My Experiences with this version

Girkers

2007-09-29, 00:47 #1

Member since Sep 2007 · 29 posts · Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Subject: My Experiences with this version

Thanks for this program it is great and LiveTV worked and here is my output of mythbackend --version

Library API version: 0.20.20060828-4
Source code version: 13420
Options compiled in:
linux release using_xvmcw using_v4l using_oss using_alsa using_arts using_jack using_ivtv using_firewire using_dbox2 using_hdhr using_ip_rec using_freebox using_live using_lirc using_joystick_menu using_dvb using_x11 using_xv using_xrandr using_xvmc using_xvmc_vld using_opengl_vsync using_opengl using_frontend using_backend

I have 2 x Twinhan DVB-T tuners.

I use a distribution called KnoppMyth which includes mythtv and this is version R5F1: http://mysettopbox.tv

What I found was that it worked fine, I had a problem with seeking, but from reading you already knew that.

Some suggestions for the interface:

I don't think you need the "Start LiveTV" function as I think this can be a little confusing (was for me anyway) as to keep the LiveTV interface in line with how you use the recordings is you select your channel and click play. So it would work the same whether you are watching recordings or LiveTV (See further comment below)

Remove the pause button and just have the play button as a toggle. The play button already has the functionality, just would require an icon change.

I had the "Play" popup text left stranded on my screen at one stage and it did not disappear until I exited the program.

Play vs Start LiveTV
Found that if you have watched a channel previously and exited the program and then come back and the same program is still showing, when you press the Play button it would reconnect to the original mpg file and begin playing from the beginning of the file. And due to the seeking problem was unable to jump ahead.

Alright just did a test and watch TV using the Start LiveTV button and "recorded" 7:14 of TV. Clicked the stop button waited a moment and click Play. It then began to play the MPG file from the beginning and had a length of 7:14. I have attached my log file for this viewing session for reference.

The only other suggestion which is an overall thing is de-interlacing, as we are using our computers to watch TV the output medium is de-interlaced (95% of the time). I have been trying to watch the Rugby World Cup in HD, but I can't do that through this due to the interlacing.

Great program, happy to help with testing, comments and feedback and I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks for developing a wonderful program that complements my HTPC.

Girkers

[edit]Add some further findings[/edit]

The author has attached one file to this post:

log.txt 31.5 kBytes
You have no permission to open this file.

This post was edited on 2007-09-29, 01:02 by Girkers.

Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-10-07, 11:04 #2

User title: Developer
Member since Oct 2006 · 222 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Group memberships: Administrators, Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming;)

I don't think you need the "Start LiveTV" function as I think this can be a little confusing (was for me anyway)

You are right, I have removed it. It was a leftover from before you could double-click on a channel.

Remove the pause button and just have the play button as a toggle. The play button already has the functionality, just would require an icon change.

I will give it a try to see how it looks

I had the "Play" popup text left stranded on my screen at one stage and it did not disappear until I exited the program.

It seems to be a problem in the GUI librarty I use. I will try to get around it somehow.

Play vs Start LiveTV
Found that if you have watched a channel previously and exited the program and then come back and the same program is still showing, when you press the Play button it would reconnect to the original mpg file and begin playing from the beginning of the file. And due to the seeking problem was unable to jump ahead.
Alright just did a test and watch TV using the Start LiveTV button and "recorded" 7:14 of TV. Clicked the stop button waited a moment and click Play. It then began to play the MPG file from the beginning and had a length of 7:14. I have attached my log file for this viewing session for reference.

Actually, it just plays the last recording you watched. So it does not restart livetv, but watches the same part of the program that you watched. As the program is no longer recording, you should be able to seek (But sometimes seeking fails in 0.5.0, even when programs are no longer recording.. it WILL be fixed in 0.5.1;).
Is the current behavior, what you intuitively expect?

And Deinterlazing is definitely next - When livetv has the basic features.
\Mikkel

Girkers

2007-10-08, 05:51 #3

Member since Sep 2007 · 29 posts · Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

As the Play vs Start LiveTV as you are removing the Start LiveTV button I believe this will become confusing if you start the last recording instead of watching LiveTV. I personally don't think it is intuitive to start the previous recording when you press play and you have a channel selected as when using MythTV itself when you go to a channel it goes to LiveTV so in following that thinking I would expect this software to take me to that channel live.

Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-10-10, 20:43 #4

User title: Developer
Member since Oct 2006 · 222 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Group memberships: Administrators, Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Now that you are pointing it out, I think you are right. I removed the functionality and the play button now only works to pause/play. I tried adding the functionality that it spawned the channel or recording you had selected, but that was even more confusing.
I also tried removing the pause button and changing the icon on the play button from play to pause. Again, this looked rather strange (Maybe that is why no other player is doing it

Girkers

2007-10-17, 04:46 #5

Member since Sep 2007 · 29 posts · Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Mikkel,

I am a little confused as to what your confused about. With the live tv stuff, I was just saying to make it work the same as the recording side of things, i.e. when you are in the recording section you can double click a recording and it plays, you can select a recording and press the play button and it plays. This is the functionality I was suggesting for the LiveTV stuff, i.e. you double click on a channel and it starts playing, you can also click on a channel and press play and then it plays that channel.

