details were needed, because otherwise help would limited. I then offered the most likely reason you were having the issue you stated.

I am always saddened when I read posts in forums from users asking for help, but then provide little to no pertinent information or details about the situation, instead hoping that everyone reading the post will magically know the details that were omitted. If you so often receive such replies in forums, perhaps the issue isn't those posting replies but rather with the posting to which they were replying.

Furthermore, if you want to be a "good citizen to forum", perhaps instead of just posting "Nevermind, I fixed it", you ought to instead post a follow up with what the problem actually was and what the appropriate solution or fix was. That way, any subsequent user who searches the forums with a similar problem will not only find your post, but also a possible solution. Otherwise, you are not only as unhelpful as those asking for details to better aid you, but less so because you aren't even offering to share your solution/knowledge with others. (Those asking for details are trying to help and offer specific aid rather than guesswork; by failing to give those details you are simply perpetuating the situation. By not sharing your solution/fix, you are stopping those who may come after from getting support, too.)

K Shea

Robert, the part of your reply that might be considered condescending was "if you had searched the forums you would have discovered this is a known bug with the experimental/developmental builds." First you are assuming he did not search the forums, and second you are assuming he should have known where to search or what to search for. Although that may seem obvious to you, searching the Internet is not a skill that everyone possesses equally. Very often it's not that people don't try to search for a solution, it's that they have no idea what search terms to use that will show them relevant solutions within a reasonable number of pages of results. And third, you are assuming that he knew he's running an experimental/developmental build (if in fact that is the case).

Other than that, I agree completely with your second post in the thread.

bas co

hope i'm not interrupting.... :D

but what was the fix?
using milhouse generic 0830

tvh 4.3-404~g454bf06

after a fresh restart of my system plays recordings started from pvr recordings view
somewhere along the road starting recordings from the pvr gui refuses to work.

i've just enabled logging, log will follow.

@The hatterman
how did you fix this? revert to older tvh?

