[Mut@nt] HD51 5.4.004 timeshift lockup

[Mickkie]

I noticed timeshift does not work as it used to under series 4 releases.

After the latest OpenVIX update to 5.4.004, I can press pause and timeshift starts as expected. If I leave it for more than a few minutes, say more than 10-15 minutes and come back, then pressing play or OK does not start playing back. Rewind, F/FWD, etc. elicit no response. Pressing the stop button a couple of times eventually returns to live TV, but ... thereafter I can no longer pause, rewind, etc. Leaving it to play on for few minutes, the screen saver kicks in, as if the display had been paused. :-/

These are the files listed in the timeshift directory:

root@mutant51:/media/hdd# ls -la timeshift/
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         16384 Jan 18 13:25 .
drwxr-xr-x   10 root     root          4096 Jan 17 23:11 ..
-rw-------    2 root     root     915972096 Jan 18 13:29 pts_livebuffer_1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           102 Jan 18 13:01 pts_livebuffer_1.eit
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           131 Jan 18 13:01 pts_livebuffer_1.meta
-rw-r--r--    2 root     root        676064 Jan 18 13:29 pts_livebuffer_1.sc
-rw-------    1 root     root     256786944 Jan 18 09:20 pts_livebuffer_2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           127 Jan 18 09:13 pts_livebuffer_2.eit
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           168 Jan 18 09:13 pts_livebuffer_2.meta
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        155872 Jan 18 09:20 pts_livebuffer_2.sc
-rw-------    2 root     root     915972096 Jan 18 13:29 timeshift.YGTRLf
-rw-r--r--    2 root     root        676064 Jan 18 13:29 timeshift.YGTRLf.sc

I have not yet captured a log, but have you noticed the same behaviour?

EDIT: From what I have observed if I pause only for a couple of minutes, this problem does not occur.

 

[bellejt]

had same problem on my vu duo2 . Did not know if it was a bug or that I used the wrong button.

 

[ccs]

Works fine for me, paused for 20 minutes, then ok to continue, fast forward, skip, pause all work as expected.

The only possible difference is that I never use permanent timeshift.

 

[ccs]

.... although files are left lying around despite me stopping timeshift and not saving.

root@vuultimo4k:~# ls -l /media/hdd/timeshift
-rw-------    1 root     root     671096832 Jan 18 17:09 pts_livebuffer_1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           158 Jan 18 16:43 pts_livebuffer_1.eit
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           228 Jan 18 16:43 pts_livebuffer_1.meta
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        631216 Jan 18 17:09 pts_livebuffer_1.sc
root@vuultimo4k:~# date
Mon Jan 18 18:36:06 GMT 2021
root@vuultimo4k:~#

 

[ccs]

.... although files are left lying around despite me stopping timeshift and not saving.

They disappear after a reboot.

 

[adm]

Works fine for me, paused for 20 minutes, then ok to continue, fast forward, skip, pause all work as expected.

The only possible difference is that I never use permanent timeshift.

One variable maybe a timeshift over a program boundary.

 

[ccs]

One variable maybe a timeshift over a program boundary.

Yes, I did wonder about that, although I seem to remember creating a very long timeshift recording across multiple boundaries ages ago and posting about it.

Maybe I'll find it, maybe not.

 

[adm]

Yes, I did wonder about that, although I seem to remember creating a very long timeshift recording across multiple boundaries ages ago and posting about it.

Maybe I'll find it, maybe not.

I just done a hour long timeshift spanning 3 program boundaries whilst the box was on pause. I also have the box configured for permanent timeshift. No problems seen by me with 5.4.004
I have an internal disk.

 

[ccs]

I tried again, (checking something else), and saw exactly what happened in post #1.

 

[Mickkie]

Good to know others have noticed the same problem and my hardware is not failing.

I managed to capture the intermittent timeshift malfunction in a debug log.

Timestamp 1437.0571 - Started playing a Newsnight recording.

Timestamp 2157.7096 - Stopped the recording and TV starts playing

Timestamp 2161.7479 - I PAUSE the live TV, the screen goes black

After a few seconds, less than a minute, I press PLAY more than once, but the screen remains black. REWIND, FORWARD and more PLAY elicit no response. Eventually I press STOP To return to the live TV transmission.

