[confirm] Problem with Timeshift on Ramdisk (1 Viewer)

[Marvman]

Hi Guys,

I changed the size check in MP.

Can anybody pls, check the fix.

Interesting is multi seat and multi card setups, cause that's what I can't test.

 

[doveman]

Hi Marvman

Could you just explain briefly what this fix does.

Thanks.

 

[Marvman]

Hi Marvman

Could you just explain briefly what this fix does.

Thanks.

Hi Doveman (man another hero here^^)

check this mantis entry 0002751: Free disk space check with time shifting on limited drives USB/Hard Drive/Ramdisk. - MediaPortal Bugtracker

 

[doveman]

Cheers. I'll give this a go.

Does this mean that we can forget about the multiple-tuner factor now? I mean when setting the timeshifting filesize/number of files do we only have to allow for one set of files at a time, so that for example on a 500MB ramdisk, when can set 5*100MB regardless of how many tuners we have?

 

[Marvman]

I think not, you need for each tuner the same space (500MB * N-cards), but I can't say for sure cause I have only one card.

 

[arion_p]

You need [max file size]*[min files]*[number of concurrent timeshifting users].

 

[doveman]

And with a single-seat system, is it the case that [number of concurrent timeshifting users] would always be 1?

 

[arion_p]

Yes that is correct.

But the true story is that every user will use one set of TS files per tuner. But when a user switches from one tuner to another the ts files for the previous tuner will be deleted. However they are not deleted immediately because of locking issues and also because tuning using the new tuner might fail. So for a brief period a single user may use more than 1 set of TS files.

 

[elliottmc]

Hi Arion_p,

That is a very good point. So it may be that even with a ramdisk that 'should' be big enough, it might still fail.

Is there an 'official' team policy for whether timeshifting to a ramdisk is supported? It may be that this is one of those features where 'if it works for you, good luck, otherwise sorry'. Of course, I don't speak on behalf of the team, so this is just an opinion/question/comment.

Also, please don't interpret this comment as me suggesting that we should not incorporate this fix. I will be testing it personally over the weekend, and I would say that if it improves the situation for some users and has no negatives then that would be good.

It is worth pointing out that 2.5" hard drives are coming down in price, and there are many solutions for putting a 2.5" drive into a 3.5" bay in a silencing enclosure. I have done exactly this in my living room PC, and don't get any noise from the drive.

Best wishes,

Mark

 

[Owlsroost]

Yes that is correct.

But the true story is that every user will use one set of TS files per tuner. But when a user switches from one tuner to another the ts files for the previous tuner will be deleted. However they are not deleted immediately because of locking issues and also because tuning using the new tuner might fail. So for a brief period a single user may use more than 1 set of TS files.

What happens in the situation when recordings are in progress, so live TV viewing creates sub-channels - can this cause file locking problems e.g. files can't be deleted untill all activity on a tuner has stopped ? (this has been a problem in some earlier versions of MP).

In other words, if there are 2 tuners available & both are recording, what is the maximum number of timeshift buffer file sets that could exist (per user) when viewing live TV & channel hopping in this situation ?

Tony

It is worth pointing out that 2.5" hard drives are coming down in price, and there are many solutions for putting a 2.5" drive into a 3.5" bay in a silencing enclosure. I have done exactly this in my living room PC, and don't get any noise from the drive.

Best wishes,

Mark

I have the same setup for the same (noise) reasons, but I find using a ramdisk for timeshifting seems to make MP less prone to occasional stutters and fell more responsive (but it might just be placeabo effect ).

Tony