[mythtv-users] PVR-500 configuration

[Scot L. Harris]

I finally purchased some additional equipment to build a slave
backend/frontend system to go with my existing backend/frontend mythtv
system.

For the new box I will be using a PVR-350 for output to the TV as well
as a PVR-500 for additional encoders.

Using an ECS 760GX-M Socket 754 SiS 760 GX Micro ATX AMD motherboard. 

So far this has worked very nicely, FC4 loaded with no problems, the
SATA controller was recognized just fine and the Plextor PX-740A/SW-BL
had no problem booting and loading the OS.  Only complaint is that when
using KDE and the on board video I get line artifacts sometimes when
moving windows around.  Shortly this will be a non issue as I plan to
using the PVR-350 output for X to the TV.


Following Jarod's excellent guide to load and configure this system.

The PVR-350 was recognized and I was able to get ivtv loaded and
input/output on the PVR-350 is working just fine.  My past experience
getting the PVR-350 working on the first box helped.  :)

The test using:

dd if=/dev/video0 of=/dev/video16 bs=64k

worked just fine.  Best I can tell video0 is the encoder on the
PVR-350.  Derived from the following:

ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 350, card #0
ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 150, card #1
ivtv: Initialized WinTV PVR 150, card #2


00:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC15
MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. WinTV PVR-350
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
        Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

02:08.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16
(CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc.: Unknown device e807
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10
        Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

02:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16
(CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc.: Unknown device e817
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 3
        Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2


I can see /dev/video0 /dev/video1 and /dev/video2 on the system.  As
such I expected that I should have been able to run the following test:

dd if=/dev/video1 of=/dev/video16 bs=64k

or 

dd if=/dev/video2 of=/dev/video16 bs=64k

However on the first one (video1) the initial test I just had static.  I
thought that might be due to not having the channel set correctly.  So I
tried:

/usr/bin/ivtvctl -d /dev/video1 -p 0

I tried values 0 through 8.  6 appears to be the one that shows the
static.  All other settings  resulted in a blank screen.

I also tried using the /usr/lib/ivtv/ptune-ui.pl program to change the
channels.  This worked for the /dev/video0 (PVR-350) input but not for
the /dev/video1 or /dev/vidoe2 inputs.

Same results running the test using mplayer -vo xv /dev/video0 | video1
| video2.

I believe I pulled the latest ivtv drivers from atrpms testing repo:

vtv-firmware-enc-2.04.024-4.at
ivtv-0.3.7k-96.rhfc4.at
ivtv-kmdl-2.6.12-1.1447_FC4-0.3.7k-96.rhfc4.at
perl-Video-ivtv-0.13-7.rhfc4.at
ivtv-firmware-audio-0.0.1-1.at
ivtv-firmware-dec-2.02.023-4.at

So my question is: is the test I am trying to run invalid?  Or have I
missed a configuration step with the PVR-500 encoders?


I also don't see any major differences running ivtvctl -a against each
of the encoders:


[root at terraslave ~]# ivtvctl -d /dev/video0 -a
ioctl IVTV_IOC_G_CODEC ok
Codec parameters
aspect      : 2
audio       : 0x00e9
bframes     : 3
bitrate_mode: 0
bitrate     : 8000000
bitrate_peak: 9600000
dnr_mode    : 0
dnr_spatial : 0
dnr_temporal: 8
dnr_type    : 0
framerate   : 0
framespergop: 15
gop_closure : 1
pulldown    : 0
stream_type : 14
ioctl VIDIOC_G_FMT ok
        Type   : Video Capture
        Width  : 720
        Height : 480
ioctl VIDIOC_QUERYCAP ok
        Driver name   : ivtv
        Card type     : WinTV PVR 350
        Bus info      : 0000:00:09.0
        Driver version: 775
        Capabilities  : 0x01070033





[root at terraslave ~]# ivtvctl -d /dev/video1 -a
ioctl IVTV_IOC_G_CODEC ok
Codec parameters
aspect      : 2
audio       : 0x00e9
bframes     : 3
bitrate_mode: 0
bitrate     : 8000000
bitrate_peak: 9600000
dnr_mode    : 0
dnr_spatial : 0
dnr_temporal: 8
dnr_type    : 0
framerate   : 0
framespergop: 15
gop_closure : 1
pulldown    : 0
stream_type : 14
ioctl VIDIOC_G_FMT ok
        Type   : Video Capture
        Width  : 720
        Height : 480
ioctl VIDIOC_QUERYCAP ok
        Driver name   : ivtv
        Card type     : WinTV PVR 150
        Bus info      : 0000:02:08.0
        Driver version: 775
        Capabilities  : 0x01070011


[root at terraslave ~]# ivtvctl -d /dev/video2 -a
ioctl IVTV_IOC_G_CODEC ok
Codec parameters
aspect      : 2
audio       : 0x00e9
bframes     : 3
bitrate_mode: 0
bitrate     : 8000000
bitrate_peak: 9600000
dnr_mode    : 0
dnr_spatial : 0
dnr_temporal: 8
dnr_type    : 0
framerate   : 0
framespergop: 15
gop_closure : 1
pulldown    : 0
stream_type : 14
ioctl VIDIOC_G_FMT ok
        Type   : Video Capture
        Width  : 720
        Height : 480
ioctl VIDIOC_QUERYCAP ok
        Driver name   : ivtv
        Card type     : WinTV PVR 150
        Bus info      : 0000:02:09.0
        Driver version: 775
        Capabilities  : 0x01030011