[popy]

Hey guys.

Running DVBViewer Media Server along with Kodi 17.6.
Previously i was on Mediaportal TvServer which has done timeshifting on the server side.
With the DVBViewer PVR addon i can set an local path for timeshifting.
My idea was to use the too much RAM now from my server on my client as ramdrive and use timshifting there.

So here is my question:
Does the timeshifting file grows until ill switch a channel or i'll unpause?
Is there any limit which can be set?

thx
pOpY

[manül]

No limit. Grows indefinitely until you stop watching/switch channel. See https://github.com/manuelm/pvr.dvbviewer/issues/2

[popy]

thx for the info.
Because with that in mind, a ram drive with 8 or 16 GB makes no sense.
Than i'll will leave it on the SSD and just on "pause".

Are there any plans to implement the ring buffer?

thx
popY

[manül]

Are there any plans to implement the ring buffer?

Otherwise there wouldn't be an open issue, would it?

[popy]

Are there any plans to implement the ring buffer?

Otherwise there wouldn't be an open issue, would it? 

Thats right.
My question should be: Are there any plans to implement the ring buffer in the near future? 

[manül]

So I just had another thought about this. To recall: The main problem of limiting the ringbuffer is handling running out of disk space while the user has paused playback. The PVR has no rights to resume playback or prevent pause.

First thought: Divide the buffer limit into three different buffer files and rotate between them. In general the rotation will skip the current file (so during pause only two files are being used). Since this might overwrite not-yet-viewed data Kodi/ffmpeg might crash during playback.

Second thought: Use the current disk based buffer as a fallback in case the memory based buffer has reached it's configurable limit. I think this approach would be sufficient for most users. But "timeshift on playback" will still make the disk based buffer kick in quite regularly.

Third thought: Combine both. Divide the buffer limit into two memory based buffers. Use the disk based in case both memory based buffers contain not-yet-viewed data. This will prevent using the disk based buffers if "timeshift on playback" is enabled. So this aproach also fixes the problem of thought #2.

[popy]

thx, for your thought's.
I'll think also thought three is the best to go, but also most work to implement.

Woudn't it be easier to implement thougth #1 with a small change in kodi?
I am thinking of an callback/function in kodi where the pvr addon can forward the current playback of kodi a few minutes, when the pvr addon runs out of timeshift buffer (ram or disk).
This forwarded time could be freed up in the timeshift buffer and used again.
With this approach ffmpeg/kodi shouldn't crash.

Maybe @ksooo could kick in regarding this?

thx
pOpY

[manül]

In general having the possibility to control the videoplayer to some sort would make the implementation easier, yeah. However I'm not sure if such callbacks would be acceptable from a coding point of view.