Astrometa DVB-T2 problem with streams encoded with HEVC h265

Artur P

Hi, I have strange problem with Astrometa DVB-T2 usb stick (15f4:0131 HanfTek) with Sony CXD2837ER DVB-T/T2/C demodulator. Almost everything at my system works but channels with streams encoded with HEVC. When I try to play this streams TVheadend produces following log messages:

2022-11-04 22:12:47.034 subscription: 0013: No input source available for subscription "HTTP" to channel "ABC" 2022-11-04 22:12:47.034 webui: Couldn't start streaming /stream/channel/a863607b46b24937b9112dbcae789eb5?profile=webtv-vp8-vorbis-webm, No assigned adapters

Standard h264 streams are played without problems. Furthermore I have second setup with the same version of TVheadend but based on different distro and there I have no problems with any kind of stream (of course using the same device/usb stick)

I tried to find differences between both systems but with no luck. Maybe I need some kind of library, kernel module/patch or firmware to properly decode HEVC streams?

Here are my setups:

Working: Manjaro, kernel: 5.19.16-2, TVheadend 4.3-2027

Not working: Debian 10, kernel 5.19.9, TVheadend 4.3-2027

Jonas Lang

What hardware have you got running Manjaro. I don’t use Manjaro but as far as I remember it comes with very little installed other than the basics. Assuming you’ve used something like this to install all the relevant codecs

sudo pacman -S jasper lame libdca libdv gst-libav libtheora libvorbis libxv wavpack x264 xvidcore dvd+rw-tools dvdauthor dvgrab libmad libmpeg2 libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdnav exfat-utils fuse-exfat a52dec faac faad2 flac

Did you build the Manjaro version of TVH yourself. If so the build process should have picked up any missing dependencies.

Do you have VLC installed on Manjaro. If so have you tried playing HEVC video in it.

Saen Acro

Compare enabled options in about page

Artur P

Jonas Lang wrote:
> What hardware have you got running Manjaro. I don’t use Manjaro but as far as I remember it comes with very little installed other than the basics. Assuming you’ve used something like this to install all the relevant codecs

Both systems are based on standard (rather old) x86-64. Debian -> Quad Core Intel Core2 Quad Q6600, Manjaro -> Core 2 duo T7700

> Did you build the Manjaro version of TVH yourself. If so the build process should have picked up any missing dependencies.

Yes, from AUR repository which is based on "latest" version from GitHub. On Debian I have version compiled from the same source.

> Do you have VLC installed on Manjaro. If so have you tried playing HEVC video in it.

Passing stream to VLC changes nothing so this is not problem with decoding stream. It looks like TVH can not even create stream. Maybe this is something with processing DVB data by demuxer?

Artur P

saen acro wrote:

> Compare enabled options in about page

They are almost the same but "Packages" versions. Maybe this is the clue but rather hard to investigate without digging in all changelogs... All other options and compiletime flags are identical.

||Not working Debian|*Working Manjaro* |
|openssl|1.1.1n|1.1.1q|
|zlib|1.02.2011|1.02.2012|
|libpcre|8.44|10.40|
|liburiparser|0.9.1|0.9.7|
|avahi-client|0.7|0.8|
|libavfilter|7.40.101|7.110.100|
|libswresample|3.03.0100|3.09.0100|
|libavresample|4.0.0|4.0.0|
|libswscale|5.03.0100|5.09.0100|
|libavformat|58.20.100|58.76.100|
|libavcodec|58.35.100|58.134.100|
|libavutil|56.22.100|56.70.100|
|libva|1.04.2000|1.16.0|
|libva-drm|1.04.2000|1.16.0|
|dbus-1|1.12.2024|1.14.2|

