[mythtv-users] Intel i965 video buffers errors on frontend - live TV

[evade.]

On 20 July 2017 1:39:21 pm AEST, Mark Perkins <perkins1724 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>On 20/07/17 12:13, evade. wrote:
>>
>> On 19 July 2017 10:26:54 pm AEST, John Pilkington <J.Pilk at tesco.net>
>wrote:
>>> On 19/07/17 12:37, evade. wrote:
>>>
>>>> Does anybody please have any advice on troubleshooting these
>buffers
>>>> specifically when watching live(*) TV?
>>>>
>>>> *Live, as in not manually paused for 10 seconds. :)
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> evade.
>>> If 'liveness' is a real issue I think you want a CrystalBall - or a
>TV
>>> :-)
>>>
>>> John P
>>>
>> Haha.
>> You might want to see the other thread then. I asked why people have
>said to avoid love TV. If commercial PVRs can do it, it must be
>possible.
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>I don't think the comment was in relation to whether LiveTV was
>possible 
>or not. I think it was in relation to the implication that a short
>delay 
>(10sec was mentioned) meant that viewing could no longer be considered 
>"live". As I understand it all PVR type devices, ie with capabilities 
>like pause / rewind / record / skip, introduce some delay although the 
>amount varies by device. Probably none require 10sec, but then neither 
>does MythTV. TV's (ie absent the PVR capability) would tend to have
>less 
>delay as they don't need to handle things like pause / rewind / record
>/ 
>etc. The key point being - the magnitude of the delay is not normally 
>noticed until it can be compared to a reference (or perhaps more 
>commonly noticed with the complaint that 'my TV takes forever to turn
>on').
>
>Sample size = 1, but my parents have a PVR in one room and a TV in a 
>different room. If both are tuned to the same channel with the volume
>up 
>there is something like close to 1sec of difference in the audio.
>
>I don't think MythTV is any different to a standard PVR in that regard.
>
>In the ordinary course of events with modern MythTV (say 0.27 or above)
>
>I don't believe some sort of 10 sec pause is required (assuming 
>sufficiently capable hardware, proper network config, file system
>config 
>etc).
>
>Please correct me if I am wrong, but if I understand the thread history
>
>correctly the video issue was solved by increasing the GPU allocated 
>memory from 128MiB to 256MiB. But there is still occasional audio
>glitching?
>
>If this is correct, I would be interested in seeing a full inclusive
>log 
>file from startup of mythfrontend with -v playback, through entry into 
>LiveTV, maybe 30sec of viewing, a channel change, another 30sec of 
>viewing, then exit.
>

Thanks Mark,

You right, I must have touched a nerve as this has gone off topic fast.

Thanks for your help, I'll get some logs and put them on a Pastebin site.

So only the "playback" verbose option, right?



Regarding quick changes of channel in live TV...

For reference I personally watch very little TV but my wife loves to channel surf from time to time and my new media PC has mythtv for her sake.

I didn't come here to criticise the software as I'm no developer and rely on the good deeds of others (I really appreciate it!). In a different thread (mentioned tangentially in this one) I just asked if it was normal to advise mythtv users to avoid live TV.

It's perfectly reasonable for a user of any "DVR" system to expect to be able to change channels rapidly on live TV. If, generally speaking, mythtv isn't capable of this could the developers please convey it to users clearly?
As far as I can see, even technical users who read the website and wiki won't see advice about this possible limitation.

Thank you,
evade.