[mythtv-users] Screensaver problems

[Michael T. Dean]

On 12/14/2014 05:51 PM, Mike B wrote:
> I've finally gotten my MythTV (0.27) working well.  I had several 
> problems, most of which were related to my cable card.  They're fixed 
> now, and MythTV is working <cheer>!
>
> I do have one problem though, and that's with the screensaver.  I'm 
> using xscreensaver.

If you're truly using xscreensaver--and not something like 
gnome-screensaver or whatever KDE calls their screen saver 
(kscreensaver?)--then you shouldn't be messing about with system events 
to disable/enable the screensaver.  Since xscreensaver (unlike the other 
mentioned screen savers) does things the way a sane screensaver does, we 
support disabling (technically, poking) the screensaver during playback 
to prevent its activation.

It should work properly, assuming the user running MythTV has 
appropriate X authority for the display, and your version of 
xscreensaver replies properly to xscreensaver-command -version and 
xscreensaver-command -deactivate--and if you haven't poked settings 
(that don't belong) into your database directly.

>   In the System Event, I've set xset s on Playback paused and Playback 
> stopped.  I set xset s off on Playback started, Playback unpaused, and 
> LiveTV started.

This makes me think you're not actually running xscreensaver.

xset has nothing at all to do with xscreensaver.  xset s is used to 
enable and disable the built-in-to-the-X-server blanking screen saver 
(which simply draws a blank/black screen and never uses DPMS/ACPI to 
disable/shut down the monitor or anything).  You should not enable that 
screen saver if you're using a (proper) screen saver program, such as 
xscreensaver (or even if you're using a "proper" screen saver progrma 
with a broken design (that's not supported by MythTV), such as 
gnome-screensaver or kscreensaver).

>   That works great on live tv, but on recordings, the screensaver 
> kicks in while the show is playing.
>
> What am I doing wrong?

Don't do any xset s commands, set up your X server to disable the X 
server's blanking screensaver--generally by including the line:

     Option     "BlankTime"    "0"

in your xorg.conf under Section "ServerFlags" or by running xset s off 
at server (or mythfrontend) startup--and run xscreensaver (the actual 
xscreensaver program, from http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/ ).

To ensure it's working, run the frontend with -vb general,playback and 
look for messages like "XScreenSaver support enabled" at frontend 
startup and "Calling xscreensaver-command -deactivate" during playback.

Mike