[mythtv-users] Fast CPU, DMA enabled on HD, Xv enabled, still getting pauses in Live TV

Albert Santoni GameGod at sympatico.ca
Tue Aug 19 18:31:42 EDT 2003


Joe,

For the record, I would like to note that I have the same problem.
I previously had a P3-500mhz that would pop in LiveTV quite often (cpu
wasn't fast enough.)
I upgraded to an Athlon XP 2000+, and now I get the pop about once every ten
minutes, just like you do.
The only thing I didn't swap out was my hard drives and PSU.
(I also think MythTV 0.11 helped it a bit...  I think just the audio
stutters now...  I may be wrong.)

Sounds like we have the same problem.
(I've tried all the things you did - DMA, etc.)

Please let me know if you find a fix, and I'll keep trying to help you
troubleshoot.

Thanks,

Albert Santoni


----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe V" <joevph at yahoo.com>
To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Fast CPU, DMA enabled on HD, Xv enabled,still
getting pauses in Live TV


> Albert,
>
> With this particular motherboard, I did not, however,
> with the previous motherboard that I was using (same
> Athlon XP 2400+, DDR266), I did leave the default
> compilation options and still had the same problems.
>
> I will probably try with a different power supply and
> hard drive (the only two components not swapped out)
> and see what happens.
>
> Thanks,
> Joe
>
> --- Albert Santoni <GameGod at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> > Did you try compiling without -march=athlon-xp?
> > Just leave it at the default (i586??)...
> >
> > Someone had a similar problem, and this was the
> > case.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Joe V" <joevph at yahoo.com>
> > To: "Discussion about mythtv"
> > <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 3:44 AM
> > Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Fast CPU, DMA enabled on
> > HD, Xv enabled,still
> > getting pauses in Live TV
> >
> >
> > > Okay, now I'm starting to go nuts.  I've gone
> > through
> > > the mailing-list archive, and have tried all sorts
> > of
> > > things.  Changing DMA parameters, recompiling
> > MythTV
> > > with -march=xthlon-xp, trying "nice" on
> > mythbackend,
> > > and several other things.  And I'm still getting
> > > skips, and with this hardware, I don't see how I
> > could
> > > be having problems.  All I want to do is run
> > > mythbackend and mythfrontend on the same PC
> > without
> > > stuttering in the video/audio.
> > >
> > > Perhaps based on my hardware/software setup,
> > somebody
> > > can make some additional recommendations.
> > >
> > > Hardware:
> > > - Albatron KX400-8X motherboard (brought the ECS
> > board
> > > back to Fry's, too many problems) - VIA KT400
> > chipset
> > > - Athlon XP 2400+ CPU (2GHz real speed, 266MHz
> > FSB)
> > > - 512MB RAM (DDR333) - the BIOS indicates that the
> > RAM
> > > is running at 133MHz * 2.5 (333MHz)
> > > - Matrox G400 Dual-Head (hooked up to a monitor,
> > so
> > > using Xv)
> > > - Western Digital Hard Drive UDMA 100
> > > - Soundblaster Live! 5.1 (using in full-duplex
> > mode
> > > with kernel drivers)
> > > - Leadtek Winfast TV 2000 XP (I put in gbuffers=8)
> > > - Tulip clone Ethernet card (no onboard NIC)
> > >
> > > Software:
> > > - Red Hat Linux 9
> > > - Recompiled the kernel, Linux-2.4.21, included
> > the
> > > low-latency and preempt patch
> > > (/proc/sys/kernel/lowlatency shows 1)
> > > - Before compiling any software, I set CFLAGS and
> > > CPPFLAGS to -march=athlon-xp
> > > - MythTV 0.11
> > > - Killed off as many of Red Hat's services as
> > possible
> > > - Using twm as the window manager.
> > >
> > > hdparm -Tt shows:
> > > /dev/hda:
> > >  Timing buffer-cache reads:   128 MB in  0.41
> > seconds
> > > =312.20 MB/sec
