Hi,
I have had this problem for awhile and it is really starting to bug the family. Ever since upgrading from 5A22 to 5B7 and yesterday 5C7, live tv ocassionally freezes and then carries on with the tv program or it freezes and stays that way untill we exit out to the menu.
At the moment I have the frontend running as su and it is alot better but it has frozen once this afternoon. It can freeze 3-4 or more times each evening. I have also tried running 10 secs delayed but that made no difference.
It appears that the freezes/hesitation occur when a program change is scheduled to happen. i.e program a is scheduled to finish at 7:30pm and program b is scheduled to start at 7:30pm (same channel).
Anyone have any clues where I can look further?
Why would running as su make a difference?

TIA

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case

The backend log is the place you want to start looking. The wiki has write ups on troubleshooting and the logs... Running as root gives you a greater priority. Everything however is set for the realtime priority to be used by the user 'mythtv'... Where exactly escapes me at the moment but it is an option in the Settings.

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

What video out are you running. I keep hitting similar problems using XVMC on NVidia cards if there is any corruption in the MPEG video stream.

Steve

_________________
OpenMedia Limited
New Zealands first open source PVR based on Knoppmyth
http://www.openmedia.co.nz for details

I am outputing VGA direct from the motherboard(nvidia nforce 2) to the LCD panel TV. Just using the video setup that cames standard with Knoppmyth, it works so I haven't tried changing it.
Had a look through the backend log but nothing glaringly obvious so I have set the box back to run as user mythtv and turned off Comm flagging, not sure if I am using xvmc? (How do I find out?) turned off anything to do with commercials (remember reading that that can cause some issues) Now just have to wait to see the logs when it next plays up.

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case

Have a look at the instructions at http://openmedia.co.nz/openmedia/content/view/37/59/. I found that enabling XvMC caused the video to pause occasionally.

Steve

_________________
OpenMedia Limited
New Zealands first open source PVR based on Knoppmyth
http://www.openmedia.co.nz for details

thanks Steve, it was already set at libmpeg2. Just need the famdamly to watch some TV instead of recordings or DVDs (school holidays) to see if the commercial flagging makes any diff.

The setup you sell looks pretty cool.

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case

Ok I had a freeze at 1830 & 1900 tonight. Below is the relevent parts of the backend.log which only confirms to me that the freeze coincides with the scheduled program change. It really doesn't mean much to me but maybe someone else can make sense of it.

Freeze 1830:

2006-07-03 18:02:07.817 autoexpire: Expiring Program: Expiring: Seven News Mon Jul 3 18:00:00 2006 0 MBytes
2006-07-03 18:30:00.494 Finished recording Seven News: channel 1071
2006-07-03 18:30:00.528 scheduler: Finished recording: Seven News: channel 1071
2006-07-03 18:30:00.770 TVRec(2): Enabling Full LiveTV UI.
0: start_time: 94.264 duration: 161.088
1: start_time: 94.279 duration: 161.086
stream: start_time: 1047.377 duration: 1790.011 bitrate=7648 kb/s
2006-07-03 18:30:01.166 AFD: Opened codec 0x824e350, id(MP3) type(Audio)
2006-07-03 18:30:01.211 AFD: Opened codec 0x83298f0, id(MPEG2VIDEO) type(Video)
2006-07-03 18:30:01.616 TVRec(2): RingBufferChanged()
2006-07-03 18:30:01.715 Finished recording Seven News: channel 1071
2006-07-03 18:30:39.925 TVRec(2): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2006-07-03 18:30:40.153 Finished recording Today Tonight: channel 1071
2006-07-03 18:30:40.170 scheduler: Last message repeated 1 times: Finished recording: Seven News: channel 1071
2006-07-03 18:30:40.177 scheduler: Finished recording: Today Tonight: channel 1071
2006-07-03 18:30:42.199 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2006-07-03 18:30:42.202 adding: mythtv as a client (events: 0)
2006-07-03 18:30:42.209 TVRec(2): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2006-07-03 18:30:42.613 DVB#1 DVB SI Table Parser Started
2006-07-03 18:30:43.162 Finished recording Today Tonight: channel 1071
2006-07-03 18:30:43.254 Finished recording Today Tonight: channel 1071
0: start_time: 857.475 duration: -9223372036854.775
stream: start_time: 9527.500 duration: -9223372036854.775 bitrate=0 kb/s
2006-07-03 18:30:49.728 AFD: Opened codec 0x8329670, id(MPEG1VIDEO) type(Video)
2006-07-03 18:30:51.140 NVP: Disabling Audio, params(-1,-1,-1)
2006-07-03 18:30:51.283 NVP: Disabling Audio, params(0,-1,-1)
[mpeg1video @ 0xb7347620]invalid mb type in P Frame at 47 17
[mpeg1video @ 0xb7347620]Warning MVs not available
2006-07-03 18:32:08.090 autoexpire: Expiring Program: Expiring: Today Tonight Mon Jul 3 18:30:00 2006 34 MBytes
2006-07-03 18:32:08.098 autoexpire: Expiring Program: Expiring: Today Tonight Mon Jul 3 18:30:00 2006 0 MBytes
2006-07-03 18:43:00.230 TVRec(1): Changing from RecordingOnly to None

Second freeze at 1900:

