LinuxMCE Forums

General => Users => Topic started by: gazlang on August 29, 2007, 09:58:22 am

Title: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on August 29, 2007, 09:58:22 am
Everytime I watch TV on LMCE it crashes after a minute or so - it's completely unwatchable! I have to then select 'OFF' from the current media menu to exit.

I have an LCD screen on my case that displays info from mythtv. When I enter TV mode on LMCE, the LCD screen displays the channel and program name, but also has a bar of blocks and I'm not sure what these relate to.

Anyway, when the TV freezes this bar of blocks disappears slowly block by block. Does anyone know what this means??

It's like something is being lost, I thought it may have been signal, but could be a frame buffer that never recovers???

My card is a hauppauge hvr-1100 and only have DVB part of it set up in mythtv (as I have no need for terrestrial). It doesn't have a hardware decoder, which makes me wonder if my cpu/graphics card is struggling to do the decoding??

I don't think my setup is too slow though, I have a athlon x2 4200+ cpu, a gig of ram and a nvidia 7300gt graphics card.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Or know of any way that may resolve this? (maybe in the mythtv configuration?)

Cheers in advance

Searched google for this; seems that the bar on the lcd display is an indicator of how far behind the live broadcast you are. So, since it reduces when my TV crashes my frontend must still be alive, or not completely dead!
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: savvycenter on August 29, 2007, 07:30:26 pm
I've similar problem. It sometimes crashes every minute or so and sometimes takes 15 minutes to crash. I'm using nvidia 7050 and homerun capture card. Still couldn't find a solution for it.

Anyone can help us?
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on August 29, 2007, 08:55:21 pm
I am experiencing similar problems. It seems to be the front end causing the problem as recordings seem to still run when it crashes. Strangely watching rcordings does not seem to cause the same problem.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on August 29, 2007, 10:01:19 pm
I read that dvb-t is broadcast in mpeg-2 format and doesn't need decoding. If this is right, I can't see why my computer is having such a hard time playing TV, yet it plays dvd's perfectly.

Anyway, I think a good place to start is the mythtv logs; so, where can I find the mythtv logs?

Perhaps they will give some information about signal or hardware crashes etc???
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: Zaerc on August 29, 2007, 10:20:43 pm
Most (if not all) system logs are usually somwhere under /var/log. I'm not sure whether there was a seperate /var/log/mythtv but there is definately a /var/log/pluto, anyway this should find anything with "myth" in the name for you:
Code: [Select]
find /var/log -iname \*myth\*
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on August 30, 2007, 09:06:56 am
Cheers zaerc, I'm going to have a look at this later.

I found this useful page

http://www.ethics-gradient.net/myth/mythdvb2.html

Close to the bottom details error identification using mythtv logs

Also, it's probably a good idea to run sudo top while mythtv is running to check out cpu and memory use during TV streaming.

I'll let you know how I get on
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on August 31, 2007, 08:59:54 am
Well, I tried running myth in kubuntu and the tv runs much better! Never crashes (watched tv all night), although I do get the odd audio pop and screen flicker. Switched back to TV in LMCE and within seconds the screen froze!

This makes me think that either some part of my hardware isn't up to scratch, or the mythtv integration with LMCE isn't very good! I have the ui2 w/ alpha blending interface, but how much more pressure does that put on hardware when the tv is playing? I wouldn't have thought there would be any difference running myth in KDE to running in LMCE (especially since I didn't completely close LMCE while running myth in KDE, it was just minimised)

If my hardware is the problem, what component is the most likely to be letting me down? Or how do I test this?
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: lou__reed on September 11, 2007, 03:23:20 am
I´ve got the same problem... I`m using nova-t usb stick and it worked great before in mythtv. The work around i´m using now in mce is to rewind 5 seconds in to the TV program... and it stays stable...

greatful for a solution for this!

/johan
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: colinjones on September 11, 2007, 04:57:08 am
I read that dvb-t is broadcast in mpeg-2 format and doesn't need decoding. If this is right, I can't see why my computer is having such a hard time playing TV, yet it plays dvd's perfectly.

Anyway, I think a good place to start is the mythtv logs; so, where can I find the mythtv logs?

Perhaps they will give some information about signal or hardware crashes etc???

gazlang - not much help with your issue, but just for clarity .... dvb-t certainly is an mpeg2 transport stream (meaning simple mpeg2 compression which is then encapsulated with some extra headers and multiplexed with the audio, etc which allow it to be transmitted with additional information for TV). But mpeg, like all compression standards, is by definition "encoded". Encoding is when you take a video (and audio) stream and process the data, usually to compress it. Examples would be capturing a video stream from an analogue TV transmission and encoding it into mpeg2, or wmv, etc. Or taking an uncompressed, "raw" digital video stream/file, and encoding it into a compressed format like mpeg2, wmv, etc.

