ATSC3 Channels Crash the HDHR App - JanDSiegrist

[JanDSiegrist]

Greetings everyone
As of today [1/26/23] RF channel 27 out of Marlboro MA is transmitting 7 new ATSC3 channels: 102.1, 104.1, 105.1, 115.1, 125.1, 150.1 and 166.1
That is approx 30.5 miles from my location [02896]. I get a reasonable signal.

In HDHR Config GUI I can tune the channels but when attempting to view them it launches VLC which shows the video but no sound. Does anyone know of a fix for that?

The more disturbing thing is that the HDHR app shows the channel numbers but when attempting to tune one you get a black screen and then the app ceases without warning.
Once in a great while you will get a message stating that no Video data exists and then it crashes.

Once, I got a msg stating that Windows 10 needed an HEVC Video extension which I did purchase from the MS store - I've not since got the msg about needing to purchase the HEVC video extension - now it just exits.

Is there something that can work in place of VLC for the Config GUI ?

My end game is to get this working in a Plex media server but as of right now I can't seem to get the ATSC3 channels to even show in the guide.

Any help is much appreciated.
Jan

[nickk]

In HDHR Config GUI I can tune the channels but when attempting to view them it launches VLC which shows the video but no sound. Does anyone know of a fix for that?

VLC does not support the audio codec used by ATSC 3.0 - you should see video but not hear audio when using VLC.

The more disturbing thing is that the HDHR app shows the channel numbers but when attempting to tune one you get a black screen and then the app ceases without warning.
Once in a great while you will get a message stating that no Video data exists and then it crashes.

Once, I got a msg stating that Windows 10 needed an HEVC Video extension which I did purchase from the MS store - I've not since got the msg about needing to purchase the HEVC video extension - now it just exits.

Simple thing first - recommend installing the latest video drivers from the AMD/Intel/Nvidia website. Video decode is usually GPU accelerated.

Nick

[JanDSiegrist]

More info...
I have a 2nd Win10 PC - with minimal things installed. To that I installed the latest HDHomeRun App, and also installed the HEVC Video Extension from the MS Store. When I tune one of the new ATSC3 channels like 115.1 NBC 10 Boston, it does display the picture and sound for about 8 seconds then freezes. The app is not frozen just the content being shown. If I then tune a non-ATSC3 channel the app will display that normally with sound. Then if I re-tune an ATSC3 channel it will again work for about 8 seconds then freeze.

On this minimal Win10 box VLC is not installed, when attempting to view an ATSC3 channel in HDHomeRun Config GUI what appears to be a windows media player box opens with a musical note positioned in the center - no sound. The odd thing is when you close the media player box the tuner app goes back to channel 0. When tuning a non ATSC3 channel and tapping View the channel displays properly in the windows media player with sound. Also when closing the player box the channel goes back to 0.

Is anyone else out there seeing this behavior?

Thanks in advance
Jan

[nickk]

Playback stall after 8s - can you please enable "send diagnostic information" in the settings menu of the HDHomeRun app on this PC, play an ATSC 3.0 channel for 2 minutes (ie don't leave live tv for 2 minutes even though it has stalled), then reply back with the Device ID of your HDHomeRun.

Nick

[JanDSiegrist]

Ok, I did what you suggested - the device ID is: 10A3C5DC
I waited 2 min after the freeze, then tuned another non ATSC3 channel then exited the app.
Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
Jan

[nickk]

Sorry, can you please enable "send diagnostic information" in the Settings menu of the HDHomeRun viewing app on this PC.

Nick

[JanDSiegrist]

Again - I did as you suggested, however something has changed since this afternoon - now when I attempt to tune one of the ATSC3 channels it states: Unable to play channel: No Video Data - this is displayed on a black screen. The app does allow me to tune another channel.
On my original Win10 box it still just exits if I attempt to tune an ATSC3 channel. It is using an older NVIDA card GeForce 210 - the drivers were fine.
The device ID is 10A3C5DC
I can be available as of late Monday morning if you need me to try anything.
Thanks
Jan

[nickk]

I am not seeing anything from the HDHomeRun app for Windows 10. I am seeing information from a Windows 7 machine.

Are your PCs running Windows 7 or Windows 10?

