Hello all.

I have a usage problem that I have not been able to solve. I have searched the forums, but I have not seen anyone who has had this problem before. If by chance I am missing something, please point me in the right direction.

I have a box running A26 (I have not done an upgrade yet). It has a single pvr-250 tuner card. For the most part, the box is used as is, though I will occasionaly view recorded content on a remote front-end on my Apple Powerbook.

The problem I am having is that sometimes there is no tuner available for TV watching. Even though there is no remote front end in use, and the backend is not recording anything. Almost as if there is a "fantom" front-end that is using the tunner. When I try to access it, I get a message indicating the encoder is unavailabed, or some other such wording that would suggest that.

It has happen a few times, though it seems sparatic at best. I suspect the issue revolves around the tunner being used to view "live TV" and the TV itself is gets turned off. Afterwards perhaps something crashes and is restarted automatically, but the backend sees the tuner as being in use by some process (remote or otherwise).

Has anyone else had this problem?

I have been restarting the backend when this issue happens. It usually fixes the problem. One time I had to completley cycle to box to resolve it. The backend logs looked fine, though I'd admit I only scanned it, and I could be looking at the wrong place.

If anyone can shed some light onto this issue, or perhaps present a solution, I'd be very much appreciative.

Thanks,

Darnell Morgan