[mythtv-users] Live & Recorded TV hangs & failures on amd64

Todd Ignasiak ignasiak at gmail.com
Mon Jul 18 11:44:55 EDT 2005


There is a known problem with pthreads in Debian based AMD64 systems. 
I have installed the patch, and I no longer get the black screen /
failed live-tv viewing.   Here is a link with some more info, and a
MythTV patch to work around it:

http://lists.debian.org/debian-amd64/2005/03/msg00940.html


Based on all the search hits I got on this issue, I know it has
frustrated others, and I certainly spent a lot of time diagnosing it. 
  It would be nice to have some sort of method to help people with
these, and other, known issues.   Such as:  a support
document/database listing issues per platform;  A check in 'configure'
that does a "if arch=athlon64 and distro=debian then warn user about
problem he will definitely have but is hard to solve"; or some
#ifdef's in the code to incorporate the workaround for the problem
cases.


On 7/16/05, Todd Ignasiak <ignasiak at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am seeing very similar behavior on my Ubuntu x86-64 box (I sent a
> message about it yesterday).
> 
> I have around a 20% success rate for getting video when starting the
> front end and going to live tv.  Most of the time it just hangs in
> black screen.   The backend appears to be working, as I can view the
> video in the ringbuf using vlc or mplayer.   It's just the connection
> to the frontend that appears to be messed up.
> 
> I also googled a couple more reports of behavior like this with x86-64 boxes..
> 
> Other than this, MythTV has been excellent for me.
> 
> -Todd
> 
> On 7/15/05, jgmtfia Mr <jgmtfia at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I have setup a new amd64 3200+ with debian etch (testing) as a remote
> > frontend.  I am using the subversion trunk.  In general I am getting
> > very strange things happening.  I am using a 2.6.12 kernel.
> >
> > Some of the problems include, when selecting to watch live tv, myth
> > will hang on a black screen, and stay hung.  No verbose output, just
> > hangs.  Same problem with watching recordings.
> >
> > Some times it does produce verbose output:
> >
> > mythtv$ mythfrontend
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.326 New DB connection, total: 1
> > Total desktop width=1600, height=1200, numscreens=1
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.338 Running in a window
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.347 Using screen 0, 1600x1146 at 0,27
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.360 mythfrontend version: 0.19.20050712-1 www.mythtv.org
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.360 Enabled verbose msgs : important general
> > Total desktop width=1600, height=1200, numscreens=1
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.511 Running in a window
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.511 Using screen 0, 1600x1146 at 0,27
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.522 Switching to square mode (Iulius)
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.693 Joystick disabled.
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:20.750 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin.
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:22.166 New DB connection, total: 2
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:22.203 Connecting to backend server:
> > 192.168.2.24:6543 (try 1 of 5)
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:22.228 Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:22.239 Using protocol version 17
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:23.370 taking too long to be allowed to read..
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:42.367 StartPlayer() -- error
> > 2005-07-16 00:25:42.425 LiveTV not successfully started
> >
> > and then hangs on the black output screen.
> >
> > And some times it works:
> >
> > mythtv$ mythfrontend
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.489 New DB connection, total: 1
> > Total desktop width=1600, height=1200, numscreens=1
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.502 Running in a window
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.511 Using screen 0, 1600x1146 at 0,27
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.525 mythfrontend version: 0.19.20050712-1 www.mythtv.org
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.525 Enabled verbose msgs : important general
> > Total desktop width=1600, height=1200, numscreens=1
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.672 Running in a window
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.672 Using screen 0, 1600x1146 at 0,27
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.673 Switching to square mode (Iulius)
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.859 Joystick disabled.
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:42.907 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin.
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:44.016 New DB connection, total: 2
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:44.052 Connecting to backend server:
> > 192.168.2.24:6543 (try 1 of 5)
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:44.076 Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:44.087 Using protocol version 17
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:45.235 taking too long to be allowed to read..
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:47.278 Opening audio device 'default'.
> > X Error: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes) 8
> >   Major opcode:  142
> >   Minor opcode:  14
> >   Resource id:  0x1cb
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:47.316 Couldn't get the color key color, and we need it.
> > You likely won't select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (in
> > [5], left {0, 0})
> > read(5, "\0", 1)                        = 1
> > ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 0 (Timeout)
> > nanosleep({0, 100000000}, NULL)         = 0
> > ioctl(5, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > write(6, "\0", 1)                       = 1
> > ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (in [5], left {0, 0})
> > read(5, "\0", 1)                        = 1
> > ioctl(5, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > write(6, "\0", 1)                       = 1
> > write(3, ";\3\5\0\23\0@\2\0\0\0\0t\1\330\0`\0H\0\234\6\5\0\16\2@"..., 76) = 76
> > ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (in [5], left {0, 0})
> > read(5, "\0", 1)                        = 1
> > nanosleep({0, 100000000}, NULL)         = 0
> > ioctl(5, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > write(6, "\0", 1)                       = 1
> > ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (in [5], left {0, 0})
> > read(5, "\0", 1)                        = 1
> > nanosleep({0, 100000000}, NULL)         = 0
> > ioctl(5, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > write(6, "\0", 1)                       = 1
> > ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (in [5], left {0, 0})
> > read(5, "\0", 1)                        = 1
> > nanosleep({0, 100000000}, NULL)         = 0
> > ioctl(5, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > write(6, "\0", 1)                       = 1
> > ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (in [5], left {0, 0})
> > read(5, "\0", 1)                        = 1
> > nanosleep({0, 100000000}, NULL)         = 0
> > ioctl(5, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > write(6, "\0", 1)                       = 1
> > ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [0])                 = 0
> > select(17, [3 4 5 10 16], [], [], {0, 0}) = 1 (in [5], left {0, 0})
> > read(5, "\0", 1)    get any video.
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:47.464 Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:47.514 Realtime priority would require SUID as root.
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:47.563 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:47.652 Video timing method: USleep with busy wait
> > 2005-07-16 00:26:47.674 prebuffering pause
> >
> > and other times it works but does not allow keyboard input.  All in
> > All very strange for myth.
> >
> > It is doing repeated selects when I look at an strace:
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>


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