Advice needed for ramdisk timeshiftbuffer

[KevL]

TV-Server Version: 1.0 RC1 +SVN 05-31-2008--14-18-Rev19228s
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 RC1 +SVN 05-31-2008--14-18-Rev19228
MediaPortal Skin: Blue Two 0.9.2.0
Windows Version: winxp mce2005 build 2600.xpsp080413-2111: SP3
CPU Type: Athlon 4850e
HDD: Seagate 7200rpm 400GB, 200GB, 400GB
Memory: 4GB DDR2
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H Bios F4
Video Card: onboard HD3200
Video Card Driver: Catlayst 8.5
Sound Card: Oboard Realtek
Sound Card AC3: optical SPDIF out
Sound Card Driver: 5.10.0.5532
1. TV Card: Blackgold BTG 3540 6in1
1. TV Card Type: DVB-T x 2 , DVB-S x 2
1. TV Card Driver: 6.0.0.25
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink Power DVD 7.0 Delux
MPEG2 Audio Codec: AC3Filter 1.46
h.264 Video Codec: CoreAVC 1.7.0.0
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Digital Terrestrial, Multisat motorised system
HTPC Case: Antec Fusion
Cooling: Zalmann (huge copper thing)
Power Supply: 320W Antec Fusion
Remote: Harmony via USB UIRT
TV: Pioneer Kuro PDP508
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI



Hi


Am trying to get MP to work on my pc.

I have 4GB in my pc and am running XP 32bit so this is about my limit.

I have created a 1GB ram disk. I suppose I could make it 2GB - havent tried that yet.

I see in the MP config that the time shift buffer can be set to point at any drive. So I set mine to point at the root of my R: drive (the ramdisk).

I have a TV card with 6 tuners on it . I only plan on using the 2 DVB-T and 2 DVB-S tuners. The anlogue tuners sound too much like hard work so I wont be using them.

So I have 4 sources.

In the MP TV config program the time shift buffer has a number of things one can set.

Min files,
Max files,
Size of files.

In my setup resumably I dont need more than 4 files as I have no more than 4 sources and then only if I want to time shift 4 channels at once????????


So should I set say

Min files 4
Max files 4
Size of files 256MB

To give 1GB usage?????

I dont really use the time shift function at all (I never pause live video etc) but if I dont use the ram disk then my pc makes a serious din. Have been having some serious crashes of late and am trying to work out how to set this stuff up. After a crash I have never seen more than 100MB of files in the R: drive.

I cant find any info about best settings for this.


I have set my files to be recorded to hard disk when I actually want a recording - I just put ear defenders on.


Kev




.

[revs]

Originally Posted by KevL

I dont really use the time shift function at all

The timshifting is always active, whether you pause/rewind/record or not! When yu select a channel to wach, MP starts to timeshift it, and then starts to play the timeshifted file. i.e. what you see if the timeshifted file, not the video direct from the DVB card.

Regarding the number of files, I believe that the idea is that many smaller files are easier to timeshift than one big one, i.e. instead of one big file, its broken up into manageable chunks (this is just theory, someone more knowledgeable should confirm this!)

If you RAM disk is 1GB, then I would not make 4x 256MB files - thats cutting it a bit too close! I would wither make the ramdisk a bit bigger, or make the files smaller. I know you mention it never going above 100MB, but it may just seem like that (file being cleaned up after crash?)

What I have done is simply put my timeshifting files on a old 80GB laptop SATA HD. Its completely silent (being a laptop drive) and works well.

[Paranoid Delusion]

Or get yourself one of these Memoright SSD MR25.2-032S : Memoright SSDs: The End of Hard Drives?

Should be able to run windows and timeshift silently.

Think i'll wait until the price comes down

[KevL]

Yes the SSDs are very fast, silent but expensive. I think I read somwhere that flash drives are ok as place to read and write files now and again but they are bad as places to hold swap files and timeshift type files as the memory cells have a limited no. of read write cycles before they degrade. Not sure how many times they can be cycled but something like a timeshift buffer would task them a great deal.

Kev

[ronilse]

Hi,
Just remember the max/min settings are pr card, so it will be more since you have 4.

Regards
Roy

[KevL]

Thanks for that key info Ronilse. Looks like my 1GB ram disk plan was off the mark. Need more Ram and only a 64bit OS will allow me to address more.

Regards


Kev

[rickyman]

i want to know if i can put timeshift file on the usb drive or not?

[bolders]

rickyman

I tried this the other day with an 8GB usb pen drive and yes it does work. However I found that there was a glitch in live TV every time a new buffer file was created. Would be interesting to hear if others experience this glitch or if its peculiar to my setup.

Also out of interest. Can somebody explain to me why I cant timeshift/record to a UNC path or to a mapped network drive. I remember this was not possible using the MS SBE that is implemented in the old TV server but I hopped this problem would go away when I switched to the new TV server. Ideally I would like to dump all large HDs out of my media PC and change the boot drive to a 2.5" laptop drive to reduce noise.

cheers

bolders

[fryrpc]

I too was not interested in actual timeshifting so I have mine set as minimum = 1 / maximum = 2 / size = 25mb - so usually only uses 50mb
I have 500mb RAM drive. If that sounds strange the reason is that I have found that changing channels and having multiple clients causes a new time shift stream to start and the old ones continue until Mediaportal is closed.

[KevL]

I tried this the other day with an 8GB usb pen drive and yes it does work. However I found that there was a glitch in live TV every time a new buffer file was created. Would be interesting to hear if others experience this glitch or if its peculiar to my setup.

flash drives are much slower than hard disks (a factor of 2 or so). Also they have a limited number of read write cycles so they might wear out fairly quickly - though newer ones can be used in vista for swap files so maybe lifetime is no longer an issue.

I only tried the ram disk thing because it is quiet. My SATA seagate drives are quite noisy and the heads make quite a loud clicking noise. They are also not AAM friendly so the normal slient drive apps dont seem to make any difference.

When I'm rich I will buy an SSD but they are really expensive at the moment.

Some of the WD drives are noted for being almost silent though seek times are 15mS so they are not fast. Fast enough though for AV files.



Kev