> > >  Timing buffered disk reads:  64 MB in  1.42
> > seconds =
> > > 45.07 MB/sec
> > >
> > > I'm using ext3 filesystems for everything, two
> > > partitions, one for root, one for /home. which is
> > > where MythTV files are stores (using symlinks from
> > > /mnt/store).  The ext3 filesystem is mounted with
> > > noatime, and in grub.conf, I put in
> > > rootflags=data=writeback.
> > >
> > > I'm not really stressing things out, I'm recording
> > > RTJPEG at 480x480, MP3 quality 7.  Switching to
> > MPEG4
> > > (as suggested in a post in the mailing-list)
> > didn't
> > > help any.  I have plenty of CPU time (it never
> > goes
> > > higher than 50% user, never less than 30% idle.
> > Not
> > > using jitter control, not using experimental A/V
> > sync,
> > > just using the default options.
> > >
> > > The only thing that I can think might possibly
> > causing
> > > some problems is that I have only one hard drive
> > for
> > > everything.  Either that, or I do I need a real
> > 2.4GHz
> > > machine (i.e. Intel?)
> > >
> > > Please folks, any suggestions?  Any at all?
> > >
> > > -- Joe
> > >
> > > --- Joe V <joevph at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > Brian,
> > > >
> > > > Well, it helps a bit...  I upgraded to bttv
> > 0.7.107
> > > > (and specigied gbuffers=10), put my hard drive
> > and
> > > > DVD-ROM on seperate cables (don't know if that
> > will
> > > > help much), as well as forcing 32-bit
> > operations,
> > > > and
> > > > the stutters, when they happen don't cause such
> > as
> > > > big
> > > > of a delay.
> > > >
> > > > I don't recall any stutters last night when I
> > put my
> > > > DDR400 module (running at DDR266) from my
> > desktop in
> > > > the machine with those changes (watching for a
> > good
> > > > 30
> > > > minutes), so it could be a memory bandwidth
> > issue as
> > > > well as a bttv driver issue (and maybe the HD).
> > > >
> > > > I'll keep experimenting and see what works.
> > > >
> > > > Are you using your machine as just a frontend,
> > or as
> > > > both frontend and backend (as I'm doing)?
> > > >
> > > > -- Joe
> > > >
> > > > --- Brian <brian at boid.isa-geek.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm having no issues running .11 with a k7s5a,
> > > > duron
> > > > > 1.1, 512mb of pc133, ata100 drives, TV Wonder
> > VE,
> > > > > generic 2.4.21, bttv 0.7.107 (Could not get
> > 0.9.x
> > > > to
> > > > > run properly)
> > > > >
> > > > > Hope this can help point you in the right
> > > > direction
> > > > > :/
> > > > >
> > > > > Cheerios
> > > > >
> > > > > :)
> > > > >
> > > > > On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 23:37:16 -0700 (PDT)
> > > > > Joe V <joevph at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > This is completely strange, I don't
> > understand
> > > > it.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I upgraded to an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (real
> > > > speed,
> > > > > > 2GHz), with an ECS KS57A Pro motherboard
> > today.
> > > > > The
> > > > > > motherboard isn't the greatest, but for
> > $89.99
> > > > for
> > > > > the
> > > > > > combo, you can't really beat that.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Anyway, I have my profile for Live TV setup
> > for
> > > > > > 480x480, RTJPEG, MP3 Audio compression,
> > level 4
> > > > > > (middle of the pack or so).  When I run
> > "top", I
> > > > > see
> > > > > > that mythbackend ranges from 20-43% (CPU),
> > and
> > > > > that
> > > > > > mythfrontend ranges from 3-15%.  I have DMA
> > > > > enabled on
> > > > > > my hard drive (hdparm shows this), XVideo is
> > > > > enabled
> > > > > > on the second head of the Matrox G400 I'm
> > using.
> > > >
> > > > > The
> >
> === message truncated ===
>
>
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