[mythtv-users] Re: Machine lock ups, I need help

Fri Dec 12 08:31:58 EST 2003

Hi,
 vcr is a program which can grab and record an mpeg-4 movie from your tv 
tuner card. It's a rather old one and it's writer has abandoned it but 
it still works (some people ensure that it does). I encode with divx ;-) 
(that's the name of the codec, including the winking sign !). Seems to 
work ok.vcr supposedly can use other codecs too but I don't know how 
good that will be, divx ;-) is supposed to be the best bet.It's actually 
a windows dll codec.AFAIK, it is hosted at sourceforge.net.
I am really busy these days at office so didn't get chance to run myth.
I do have the kernel and bttv sources, I'll read the freeze file to see 
what it talks about. Won' t have time for atleast two weeks though. 
Thanks a lot for your helpful hints.

regards
Dhiraj
Craig O'Shannessy wrote:

>Hi Dhiraj,
>
>Don't worry, I didn't find your post rude.  I don't know what this "vcr" 
>you speak of is, but all I can say is that there seems to be some problem 
>with Myth, possibly with the bttv drivers with this chipset.
>
>Hope you can sort it out, and if you can, let me know what you had to do, 
>it just wasn't worth the huge amount of wasted time and frustration for me 
>in the end.
>
>You might want to check out 
>/usr/src/linux/Documentation/video4linux/bttv/README.freeze, this might 
>help point you in the right direction (you need the kernel source for 
>this).
>
>Best of luck.
>
>Craig
>
>On Tue, 9 Dec 2003, Dhiraj Gaurh wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Sorry Craig if that sounded rude ! I didn't mean it ! I am also thankful 
>>to note that my card will not have any issues . Whew !
>>Craig, you do seem to say that I will still have issues but I hope you 
>>are wrong ! I don't have the money to buy a new PC anyway !
>>I won't be running the test you want me to. I'm scared of what it might 
>>prove :) I won't be able to correct the problem anyway, if it means 
>>replacing my Mobo and processor.
>>So far I haven't had problems with any games or Mythtv. If I can't 
>>record, well so be it. I'll just use vcr.
>>As you rightly pointed out, I do not understand how myth works. I have 
>>never looked into the code. Just theorizing...
>>You seem to have said the same thing. My front and back-end are on the 
>>same box, I watch livetv (not just playback), so in recording I am 
>>actually doing "less" than what I would do in livetv.
>>Of course, I could be wrong.
>>I am sure there would be problems with KT133. Just hope they don't 
>>surface for 1-2 years !!!
>>Thanks for telling me that the problem could be related to the HDD 
>>writing. I won't increase my buffer from the current 1 GB. I wish I had 
>>bought 1 GB more. It was just $25 for a 512 MB stick, in the good old 
>>meltdown days.
>>So, you think myth wouldn't work properly while writing to the HDD when 
>>it's recording. But then how does vcr work ??? It seems to write the 
>>file without any problems.
>>The link you mentioned seemed to say that there are problems with nvidia 
>>drivers and with heavy load on the PCI bus. I don't have problems with 
>>the nvidia drivers, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to play quake 
>>III and descent III . If I get problems with the PCI bus I will increase 
>>latency to 64 instead of 32 (did you try that ?). It says this always 
>>fixes the problem. My performance will go down of course, hope I don't 
>>notice it !
>>
>>regards
>>Dhiraj
>>
>>Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Top-posting rearranged.
>>>
>>>On Monday 08 December 2003 06:50, Dhiraj Gaurh wrote:
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>Craig O'Shannessy wrote:
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't support your motherboard has a KT133 chipset?
>>>>>
>>>>>http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/2003-September/014216.html
>>>>>
>>>>>I had the same symptoms, same CPU, and I bought a new 'puter to use,
>>>>>booted up using the original hard disk, and haven't had a crash
>>>>>since
>>>>>
>>>>>If you have this chipset, I think that's your problem.
>>>>>
>>>>>Hope this helps
>>>>>
>>>>>Craig
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>     
>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>I have the FIC AZ11E which also uses KT133 chipset. I have never had
>>>>kernel Ooops but my recording part is not working yet. If bttv has
>>>>problems with KT133 then why have I been watching TV for the last two
>>>>years using xwtv without any problems. How does bttv know that I am
>>>>recording or playing, it should be the same thing, this is just an
>>>>application level differnce. I have used the vcr program to record
>>>>shows in the past without any problems. If you can watch TV on this
>>>>chipset then it is perfectly possible to record too.
>>>>I am using RH 7.2 with AMD T-BIRD 950 MHZ
>>>>My mythtv recording  part is not working because of some software
>>>>problem which I need to fix, it doesn't crash my machine. It just
>>>>doesn't record, nothing happens. I am not going to believe that this
>>>>KT133 bug surfaces only with myth and not with vcr !
>>>>A computer costs a lot of money. I can't afford to buy a new computer
>>>>because some particular feature of one application is crashing. Why
>>>>don't you use mythtv to watch live tv and use vcr to record in your
>>>>old computer. Should work on yours if it works on mine. If KT133 is
>>>>at fault, that is.
>>>>You murdered your old friendly computer  :)
>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>The problem with the KT133 chipset has nothing to do with bttv.  If you 
>>>have a bttv card, as you seem to, then there is no issue.  The problem 
>>>occurs if you have an ivtv card (PVR-x50, M-179).  There is a known 
>>>chipset bug (or 'quirk', if you prefer) that causes problems when using 
>>>the ivtv driver.
>>>
>>>Incidentally, Myth does not use 'bttv' for playback... since 
>>>playback-only in Myth doesn't involve the tuner card.  The bttv/V4L 
>>>driver is only used in Myth for recording or LiveTV.  Playback is done 
>>>solely through your video card using X (Xv/XvMC).  So it is entirely 
>>>possible for problems to arise during recording that don't occur during 
>>>playback only.
>>>
>>>Craig was only offering a helpful suggestion... there was no need to be 
>>>rude, especially since it seems you're not really clear on how Myth 
>>>actually works.
>>>
>>>-JAC
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>mythtv-users mailing list
>>>mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>>>http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>>
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>  
>

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