The parameter 'sRef' can't be empty

[BazzaG]

FW: Beyonwiz 19.3.20210821 (20210803-7-g3c952ba)

I received the above error last night when I tried to update all of my timers for my recordings starting after 7:30pm across multiple channels.

BW_Timer_Save_Error.jpg (62.5 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

In each case I was altering the end time of the recording after the show had actually finished. The error msg is issued when I hit/select the SAVE button.

This problem does not happen all the time, for example, I did have a timer to record a pgm starting at 4pm, which I had no problem altering the end time once the pgm had actually finished.

Nor has this been the 1st time I've received this error. It seems that it might be connected to getting a timer violation. Given that 1 of my tuners has died I'm now getting the occasional violation. Sunday night was such an occasion. Of course, it could be just coincidence but from memory I think the previous occurrences of this problem also occurred on a night that I had received the timer violation.

What is 'sRef' parameter and how do I ensure that it's not empty?

Cheers...

[prl]

An sRef is a service reference, the internal form used in the firmware to identify a digital A/V source (digital TV channel, streaming service, recording, media file, etc).

I don't know why Open Webif is complaining about it being missing, though.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

The message appears to be coming from the OWIF EPG event search and lookup handler.
My guess is the event search couldn't determine a valid EPG event based upon the timer's existing eventid. How long do you keep "aged" events for ("Keep old EPG for minutes" in Setup>>TV>>EPG settings)?
Was the adjusted end-time set for the past?

[BazzaG]

How long do you keep "aged" events for ("Keep old EPG for minutes" in Setup>>TV>>EPG settings)?

120 minutes. Has been this way for ages but it doesn't work like I thought it would, ie. provide the ability to go back 2 hours in the EPG either on the U4 or more importantly using OW.

Was the adjusted end-time set for the past?

I'm essentially removing the 20 min recording buffer from the timer. When I do update the end time, I'm adjusting to maybe 30 secs to 1 min from current time or maybe 1 min in the past (actual time). Certainly not major change. I find it easier to update the timer via OW than using the remote to do so. Plus sometimes the U4 is busy playing back a media file rather than watching a channel on the TV.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

How long do you keep "aged" events for ("Keep old EPG for minutes" in Setup>>TV>>EPG settings)?

120 minutes. Has been this way for ages but it doesn't work like I thought it would, ie. provide the ability to go back 2 hours in the EPG either on the U4 or more importantly using OW.

There's also an EPG setting "Visible history" (EPG, MENU) that may have an impact there.
I don't think it'll work in OWIF though, just the GUI.

Was the adjusted end-time set for the past?

I'm essentially removing the 20 min recording buffer from the timer. When I do update the end time, I'm adjusting to maybe 30 secs to 1 min from current time or maybe 1 min in the past (actual time). Certainly not major change. I find it easier to update the timer via OW than using the remote to do so. Plus sometimes the U4 is busy playing back a media file rather than watching a channel on the TV.

You should install adoxa's CurrentTimers plugin. You can bring up the near- past/future timers by pressing RED, and easily alter a timer's end time and also stop it recording. It's brilliant.
See viewtopic.php?f=47&t=12144&start=100#p162760
(but the latest 0.8.4 is linked further down the page)

[prl]

The message appears to be coming from the OWIF EPG event search and lookup handler.
My guess is the event search couldn't determine a valid EPG event based upon the timer's existing eventid. How long do you keep "aged" events for ("Keep old EPG for minutes" in Setup>>TV>>EPG settings)?
Was the adjusted end-time set for the past?

An individual FTA program won't have a service reference. In FTA TV, a service reference refers to a channel.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

The message appears to be coming from the OWIF EPG event search and lookup handler.
My guess is the event search couldn't determine a valid EPG event based upon the timer's existing eventid. How long do you keep "aged" events for ("Keep old EPG for minutes" in Setup>>TV>>EPG settings)?
Was the adjusted end-time set for the past?

An individual FTA program won't have a service reference. In FTA TV, a service reference refers to a channel.

Yes. The timer has the EIT and service reference though.

[prl]

The message appears to be coming from the OWIF EPG event search and lookup handler.
My guess is the event search couldn't determine a valid EPG event based upon the timer's existing eventid. How long do you keep "aged" events for ("Keep old EPG for minutes" in Setup>>TV>>EPG settings)?
Was the adjusted end-time set for the past?

An individual FTA program won't have a service reference. In FTA TV, a service reference refers to a channel.

Yes. The timer has the EIT and service reference though.

Yes, but the service reference has nothing to do with whether the eventid is in the EPG's time window. If the service reference is wrong or missing in the timer, the EPG lookup will fail no matter what the eventid is.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

The message appears to be coming from the OWIF EPG event search and lookup handler.
My guess is the event search couldn't determine a valid EPG event based upon the timer's existing eventid. How long do you keep "aged" events for ("Keep old EPG for minutes" in Setup>>TV>>EPG settings)?
Was the adjusted end-time set for the past?

An individual FTA program won't have a service reference. In FTA TV, a service reference refers to a channel.

Yes. The timer has the EIT and service reference though.

Yes, but the service reference has nothing to do with whether the eventid is in the EPG's time window. If the service reference is wrong or missing in the timer, the EPG lookup will fail no matter what the eventid is.

