I have used VDR successfully for about 18 months now, but in the last 2 months found that stability has gone completely out of the window. It started when I tried to get the vdrsync code working to burn dvd's (never successful).

I have a Pentium P4, 2.4Ghz, 512 MB Ram, 2 x 120 GB IDE disks, with an ASUS motherboard. Cards are a TT-FF DVB-T and a Nebula DVB budget card. I had so many problems after I did a few kernel changes that I reverted to rebuilding the system from scratch. I was working on linux 2.6.4, but listening to the list I upgraded to 2.6.11 on the rebuild.

Things have not got better.

It is impossible to record anything from the budget card, which is VDR's preferred card. I get so many errors with skipped bytes to sync to a TS packet it is unwatchable. The recording makes old VCR's look good. Funny this, because the DVBT enabled television is just fine.

I tried recording just of the TT-FF card. OK, I can only record one signal at a time, but at least it will be stable, right? Wrong. It's still unstable.

For example:

May 30 22:50:22 vdr vdr[8931]: timer 1 (1 2240-0045 'Total Recall') set to event Mon 30.05.2005 22:50-00:35 'Total Recall'

May 30 22:54:11 vdr vdr[8935]: channel 1 (BBC ONE) event 22:50 'Total Recall' status 4 May 30 23:03:38 vdr vdr[8935]: channel 3 (BBC THREE) event 23:00 'Ideal'

status 4

May 30 23:07:45 vdr vdr[8991]: ERROR: unknown picture type '5'

May 30 23:07:46 vdr vdr[8991]: ERROR: unknown picture type '4'

May 30 23:11:01 vdr vdr[8931]: connect from 127.0.0.1, port 47508 - accepted May 30 23:11:01 vdr vdr[8931]: closing SVDRP connection May 30 23:16:50 vdr vdr[8991]: ERROR: unknown picture type '5'

May 30 23:18:30 vdr last message repeated 5 times May 30 23:18:51 vdr last message repeated 2 times May 30 23:21:02 vdr vdr[8931]: connect from 127.0.0.1, port 43811 - accepted May 30 23:21:02 vdr vdr[8931]: closing SVDRP connection May 30 23:25:15 vdr vdr[8991]: ERROR: unknown picture type '5'

May 30 23:25:15 vdr vdr[8991]: initiating emergency exit May 30 23:25:15 vdr vdr[8991]: ERROR: unknown picture type '4'

May 30 23:25:15 vdr vdr[8991]: initiating emergency exit May 30 23:25:15 vdr vdr[8991]: ERROR: unknown picture type '5'

May 30 23:25:15 vdr vdr[8991]: initiating emergency exit May 30 23:25:16 vdr vdr[8931]: emergency exit requested - shutting down May 30 23:25:16 vdr vdr[8931]: timer 1 (1 2240-0045 'Total Recall') stop May 30 23:25:16 vdr vdr[8931]: saved setup to /root/vdr/setup.conf May 30 23:25:16 vdr vdr[8931]: exiting May 30 23:25:16 vdr vdr[8931]: emergency exit!

My recording stops in the middle with an unknown picture type. At this point, nothing I do other than reboot will restore VDRAdmin (probably the most important feature of VDR IMHO).

I have tried VDR 1.3.25, I have reverted to 1.3.20. I have taken the latest versions of firmware, I have reverted to those that came with the card.

Am I alone in thinking that, for anyone who wants to actually watch TV, the answer is a SKY+ box. Please, god forbid it should come to that.

What am I doing wrong here?

HELP !

Adrian P Challinor

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