Live TV: have to open app first

[ashh87]

Hi,

I have an HDHR5-4DT which I use with an Nvidia Shield TV. Recently when I try to use the Live TV app, I find that the channels won't play unless I run the HDHomerun app first. From the app itself, everything works fine - device is detected and all the channels work. I've tried updating channel lists in Live TV and reinstalling the HDHomerun app, but that didn't fix it. Has this issue been seen before, or is there some way I can provide some logs which would be helpful in getting it sorted?

Thanks,

Ash

[jasonl]

How are the Shield and the HDHomeRun connected network-wise?

Does the Live Channels app work if you first open the HDHomeRun app on a different device (phone, computer, etc.) or does it specifically have to be the app on the Shield?

[ashh87]

The shield and the HDHomerun are both connected to the same network switch, which is also connected to a router. I've just checked and the app has to be run on the shield, running it on another device doesn't make Live channels work on the shield.

[jasonl]

What kind of switch is it?

What error do you get in Live Channels if you haven't opened the HDHomeRun app first?

[ashh87]

The switch is a Netgear GS608UK, though I might try connecting them with a different router to see if it's the network setup which is the problem. On Live TV, there is a mainly black screen, the name of the channel it is trying to play, and a spinning blue circle. Eventually, a grey popup says "Video unexpectedly unavailable" In the HDHomerun device logs, there are no new lines saying it has started streaming.

[jasonl]

Definitely worth trying a different switch/router if you have one. I've seen a few buggy managed switches have problems with device discovery if the device has been idle for a while, but that's an unmanaged switch so it would be very odd for it to have a problem like that. Still good to rule it out before looking at other possibilities.

[ashh87]

I've tried using another router and I get the same issue. In addition, I now see a "Network TV Tuner (BETA)" in the Live TV tuner setup menus. This option finds a list of channels which show up in the programme guide. Selecting these channels (they have a blue icon next to them, rather than the green HD icon) does get some video from HDHomerun, although the guide information for them is wrong - telling me the wrong channel, or telling me they are German channels which I don't have access to.

[jasonl]

Can you open the HDHomeRun app, go to the Live/Recorded/Discover/Tasks screen, select the gear icon, and enable Send diagnostic information, then exit out of the app, and do whatever you need to do to reproduce the issue. Reply back with the device ID for your HDHomeRun and the time you reproduced the issue and we will check the logs.

[AlexPH]

I have the Flex 4K and I'm having the same or very similar problem on a Tivo Stream 4K. On the live channels app I get a black screen and these two error messages at the bottom that are constantly switching "Your Android device does not support the video format" and "The video is unexpectedly unavailable". This problem only occurs on the sub/SD channels, all the main networks work fine. If I open the Hdhomerun app then go back to live channels everything works again but only for a while. I'm able to recreate the problem by going into HDhomerun app info and force stopping it.

I also have a Shield TV for our main TV that does not have this problem. The Shield has a wired connection to a TP-Link router that is being used as an access point which has a wired connection to a T-mobile 5G gateway/router. The Tivo Stream 4K is connected through wifi to the T-mobile gateway.

[SC-Hokie]

I'm now seeing the exact behavior; I have 4 different AndroidTV devices, and have been using the Live Channels app with my HDHR-CC to see Guide Data and stream channels without so much as even a hiccup for the last 2 years. Then, this weekend, all 4 devices started reporting the same 2 error messages, which cycle back-and-forth:
"Video is Unexpectedly Unavailable" and "Your Android Device does not support the video format". If I open the HDHomeRun app, it detects the device and all channels play perfectly. Once trying that, if I revert to Live Channels (or Live TV) I now get a black screen, hear the Audio and get a message that said "Audio Only". No changes to my household networking gear (routers, etc.), I've restarted the Android TV devices, restarted the HDHomeRun, ensured HDHR firmware is the latest (it was) and re-scanned channels both on the HDHomeRun and in Android TV under the "Channel Sources" settings, all to no avail. Any ideas, and please help!

Thanks.

[nickk]

Fixed in 20220621: https://download.silicondust.com/hdhome ... ndroid.apk

[SC-Hokie]

BOOM! Updated the App on all 4 devices and just like that, Live Channels back working perfectly! Thank you so much for the prompt resolution, super-appreciate it!

[ashh87]

I've just gone through the process with logging enabled at 1pm BST. I opened the HDHomerun app, then returned to Live Channels around 1:02pm. My device ID is 1250E437. Should I sideload that apk which was posted to my Shield TV and see if that fixes the problem?

[jasonl]

You can sideload the app or enroll in the beta app program via https://play.google.com/apps/testing/co ... dust.view/ and it will let you update via the Play Store. The beta program is preferred since it will continue to update the app, while if you sideload, you'll have to install all the future updates by sideloading.

[ashh87]

I've updated using the beta tester link - thanks. This latest version of the app doesn't fix the issue for me, although now in Live Channels it fills in information from the EPG about the channel name, icon and what is playing on the channel, even though no video is played. I'm fairly sure this was missing with the previous version of the Hdhomerun app.

Logs from trying this today 2022/06/25 are at about 14:40 BST.