[SOLVED] Help: MythTV is constantly broken

[ajaxmike]

I run MythTV on an Ubuntu backend with XBMC (windows and unbuntu), Openelec, and MythTV/Unbuntu front ends. It breaks about every 6-8 weeks and I spend from 3 hours to 2 weeks without TV while I try to repair it. It is usually the BE that breaks. This has been going on for about 2 years and I have to say that MythTV is the least reliable software I have ever used since 1983, both personally and professionally (I was in IT until 2000).

Is this normal? If so I have to find another solution. Before I give up, does anyone have any suggestions?

[dgriffin]

I would seriously consider the possibility of an intermittent hardware failure. I have had MythTV version .23 running on a Shuttle XPC using Debian Squeeze (6.0) for more than three years. The only outage I have had is when the AC mains goes off for more than 25 minutes, which exceeds the capacity of my UPS.

The XPC is both backend and frontend, and I successfully use MacBook Pro, MS Windows XP, and Linus frontends without issue.

I just recently upgraded to MythTV .27-fixes, and all my hardware devices are working. The newest MS Windows version works. I haven't yet had a chance to test the MacBook front end.

Regards,

Dan

[ajaxmike]

That's an interesting thought. In the past though, there was always a software fix. It wasn't always Myth, it was sometimes Ubuntu that broke Myth.

[dgriffin]

One of the major differences between Ubuntu and Debian is the frequency of upstream software upgrades. Trade-off is somewhat rock-solid stability versus leading edge features. I figure for something like MythTV: get it working and lock it down! As long as things are working, don't mess with it.

Unfortunately you are learning that MythTV actually seems to be fairly fragile, especially with respect to changes in the underlying platform. What's frustrating is the fact the the MythTV developers consider Ubuntu as their development and testing platform, so the fact that things break would seem unexpected. However, given the slow rate at which major MythTV releases are made, maybe the developers are just as slow about upgrading their Ubuntu platform.

Dan

[ajaxmike]

Another good suggestion. TV Headend looked like a pretty difficult install so I decided to stick with Myth a while longer. I have been searching for answers and trying various things for about 8 hours now (another evening lost to MythTV) and it suddenly connected. I am now thinking it is a hardware/driver issue, which you suggested earlier. I'm not sure what I did, but I was trying to update the network driver.

I did go with 14.04 LTS to avoid unnecessary updates, but that may not have been enough.

[zaphod24]

You don't mention much about your specific configuration. You appear to be in Canada? I'm in the USA so I don't know much about the various TV offerings in Canada (satellite, cable, terrestrial). I've been using MythTV since .21 and maybe even before. I have cable from Charter. I started out with analog SD (1 tuner) and a few years ago I changed over to digital HD with an HD Homerun Prime (3 tuners). With the analog SD system I ran all-in-one backend/frontend. With digital HD, I have a backend on my desktop and frontend on a small Atom system with nvidia/vdpau.

I run Fedora and have run everything from Fedora Core 1 all the way to Fedora 21 and I get my mythtv packages from rpmfusion. I've never had any of the issues you're describing. When you say it breaks every 6-8 weeks and you spend several hours working on it, what breaks? What has to be fixed?

The worst I've seen is an occasional bug in something like tv listing fetching or commercial flagging where that specific item crashes and so you don't get new tv listings or maybe one recording gets ruined or commercials aren't flagged. Typically there is a fix for that after several weeks.

[ajaxmike]

Yes I am in Canada. I installed Myth to get rid of cable, so I am OTA using an HDHR dual tuner. My FE is also an Atom Ion (Zotac zbox) in my case. I run ubuntu on the BE.

By far the most common problem is no PVR clients running, meaning that the FE can't reach the backend. Usually I blunder around for hours implementing fixes suggested through online searches. I am never sure whether to look for help from MythTV, Openelec, xbmc/kodi, or ubuntu. The Mythtv IRC has been the most helpful, but I sometimes post and don't get an answer before I have to leave. It often takes several days before I can get someone on IRC to help, but once I do it typically gets resolved in less that an hour. Usually the problem gets resolved without me understanding what I did to fix it. I seem to recall that network issues and mysql issues figure in the resolution.

It would be fair to say many issues are related to networking and/or ubuntu. It could be said that lets Mythtv off the hook, but I don't think so. Ethernet is likely the most solid element in all of technology, so if you your product has trouble working with ethernet, then you need to change, not ethernet. Also, I switched from Fedora to ubuntu, because that was the development platform for MythTV. If ubuntu is unreliable, then Myth should switch to something else.

I appreciate your comments. Thank you.

[zaphod24]

You still haven't given a concrete example of something that breaks (quite often) and what was required to fix it. I don't think anyone can offer much in the way of suggestions or help without that information. Again, my experience has been completely different. MythTV has been rock solid and has a very high wife acceptance factor (WAF) at my house.

[ajaxmike]

I haven't kept a detailed log of each problem I have encountered over the last three years. As I said above, the most common problem is that the FE can't reach the BE. I also said above that it usually turns out to be an Ubuntu or networking problem. I haven't tracked details beyond that. Most recently, I deleted /etc/network/interfaces on the BE and rebuilt it manually and the FE suddenly connected. I have no idea what changed or why that fixed it. That's the problem I have found with myth: I am constantly shooting in the dark and usually don't know what fixed it.

The WAF in my house is close to zero; my wife would prefer if I just got rid of the HTPC and just watch OTA. Her biggest peave, when she isn't laughing at me because my TV is broken again, is the buffering, which makes it unwatchable. She leaves and watches her 39" in the other room.

By the way, my question was not to ask for help on a particular problem, but to get feedback on other users' experience. The message I got was that others are finding it reliable, so I will keep at it, try and stabilize it and lock it down.

Thanks to all.

[zaphod24]

Ok. Sounds like you have some network or hardware issues. Nobody else has a similar experience.

[stuarta]

The WAF in my house is close to zero; my wife would prefer if I just got rid of the HTPC and just watch OTA. Her biggest peave, when she isn't laughing at me because my TV is broken again, is the buffering, which makes it unwatchable. She leaves and watches her 39" in the other room.

The buffering (also seen as stuttering) combined with the inability for frontends to see the backend, points squarely at a networking issue. This commonly happens when your network connectivity between the frontend and backend is provided over either a) wifi or b) powerline networking. Find the right combination and it'll work fine for years, get it wrong and you end up where you are now

How is your network connected within your house?

[ajaxmike]

Good point stuarta, wifi and powerline could cause latency. However, I am running Gigabit Ethernet. I also upgraded to an Asus RT-N65U router, which is one of the fastest, but it probably doesn't make a difference because all traffic is on the LAN.

[hdevine]

Is your backend using a static IP? If the frontends are looking for a particular IP and it suddenly changes due to DHCP, that could cause an issue. Just my 2 cents.

Harry

[ajaxmike]

It has always been static. I am suspecting DNS issues have been the problem. All is well now, but I don't know if it will stay that way.

[bill6502]

You mentioned earlier setting up /etc/network/interfaces. That's fine, but are you sure
that /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/... isn't in use by the Network Manager.
That's the default for Ubuntu. I've used both, but never at the same time.