[mythtv-users] Have to start shows twice -- database problem???

Tue Feb 26 01:42:56 UTC 2013

On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 12:53 PM, Joseph Fry <joe at thefrys.com> wrote:

> I see no reason to replace your hardware, unless there is a must have
> feature your lacking.  If you have older hardware that works great, most
> likely it would only work better with a new os on it.
>
> If your performance concerns are all you want to address, and you want to
> see if faster hardware will make a difference here are the things I would
> look at first:
>
> 1: Add more RAM and increase the memory usage of mysql to make DB queries
> faster (may be able to do this without adding more ram?)
>    Why?  Because it's possible that your playback problems are the result
> of slow queries against the seek table.
> 2. Add an SSD as  your system/DB drive
>   Why?  Again, faster DB queries could make playback start more quickly?
> 3. Add additional recording drives.
>   Why? If you have more drives, you will decrease fragmentation because
> they system will not be writing as many streams to the same drive at the
> same time.  Also, it may reduce seek times and general drive thrashing in
> situations where recording and playback are occurring simultaneously.
>
> One other thing that you might do, I know I intend to once I have a few
> bucks to spend, is use an SDD as your primary recording drive, and set a
> cron job to move recordings to a different drive (storage group) after a
> few days.  The advantage here are:
> 1. SSD isn't as effected by fragmentation (no seek time)
> 2. Moving completed recordings to magnetic media prevents fragmentation
> compared to recording directly to it (filesystem can locate contiguous
> blocks before writing)
> 3. Magnetic drives can spin down because they will only be used when
> watching shows that weren't recorded recently
>
> You might try something like the above before resorting to major software
> or hardware upgrades.
>
> Good luck.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 3:16 PM, Allen Edwards <allen.p.edwards at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Mike Perkins <
>> mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> On 25/02/13 17:18, Allen Edwards wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I was going to do the new drive update method.  I even have the new 2T
>>>> drive sitting right here next to me.  Then I got thinking about all the
>>>> upgrading I would need to do.
>>>>
>>>> 1) The Squeezebox server.
>>>> 2) The VM Windows server running Windows XP under Linux
>>>> 3) Fan speed control
>>>> 4) CPU Power control
>>>> 5) Custom myth menus to run Chrome and the fire off VM
>>>> 6) Setting it up so the projector and the TV and the computer monitor
>>>> all
>>>> work
>>>> 7) Getting sound to both the TV (stereo) and the Surround system (4.1)
>>>> 8) Setting up the IR remote, which controls the TV, Projector, HiFi,
>>>> room
>>>> lights, and Myth
>>>> 9) The things I forgot that I did
>>>>
>>>> Even getting Linux to boot on my MB was a huge pain.  I think that took
>>>> me
>>>> about week.  At one point I called ASUS and the advice I got was to buy
>>>> an
>>>> Intel MB (I have AMD).  The solution was to mess with the order that
>>>> things
>>>> are done in the boot process.  I wish I could remember what I did.
>>>>
>>>> To that I could add the things that are now easy, setting up Myth...
>>>>
>>>> The bottom line is that the system worked perfectly for several years so
>>>> something changed and if I can just fix that, we will be happy.
>>>>
>>>>  Things have moved on, as they say. I suspect that if you decide to
>>> upgrade your OS then you'll likely find that things you had to wrestle with
>>> back in the day just work 'right out of the box' now.
>>>
>>> My advice: don't upgrade. Take this as an opportunity to rethink your
>>> whole setup. After all, the last time you did this was 0.21, right? Look at
>>> new motherboards. You'll probably find a new one that will be cheaper and
>>> take half the power (or less) while giving you the same (or more) grunt.
>>>
>>> The newest versions of operating system will likely make your life
>>> easier as well. Case in point: Xorg, which now does much of the
>>> configuration by itself, meaning you don't need to (for most of us..
>>> there's always one or two!).
>>>
>>> You shouldn't even need to set up your remote again, unless it *all*
>>> runs through your myth system. The new myth instance is all that should
>>> need to re-learn your IR commands, after all. Did I mention that Infra-Red
>>> handling is now different in the newer kernels?
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Mike Perkins
>>>
>>>
>> OK, Mike (and anyone else who wants to offer up an opinion)
>>
>> Say I follow your advice and replace rather than update.  What HW should
>> I buy?  What CPU (Intel this time), what MB, what Graphics card (or built
>> in?)
>>
>> Significant requirements:
>>
>> 1) As I have two audio sinks, I now have two spdif (analog connector)
>> outputs. One goes to my Surround decoder which is 4.1.  The other goes to a
>> decoder and outputs stereo to the TV. Ideal would be a digital output to
>> the surround box and analog outputs to the TV so I could get rid of the
>> decoder. The second spdif output is wired to the second spidf port on the
>> MB, the first one is standard MB output.
>>
>> 2) The Video goes to a TV which is 1080P capable but locked to 720p by
>> XORG.conf so that I can easily switch the output to the projector which is
>> native 720P (I have a DVI splitter that drives the TV and the projector).
>>  I can't do auto detect as the projector will report that it can take 1080p
>> but then produces a vastly inferior picture.  There is also a third display
>> that is the main desktop.  Ubuntu is on the secondary desktop so I can do
>> administrative and system stuff from the second display.  Myth is on either
>> the TV or the Projector (or both) but it is duplicated by the splitter.
>>
>> I am always fearful that any new HW will break my video setup and refuse
>> to play with the DVI splitter, or that I won't be able to lock it to 720p.
>>
>>
>>
>
I really don't have performance complaints, just that the system no longer
works correctly.  Often when I start a show, myth will sit there for a
minute or two with a blank screen, then come back to the menu where I can
then select the show again and it plays instantly.  Plus, a show I stopped
in the middle will not resume. It will do the same thing, waiting a long
time and come back with no longer showing the play from... option.  It
worked fine for many years but quit working correctly about a year ago.

Allen
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