[mythtv-users] viewer falls asleep with the EPG open - plasma burn in concerns

[Greg Oliver]

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 2:27 PM, Michael T. Dean
<mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> On 03/29/2010 03:13 PM, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 1:32 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 03/29/2010 10:45 AM, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 7:15 PM, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 9:01 PM, Daniel Kristjansson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, 2010-03-11 at 19:30 -0600, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So the only way I can think to protect my Plasma from EPG burn-in
>>>>>>> (aside from never falling asleep) would be to re-enable it when the
>>>>>>> EPG is loaded on the screen, even if I'm still in LIVETV mode.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Does this sound correct?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yes, sounds reasonable.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In working on this I found the following in the code
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> libmythui/screensaver-x11.cpp:
>>>>>
>>>>> if (m_timeoutInterval == -1)
>>>>>         {
>>>>>             m_timeoutInterval = GetMythDB()->GetNumSettingOnHost(
>>>>>                 "xscreensaverInterval", GetMythDB()->GetHostName(), 50)
>>>>> *
>>>>> 1000;
>>>>>         }
>>>>>
>>>>>         if (m_timeoutInterval>    0)
>>>>>             StartTimer();
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't seem to have 'xscreensaverInterval' in my settings table.
>>>>>
>>>>> I grepped my working copy of .22 and I don't see it mentioned anywhere
>>>>> else.
>>>>>
>>>>> The reason I'm asking is - I've put 'xset s 60 60' in my .xsessionrc
>>>>> file
>>>>> and somehow it's getting changed to 0 which is making my screensaver
>>>>> not
>>>>> happen when I'm paused.
>>>>>
>>>>> I added a call to EnableScreensaver to the NuppelVideoPlayer::Pause
>>>>> method
>>>>> but since 'xset q' shows it's back at 0 it does me no good. When I
>>>>> manually
>>>>> 'xset s 60 60' again however, it starts working as expected.
>>>>>
>>>>> Do any of you know what gives
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ok - I've grepped through the code for .22 lookiung for 'xset' and I
>>>> don't
>>>> see where the code would be disabling the screen saver.
>>>>
>>>
>>> MythTV never does anything with xset.  It only tests to see if
>>> xscreensaver
>>> or gnome-screensaver is running.  If so, it will "poke" the screensaver
>>> once
>>> every 50sec (the default value of the hidden xscreensaverInterval setting
>>> you mentioned above) to prevent the screensaver from activating during
>>> playback.
>>>
>>> Note, however, that many screensaver programs will enable/disable things
>>> like DPMS.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> When I'm in Media Library -->    Watch Videos - and a video ends and
>>>> returns
>>>> me
>>>> to that screen, the display just sits there, waiting to burn in on my
>>>> Plasma
>>>> television.
>>>>
>>>> If I ssh in to the frontend and run 'xset s 60 60' it starts working and
>>>> protecting my screen.
>>>>
>>>> I'm really concerned about this - it seems like an odd oversight in the
>>>> functionality. Am I the only one having this issue?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Any reason you're not running one of the supported screensaver programs?
>>>
>>
>> Where are those listed?
>
> Only supported ones are xscreensaver and gnome-screensaver, as shown in
> mythtv/libs/libmythui/screensaver-x11.cpp .
>
>>  I used the xfrce settings manager to enable
>> that adorable little ant with a flashlight nose screensaver and it
>> never appears when mythfrontend is running. When I said previously
>> that I can enter 'xset s 60 60' and it works as expected, I kinda
>> lied. The screen dims but Rudolph the Flashlight Ant never appears.
>>
>>>
>>> I have a plan (very low on my TODO list--especially since I don't use
>>> screensavers on MythTV) to add xdg-screensaver (
>>> http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0beta3/xdg-screensaver.html )
>>> support to MythTV (see http://portland.freedesktop.org/wiki/ ).  By
>>> default,
>>> MythTV would use xdg-screensaver, if available.  If not, it would fall
>>> back
>>> to the current xscreensaver/gnome-screensaver support.
>>>
>>> Since xdg-screensaver works on a completely different principle from
>>> xscreensaver/gnome-screensaver, we can't just stick xdg-screensaver in
>>> place
>>> of the xscreensaver/gnome-screensaver commands in the current code.  The
>>> current code never deactivates (or activates) the screensaver program,
>>> but
>>> just sends it messages periodically that it should not activate.  This
>>> way,
>>> if mythfrontend crashes, it doesn't leave the screensaver deactivated.
>>>
>>> xdg-screensaver, on the other hand, uses a suspend/resume approach.
>>>  mythfrontend would ask xdg-screensaver to suspend the screensaver and
>>> provide a mythfrontend window ID.  Then, when the screensaver should
>>> resume,
>>> mythfrontend would tell xdg-screensaver.  If mythfrontend crashes,
>>> xdg-screensaver would notice the window with the given ID disappearing
>>> and
>>> would let the screensaver resume normal operations.
>>>
>>> If you'd like to work on this, I'd love to be able to mark it off my TODO
>>> list.  :)
>>>
>>
>> I would /LOVE/ to work on this.  Is there already a trac ticket? (I
>> suppose I could go look)
>>
>>
>
> No ticket, yet.  No code, yet, either (so no need for a ticket).  Just an
> idea way down low on my TODO list.  But, since xdg-screensaver should work
> with all screensaver programs, it should solve problems for anyone using any
> screensaver that's not xscreensaver and not gnome-screensaver.
>
> You'll likely want to create a new class, ScreenSaverXDG (in a new file,
> mythtv/libs/libmythui/screensaver-xdg.cpp ), and in
> mythtv/libs/libmythui/screensaver.cpp change the #if defined(USING_X11) to
> first check if xdg-screensaver is installed/available (maybe with a static
> function in ScreenSaverXDG) and if so, use ScreenSaverXDG, or if not, fall
> back to ScreenSaverX11.
>
> The new class should be significantly simpler than ScreenSaverX11 since
> ScreenSaverX11 basically implements the same functionality already provided
> by xdg-screensaver.
>
>>> And, as you and Daniel are aware, the current code doesn't really handle
>>> transitions from "suspend" to "resume" very well.  We keep poking the
>>> screensaver when the EPG is displayed, and there may be other parts of
>>> Myth
>>> where we should disable the screensaver and we don't.  So, even just
>>> fixing
>>> these up would be nice.
>>>
>>
>> I've been drawing the same conclusions and am glad to hear you confirm
>> it. I was worried I had something munged up on my system.
>>
>
> And we'd love some patches for it.  ;)

Just an FYI - I upgraded a myth system to Ubuntu 10.4 beta today, and
my screensaver is now working for the first time ever!  I was having
the same issues with 9.10 prior..

-Greg