[mythtv-users] HDTV Blues - Any ideas?

Steven Adeff adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com
Mon Mar 20 19:45:09 UTC 2006


On 3/19/06, Chris Lynch <lynchseattle at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/19/06, Steven Adeff <adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > 1 - Watching LiveTV or recording a channel will not always work.  It
> will go
> > > to a black screen and then come back to the main menu.  With LiveTV
> trying
> > > over and over will eventually work.  When it's recording a show you have
> no
> > > way of knowing if it's actually recording.  This one has put me in the
> hurt
> > > locker with my wife on Myth :)
> >
> > Set the DCT connection setting to Broadcast and 200 or 400mbps. power
> > down the computer and the cable box and repower both, this should
> > solve the issue. as well, if channel tuning doesn't work use 6200ch
> > (in the contrib folder) for channel changing and try the "new" method
> > (theres a switch to enable it).
>
>
> I'll give this a shot.  Thanks for the pointer - there's not a lot of info
> out there for troubleshooting.

True, I need to look through the wiki and insert this information in
the appropriate places...


> > > 2 - Pixellation every 10 seconds or so.  It lasts for about 1 - 2
> seconds
> > > and it is part of the recording stream so it's not a playback issue as
> best
> > > as I can tell.  I have verified that running my DCT-6200 direct to the
> TV
> > > does NOT exhibit the pixellation, so I don't think it's related to weak
> > > signal (I've even plugged in an amplifier to boost the signal strength).
> >
> > This is a firewire kernel driver problem. Some firewire chipsets
> > aren't as bad as others, but its a problem with the kernel and
> > partially Myth,  both of which are being worked on.
>
>
> Interesting - I've tried my motherboard one (VIA chipset) and the one on my
> Audigy 2.  Is there a recommendation anyone has to what chipset or even a
> specific board to buy?  I'll buy whatever works at this point :)

I've been told by a few people running their DCT through their Audigy
firewire port that they've not come across this problem so if your not
using the Audigy's firewire port it may be worth trying it to see if
it solves the issue.

If not there may be nothing you can do until the kernel driver is
"fixed" and the code in MythTV is reworked. As I understand it, the
problem basically comes down to a processing time for handling the
firewire input  takes too long causing the buffer to overload and data
to be missed. Jim Westfall has been working on the issue with both the
kernel driver folks and on the Myth code. He seems to have a pretty
good grasp as to whats wrong and what needs to get done to fix it, so
hopefully it will be a non-issue soon enough.

--
Steve


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