[mythtv-users] Post upgrade 0.24 to 0.25 PVR-150/250/350 fail to record at some point

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Mon May 28 15:46:33 UTC 2012


On 05/28/2012 03:05 AM, Kenan Ezal wrote:
> Unfortunately I have been unable to get my PVRs 150/250/350 to operate
> consistently since upgrading to Myth 0.25 (Fedora 16). I have tried:
>
> 1. Deleting all tuners and then re-adding them back in (along with the
> inputs).
> 2. Completely uninstalling 0.25 after removing the tuners, and then
> re-installing 0.25 and adding back the tuners.
> 3. One-by-one removing one of the tuners from my master backend and
> trying to get it to work with the other tuner alone.
> 4. Uninstalling and re-installing the ivtv-firmware.
> 5. Repairing mythconverg (just in case)
> 6. Different combinations of the above.
>
> In all cases the PVRs record X number of shows successfully before
> failing on X+1. X appears to be larger if I have a single tuner in the
> master backend. X~1 when I have two tuners (PVR 150&  250) in the master
> backend.
>
> However even when the recording is successful I get the following errors
> in the log:
>
> 2012-05-26 14:00:16.119246 E [2716/2758] DeviceReadBuffer
> DeviceReadBuffer.cpp:460 (Poll) - DevRdB(/dev/video0): poll error
> 2012-05-26 14:00:16.119379 E [2716/2756] RecThread mpegrecorder.cpp:1010
> (run) - MPEGRec(/dev/video0): Device error detected
> 2012-05-26 14:00:18.586740 E [2716/2864] DeviceReadBuffer
> DeviceReadBuffer.cpp:460 (Poll) - DevRdB(/dev/video0): poll error
...
> When it finally does fail:
>
> 2012-05-27 17:59:47.849584 I [2716/2724] TVRecEvent tv_rec.cpp:1014
> (HandleStateChange) - TVRec(1): Changing from None to RecordingOnly
> 2012-05-27 17:59:47.849651 I [2716/2724] TVRecEvent mythdbcon.cpp:395
> (PurgeIdleConnections) - New DB connection, total: 12
> 2012-05-27 17:59:47.850950 I [2716/2724] TVRecEvent tv_rec.cpp:3456
> (TuningCheckForHWChange) - TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
> 2012-05-27 17:59:47.870471 I [2716/2724] TVRecEvent v4lchannel.cpp:661
> (SetInputAndFormat) - V4LChannel(/dev/video0): SetInputAndFormat(1,
> NTSC) (v4l v2) input_switch: 0 mode_switch: 0
> 2012-05-27 17:59:48.033973 N [2716/2725] Scheduler autoexpire.cpp:263
> (CalcParams) - AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free Space: 2.0 GB
> w/freq: 15 min
> 2012-05-27 17:59:48.043975 I [2716/2724] TVRecEvent tv_rec.cpp:3950
> (TuningNewRecorder) - TVRec(1): rec->GetPathname():
> '/data/recordings/1003_20120527180000.mpg'
> 2012-05-27 17:59:48.070399 I [2716/2725] Scheduler scheduler.cpp:2460
> (HandleRecordingStatusChange) - Started recording: "KEY News at 6":
> channel 1003 on cardid 1, sourceid 1
> 2012-05-27 17:59:50.991443 E [2716/7354] DeviceReadBuffer
> DeviceReadBuffer.cpp:513 (Poll) - DevRdB(/dev/video0): Poll giving up 2
> 2012-05-27 17:59:50.991528 E [2716/7353] RecThread mpegrecorder.cpp:1010
> (run) - MPEGRec(/dev/video0): Device error detected
> 2012-05-27 17:59:55.941410 E [2716/7355] DeviceReadBuffer
> DeviceReadBuffer.cpp:513 (Poll) - DevRdB(/dev/video0): Poll giving up 2

This indicates that the capture device isn't responding to MythTV's 
requests for data.  Therefore, MythTV attempts to stop the card, then 
restart it (which, also, seems to fail).

> Occasionally, the show records, but in triplicate: I see three vertical
> stripes of the same scene on one screen shot.

I've seen this type of failure in the STB, not the PVR-x50.  I actually 
had to reboot my DISH network STB at least once/month to prevent 
similar, "it's outputting garbage," issues.

> I don't think this is a hardware problem because I can make all three of
> my PVRs fail eventually (and on two different machines: a master backend
> and a slave backend). I'm worried it has some connection with the
> database because of the database errors that I see.

The only part of the database that has information that could cause a 
recording failure is the part that you completely cleared and 
reconfigured with "Delete all capture cards" (not "Delete all capture 
cards on <hostname>").  So, assuming you actually configured things 
correctly, it's not a problem.

The database errors you're getting are due to the fact that your capture 
card is failing to work properly--MythTV hasn't had a lot of testing for 
(let alone wasn't designed for) use with broken/failing capture devices.

>   Also, there may be
> some link with how long the tuner has been unused. There is a higher
> likelihood of a successful follow-on recording (even with error
> messages) if the tuner was used recently. The longer the pause
> (overnight), then the higher likelihood that the next recording will
> fail
>
> Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

FWIW, it sounds to me like an issue well below MythTV--such as with the 
capture card hardware/drivers/configuration and/or OS-/kernel-level issues.

Mike


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