[vdr] some observations and problems with 1.2.0

[hm@seneca.muc.de]

Hi,

having tried vdr-1.2.0 with linux-dvb.2003-05-24 for the whole day (well
not exactly but - ...) I have some observations which I would like to
share. 

1. The linux-dvb.2003-05-24 firmware seems not so utterly stable. I've seen
many artifacts especially around fast moving persons and patterns, and in
one case the firmware froze entirely, with lots of error messages in the
syslog, like, 

Jun  1 18:18:57 linvdr kernel: OutCommand: timeout waiting for COMMAND idle
Jun  1 18:18:57 linvdr kernel: SOutCommand error
Jun  1 18:18:57 linvdr kernel: outcom error
Jun  1 18:18:58 linvdr kernel: OutCommand: timeout waiting for COMMAND idle
Jun  1 18:18:58 linvdr kernel: SOutCommand error
Jun  1 18:18:58 linvdr kernel: outcom error
Jun  1 18:18:59 linvdr kernel: OutCommand: timeout waiting for COMMAND idle
Jun  1 18:18:59 linvdr kernel: CommandRequest error
Jun  1 18:18:59 linvdr kernel: StopHWFilter error

etc. Well this is probabliy more DVB than VDR related. 

2. The sound from the DVB output (FuSi rev. 1.3 card) is quite low
compared to other sound sources. Is the nominal level actually 0 dBV?
The bass is even weaker.  I have lots of what sounds like white noise,
and I need to keep the VDR volume all the way up while controlling the
actual volume with the TV set.  Otherwise the noise is unbearable. Is
that a DVB issue as well?

3. I am currently using a Freecam 2.018 for testing purposes before actually
getting a Premiere license.  I get loads of error messages like

Jun  1 18:04:01 linvdr vdr[24127]: ERROR: CAM: Read failed: slot 1, tcid 1 
Jun  1 18:04:06 linvdr vdr[24127]: CAM: FreeCAM2-018    , 01, 0602, 0602

Most of the time I get the "Read failed" message.  On Premiere and ORF
I get the EPG data but there is no picture and no sound. This may be a
Freecam problem - it seems to think it needs a Smartcard. Could that be
because my IR receiver is connected to J2-9 of the DVB card instead of
to the remote connector of the CI? Does anybody have the pinout of the
CI IR connector so that I can rewire it?

BTW: In ca.conf, ORF is on 102 and Premiere on 101. In the channels.conf
I kept from 1.1.33-mega (much nicer than the one in 1.2.0!), however,
ORF is on 101? Is that on purpose? Does it hurt? As far as I understand,
this only relates to which DVB card is responsible for the channel, right?

4. In one case the OSD suddenly had black instead of white characters.
Nearly unreadable. I needed to restart VDR. Did not occur again so
far. 

5. A suggestion: If there is a double entry in channels.conf, is it
possible to gracefully ignore the problem? There is an error message like

Jun  1 17:44:13 linvdr vdr[23927]: ERROR: channel data not unique!
Jun  1 17:44:13 linvdr vdr[23927]: ERROR: error in /video/channels.conf, line 222 

but all programs then have number 0 (zero), and you cannot switch channels
and more. I can deal with it but this is not very mother-in-law friendly
if you know what I mean.



Other than that, it works fine including the plugins remote, lcdproc, and
mp3. Didn't test any others so far. 

bitstreamout gives me no error messages, but I have no AC3 capable
equipment so far. Hardware is a VIA M6000 board w/ VIA chipset (686A
compatible). Unfortunately, on this board the SPDIF out and RCA TV out
are on a shared RCA connector, and you have to set a jumper to select
which function is available. I tend to use the TV out for the console
from time to time. Seems I have to use AC3overDVB instead... will that
be available as a plugin eventually, or will we have to live with a patch?


As for the mp3 plugin, how about rerouting the signal to the soundcard
output again, as with the older stuff unter 1.0.4?  

Is /video/plugins/ now the standard for all plugin related configs? Funny
because I was thinking today about having all configs in a separate
directory instead of in the root dir under /video. I mean there are now
more than 10 config files. 


Irgendwas fällt mir bestimmt noch ein :-)) 




-- 
"Dank sei Gott für den Tod der UN" -- Richard Perle
http://heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/co/14446/1.html


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