Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

[demonrik]

Removed - see OP for correct version and link

[demonrik]

Removed - see OP for correct version and link

[TBlankenheim]

I installed version 0.4.1-20171221 on my DS918+ and the RECORD engine does not seem to be functioning properly.

The DVR Manager indicates HDHomeRun RECORD running. The 'Recordings' tab does not indicate the presence of any recordings (there are several present). When I run the Windows 10 HDHomeRun client, I get a DVR Failure error message. Also, no entries are made to the log file. If I delete the log files before starting the RECORD engine, no new log file is being created.

When I look at the processes running on the DS918+, I can see hdhomerun_record_x64.

Version 0.3-20171118 works as expected with the exception of the DVR Manager not showing any log files. Not sure if this is a known problem or a configuration error on my part.

Any thoughts or suggestions? More than happy to collect any additional information you may require.

Thanks!

[demonrik]

I installed version 0.4.1-20171221 on my DS918+ and the RECORD engine does not seem to be functioning properly.

The DVR Manager indicates HDHomeRun RECORD running. The 'Recordings' tab does not indicate the presence of any recordings (there are several present). When I run the Windows 10 HDHomeRun client, I get a DVR Failure error message. Also, no entries are made to the log file. If I delete the log files before starting the RECORD engine, no new log file is being created.

When I look at the processes running on the DS918+, I can see hdhomerun_record_x64.

Version 0.3-20171118 works as expected with the exception of the DVR Manager not showing any log files. Not sure if this is a known problem or a configuration error on my part.

Any thoughts or suggestions? More than happy to collect any additional information you may require.

Thanks!

No entries to the log file indicates a permissions issue.
Make sure your recordpath location is accessible by the http user.

The fact that 0.4.1 is having issues that 0.3 doesn't really does imply a permissions problem. For 0.4.1 the startup script attempts to run the record engine as the http user.. where as 0.3 runs it as root.

So short summary - check the permissions

[jasonic8]

What http user? What's the name of the account that needs permissions? Is this something we can do through the DSM or do we need to SSH in and grant permissions to some system level user that we can't see like root?

UPDATE: Can be done in DSM - FileStation -> HDHomeRun folder permissions. Click create and select "http" and then add read and write permissions.

[demonrik]

What http user? What's the name of the account that needs permissions? Is this something we can do through the DSM or do we need to SSH in and grant permissions to some system level user that we can't see like root?

you will need to ssh.
This should only be a problem if you are migrating (or have migrated in previous versions) from the SD installer.

Once you ssh to the box.
simply run the following

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# sudo chown -R http:http <recordpath>

[jasonic8]

Thanks - I edited the post as you must have been answering - turns out you can do it in DSM.

[demonrik]

Thanks - I edited the post as you must have been answering - turns out you can do it in DSM.

cool

[jasonic8]

No Recordings can be found... any ideas?

[demonrik]

No Recordings can be found... any ideas?

Do you have log files in the recordpath?
Try shutting down the engine via the appcenter.. delete the logfiles if they exist.. then start up the engine
Do you get a new logfile?

If you have new logfile... then am not sure as engine is running.. would possibly be just waiting for my.hdhomerun.com to catch up (maybe wait 30mins or so).

If no new logfile.. then something is most likely wrong with permissions.. and changing through FileStation didn't resolve and we need to go to ssh login to resolve.

[jasonic8]

No that doesn't cure it and now (after SSH sudo) I have the "Unable to play channel. DVR failure" message again.

[jasonl]

What's the device ID for your HDHomeRun?

[jasonic8]

Hi - it's 12301DB4

[demonrik]

No that doesn't cure it and now (after SSH sudo) I have the "Unable to play channel. DVR failure" message again.

when you re ssh'd to the box..
Can you do the following?

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ps -ef | grep hdh

you should see either this for x86 NAS

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http      9705     1  0 Feb05 ?        00:10:21 /tmp/hdhomerun_record_x64 start --conf /volume1/@appstore/HDHomeRunDVR/etc/HDHomeRunDVR.conf

or for arm

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http      9705     1  0 Feb05 ?        00:10:21 /tmp/hdhomerun_record_arm start --conf /volume1/@appstore/HDHomeRunDVR/etc/HDHomeRunDVR.conf

If you don't see anything.. then we have a problem that the record engine is not starting for some reason.
In the same ssh session - lets get some data
first - lets check the platform

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uname -a

If the output is arm then please try

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/var/packages/HDHomeRunDVR/target/bin/hdhr_wrapper_arm

otherwise if it's x86_64 please try

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/var/packages/HDHomeRunDVR/target/bin/hdhr_wrapper_x86_64

If it's neither - then I may have caused something with my mods for the wrapper.

You should see the following

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+===========================================================+
| Simple wrapper for HDHomeRun DVR Record Engine  v0.1      |
| changes effective user to same user as web engine for the |
| web UI to have sufficient privileges to stop/start the    |
| DVR engine backend without                                |
| Must be run as admin/root user                            |
| This script will not elevate privleges.                   |
+===========================================================+
+===========================================================+
|                                                           |
| hdhr_wrapper -u <username> -b <binary to execute>         |
|                                                           |
+===========================================================+

If you get something like

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cannot execute binary file: Exec format error

Then we have a performance mismatch I need to fix.

To remove the wrapper and resolve back to 0.3 like execution (but new engine and fixes) you can modify the following file
/var/packages/HDHomeRunDVR/scripts/common

Change from line 71 from:

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start_engine() {
    if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
        $hdhr_bin_path/$hdhr_bin start --conf $hdhr_etc_path/$hdhr_conf
    else
        if [[ "$arch" =~ "arm"* ]]; then
            echo "Determined Platform is ARM from $arch"
            $hdhr_bin_path/$hdhr_wrap_arm -u $hdhr_user -b $hdhr_bin_path/$hdhr_bin -- start --conf $hdhr_etc_path/$hdhr_conf
        elif [[ "$arch" =~ "x86_64"* ]]; then
            echo "Determined Platform is x86_64 from $arch"
            $hdhr_bin_path/$hdhr_wrap_x86 -u $hdhr_user -b $hdhr_bin_path/$hdhr_bin -- start --conf $hdhr_etc_path/$hdhr_conf
        else
            echo "Unable to determine the platform - will default to no wrapper"
            $hdhr_bin_path/$hdhr_bin start --conf $hdhr_etc_path/$hdhr_conf
        fi
    fi
}

To

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start_engine() {
        $hdhr_bin_path/$hdhr_bin start --conf $hdhr_etc_path/$hdhr_conf
}

[jasonic8]

I'm on x86 and get the text describing the wrapper successfully.

It was allowing me to view live channels before so I'm not sure what's changed.

I'm rubbish at vi.