[linux-dvb] Re: problems with more than one dvbs-card

[Klaus Schmidinger <Klaus.Schmidinger@cadsoft.de>]

apieper@gmx.net wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> since i installed a second dvbs-card in my vdr-pc
> i got some problems.
> 
> My VDR-PC: Pentium 166 / Intel Chipset (FX?)/ RAM 128MB
> VDR 0.72 / Driver 0.82 / Mandrake with kernel 2.2.17
> 2 Hauppauge DVBs-Cards, 'old' Version, 80GB Maxtor
> 
> Problem 1:
> Often (60%-70%) if i record with both cards and one
> recording stops vdr is unloaded and my pc reboots
> (the pc is installed to reboot if vdr stops).
> 
> Problem 2:
> I get messages in the log regarding buffer overflow, example:
> 
> Jun  8 20:16:10 VDR vdr[854]: record /mnt/video/vdr.00/Tagesschau/2001-06-08.19.59.10.04.rec
> Jun  8 20:16:10 VDR vdr[854]: recording to '/mnt/video/vdr.00/Tagesschau/2001-06-08.19.59.10.04.rec/002.vdr'
> Jun  8 20:16:11 VDR vdr[2088]: output thread started (pid=2088)
> Jun  8 20:16:11 VDR vdr[2089]: input thread started (pid=2089)
> Jun  8 20:16:43 VDR vdr[2089]: buffer usage: 76%
> Jun  8 20:16:43 VDR last message repeated 5 times
> Jun  8 20:16:43 VDR vdr[2089]: buffer usage: 77%
> Jun  8 20:16:43 VDR last message repeated 7 times
> Jun  8 20:16:44 VDR vdr[2089]: buffer usage: 78%
> Jun  8 20:16:44 VDR last message repeated 6 times
> [...]
> Jun  8 20:16:52 VDR vdr[2089]: buffer usage: 97%
> Jun  8 20:16:52 VDR last message repeated 6 times
> Jun  8 20:16:52 VDR vdr[2089]: buffer usage: 98%
> Jun  8 20:16:53 VDR last message repeated 7 times
> Jun  8 20:16:53 VDR vdr[2089]: buffer usage: 99%
> Jun  8 20:16:53 VDR last message repeated 6 times
> Jun  8 20:16:53 VDR vdr[2089]: buffer usage: 100%
> Jun  8 20:17:04 VDR vdr[854]: buffer stats: 1048575 (100%) used
> Jun  8 20:17:04 VDR vdr[854]: timer 3 stop
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> In this example vdr stops here and the pc resets.

Aren't there any further messages in the log file?
I don't see why VDR would see any need to exit here?!
 
> Sometimes i get such buffer-usage messages but
> vdr is running without problems.
> 
> Even with only one dvbs-card i got such messages,
> but this never produced such effect.
> 
> Problem 3:
> Picture distortions (blocks).
> If i record with both cards sometimes i get distorted recordings
> with blocks in it. Until now i only got this when i recorded
> Pro7 and Sat1 together, i tested few other combinations (will
> test more next days) but there where no problems (e.g. ARD and RTL).
> With Sat1 and Pro7 i can reproduce the errors, the recordings
> are almost unusable.
> 
> I guess i have a bottleneck somewhere, how can i
> change this ? (faster processor, more ram ?)

Are you sure you have DMA activated for your disk?

   video:/home/kls # hdparm /dev/hda

   /dev/hda:
    multcount    = 16 (on)
    I/O support  =  0 (default 16-bit)
    unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
    using_dma    =  1 (on)       <=====================
    keepsettings =  0 (off)
    nowerr       =  0 (off)
    readonly     =  0 (off)
    readahead    =  8 (on)
    geometry     = 4560/255/63, sectors = 73261440, start = 0

Otherwise you could try using a faster processor.

Klaus
-- 
_______________________________________________________________

Klaus Schmidinger                       Phone: +49-8635-6989-10
CadSoft Computer GmbH                   Fax:   +49-8635-6989-40
Hofmark 2                               Email:   kls@cadsoft.de
D-84568 Pleiskirchen, Germany           URL:     www.cadsoft.de
_______________________________________________________________


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