> I haven't had any problems with mp1e and my bt848 on a relatively old 7200 > rpm Micropolis disk connected to a 2940 narrow SCSI controller. The files > stay fairly small, so I've never had to go over 2gB. It seems to be doing > some sort of double-buffering or something, since it splits up into four > threads during the compression process. > > Even when I use the machine it tends to be OK, unless I do something to > saturate the bus like a 3d rendering benchmark. I can cheerfully copy files around, run (nice-ed) mpeg compressions and even play mp3's (using a command-line tool). However, X-windows stuff is a definate no-no... > I'm putting together a seperate machine to run two bt848 cards in order to > record multiple shows at the same time. I'm also going to be trying my luck > with one of those cheapo 40gB IDE disks. I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm using as 30G Maxtor. It works very nicely with nothing to suggest drive-related problems (e.g. mysterious pauses mid-stream as it wanders off to recalibrate). The problems arise when big files close / go inactive. ext2 then seems to a good deal of file-system structure update. It is this burst of intense system-generated head activity (quite long for big files and file-systems) that can cause the problems. The Zoran driver can (and does) manage buffers sufficient for several seconds worth of frames. However, if the disk head is hammering back and forth in the FS tables this sometimes isn't enough. Of course, it *could* also be some associated issue (lots of interrupts / locking as the drive goes very active) rather than the disk activity per se... Andrew PS Regarding use of HFS on Tivo... well looks like I wasn't hallucinating ext2's wicked ways. I *bet* they didn'tgo to HFS just for the fun of it...
