[mythtv-users] Failed HD-PVR recordings

[Yeechang Lee]

Brad DerManouelian <bderman at gmail.com> says:
> Firewire is equally unreliable. So frustrating to not being able to  
> record any more. Maybe Astound cable wasn't such a good idea. DirecTV  
> never gave me these problems.

Here's what I've used for years for Astound FireWire with 100%
success:

Each box is set to Broadcast, 200mbps. One daisy chains to the other.

I have a crontab script that launches at 12,27,42,57[1] minutes after
each hour. The script is any one of a number of "firewire priming
scripts" available on the Wiki or in the mailing list archives. You
want one that is smart enough to skip priming a tuner in use, as it
will interfere with the signal otherwise.

Yes, every 15 minutes is required. I tried running it every 30 minutes
but found that a few FireWire recordings would get missed.

I intend to one of these days incorporate priming into the
channel-changing process itself to not need the crontab. The last time
I tried this there were issues, either from mythbackend timing out due
to the time it took the channel-changing script to prime then change,
or some issue with the script's exit codes, but I am sure I missed
something obvious.

[1] To more or less eliminate risk of it interfering with the start of
a recording

-- 
Frontend/backend:	P4 3.0GHz, 1.5TB software RAID 5 array
Backend:		Quad-core Xeon 1.6GHz, 6.6TB sw RAID 6
Video inputs:		Four high-definition over FireWire/OTA
Accessories:		47" 1080p LCD, 5.1 digital, and MX-600