[mythtv-users] Can't record & watch anymore

[Eric Lennon Bowman]

If I'm watching TV, and something scheduled to record comes along, and I 
choose to watch it while it's recording, or if I press the record button 
on the remote while watching live TV, my screen goes black, and the 
frontend becomes non-responsive for quite a long time (eventually it 
seems to come back if I hit ESC...after 5 minutes or so).

In my frontend logs, I see something like this:

2004-08-23 11:39:25 mythfrontend version: 0.15.20040525-1 www.mythtv.org
2004-08-23 11:39:25 Enabled verbose msgs : important general
2004-08-23 11:39:29 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin.
2004-08-23 11:39:29 Registering MythDVD DVD Media Handler as a media handler
2004-08-23 11:39:29 Registering MythDVD VCD Media Handler as a media handler
2004-08-23 11:39:34 Registering MythMusic Media Handler as a media handler
2004-08-23 11:39:59 Connecting to backend server: 127.0.0.1:6543 (try 1 
of 5)
2004-08-23 11:39:59 Using protocol version 8
2004-08-23 11:39:59 Using protocol version 8
2004-08-23 11:39:59 Using protocol version 8
Using the PVR-350 decoder/TV-out
2004-08-23 11:40:03 Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2004-08-23 11:40:16 Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2004-08-23 11:40:16 Using protocol version 8
2004-08-23 11:40:16 Using protocol version 8
Couldn't read file: 
/mnt/video/recordings/1011_20040823114000_20040823115500.nuv
2004-08-23 11:40:17 Changing from None to WatchingRecording
2004-08-23 11:40:17 Decoder not alive, and trying to play..
PlayFromRecorder : recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder 
already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already 
exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : 
recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already 
exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : 
recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already 
exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : 
recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already 
exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : 
recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already 
exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : 
recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already 
exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : 
recorder already exists!PlayFromRecorder : recorder already 
exists!2004-08-23 11:40:29 Changing from None to None
2004-08-23 11:47:49 Changing from None to None

In my backend logs, I see this:

Starting up as the master server.
2004-08-23 11:39:26 mythbackend version: 0.15.20040525-1 www.mythtv.org
2004-08-23 11:39:26 Enabled verbose msgs : important general
2004-08-23 11:39:28 Found changes in the todo list.
2004-08-23 11:39:28 Scheduled 0 items in 0.066133 seconds.
2004-08-23 11:39:28 Seem to be woken up by USER
2004-08-23 11:39:59 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2004-08-23 11:39:59 adding: showy as a client (events: 0)
2004-08-23 11:39:59 Getting next free recorder : -1
2004-08-23 11:39:59 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2004-08-23 11:39:59 adding: showy as a client (events: 1)
2004-08-23 11:39:59 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2004-08-23 11:39:59 adding: showy as a client (events: 0)
2004-08-23 11:39:59 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2004-08-23 11:39:59 adding: showy as a client (events: 0)
2004-08-23 11:39:59 adding: showy as a remote ringbuffer
2004-08-23 11:39:59 Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2004-08-23 11:40:15 Found changes in the todo list.
2004-08-23 11:40:15 Scheduled 1 items in 0.140704 seconds.
2004-08-23 11:40:15 Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2004-08-23 11:40:16 Started recording "The Hoobs" on channel: 1011 on 
cardid: 1, sourceid 1
2004-08-23 11:40:16 Changing from None to RecordingOnly
2004-08-23 11:40:16 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2004-08-23 11:40:16 adding: showy as a client (events: 0)
2004-08-23 11:40:16 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2004-08-23 11:40:16 adding: showy as a client (events: 0)
2004-08-23 11:40:19 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:40:19 Getting next free recorder : 1
...
2004-08-23 11:47:49 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:49 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:50 Getting next free recorder : 1
2004-08-23 11:47:49 Getting next free recorder : 1

(Note the out-of-sequenceness)

I thought I might have corrupted my database or something, so I dropped 
it and brought it back up from scratch, but that didn't fix it.

It looks like maybe in HandleGetNextFreeRecorder, encoder is null by 
line 1648.

Seems like somebody else had this problem, but never got a solution:

http://www.mythtvtalk.com/forum/archive/o_t/t_124/livetv_freezes_when_it_changes_to_record_a_program.html

Also, it seems a "healthy" instance logs -1, not 1 as the recorder.  
I've now uninstalled and reinstalled the software, dropped and recreated 
the database...I'm at a bit of a loss about what to try next...any 
suggestions greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
Eric

-- 
Eric Lennon Bowman
BoboCo Ltd
ebowman at boboco.ie
http://www.boboco.ie/ebowman/pubkey.pgp
+35317979094