[mythtv-users] PVR Hardware

Joe Votour joevph at yahoo.com
Fri May 6 04:50:59 UTC 2005


Pretty much every other PVR works the same way - you
have to have some sort of buffer, if you want it to be
smooth.  I could see a situation where the instant
somebody presses the pause button, that it starts
recording, but then you have two issues:
1. You can only go back to where you paused
2. There might be some display disturbance.

If MythTV were to keep recording constantly, then it
would definitely have to be something that could be
turned off.  Here's some bad things about recording
all the time:
1. You're always using the tuner.  Therefore (as you
pointed out), you can't record something else, if you
only have one tuner (luckily, I have three).
2. Even more importantly, you're using the CPU.  I see
this as an even bigger problem - no low power modes,
because the CPU is in use, the hard drive (s) are
recording data constantly, and also the PVR-x50 cards
aren't exactly known for being cool.  For those people
who are using software capture cards (or don't have
very fast CPUs), this extra load could interfere with
playback of DVDs or recorded shows.

Also, even if you're recording all of the time, the
ringbuffer will eventually run out of space, so you'll
have to wrap to the beginning.

As for your second point, I don't really see any
logical problems with that (but, I'm looking logically
at the problem, not from an implementation
standpoint).

>From an implementation standpoint though, I see both
of these things as somewhat difficult to do.  For the
second one, I would imagine that MythTV initializes
some classes and data structures when starting a
recording, and destroys them when complete.  Really,
changing a channel is the equivalent of starting a new
recording (at least that's how I'd implement it).  The
first idea would involve some changes to the
scheduler, I imagine.

I like the second idea (though I wouldn't dare try to
implement it, it makes MythTV much more complicated, I
think), and I'm deadset against the first one.  But
hey, different strokes for different folks.

-- Joe

--- Paul Fielding <paul at fielding.ca> wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joe Votour" <joevph at yahoo.com>
> > MythTV itself imposes a three (or so) second delay
> > from live TV.  This is not necessarily caused by
> the
> > capture card itself, more than to have video in
> the
> > ringbuffer when you activate the PVR functions
> (i.e.
> > rewind, pause, etc.).
> 
> Actually, for me the delay is a big issue, because
> while I'm happy to use 
> the guide, two other people in the house don't like
> the guide and prefer to 
> surf.  This means that the PVR is extremely annoying
> to them and they prefer 
> to go back to regular TV.
> 
> What I'd like to see in MythTV is an option to keep
> the TV recording 
> happening *all*the*time*.  Make it selectable if you
> like, so that people 
> can turn it off if it doesn't meet their needs, but
> two things could happen:
> 
> 1. Keep the recording loop happening all the time,
> even when you go back to 
> surf menus.  Hey, it works when you've started
> officially 'recording' a 
> channel, so why not in the buffer loop?  As long as
> Myth is turned on, the 
> loop is running.  This would allow you to not only
> instantly return to the 
> channel you were watching, but you also haven't lost
> the ability to rewind 
> back to see the stuff that went on while you were
> surfing menus.   If 
> something else is currently using the tuner, then
> fine, let it take the 
> tuner and you lose out, but if it's available, then
> it should be looping.
> 
> 2. Don't restart the loop when you change channels. 
>  This means 2 things, 
> as well: first, it means that the channels could be
> flipped *quickly* - 
> channel surfing would be viable again.   Secondly,
> why shouldn't we be able 
> to rewind back to see what we already watched on the
> previous channel?  what 
> the heck, if I hit rewind and it rewinds past the
> channel flip, that's OK 
> with me - maybe I want to go back and see something
> again that I already 
> saw.   I certainly don't see a disadvantage to it
> being there.  And the 
> ability to quickly channel flip would make points
> for the people who want 
> it.
> 
> Just my thoughts.  The way I see it, how hard could
> it be to implement these 
> two things? (Not being a programmer, myself, of
> course.... *grin*)
> 
> later,
> 
> Paul
> 
> 
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