[mythtv-users] Container formats and late recordings.

Dan Serban dserban at lodgingcompany.com
Fri Jan 14 11:25:58 UTC 2011


Dedicated back-end running 0.24-fixes.

I have two pvr-150's along side a pvr-500, 4 tuners in total on this 
back-end.  System consists of an nforce4 motherboard with a dual Opteron 
165 chip alongside 4GB of DDR.

Every recording starts late, I have checked all of the settings thrice 
if not more.  In attempting to debug this problem, I have run into the 
unfortunate task of deciphering thousands of lines of log files because 
the majority of my logs consist of a repeating line that looks like 
this: (yes I know how to use grep)

2011-01-14 03:04:04.532 [mpeg2video @ 0x7f396f69ff20]warning: first 
frame is no key frame

According to Gavinh, this is due to mythcommflag having difficulties 
while scanning a PS container format file when doing a scan for logo.  
Fine.  So I went a changed my recording profile to record in a TS 
container.  Upon doing so, I get this in my logs:

mythbackend.log-2011-01-11 23:02:18.915 Updating status for "The 
Simpsons":"O Brother, Where Bart Thou?" on cardid 6 (Tuning => Recording)
mythbackend.log-2011-01-11 23:02:18.939 [mpeg2video @ 
0x7efefc27df20]warning: first frame is no keyframe
mythbackend.log-2011-01-11 23:02:18.984 [mpeg2video @ 
0x7efefc27df20]warning: first frame is no keyframe
mythbackend.log-2011-01-11 23:02:19.023 TVRec(6): rec->GetPathname(): 
'/srv/media/vol-11/rec/1027_20110111230200.mpg'
mythbackend.log:2011-01-11 23:02:19.043 MPEGRec(/dev/pvr_150_1) Warning: 
Stream type 'MPEG-2 TS'
mythbackend.log-                        is not supported by ivtv driver, 
using 'MPEG-2 PS' instead.
mythbackend.log-2011-01-11 23:02:19.045 [mpeg2video @ 
0x7f17334fff20]warning: first frame is no keyframe

Ok... fine, I then tried to switch to DVD Special 2, I basically get the 
same error, the ivtv driver dumbs it down to DVD format etc.  And I 
continue to get "warning: first frame is no keyframe" throughout my logs.

Why offer the options in myth if the ivtv driver doesn't support it?  
I've run into a partial answer on this list, seems that the firmware 
versions are different?  Can myth not detect what capabilities these 
cards have?

Can I downgrade the firmware to a previous version to be able to use 
TS/DVDS2?

So.. On to my next problem:

I see that while the logs show triggers for recordings, it seems that a 
reschedule is called around when the recordings are about to start, and 
then again when they actually do (like 2 mins later).

Here's a 'grep schedule mythbackend.log':

2011-01-14 03:02:36.437 scheduler: Started recording: NCIS:"Jet Lag": 
channel 1024 on cardid 7, sourceid 1
2011-01-14 03:02:37.496 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2011-01-14 03:02:37.496 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2011-01-14 03:02:37.496 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2011-01-14 03:02:37.497 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2011-01-14 03:02:37.497 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2011-01-14 03:06:41.770 Reschedule interrupted, will retry
2011-01-14 03:06:44.554 scheduler: Started recording: "ABC World News 
Now": channel 1013 on cardid 8, sourceid 1
2011-01-14 03:06:45.783 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2011-01-14 03:06:45.823 Reschedule requested for id 0.
2011-01-14 03:10:40.583 Reschedule interrupted, will retry

When I grep -C 10, I don't get a clearer picture, nothing stands out for me.

Except for two repeating lines that I see throughout the log (already 
been knocked down as not the cause, but I want to know what they mean 
anyway):

2011-01-14 03:15:28.463 AFD Warning: ScanATSCCaptionStreams() called 
with no PMT <-- This repeats like crazy

Error in my_thread_global_end(): 1 threads didn't exit <-- these are 
spurious, but sometimes are grouped in groups of 3 (almost enough to 
match the number of tuners).

Anyhow, any and all suggestions and help are appreciated.  I'm sick of 
guessing.





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