Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

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mrfreeze1963
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by mrfreeze1963 »

demonrik wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:45 pm
mrfreeze1963 wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 2:53 pm I'm personally curious @demonrik : From your experiences, would it be better to run the DVR engine from Docker or a Linux flavor (e.g., Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint, etc.) instead of on a supported NAS OS (i.e., Synology, QNAP, etc.)??? It might help me decide what to do about my current setup.
I use containers for other things, so I have it already in use on my NAS(es)
The only one I didn't have the capability was the Synology because Synology aren't adding ARM support to their docker version.
So once you have containers already in use adding the DVR just makes sense
@demonrik,

Hmmm..., didn't know that. I've never worked with containers before; only VMs at random times via Hyper-V and VMware Player.

I think I'll follow your lead, though, and migrate from Synology as well. The container work you're doing has given me a bit of an idea. Just like VMs, containers are so portable regardless of platform (i.e., Synology DSM, Fedora, Windows, ReadyShare, Debian, etc.). Don't get wrong: Synology hardware is really good for my personal uses. However, there are some times when it can be a bit aggravating.

I'm going to do some sketching and planning on my end. I have a feeling I can use the hardware I already have (minus Synology), but my solution might possibly cause a licensing problem. I think going neutral - VMs, containers, Linux flavors, etc. - will work better for me than I first thought or realized. Thank you for the tips.

demonrik
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by demonrik »

mrfreeze1963 wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 8:06 am
demonrik wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 3:45 pm
mrfreeze1963 wrote: Fri Nov 12, 2021 2:53 pm I'm personally curious @demonrik : From your experiences, would it be better to run the DVR engine from Docker or a Linux flavor (e.g., Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint, etc.) instead of on a supported NAS OS (i.e., Synology, QNAP, etc.)??? It might help me decide what to do about my current setup.
I use containers for other things, so I have it already in use on my NAS(es)
The only one I didn't have the capability was the Synology because Synology aren't adding ARM support to their docker version.
So once you have containers already in use adding the DVR just makes sense
@demonrik,

Hmmm..., didn't know that. I've never worked with containers before; only VMs at random times via Hyper-V and VMware Player.

I think I'll follow your lead, though, and migrate from Synology as well. The container work you're doing has given me a bit of an idea. Just like VMs, containers are so portable regardless of platform (i.e., Synology DSM, Fedora, Windows, ReadyShare, Debian, etc.). Don't get wrong: Synology hardware is really good for my personal uses. However, there are some times when it can be a bit aggravating.

I'm going to do some sketching and planning on my end. I have a feeling I can use the hardware I already have (minus Synology), but my solution might possibly cause a licensing problem. I think going neutral - VMs, containers, Linux flavors, etc. - will work better for me than I first thought or realized. Thank you for the tips.
Happy to DM my build and setting, reasons, etc..
Main issue I hit with Qnap/Synology was just lack of support, and then when I try to be a little more advanced I'd hit roadblocks which brought me back to the lack of support
Final straw have been their security issues and I just wanted to take back more control.
So now have replaced everything I used from those guys with other software.. and has made my life way way easier

mrfreeze1963
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:18 am

Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by mrfreeze1963 »

demonrik wrote: Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:37 pm
Happy to DM my build and setting, reasons, etc..
Main issue I hit with Qnap/Synology was just lack of support, and then when I try to be a little more advanced I'd hit roadblocks which brought me back to the lack of support
Final straw have been their security issues and I just wanted to take back more control.
So now have replaced everything I used from those guys with other software.. and has made my life way way easier
Hey, no biggie. You and I are almost similar. I've been doing sysadmin work for almost 16 years. After losing my previous job and finishing grad school, I switched over to cybersecurity/IA for my job and reserve the sysadmin & engineering stuff for myself. Your Docker work has given me more of a push to use a Linux distro and some repurposed hardware to eventually replace my RS815+. (Still have some planning to do and server roles to substitute or replace.)

Yeah, I've heard some other folks having problems with parts so they can fix or upgrade their systems themselves without triggering the costs of shipping, resulting repairs by Synology (provided your device is still supported), and being down until they get their device back. Not wanting to have that kind of risk and headache.

ppasteur
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by ppasteur »

Hi everyone,
Can anyone tell me what the latest version of the record engine for Synology is?
I am running 1.02 of the SPK. I am aware that it should update upon startup. I have shut it down a few times but the engine revision for SD record engine is still at 20210806Beta1.
Is there a newer version out there? (Yes I have attempted to track this down with Google, but have come up empty).
If there is a newer version, what is the best way to get it installed?
(BTW, I am also aware that they have been using lots of resources to sort out the ATSC 3.0 stuff. Maybe not developing for the Synology? So I just thought I would ask here)
TIA,
Phil

signcarver
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by signcarver »

In theory it should be picking up the release of 20211210 (both beta and release linux links go there now when I just checked them)... To my knowledge there isn't any difference other than name change and not sure if it even changed such name internally (not at a location with a HDHR now as I am actually at work)

