[mythtv-users] mythbackend stops responding with HDPVR

[John P Poet]

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 5:01 PM, P S <guierrmo at gmail.com> wrote:
> Posting to Users' list a recommended by Mike:
>
> I received an HDPVR as a gift and have been holding onto it for a few
> months waiting for Trunk to stabilize more.
>
> It seems now is a good time to start experimenting with Trunk.  I am
> running a non-production system based on mythbuntu 8.10 and compiled
> trunk revision 20389.  I also compiled the v4l-dvb drivers for the
> HDPVR rev 11485.
>
> Everything seems to go fine: I load the HDPVR module, it shows up as
> /dev/video0.  Run mythtv-setup, add the HDPVR an encoder, setup
> scheduled direct, setup the input.  I schedule a bunch of HD recording
> off a Directv and it records no problem.
>
> I come back in a few hours to see that mythweb will not respond.  I
> look at the backend log and all that seems to be running is the
> autoexpire jobs.  I restart the backend and it will start recording
> again, only to stop a few hours later again.
>
> What seems to be happening is the HDPVR stops recording(the annoying
> blue lights turns off) but mythtv thinks it is still recording.  After
> the recording ends, the backend stops responding for the most part and
> no future recording occur until the backend process is restarted.
>
> I have already RMA'd the unit back to Hauppauge for this issue and the
> replacement does the same thing.
>
> I would like to issue a bug report, but, I'm not sure where to start
> troubleshooting this issue, here is the backend log with standard
> verbosity.  I can supply a more verbose log, but I'm not sure which
> verbosity options to use.  There are no errors within the kern.log.
>
>
> 2009-04-15 11:59:29.775 TVRec(1): ASK_RECORDING 1 29 0 0
> 2009-04-15 12:00:02.438 TVRec(1): Changing from None to Watching RecordingOnly
> 2009-04-15 12:00:02.440 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
> 2009-04-15 12:00:02.984 ret_pid(1229) child(1229) status(0x0)
> 2009-04-15 12:00:02.986 External Tuning program exited with no error
> 2009-04-15 12:00:03.192 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 12:00:03.197 Started recording: House Hunters "Ready to
> Buy": channel 1229 on cardid 1, sourceid 1
> 2009-04-15 12:00:03.199 scheduler: Last message repeated 1 times:
> Scheduled items: Scheduled 278 items in 0.2 = 0.00 match + 0.23 place
> 2009-04-15 12:00:03.201 scheduler: Started recording: House Hunters
> "Ready to Buy": channel 1229 on cardid 1, sourceid 1
> 2009-04-15 12:11:18.867 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 12:26:18.894 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 12:29:00.317 Reschedule requested for id 0.
> 2009-04-15 12:29:00.593 Scheduled 278 items in 0.3 = 0.00 match + 0.27 place
> 2009-04-15 12:29:00.603 scheduler: Scheduled items: Scheduled 278
> items in 0.3 = 0.00 match + 0.27 place
> 2009-04-15 12:29:30.117 TVRec(1): ASK_RECORDING 1 29 0 0
> 2009-04-15 12:30:00.123 TVRec(1): Changing from Watching RecordingOnly to None
> 2009-04-15 12:30:00.191 Finished recording House Hunters "Ready to
> Buy": channel 1229
> 2009-04-15 12:30:00.215 scheduler: Finished recording: House Hunters
> "Ready to Buy": channel 1229
> 2009-04-15 12:30:00.217 Recording designated 720p because height was 720
> 2009-04-15 12:41:18.924 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 12:56:18.961 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 13:11:18.991 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 13:26:19.024 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 13:41:19.057 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 13:56:19.088 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
> 2009-04-15 14:11:19.119 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
> Space: 3.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
>
>
> Mythweb comes back with this error:
>
> Warning at /usr/share/mythtv/mythweb/modules/status/handler.php, line 35:
> file_get_contents(http://127.0.0.1:6544) [function.file-get-contents]:
> failed to open stream: HTTP request failed!
>
> Warning at /usr/share/mythtv/mythweb/modules/_shared/tmpl/default/header.php,
> line 16:
> Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output
> started at /usr/share/mythtv/mythweb/includes/errors.php:143)


When you notice the problem, check to see if any other myth related
processes are running:   ps aux | grep myth

Even with current Myth trunk, the version of ffmpeg in use does not
handle interlaced H.264 from the HD-PVR perfectly.  This can result in
the preview generator and commercial flagger occasionally "freaking
out" and causing a drain on system resources.

For me, the preview generator (in particular) can suck the life out of
my backend.  I ended up tweaking the preview generator to run "niced",
as well as setting up a cron job to kill "runaway" preview generator
jobs.

Janne is planning on a ffmpeg re-sync before the next version of Myth
is rolled out.  I am hoping that will solve this problem.


John
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