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* IDE DVD reading & error handling
@ 2003-03-04 18:20 Mathias Kretschmer
  2003-03-04 22:59 ` Alan Cox
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 3+ messages in thread
From: Mathias Kretschmer @ 2003-03-04 18:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-kernel

Hello,

Is there a way to optimize the IDE layer to handle DVD
read errors more gracefully ?

Most used DVDs (borrowed from a local library, etc.) seem to have some 
defects. Those cause the IDE layer to get stuck for quite a while, 
interrupting the movie playback. It might be better to just return an 
error for that sector and let the player software continue.

I wonder if it would be possible to tune the IDE layer by i.e.
reducing the number of retries and disabling the controller reset, etc.

I haven't fiddle with the below numbers, yet. Just wondering if that
could improve the situation, or if there are any other tricks that one 
could play here ?

/*
  * Probably not wise to fiddle with these
  */
#define ERROR_MAX       8       /* Max read/write errors per sector */
#define ERROR_RESET     3       /* Reset controller every 4th retry */
#define ERROR_RECAL     1       /* Recalibrate every 2nd retry */

Cheers,

Mathias

PS: Also which DVD ROM do people recommended in general ?
     Which one seems to have a decent error correction scheme
     not just a high read speed?


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: IDE DVD reading & error handling
  2003-03-04 22:59 ` Alan Cox
@ 2003-03-04 22:55   ` Mathias Kretschmer
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Mathias Kretschmer @ 2003-03-04 22:55 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Alan Cox; +Cc: Linux Kernel Mailing List

> I think its perfectly doable to set the maximum retries per
> device. Have a look at the current ide_error() and the error: handler
> in the relevant ide drivers (notably ide-cd).
> 
> 
>>I wonder if it would be possible to tune the IDE layer by i.e.
>>reducing the number of retries and disabling the controller reset, etc.
> 
> 
> A lot of the time you have to go through the controller reset. However 
> cutting the retries down and having good readahead management on the
> I/O thread ought to still cope with that.

that's what I'm hoping for :)

Would it also be possible/make sense to never switch from DMA to PIO 
mode since those DVD read errors are most likely not a DMA problem ?



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: IDE DVD reading & error handling
  2003-03-04 18:20 IDE DVD reading & error handling Mathias Kretschmer
@ 2003-03-04 22:59 ` Alan Cox
  2003-03-04 22:55   ` Mathias Kretschmer
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 3+ messages in thread
From: Alan Cox @ 2003-03-04 22:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: mathias.kretschmer; +Cc: Linux Kernel Mailing List

On Tue, 2003-03-04 at 18:20, Mathias Kretschmer wrote:
> Is there a way to optimize the IDE layer to handle DVD
> read errors more gracefully ?

I think its perfectly doable to set the maximum retries per
device. Have a look at the current ide_error() and the error: handler
in the relevant ide drivers (notably ide-cd).

> I wonder if it would be possible to tune the IDE layer by i.e.
> reducing the number of retries and disabling the controller reset, etc.

A lot of the time you have to go through the controller reset. However 
cutting the retries down and having good readahead management on the
I/O thread ought to still cope with that.

As to drives I'm using a mix of drives. Old 1x and 2x speed DVD drives
are very cheap so its a good way to get multiple regions cheaply, and
saves breaking the DMCA in the US 8)


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2003-03-04 22:43 UTC | newest]

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2003-03-04 18:20 IDE DVD reading & error handling Mathias Kretschmer
2003-03-04 22:59 ` Alan Cox
2003-03-04 22:55   ` Mathias Kretschmer

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