[mythtv] Help testing #6719

John P Poet jppoet at gmail.com
Sat May 8 02:26:54 UTC 2010


On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 5:49 PM, Mark Goldberg <marklgoldberg at gmail.com> wrote:
> John P Poet said:
>
>>Thanks, Mark.
>>
>>I will try to investigate the multirec issue.
>
> Thanks,
>
> If you have any suggestions as to where to look in the code, I could
> try to help. I'm more of a tester than a coder, but I could take a look.
> If I can help in some other way, let me know.
>
> The fixes in RC3 did seem to stop the backend from crashing if the
> HDPVR fails to start a recording.


Honestly, I don't know.   I wrote that patch 10+ months ago, and the
only changes I have made since then have been keep it updated against
trunk.  It has been so long since I did the patch, that I don't
remember enough about the mechanics to give you much direction.  I
have never tried to use multirec, but I do have a HDHomeRun so I
should be able to turn that on.

I also have been so swamped at work, that I have been exhausted when I
do get home, and have not been inclined to work on Myth -- and I don't
see that changing any time soon..  If you are interested in getting
your hands dirty, I would be happy to give you some direction, though.

In brief summary, that patch splits the tuning process into a new
thread.  This allows the main thread to maintain interactive
communication with mythfrontend, while the new thread deals with
getting the channel tuned.  During the tuning process, flags are set
which are then communicated to mythfrontend to give it the status of
the tuning operation.  Meanwhile, the frontend can abort the tuning by
exiting LiveTV or switching to another channel -- that sets an abort
status, which results in the tuning thread exiting.

The main purpose of the patch is to keep interactive communication
between mythbackend and mythfrontend so the user can see what is going
on, *and* so mythfrontend does not time-out waiting for the backend to
finish tuning.

Are you an emacs user?  If so, I would recommend starting out with two
source trees -- one with 6719 applied and one without.  Then bring up
emacs, and use its (Tools->Compare (Ediff)->Two Files) function to
analyse the difference between a patched and unpatched version of a
file.  Press the '|' (vertical bar) in the ediff subwindow to switch
to side-by-side view, and maximize the editor window.  With the ediff
subwindow in focus, you can press 'n' to go to the next "difference",
and 'p' to go the previous difference.  This makes it much easier to
see the changes than trying to decipher the patch itself.

I may have the time and inclination to bring that patch up on Sunday,
and refresh my memory about it's specifics.

It is nice to have someone else interested in improving the HD-PVR
functionality.


John
-- 
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