[mythtv-users] Live TV ("Waited 2 seconds...") freeze does not occur when using mpeg4

[Tony Maro]

bobnvic at everestkc.net wrote:

>Alan Snyder wrote:
>  
>
>>Try this (suggested by someone else):  Start live TV,
>>pause for as close as you can to exactly 30 seconds. 
>>Come back in a few hours.  Does the frontend no longer
>>freeze?  Is it still 30 seconds behind?  Someone
>>suggested that their system never froze when watching
>>a bit behind in the ringbuffer.
>>    
>>
>
>I didn't believe this could possibly be true, but I did
>it last night and it went all night and all day today on
>Live TV, 30 seconds behind, without any problem.
>Previously, it would get hung with the "waited 2 seconds.."
>issue within 2-3 hours at most.
>
>I would think that this would indicate that the problem is 
>at least partially within MythTV and not just a driver or
>other externel issue.  Are there any buffering adjustments
>we can make that may help those of us with this problem?
>  
>
Well I did two things... I just posted one of them, and had forgotten 
that I did the other.  I've eliminated the crashes so far (4 hours now.)

#1) Downloaded, compiled and installed MythTV from CVS.  I did _not_ 
compile and install the extra modules yet, they're still running from 
the previously installed 0.13 release.

#2) Set hdparm to turn off acoustic mode on the hard drive to gain extra 
drive performance.  I read somewhere that Maxtor's can have issues with 
acoustic turned on.

as root: "hdparm -M 254 /dev/hda"

Downside is that the hard drive can be noisy on reads, but mines in a 
closed cabinet below the TV, so I don't hear it anyway.

I'm really not sure which stopped my crashes, because I did both at the 
same time.  Also, it's only been 4 hours and there's been no 
transcoding, so who knows if it's really stopped.

-Tony