[mythtv-users] Can MythTV play a scheduled recording while it

[Chris Pinkham]

> This happens on my system and may be because I am using MPEG-2 encoding. 
> I haven't noticed it harming the encoded file later, only the decoding 
> process. A minor annoyance in my book because most of the time I watch 
> after the show is finished.
> 
> -Sean

If you're using software encoding, then commercial skip while watching
an in-progress recording should be pretty quick since the player fetches
the current blank list from the database.  The software encoder detects
blank frames and updates the blank frame list in the database occasionally
which allows the player to skip commercials faster.  If you're using hardware
encoding, then blank frame detection is done after the recording finishes
if you have blank frame commercial detection turned on.

If you are using hardware encoding, then the player has to try to detect
blank frames itself which is why you see the pause.  The player pauses video
then searches backward to find a blank frame within the past 2 seconds of
video then searches forward to find the end of the commercial started by
that blank frame.  This code hasn't been touched in a while since I made
the software encoder detect blank frames so there may be some quirks in
it somewhere.  I have 4 hardware encoders now along with my one
non-encoding tuner so I may get an urge to scratch that itch and check into
it sometime, but patches are welcome if you can find anything that's causing
the problem or ways ot make it better.

-- 

Chris