[mythtv-users] viewer falls asleep with the EPG open - plasma burn in concerns

[Johnny Walker]

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 2:58 PM, Greg Oliver <oliver.greg at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 2:27 PM, Michael T. Dean
> <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>> On 03/29/2010 03:13 PM, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 1:32 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 03/29/2010 10:45 AM, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 7:15 PM, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 9:01 PM, Daniel Kristjansson wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Thu, 2010-03-11 at 19:30 -0600, Johnny Walker wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So the only way I can think to protect my Plasma from EPG burn-in
>>>>>>>> (aside from never falling asleep) would be to re-enable it when the
>>>>>>>> EPG is loaded on the screen, even if I'm still in LIVETV mode.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Does this sound correct?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yes, sounds reasonable.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In working on this I found the following in the code
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> libmythui/screensaver-x11.cpp:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> if (m_timeoutInterval == -1)
>>>>>>         {
>>>>>>             m_timeoutInterval = GetMythDB()->GetNumSettingOnHost(
>>>>>>                 "xscreensaverInterval", GetMythDB()->GetHostName(), 50)
>>>>>> *
>>>>>> 1000;
>>>>>>         }
>>>>>>
>>>>>>         if (m_timeoutInterval>    0)
>>>>>>             StartTimer();
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I don't seem to have 'xscreensaverInterval' in my settings table.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I grepped my working copy of .22 and I don't see it mentioned anywhere
>>>>>> else.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The reason I'm asking is - I've put 'xset s 60 60' in my .xsessionrc
>>>>>> file
>>>>>> and somehow it's getting changed to 0 which is making my screensaver
>>>>>> not
>>>>>> happen when I'm paused.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I added a call to EnableScreensaver to the NuppelVideoPlayer::Pause
>>>>>> method
>>>>>> but since 'xset q' shows it's back at 0 it does me no good. When I
>>>>>> manually
>>>>>> 'xset s 60 60' again however, it starts working as expected.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Do any of you know what gives
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Ok - I've grepped through the code for .22 lookiung for 'xset' and I
>>>>> don't
>>>>> see where the code would be disabling the screen saver.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> MythTV never does anything with xset.  It only tests to see if
>>>> xscreensaver
>>>> or gnome-screensaver is running.  If so, it will "poke" the screensaver
>>>> once
>>>> every 50sec (the default value of the hidden xscreensaverInterval setting
>>>> you mentioned above) to prevent the screensaver from activating during
>>>> playback.
>>>>
>>>> Note, however, that many screensaver programs will enable/disable things
>>>> like DPMS.
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> When I'm in Media Library -->    Watch Videos - and a video ends and
>>>>> returns
>>>>> me
>>>>> to that screen, the display just sits there, waiting to burn in on my
>>>>> Plasma
>>>>> television.
>>>>>
>>>>> If I ssh in to the frontend and run 'xset s 60 60' it starts working and
>>>>> protecting my screen.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm really concerned about this - it seems like an odd oversight in the
>>>>> functionality. Am I the only one having this issue?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Any reason you're not running one of the supported screensaver programs?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Where are those listed?
>>
>> Only supported ones are xscreensaver and gnome-screensaver, as shown in
>> mythtv/libs/libmythui/screensaver-x11.cpp .
>>
>>>  I used the xfrce settings manager to enable
>>> that adorable little ant with a flashlight nose screensaver and it
>>> never appears when mythfrontend is running. When I said previously
>>> that I can enter 'xset s 60 60' and it works as expected, I kinda
>>> lied. The screen dims but Rudolph the Flashlight Ant never appears.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I have a plan (very low on my TODO list--especially since I don't use
>>>> screensavers on MythTV) to add xdg-screensaver (
>>>> http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0beta3/xdg-screensaver.html )
>>>> support to MythTV (see http://portland.freedesktop.org/wiki/ ).  By
>>>> default,
>>>> MythTV would use xdg-screensaver, if available.  If not, it would fall
>>>> back
>>>> to the current xscreensaver/gnome-screensaver support.
>>>>
>>>> Since xdg-screensaver works on a completely different principle from
>>>> xscreensaver/gnome-screensaver, we can't just stick xdg-screensaver in
>>>> place
>>>> of the xscreensaver/gnome-screensaver commands in the current code.  The
>>>> current code never deactivates (or activates) the screensaver program,
>>>> but
>>>> just sends it messages periodically that it should not activate.  This
>>>> way,
>>>> if mythfrontend crashes, it doesn't leave the screensaver deactivated.
>>>>
>>>> xdg-screensaver, on the other hand, uses a suspend/resume approach.
>>>>  mythfrontend would ask xdg-screensaver to suspend the screensaver and
>>>> provide a mythfrontend window ID.  Then, when the screensaver should
>>>> resume,
>>>> mythfrontend would tell xdg-screensaver.  If mythfrontend crashes,
>>>> xdg-screensaver would notice the window with the given ID disappearing
>>>> and
>>>> would let the screensaver resume normal operations.
>>>>
>>>> If you'd like to work on this, I'd love to be able to mark it off my TODO
>>>> list.  :)
>>>>
>>>
>>> I would /LOVE/ to work on this.  Is there already a trac ticket? (I
>>> suppose I could go look)
>>>
>>>
>>
>> No ticket, yet.  No code, yet, either (so no need for a ticket).  Just an
>> idea way down low on my TODO list.  But, since xdg-screensaver should work
>> with all screensaver programs, it should solve problems for anyone using any
>> screensaver that's not xscreensaver and not gnome-screensaver.
>>
>> You'll likely want to create a new class, ScreenSaverXDG (in a new file,
>> mythtv/libs/libmythui/screensaver-xdg.cpp ), and in
>> mythtv/libs/libmythui/screensaver.cpp change the #if defined(USING_X11) to
>> first check if xdg-screensaver is installed/available (maybe with a static
>> function in ScreenSaverXDG) and if so, use ScreenSaverXDG, or if not, fall
>> back to ScreenSaverX11.
>>
>> The new class should be significantly simpler than ScreenSaverX11 since
>> ScreenSaverX11 basically implements the same functionality already provided
>> by xdg-screensaver.
>>
>>>> And, as you and Daniel are aware, the current code doesn't really handle
>>>> transitions from "suspend" to "resume" very well.  We keep poking the
>>>> screensaver when the EPG is displayed, and there may be other parts of
>>>> Myth
>>>> where we should disable the screensaver and we don't.  So, even just
>>>> fixing
>>>> these up would be nice.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I've been drawing the same conclusions and am glad to hear you confirm
>>> it. I was worried I had something munged up on my system.
>>>
>>
>> And we'd love some patches for it.  ;)
>
> Just an FYI - I upgraded a myth system to Ubuntu 10.4 beta today, and
> my screensaver is now working for the first time ever!  I was having
> the same issues with 9.10 prior..
>
> -Greg

That is interesting since I just installed xdg-utils on my dev laptop
and 'xdg-screensaver activate' is not invoking my screensaver either
in 9.10. I wonder if there's a bug.

-Johnny