[mythtv-users] Tuning Woes

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Wed Dec 14 20:28:38 EST 2005


Kichigai Mentat wrote:

> On Dec 13, 2005, at 20.58, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>
>> Kichigai Mentat wrote:
>>
>>> Hello. I finally broke down and got a new tuner for my MythTV  box.  
>>> I'm running an AMD Athlon 850 MHz with 256 MB of RAM, using  a  
>>> Hauppauge PVR-150 capture card (Replacing my old ATI TV-Wonder  VE 
>>> card).
>>>
>>> I'm able to tune one channel in pretty well, but that's about the   
>>> extent of it. It seems impossible to get MythTV to change the   
>>> channel. This doesn't seem to be a problem with key bindings,  since 
>>> I  used MythWeb to schedule two different recordings on  different  
>>> channels (at different times). Instead of The Three  Stooges, I got 
>>> an  infomercial for the Ab Sauna. Instead of  Barenstein Bears on 
>>> PBS, I  got a Tempurpedic bed infomercial. I'm  sure that I have the 
>>> proper  channel line up, and timing, and both  infomercials were on 
>>> the same  channel (Though the Stooges and the  Bears were not).
>>>
>>> Any ideas what might be causing this or how to fix it?
>>
>> Not without details...
>>
>> What standard (i.e. NTSC/PAL B/...)?  What frequency tables are you  
>> using (i.e. us-cable, us-cable-hrc, us-cable-irc)?  What channel  can 
>> you tune?
>
> I'm in the US, so I'm using NTSC. I'm attempting to use the us-cable  
> frequency table. I'm 90% sure that's the right frequency table. I'm  
> not 100% sure, but my tuner seems to be stuck on channel 43.
>
>> Most likely, you've specified a tuner type and it's not correct or  
>> you are one of the unlucky people to get a tuner for which there's  
>> no definition in the Linux kernel...  See http://www.gossamer- 
>> threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/166976#166976 .  If that's your  
>> problem (whether your tuner is the same as his or different), my  
>> offer to Dan is extended to you, also--get me a data sheet and I'll  
>> write you a tuner definition.
>
> Well, my problem seems to be slightly different from Dan's. His tuner  
> can at least change channels, mine does not/will not/cannot change  
> them. Here's the output from dmesg:
> ...
> tveeprom: tuner = TCL 2002N 5H (idx = 99, type = 50)

You can breathe a sigh of relief.  You have a known tuner type (as a 
matter of fact that's one for which I made a definition after someone 
found me a datasheet :).

> ...
> hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> ide: failed opcode was: unknown
> hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> ide: failed opcode was: unknown
> hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hda: dma_intr: error=0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
> ide: failed opcode was: unknown

This is (most likely) completely unrelated to your current problem, but 
it is likely to be your next (much worse) problem if you don't get it 
fixed soon...  The kernel is detecting corruption of data somewhere 
between memory and the hard drive, so you shouldn't trust the system to 
reliably store any data until you get it fixed.  Often, it's a problem 
with a bad IDE cable, but can be more insidious (i.e. heat issues or a 
buggy chipset on the motherboard without a proper workaround in the 
Linux IDE driver).  I would recommend you focus on this error before the 
tuning error (otherwise--just when you finish configuring your Myth 
system--you may find your filesystem has become so corrupt you have to 
start over).

It's theoretically possible that the data corruption may have affected a 
file that's required for the ivtv drivers or the ivtv firmware itself, 
but I wouldn't chalk it up to that just yet.

Google for:

+"DriveReady SeekComplete Error" +"DriveStatusError BadCRC"

(quotes and pluses included)

> ...
> tuner: type set to 50 (TCL 2002N) by ivtv i2c driver #0
>
It's setting the tuner type correctly.

>
> From that output, I can honestly say I have no idea if I have the  
> same problem or not. I'll also be totally honest and have no idea  
> where to find that data sheet you're talking about.

That's why I volunteered to do the part after the data sheet is found.  
Getting a data sheet from a vendor usually involves a lot of 
begging/groveling , unless you're one of the vendor's primary customers...

> I'm having trouble telling if my modules.conf file does or does not  
> list the ivtv module.

It doesn't specify a tuner option (which is the part I thought may be 
causing your problem), so don't worry about tracking it down..

> However, since MythTV can actually able to  display something from the 
> tuner, I'm going to assume that it is loaded.
>
> In case it's important, I'm using the latest version of KnoppMyth.  
> Thanks for all you help. 

At this point, I'll have to say I can't think of anything that would 
cause the symptoms you're seeing when the tuner is properly defined and 
configured.  Fix the disk issue, then you might want to consider a 
re-install, and if the problem persists, let us know.

Good luck (and I hope you just need a new cable),
Mike


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