[mythtv-users] MythTV Hardware Upgrade Questions

[Gabe Rubin]

On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 5:44 PM, Aaron <aaron at rb303.net> wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 8:34 PM, jedi <jedi at mishnet.org> wrote:
>> On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 04:38:37PM -0400, Aaron wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Gabe Rubin <gaberubin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 1:07 PM, Aaron <aaron at rb303.net> wrote:
>>> >> On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 3:51 PM, Mark Boyum <mark at boyum.us> wrote:
>>> >>>>> It does work fine most of the time, but I seem to be having a problem
>>> >>>>> with the box locking/pausing when a show begins or ends. The hdd light
>>> >>>>> comes on for about 5 seconds then everything returns to normal. I only
>>> >>>>> record HD streams; primarily broadcast channels, and SpeedTV (F1
>>> >>>>> Races). VDPAU is working and CPU use for watching is minimal.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Have you been following the "Playback problem -- random short pauses"
>>> >>> thread on the mailing list?  Perhaps this is your issue?  I do not
>>> >>> thing that adding new hardware will resolve these problems.  If you
>>> >>> look through that whole thread there are a few suggestions for fixing
>>> >>> some if the known causes but I think we are still waiting on some bugs
>>> >>> to be squashed.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> I could be wrong, haven't followed the list that closely as of late.
>>> >>> -Mark
>>> >>> _______________________________________________
>>> >>> mythtv-users mailing list
>>> >>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>>> >>> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>> >>>
>>> >>
>>> >> Yes, I have been following it. I have tried a number of fixes
>>> >> mentioned. One of the fixes was me not thinking my hardware was fast
>>> >> enough. I honestly would rather not upgrade, as I do have both
>>> >> Firewire recording and SPDIF working so beautifully on this system.
>>> >> But the wife is getting rather annoyed, and well... I want to get it
>>> >> fixed asap...  Of course then again, she would really be annoyed if I
>>> >> dropped $340 and it didn't fix the problem.
>>> >
>>> > Is it possible that this is due to you having the database on the same
>>> > drive as the recordings?  Wise folks on the list counsel against doing
>>> > that because it can issue when watching a recording and the database
>>> > is being accessed (which likely happens at the start of a recording).
>>> > I get this issue and assumed that was the culprit but have not
>>> > bothered putting my database on a separate disc (mainly due to not
>>> > wanting to add more heat, power consumption, and hard drive noise to
>>> > the box).
>>>
>>> That sounds promising, and I have not tried it. Is it easy to move,
>>> any pointers or how-to's? I'm on Mythbuntu 10.04 LTS
>>
>>    You might want to approach it from the other end. Move your recordings
>> to a different drive and leave your database where it is. Leave everything
>> but your recordings on your root disk.
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>>
> I actually just finished doing that (I think). I added my 1 TB drive
> into the Default Storage Group, now its using that as the primary
> disk. I just test recorded 4 streams, while watching a recording from
> last week, and I did not notice the studder/pause.
>
> Disk Usage Details:
> MythTV Drive #1:
> Directory: gazerbeam:/mnt/sdc1/recordings
> Total Space: 938,898 MB
> Space Used: 364,612 MB
> Space Free: 574,286 MB
> MythTV Drive #2:
> Directories: gazerbeam:/var/lib/mythtv/livetv,
> gazerbeam:/var/lib/mythtv/recordings
> Total Space: 460,007 MB
> Space Used: 41,892 MB
> Space Free: 418,114 MB
>
>
> I'll monitor it this week, if it was really this simple; I will kick
> myself. I do have another issue with audio volumes, but I think i'll
> wait on that until this is resolved.
> Thanks for all the help :)

If you do decide on upgrading your high-performance computer, I am
happy to take some components off your hand.

But seriously, I am interested in how this affects your performance as
I have a similar issue.  I am tempted to go with a USB stick or SSD
for the database, but I am leery of putting that on something that has
a limited amount or read/write cycles (although that limit may be much
higher than what I would encounter, but I imagine the db gets a lot of
writes on a daily basis).

I am also interested in hearing from others about whether it is
worthwhile to put on a flash drive, or if that would actually decrease
my current performance (everything on a single drive).  I do have some
older drives I could install, but I would want to to keep my current
drive for recordings as it is 2TB, is my biggest drive, and it would
be a waste to not store media on it.