bas co


15:38:17.795 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x24, sym: 0x000d, unicode: 0x000d, modifier: 0x0
15:38:17.979 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: OnKey: return (0xf00d) pressed, action is Select
15:38:17.979 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: AddOnLog: Tvheadend HTSP Client: pvr.hts - Getting play position 0 for recording Dinotrux
15:38:17.979 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x24, sym: 0x000d, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
15:38:18.028 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: Loading settings for pvr://recordings/tv/active/Dinotrux/Dinotrux, TV%20(RTL%208%20HD), 20170831_122800, 125508836.pvr
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerCoreFactory::GetPlayers(pvr://recordings/tv/active/Dinotrux/Dinotrux, TV%20(RTL%208%20HD), 20170831_122800, 125508836.pvr)
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: system rules
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: matches rule: system rules
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: mms/udp
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: lastfm/shout
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: rtmp
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: rtsp
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: streams
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: dvd
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: dvdimage
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: sdp/asf
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: nsv
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerSelectionRule::GetPlayers: considering rule: radio
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerCoreFactory::GetPlayers: matched {0} rules with players
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerCoreFactory::GetPlayers: adding videodefaultplayer (VideoPlayer)
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerCoreFactory::GetPlayers: for video=1, audio=0
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerCoreFactory::GetPlayers: for video=1, audio=1
15:38:18.036 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: CPlayerCoreFactory::GetPlayers: added {0} players
15:38:18.037 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: Radio UECP (RDS) Processor - new CDVDRadioRDSData
15:38:18.037 T:140262812772480  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: Opening: pvr://recordings/tv/active/Dinotrux/Dinotrux, TV%20(RTL%208%20HD), 20170831_122800, 125508836.pvr
15:38:18.037 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: Thread VideoPlayer start, auto delete: false
15:38:18.038 T:140261420766976  NOTICE: Creating InputStream
15:38:18.038 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: AddOnLog: Tvheadend HTSP Client: pvr.hts - demux close
15:38:18.038 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: Previous line repeats 1 times.
15:38:18.038 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: AddOnLog: Tvheadend HTSP Client: pvr.hts - vfs close id=5
15:38:18.039 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: AddOnLog: Tvheadend HTSP Client: pvr.hts - vfs open file=dvr/125508836
15:38:18.040 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: Open - playback has started on recording pvr://recordings/tv/active/Dinotrux/Dinotrux, TV%20(RTL%208%20HD), 20170831_122800, 125508836.pvr (http://192.168.0.254:9981/imagecache/1087)
15:38:18.040 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: CDVDInputStreamPVRManager::Open - stream opened: pvr://recordings/tv/active/Dinotrux/Dinotrux, TV%20(RTL%208%20HD), 20170831_122800, 125508836.pvr
15:38:18.040 T:140261420766976  NOTICE: Creating Demuxer
15:38:18.041 T:140261420766976   ERROR: Open - error probing input format, pvr://recordings/tv/active/Dinotrux/Dinotrux, TV%20(RTL%208%20HD), 20170831_122800, 125508836.pvr
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976   ERROR: Previous line repeats 9 times.
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976   ERROR: OpenDemuxStream - Error creating demuxer
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976  NOTICE: CVideoPlayer::OnExit()
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: AddOnLog: Tvheadend HTSP Client: pvr.hts - demux close
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: Previous line repeats 1 times.
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: CDVDInputStreamPVRManager::Close - stream closed
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: OnPlayBackStopped: play state was 1, starting 1
15:38:18.044 T:140261420766976   DEBUG: Thread VideoPlayer 140261420766976 terminating
15:38:18.044 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: OnPlayBackStopped: play state was 3, starting 0
15:38:18.044 T:140262812768000   DEBUG: CAnnouncementManager - Announcement: OnStop from xbmc
15:38:18.044 T:140262812768000   DEBUG: GOT ANNOUNCEMENT, type: 1, from xbmc, message OnStop
15:38:18.109 T:140262812772480  NOTICE: CVideoPlayer::CloseFile()
15:38:18.109 T:140262812772480  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
15:38:18.109 T:140262812772480  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: finished waiting
15:38:18.109 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: DeleteRenderer - deleting renderer
15:38:18.109 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: LinuxRendererGL: Cleaning up GL resources
15:38:18.110 T:140261673527040   DEBUG: Skin Helper Service --> Kodi_Monitor: sender xbmc - method: Player.OnStop  - data: {"end":false,"item":{"title":"Dinotrux","type":"movie"}}
15:38:18.110 T:140262812772480  NOTICE: CVideoPlayer::CloseFile()
15:38:18.110 T:140262812772480  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
15:38:18.110 T:140262812772480  NOTICE: VideoPlayer: finished waiting
15:38:18.111 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: Radio UECP (RDS) Processor - delete ~CDVDRadioRDSData
15:38:18.111 T:140262812772480   DEBUG: AddOnLog: Tvheadend HTSP Client: pvr.hts - Getting play position 0 for recording Dinotrux
15:38:18.144 T:140262793840384   DEBUG: Previous line repeats 10 times.
15:38:18.144 T:140262793840384   DEBUG: Thread JobWorker 140262793840384 terminating (autodelete)
15:38:18.145 T:140261501646592   DEBUG: Thread JobWorker 140261501646592 terminating (autodelete)
15:38:18.145 T:140261942314752   DEBUG: Thread JobWorker 140261942314752 terminating (autodelete)
15:38:18.145 T:140261933922048   DEBUG: Thread JobWorker 140261933922048 terminating (autodelete)
15:38:36.298 T:140261552289536  NOTICE: ES: Client  from 192.168.0.254 timed out

The hatterman

You see, Mr Cameron, this is precisely the kind of reply that I am refering to. It is condescending, and you know it is. And full marks for the second condescending post, expertly mimicking my line about being saddened.

I do usually share details of how I fix issues, as that is what this is all about, a forum for like minded individuals to converse in the things they enjoy, but your reply made me not want to bother. There is war and famine in the world, for heavans sake ...... lighten up !

Please, for the love of god, don't bother replying to me.

mpmc

The hatterman wrote:

> .. snip ..

Take it easy guys, we're all friends here :).

But, please do share your solution to your problem :).

Robert Cameron

The hatterman wrote:
> And full marks for the second condescending post, expertly mimicking my line about being saddened.
>

> I do usually share details of how I fix issues, as that is what this is all about, a forum for like minded individuals to converse in the things they enjoy, but your reply made me not want to bother.