Decoding is the exact opposite - taking an encoded source like the above, and converting it back into an unencoded (usually uncompressed) format. All encoded sources need to have this done before they can be played. So sources such as dvb-t and DVD must be decoded before you can play them. Encoding is the one which requires the real grunt and obviously benefits most from having a hardware encoder, but having a hardware decoder isn't bad either, its just that any reasonably recent PC should be able to decode in software without any difficulty, even HD streams.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on September 13, 2007, 01:46:21 am
Hi I am also experiencing this problem. Has anyone found a solution yet?
I can also run mythfrontend from the kde desktop with lmce running in background and everything is ok.

I have done some digging and found the following.
I have ssh'd into the Hybrid im having problems with and run top while starting mythtv from the orbiter. Mythfrontend.real shows as top and used about 18% cpu whilst running properly. When TV freezes it disappears from the top list but when I check in ps -ax |grep myth it still shows as running.
I am assuming that this is a problem with the wrapper also. Can someone give some pointers on this.


Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: lou__reed on September 15, 2007, 12:01:55 am
I´ve found a solution .... but don´t now how....

I Changed a lot of things in mythTV setting, backend and frontend. I will try to find out later what exactly fixed the problem...

/johan
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on September 15, 2007, 11:35:29 am
Cheers lou_reed,
would be great if you could find that out!
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on September 17, 2007, 12:43:18 am
I have found something interesting with this.

I have installed a media director onto my core and have found that this issue only seems to be affecting the core and not the media director.

I am having problems with jitters video on the remote frontend but nothing related to crashing was watching it for a while last night and no crash at all.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on September 18, 2007, 11:07:53 am
I tried LMCE on a different system; hardly minimum spec:

athlon x2 5600+ am2
asus M2N-SLI Deluxe
1GB Corsair XMS 800Mhz DDR2
GeForce 7300gt 256mb
Hauppauge Nova-t 500
Samsung SataII 400gb HDD

Still same issue with TV crashing in LMCE. Fine in kubuntu! And dvd's work flawlessly too!
Maybe something to do with LMCE's media wrapper (TV guide etc..)??

Is there a way to disable LMCE's fancy media TV guide (used with gyro mouse etc..)?
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on September 18, 2007, 05:26:54 pm
Not sure on disabling the wrapper. It seems to be something which is only happening on the hybrid core. As I seem to have it working fine on a second media director without the issues of it crashing all the time. Which is very strange indeed. I am running my Hybrid on a recommended spec using a Asus M2NPV-VM Mainboard with amd x2 processor. Again hardly minimum spec.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: mavitm on September 20, 2007, 10:00:02 pm
Same problem here. MythTV freezes after a few seconds but runs fine outside LMCE. :-(

Asus M2NPV-VM
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core
2 GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400
Hauppauge-WinTV-PVR-150
WD 500GB SATA
Antec Fusion V2

Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on September 24, 2007, 12:23:42 pm
Well I have discovered that rewinding live TV only a few seconds after I start watching a channel (such that it is read from the hard disc, and no longer live) prevents crashing, and I can watch TV in LMCE all day.

This is bizzare... what is the difference!?! - 'live tv' is recorded and read the same as tv that was recorded a few seconds before being read, right??

I have yet to install the latest LMCE update, so i'm not sure if this problem has been fixed...
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: scorf on September 25, 2007, 05:56:17 am
Quote
I have yet to install the latest LMCE update, so i'm not sure if this problem has been fixed...

I have... it hasn't.    ???
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: 1audio on September 25, 2007, 08:59:22 am
I have not had these problems either with the core or the MD. I'm using the HDHomeRun tuner on a gigabit ethernet network and I can watch two simultaneous programs on two separate channels on the two MD's. It can and should work. Now to figure out whats different and causing it to break.

The description suggests inadequate buffering or bandwidth in the system. Or possibly some housekeeping stuff. However it could relate to video driver issues. The new drivers for the 7050 seem to be less that fully stable. (Both the .11 and .19 versions seem to crash both in my experience and per reports on the nv forum.) I'm using the standard issue drivers with OK results even at 1080p on broadcast TV. ATSC 720p and 1080i content. Also I have not had good results with the xxmc driver and use the xv version, set in the admin panel under media directors. (Reload the router to switch.)