[kyl416]

however something has changed since this afternoon - now when I attempt to tune one of the ATSC3 channels it states: Unable to play channel: No Video Data - this is displayed on a black screen.

Many of the Boston ATSC 3.0 streams were taken down for the weekend so they can fix their audio and caption issues:
https://www.avsforum.com/threads/boston ... t-62296890

Several of the 3.0 streams are going down for the weekend. There are still issues at the transmitter site in Hudson with audio, captioning and other various things. The companies involved are working on it. Obviously this is not ideal to us that are part of the lighthouse, but it is what it is, and we'll get through it.

According to the live bandscan, 102.1 WGBH*NX, 150.1 WWJE*NX and 166.1 WUNI*NX are still live, while 104.1 WBZ*NX, 105.1 WCVB*NX, 115.1 WBTS*NX and 125.1 WFXT*NX were taken down.

[JanDSiegrist]

Wow, you are right on top of things.
I have a number of machines, 2) Windows 10 Pro machines, 1) Windows 7 Pro machine, and 1) Windows 8.1 Pro
Both of the Win10 Pro machines have the HDHR app installed, one with VLC and one without.
All of these access my HDHR Flex 4K - 4 tuner device 10A3C5DC, and 2 HDHR Prime cablecard tuners - 3 tuners each.
I was using the minimal Win10 Pro machine as a development box and attempting to install a Kodi matrix that worked with AC4 using NextPvr - so far that's been a bit of a disaster - nothing seems to function correctly. I don't expect that to be your problem...
It appears that ATSC3 is a bit of a mess. I'm guessing it will be a time before they get it sorted out.
Let me know if you need me to try anything. Meantime I'm going to press on attempting to get the Kodi/NextPVR functioning for the ATSC3 channels (if their up).
Jan

[kyl416]

The rest of the channels are back up tonight. They suggest you do a rescan first though because they changed some of the parameters.

[JanDSiegrist]

Ok, I re-checked my HDHomeRun App for 102.1 and some of the other (ATSC3 Channels on RF 27) The homerun app now runs for 15 ~ 20 seconds before coming to a halt. This is on a minimal Win10 box. I did have logs turned on, the device is 10A3C5DC. On my other Win10 Box is still exits the HDHR app.
Experimenting with another approach I got a beta Kodi Matrix (19.03) with support for AC4 audio. It was supposed to be setup for NextPVR - which I installed and did get audio when tuning to 102.1 but no video. So to try something else I uninstalled the NextPVR client and installed the HDHR App for Kodi - same result - I get audio but no video. - this info about Kodi for AC4 is just an FyI.

Jan

[JanDSiegrist]

To Nick
Both of my Win10 boxes crash the HDHomeRun app when attempting to tune a ATSC3 channel. On my main PC the video card is a GeForce 210 - I've downloaded and installed the latest drivers. Whenever I attempt to tune an ATSC3 channel it crashes the HDHomerun app, it just exits after displaying a black screen for 10 seconds or so.
Now, on this same machine if I run a beta version of QMPlay2, it tunes the station just fine, with audio. I also have a beta version of Kodi Matrix 19.03 with support for AC4 audio, If I install a NextPVR ver 19.06 in Kodi I'm able to tune the atsc3 channels with audio.
Also on my 2nd 'minimilist' Win10 machine, whenever I attempt to tune an ATSC3 channel it displays for 10 to 15 seconds then freezes. The app is still alive as I can still tune another channel.

Also back on my 1st win10 machine I also have a virtual Windows 11 installed using virtual box. To this I installed an HDHomeRun app which tunes the ATSC3 channels with audio.

So the bottom line is other applications on my two Win10 Pro boxes can successfully tune ATSC3 channels. In my humble opinion the HDHomeRun application needs some error handling, If for whatever reason it cannot tune an ATSC3 channel it should at a minimum issue a warning.

Jan

[kyl416]

On my main PC the video card is a GeForce 210

That's part of the issue, the GeForce 210 is from 2009, so the Windows HEVC extensions that the Win10 app relies on can't do hardware HEVC decoding.

[nickk]

Suggest checking the Windows Event Viewer after the crash - it should log information about the crash.

If it is crashing in the GPU path it can't be caught by an app.