Yes, my "mimicry" was indeed meant to mirror the comment. However, any condescension was not intentional.

When asking for help, others users are more likely to offer support if some initial effort for a remedy had been sought. There is a similar post on the first page of this forum, as well as on Kodi's forums, dealing with this issue. A simple "I see others have posted a problem similar to mine, but mine is different" would have shown that other avenues were sought before posting what may simply be a "me too" post.

However, choosing not to share your solution (or even what the source of your problem was) helps absolutely no one, and instead is worse than any offense I may have given. While you may not have liked my attitude, I did ask for additional information so I could attempt to offer assistance or direction; conversely, your selfishness is a hindrance to others who may have the same problem and come across your post looking for help, and instead only find the equivalent of "nevermind, I fixed it" without any further explanation, thus reducing the helpfulness of the forums for other users.

Robert Cameron

bas co wrote:

> [...]

Kodi is reporting that it cannot tell what type of file you are trying to play, and so it cannot play it back. It looks like you have Tvheadend saving files as ".pvr", which Kodi is trying to open, but doesn't understand. Instead, let the recording profile use its own extensions (.ts for MPEG transport streams, .mkv for Matroska and .mp4 for MPEG-4), otherwise Kodi will continue to problems most likely.

The hatterman

I asked you not to reply .... you can't help yourself can you ! If you want to help someone, then help. If you don't, then don't.

It is not a pre-requisite of asking for help that you must prove you have sought help or made any effort elsewhere. Neither is it wrong to go straight to the forum that is dedicated to the very piece of software you are asking for help with. I totaly disagree with your opinion on this and find that a quick, high level question is all that is needed to spark interest. Anybody who is interested and cares to jump in can then fire off as many questions as they like in order to get further, probably more technical, information. This attitude of criticising the way in which I pose my question is just plain wrong. Why could you not just say "Yes, I think I might be able to help, but I just need to get some info from you first ...". That would have started a useful dialog. How on earth do I know what to include in my question when I have no idea what the problem is and hence no idea what information is truly relevant. Either that or just don't bother replying, that would be fine also.

I stated I am using TVheadend on Raspbian, I stated I am using Kodi on Android. I give a quick high level explanation of my problem and simply waited to see if anybody cared to pick it up and run with it. That's usually how this works. It's a free service offered by like minded individuals, as and when they have spare time on their hands and care to jump in and engage. It's not life and death, I'm not in a hurry, I am simply engaging myself in my hobby. I am not an admin. I am not a dev. I am not an installer.

I have no doubt that any request for you not to reply will be ignored. I will not, however, make any further contributions to this post, save for one final explanation of what my issue was, because in the end it was nothing more than configuration.

The hatterman

My issue ended up being streaming profile configuration. For reasons I could not get to the bottom of, my streaming profile was never selected. What I had to do was as follows :

Configuration - Stream : disable all profiles except for htsp, and make sure htsp was also selected as the default profile.

Configuration - Recording : disable all profiles except (default profile), and make sure this uses the htsp stream profile.

When making recordings, always select the default profile. (Don't think the other are available at this stage anyway as I have disabled them, can't remember).

That's it, that's what has worked for me. I can play around with profiles and break the ability to watch recordings, I can revert to the configuration as explained above and restore the ability to watch recordings.

mpmc

The hatterman wrote:
> I asked you not to reply .... you can't help yourself can you ! If you want to help someone, then help. If you don't, then don't.
>

> It is not a pre-requisite of asking for help that you must prove you have sought help or made any effort elsewhere.

Of course it isn't and neither should it be.

> Neither is it wrong to go straight to the forum that is dedicated to the very piece of software you are asking for help with.

> I totaly disagree with your opinion on this and find that a quick, high level question is all that is needed to spark interest. Anybody who is interested and cares to jump in can then fire off as many questions as they like in order to get further, probably more technical, information.

I think it's about finding a balance. There is no right or wrong here. Sometimes people tend to post on the forum without looking for information before hand, and when no one replies within an hour or so they post again, being impatient,I'm not including you in this.

