[mythtv-users] Mythtv screensaver behaviour

Wed Dec 30 15:03:27 UTC 2015

On Wed, 2015-12-30 at 12:02 +0000, Another Sillyname wrote:
> On 30 December 2015 at 04:20, HP-mini <blm-ubunet at slingshot.co.nz> wrote:
> > On Sun, 2015-12-27 at 09:47 +0000, Lawrence Rust wrote:
> >> On Sun, 2015-12-27 at 13:30 +1300, HP-mini wrote:
> >> > On Sat, 2015-12-26 at 17:49 +0100, Jonatan Lindblad wrote:
> >
> > <snip>
> >> >
> >> > That still might not be enough.. I have qtdbus enabled in master build
> >> > but logs show "ScreenSaverDBus: Could not connect to dbus: " etc and so
> >> > mate desktop screensaver does not inhibit during playback. Could this be
> >> > dbus namespace problem?
> >> >
> >> > The xscreensaver works correctly.
> >>
> >> I also note that on my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS based BE/FE the recent patches
> >> to fixes/0.27 to use the DBus based screensaver inhibit have no effect
> >> although the system suspend inhibit does work.  E.g.:
> >>
> >> 2015-12-27 09:24:56.479151 W  ScreenSaverDBus: Could not connect to dbus: The name org.freedesktop.ScreenSaver was not provided by any .service files
> >> 2015-12-27 09:24:56.479690 W  ScreenSaverDBus: Could not connect to dbus: The name org.freedesktop.PowerManagement.Inhibit was not provided by any .service files
> >> 2015-12-27 09:24:56.480211 W  ScreenSaverDBus: Could not connect to dbus: The name org.mate.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files
> >> 2015-12-27 09:24:56.482108 I  ScreenSaverDBus: Created for DBus service: org.gnome.SessionManager
> >>
> >> I ran foul of similar problems a couple of years ago after this patch
> >> was added to 0.27: "5e13d41 Remove support for GNOME screensaver".
> >>
> >> I have a combined BE/FE that runs 0.27 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and has
> >> xscreensaver installed to display a slideshow while idle.  Prior to that
> >> patch I was using a wrapper around the gnome-screensaver-command that
> >> trapped the obsolete --poke option.  I had this
> >> in /usr/local/bin/gnome-screensaver-command:
> >>
> >> #!/bin/sh
> >> set -e
> >>
> >> Poke() {
> >>     dbus-send --session --dest=org.gnome.ScreenSaver --type=method_call\
> >>         /org/gnome/ScreenSaver org.gnome.ScreenSaver.SimulateUserActivity
> >> }
> >>
> >> case "${1:-}" in
> >>     --poke) Poke ;;
> >>     *) /usr/bin/gnome-screensaver-command "$@" ;;
> >> esac
> >>
> >> Following the removal of support for Gnome screensaver I wrote my own
> >> patch that replaced the "gnome-screensaver-command --poke" call with a
> >> call to "dbus-send...".  This restored the behaviour that you are
> >> seeking.
> >>
> >> If you are interested, the patch is named
> >> "0171-Screensaver-Add-DB-settings-for-the-detection-and-de.patch"
> >> and is available in my MythTV patch archive:
> >> http://www.softsystem.co.uk/download/mythtv/mythbuild-CURRENT.zip
> >>
> >> If necessary, you can configure the system command issued to disable the
> >> Gnome screensaver from 'TV settings/Playback/General Playback/
> >>
> >> HTH
> >>
> >> -- Lawrence Rust
> >>
> > Hi Lawrence,
> > Here mythtv fails to work with mate-screensaver (fine with
> > xscreensaver).
> > I should try to figure out the root cause. Your script gives some
> > insight..
> > I recall switching to xscreensaver when gnome-screensaver stopped
> > working as well.
> >
> > I've been using your playback seek recovery patch (PTS AV jiggle) for
> > some years, the default behaviour is very annoying especially with near
> > instant seeking.. Thanks.
> > Brett.
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> > http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
> > MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
> 
> 
> Guys
> 
> Sorry to be a bit anal but a number have people have posted along the
> lines of "....xscreensaver just works.....".
> 
> This is an imprecise statement as I'd already stated that while
> xscreensaver screen blanking does appear to work as required the power
> management element of it is NOT working correctly, so people posting
> that xscreensaver "just works" may not be using power management or
> it's settings may be either not turned on or set for such a long time
> window that they don't 'see' the problem.
> 
> Could users possibly try the following.....
> 
> In xscreensaver settings
> 
> advanced settings
> 
> Display Power Management
> 
> Turn on >> Power Management Enabled
> 
> Set "Standby After" for say two minutes
> 
> In the 'Display Modes" setting set "Blank After" for say 5 minutes
> (any value larger then the period set in "Standby After" above works
> here)
> 
> exit the settings
> 
> start mythfrontend and start playing a video and leave it running with
> no further key presses or remote inputs
> 
> see if the screen goes into power save mode after the period set in
> "Standby After" even though a video is running.
> 
> I'd be interested to hear if people are surprised to find that Power
> Save kicks in even though a video is running.....this is not the
> desired behaviour but is what I'm seeing.

Confirmed.  On my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS FE/BE if Power Management is enabled
then the video output powers down while Myth is playing a video.  The
relevant settings in ~/.xscreensaver are:

timeout:        0:03:00  # time to screensaver start
dpmsEnabled:    True
dpmsStandby:    0:04:00  # time to black screen
dpmsSuspend:    0:04:00  # time to DPMS power saving
dpmsOff:        0:05:00  # time to DPMS off

These override any DPMS settings in xorg.conf.

So it would appear that the X server requires real keyboard input or
stimulating in a different way.  DPMS can be disabled with 'xset -dpms'.
Alternatively use xsendkey or xdotool to simulate a key-press every
minute.

FWIW I have DPMS disabled and use Myth's idle timeout and mythshutdown
to put the system into 'Suspend To RAM'.

-- Lawrence Rust