[mythtv-users] Fast CPU, DMA enabled on HD, Xv enabled, still getting pauses in Live TV

[Joe V]

Albert,

With this particular motherboard, I did not, however,
with the previous motherboard that I was using (same
Athlon XP 2400+, DDR266), I did leave the default
compilation options and still had the same problems.

I will probably try with a different power supply and
hard drive (the only two components not swapped out)
and see what happens.

Thanks,
Joe

--- Albert Santoni <GameGod at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> Did you try compiling without -march=athlon-xp?
> Just leave it at the default (i586??)...
> 
> Someone had a similar problem, and this was the
> case.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joe V" <joevph at yahoo.com>
> To: "Discussion about mythtv"
> <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 3:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Fast CPU, DMA enabled on
> HD, Xv enabled,still
> getting pauses in Live TV
> 
> 
> > Okay, now I'm starting to go nuts.  I've gone
> through
> > the mailing-list archive, and have tried all sorts
> of
> > things.  Changing DMA parameters, recompiling
> MythTV
> > with -march=xthlon-xp, trying "nice" on
> mythbackend,
> > and several other things.  And I'm still getting
> > skips, and with this hardware, I don't see how I
> could
> > be having problems.  All I want to do is run
> > mythbackend and mythfrontend on the same PC
> without
> > stuttering in the video/audio.
> >
> > Perhaps based on my hardware/software setup,
> somebody
> > can make some additional recommendations.
> >
> > Hardware:
> > - Albatron KX400-8X motherboard (brought the ECS
> board
> > back to Fry's, too many problems) - VIA KT400
> chipset
> > - Athlon XP 2400+ CPU (2GHz real speed, 266MHz
> FSB)
> > - 512MB RAM (DDR333) - the BIOS indicates that the
> RAM
> > is running at 133MHz * 2.5 (333MHz)
> > - Matrox G400 Dual-Head (hooked up to a monitor,
> so
> > using Xv)
> > - Western Digital Hard Drive UDMA 100
> > - Soundblaster Live! 5.1 (using in full-duplex
> mode
> > with kernel drivers)
> > - Leadtek Winfast TV 2000 XP (I put in gbuffers=8)
> > - Tulip clone Ethernet card (no onboard NIC)
> >
> > Software:
> > - Red Hat Linux 9
> > - Recompiled the kernel, Linux-2.4.21, included
> the
> > low-latency and preempt patch
> > (/proc/sys/kernel/lowlatency shows 1)
> > - Before compiling any software, I set CFLAGS and
> > CPPFLAGS to -march=athlon-xp
> > - MythTV 0.11
> > - Killed off as many of Red Hat's services as
> possible
> > - Using twm as the window manager.
> >
> > hdparm -Tt shows:
> > /dev/hda:
> >  Timing buffer-cache reads:   128 MB in  0.41
> seconds
> > =312.20 MB/sec
> >  Timing buffered disk reads:  64 MB in  1.42
> seconds =
> > 45.07 MB/sec
> >
> > I'm using ext3 filesystems for everything, two
> > partitions, one for root, one for /home. which is
> > where MythTV files are stores (using symlinks from
> > /mnt/store).  The ext3 filesystem is mounted with
> > noatime, and in grub.conf, I put in
> > rootflags=data=writeback.
> >
> > I'm not really stressing things out, I'm recording
> > RTJPEG at 480x480, MP3 quality 7.  Switching to
> MPEG4
> > (as suggested in a post in the mailing-list)
> didn't
> > help any.  I have plenty of CPU time (it never
> goes
> > higher than 50% user, never less than 30% idle. 
> Not
> > using jitter control, not using experimental A/V
> sync,
> > just using the default options.
> >
> > The only thing that I can think might possibly
> causing
> > some problems is that I have only one hard drive
> for
> > everything.  Either that, or I do I need a real
> 2.4GHz
> > machine (i.e. Intel?)
> >
> > Please folks, any suggestions?  Any at all?
> >
> > -- Joe
> >
> > --- Joe V <joevph at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > Brian,
> > >
> > > Well, it helps a bit...  I upgraded to bttv
> 0.7.107
> > > (and specigied gbuffers=10), put my hard drive
> and
> > > DVD-ROM on seperate cables (don't know if that
> will
> > > help much), as well as forcing 32-bit
> operations,
> > > and
> > > the stutters, when they happen don't cause such
> as
> > > big
> > > of a delay.
> > >
> > > I don't recall any stutters last night when I
> put my
> > > DDR400 module (running at DDR266) from my
> desktop in
> > > the machine with those changes (watching for a
> good
> > > 30
> > > minutes), so it could be a memory bandwidth
> issue as
> > > well as a bttv driver issue (and maybe the HD).
> > >
> > > I'll keep experimenting and see what works.
> > >
> > > Are you using your machine as just a frontend,
> or as
> > > both frontend and backend (as I'm doing)?
> > >
> > > -- Joe
> > >
> > > --- Brian <brian at boid.isa-geek.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I'm having no issues running .11 with a k7s5a,
> > > duron
> > > > 1.1, 512mb of pc133, ata100 drives, TV Wonder
> VE,
> > > > generic 2.4.21, bttv 0.7.107 (Could not get
> 0.9.x
> > > to
> > > > run properly)
> > > >
> > > > Hope this can help point you in the right
> > > direction
> > > > :/
> > > >
> > > > Cheerios
> > > >
> > > > :)
> > > >
> > > > On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 23:37:16 -0700 (PDT)
> > > > Joe V <joevph at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > This is completely strange, I don't
> understand
> > > it.
> > > > >
> > > > > I upgraded to an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (real
> > > speed,
> > > > > 2GHz), with an ECS KS57A Pro motherboard
> today.
> > > > The
> > > > > motherboard isn't the greatest, but for
> $89.99
> > > for
> > > > the
> > > > > combo, you can't really beat that.
> > > > >
> > > > > Anyway, I have my profile for Live TV setup
> for
> > > > > 480x480, RTJPEG, MP3 Audio compression,
> level 4
> > > > > (middle of the pack or so).  When I run
> "top", I
> > > > see
> > > > > that mythbackend ranges from 20-43% (CPU),
> and
> > > > that
> > > > > mythfrontend ranges from 3-15%.  I have DMA
> > > > enabled on
> > > > > my hard drive (hdparm shows this), XVideo is
> > > > enabled
> > > > > on the second head of the Matrox G400 I'm
> using.
> > >
> > > > The
> 
=== message truncated ===


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