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0.3.6 Test version
Time for another release
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Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-04-17, 21:01 #1
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Subject: 0.3.6 Test version
For anybody who want to help out or is simply interested, I uploaded a test version of MythTv Player 0.3.6.

The largest change is that I have tried to improve the player on smaller machines. (Hopefully I succeeded) Not that the player need less CPU-power but that the jitter should be less, and that the player should drop less frames on especially smaller machines. My 6MBIT recordings now runs smoothly on my 1Ghz P3 laptop where it dropped 20% of the frames before and the sound could "stutter" quite a lot. This is mainly achieved by changing the rebuffering a bit, and changing to the PThread library such that I can control the priority of the different threads within the player. I also added an option to increase the entire process from "normal" to "high" in the option screen.

What I would like to have tested:
- Has the "performance/jotter" of the player improved or is it just made worse?
- I have had some trouble that the player deadlocked when opening a new file but I think I fixed that. I would like to know if anybody experience this problem with the test version.
- All other feedback.

There are also many small changes and improvements since last version. The full changelog is included below.

From now on I will upload both a zip file as well as an installer (Thanks for Rich West for the installer)
Zip-file:  http://sudu.dk/mythtvplayer/files/0.4/MythTvPlayer0.3.6pre…
Installer: http://sudu.dk/mythtvplayer/files/0.4/MythTvPlayer-0.3.6pr…

Mail me or write here in the forum if you find any bugs or have suggestions for improvements.

Cheers.

\Mikkel

Full Changelog
0.3.6
 - 'Jitter improvements'
   Player should drop less frames now and jitter should be reduced. Sound is prioritized
   higher and the player should drop frames before making "stuttering" audio.
   This is done by:
     - changing to Pthreads and increase priority of the rendering and decoding threads.
     - The way frames are dropped is improved.
     - Buffer underuns are now properly detected instead of guessed. When the audio can
       not be delivered to the audio-device, a rebuffering is triggered.
 - Process priority can now be changed from Normal to High in the preference GUI
 - Added possiblity to open local file (right-click and choose open)
 - Shortcut system implemented. Shortcuts are now shown in context-menu (right-click)
   Is quite ready for making the shortcuts configurable at a later point.
 - Context-menu (right-click) has been added some more items.
 - Fixed deadlock that could occour when opening a recording with a bookmark
 - Mouse is now shown for in fullscreen when mouse is moved. Is hidden when mouse has
   been inactive for 2 seconds.
 - When clicking on column in recordings-GUI to sort the current group is now remembered
 - Double-click on a recordings now starts playing it
 - Changed way SDL functions are called. Should remove a couple of odd deadlock possibilities.
 - Fixed bug that caused the player to remain at "buffering (0%)". It was caused by a bug in
   the timer implementation of the SDL library. It should now work.
 - Minor fixes: Framerate shown with 2 decimals, GUI said buffers was 100% full JUST after
   a seek.
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Kuroneko 2007-04-18, 03:16 #2
Member since Jan 2007 · 40 posts · Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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great timing for a new version. A virus just wiped out my old MythTV Player install, just came to the site to redownload XD
Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-04-20, 13:41 #3
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Doesn't anybody have comments?
brunsa 2007-04-21, 12:54 #4
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Subject: buffering problems and choppy playback
I tried the most recent version and I am still having similar problem with choppy playback.  I am running wireless and I can connect and begin a playback.  What happens is that it plays then buffers, plays then buffers, then stops.  It says it is playing but it is no longer doing anything.  What am I doing wrong?  I have tried various configuration changes but get the same thing.
Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-04-21, 13:10 #5
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In you description it sounds very much like you network bandwidth is not enough or the CPU is to small. If the network can't provide the needed bandwidth you can't avoid the behavior of play-buffering-play-buffering.
What kind of network are you using, what is the MBIT/s of you recordings and what kind of CPU is it?

What I do not like is that is say it is playing when it is not ;(
brunsa 2007-04-21, 15:03 #6
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I will do my best to explain.  I have a dlink 624 router.  It shows 108mb  but I am skeptical.  I am using their wireless card.  I have a dell dimension 2400 with 512 mb memory and a 2.4 Ghz celeron.  I did a ping -t and I am getting 4% dropped packets.  The show is 1 hour and is a 2 gig file.  What additional information can I provide?
Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-04-21, 16:07 #7
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Your machine should have no trouble playing the recordings so I think it is your network. You will definitely not get 108MB. I can get 12-15 MBIT og my 54 MBIT wireless and that is only when the signal is high. But I can play my recordings without any problems so I think your 108MBIT should be able to handle the recordings without any trouble. But it might depend on the distance to you router..
To test it, try to copy a file from the server to the laptop and check the network utilization. (You can do that by pressing ctrl+shit+esc and pressing the Network tab) This will give you the bandwidth of your network.
The average needed bandwidth for the recordings are shown in the player. Both in the recording window and in the main window just below the time, when you are playing a recordings.

I am still puzzled why it can't handle the recordings.