I've repeated myself a dozen times to people asking various questions where a simple search would reveal the answer and I agree with K Shea, it's not always possible to know where to search or what to look for. Even in these cases, I'll reply if I can!

> This attitude of criticising the way in which I pose my question is just plain wrong. Why could you not just say "Yes, I think I might be able to help, but I just need to get some info from you first ...". That would have started a useful dialog.How on earth do I know what to include in my question when I have no idea what the problem is and hence no idea what information is truly relevant. Either that or just don't bother replying, that would be fine also.

Me personally, if I'm not sure whats relevant, I'll include it anyway, even if it seems completely irrelevant, to quote a supermarket (here in the UK) "Every little helps!".

>
> I stated I am using TVheadend on Raspbian, I stated I am using Kodi on Android. I give a quick high level explanation of my problem and simply waited to see if anybody cared to pick it up and run with it. That's usually how this works. It's a free service offered by like minded individuals, as and when they have spare time on their hands and care to jump in and engage. It's not life and death, I'm not in a hurry, I am simply engaging myself in my hobby. I am not an admin. I am not a dev. I am not an installer.
>

>I have no doubt that any request for you not to reply will be ignored. I will not, however, make any further contributions to this post, save for one final explanation of what my issue was, because in the end it was nothing more than configuration.

Please don't let this or anything stop you from posting on here (as long as it isn't spam) :).

Sometimes people clash, and that's fine, just avoid each other or be civil (not always easy I know).

---

Anyway, anyone for tea and crumpets? ;)

Hey, I'm trying to lighten the mood in here!

bas co

(whispering...) thanks for posting the solution.... i'll be off now (really quickly :) )

K Shea

Mark Clarkstone wrote:

> Sometimes people clash, and that's fine, just avoid each other or be civil (not always easy I know).

I have participated in many forums on various topics over the years, and one thing I have noticed about technical forums is that they tend to attract a particular type of user that I like to call the "forum know-it-all". This is a person that seems to feel it is his duty to instruct users on how they should ask for help, often in a condescending manner, but only infrequently provides any real actual help. If you view users sorted by post counts, he'll typically be near the top, but many of his posts are abrasive and/or unhelpful, and often the advice given is questionable. And for some reason, it's often the case that the forum operator sees only the high post count and thinks the guy must be an asset to the forum, when the reality is he often causes users to leave angry or disgusted. But worse yet, if someone else is giving good advice that contradicts advice the know-it-all's given, he'll often belittle them or pick on them until they leave the forum. He thinks he knows everything about the topic, but so much of his advice is questionable, or instructs users to do things "the hard way" when there are easier/better solutions.

I am NOT accusing anyone here of being that guy, but what I am saying is that when you have run into that type repeatedly on various forums, you start to get real sensitive about anyone you think is acting in a condescending manner toward yourself or other users. Even if they don't fully fit the profile I have described above, just their condescending attitude is enough to make me wish they would just shut up and go away. In other forums I have asked such types not to respond to my posts, ever, but they just can't help themselves, apparently. I sometimes wonder if such people are basement dwellers that are trying to find meaning in life by giving out advice or help, which in and of itself would be great if they would limit themselves to giving advice or help ONLY when they are absolutely certain they know what they are talking about (or if they are not, at least admit that in their post - none of us know everything about everything, and sometimes a wild guess turns out to be the answer, but at least admit you're shooting in the dark). Asking users to jump through hoops prior to making any attempt to answer is not help. There is a fine line here; I realize some users act like they expect other forum participants to be mind readers, but if you can't request the additional information you need without lecturing the user on what they should have done or posted, maybe it's best to just keep your fingers off the keyboard and let someone else answer.

Again, I am NOT accusing anyone here of being that guy, I am just kind of sick to death of having to put up with that type when trying to ask a simple question. And also, I have found that sometimes if you give too much information initially, your post just sits there like a giant turd that everyone else avoids. For example if you say you are having a problem with a certain brand or model of equipment (such as a tuner card), people who don't have that same equipment will stop reading and sometimes no one will answer, when in fact your issue may have nothing to do with that particular hardware. Sometimes it's better to start out by describing the symptoms you are seeing in a somewhat general way, and then provide those very specific details only if someone indicates they may be relevant. And users may not always know at first what details are relevant to their problem.