I don't know where exactly the error message is coming from, but I think it's not out of possibility it's from https://github.com/E2OpenPlugins/e2open ... ers/web.py in testMandatoryArguments in the call from the OWIF timer editor, whether deleting / re-adding the timer by eventid or some other timer change.
I used OWIF to edit a timer from yesterday and was able to save it. But of course that timer had finished, whereas in BazzaG's case the timer is still active.

[Brainz]

I get this error all the time and it is fixed by refreshing the page.
It is a bit annoying because this loads the Television/Bouquets page and I have to navigate back to the timer page each time.
I have learnt to always refresh OWIF before I attempt anything like this.

[BazzaG]

This was/is my list of recordings tonight:

Code: Select all

8:02pm	Australian Story ‘Home Straight’		ABC TV HD
8:34pm	Four Corners ‘Fox And The Big Lie (Part 2)’	ABC TV HD
8:50pm	Under Investigation ‘9/11 - Year 20’		9HD Melbourne
9:23pm	Media Watch ‘Series 2021, Episode 30’		ABC TV HD
9:40pm	Lawrence Mooney: Like Literally			10 HD
9:41pm	Beyond The Towers ‘Black Flag’			ABC TV HD

I had NO issues changing the end time of the recordings for: AS, 4C & MW, but when I tried to change the end time of UI I got the above error msg. The same when I tried to change the end time of BtT.

I had been flipping between the "Movies" & the "Timers" ... this I have been doing for ages & ages which forces a page refresh and up until now has worked just fine.

For me I've ONLY had this issue since I upgraded the FW to: 19.3.20210821. However, I was on a much older vers before upgrading via USB.

At this stage I read the post by Brainz, so I ended the OW session (closed the browser tab) & restarted and bingo I was able to change the end time of BtT (I added an extra minute which had failed earlier).

My PC & TV are effectively in the same room; I'm either looking at the TV with my back to the PC or the reverse. Using OW is very convenient for me so I've been doing from day 1.

I don't recall this problem occurring before now. I'm also not sure how many FW versions I jumped to get to 19.3.20210821 ... the old 19.3.????? FW vers did not have PICONS for 9Rush & several other channels.

Cheers
BazzaG...

[Grumpy_Geoff]

For me I've ONLY had this issue since I upgraded the FW to: 19.3.20210821. However, I was on a much older vers before upgrading via USB.

At this stage I read the post by Brainz, so I ended the OW session (closed the browser tab) & restarted and bingo I was able to change the end time of BtT (I added an extra minute which had failed earlier).

It appears the OWIF "classic" interface timer editor loses the plot with its timer list. You could try using the "modern" interface and see if it suffers the same issue - OWIF>>Settings>>Use modern interface. You can swap back from modern to classic interface - settings cog in the top bar, under "Common Settings", enable "Use classic interface".
The modern timer editor is a bit clunky when editing dates/times as it pops up a multi-step picker, but you can click the empty space to the right of that popup and dismiss it and directly edit the times.

I think using CurrentTimers is easier though:
RED, select timer, then -
STOP if you want to stop the running timer, LEFT a few times to reduce the end time by one minute each press
or RIGHT to increase the end time

[BazzaG]

Geoff,

I tried the modern interface a few days ago; more by accident than intent, and with all due respect to 1 & all, I don't like it at all.

As per CurrentTimers plugin, yes it looks easier than using the keyboard keys but I can only presume it works in a similar way than the keyboard keys, ie. if we are watching a mp4/mkv video file then it wont work. Perhaps I'm wrong on that. Like I said earlier my PC is right next to me, so it's just as easy to use OWIF.

-----

PS. I did do a search through these forums, but is there a guide on how to install plugins from an external source. I can go to:

MENU->PLUGINS->D/L PLUGINS

which gives me a list by category. But I can't see an option to search some attached media, such as, a USB drive.

Cheers
BazzaG...

[Grumpy_Geoff]

As per CurrentTimers plugin, yes it looks easier than using the keyboard keys but I can only presume it works in a similar way than the keyboard keys, ie. if we are watching a mp4/mkv video file then it wont work. Perhaps I'm wrong on that.

It works when playing media files too

... But I can't see an option to search some attached media, such as, a USB drive.

Either use File Commander and navigate to the plugin's .ipk file and press OK, or follow the "install extensions" prompt shown on live TV when attaching a USB drive containing .ipk files (as long as they're in the root folder).
File Commander can access your network shares and install from there.

[BazzaG]

It works when playing media files too

Now that really is useful because the Sony PS3 PlayTV dual tuner arrived today and is now installed & working (sort of, but this is wrong thread for that discussion).

When I followed the Instructions provide by Peter here:

http://forum.icetv.com.au/iceforum/inde ... 4#msg36024

I used OWIF to delete all the "waiting" timers as it was so much quicker than using the remote on the U4.

Today I did the same after installing the new tuner but this time i had to REFRESH the webpage for *EVERY* timer delete I had to do (lots of 'em). I absolutely didn't have to do this when I "removed" the dead tuner.

Something has changed, no idea what, perhaps it's a recent update to Chrome, I don't know but it's very, very annoying whatever it is.

PS. Many thanks for the install instructions, I will D/L the plugin shortly & get it installed.

Cheers
Barry...