[mythtv-users] DVB-T playback thru PVR, odd ff/rw problem

[Stephen Longhurst]

Hi Oliver,

I have a Nebula DigiTV card and have some similar (but not all the
same) issues as you.

> Problem:
> However, any ff/rw when playing back Nova-T recordings causes an a/v
> pause followed by some HDD thrashing (whilst it seeks in the file I 
> assume) then play returns at the desired point. So ff/rw does work, just
> not near-instantly like with the PVR recordings.

I can fast ff/rw DVB recordings fine without any pauses, but only when
a recording has completed.  If I attempt to jump forward or backwards
in a program that is still recording, it jumps back to the very
beginning!

> Furthermore, the on-screen time display describes Nova-T recordings as
> (e.g.) "00:05:06 of 1862:44:12" - something clearly not right there!

I get the same thing on my machine too. It also looks like the time
goes twice as fast when playing back. Only the time indication on
the OSD though, not the actual playback, that's fine.

I wondered if it could be OSD related. I switched to Gerhard Aldorf's
'test' osd (http://www.aldorf.no/mythtv/) recently because it looks
really good, then I noticed these issues with dvb recordings.

I can't remember if the problem was there before with the default osd.
I must change back and see sometime, but it's awkward getting any time
to do anything on my main system!

> And finally, playback and ff/rw work just fine on a remote mythfrontend
> on my workstation upstairs (NVidia gfx card btw).
> 
> My thoughts so far:
> Initially I suspected some GOP/mythcommflag issue preventing direct 
> seeking - but then discovered remote mythfrontend was okay. I do know
> that streams from the PVR and Nova-T card are pulled in PS and TS format
> respectively - some issue here perhaps, but again remote playback is
> fine (and I think TS is converted to PS on saving anyway).
> 
> This leads me to suspect the PVR's ivtv-fb driver, but how can it affect
> mythtv's seeking and estimation of recording length?! That doesn't make
> sense to me. This is why I'm stumped!

On my machine, I can switch pretty easily between PVR-350 TV output
and it's Nvidia MX440 TV output (both are output to my TV at the same
time through different TV inputs).  I'll give the Nvidia a try and see
if that makes any difference.

Cheers,

       Steve
-- 
Stephen Longhurst
steve at longsteve.com