Timeshift still always on in TV Server? (1 Viewer)

[backslash]

Is Timeshift still always on in the new TV Engine? Can it be toggled via Remote?

This was/is the main reason for me not moving to the new TV Engine.

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[Muldini]

Hi,

Timeshift (Buffer/Stream) won't be toggleable in TV-Engine 3, it's what it's based on by design. I also don't see any disadvantages so why would you want it turned off?

Kind Regards,
Muldini

 

[backslash]

Hi,

Timeshift (Buffer/Stream) won't be toggleable in TV-Engine 3, it's what it's based on by design. I also don't see any disadvantages so why would you want it turned off?

Kind Regards,
Muldini

The disadvantages are permanent harddisc acivity, fragmentation and slow system if not used exclusively as a media system. Furthermore i could imagine that the lifetime of the hd gets decreased too.

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[mrkaras]

as the HDD platers spin constantly regardless of amount of usage, I don't think using or not using them makes any difference. if your disks turn of after a short period of inactivity, I think lots of starts/stops would be worse than just leaving it running. I think the movement of the read head is insignificant to HDDs breaking.

 

[Lardy]

I would also prefer the option to toggle timeshift on/off.

 

[Muldini]

The disadvantages are permanent harddisc acivity, fragmentation and slow system if not used exclusively as a media system. Furthermore i could imagine that the lifetime of the hd gets decreased too.

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Ok, you got me there Didnt even waste a thought about the HDD since I'm using an old 40 GB one for that. But anyway, even if it was a new one I really wouldnt bother thinking about it's life time, specially not since you said it's not exclusively used as a media station so it's not permanently writing to the HDD either. If fragmentation is really an issue for you, I'd suggest creating a (small) partition to be used for timeshifting/buffering only.
Fragmentation has never been an issue here, even when I wasn't using the seperate disk yet.

You have to look at the advantages that buffering in the new Tv-engine makes possible, atleast in a multiseat enviroment, and the problems it would cause to change the behavior. All that beside the immense amount of work it would take to change it since - saying this again - it is what the new Tv-engine is based on by design.

I don't see it being changed.

Kind Regards,
Muldini

 

[dobbley]

I have tried the new TV engine a couple of times now, and taken it off again because I find the constant hard drive access noise too intrusive in the living room at night or during quiet scenes.

Would it be possible to have a really small (say 50MB) timeshift buffer in a RAM disk, to avoid hard disc access?

Dobbley

 

[infinite.loop]

Furthermore i could imagine that the lifetime of the hd gets decreased too.

i can ensure you that MediaPortal will not decrease the lifetime of your HDD

Would it be possible to have a really small (say 50MB) timeshift buffer in a RAM disk, to avoid hard disc access?

never tried.
just create it and define it as target for the timeshiftbuffer files.
then set the max size + amout of timeshiftfiles

you could also try to use an USB2 Stick for timeshiftbuffer files.

but again, his has never been tested

 

[dobbley]

you could also try to use an USB2 Stick for timeshiftbuffer files.

Think I saw that this had been tried but was too slow to keep up due to flash write speeds.

just create it and define it as target for the timeshiftbuffer files.
then set the max size + amout of timeshiftfiles

Cheers. Tried this with AR RAM disk and it worked a treat. Had to use emulate hard disk mode, as RAMDISK mode did not work.

The only problem is obviously that the timeshift is too short to be useful. It would be excellent if it was possible to have two modes, like the old timeshift on/off. With it off the buffer is written to a smallish file in RAM. Guess it would be best if this was integrated inside MP to avoid the setup faffing. When the picture is paused the files are swapped out to a hard disk, a larger timeshift buffer used, and the timeshift indicator toggled on. Finally it could be reset back to RAM by toggling timeshift off again.

If something like this was implemented it would remove the only barrier I have to moving over to the new TV engine.

Cheers,
Dobbley

 

[Laban]

Guess it would be best if this was integrated inside MP to avoid the setup faffing.

I'd like that idea too. I have 4 Gb of RAM and could easily see myself using, well, 500 Mb if necessary for timeshifting.

An even better solution is of course:

http://www.adtron.com/products/A25fb-SerialATAFlashDisk.html

No sound, blazing fast accesstimes. VERY low power usage, heat.. Still a bit to expensive. But that can change very fast. Just look at the prices for SD cards for cameras, mobile phones.