2006-07-03 18:43:00.880 AFD: Opened codec 0x8251980, id(MP3) type(Audio)
2006-07-03 19:00:00.508 Finished recording Today Tonight: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:00.537 scheduler: Finished recording: Today Tonight: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:00.778 TVRec(2): Enabling Full LiveTV UI.
2006-07-03 19:00:01.851 TVRec(2): RingBufferChanged()
0: start_time: 259.238 duration: 157.505
1: start_time: 259.260 duration: 157.493
stream: start_time: 2880.425 duration: 1750.163 bitrate=7663 kb/s
2006-07-03 19:00:01.916 AFD: Opened codec 0x8251980, id(MP3) type(Audio)
2006-07-03 19:00:01.923 AFD: Opened codec 0x8189690, id(MPEG2VIDEO) type(Video)
2006-07-03 19:00:01.918 Finished recording Home and Away: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:01.932 scheduler: Finished recording: Home and Away: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:01.942 TVRec(2): Enabling Full LiveTV UI.
2006-07-03 19:00:01.927 NVP: Recording does not have position map.
Run 'mythcommflag --file 1071_20060703183043.mpg --rebuild' to fix
2006-07-03 19:00:01.944 Preview Error: Previewer file '/myth/tv/1071_20060703190000.mpg' is not valid.
2006-07-03 19:00:01.951 Finished recording Today Tonight: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:02.029 scheduler: Finished recording: Today Tonight: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:02.053 TVRec(2): RingBufferChanged()
2006-07-03 19:00:02.097 Finished recording Home and Away: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:02.137 scheduler: Finished recording: Home and Away: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:00:08.929 TVRec(2): Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None
2006-07-03 19:00:09.153 Finished recording Home and Away: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:02:08.412 autoexpire: Expiring Program: Expiring: Home and Away Mon Jul 3 19:00:00 2006 6 MBytes
2006-07-03 19:02:13.021 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Playback
2006-07-03 19:02:13.025 adding: mythtv as a client (events: 0)
2006-07-03 19:02:13.034 TVRec(2): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2006-07-03 19:02:13.478 DVB#1 DVB SI Table Parser Started
2006-07-03 19:02:13.708 Finished recording Home and Away: channel 1071
2006-07-03 19:02:13.782 New DB connection, total: 4
2006-07-03 19:02:13.814 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host: localhost
2006-07-03 19:02:13.824 recording already exists...
2006-07-03 19:02:13.845 Finished recording Home and Away: channel 1071
0: start_time: 857.475 duration: -9223372036854.775
stream: start_time: 9527.500 duration: -9223372036854.775 bitrate=0 kb/s
2006-07-03 19:02:20.175 AFD: Opened codec 0x815bb10, id(MPEG1VIDEO) type(Video)
2006-07-03 19:02:20.185 NVP: Disabling Audio, params(-1,-1,-1)
2006-07-03 19:02:20.187 NVP: Disabling Audio, params(0,-1,-1)
2006-07-03 19:04:08.460 autoexpire: Expiring Program: Expiring: Home and Away Mon Jul 3 19:00:00 2006 0 MBytes
2006-07-03 19:04:08.464 autoexpire: Expiring Program: Expiring: Home and Away Mon Jul 3 19:00:00 2006 3 MBytes
2006-07-03 19:04:49.022 TVRec(2): SetLiveRecording(1)
2006-07-03 19:04:49.026 TVRec(2): SetLiveRecording() -- record
2006-07-03 19:04:49.114 Scheduler: AddRecording() recid: 5
2006-07-03 19:04:49.144 Reschedule requested for id 5.
2006-07-03 19:04:49.254 Scheduled 1 items in 0.1 = 0.05 match + 0.06 place
2006-07-03 19:29:06.965 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Monitor

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case

I few things I would check;

Synce to v-blank settings; under playback settings (try turning off if on)

XVMC; Check this setting under playback settings (turn off if on)

Check your memory utilization, some people have noticed skipping with 512 MB and the problem went away with a gig. (this would not cause the long pauses but may be part of the problem)

_________________
Backend System
XP2400
Nforce2 Abit NF7-S ver2
Intergrated nvidia sound and network
Nvidia 6200 DVI out to Projector
multiple drives using LVM
PVR - 500

Well its been a few days now. I tried libmpeg2 and it stops/hesitates, i tried ffmpeg and it too played up so in deperation I tried xvmc and this is the best I have had for sometime. I do get the jittery text but this is only during the ads and who watches them.
I am awaiting the arrival of another 512Mb of ram to see if that helps.
All the posts have been helpful but I still don't understand what the program schedule has to do with the displaying of the program.

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case

I too have these hickups, but havn't solved them yet.

I believe that since 0.19 all of the tv you watch is actually "recorded". You can thus see all watched tv in the recordings browser (by changing the group filter to: live tv). This is what the program schedule has to do with live tv i guess..

Maybe an update of Mythtv solves the problem? I can't test that though.. My gf will kill me if I break "her" Mythtv...

I did a little more reading and there is a post in DTV about Myth 0.20 in which misterfibble states that his problems have been fixed by upgrading to 0.20svn.
I'm not sure of the implications of upgrading to svn and then upgrading via a normal Knoppmyth upgrade at a later stage.

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case

Unless a later release of KnoppMyth includes 0.20 you'll have issues. One cannot easily upgrade MythTV then downgrade it and expect the db not to have issues...

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Thanks cesman,
Thats puts a slightly different spin on things. I think I'll keep things simple and wait for Knoppmyth to go to 0.20 or better.

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case

Hmm.. Do you have the ticket number for me? Maybe it's also in the "0.19-fixes" branch.. That makes it a little less hazardous to upgrade..

R5B7 has the 0.19fixes already, at least thats what the changelog says, so I assume R5C7 has them as well.
This is the post about 0.20 that I was referring to, it has links to svn upgrades and some useful hints.

_________________
R8.1 combined backend/frontend
ASUS P7H55-M Pro
Intel i3-550, 4Gb Ram
Seagate 500GB (Sata)
2x Dvico DVB-T Lite & Sony PlayTV (usb twin tuner)
TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe wifi card (not working)
Logitech Harmony One remote, CoolerMaster ATC-S case