[mythtv-users] Scheduling new recordings requires mythtv restart

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/22/2009 02:12 AM, Joel wrote:
> I'm not certain how long this has been going on, but I only noticed it
> recently. When I initially start mythtv, if I have a full set of guide
> data for the next 2 weeks, I get all the programs I expect scheduled for
> those next two weeks. However, as mythtv runs, even though the guide
> data gets updated, I never get new programs scheduled to record past two
> weeks after mythtv was started. I have noticed that if I add a new
> recording schedule, it will schedule recordings after that limit, but
> existing recording schedules never get updated when new guide data
> becomes available. I can view the guide data in the listings, but no new
> recordings get scheduled. I am running 0.21-fixes.  Has anyone seen
> this?  Any ideas?  I have run optimize_mythdb.pl to make sure the
> database is healthy. 

Your mythfilldatabase run is failing to finish.  This could be due to 
having a broken video sources or input connections configuration--i.e. 
you have a video source (usually an unimportant one) whose grabber is 
not working properly or you have an extra input connected (i.e. for use 
with a VCR or whatever) whose video source /should/ be set to "No 
Grabber", but isn't.  However, I'm pretty sure we've fixed all the cases 
where such broken configurations prevent mythfilldatabase from doing the 
part of its job it /can/ do.

Therefore, I would guess it's happening because you have too little 
memory/swap (are you sure swap is enabled?) and while mythfilldatabase 
runs (and consumes a /large/ amount of memory, but likely when it's 
doing post-insert processing), the OOM killer has to kill it off to 
allow other programs to run.  Then again, it may just happen because you 
have bad hardware that causes memory corruption or something, which 
causes mythfilldatabase to segfault.

Make sure you specify a location for "mythfilldatabase Log Path" in 
mythfrontend's main General settings and then check the log after it 
runs automatically.  Do not run mythfilldatabase manually, as doing so 
may run it in such a way that it does not fail.  Feel free to post the 
log file after the run if you need help interpreting the problem.  If 
you see no problems and/or the log file just stops without saying, 
"mythfilldatabase run complete", look in your system log files to see if 
the OOM killer is activating or some other problem is occurring during 
the run.

Mike