[mythtv-users] Live TV fine, recordings skip

[Rich Wilson]

On 5/23/07, John Overchuk <overchuk at hotmail.com> wrote:
> This problem is driving me nuts.  I have re-installed the client at least 8
> times.  Knoppmyth, ubuntu, MythDora, etc.  I have tried trunk and fixes
> versions.  I have re-installed the server a number of times.  No matter what
> I do, I can "watch live" HDTV fine (I realize its recorded), but anytime I
> go to "watch recordings" and watch the SAME program, it skips every few
> seconds with pre-buffer pauses.  It has nothing to do with any other
> recordings or jobs being run on the backend.  Even with that box totally
> idle, I get pauses on the frontend.  However, I never get any pauses when I
> am "watching live".  Any idea what could be different about the two methods
> of viewing?  I realize they are both just playing back a file on the
> backend, so everything should work the same.  However, I assure you, it does
> not...
>
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Here's a theory:
With live recording, the data from the TV card is in memory, and if there
is a delay for some reason in writing data to the disk, no big deal. But,
when watching a recorded program, if the hard drive is delayed for some
reason in reading data, you would have your problem. A reason for delay
might be a failing drive, but I am sure there are many others.
One test for this theory would be to watch live TV,
and then jump back to watch the beginning of the show after a while. The disk
activity should increase significantly as it reads the data, no longer in the
disk cache in memory, in real time. Does the skipping resume now?
Rich
-- 
Rich Wilson
richaw at gmail.com