You can check the backend log at 192.168.80.1/mythweb.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on September 25, 2007, 11:28:40 am
Well I did try increasing the buffer in myth, but this made no change. As for bandwidth, I wouldn't know what to do there!

The video card I have is a 7300GT, using the propertary drivers of LMCE.

Would it be recommended to use the latest driver from nvidia?? Has anyone had any success with this?

Would this problem necessarily be a video driver issue though if myth runs fine outside of LMCE??
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on September 25, 2007, 01:31:01 pm
Well I have experienced this problem using a Nvidia 7200 pci-e card on one system and using the built in card on the recommended ASUS board with onboard Nvidia graphics all with the same result. I have also tried the nv and nvidia drivers that come with linuxmce and the latest drivers from the nvidia site and all seem to give me the same problems.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on September 26, 2007, 11:04:27 am
I managed to download and apply the latest update, rebooted and watched TV for more than an hour, untill I decided to experiment with recording. It crashed soon after recording started. And thereafter the problem was back! Even after the recorded show had finished.

My TV card is not natively supported in LMCE (it's a nova-t 500) - I installed the drivers manually and set up through myth.

Anybody with non natively supported card / nova-t 500 NOT having this problem??
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: colinjones on September 27, 2007, 12:20:07 am
Damn! I was going to get that card on the strength of Totallymaxed's recommendation - he/she said that they are using several of these cards without any issue. Will message directly to see if we can get further comment on it...
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on September 27, 2007, 07:24:31 am
I managed to download and apply the latest update, rebooted and watched TV for more than an hour, untill I decided to experiment with recording. It crashed soon after recording started. And thereafter the problem was back! Even after the recorded show had finished.

My TV card is not natively supported in LMCE (it's a nova-t 500) - I installed the drivers manually and set up through myth.

Anybody with non natively supported card / nova-t 500 NOT having this problem??

As Colin says we use T-500's and don't see this problem, some of our Core's have 3 x T-500's installed. I'm pretty sure this is a Myth/lmce integration related problem. Look at the other posts here... people are seemingly running Myth directly from KDE without this problem. When they do the same inside lmce they experience problems... but none seem to be using T-500's as far as i can tell. I am pretty sure that this problem is caused by a bug in the lmce/Myth integration... otherwise all those Myth users out there would be complaining big time!
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on September 27, 2007, 04:16:52 pm
Myth Tv works fine for me outside LMCE! And, for that I agree that it must be a myth/LMCE integration fault. I was just wondering whether LMCE disliked the T-500 card since it is not plug and play, but since totallymaxed doesn't have this problem, then I'm sure the card is fine.

One question though, how did you install the drivers for your T-500??
I followed the howto here ->
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV_Nova-T_500_PCI
Similar to your installation??
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: Zaerc on September 27, 2007, 04:45:46 pm
I am starting to suspect that there are a couple of problems here all displaying very similar symptoms.  Are there also people for which mythtv crashes in KDE (outside LMCE) as well?  If not I guess we can rule out a whole range of possible causes like (among others) drivers/firmware/gfxcard and focus more on what could possibly go wrong with the LMCE integration.

(I don't have this because I can't even get MythTV to lock onto a DVB-T signal, which is obviously a completely unrelated areal problem.)
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on September 27, 2007, 06:48:29 pm
I am running a Nova-T 500 and experiencing this problem, Only in lmce like others running mythv from kde works perfect.

Also this issue only seems to affect my hybrid core. When I watch tele from a media director everything works fine and from the testing I have done although small with media director so far no crashes.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: Zaerc on September 27, 2007, 07:50:14 pm
Thanks, you only have the problem when MythTV is running on the hybrid under LMCE.  I think that might indicate a problem when the back- and frontend are running on the same machine (under LMCE).  Let's see if we can confirm that.

Adding that to the previous question:

Does MythTV work under KDE, but not in LMCE?
Is there anybody that sees this problem on media directors as well?
Has anybody got the capture card in a media director?

I made them bold to stand out more, in the hope that more people will answer so we should be able to at least rule out a few things and with a bit of luck make it easier for the developers to find the cause of this problem.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: 1audio on September 27, 2007, 07:56:31 pm
In my case there is no overhead for the tuner card. Also I'm using US Broadcast Digital TV. Its possible that the overhead from the combination of the card driver and LMCE or a memory conflict (never happens) could be to blame. I ran two local channels here and one channel for 10 hours on the core with no problems. But my situation is different. Is there any software video conversion or compression running with that card?
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on September 27, 2007, 09:21:46 pm
Myth Tv works fine for me outside LMCE! And, for that I agree that it must be a myth/LMCE integration fault. I was just wondering whether LMCE disliked the T-500 card since it is not plug and play, but since totallymaxed doesn't have this problem, then I'm sure the card is fine.

