[Raspberry Pi] Channel switching does not always work in PVR

[henkwiedig]

If if switch through my channel list i do not get a video on all channels.
Sometimes the screen stays black with no audio.
This does not always happen on the same channel.
Sometimes just switching up und down makes the channel to work again.
If i press Stop i see for a fraction of a second the correct image of the channel.

See XBMC Debug Log:
https://gist.github.com/3914052

PVR on a ZBOX client works as aspected so this must be a RPi issue.

[starmate]

Same problem here on RPi.
I found a trick. If you have black screen and if you try to change audio track or put "stereo mode", sometimes it fixes the issue. It's a random issue.

[henkwiedig]

OpenELEC Server shows repeatedly:

Oct 22 15:21:33 openelec user.err vdr: [1760] XVDR: timeout. signal lost!
Oct 22 15:21:33 openelec user.err vdr: [1760] XVDR: signal restored

[henkwiedig]

Feels better with latest xbmc-xvdr-addon update.
@starmate for you as well ?

But this broke HD Channels.

Decreasing tcp buffers seems to help
echo 256960 > /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_default echo 256960 > /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max echo 256960 > /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_default echo 256960 > /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max

[starmate]

Yes, I have the same problem. HD channels freezes. SD channels are in mpeg2 and HD in mp4 in my country (if it helps)

[henkwiedig]

Did you try the tcp buffer settings ?
Maybe we have to open another Issue for this network issue.
I saw massive rx tcp overruns on the server side when selecting hd channels.

[starmate]

Yes when modifying tcp buffers it give way better results on hd channels!
Unfortunately, I still have black screens time to time on other channels with build r12195 and over.
Which build are you using? It seems that when I tried yesterday, I had better results, but can't remember which build it was. Anyway, everytime I try a different build, it gives the same results.

[wilb]

I'm seeing similar issues with HD channels freezing and stuttering on any scenes involving movement (and as such higher bandwidth). I've changed the tcp buffers to the settings recommended above but that doesn't help. I get the same issues playing back recordings from VDR too.

[starmate]

Unfortunately, I am still having this issue too. Changing TCP values doesn't help.
If I find a solution, you'll be the first to know ;)

[wilb]

We should probably break this out into a separate bug - its not related to the black screen when changing channels issue (but I'm also experiencing that too!)

[starmate]

Regarding HD freezing, it seems that with r12457, it is fixed.
Only black screen problem remains.

[wilb]

Thanks starmate - are you using XVDR or VNSI? I updated to r12457 but I can't get it to connect to my XVDR server now, whether using the latest xvdr plugin from git or the one shipped with YaVDR 0.4.

[starmate]

I use tvheadend as official repo (installed from addon list) - all running on the same machine (server and client).

[wilb]

Aah OK, thanks for the info. I'll have to look into it some more tonight, probably need to build an older xvdr plugin.

[wilb]

OK so for testing purposes I've switched over the the VNSI plugin on my server and have HD channels streaming much better on the build you say. Like you though I'm seeing lots of issues with black screens - you see a frame or two of the image when you stop playback but it takes a few attempts to get some channels playing.

[henkwiedig]

To approach this from other angels: the same issue exists on raspbmc and xvdr from 20121114

[henkwiedig]

Sounds promising xbmc/xbmc@5edee01

[arielgr]

Happening here on RPi connected to remote tvheadend here as well.

[tzelch]

I have made a Dev-Build containing the Patch.
It is working very well on SD-Content.
I still have the same problems on HD-Content though.
Anyone who is interested can download the Build here:
http://www.tomshideout.de/OpenELEC-RPi.arm-devel-20121211133359-r12699.tar.bz2

[risinga]

Wondering...which patch are you talking about? Did you fix this buffering issue somehow?

tnks

[Stendec1]

I'm now running Raspbmc and this one is switching channels like a charm, SD, HD...

[risinga]

Are you using the latest Raspbmc? Which PVR client are you using?

[Stendec1]

The 512MB RPI with the latest version Raspbmc with VNSI PVR on VDR.

[risinga]

I'm also with the 512MB with the latest Raspbmc but using tvheadend pvr client. No luck so far...most channels go black screen. Sometimes it works even HD!
Did you change any other configuration??

[risinga]

Actualy only the two hd channels are working!!

[starmate]

Hi Stendec,

I always used openelec, but I was wondering how you are using VNSI on Raspbmc? Are server and client on same raspi?

Thanks,

Jon

[Stendec1]

I do too on various systems including Macmini and ATV1 and it works perfect but on the raspi it now seems Raspbmc is performing a bit better than OE.
I'm running VDR/VNSI on a Linux server and connect the XBMC clients over the network.

[Stendec1]

Noticed another difference between raspbmc and OE VNSI PVR, deinterlacing is actually working on raspbmc.

[wilb]

Just got round to trying Raspbmc on my 512MB Pi but out of the box it doesn't appear to be performing well at all for PVR related stuff. As a side note, I had to upgrade my VNSI plugin on YaVDR to allow it to connect as the protocol version is newer now.

Anyone tried a recent OpenELEC build to see how its behaving?

[wilb]

Disabled subtitles (on by default) and forced deinterlacing rather than it being set to auto and that seems to have improved things somewhat.

[henkwiedig]

Maybe we have progress... will test tomorrow:
pipelka/xbmc-addon-xvdr@df66ccd
pipelka/xbmc-addon-xvdr@871faab

[jenkins101]

This is a know issue in XBMC and it is being worked on by team XBMC.

Please add ticket on http://trac.xbmc.org

This is not a forum.

[henkwiedig]

No this is fixed with #2268

Edit: at least for xvdr