[mythtv-users] Occasional vertical pars appearing in picture

[Buchanan, Paul]

On Friday, January 09, 2004 9:39 AM, mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
wrote: 
> I'm not certain if this is a MythTv issue, per se, but I'll put it out
> there anyway.
> 
> Every so often, maybe weekly, the picture in recorded shows or when
> watching live TV will have a series of vertical bars in the
> background. They're like a light reddish or maybe a pink hue.  If I
> reboot, the problem seems to go away.  But, the bars are definitely
> recorded into shows.  The picture is watchable, but very annoying.
> 
> I'm using MythTv 0.12.  Also, my capture card is a Hauppauge PVR-250.
> I'm using an IvyTV driver from maybe 2 or 3 months ago.
> 
> My first thought was that maybe its heat related.  I have an Antec
> Sonata case with 2 120mm fans running and there seems to be excellent
> ventilation in there.  I even tried putting one of those little fans
> that sits in a PCI slot directly below the card and that doesn't seem
> to help.  Also, the box is in my basement, where for the last few
> days it 
> has been pretty cold.  I don't have any other typical heat related
> symptoms like random system crashes or the like.  When I pop the cover
> it doesn't seem unusually warm in there.
> 
> I thought maybe the capture card is bad, but it would seem like it
> wouldn't be something that pops up every week or two and goes away
> with 
> a reboot.
> 
> Has anyone out there had a similar problem?  I'm getting pretty
> frustrated because it seems like a heat-related symptom where there
> doesn't seem to be a heat related problem.
> 
> Mike
> 
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This is a known issue with the Hauppage firmware.  It seems to be some sort
of grounding issue with the input signal.  The solution to this that I am
currently using is to set up a cron job to set your signal input from the
one you are using to another, and then back again.  To do this, just call
test_ioctl with the appropriate parameters.  I am not running a very current
version of ivtv, so newer versions may not have this issue.  I have also
noticed that when running the pvr-250 at max resolution and bitrate, the
bars do not seem to crop up.

Paul