One question though, how did you install the drivers for your T-500??
I followed the howto here ->
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV_Nova-T_500_PCI
Similar to your installation??

Well that howto is useful... but everything you need for the T500 is already installed by Kubuntu :-)
You just need to copy the T500 firmware into the following directory /lib/firmware/2.6.20-15-generic/
We use the dvb-usb-dib0700-01.fw firmware currently (for us it seems stable)

You do need to add the following line to;
/etc/modprobe.d/options

Add the line below:
options dvb-usb-dib0700 force_lna_activation=1

Then save the changes. This activates the Low Noise Amplifier on the dib0700 chip and improves the sensitivity when receiving TV transmissions.

Thats all there is to it!
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on September 28, 2007, 11:45:09 pm
Ok that is interesting totallymaxed. Could be the difference between your systems and mine. Dont suppose you can provide a link to download that version of the firmware can ly seem to find the 0700-03-pref1 version.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on September 29, 2007, 11:14:27 am
Ok that is interesting totallymaxed. Could be the difference between your systems and mine. Dont suppose you can provide a link to download that version of the firmware can ly seem to find the 0700-03-pref1 version.

Regards

Hi there. I have attached the dvb-usb-dib0700-01.fw file to this post

Hope it helps fix your problems :-)

Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on September 29, 2007, 11:46:46 am
Myth Tv works fine for me outside LMCE! And, for that I agree that it must be a myth/LMCE integration fault. I was just wondering whether LMCE disliked the T-500 card since it is not plug and play, but since totallymaxed doesn't have this problem, then I'm sure the card is fine.

One question though, how did you install the drivers for your T-500??
I followed the howto here ->
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV_Nova-T_500_PCI
Similar to your installation??

The problem has nothing to do with the TV card that you are using in fact but is related to the remote control of Myth by lmce. The version of Myth currently integrated into lmce seems to have some bugs in that area. Hopefully they will get fixed in the next update :-)
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on September 29, 2007, 12:53:32 pm
Hi totallymaxed.

If that is the case then how come it works fine on the media direcotrs? Also how come it is working ok for you?

Also I have downloaded and installed that firmware however it does not seem to pick up and channels when I scan. I have tried both mythtv and kaffeine.
I have added the force_lna_activation option in /etc/modprobe.d/options
Any ideas?

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on September 29, 2007, 02:43:47 pm
Hi totallymaxed.

If that is the case then how come it works fine on the media direcotrs? Also how come it is working ok for you?

Also I have downloaded and installed that firmware however it does not seem to pick up and channels when I scan. I have tried both mythtv and kaffeine.
I have added the force_lna_activation option in /etc/modprobe.d/options
Any ideas?

Regards

Hi Fibres,

Well my information is that the remote control protocol in Myth is where the problem is... however we dont use Myth so I am not personally able to verify this. We are using vdr in our installations and we don't see that problem at all.

As to why your T500 is not tuning I am not sure. Are you using the standard modules that were shipped with Kubuntu or are you using modules built by you? That could be the difference as we are using the standard modules shipped with kubuntu. It's working for us in numerous Core's so i know that the firmware I attached is good.

Do:

sudo dmesg | grep dvb

and post the output here.

You should see your T500 get initialised and your firmware get loaded etc. If you do then you have a working T500... then it comes down to possibly signal quality/strength (but if it was working before you swapped to the newer firmware then my guess is that you are not using Modules that are not compatible with the newer firmware in some way)
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: John@TunerUK on September 29, 2007, 07:24:18 pm
The tuning problem you're having sounds exactly the same one that I had when I first installed the Nova T 500. I couldn't get it to tune at all, dispite showing signal strength well into 80%. Once I followed that wiki page however everything worked as expected.
I am experiencing a MythTV problem however, in that I can open it, and it'll work fine, but I then can't leave MythTV and view a video. They all show up as a garbled mess regardless of the prog I use to view; audio however is fine. Linux mce, Xine, even MythTV stops working from that point.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on September 29, 2007, 08:05:10 pm
The tuning problem you're having sounds exactly the same one that I had when I first installed the Nova T 500. I couldn't get it to tune at all, dispite showing signal strength well into 80%. Once I followed that wiki page however everything worked as expected.
I am experiencing a MythTV problem however, in that I can open it, and it'll work fine, but I then can't leave MythTV and view a video. They all show up as a garbled mess regardless of the prog I use to view; audio however is fine. Linux mce, Xine, even MythTV stops working from that point.

