[mythtv-users] HDPVR ringbuffer WaitForAvail

[Michael T. Dean]

On 02/05/2012 06:12 PM, John Nissley wrote:
> When I am watching live tv or recording a show on my HDPVR I keep
> receiving the following errors in my log file.
>
> ProcessRequest ringbuffer.cpp:1093 (WaitForAvail) -
> RingBuf(/video1/2778_20120205170546.mpg): Waited 0.2 seconds for data
>
> The show appears to record and play OK but I was wondering if there is a
> configuration change that I can make to help stop this error from
> showing up in my log.
>
> I am running the latest trunk version but have seen this for a long time
> so this is not something new.

That's not an error.  It's informational.  In 0.25, it will be marked 
with an "I" to indicate just that.  Our 0.24-fixes and below logging 
code didn't do a good job of telling you what's important and what's 
not.  The new logging code that Gavin Hurlbut wrote for 0.25 does--it 
actually marks messages with a character to indicate their log 
level--emergency, alert, critical, error, warning, notice, info, or debug.

See the messages in the function at 
https://github.com/MythTV/mythtv/blob/master/mythtv/libs/libmythtv/ringbuffer.cpp#L1044 
(specifically lines 1090 and 1096).  You'll note that it only becomes an 
error after 16 seconds of waiting.

And, especially in this case--where "The show appears to record and play 
OK"--this is definitely not a problem.  The primary reason the message 
is shown at even info level, rather than debug, is because a user who 
waits only 10s or 13s before hitting Escape wouldn't see the error 
that's printed at 16s.  This "status" message allows a user diagnosing 
issues to see that MythTV is waiting for a recording file's 
data--providing information about why there's no video playing, just yet.

Note, also, that the message should be printed less frequently when 0.25 
is released.

Mike