[mythtv-users] Enabling multirec borks usability a bit.
Michael T. Dean
mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Tue Apr 20 21:48:54 UTC 2010
On 04/20/2010 04:22 PM, Tortise wrote:
> From: "Michael T. Dean"
>
> One thing to keep in mind is the overall goal of mythtv - wasn't it to
> be the mythical convergence of all technologies into one system?
> Correct me if I am worng, I don't think exclusion of livetv fits with
> the original definition of mythtv?
Live TV isn't excluded. It's just that it will only be improved by
people who care to donate their time/effort to improving Live TV (and
you can't count me among those people--I have plenty of other stuff on
my TODO list for MythTV).
>> Small, but achievable goals, and all... Make a bunch of little
>> changes to get a huge improvement.
>
> Well I am certainly sympathetic to that notion, IMO and experience it
> is vastly eassier to make small incremental changes than do a dump of
> a radical change and then the pain of debugging the hell out of it....
>
>> Then, eventually, maybe some of the bigger changes will be
>> easier/more acceptable.
>
> The holy grail seems to be having the same number of tuners as the
> users have number of mux, so for me that's 3, given code that
> efficiently utilises the tuners for recording and livetv.
> (Realistically that means 2 x 500T's here = 4 tuners!)
>
>
> I did not realise that turning off multirec would also fix the issue.
> So if I had 3 x 500T = 6 physical tuners that hardware requirement is
> very likely to cover 99.x% of our user requirements, whether it be
> through either of the above options. My servers got 3 PCI slots....
> To make 6 I'm going to buy another dual tuner!
>
> One thing I'd appreciate a response on is the question of dedicating
> tuners. How hard would it be to say have 3 tuners dedicated for
> multi-recording mux and say 3 dedicated for (uni-rec) live TV use? As
> we only have 3 mux, this could also work well and keep 3 live
> frontends live. (Not sure what one would do when 4 tried...I suppose
> as is now....)
>
> Maybe making the first 3 tuners multi-rec and leaving the rest uni
> might be a pragmatic solution that uses the existing code base? I
> think it would cover it all for 1 live user. The issue would be which
> tuner a second live user got, I believe they'd currently get the same
> tuner the first live tv user is using....? Could that be a small
> fix....(Mike can you comment please?)
Just configure your first 3 cards with, say, 3 virtual tuners each, then
add the next 3 cards with 1 virtual tuner each (and you /must/ connect
inputs and set virtual tuners as you're configuring your cards properly
so you have card 1 with inputs 1,2,3; card 2 with inputs 4,5,6; card 3
with inputs 7,8,9, card 4 with input 10, card 5 with input 11, card 6
with input 12). Then enable Avoid conflicts... (See
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/dev/369358#369358 for more
details, but you won't need the +1 for Live TV is you have 6 physical
tuners and 3 muxes.)
>
> Either way I'd still have an inefficient tuner use outside the "holy
> grail" scenario.
If you only have 3 muxes, you only need 3 physical tuners with X >
max_concurrent_recordings_and_livetv_per_mux virtual tuners defined.
Then change channel with the EPG or using Browse all channels. And,
using the configuration I described at the post above, you'd likely use
Y+1 virtual tuners where Y >= max_concurrent_recordings and the +1 gives
you 1 extra virtual tuner for Live TV.
> The cost of tuners is relatively small compared to the surrounding kit
> they integrate in with.
>
> The coding "cost", ie limited coding dev resource is limited.
Yep. And that's just it. It's cheaper for me to buy as many tuners as
I need than it is to write (and have to maintain) code to try to do what
you all would like to see. (Granted, I don't/won't ever use Live TV, so
it's easier for me to get a configuration that's perfect than it is for
someone who wants recordings and Live TV.)
> I for one respect the dev's setting development priorities because
> they understand the decision criteria and consequences better than I do.
>
> I am also prepared to buy another dual tuner!
Right, so everyone else has the same option as me--write code, configure
their system within current possibilities, use EPG or Browse all
channels, or buy hardware. :)
Mike
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