I think the problem that Fibres has is that he is not using the current builds of the modules needed for the T500 when using the firmware I posted - that firmware works with the standard required T500 module support built into Kubuntu 7.04 'out of the box'. However as with any firmware update you do need to power-off and boot up to force the firmware to do a 'cold start' and load properly.

As to your problem I'm afraid I can't offer any insight into that.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on October 01, 2007, 02:31:52 am
Hi totallymaxed.

Not had chace to play with it this weekend so dont know the problem yet. Im interested to know how you got vdr working? I have looked into this before and was under the impression that it did not work in linuxmce.

Any guide/info on seting that up would great.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: Bas on October 01, 2007, 09:55:50 am
Hi, I also have the same kind of problem. Myth crashes after 1 minute to 20 minutes of watching TV (hanging image), and sometimes does not even have sound. :| I'm using an analog tuner (PVR-500), and a 7200 graphics card. In KDE the frontend runs perfectly. :|
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on October 01, 2007, 10:28:05 am
Hi totallymaxed.

Not had chace to play with it this weekend so dont know the problem yet. Im interested to know how you got vdr working? I have looked into this before and was under the impression that it did not work in linuxmce.

Any guide/info on seting that up would great.

Regards

Hi again,

We're working on integrating VDR into lmce for a product/service that we are planning for the UK market. Currently we have hacked some old code from the Pluto builds. This is working but is still under heavy development. VDR works fine and is rock solid but the code that was written to integrate into Pluto's UI and DCErouter etc is not stable or complete. Our plan is to release this back to lmce so it can be a standard component and an alternative to Myth.

Our lmce based product/service is aimed at the broad non-technical user. and the hardware will be installed/maintained on full commercial basis. But we plan to make all our open source code available to the community here. The main elements that will not be available here will be service & UI related mostly and do not build off any lmce code or indeed any open source code in anyway. But the integration with lmce will be complete in every other way and the sources will be there for people.

Regards

Andrew
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: nite_man on October 02, 2007, 08:55:57 am
Hi Andrew,

Nice to see that VDR integration is going to be implemented! Did you try to involve German VDR folks - http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/thread.php?threadid=32551&page=14 (http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/thread.php?threadid=32551&page=14). It'd be good to involve them since they like VDR and want to integrate it into LMCE>
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on October 02, 2007, 10:24:44 am
Hi Andrew,

Nice to see that VDR integration is going to be implemented! Did you try to involve German VDR folks - http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/thread.php?threadid=32551&page=14 (http://www.vdr-portal.de/board/thread.php?threadid=32551&page=14). It'd be good to involve them since they like VDR and want to integrate it into LMCE>

Our main developer is based in Germany and has worked in and around the vdr community there for several years and we have had some contact with them.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: marv2097 on October 10, 2007, 11:25:23 am
Hi all,

Did anyone find what was causing this problem and is there a way to fix it apart from rewinding at the start of the program?
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on October 10, 2007, 12:30:22 pm
Nope, none here.

Also, I have the same problem with failing to find channels using the posted firmware. I am using the kubuntu modules for the card, in fact all I did from a fresh install was to add the firmware to /lib/firmware, added options dvb-usb-dib0700 force_lna_activation=1 to /etc/modprobe.d/options and modprobed.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: nosilla99 on October 10, 2007, 08:52:20 pm
Same problem with mythtv frontend crashing when watching live TV within LMCE, using HVR-1300 DVB-T card. Top does not show any issues with CPU utilisation.

Had previously been running mythtv on plutohome without any problems.

NOS
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on October 12, 2007, 12:25:42 pm
I installed new modules for the card with the dvb-usb-dib0700-01.fw firmware and mythtv found the channels. Not finding channels must just be a problem with not loading the kubuntu dvb modules, not the firmware.

Anyway, whichever firmware, mythtv still crashes after a short time in livetv mode.

I think the only solution will be to either wait for a LMCE update that fixes the myth integration, or wait for totallymaxed to release a stable VDR integation.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: zherlock on October 15, 2007, 06:26:10 pm
LMCE Developer Community, I address this reply to forum post to you.

