FreeSAT (UK satellite) radio problem

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UKenGB
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:54 pm

FreeSAT (UK satellite) radio problem

Post by UKenGB »

Using ffmpeg to transcode minisatip output to icecast and yesterday playing with ffmpeg settings to get best result.

This morning, nothing. Unable to get any output for the FreeSAT radio channels with exact same parameters as yesterday. TV channels work ok, but no audio streams when tuning to a radio channel. Panasonic FreeSAT TV able to receive all channels (even radio) from same LNB and multiswitch, so not a feed problem..

Struggled with this all day, restarted minisatip, restarted server all to no avail. Now suddenly, it's working again.

Anyone any ideas?
cata
Site Admin
Posts: 768
Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 1:01 am

Re: FreeSAT (UK satellite) radio problem

Post by cata »

Signal issues? You shouldd check if the signal is vailable on thr same transponder.

Of course logs will help
UKenGB
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:54 pm

Re: FreeSAT (UK satellite) radio problem

Post by UKenGB »

This morning it is still working fortunately.

STR was showing 76 or 77% all yesterday, as it always has and still is. SNR is always 0% (not sure what that means), but like STR it never changed. The only difference in the stats/admin web page was the Stats along the top which change when it's working, but basically remained at 0 yesterday when it wasn't working which I took to mean it wasn't actually pulling any data. This was supported by VLC unable to detect any audio tracks.

The minisatip log just shows:-

Code: Select all

[15/05 17:35:09.924 main]: Closing...
[15/05 17:35:09.924 main]: Exit OK.
[15/05 18:07:35.231 main]: minisatip version 1.0-unknown, compiled in Apr 23 2021 19:26:34, with s2api version: 050B
[15/05 18:07:35.317 main]: Initializing with 2 devices
That's all there is from the last time I restarted minisatip and nothing in syslog, or anywhere I can find.

There's nothing that I can find that indicates any actual problem, just no stream from the tuners. Since my TV was still working (so LNB and multi-switch working) and minisatip indicated no actual problem, that rather indicates that the tuners themselves had stopped working. But no indication of any hardware problem, highly unlikely that 2 tuners would fail in the same way at exactly the same time and even more unlikely that they would both miraculously start working again at the same time, without there apparently being anything to have caused the failure or recovery.

So, it failed overnight when I couldn't have been doing anything, but later yesterday I was trying to use an iOS SAT>IP player app and although this was kinda working, it was struggling with TV channels. Some would play ok, but others only audio and some not at all. Then I tried a radio channel and found it was working (I mainly used BBC Radio 2 as test channel yesterday). Looking on the minisatip admin pages at the http URL being accessed, the PIDs included the same as I was trying (but were now failing) but also I think 17 which is just some info about other services. Anyway, I added that to my test URL, but still nothing. The http URL reported in minisatip for this iOS app also included a 'src', so I added that (never been needed before in almost a month of testing). However, it didn't help. There was also another parameter (I forget which) in this URL that was working for the iOS app, so I added that to my test URL and it then actually worked in VLC. This of course indicated that this was a required parameter, but why now and never needed before?

However, I then again tried the URL I had previously been using (without these additional parameters) and had been working perfectly until yesterday, but had not worked all day. Surprisingly it worked. I then tried some other URLs that had likewise been failing all day long and found they all now worked, exactly as they had before yesterday. WTF!

I hadn't done anything to the server, just tried to access the minisatip streams from a different 'client' and that seemed to bring it to life. But all day I was trying not only VLC but also ffmpeg and also ffplay, but nothing worked. So I think it doubtful this iOS app actually had anything to do with the recovery. Trouble is, I don't know that for sure. I don't know anything for sure about this as it seems to be completely bizarre and inexplicable.
cata
Site Admin
Posts: 768
Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 1:01 am

Re: FreeSAT (UK satellite) radio problem

Post by cata »

Generally to get the logs add the -F -l http and the loga will be stored to /tmp/minisatip.log.

Working and not workinglogs would help figuring out.
UKenGB
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:54 pm

Re: FreeSAT (UK satellite) radio problem

Post by UKenGB »

I'll try that.

Strangely, it happened again yesterday, although only briefly. I tried to start ffmpeg transcoding, but with some options that were not going to work, however, instead of complaining about this, ffmpeg simply seemed to stick at examining the stream and I had to ctrl C to halt it. Immediately then VLC was unable to stream from minisatip, same as a couple of days before and I then recalled it was the same attempt then that stopped it working (for most of the day). However in this case it seemed to clear after about 20 mins or so.

I also noticed that while VLC was unable to play, it was reporting a different PID from that being requested in the URL. Not just another one from that 'channel', it was a different one from something I was listening to before it failed again. After a while I tried ffplay which worked, and then VLC again (without restarting) and that now worked. I set up a correct ffmpeg command line and it was streaming to Icecast as it should.

Is it possible that ffmpeg, when trying to 'pull' a stream from minisatip can somehow cause some config to get stuck, so minisatip will then apparently stream what has been requested, but is actually filtering a different PID, stuck from a previous request? Hence it all looks correct, but nothing is actually being sent? That would explain what I have observed. Except restarting minisatip did not clear it on Saturday. Is there something being cached (inappropriately) that could survive a restart of the minisatip host and cause this wrong PID problem?

Whatever is going on, it does appear that some bad ffmpeg config can cause the problem and that it seems to clear itself after a while which rather suggests some temporary caching problem?
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