[pvrusb2] pvrusb2 timeout?

[Dan Bodoh]

On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 8:20 AM, Mike Isely <isely at isely.net> wrote:

> So it recovered in the middle of the recording?  That I do not
> understand.  If the mpeg encoder died at the beginning and the driver
> failed to detect this at that point, then I'm at a loss for what trigger
> could have caused the driver to later on detect the dead encoder.
>
> It's important to figure out at what point during the streaming that it
> timed-out.  If it was right at the beginning, then the driver is failing
> to detect this known condition.  If it was in the middle, then you are
> seeing a new type of failure not previously noticed.

I think that the streaming times out at the beginning, and the driver
is not detected that condition.

Hopefully this will help.

I've edited and interleaved the Mythbackend and the kernel pvrusb2
logs below for two different recordings during the time period that I
had this problem.

First, as you mentioned earlier, this type of message appears often in
the kernel log, even when I am not experiencing any problems.  I'm
calling this the "stuck warning".

    Aug 17 17:59:57 mythbox kernel: [831389.816433] pvrusb2:
***WARNING*** device's encoder appears to be stuck (status=0x00000003)
    Aug 17 17:59:57 mythbox kernel: [831389.816442] pvrusb2: Encoder
command: 0x81
    Aug 17 17:59:57 mythbox kernel: [831389.816445] pvrusb2: Giving up
on command.  It is likely that this is a bad idea...
    Aug 17 17:59:57 mythbox kernel: [831389.816450] pvrusb2: Error
recovery initiated
    Aug 17 17:59:57 mythbox kernel: [831389.816454] pvrusb2: Retrying
device reconfiguration

Interestingly, during the time period of the problems, I *NEVER* got
this exact stuck warning, even though it is a very common message
before and after the problematic time period.  I do get a similar
message sometimes in mid-stream, which fixes the stream as shown
below.

So here's the interleaved logs for the first show that failed.  But
there's actually nothing to interleave from the pvrusb2 kernel log
(not even at the beginning of the recording)!  It doesn't appear to
detect that it is stuck.  And when I attempt to view this "recording"
in mythtv, there's no MPEG file present.

2008-08-18 17:00:01.641 Started recording: 30-Minute Meals "Coldie,
But a Goodie": channel 1032 on cardid 3, sourceid 1
2008-08-18 17:00:06.621 MPEGRec(/dev/pvrusb2) Error: select timeout -
ivtv driver has stopped responding
                    (lots of these MPEGRec errors deleted)
2008-08-18 17:30:05.082 MPEGRec(/dev/pvrusb2) Error: select timeout -
ivtv driver has stopped responding
2008-08-18 17:30:05.117 Finished recording 30-Minute Meals "Coldie,
But a Goodie": channel 1032

Now in this second recording.   27 minutes into this show, pvrusb2
does its error recover.  Note that this message from pvrusb2 is
similar, but not exactly like the "stuck warning".  So it's coming
from a different part of the code.  When I view this recording, I do
indeed see the last 3 minutes of the show.  Again, pvrusb2 did not
make any attempt with a stuck warning at the beginning of the stream.

2008-08-18 20:59:57.170 Started recording: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
"Totally Unexpected": channel 1032 on cardid 3, sourceid 1
2008-08-18 21:00:02.086 MPEGRec(/dev/pvrusb2) Error: select timeout -
ivtv driver has stopped responding
2008-08-18 21:27:33.218 MPEGRec(/dev/pvrusb2) Error: select timeout -
ivtv driver has stopped responding
    Aug 18 21:27:33 mythbox kernel: [855076.394154] pvrusb2: Encoder
timed out waiting for us; arranging to retry
    Aug 18 21:27:33 mythbox kernel: [855076.394165] pvrusb2: Encoder
command: 0x81
    Aug 18 21:27:33 mythbox kernel: [855076.394170] pvrusb2: Error
recovery initiated
    Aug 18 21:27:33 mythbox kernel: [855076.394174] pvrusb2: Retrying
device reconfiguration
       (no more MPEGRec error messages!)
2008-08-18 21:30:00.114 Finished recording Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
"Totally Unexpected": channel 1032

During this time period of problems, I did not get a single complete
recording.  I either got no recording, or a partial recording.    All
partial recordings show the error recovery at the point the stream
finally successfully starts.

Dan Bodoh