Clearly there are som issues with MythTV (lmce remote interface towards myth tv backend?).
If bugs will not be fixed, ok, fair enough. But, surely there are lots of users that run MythTV successfully. The real question is what should be disabled or removed to successfully run MythTV? Does the problems first occur if you install a IR remote? (iMon, Windows MCE Receiver and so on)

I have been hacking LMCE for 1 month now, so far I have a rather sad simple UI with no 3D due to ATI onboard graphics. I have DVD running but with audio sync issues running Sone1 DVDs, I have multipe instanses of several of my media files in the file list. I just got rid of audio overload, and just got 720p working on onboard HDMI after hacking bios.

I have some friends waiting for my conclusion on my setup so they can order same components and do the same software setup. I am still hopeing LMCE will rock, but as it is now LCDPROC is missing in package source tree of LMCE (?) and the setup wizard within LMCE did not successfully set up audio or tv. I have a iMon RFD and WHEEL on Antec Fusion, not working due to LMCE lircd interface.. I have not found a way to change the lirc0 / lirc1 device setting for each instance of lircd. so I have iMon on lirc0 but a MCE remote receiver on lirc1 and LMCE set to try both devices on same device number.

Lots of issues, but I like the project. Hope to get some conclusion on what to do to make TV functioning.

Keep up the good work and let me know if I should file some bug reports on any

Regards,
Johan
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: marv2097 on October 16, 2007, 12:59:48 pm
I have added the report http://mantis.linuxmce.org/view.php?id=3568 (http://mantis.linuxmce.org/view.php?id=3568) in Mantis to see if this can be resolved in a future release.
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on October 22, 2007, 12:38:17 pm
Hi,

Has anyone made any progress on vdr integration instead of using myth tv??

I found this in the achives (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=181.0) for vdr integration into pluto - don't know how well this would work in linuxmce) if it does provide working vdr integration at all)

'Hi Andre,

Yes, VDR seems very impressive.  It fell below our radar because I don't think it works in the US--our satellite is encryped and their are no PC cards.  However, I've done installs in Europe with Myth and our analog cards and it's a total nightmare.  Not only the xmltv grabber, but also controlling the satellite box with i/r since every sat box maps channels differently.  So, it sounds like VDR is perfect for Europe, and the Americans will probably stick to Myth.  Fortunately, it's easy to have both.

First, create a Device Template called 'VDR' in category DCESoftware Wrappers/Media Players.  Check that it implements DCE, and check command groups: TV commands and Smart Media Player for now.  Add the event 'Playback Info Changed'.  Add "This device is controlled via category:      Category: Standard Orbiter".  This means it's parent device (which spawns it) will be an orbiter.  The on screen orbiter will take responsibility for launching VDR in one of our ratpoison windows.

Next, create a Device Template called 'VDR Plug-in'.  This will be a plug-in in the router that runs in the same memory space, and manages all the VDR devices.  It implements DCE, and check 'Is Plugin'.  Also add "This device is controlled via:      Device:DCERouter  Category: DCE Router".    Add the command group 'PVR' plugin.

Now, for both devices run: ./DCEGen -d [DeviceTemplate] from the DCEGen directory within the source tree.  That will create the projects in ../VDRxxxx.

For VDR do a: make bin, for VDR Plugin, do a: make so

Put both the resulting binaries in /usr/pluto/bin.  In Advanced, Devices, remove teh Myth Plugin from DCE Router, and add VDR Plugin, and remove Myth Player from under OnScreen orbiter, and add VDR.

Now, when you do a 'quick reload router', next time you choose TV it will use VDR instead.  So on to the implementation:

You can copy mostly from Myth Plugin/PLayer.  Starting with the plugin.  Add MediaHandlerBase as a 2nd base class.  The Media Plugin will call methods derived in there.  Put the ! after the //<-dceag tag (means DCEAuto generated).   Otherwise next time you run DCEGen for the plugin it will overwrite your change.  ! means 'leave it alone'.  Otherwise DCEGen overwrites, because you re-run DCEGen everytime you change the command specs (choose Merge to merge in changes).

    //<-dceag-decl-b->!
    class MythTV_PlugIn : public MythTV_PlugIn_Command, public MediaHandlerBase
    {
   //<-dceag-decl-e->

Add the mandatory implementations from Media Handler Base:

      /** @brief Each Plugin will create its own instance of MediaStream, so it can create a derived version with extra information */
      virtual class MediaStream *CreateMediaStream(class MediaHandlerInfo *pMediaHandlerInfo,vector<class EntertainArea *> &vectEntertainArea,MediaDevice *pMediaDevice,int iPK_Users, deque<MediaFile *> *dequeMediaFile,int StreamID)=0;
      virtual bool StartMedia(class MediaStream *pMediaStream)=0;
      virtual bool StopMedia(class MediaStream *pMediaStream)=0;

