MediaPortal EPG constantly grabbing? (1 Viewer)

[bushbrother]

TV-Server Version: 1.0.2.0
MediaPortal Version: 1.0.2.0
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Vista x32 SP1
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G
Video Card: ATI HD3200 Integrated
1. TV Card: Pinnacle 7010ix
1. TV Card Type: DVB-S & DVB-T

All,

I am using ForTheRecord to interface to the MediaPortal tuners and have come accross a problem which I have been discussing on the FTR forum HERE.

It seems after alot of looking at SQL server queries etc. that MediaPortal is constantly grabbing EPG data and never stopping, thus causing the standby timer to always be reset so the PC never sleeps.

I have my EPG grabber set to 30 mins timeout and a 240 minute refresh, I also allow it to EPG grab when idle and when timeshifting, finally it is set to try and fill holes and to update existing entries. i have tried changing these settings but it still seems to do the same thing. One other not is that I use the modified TSWriter.ax file from DJBlu to grab the EPG from Sky in UK.

I first thought that the EPG was taking a long time, but I have left this running for 2 whole days and it is still populating EPG data which is causing FTR plugin to copy this to its database. Is this a known problem? Do I have a wrong configuration?

 

[ronilse]

Hi,
What happens if you use a clean install of MP without ForTheRecord, does it still do it then?

Regards
Roy

 

[bushbrother]

Hi,
What happens if you use a clean install of MP without ForTheRecord, does it still do it then?

Regards
Roy

Hi Roy,

Well I am not sure about the constant grabbing but I assume it is, if I uninstall FTR then it will standby again as it is the database sync between MP and FTR that keeps the PC awake.

Could it be related to THIS POST where the tuner is never made free again. I was thinking maybe FTR is assuming it should continue to sync as it is still held as grabbing. I did not want to use 1.1 untill it is a final release ...

 

[ronilse]

Hi,
Could be, not seen it here but not using FTR either & comp standby/wakeup as it should, only you can tell if you update to MP 1.1 beta & check
Maybe someone else uses the same & can reply here.

Regards
Roy

 

[c0ffee]

Hi,

I'm suffering from this issue, too. When using MediaPortal (1.0.2 or 1.1.0_BETA-1_rev23491), FTR (1.4.0.1) and grabbing EPG from my DVB-C card, the system will never go into standby.
I've tracked down this issue to have two causes (1st is a FTR isse, 2nd a TV Server issue):

1. FTR plugin for TV Server is pushing DVB EPG data to FTR core services way to slow
   The part of FTR plugin, which pushes DVB EPG data to FTR core services is implemented in
   DvbEpgThread.cs.
   On my system, the notification via

   AutoResetEvent _newProgramsToImportEvent[CODE] (line 43, 61, 124) does not seem to work properly. The body of the main while loop (line 101 and following) is only executed once every 60 seconds, even if there is new guide data added via [CODE]ImportProgramsAsync

   (line 51). When having many TV channels with EPG data, FTR plugin requires quite a lot of time to push all guide data to FTR core services. You can see this in the tv.log: over hours, FTR plugin imports some guide data into FTR core services every 60 seconds. While this import takes place, FTR blocks suspend. But before the import is completed, the DVB EPG grab timeout kicks in (mine is set at 240 minutes) and all starts from the beginning.
   I have reduced the

   interval

   (line 51) to 1000 (msec), which lead to a much faster processing of DVB EPG data. Now, FTR has imported all guide data long before the DVB EPG grab timout expires. Unfortunately even now, my system won't go into standby.
   
2. TV Server constantly preventing standby after DVB EPG grab
   Using the latest beta of MCE standby tool, one can see (on tab Win Idle), if one process actively prevents standby (I assume, by calling

   SetThreadExecutionState(ES_CONTINUOUS|ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED)

   ). I found TV server being the one, which prevents standby.
   
   I disabled FTR plugin in TV Server to make sure, it is not the culprit and stopped TV Server (MediaPortal client was not running at that time, no other plugins (e.g. PowerScheduler) were enabled in TV Server configuration). Now, no one blocks standby according to MCE standby tool.
   After starting TV Server, the situation remains the same: standby is not blocked. TV Server did not start grabbing DVB EPG data in between, because the last grab took place not that long in the past.
   I launched TV Server configuration and forced a EPG refresh. Now TV Server begins to grab DVB EPG data and MCE standby tool tells me, a process is blocking standby (which is ok).
   But after TV Server finished EPG grabbing, it still seems to prevent standby. MCE standby tool still shows, that someone blocks standby (and the system does not go into standby automatically).
   Now i opened windows' control panel and stopped the TV Service: Hooray, no one blocks standby any more and the sytem will go into standby automatically.

So my guess is: The TV Server blocks standby while grabbing DVB EPG data (which is desireable!), but somehow does not manage to release this blocking after it finishes grabbing DVB EPG data. Unfortunately, I'm not firm with the TV Server codebase. The only references to

SetThreadExecutionState(ES_CONTINUOUS|ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED)

I've found, were in the source of PowerScheduler plugin. But as this is disabled on my system, this code should not be executed. Am I right?

I've attached epg.log and tv.log from my TV Server. At 2010-01-03 11:23:48.687500 I assume, DVB EPG grabbing has finished. But TV Server still prevented standby from that time on until I restarted it.

Hope this bug report helps to fix this issue. If there is other useful information I can give, I'll be glad to provide it.

Regards
Heiko

 

[c0ffee]

Hi,

I've investigated further on issue 2) (TV Server constantly preventing standby after DVB EPG grab).
This seems not to be related to DVB EPG grab, but to the usage of my DVB-C card.

I've disabled DVB-EPG grabbing in TV Server completely and restarted it. MCE standby tool shows, that no one prevents the system from entering into standby automatically. If I preview a TV channel in the TV Server configuration, things change: someone blocks automatic standby (which is ok, as long, as the video is displayed). But if I close the video window, someone still blocks automatic standby according to MCE standby tool.

I have no clue, if this is the device driver of my DVB-C card, the TV Server not releasing it properly or the TV Server itself.
However, if TV Server is idle, I can use my DVB-C card in other TV applications (A stripped down version of DvbViewer, that came with the card).

Regards
Heiko

 

[c0ffee]

Hi,

I figured out, why TV Server blocks standby on my system. I've opened a new support thread for this issue.

Regards
Heiko