On Mon, 2 Mar 2009 08:50:42 -0800 VDR User user.vdr@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 8:39 AM, Gavin Hamill gdh@acentral.co.uk wrote:
My 2c...
RAM is cheap - just add some RAM and use a memory-based filesystem like tmpfs? Then there would be no special handling required from VDR since the 'livebuffer' file is part of the directory tree like any other file.
Not a bad idea really as long as nothing else needs ram. I recorded 70mins worth of 1080i HDTV the other day and total size was about 3.5G. 4GB is about $35-$40 for DDR2-800 so it's not too expensive. I usually take advantage of mail-in-rebates so I've actually got a few 2x2GB kits here that I haven't paid more then $20 for each and all my boxes have at least 4GB in them already.
Is it possible to resize the live buffer is another app needs more ram?
For boxstar I was thinking of having the live buffer in RAM to save writing to the HD, and even wondered about having it in the player front-end instead of the server. Both approaches have their pros and cons.
The beauty of virtual memory is that it works both ways. An application written to use a file can have the file cached in RAM and one written to use RAM can have it swapped to disc if the RAM is needed for something else.
But I wonder, does writing to the HD really shorten its life significantly compared to constant spinning or frequently being spun up and down?