As to the Play/Pause functionlity I have seen it somewhere before, just found it. Windows media player, when you have something playing the "Play" button becomes a "Pause" button and vica versa. If you are having problems coding this, could I suggest that one of two things:
1. Use a picture such as [ > / || ] with both functions displayed
2. Follow this algorithm:
   1. [Play button pressed] Check current state
   2. State = not playing
   3. Play stream
   4. Set state = playing
   5. Set button pic = pause

   1. [Play button pressed] Check current state
   2. State = playing
   3. Pause stream
   4. set state = not playing
   5. Set button pic = play

I appreciate this second option is a simplification of the process just thought it was the easiest way to express how I thought it would work.

Girkers.

Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-10-18, 21:07 #6

User title: Developer
Member since Oct 2006 · 222 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Group memberships: Administrators, Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Well. Maybe we are talking about different things. I already implemented the functionality you mention. The problem is not implementing it, but that I think it isn't intuitive. I have uploaded a test version so you can give it a try to see what you think. Then, at least, we are sure that we talk about the same thing

(And others can comment it and give their thought on it)
www.sudu.dk/mythtvplayer/files/0.6/MythTvPlayer0.5.1pre4.zip

I removed the "Start livetv" button. Now you can only start livetv by double-clicking on a channel. The play button changes into a pause button when video is playing.
Besides that there is some other improvements and fixes.
It is still not possible to seek in livetv recordings. I hope to get time to fix it soon.

\Mikkel

Girkers

2007-10-24, 12:10 #7

Member since Sep 2007 · 29 posts · Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

I have just tried it and it works exactly as I was hoping, it is excellent. With it working the way it does now, is the "Current Channel" field still valid. I personally don't use it, I would just double click on the channel I want to watch. This is merely a personal thing.

Great work, thanks for indulging me with this.

Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-10-28, 16:39 #8

User title: Developer
Member since Oct 2006 · 222 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Group memberships: Administrators, Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

The "current channel" just shows the channel that you are currently watching. So it is the same channel that are marked with yellow in the list of channels.
Should it be removed?

Girkers

2007-11-05, 05:46 #9

Member since Sep 2007 · 29 posts · Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Personally I think so as this will then remove the last of the differences between LiveTV and recordings, this will also remove the confusing, with having the up and down arrows you have beside that box.

I think for simplicity both recordings and livetv should work the same way in that if you want to play something you double click on it and it remains highlighted until another selection is made by double clicking on it.

This just brought a question up, how do you handle recordings selection list, when you are playing a recording and someone single clicks on a recording? (I am at work at the moment so can't test it). This could pose a problem in that if you are playing one recording and you inadvertently click on another thing in the list, you may mistakening think you have incorrectly recorded something as you are watching on recording, but have a different one selected. Currently with LiveTV with the extra box, you can have another channel selected, but see exactly what is playing.

Bit of a Catch22 in that how do you make sure that you know what your are watching but not what to clutter up the interface.

moliveras 2007-11-18, 07:52 #10

Member since Nov 2007 · 8 posts · Location: Milford, NJ USA
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

I personally hope that the "current channel" not be removed as it is useful information. I have about 150 channels and don't want to have to scroll through the list to see which channel is highlighted in yellow. I think that instead of removing this for consistency, you could add similar info for the recordings to display the name of the file that is currently being played. When a recording is currently played, the program being played is not highlighted in yellow, and the name is not displayed anywhere; information is shown about the selected recording but not necessarily the recording being played. I am referring to version 0.5.1 PreRelease 4.

Girkers

2007-11-28, 13:11 #11

Member since Sep 2007 · 29 posts · Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

I am inclined to now agree with moliveras on the displaying on what is playing, currently there is no way to display either the currently playing TV or Recording. I would like to suggest a slight interface redesign.

Move the Recording and LiveTV buttons down (and possibly turn them into Tabs) and move the Current Channel above these "buttons". Remove the UP/Down buttons and this whole field will be where the current playing TV/Recording will display.

I would also like to suggest that on the LiveTV page to add something similar to what you have at the bottom of the Recordings page. This will give you the space you need to display program information and the like.

I don't know if this will provide some reduction of code as you will then not need to redraw the window as you change between areas. It will also be easier to add a Video tab in the future if you go down that road. I am happy to make some mock ups if that would be of any benefit for yourself and the community.

Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-12-01, 23:53 #12

User title: Developer
Member since Oct 2006 · 222 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Group memberships: Administrators, Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

I have added a small bar with information about the current recording (including the channel name). That way, there is more consistency between the "livetv" and "recordings" windows.
What do you think?
http://www.sudu.dk/mythtvplayer/files/0.6/MythTvPlayer0.5.…

Note that reimplemented the way files are being handled such that the player should be able to handle recordings that are actively being recorded. I am not 100% sure that it works as intended and has not introduced any bugs (as it is quite a large change and highly threaded code)
Please mail be the log-file if you experience any problems such as deadlocks where the player hangs.

\Mikkel

Girkers

2007-12-02, 11:19 #13

Member since Sep 2007 · 29 posts · Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Just to give some instant feedback, just watched a recording and it worked fine. There was one hiccup when I was watching a video and I put in a DVD to do some work and the program froze. The relevant part of the log is:
07:02:02 MPControl: New state: ReBuffering
07:02:03 MPControl: BufferStatus:
07:02:03 MPControl:   AudioPackets: 0/75
07:02:03 MPControl:   VideoPackets: 75/75
07:02:03 MPControl:   AudioBuffer: 146944/368640
07:02:03 MPControl:   VideoFrames: 5
07:02:03 MPControl:   StreamBuffer: 1048576

This is repeated until I closed the program. I may have recovered eventually, but it didn't seem it was going too. I then went on to watch the recording fine.

I am watching Live TV at the moment and it is working fine, seeking still doesn't work :-p

The interface changes are nice, you may want to indent the field where you display "What's playing". This is a big leap and I think most people will like it. Glad you are allowing me test it for you, very happy to help where I can.

This post was edited on 2007-12-02, 11:21 by Girkers.

Mikkel (Administrator) 2007-12-04, 22:15 #14

User title: Developer
Member since Oct 2006 · 222 posts · Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Group memberships: Administrators, Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

I guess I have to look at it again. And log even more information to find the problem. I need to fix this before 0.5.1 can be release..
I am quite happy about the interface changes to and also think it is more intuitive now. Thanks for the help .. (And I am always happy about feedback and suggestions for improvements).

Btw, What happens when you seek?

\Mikkel

moliveras 2007-12-06, 02:36 #15

Member since Nov 2007 · 8 posts · Location: Milford, NJ USA
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

I really like the new interface changes. I like that you added a volume slider, however I think that you should either label it as volume or put some type of icon next to it. I didn't know what the slider was for until I tried it

I tried seeking in live TV using an SD recorder (PVR-150) and it seemed to work. When I tried my HDTV tuner however (HDHomeRun) I never got a picture. I got a few seconds of audio, and then the buffering went to 100% - My log file looks very similar to what Girkers posted. I never even tried to seek on the HD tuner - the problem happens just by starting livetv. I wasn't sure if I should post me entire log file here, so I just included a portion of it. I can email it to you if you think that it would help you. Also, since my HD tuner has two separate tuners, I am seeing every HD channel listed twice in the channel list.

08:18:24 MythLive: Recorders: 3, Free: 2
08:18:24 MythLive: Load: 0.03,0.09,0.03
08:18:24 MythLive: Uptime: -11 days, -7 hours, -59 mins, and -57 seconds
08:18:24 MythLive: Memory: 501 (5 free). Virtual Memory: 1027 (579 free)
08:18:26 AudioDecoder: Not enough audio in buffer

. Setting beenInTrouble flag.
08:18:26 MPControl: Audiodecoder was in trouble. Rebuffering.
08:18:26 MPControl: BufferStatus:
08:18:26 MPControl:   AudioPackets: 0/75
08:18:26 MPControl:   VideoPackets: 75/75
08:18:26 MPControl:   AudioBuffer: 0/368640
08:18:26 MPControl:   VideoFrames: 5
08:18:26 MPControl:   StreamBuffer: 1048576
08:18:26 MPControl: State change: Playing -> ReBuffering
08:18:26 MPControl: Changing to stateBuffering
08:18:26 AudioRender: Pause
08:18:26 VideoRender: Pause
08:18:26 MPControl: Changing to stateBuffering: Done
08:18:26 MPControl: New state: ReBuffering
08:18:26 VideoRender: paused
08:18:26 MPControl: BufferStatus:
08:18:26 MPControl:   AudioPackets: 0/75
08:18:26 MPControl:   VideoPackets: 75/75
08:18:26 MPControl:   AudioBuffer: 0/368640
08:18:26 MPControl:   VideoFrames: 5
08:18:26 MPControl:   StreamBuffer: 1048576
08:18:26 MPControl: BufferStatus:
08:18:26 MPControl:   AudioPackets: 0/75
08:18:26 MPControl:   VideoPackets: 75/75
08:18:26 MPControl:   AudioBuffer: 0/368640
08:18:26 MPControl:   VideoFrames: 5
08:18:26 MPControl:   StreamBuffer: 1048576

This post was edited on 2007-12-06, 02:46 by moliveras.