Plex TV tuner issues bata 26.0.0

Apps and Virtualization
1

I was running plex under Linux Ubuntu and now moving every thing to TrueNAS so i don’t have to run more then 2 server to keep the power bill down.

I have a hauppauge PCIe quad tv tuner I dont know how to pass it to Plex? Because plex cant see it under TrueNAS.

TrueNAS is running on bare metal the same Server i was running Ubuntu on.
Supermicro X9DAi LGA2011
Intel Xeon CPU E5-2690 v2 @ 3.00GHz
256gb DDR3
Intel ARC A380
LSI SAS9207-8e 8-Port External HBA
Mellanox MCX311A ConnectX-3 10gb

Please help :folded_hands:

2

Full details on your system hardware may help with replies. Is Plex an App or installed in a VM?

I would suggest sticking to 25.10.3 and the General Availability train for stability and not running a Beta version where there may be bugs.

3

TrueNAS is running on bare metal

I would but i cant roll it back now.

4

The motherboard model may help others know if or how you would pass PCIe items. Something like IOMMU groupings. It’s easier on a server motherboard as not all consumer models work.
If you did an upgrade, you should be able to go to the System, and then the Boot menu. Select a previous boot environment and then choose to make it active. Reboot and you should be on a previous version of TrueNAS.

5

TrueNAS is running on bare metal the same Server i was running Ubuntu on.
Supermicro X9DAi LGA2011
Intel Xeon CPU E5-2690 v2 @ 3.00GHz
256gb DDR3
Intel ARC A380
LSI SAS9207-8e 8-Port External HBA
Mellanox MCX311A ConnectX-3 10gb

it’s a fresh install i wiped out Ubuntu installed TrueNAS with the config of the old server.

6

i ran lspci and think this is the PCIe devices

06:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb (rev 04)
07:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb (rev 04)

7

ok well i am thinking i may have to look in to a “HD Homerun” :frowning:

8

This card works in my Debian-Server (Kernel 6.12.74) only after installing separate firmware files. I had to download them manually.

I haven’t moved this card to my new TrueNAS-Server yet.

You could try running

sudo dmesg | grep firmware

and check missing firmware messages.

9

ok this is what it pulled up the lasty 2 lines are the TV card

[ 0.129571] Spectre V2 : Enabling Restricted Speculation for firmware calls
[ 0.572579] GHES: APEI firmware first mode is enabled by WHEA _OSC.
[ 2.063792] isci 0000:08:00.0: OEM SAS parameters (version: 1.3) loaded (firmware)
[ 14.451655] systemd[1]: systemd-hibernate-clear.service - Clear Stale Hibernate Storage Info was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionPathExists=/sys/firmware/efi/efivars/HibernateLocation-8cf2644b-4b0b-428f-9387-6d876050dc67).
[ 15.897041] i915 0000:84:00.0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/dg2_dmc_ver2_08.bin (v2.8)
[ 15.911415] i915 0000:84:00.0: [drm] GT0: GuC firmware i915/dg2_guc_70.bin version 70.36.0
[ 15.911420] i915 0000:84:00.0: [drm] GT0: HuC firmware i915/dg2_huc_gsc.bin version 7.10.16
[ 16.845563] cx25840 13-0044: loaded v4l-cx23885-avcore-01.fw firmware (16382 bytes)
[ 17.914743] cx25840 16-0044: loaded v4l-cx23885-avcore-01.fw firmware (16382 bytes)

10

IMO 3 firmware files are missing:

dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw
dvb_driver_si2157_rom50.fw
dvb-tuner-si2157-a30-01.fw

You could find them here: https://github.com/CoreELEC/dvb-firmware/tree/master/firmware

Possible installation in TrueNAS: https://forums.truenas.com/t/adding-firmware-to-the-lib-firmware-folder/35001

I haven’t done this yet, so be patient.

11

ok i am not sure how to even get the files on to TrueNAS or even copy them over…

12

Open the shell and disable root-filesystem-protection with

sudo /usr/local/libexec/disable-rootfs-protection

Change to folder /lib/firmware

cd /lib/firmware

Download files with

sudo wget https://github.com/OpenELEC/dvb-firmware/raw/refs/heads/master/firmware/dvb-demod-si2168-b40-01.fw

sudo wget https://github.com/LibreELEC/dvb-firmware/raw/refs/heads/master/firmware/dvb_driver_si2157_rom50.fw

sudo wget https://github.com/CoreELEC/dvb-firmware/raw/refs/heads/master/firmware/dvb-tuner-si2157-a30-01.fw

Restart TrueNAS.

13

Keep in mind that using the above mentioned method by @MitchMitchel23 will not survive upgrades and will put you in the “unsupported” category.

IMO it is a much cleaner way to do these things in a VM of your choice and PCi-passthrough the card. This also has the benefit of a lot more support available in Linux forums or even the Plex or whatever forum.
Your system, even if its a bit long in the tooth, will not have any noticable performance loss, by running a lightweight linux VM.

14

it was a no go it looked good and it copped every thing over but nothing

15

so i would have to make a VM with a lightweight ver of Linux running PLEX passing the TV card the problem with that is the GPU i only have 1 and that will brake every thing.

it look like i am SOL i was looking in to a HDHomerun but it looks like there on shaky ground with the ATSC 3.0 stuff :person_facepalming:

16

Can you live without the GPU in plex ? How much heavy transcoding do you need ?

17

I’ve been using an HDHomerun with Plex for a couple of years. It’s a really good solution.

But a word of warning! Put a preamplifier in front of it, even if you set it to 0db gain. Let the preamp take the hits from lightning discharge. I had replaced my HDHomeRun 3 times before I did this myself and it’s been good since.

1 Like
18

No i cant.. i have quite of few people watching off my server its not uncommon to see 8. on a weekend. it is common for 4 people to be Transcoding because of there crappy internet.