For the moment, just make CreateMediaStream return a new, generic stream.  You will likely want to create a more specialized one, like VDR Media Stream which has VDR specific information (like channel, satellite, etc.).  That way when VDR Plugin gets a command to move tv from one room to the next you can restore all the settings.  But for now just:

    return new MediaStream(pMediaHandlerInfo, pMediaDevice, 0, st_RemovableMedia,StreamID);

Then make a simple implementation of StartMedia:

bool VDR_PlugIn::StartMedia(class MediaStream *pMediaStream)
{
DCE::CMD_Start_TV cmd(m_dwPK_Device, pMediaStream->m_pMediaDevice_Source->m_pDeviceData_Router->m_dwPK_Device);
SendCommand(cmd);

DCE:: is a namespace.  If you have auto-complete, when you type DCE:: it will give you a list of all commands with the syntax for all the parameters.

In the register function, do this.  This find the media plugin, and registers your VDR plugin with it.  Since they are both plugins running in the same memory space, they can call each other's methods directly.  Normally all pluto devices run as separate programs sending messages over sockets (it's safer).  But for media, you normally need a plug-in that will have low-level access to the same classes that media plugin uses:

   m_iPriority=DATA_Get_Priority();
    /** Get a pointer to the media plugin */
    m_pMedia_Plugin=NULL;
    ListCommand_Impl *pListCommand_Impl = m_pRouter->m_mapPlugIn_DeviceTemplate_Find(DEVICETEMPLATE_Media_Plugin_CONST);

    if( !pListCommand_Impl || pListCommand_Impl->size()!=1 )
    {
        g_pPlutoLogger->Write(LV_CRITICAL,"VDR plug in cannot find media handler %s",(pListCommand_Impl ? "There were more than 1" : ""));
        return false;
    }
    m_pMedia_Plugin=(Media_Plugin *) pListCommand_Impl->front();

    m_pMedia_Plugin->RegisterMediaPlugin(this, this, XXXXX, true);


Note that XXXXX is the device template for VDR.  Last thing, add a record to DeviceTemplate_MediaType table in pluto_main database where FK_DeviceTemplate is the VDR, and FK_MediaType is 1 (Live TV).  Compile and put your binaries in place.  The RegisterMediaPlugin tells Media Plugin that your VDR_Plugin is responsible for managing the VDR devices, which accodring to the database, can handle live tv.

Now do a quick reload DCERouter, either from an orbiter, or send it a reload message: MessageSend localhost 0 -1001 7 1

When you watch the DCERouter logs (/var/log/pluto/DCERouter.newlog) you should see that it registers your VDR Plugin.  Also, if you do a screen -ls, a copy of VDR should be running, and you should see it registered in DCERouter's log.

Now hit 'tv' from an orbiter (not the onscreen display on the m/d--use an orbiter on another PC).  You should see in the VDR logs:
Need to implement CMD_Start_TV

This means everything is working.  And, on the orbiter you should see a pvr remote control.  As you tune channels, fast forward, rewind, channel surf, etc. you should see in the VDR logs all these messages.

Eventually we can create a new remote for VDR that has extra VDR-specific buttons.  But for now it's best to use the basic one because it's important that VDR implements the same 'smart media player' commands the same way, which is what ensures all remote controls (i/r, phone, tablet, etc.) will work the same way and provide basic control.

If you get stuck, I'll be happy to login and look at the code with you and help.  When you're ready, I'll show you how to do a sqlCVS checkin.  That will checkin your database changes.  And we'll checkin your code into our SVN as well.  That way our automated build system will start building your devices.'
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: acematti on October 26, 2007, 11:33:19 am
Just thought I would add that I am also experiencing this problem.

I have a Hauppauge Nova-T single tuner card with the Connexant CX88 firmware on it.

Has a solution been found to this yet? I will gladly help with any information that I can. The recording still works when it crashes like other people have reported. I am running it on the medium graphics settigns.

I have the following system:

CPU: P4 3.0ghz
Ram: 1gig
GFX: Nvidia GeforceFX 5200

Just wondering if there is an update to this problem. Please msg me or email me if you want to know more details I will gladly supply to the best of my know how.

Keep up the great work

Matt



Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: trisc on October 26, 2007, 06:58:04 pm
I am also experiencing freezes in Myth under LMCE using a Nova-T 500. This card works perfectly in Myth from KDE desktop.

