RTL2832P/CXD2837ER works with 4.2.8, but not with 4.3.x

Piwochlap

Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks to everyone working on Tvheadend. It's an amazing piece of software and I'm really impressed by what it can do. This post isn't a complaint. I spent a fair bit of time debugging this because I wanted to make sure I wasn't reporting my own configuration mistake before mentioning it here.

I think I may have found a regression between 4.2.8 and the current 4.3 nightly builds.

My environment:

Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS
Kernel: 6.8.0-136-generic
USB tuner: Astrometa RTL2832P + Sony CXD2837ER
USB ID: 15f4:0131
DVB-T2 (Poland)
The kernel detects the tuner correctly. Firmware loads successfully and the Sony frontend is registered without errors.

Tvheadend versions tested:

Working: 4.2.8 (Snap package)
Not working: 4.3-2738_g15515d784noble (Cloudsmith nightly)
I also tried an earlier 4.3 nightly with identical results.

Symptoms on 4.3:

The DVB scan appears to work normally.
Network created
Mux added manually
Scan completes successfully
The mux reports the expected number of services

However:

Configuration → DVB Inputs → Services remains empty
No channels can be mapped automatically
Playback fails with "No input source available"
The scheduler reports "No assigned adapters"

I completely removed the configuration (/var/lib/tvheadend) and repeated the setup from scratch several times. The behaviour is 100% reproducible.

Things I ruled out:

Fresh Tvheadend configuration
Different 4.3 nightly versions
Reboot into latest Ubuntu kernel
Firmware issues
Driver issues
Wrong frontend selected
Incorrect network assignment
I also verified that the tuner itself is working using other DVB software.

I then removed the nightly build completely and installed the 4.2.8 Snap package. Using exactly the same hardware, machine, kernel and mux:

Services appear immediately
Channel mapping works
Playback works (including browser playback)
Everything behaves exactly as expected
The only meaningful change was the Tvheadend version.

My hardware:

Bus 003 Device 003
ID 15f4:0131
Astrometa DVB-T/T2/C receiver
RTL2832P + Sony CXD2837ER

Question: Has anyone seen something similar with the RTL2832P/CXD2837ER combination on recent 4.3 nightlies? If there's any debug logging, patches or specific builds you'd like me to test, I'm more than happy to help. Since 4.2.8 works reliably on exactly the same system, I'm hoping this might help narrow down a regression somewhere in the 4.3 branch.

Thanks again for all the work that goes into Tvheadend! Hopefully this is useful rather than just adding noise.

Flole

Piwochlap Have you tried this: tvheadend/tvheadend1694

Piwochlap

Flole Thanks for the suggestion. I tested the workaround from issue #1694 (checking both parent-related options in the Services view), but unfortunately it doesn't change the behaviour on my system. The Services list remains empty and no services can be mapped from the 522 MHz mux (while 13 are found in a scan).
At the same time, the 4.2.8 snap on the same Ubuntu 24.04 installation immediately restores normal operation. Services appear, mapping works and playback is successful. I'm not the greatest fan of snaps, but this was the easiest way to go back to 4.2.8 I could think of.

Flole

Piwochlap If the services are found but are considered inactive they can not be mapped automatically, instead they need to be mapped manually as it's impossible to know into which bouquet they should be put.

DaveH

Flole it's impossible to know into which bouquet

I thought bouquets were a satellite thing? Piwochlap has a terrestrial source, no?

Piwochlap

Flole I don't think I was able to perform that test. On 4.3 the Services tab is empty after the scan completes, so there are no service entries available to map manually. Earlier I created a channel manually and assigned it to the network, but that's different from manually mapping an existing service. If there's another way to manually map a service without it appearing in the Services list, I'd be happy to try it.

Piwochlap

DaveH Yes, I have a terrestrial source. A rooftop antena on an apartment block, very common in this part of the world.

Flole

DaveH I thought bouquets were a satellite thing?

Not really, they are basically categories of channels. HDTV and Radio for example are pretty much independent of the source.

Flole

Piwochlap On 4.3 the Services tab is empty after the scan completes, so there are no service entries available to map manually.

Even when you disable the filter that hides inactive services?

Piwochlap

Flole Even then.

Piwochlap

Flole Even when you disable the filter that hides inactive services?

EDIT: I am sorry, I misunderstood your question at first.

Now when I got what you meant: I confirm that setting the Services filter to "Hide: None" reveals all 37 services, which were previously hidden. I can also manually map a channel (e.g., TVP1) from the Services tab into Channels. However, the mapped channel is still not playable. Playback fails both in the web interface and in an external player. So the services exist and can be mapped manually, but they remain inactive.

Flole

Anything in the debug logs when you try to play that channel?

Piwochlap

Flole Anything in the debug logs when you try to play that channel?

log.txt

52kB

See attached.

Flole

Piwochlap Something is disabled somewhere that prevents Tvheadend from even trying to tune to that mux in order to start receiving that service. No idea what and where though. That's with the "accept tsid 0" setting enabled, right?

Piwochlap

Flole That's with the "accept tsid 0" setting enabled, right?

Right:

Piwochlap

Flole Something is disabled somewhere that prevents Tvheadend from even trying to tune to that mux in order to start receiving that service. No idea what and where though.

Sadly, I am not a developer, just an ordinary user. So the only clues I can provide:

The Warsaw / PL frequencies pre-defined in the wizard are out of date (from the DVB-T era), so I have to define the current muxes manually (using correct DVB-T2 frequencies that I retrieved from the Kaffeine player)
4.2.8 continues working very reliably, without any extra settings

DeltaMikeCharlie

@Piwochlap
Are your 'adapters' (USB tuners) still visible to TVH and enabled?
Are they assigned to the 'network' that your services are on?

I have found that on some rare occasions, my USB tuners can get lost.

Piwochlap

DeltaMikeCharlie YES and YES. I had this issue on my OpenSuse Tumbleweed PC, but after I connected my USB tuner to my Ubuntu homelab, it never happened again.

Chris G

Can we please get rid of this parent disabled mechanic? It's so annoying. I don't see the point.
If you want a way to remove "dead" services, surely it's better to mark them as dead/auto remove them when the mux no longer has a reference to them?