DUO suddenly stopped getting clear digitization

[RoyBrander]

I have a CONNECT DUO, 10679D4B, purchased 2019. It's been great the whole time.
It was suddenly creating only chopped-up, barely legible, video and audio on all channels. I checked my antenna with the TV alone and was getting perfect reception. On Unix, the hdhomerun_config_gui was showing fine signal strength on all of them. The only odd thing was the menu of channels was empty, I had to put in every channel number myself to check.

Clicking "VIEW", the viewer showed the choppy sound and about half the pixels coming in, the picture freezing every few seconds or turning into bits. The messages coming down the Unix output in the terminal were like the stuff below. I have as much more of that output as you want, it was a steady stream, a few messages per second.

The device had no been bumped or anything, it was protected behind my computer. We had no power bumps or anything, all other equipment is fine. All cables have been checked.

Oh, and it has the same results with Unix software and Windows software, both the player and the Config programs: no menu of channels on the CONFIG_GUI menu, no usable video/audio. Oddly, the Windows player "settings" menu was able to find all the channels, and was able to download and install a fresh firmware update, though it was up-to-date already. I ran the "REPAIR" option. No change whatsoever.


So I'm assuming the device has simply "Upped and Died" just before the age of seven. I'm preparing to buy another but would welcome advice.



VLC media player 3.0.20 Vetinari (revision 3.0.20-0-g6f0d0ab126b)
[000056bf9ef98550] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
[000056bf9f054ce0] main audio output error: too low audio sample frequency (0)
[00007f45f8048540] main decoder error: failed to create audio output
[000056bf9f054ce0] vlcpulse audio output error: digital pass-through stream connection failure: Input/Output error
[000056bf9f054ce0] main audio output error: module not functional
[00007f45f8048540] main decoder error: failed to create audio output
libva info: VA-API version 1.20.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_20
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f45f8015a20] avcodec decoder: Using G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0 for hardware decoding
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Failed setup for format vdpau: hwaccel initialisation returned error.
[00007f45f8015a20] avcodec decoder error: existing hardware acceleration cannot be reused
libva info: VA-API version 1.20.0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_20
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 5, expected 4) for PID 0
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 8, expected 7) for PID 0
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 11, expected 10) for PID 48
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 4, expected 3) for PID 0
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 1, expected 0) for PID 48
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 1, expected 0) for PID 0
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 1 7
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 5, expected 4) for PID 0
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 6 3
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 14, expected 13) for PID 0
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 14, expected 13) for PID 48
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 96 0
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 15, expected 14) for PID 0
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Invalid mb type in P-frame at 19 17
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 9, expected 8) for PID 0
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 91 14
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[00007f45f8001170] ts demux error: libdvbpsi error (PSI decoder): TS discontinuity (received 3, expected 2) for PID 0
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 103 21
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Warning MVs not available
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 17 66
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 5 5
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 1 6
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 1 7
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 13 8
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 1 9
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 1 10
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 6 11
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 8 12
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 1 13
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 5 14
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Invalid mb type in P-frame at 2 15
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 5 16
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 3 17
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 1 18
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 6 19
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Invalid mb type in P-frame at 6 20
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 3 21
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 2 22
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 12 23
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 14 24
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 6 25
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 0 26
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 11 27
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 7 28
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Invalid mb type in P-frame at 56 29
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 35 30
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 9 31
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 13 32
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 5 33
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 3 34
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] invalid cbp -1 at 2 35
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Invalid mb type in P-frame at 37 36
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 28 37
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 1 38
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 1 39
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 12 40
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 5 41
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 23 42
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 2 43
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 5 44
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 5 45
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 3 46
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] mb incr damaged
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] ac-tex damaged at 0 48
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 4 49
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] Invalid mb type in P-frame at 56 50
[mpeg2video @ 0x7f45ec0169c0] 00 motion_type at 15 51

[KeithAbbott]

Maybe just the power adapter has gone bad. SiliconDust sells replacements for $15: https://shop.silicondust.com/shop/produ ... tro-1-amp/

[RoyBrander]

Thanks. I checked with a voltmeter and it's putting out a solid 5V. The DUO is responding fine in every function (firmware update, etc) except digitization, so it doesn't sound like a good bet. I'll probably have to replace the whole thing. If the new unit has the same power brick, I can try it on the old one and discover I have a spare, in the event the power brick is the problem.

One more symptom: the behaviour on every channel switch is the same: about 3 seconds of fine reception, then it freezes, then it starts breaking up.

I have turned on the "report to SiliconDust", in both the watching app and the config program, and used it a bit since, to send reports back if any.

[jasonl]

Severe network packet loss is occurring. The broadcasts in your area are running around 17-18Mb/s but only about 8Mb/s is making it to the PC.

[RoyBrander]

Thanks! I realized the one thing I hadn't done was a full power-off reboot of my home internet router. Did that, and the problem went away, apparently entirely. I seem to be getting all channels without glitches in minutes of watching, each.
I'll have to reboot the router whenever I water the cactus from now on (monthly).

[vandyman]

Depending on which router you have.
You can schedule a reboot.
On my Asus router, I have it scheduled for a reboot at 3:00am every Sunday.