[mythtv-users] HD-3000 and PVR-350 on an Asus A7N8X-E

Sat Nov 13 21:29:45 UTC 2004

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 10:52:11 -0700, John Patrick Poet
<john at blueskytours.com> wrote:
> Mercury Morris wrote:
> 
> >On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 15:22:28 -0700 (MST), John Patrick Poet
> ><john at blueskytours.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>On Fri, 12 Nov 2004, Mercury Morris wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Two HD-3000s going - that's great!  I ordered and received two,
> >>>just to have some backup and a way to compare two different
> >>>systems.  I only have one system, but anticipating rough going
> >>>I'm ready to put a second system together if the right components
> >>>can be determined.  To that end, I'd be interested to know which
> >>>motherboard you are using.  The A7N8X-E has limited me to
> >>>one and only one PCI card installed at a time.  As soon as
> >>>I add a second card, the BIOS's voice reports, "Power On System
> >>>failed VGA test".  It says this three times to be sure I know why
> >>>nothing appears on the monitor.
> >>>
> >>>Thank you for the suggestions.  I'll get the latest driver(s) installed
> >>>and see if I can get the card to be re-detected.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>Are you sure your power supply is good enough?  A weak or "unclean"
> >>power supply can cause the kind of issue you are talking about.
> >>
> >>If you want a clean, powerful, QUIET, power supply, I can recommend either an
> >>Enermax noisetaker, or a Seasonic.  Something like:
> >>
> >>http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-151-017&depa=0
> >>http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-151-007&depa=0
> >>http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-452&depa=0
> >>
> >>I have a "ENERMAX Noisetaker 370W Power Supply" in one of my machines, and a
> >>"SeaSonic Super Silencer 460W" in the other.  Both are great power supplies.
> >>
> >>For my myth frontend box, I am using a ASUS P4S800 deluxe motherboard.
> >>Gets great reviews for a fast, reliable, cheap motherboard.  I paid $99 for
> >>it, 5 months ago.  ALSA does *not* support it's onboard audio, however.
> >>
> >>For my myth backend box, I am using a DFI LANPARTY PRO875B motherboard.  I
> >>chose it because I wanted gigabit ethernet on the CSA bus.
> >>
> >>I bought the DFI over a year ago.  At this point in time, I probably would
> >>not get the DFI, even though it has proven to be a good, stable board.  Both
> >>of my HD-3000s are installed on this board.  I also have one HD-2000, which
> >>is not working with the latest drivers.  Also, when I have my HD-2000
> >>installed, one or the other of my HD-3000s do not initialize properly on
> >>boot...
> >>
> >>The ASUS P4S800 Deluxe is still a very good board for the money -- If you
> >>want to go with an Intel processor.
> >>
> >>Currently a >=3.0GHz HT P4 is well proven to decode and display HD material
> >>with ease.  Most people have had trouble getting Athlons to decode HD
> >>material smoothly.
> >>
> >>Currently, the HD-3000 drivers do *not* work correctly in 64bit mode on
> >>AMD64 chips.  Jack is working on it.  Could be a while, however.
> >>
> >>Even so, I personally would probably go with a AMD64 setup for my
> >>mythbackend, if I were building it today.  I *believe* that as long as you
> >>run it in 32bit mode, the HD-3000 drivers should work.
> >>
> >>John
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Well, overnight, I re-thought how I came to choose the
> >combination of Antec Overture and Asus A7N8X-E,
> >just to be sure that the power supply might be a problem.
> >There were other MythTV builders that chose that combo,
> >so I kept reviewing the hardware building, etc.  Then the
> >LIGHT BULB came on over my head!  There is a BIOS
> >setting that determines the choice made for displaying
> >VGA signals.  I had never changed it from the default
> >of PCI to AGP.  User error.
> >
> >So, into the BIOS, change the setting, and no more blank
> >screen boot-up's due to VGA failures.
> >
> >Next, I moved the HD-3000 card back to Slot 2, re-installed
> >the PVR-350 in it's old position, Slot 5.  Both cards were
> >detected on the next boot-up.  BIOS's only complaint is
> >that the system seems to be overclocked, but I can't tell
> >if it is or not.
> >
> >Now for a bit more info about the HD-3000.  The "Panasonic"
> >business is suspicious.  In the pcHDTV forum, others have
> >commented on this, pointing out that it should probably be
> >"Thompson".  So this remains a mystery, but others also see
> >the "Panasonic" string and their HD-3000 doesn't work either.
> >
> >As others have posted in the pcHDTV forum, running dtvsignal
> >produces no activity, and there are the same or similar lines
> >in the system log about kernel module install errors.
> >
> >So this question: What should be found in the output of
> >the lsmod command?  All the README(s) from the pcHDTV
> >software mention only the one line in /etc/modprobe.conf
> >
> >  alias char-major-81 cx8800
> >
> >which seems to conflict with the line(s) for the PVR-350.
> >
> >There seems to be a lot more searching and reading ahead
> >before the HD-3000 will work, but Hey! it's so much more fun
> >than spending $1300 for a LG Electronics LST-3410A.
> >(I guess the LG folks have solved the modprobe problem
> >and just aren't willing to share it with MythTV builders. :-)
> >
> >--
> >MM