Gazlang, have you managed to get VDR working with this hardware in LMCE - if so, is it stable?
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: acematti on October 27, 2007, 11:32:01 am
Just wondering if anything is happening with regard to this. I will willingly contribute to help sort this problem out. I feel that it is a big problem that currently doesn't seem to be getting addressed by the LinuxMCE community.

Could anyone advise where I start debugging this problem such as log files etc.

Any starter advice would be greatly received.

If not can anyone recommned a DVB-T card that doesn't crash when watching Live TV on the core?

Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fibres on October 27, 2007, 11:38:39 pm
Hi Acematti

If you read this whole post you will see that it seems to be a problem relating to the mythtv-plugin. I would guess that mythtv works fine if you launch it from the kde desktop. I also seem to not have the problem when running on a remote media director. HoweverI have not had much chance to confirm this properlt.

Regards
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on October 28, 2007, 10:52:35 am
trisc, I have not tried integrating VDR myself, I just thought my previous post may be useful to those who are working on it.
I'm not sure what setup / hardware allows mythtv to work fine in LMCE - many users must have success using mythtv, particularly the developers, or else LMCE would not have been released as is.

It may be useful if those who do not see this problem with mythtv post their setup information.

Cheers
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: acematti on October 28, 2007, 03:12:02 pm
Yeah most definitely,

I would really like to see if anyone has actually got a DVB-T card working correctly in LinuxMCE.

I posted mine as not currently working on the wiki but I dont think that many people even look at that. It seems a bit all over the shop on the Wiki so it may be putting people off on how to find out what hardware is working etc. If anyone needs a hand making the Hardware Compatability Page any better I would love to help.

Keep up the good work everyone

Matt
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: gazlang on October 31, 2007, 12:22:16 pm
Well it appears that LMCE have recruited a developer of mythtv for improving myth integration:

'daniel's first short-term goal is to improve the integration of LinuxMCE and MythTV for the 0710 release.'
(see LMCE news page)

Also, there will be a vdr option in the 7.10 release due by the end of november.

Hopefully that will be the end of the mythtv woes :-)
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: fearingsept on November 05, 2007, 03:19:10 pm
Quote
Does MythTV work under KDE, but not in LMCE?
Is there anybody that sees this problem on media directors as well?
Has anybody got the capture card in a media director?

Ok, from what I gather everyone is waiting for the next release of LMCE for this problem to go away. I finally hooked up my cable this weekend to my core and found out that I am also having the same problem. I found no help thus far from this thread other then seeing that a lot of people are having the same problem.
I saw that no one seemed to answer these questions straight out so I figured I would.

1. Yes Myth TV works fine under KDE. It only freezes up under LMCE
2. I am unsure being that I have yet to connect my media directors
3. Not Yet

Has anyone come up with a working solution for Myth that doesn't require us to wait for the next release?

-Dustin
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: acematti on November 05, 2007, 04:38:24 pm
I think it seems that people are just resigned to the fact that it will be fixed in the future updates. However nobody as far as I am aware has confirmed that it even will be fixed so I would like to try and find a fix for it for myself.

I would be very willing to help mine also works in KDE fine just not in LinuxMCE.

If you want any help with the trying to fix this then please email me or msg me. I hang around too in the IRC room so i maybe there my name in IRC is matt1982.

Hopefully maybe together we could come up with a fix instead of waiting a month or more.

Matt
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: marv2097 on November 05, 2007, 04:44:24 pm
acematti,

This issue has been logged in Mantis and has been assigned to webpaul. I am hoping this means it is on its way to being resolved. If you have any extra input then it would be worth adding it to the mantis issue.

Code: [Select]
http://mantis.linuxmce.com/view.php?id=3568
In the meantime I am just rewinding the live tv by a couple of seconds to get round this. Not very elegent tho...
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: totallymaxed on November 05, 2007, 06:34:55 pm
Yeah most definitely,

I would really like to see if anyone has actually got a DVB-T card working correctly in LinuxMCE.

I posted mine as not currently working on the wiki but I dont think that many people even look at that. It seems a bit all over the shop on the Wiki so it may be putting people off on how to find out what hardware is working etc. If anyone needs a hand making the Hardware Compatability Page any better I would love to help.

Keep up the good work everyone

Matt

We have them working fine here but we don't use MythTV. We are using VDR. The issue with TV freezing is one that is being addressed now, and is for the moth part MythTV related, and is explained clearly in this posting to another thread;

http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=2954.msg14952#msg14952

Andrew
Title: Re: TV keeps crashing!
Post by: ragadzi on December 11, 2007, 12:14:18 am
hi have the same problem with a dvb-s technisat skystar2 .. mythtv freeze after few minutes