There was a change mentioned relating to the bsd based version in changelogs.

demonrik
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by demonrik »

ppasteur wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 1:44 pm Hi everyone,
Can anyone tell me what the latest version of the record engine for Synology is?
I am running 1.02 of the SPK. I am aware that it should update upon startup. I have shut it down a few times but the engine revision for SD record engine is still at 20210806Beta1.
Is there a newer version out there? (Yes I have attempted to track this down with Google, but have come up empty).
If there is a newer version, what is the best way to get it installed?
(BTW, I am also aware that they have been using lots of resources to sort out the ATSC 3.0 stuff. Maybe not developing for the Synology? So I just thought I would ask here)
TIA,
Phil
making me support the SPK - grrr ;)

Could be 2 things masking an update.
  • I've noticed sometimes that the /tmp/hdhomerun_record that is extracted from the download remains after an update. So old engine keeps running
  • Related, the DVR Manager UI can be slow to update and may not update the version until the next stop/start of the service on the NAS.
To fix the first.. stop the service.. and delete /tmp/hdhomerun*
and for the latter - do the fix for the first, and then it should pick up on the restart

ppasteur
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by ppasteur »

OK. Thanks for the info. I will give it a shot and let you know.
Last edited by ppasteur on Thu Dec 16, 2021 2:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ppasteur
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by ppasteur »

I decided to try an easy fix first. I had noticed previously that the engine updated after rebooting the Synology. I did that, and sure enough it updated to the correct version.
(20211210)
Thanks for the help, maybe this may help someone else. AND, sorry to have to ask you to support the APK :-)

demonrik
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by demonrik »

ppasteur wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 2:46 pm I decided to try an easy fix first. I had noticed previously that the engine updated after rebooting the Synology. I did that, and sure enough it updated to the correct version.
(20211210)
Thanks for the help, maybe this may help someone else. AND, sorry to have to ask you to support the APK :-)
That's exactly how the update works from 1.0.0 onwards.
you don't need to restart the NAS..
but just go to the App Center and stop the HDHomeRunDVR service and start it again and it will do the same thing.

ppasteur
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by ppasteur »

Yeah, I understand that. But, I had stopped the DVR software from the package center several times over the last couple of weeks and it did not update.
Double click >Stop. Then let it stop, and once it shows as stopped, click to run.
Maybe I am stopping it incorrectly?

demonrik
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by demonrik »

ppasteur wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:48 pm Yeah, I understand that. But, I had stopped the DVR software from the package center several times over the last couple of weeks and it did not update.
Double click >Stop. Then let it stop, and once it shows as stopped, click to run.
Maybe I am stopping it incorrectly?
That backs up the /tmp file theory ;)
/tmp is cleared on boot

ppasteur
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by ppasteur »

Got it. I wrote instruction for deleting the files from TMP. If I have issues going forward, I will try that first. Any idea why it doesn't get deleted? I just tried it. Upon restarting the service I looked at the log. It says it is deleting the old version at startup.

HDHomeRunDVR: Lets remove any existing engine - we're going to take the latest always....
HDHomeRunDVR: Checking it was deleted - if we can't remove it we can't update

Would there be an error here if it failed to delete it?

I did this after a manual delete, so there was nothing to delete maybe? So it worked. Of course, no change since it already updated after the reboot.

demonrik
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by demonrik »

ppasteur wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 6:37 pm Got it. I wrote instruction for deleting the files from TMP. If I have issues going forward, I will try that first. Any idea why it doesn't get deleted? I just tried it. Upon restarting the service I looked at the log. It says it is deleting the old version at startup.

HDHomeRunDVR: Lets remove any existing engine - we're going to take the latest always....
HDHomeRunDVR: Checking it was deleted - if we can't remove it we can't update

Would there be an error here if it failed to delete it?

I did this after a manual delete, so there was nothing to delete maybe? So it worked. Of course, no change since it already updated after the reboot.
There are 2 files.
There is one file that the scripts in the SPK download each time it's started. This is what the logs are saying is deleted and is typically located in the RecordPath
Once the scripts execute that file it extracts another file, the real record engine, into /tmp and executes that.
It's this second file in /tmp that you had to manually delete.
Not sure if it's the engine is exiting before it deletes it, or (more likely) that the engine on next execution doesn't replace the existing file in /tmp with newer version.
I suspect the latter and a permissions issue but I can't debug and it's not everytime
In 99% of times it will delete/update perfectly.. is only the 1% where you need to get out the hammer.

ppasteur
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by ppasteur »

Thanks for the explanation and help getting this thing updated.

Phil

demonrik
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Re: Synology SPK for DVR Record Engine

Post by demonrik »

Final release
1.1.1
Pick up from usual places (Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive)
Fixes the Icons - everything else as is.

Again - no longer really supported ;)

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