> I have :
> 
> alias char-major-81-0 bttv
> alias char-major-81-1 cx8800
> 
> In my modprobe.conf file.  The HD-2000 uses the bttv driver, and the
> HD-3000 uses the cx8800 driver.
> 
> I then have:
> 
> modprobe cx8800
> modprobe bttv
> 
> in my /etc/init.d/mythbackend  startup script.
> 
> When the modprobe gets called, during boot, I get:
> 
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: Linux video capture interface: v1.00
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx2388x v4l2 driver version 0.0.4 loaded
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:03:07.0[A] ->
> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: found at 0000:03:07.0, rev: 5,
> irq: 19, latency: 32, mmio: 0xee000000
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: subsystem: 7063:3000, board:
> pcHDTV HD3000 HDTV [card=14,autodetected]
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx88-video: Tuner type was unset
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx88-vidoe: Tuner type set to 46
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: i2c register ok
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: tuner: Ignoring new-style parameters in
> presence of obsolete ones
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: tuner: chip found at addr 0xc2 i2c-bus
> cx8800[0]
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: tuner: type set to 46 (Thomson DDT 7610
> ATSC/NTSC)) by cx8800[0]
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: i2c attach [client=Thomson DDT
> 7610 ATSC/NTSC)]
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: registered device video0 [v4l2]
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: registered device vbi0
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx88: registered device dtv0
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: calling setmode
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx88atsc BTATSC_SetMode Rec Status 06 20
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: cx8800[0]: pcHDTV_HD3000 calling init_dvr
> Nov 12 18:42:16 cobalt kernel: ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:03:07.2[A] ->
> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
> Nov 12 18:42:25 cobalt kernel: cx88:: 0 Version Data: 10001134-19430000
> Nov 12 18:42:25 cobalt kernel: cx88:: 1 Version Data: 10001134-19430000
> Nov 12 18:42:25 cobalt kernel: cx88:: Version: 113-4-194-3
> 
> In my /var/log/messages file.
> 
> You can also do a "modprobe cx8800 video_debug=3", to get more verbose
> messages.
> 
> Maybe some of this will help you.
> 
> John

Thanks for all that information.  I had no idea what to code
in the way of alias lines in modprobe.conf.  Now, I have some
ideas to try to get the HD-3000 working.

Your setup, with two(or more) cards is encouraging, too,
because there does seem to be a conflict in my system
between the PVR-350 and the HD-3000.  Of course, the
entries in my modprobe.conf are either wrong, missing, or both.

In some experimenting today, I went back to the version of
modprobe.conf that supports only the PVR-350, to see if it
would WatchTV and record and play recordings.  It did all that.
Then as I was Watching TV, I tried 'dtvsignal /dev/dtv 36' and
there was finally some output from the command - but no real
signal strength registered.  The command also interfered with
WatchingTV by changing the "channel" to the Video In on the PVR-350.

Strange, but probably meaningless results.  

I'm hoping (of course) that the combination of PVR-350 and HD-3000
does not produce a conflict such that the two cards have to be in
separate machines.  If that turns out to be the case, then I'll have
to start all over from the beginning because I really had no intention
of building one MythTV system per Capture Card.  If it reaches that
point, the LST-3410A will start to look like a better option.
Especially since Froogle found one for about $700, way lower
than the listed price of $1300.

--
MM