This problem does not happen every time, but pretty much describes the malfunction I have encountered. I'm not sure if something like this was happening with release 5.4.003 and I did not noticed it.

I've checked if crossing a program boundary is responsible and it doesn't seem to be related. Earlier today I was able to press < to return to the start of the timeshift in the previous program.

 

[adm]

Timestamp 1437.0571 - Started playing a Newsnight recording.
Timestamp 2157.7096 - Stopped the recording and TV starts playing
Timestamp 2161.7479 - I PAUSE the live TV, the screen goes black

After a few seconds, less than a minute, I press PLAY more than once, but the screen remains black. REWIND, FORWARD and more PLAY elicit no response. Eventually I press STOP To return to the live TV transmission.

Now I have seen the fault.

I followed the above sequence but with possibly only a minute per mode. On pause I didn't get a blank screen - just a snapshot of what was being displayed on the screen at the time of pressing pause.
Box now locks-up showing this same snapshot image - play , fwd rewind has no effect. After a while in this mode I get the OPENVIX screen saver logo, but still over the snapshot image.
To get back to live TV the record stop button has to be pressed.
Afterwards the pause button has no effect UNTIL the live TV channel is changed.

I don't know if it related but recently when pausing live TV the pause/play button often has to be pressed twice before the delayed program will play again.


I can now repeat the fault

View attachment Enigma2_debug_2021-01-19_14-26-30.zip

 

[Joe_90]

I quite often get a frozen image on-screen when pausing playback. I presumed it was something to do with flaky Gigablue drivers (GB Quad Plus), but others are now experiencing this, it seems. How I get out of this situation is I press the "1" or "3" buttons to jump 15 seconds backwards or forwards in the file and it usually sorts the issue out. My other half has to do this quite often on soaps recorded on CH5 HD. I thought maybe it was due to the I frame setup being different on CH5 as I rarely see it on ITV HD, but maybe it's a bug! It's not just on timeshift - I see this on recorded programmes also and it pre-dates 5.4 for me.

 

[Mickkie]

OK, the plot thickens ...

I have set up timeshift to kick in after 4 seconds. As I was watching yet-another recording and stopped the video playback, I started watching whatever was on BBC1 HD. A minute or two later I realised I missed something 'important' at the beginning, so I tried to rewind. I got an icon on the screen this was not a valid keypress. After a couple of REW, FREW, I gave up and pressed 1. Still nothing, I couldn't get back to the start of the timeshift. So, I looked at the front of the Mut@nt and realised there was NO timeshift LED symbol showing. :-/

Question: Why would timeshift fail to start following playback of a recording, but works as expected when I switch channels?

 

[Joe_90]

I have never seen timeshift working on my enigma boxes in a similar fashion to Sky boxes. I have always had to press play/pause first, wait about 10 seconds, then I can FF or REW (or, more usually, jump with the numeric keys) to get at an earlier point in the timeshift buffer. This is with permanent timeshift set.

 

[adm]

I have never seen timeshift working on my enigma boxes in a similar fashion to Sky boxes. I have always had to press play/pause first, wait about 10 seconds, then I can FF or REW (or, more usually, jump with the numeric keys) to get at an earlier point in the timeshift buffer. This is with permanent timeshift set.

Is that because sky boxes don't use the numeric keys for the jump function? An image may need to first need to know that you want to actually to operate in timeshift mode using the numeric keys rather than just changing channel using the numeric keys - hence you indicating timeshift operation by pressing pause first. Also with the timeshift buffer not permanently enabled the pause key is way to activate timeshift. It helps if there is a common mechansim for both the buffer permanently enabled or not.

My gripe with watching delayed TV via th timeshift buffer is having to use the > key (the one under the 9 key) to jump over the program boundary or else openvix is liable to restart the previous program again. AND if you press the > accidentally once too often when jumping boundaries getting back into live TV with the timeshift buffer apparently instantly cleared.

 

[Joe_90]

@adm - My apologies! My Quad Plus does work when pressing the REW key when watching live TV. I have permanent timeshift enabled on this box and it's set to kick in after 10 seconds on the channel. I think what I was remembering was when I had PTS turned off. In that instance you have to press play/pause to kick off timeshift. I have similar issues as you with the < and > keys to jump over programme boundaries - works sometimes and too easy to accidentally clear the buffer.
The freezing I see occasionally when watching either timeshift or recorded programmes, which I can clear with the number keys, must be another issue.