\Mikkel
brunsa 2007-04-21, 19:00 #8
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I am note sure if I understand what I am looking at.  I connected ftp to my mythtv and began a mget of nuv files.  I then checked the network utilization.  It was the network was 108 but the utilization was 1-2 % and the download utilization is 1-2 %.  Does this mean I am only getting 2% of 108 or a little above 2mb.  If so that might be my problem.
Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-04-21, 20:28 #9
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Like you say it means means your effecetive bandwidth is only 2 MBIT :/ Guess that is your problem, then.
Try to see if it helps to move closer to the access point. Sometimes it also helps to move the antennas a bit and maybe change the wireless channel if you have neighbors close by who use the same channel.

Hope you are able to fix your problem.

\Mikkel
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Kuroneko 2007-04-24, 20:10 #10
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Well, I finally managed to really use MythTV (A weeks worth of recordings to sift through) and it would seem that my buffer problems after deleting files is entirely gone :D
geofffox 2007-04-25, 10:05 #11
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Subject: More 3.6 comments
Mikkel -

I have just begun to play with 3.6 and it seems to work perfectly for me.  Thanks for adding the double click function to the recordings.  I was attempting to use that before it was implemented, as it seemed intuitive.

I don't know if it was a conscious decision on your part, but this player uses a different naming protocol than 0.3.5, so I now have two players installed in separate folders.

One question and then a comment.

You mentioned in another post that live viewing would go in version .6.  Do you have a rough roadmap of what's between 0.3.6 and .6.  This seems like a fairly mature product already.

My comment is, this is a significant program for me.  It has changed the way I watch TV.  With the addition of your player and my network upgrade to 802.11g, I am doing the majority of my TV viewing on my laptop.  Most of the time it's in a window while I do other things (mostly play poker and read) online.  My cable company DVR is now primarily used by my wife.

Earlier I had asked about variable speed playback.  A more realistic request might be a volume control on the player.  I am running Windows Vista which has individual controls for each source (a great improvement over XP).

Like I said, this player has had a large impact and I thank you for your contribution to the community.
piSQ 2007-04-25, 18:48 #12
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Subject: 3.6 Working Great
3.6 is working very well for me wired and wireless.

Since discovering this program it has become my preferred way of watching my myth recordings.

A feature that would be extremely helpful would be the ability to select multiple recordings for deletion.

Thanks for the great program.
Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-04-25, 19:58 #13
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In reply to post #11
Thanks for the constructive feedback!

Quote by geofffox:
I have just begun to play with 3.6 and it seems to work perfectly for me.  Thanks for adding the double click function to the recordings.  I was attempting to use that before it was implemented, as it seemed intuitive.
Yep. I had to agree with you when you commented it, so I implemented it ;)

Quote by geofffox:
I don't know if it was a conscious decision on your part, but this player uses a different naming protocol than 0.3.5, so I now have two players installed in separate folders.
Do you mean the name of the exe-file? I am not really sure what you mean.

Quote by geofffox:
You mentioned in another post that live viewing would go in version .6.  Do you have a rough roadmap of what's between 0.3.6 and .6.  This seems like a fairly mature product already.
Thanks, and I have to agree with you. I actually made a 0.4 branch a couple of days ago and are planning to release a "stable" 0.4 when it proves that 0.3.6 does not contain any bugs. This allows me to make some more dramatic changes for 0.6. I do not really have a roadmap as this is a mostly a one-man project ;) (I have had some help from Laurent Piguet and are very open for other who want to help!) Of course I have some ideas for the larger features, but I also implement load of small changes from whatever feedback I get. And of course I implement the features I would like myself ;)
For 0.6 I hope to get LiveTv working and to integrate the Recordings screen into the "player" window to avoid having to many windows (I actually already did this part). I plan to release a VERY test version to get some feedback on the functionality and the organization of the GUI for the livetv part.
Besides that I think On-Screen-Display and deinterlazers are most important.
But it would be a good idea to add a roadmap to the webpage.


Quote by geofffox:
Earlier I had asked about variable speed playback.  A more realistic request might be a volume control on the player.  I am running Windows Vista which has individual controls for each source (a great improvement over XP).
I am not sure I have access to this through the SDL library. What I can do is software volume control where it simply multiplies all sound by a given factor. This should very easy to add.

Quote by piSQ:
A feature that would be extremely helpful would be the ability to select multiple recordings for deletion.
I also considered this and it is added to the ToDo list. I find mythweb painfully slow for this, as it seems to generate all the thumbnails everytime I reload the page. Actually this is one of the points where I find the player very useful as it is easy to delete recordings to clean up some space ;)


\Mikkel
geofffox 2007-04-26, 05:51 #14
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Quote by geofffox:
    I don't know if it was a conscious decision on your part, but this player uses a different naming protocol than 0.3.5, so I now have two players installed in separate folders.

Do you mean the name of the exe-file? I am not really sure what you mean.

Version 0.3.5 installs into c:\program files\MythTVPlayer0.3.5\
Version 0.3.6 installs into c:\program files\MythTVPlayer\

Not being a developer, I would think you'd want the latest version to install over the last... but I could be wrong.
Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-04-26, 07:43 #15
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You must have installed 0.3.5 yourself by decompressing the zip file, as this is the first version featuring a installer ;)

\Mikkel
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