[mythtv-users] HD-PVR giving up

[JEDIDIAH]

On Tue, Nov 03, 2009 at 02:21:58PM -0600, Kenneth Emerson wrote:
> >
> >
> > ...sounds like a frontend that doesn't have enough horsepower to play back
> > the recording in question. I got a similar result when I tried to play back
> > a 720p HDPVR recording on an AppleTV.
> >
> > [deletia]
> >
> >   Depending on your frontend gear, you might want to lock your cable box
> > into a lower resolution. I had mine at 480p to accomodate my slower
> > frontends like the AppleTV.
> >
> Jedidiah:
> 
> Thanks for your feedback.  I'm running a Q6600, 2.4Ghz quad core, so I don't
> think this is a CPU issue.  My OTA recordings at 1080i are rendered fine
> without using VDPAU.  I believe that the problem is actually in the

    OTA, eh? Yes. I have similar problems myself. Anything OTA that has
visible blockiness tends to make the trunk internal player crash. I can
play the recordings back fine with any other player.

> recording itself, not in the playback.  I transferred a small piece of the
> video to a Windows laptop and played it with vlc with the same results.  I
> haven't played with any of the bitrates available through the v4l-ctl
> utility.  This may have some impact on the output.  I'll try to play with
> this later.

    HDPVR recordings (assuming you are in the US) are much more system
intensive than OTA recordings. MPEG2 is easy. h264 can be downright hard.