App not detecting DVR

[enesha]

Hiya all

So not sure how to best ask for help on here yet, but here we go.

Up until recently I had been using a Dual to provide tuners for a jellyfin install. It's great and all, but I find it clunky, So I decided it was time to step up my game, so I bought a Quad Tuner Flex 4k, and was planning on using the DVR function from you guys.

I have the HDHomeRun app presently installed on an FireStick. I am able to view live tv. I added my account to the app, and it does recognize that I paid for the DVR service.

I run mostly linux in this house, so I spun up a trixie virtual machine, and did a minimal install, no gui etc and just base utils.

I installed RECORD from the instructions on the site here. Install being a big word for download, +x, make config and run, easy peasy I thought. I did add the conf file. At some point the server added a StorageID to the conf file. I can run the executable..I have tried the stable and beta. They seem to start, status reports that they are started, but the HDHomeRun app on the firestick simply says"Your HDHomeRun DVR wasn't found"

There doesn't, however, seem to be a log file, at least nothing in the working directory and nothing in /var/log as far as I could find.

In the Fire app, it says that I am using version 20250708(App) and 20251002b(UI)(beta)

This seems like it should be crazy easy, so I assume I zigged at some point when I should have zagged. not sure what tech info I need to share to help out in here. I thank whoever on here in advance for any proffered help

[nickk]

1) Make sure your VM-host networking is set to bridge mode, not NAT mode. When configured correctly your VM will get an IP address from your main-network DHCP server and will be on the same subnet as your Fire TV.

2) If you Linux VM is running a firewall: Add Port=4999 (or whatever port you want) to the hdhomerun_record conf file, then update your firewall config to allow incoming connections to this port. You may also need to allow UDP port 65001 for discovery.

[enesha]

Heya thanks for the reply, and so speedy

So the VM is definitely bridged with an actual IP from my dhcp server. AFAIK the base install of debian does not include a firewall, at least not that I have been able to locate. I thought that might have been it as well....those defaults killed my using kdeconnect before.

It would appear that the process, while reporting it is running,does not seem to be opening a port. a "netstat -tunlp" does not show either of those two port numbers as listening.

The lack of log file nags at me. I assume it should be in the working directory, but this makes diagnosing hard.

I even tried to manually specify the conf file, with little success as per this:

***@HomeRunDVR:~/HDHomeRun$ ./hdhomerun_record --conf=/home/***/HDHomeRun/hdhomerun.conf
Usage: hdhomerun_record <command> [<options>]
Commands:
start Start the hdhomerun_record daemon
stop Stop the hdhomerun_record daemon
status Running status of the hdhomerun_record daemon
foreground Run hdhomerun_record as a foreground process
version Display version information
Options:
--conf=<filename> Load config from specified file

All very weird heh.

[nickk]

What is the device id of your HDHomeRun?

[enesha]

Hrm.. 10ACA1CC ?

Also, now in the app, under settings devices, it DOES show HDHomeRun RECORD, with a cjeck mark next to it, but if I go to recorded it still tells me wasn't found

**Update**

So I installed the app on a second firestick. Interestingly when I go to Recorded on that tv, it says it is ready to record, even as the first tv shows it still wasn't found. Oh and the app does appear to be listening now on the vm,:

tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 763/sshd: /usr/sbin
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:42359 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1757/hdhomerun_reco
tcp6 0 0 :::42359 :::* LISTEN 1757/hdhomerun_reco
udp 0 0 192.168.1.164:60046 0.0.0.0:* 1757/hdhomerun_reco
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:60046 0.0.0.0:* 1757/hdhomerun_reco
udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:65001 0.0.0.0:* 1757/hdhomerun_reco
udp6 0 0 :::54915 :::* 1757/hdhomerun_reco
udp6 0 0 2600:4041:1c5:1f7:54915 :::* 1757/hdhomerun_reco
udp6 0 0 fe80::dc2e:aa12:7:54915 :::* 1757/hdhomerun_reco
udp6 0 0 :::65001 :::* 1757/hdhomerun_reco

Perhaps some weird delay... Still no log file that I can see, but there does seem to be progress here :)

[nickk]

RecordPath '/mnt/dvr/HDHomeRun/' not found or not ready

[foxbat121]

Flex 4K itself is a DVR engine. Just need to plug in a USB storage device.

[enesha]

Heya nickk thanks.

That error is weird. I am able to touch and make files there with that user account.... is there a data structure that should exist there first?

Thanks for the reply Fox. I understand i can simply plug an external HD into the flex. However i have more than 100tb available on my file and vm server, backed by various raid..not to mention my secondary server..so i really dont want to limit myself to a small exrernal hd. Even if i did, the cost for external storage is crazy, and you might get srm instead of crm if youre not careful..cheap ones all seem to be srm now....

[nickk]

No structure required, just that the path you specify exists and files/folders can be created in it.

1) Double check that you can create a file or directory as the user you are running the hdhomerun_record process as.

2) Stop and restart the record engine, just in case it wasn't mounted yesterday when you started the record engine.