[mythtv-users] Mythtv/liveTV fades to grey....

[Greg Oliver]

On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 7:33 PM, Bob Cunningham <FlyMyPG at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 01/25/2010 03:56 PM, Nick Rout wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 12:49 PM, David Watkins<watkinshome at gmail.com>
>>  wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> 2010/1/21 plainfaceboy<plainfaceboy at hotmail.com>:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I've finally set up my UK Mythtv system and after a bit of fiddling have
>>>> generally got things working.
>>>> I've not tested everything fully, but I've got a few niggles with
>>>> LiveTV.
>>>> Quite often (it seems mainly when it's not been on long) it fades to
>>>> black
>>>> and white and although the TV continues to play I can't do anything -
>>>> I'm
>>>> assuming maybe the backend is busy but wouldn't expect it to happen as
>>>> often
>>>> as it does? Sometimes happens on the menus too, not just liveTV.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I've seen the "fading to B&W" on my netbook running Ubuntu.  Not with
>>> mythtv, but with other apps, and I think it corresponds to my wireless
>>> network dropping out.
>>>
>>> I've assumed it's Ubuntu's version of Microsoft's "(Window Not
>>> Responding)" indication.  After a few seconds the windows pops back to
>>> life.
>>>
>>> So this might not be a MythTV  problem.
>>>
>>
>> I have seen it too but I always thought it was to do with the system
>> being overloaded.
>>
>
> I suspect Gnome fades GUI apps to gray when they go too long without
> checking for user input (from the X11 event queue), and/or don't update the
> GUI.  There are many reasons an app may take a while to check for input or
> do an update.
>
> I don't know if any of the other Ubuntu window managers (KDE, XFCE, etc.)
> have this behavior.  If they do, then it could be an X11 setting that Ubuntu
> configures, rather than being WM-specific.
>

As far as *buntu goes, I have narrowed this down to compositing..  I
use Metacity's compositing manager so I can use AWNs dock.  Other than
that, I do not need compositing.  I have an ATI card in my laptop, so
running compiz is like nailing my nuts to the wall (well, even not
running compiz is the same with ATI/linux)..

If I disable compositing, the "fade to gray" timeouts go away...

So...  If you want it to go away, disable compositing....

-Greg