[mattbrown]

From google searches, it looks like a lot of people are having similar problems with their EPG. There are some suggestions, and I've tried the basics. I've flipped between QT and GL. I've turned the setting of the EPG down. I didn't even have BOB deinterlacing turned on.


Last night when the EPG essentially locked, xorg had about 98% of one of cores (Athlon dual core). Then mythfrontend started maxing it out. I should have captured the output so I could paste it here.


If I pause LiveTV and then enter the EPG I never get the probem. Otherwise, there is a chance that occasionally the frontend will grind to a halt. So, if anyone has hints I'll try them. Thing with this is it can be wait and see. Tough to troubleshoot.


Matt

 

[waterhead]

I have been getting the frozen EPG too. The live TV still continues to display in the corner, I just am unable to exit the EPG. I have to kill the frontend, nothing else works.


Last night I tried one of the fixes (maybe two). I changed these settings:


Utilities/Setup-->Setup-->TV Settings-->Program Guide

Guide Shading Method: Eco - Transparent (CPU Usge-Low)


Utilities/Setup-->Setup-->TV Settings-->Playback

Under Playback Profiles I changed the OSD Renderer to chromakey.


It hasn't frozen up yet since the changes.

 

[waterhead]

It froze up twice since my last post, so I guess it isn't fixed. It actually froze once when I was browsing in the Live TV mode. I have it set so that I can see what's on the other channels, then hit enter to switch to it.


So this still seems to be a EPG bug. I use the OTA EPG, and wonder if there should be a special mythfilldatabase option that I should be using.

 

[waterhead]

Hey Matt, do you have mythfilldatabase set to run automatically? If not, it is possible that the old EPG data is piling up and causing the problem.


It can be enabled by going to this section:

Utilities/Setup-->Setup-->General


Then go to the seventh page and check the box "Automatically run mythfilldatabase". Under "mythfilldatabase Arguments" you can add this:
Code:

--no-delete

This will keep one weeks worth of expired data. It can come in handy if you want to record the next showing of a program. Uncheck the "Run mythfilldatabase at time suggested by the grabber" and make sure the Start and Stop times above it are what you want.


I just did this, so I'm not sure if it will help. It does make sense, so I'm hopeful.

 

[mattbrown]

I do have mythfilldatabase set to run automatically. I don't have the --no-delete switch set anywhere though. I'm thinking it might be something with the 177 drive and my 8300 IGP. A guy on mythbuntu forum has the exact same problem with the similar M3N78 motherboard IGP and CPU AMD4850e ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1004628&page=2 ). He said he went back to 173 and it started working. I'm afraid to do that. Is HDMI out supported on 173?

 

[waterhead]

I don't have your mobo or GPU, so I don't think that is the problem. I am using the 177.82 driver, so I'll keep it in mind.


So far no more lockups.

 

[mattbrown]

Well I have finally found something that fixes this but brings in another problem. It's definitely related to the Vsync to blank setting in nvidia settings under Xvideo. The EPG has been giving me a fit the last couple of nights, and its really the only problem I'm have left. And I'm up to 180.22 nvidia driver.


100% of the time that I uncheck Vsync to blank, its perfect. Perfect. But HD is having major tearing problems now. Go figure.


Here's a sample from mythfrontend.log
Code:

[I]I hit Guide and immediatly see this running tail -f on mythfrontend.log[/I]
2009-02-10 21:26:59.472 XMLParse::LoadTheme using /usr/share/mythtv/themes/blootube-wide/ui.xml

[I]a long pause, tv is still playing, and then I see this in the log and the guide pops up simultaniously[/I]
2009-02-10 21:27:13.053 NVP: prebuffering pause
2009-02-10 21:27:13.167 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
2009-02-10 21:27:13.203 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
2009-02-10 21:27:13.227 NVP: prebuffering pause

I'll try to run frontend with -v playback and see if there is anything else happening.

 

[mattbrown]

With -v on it went straight into the guide when I hit 'S', but the guide was frozen for about 15 seconds while I banged on ESC. Highlights from the verbose log for those seconds (edited down):
Code:

2009-02-10 21:52:09.776 XMLParse::LoadTheme using /usr/share/mythtv/themes/blootube-wide/ui.xml
2009-02-10 21:52:09.931 NVP: Video is 4.04466 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
2009-02-10 21:52:09.931 NVP: Video is 4.93658 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
2009-02-10 21:52:09.931 NVP: Video is 5.35078 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
...
2009-02-10 21:52:10.213 NVP: prebuffering pause
2009-02-10 21:52:10.213 NVP: Waiting for prebuffer.. 0 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALAULAAAAA
2009-02-10 21:52:10.350 WriteAudio: buffer underrun
2009-02-10 21:52:10.460 Display Rect  left: 900, top: 490, width: 344, height: 173, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:10.460 Video Rect    left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:10.527 NVP: Video is 3.36618 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
2009-02-10 21:52:10.527 NVP: Video is 5.25193 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
.
.
2009-02-10 21:52:10.534 IsTunable(2022)
2009-02-10 21:52:10.535 IsTunable(2022) -> true

2009-02-10 21:52:10.623 NVP: Video is 3.09818 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.

2009-02-10 21:52:10.772 Display Rect  left: 900, top: 490, width: 344, height: 173, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:10.772 Video Rect    left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778
'video_output' mean = '17994.61', std. dev. = '33882.97', fps = '55.57'

2009-02-10 21:52:12.461 Video Rect    left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778
'video_output' mean = '17161.96', std. dev. = '7202.71', fps = '58.27'
2009-02-10 21:52:13.465 Display Rect  left: 900, top: 490, width: 344, height: 173, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:13.465 Video Rect    left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:13.912 NVP: Video is 3.52209 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
2009-02-10 21:52:13.912 NVP: Video is 3.66055 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
..
2009-02-10 21:52:14.461 NVP: Video is 3.1378 frames behind audio (too slow), dropping frame to catch up.
2009-02-10 21:52:14.464 Display Rect  left: 900, top: 490, width: 344, height: 173, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:14.464 Video Rect    left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778
'video_output' mean = '16165.46', std. dev. = '13720.73', fps = '61.86'
2009-02-10 21:52:24.146 Snapping height to avoid scaling: height: 720, top: 0
2009-02-10 21:52:24.146 Snapping width to avoid scaling: width: 1280, left: 0
2009-02-10 21:52:24.146 Display Rect  left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:24.146 Video Rect    left: 0, top: 0, width: 1280, height: 720, aspect: 1.77778
2009-02-10 21:52:24.242 NVP: Video is 3.08284 frames ahead of audio,
                        doubling video frame interval to slow down.
2009-02-10 21:52:24.963 NVP: 400 progressive frames seen.
'video_output' mean = '16677.06', std. dev. = '2364.69', fps = '59.96'
2009-02-10 21:52:26.453 TV: Attempting to change from WatchingLiveTV to None
2009-02-10 21:52:26.453 TV: StopStuff() -- begin
2009-02-10 21:52:26.453 TV: StopStuff(): stopping ring buffer[s]

So I don't know what to do, I've tried to fix the guide and keep Vsync on. I've turned Vsyn off and tried to fix the tearing. I cannot figure out how to nail them both.

 

[tradewinds]

ok, now this is the only issue I seem to have also. I am with 9.04 and have this slow (sometimes unresponsive) EPG. Did you manage to get a solution/viable workaround?


This is with: M3N78 motherboard IGP and CPU AMD4850e