 

[Mickkie]

My gripe with watching delayed TV via th timeshift buffer is having to use the > key (the one under the 9 key) to jump over the program boundary or else openvix is liable to restart the previous program again. AND if you press the > accidentally once too often when jumping boundaries getting back into live TV with the timeshift buffer apparently instantly cleared.

Yes, it is easy to wipe out the timeshift buffer since E2 won't provide a warning allowing you to escape. I would think this is a needed feature since wiping the timeshift buffer is irreversible.

The behaviour described by fat-tony pressing pause (or RWD) first, waiting for some seconds and then being able to RWD/FWD/jump in the buffer, is how E2 has always behaved here too. I have set the Timeshift to start in 4 seconds, and it takes ~4sec of waiting before I can scan or jump in it. Pressing the < button after this short wait will bring me right at the start of the timeshift period, even if the Timeshift crosses multiple program boundaries.

With 5.4.004 release the Timeshift does not start at all after having played a recording and consequently there is no live buffer to rewind into, no matter how long I wait after stopping the playback of a recording. The only way to get the Timeshift working as expected is to change TV channel.

Another observation:

When I start the box from standby on a TV channel which is currently capturing a recording, the Timeshift does not start. Pausing live TV shows the Timeshift icon on the front panel LED display coming on, but I am unable to pause, RWD, or jump, into the buffer no matter how long I wait. Also, I noticed the channel number on the infobar shows three dashes, ---, instead of the channel number, while Timeshift is not working. I have checked and the setting to stop Timeshift while recording is set to No.

When I start the box on a TV channel where no recording is taking place at the time, the Timeshift works as expected.

I could capture more debug logs if those attached in previous postings don't help.

 

[ccs]

When I start the box from standby on a TV channel which is currently capturing a recording, the Timeshift does not start.

It's that what you'd expect? No point in recording a channel which is already being recorded.

 

[adm]

It's that what you'd expect? No point in recording a channel which is already being recorded.

Probably expected behaviour because it's possible to actually watch a recording and pause, fwd, rew and jump through it whilst it is still being recorded. In this case you have to find the program that is being recorded in the recorded list (where you normally find all your recordings) and if it is still being recorded the progress bar will be in red (maybe skin and settings dependant [1]). Pressing play on this in-progress recording with allow playing and timeshift functionality.

[1]
Go to your recording list and when the list is displayed
press menu → settings → show status icons in movie list = Progess (etc).

 

[Mickkie]

Probably expected behaviour because it's possible to actually watch a recording and pause, fwd, rew and jump through it whilst it is still being recorded. In this case you have to find the program that is being recorded in the recorded list (where you normally find all your recordings) and if it is still being recorded the progress bar will be in red (maybe skin and settings dependant [1]). Pressing play on this in-progress recording with allow playing and timeshift functionality.

This is not how previous releases of E2 behaved. I was able to timeshift in real time, while the same channel was being recorded. My position in the timeshift was not affected by the position in the recorded video. Example:

While watching live TV one programs nears its end and as the next program starts it also begins to be recorded according to a pre-set timer. A few minutes later I decide to pause/RWD, etc., all of which I am able to do in timeshift. If I navigate into the List of recordings and play the currently recorded program I'll start watching it from the beginning. If I now stop the playback of the recording and go back to watching the program in real time, the timeshift buffer is of course gone. I won't be able to rewind any further back than this moment, but the timeshift would work normally from this point onward.

After some exhaustive and exhausting tests I must correct some of my previous statements and confirm this bug as follows:

1. The timeshift does not work if I revert from playing a recorded program to watching live TV.
2. The only way to get the timeshift restarted following 1. is to switch channels - which is annoying if I have to do this every time I stop playing a recording.
3. Whenever I wake up the box from Standby it will retain its previous status with regards to timeshift. Which means, to have timeshift working when coming out of Standby, I have to make sure it was put into Standby with timeshift running. If not I have to repeat 2.

The same problem persists with release 5.4.005. :-(