[mythtv-users] Sometimes mythfrontend freezes when internal player is put on pause

Andrey Zhunev a-j at a-j.ru
Fri Nov 9 20:55:17 UTC 2012


>>> Perhaps the audio device is blocking?  I.e. this can happen if you mess
>>> around with your ALSA configuration and/or specify a hardware device 
>>> directly (as nearly all current hardware--thanks to Intel's "let's make
>>> an audio interface that burns CPU to make sure people buy big chips" 
>>> AC'97 and HDA specifications--has no hardware mixer and uses software to
>>> do mixing).

>> The alsa configuration is almost default, except that some time ago I
>> tried to add a software preamp (to increase the level of analog
>> output). The preamp never worked for me on this system despite all my
>> attempts...

>>> What's your audio configuration in MythTV?

>> ALSA:front:CARD=PCH,DEV=0

> <skip>


> I changed my mythfrontend audio configuration to 'alsa:default'

> But mythfrontend froze again. I didn't have verbose logging turned on
> at that moment, but based on the way it did it - the problem is still
> the same.



After multiple retries, I am quite sure the issue is somehow related
to multiple 'WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)'
messages in the log.

In normal conditions when mythfrontend was playing something back
(external video file) and is put on pause, this is what I get in the log:


2012-11-10 00:14:02.686090 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.686138 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697512 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x7f787c074488)::IncrRef() -> 3
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697579 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x7f787c074488)::DecrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697624 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x51d40d8)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697671 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x51d40d8)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697706 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x4ff5c48)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697739 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x4ff5c48)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697776 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x50ba2a8)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697797 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x50ba2a8)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697818 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x4d94ba8)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697837 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x4d94ba8)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697845 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x7f7878748d48)::IncrRef() -> 3
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697864 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x7f7878748d48)::DecrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697872 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x7f786010e438)::IncrRef() -> 3
2012-11-10 00:14:02.697890 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x7f786010e438)::DecrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.707760 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.707813 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.707837 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.728600 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.728658 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.728706 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742028 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x7f787c074488)::IncrRef() -> 3
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742090 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x7f787c074488)::DecrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742118 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x51d40d8)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742161 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x51d40d8)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742197 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x4ff5c48)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742220 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x4ff5c48)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742257 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x50ba2a8)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742278 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x50ba2a8)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742298 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x4d94ba8)::IncrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742317 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x4d94ba8)::DecrRef() -> 1
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742324 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x7f7878748d48)::IncrRef() -> 3
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742344 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x7f7878748d48)::DecrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742351 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x7f786010e438)::IncrRef() -> 3
2012-11-10 00:14:02.742370 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x7f786010e438)::DecrRef() -> 2
2012-11-10 00:14:02.750276 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.750325 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.771945 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.772007 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.772052 I [13255/13426] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
2012-11-10 00:14:02.786454 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:114 (IncrRef) - (0x7f787c074488)::IncrRef() -> 3
2012-11-10 00:14:02.786511 I [13255/13255] CoreContext referencecounter.cpp:145 (DecrRef) - (0x7f787c074488)::DecrRef() -> 2


So "WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)" is repeated about
6-7 times and then some other messages follow.
BUT when mythfrontend stops responding, the log file contains a loooot of "WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)"
messages (like 400-500 of them in a row):

2012-11-10 00:05:10.483102 I [12892/13188] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
< 447 identical messages here >
2012-11-10 00:05:14.066494 I [12892/13188] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)


As time goes, the amount of messages in series seem to increase:

3749144 2012-11-10 00:05:17.714598 I [12892/13188] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)
< 3749 identical messages here >
3752895 2012-11-10 00:05:47.707934 I [12892/13188] AudioOutputBase audio/audiooutputalsa.cpp:566 (WriteAudio) - WriteAudio: Preparing 3072 bytes (384 frames)


These "series" take time (from several seconds to minutes) and that's
probably causing mythfrontend to stop responding to user input.



Please help me to track this issue... any ideas are greatly appreciated!



P.S. I can upload full log file somewhere, if needed (it's large -
hundreds of megabytes uncompressed).


-- 
Best regards,
 Andrey             



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