[mythtv-users] Early exit

[R. G. Newbury]

Damian wrote:
> R. G. Newbury wrote:
>> Damian wrote:
>>> R. G. Newbury wrote:
>>>> Damian wrote:
>>>>> I have a new problem on my mythbox where viewing any program simply 
>>>>> stops about a minute before the end. If watching live tv, The display 
>>>>> just stops and the front end says there was an error. I can then click 
>>>>> ok and quickly try to get back to the channel before the credits roll. 
>>>>> If watching a recording, the saved file is simply too short. I assume it 
>>>>> stopped recording at the same point that the live tv would have crashed 
>>>>> out. Any idea what this is?
>>>>>
>>>>> Maybe it only happens on BBC? I've not tested that actually, but we do 
>>>>> seem to watch more BBC than anything else. I struggle with stuttery 
>>>>> playback on BBC when most other channels seem fine so maybe there's 
>>>>> something weird going on there?
>>>>>
>>>>> I rarely get time to tweak my myth setup, but I do have a couple of 
>>>>> hours on Thursday evening so I'm hoping to iron out a few wrinkles then.
>>>>>
>>>>> Looking forward to hearing any thoughts.
>>>> Is the time set correctly on the computer? If it is 1 minute fast you 
>>>> will get what you see.
>>>>
>>>> Have you inadvertently set a default recording rule which finishes 
>>>> early? The settings in Setup-> General will not let you do that, only 
>>>> finish late, but without looking ISTR that you can set individual time 
>>>> frames in the Record Options..
>>>>
>>>> Geoff
>>>>
>>>>
>>> That was my first thought for the recordings, but it wouldn't explain 
>>> why watching live TV crashes out just before the end of a program would it?
>>>
>>> I'll try and get some frontend and backend output the next time it 
>>> happens? What's the best way of doing that by the way? Running the 
>>> frontend from the command line and putting the backend log into gedit as 
>>> soon as there's a problem?
>>
>> run mythbackend -v channel,record,database -l /var/log/backend.log from 
>> one console and the same sort of command for mythfrontend from another.
>>
>> It is especially useful under this circumstance to set myth to run in a 
>> window (Setup->General or Appearance IIRC)..then you can move the window 
>> over and watch the log.
>>
>> Geoff
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>>
> 
> Thanks Geoff,
> 
> That's a whole new world of command to me, but ok .. I'll give it a go :-)
> 
> so I run Myth in a window,
> run
> mythbackend -v channel,record,database -l /var/log/backend.log
> in one terminal and
> mythfrontend -v channel,record,database -l /var/log/frontend.log
> in a second?
> 
> Again, please excuse my ignorance. These commands are all very straight 
> forward once you know them, but until then ...

Not to worry. I used OS/2 from the command line for years, but moving to 
Fedora was still a case of stepping into the deep end of the pool!

OK. Get into mythfrontend and set it to run in a window. You will have 
to stop mythfrontend.

Open 3 or 4 separate console windows. In the first, stop mythbackend if 
it is running as a service, and restart it from the command line in that 
window. You might want to try it first without the -l logfile bit so you 
can see what it outputs. Since livetv *records* before it plays, and it 
is clearly a database event which triggers the stop I think we want to 
see those events, There are a pile of other switches you can use. Try 
mythbackend -v help to see them all.

Start mythfrontend in the second window. You will see the usual 
'pre-scaling' announcements. You can then grab the window by the top 
frame and slide it to the side. You can ignore the two windows. Move 
them out of the way. Separate the last 2. I stack them vertically. Then 
run 'tail -100 /var/log/backend.log' in one, and 'tail -100 
/var/log/frontend.log' in the other. You can jump back and forth and 
repeat that command while you look at what is going on.

That may or may not produce a blinding revelation... but at the least, 
it will give you a log which you can parse through, looking for events 
at the relevant time...
Good luck.
Geoff





-- 
              R. Geoffrey Newbury			
            Barrister and Solicitor