Saen Acro

Artur P wrote:
> saen acro wrote:
> > Compare enabled options in about page
>
> They are almost the same but "Packages" versions. Maybe this is the clue but rather hard to investigate without digging in all changelogs... All other options and compiletime flags are identical.
>
> ||Not working Debian|*Working Manjaro* |
> |openssl|1.1.1n|1.1.1q|
> |zlib|1.02.2011|1.02.2012|
> |libpcre|8.44|10.40|
> |liburiparser|0.9.1|0.9.7|
> |avahi-client|0.7|0.8|
> |libavfilter|7.40.101|7.110.100|
> |libswresample|3.03.0100|3.09.0100|
> |libavresample|4.0.0|4.0.0|
> |libswscale|5.03.0100|5.09.0100|
> |libavformat|58.20.100|58.76.100|
> |libavcodec|58.35.100|58.134.100|
> |libavutil|56.22.100|56.70.100|
> |libva|1.04.2000|1.16.0|
> |libva-drm|1.04.2000|1.16.0|

> |dbus-1|1.12.2024|1.14.2|

Not library's used seeOptions enabled

libav yes ffmpeg_static yes libx264 yes libx264_static yes libx265 yes libx265_static yes libvpx yes libvpx_static yes libtheora yes libtheora_static yes libvorbis yes libvorbis_static yes libfdkaac yes libfdkaac_static yes libopus yes libopus_static yes

Artur P

This table shows only differences between both systems. As I said: "All other options and compiletime flags are identical."

Saen Acro

Is the driver/firmware for tuner is same on both?

Artur P

saen acro wrote:

> Is the driver/firmware for tuner is same on both?

I'm not sure if kernel module for this tuner needs any additional firmware. DVB-T demodulator is based on Sony CXD2837 and modinfo shows nothing about it. Anyway there is only difference in kernel version 5.19.9 and 5.19.16. I'll try to run Debian with newer kernel but this module hasn't change since 5.12...

Saen Acro

Try to plug tuner in USB2 port

Artur P

saen acro wrote:

> Try to plug tuner in USB2 port

USB2 is max what I have :) I'll give some feedback after replacing kernel...

Artur P

I did not change kernel but tested another stream server (NextPVR) on the same machine and it has no problems with playing DVB-T2 channels so this issue is not related to driver/firmware/library. I noticed that channels, which I'm not able to stream, are all mapped by hand because, in services list, they are hidden (and can not be auto mapped) as result of "Parent disabled" status. Maybe this is the key to resolve this issue? I tried to change "Max PID" parameter on Adapter properties tab, but with no luck (I'm not sure whether this resolve issues only with IP/SAT servers).

Saen Acro

Update to latest version.

What is exact name string in about page?

Artur P

saen acro wrote:
> Update to latest version.
>

> What is exact name string in about page?

No change. Currently I have: 4.3-2058~g5543ce518-dirty (2022-11-22T23:31:46+0100)

Saen Acro

Artur P wrote:
> saen acro wrote:
> > Update to latest version.
> >
> > What is exact name string in about page?
>

> No change. Currently I have: 4.3-2058~g5543ce518-dirty (2022-11-22T23:31:46+0100)

Dirty changed source code, no one can help.

Marco Giusti

I had the same issue of @Artur: same USB key Astrometa DVB-T2 with Sony CXD2837ER DVB-T/T2/C demodulator, on Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS with HTS Tvheadend 4.2.8-36~g5bdcfd8ac.

Initially all working except the HEVC channel (as Artur), but I have try the usb key on another PC with Kaffeine and all works like a charm.

In the meantime I have also removed Services with HEVC and force a rescan on Tvheadend, restarted it ...and now it works without any issue.

I really don't know what have fix the issue...but you can try some of my lucky steps

Artur P

Marco Giusti wrote:

> I really don't know what have fix the issue...but you can try some of my lucky steps

Currently I made few steps further in my investigation and I agree that to solve this mysterious issue one should have a lot of luck. This is some problem with TVH and it does not matter whether currently used code is from latest "dirty" or another branch. With this tuner (Astrometa DVB-T2) TVH can not properly discover some services (encoded with HEVC) and set their status as "parent disabled". In this state, there is no chance to play stream, but when one force network scan "bilion times" THV, at last, will discover services properly.

In my particular situation, there was slightly faster solution. I replaced configuration in "not working" system with this from "good one", and without changing anything in system I was able to play HEVC streams without problems.