[mythtv] firewire tester

[Steven Adeff]

On 9/13/06, Jim Westfall <jwestfall at surrealistic.net> wrote:
> John P Poet <jppoet at gmail.com> wrote [09.13.06]:
> > On 9/13/06, Andrew Casper <andrew at andrewcasper.com> wrote:
> > > On Sep 13, 2006, at 8:21 PM, Jim Westfall wrote:
> > > it should be ok to run while backend is running, so long as its not
> > >
> > > recording with the node you are testing.
> > >
> > > Thanks John - that pointed me in the right direction. Unfortunately it
> > > didn't fix my issue.
> > >
> > > Since you seem to be the firewire guru, I have a issue that you might be
> > > able to solve...
> > >
> > > I've got a DCT-6200 and 14 HD channels on my plan. MythTV has no trouble
> > > tuning 10 channels. The other 4 are on a special HD package from my provider
> > > and are a little problematic. Before .20, if MythTV could lock to the
> > > broadcast stream on one of the 4, I would get about a minute of broken up
> > > picture before the backend would just stop. At the same time, the backend
> > > log would fill with TS packet out of sync errors. Now with .20, I see
> > > FireRec, Error: TS packet out of sync but the backend doesn't crash. CPU
> > > usage is not an issue
> > >
> > > I checked the service menus on the DCT-6200 and none of the channels has 5c.
> > > MythTV seems to like broadcast mode at 200 Mbs.
> > >
> > > I tried to recompile the kernel (2.6.17-2174) with your dma.diff firewire
> > > fix (hand edited it as the diff doesn't like the current kernel), but the
> > > compile kicked and error when it got your last change (too many variables?).
> > >
> > > So, would the firewire kernel fix help this? Any other words of wisdom?
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance.
> > >
> > > - Andrew
> >
> > I had very similar problems at one time.  Turned out to have something
> > to do with my on-board 1394a port.  Switched to a cheap PCI addon
> > firewire card, and the problem went away.
> >
>
> Yeah, I would suggest this as well and make sure you have a decent
> firewire cable.
>
> The kernel patch wont help, it just reduces the kernel cpu usage when
> using the firewire.  It will be in 2.6.18.
>
> jim

Great news Jim!
I happened to receive two new DCT6200 boxes from my cable company(one
replacing my old DCT6200 which had reset issues and one to replace my
old DCT2524), and they both seem to hand firewire well, though I do
see slight random glitches every so often. I will try this test
program to see if it helps any. Hopefully 2.6.18 will solve the glitch
all together.
I just wish I could capture more, stupid 5C!

-- 
Steve
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