[mythtv-users] Almost there.....still a few problems, though

Bob Sully rcs at malibyte.net
Sun Jan 7 02:27:21 UTC 2007


OK, follow-up to my previous posts:

Thanks to a suggestion from "Nybbler" on the pcHDTV forum, I was able to
get all of my analog channels scanned in. Mythfilldatabase also (finally)
grabbed ALL of the channel data, so I have listings for all of the
unencrypted channels available. There are, of course, still some channels
which I pay for but can't get over the raw cable, so I have one of the
analog inputs being fed by the s-video output of the STB. Firewire works,
also, but I only get the unencrypted channels, so it's fairly useless and
I'm thinking about not using it.

Again, the machine is an Athlon 64 single core at 2.5GHz with 2G RAM,
nVidia 6200-based video card, 5500 tuner card. Distro is Mandriva 2006,
64-bit, running MythTV 0.20a.


Successes:

(1) As above, I have all available unencrypted channels available to
watch, including all available HD channels, with good 720p via the VGA
output and only occasional slight audio stutter in HD.

(2) I can record any dvb channels; I can select recordings from either
MythWeb or the Program guide, and if they're on any of the dvb-input
channels, it records.

(3) Other things (MythWeather, MythDVD) seem to work OK; I haven't yet
tested all of the other addons.

Problems:

(1) I can't seem to get the machine to record anything off the NTSC tuner
unless I'm watching live TV and tell it to record the current program.
This is my biggest headache at this point. It goes through the motions,
but I wind up with a zero-byte file. Signal strength is not an issue. 
Here's a snip from the log at the time of a botched recording attempt (I
think it seems to have a problem switching to the NTSC tuner to start the
recording; it doesn't seem to have any problems switching to the dvb
tuner):


2007-01-05 13:59:02.959 TVRec(1): Changing from None to RecordingOnly
2007-01-05 13:59:02.963 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2007-01-05 13:59:04.027 ret_pid(0) child(31516) status(0x0)
2007-01-05 13:59:05.039 ret_pid(31516) child(31516) status(0x0)
2007-01-05 13:59:05.041 External Tuning program exited with no error
2007-01-05 13:59:05.109 Started recording: Night Stalker "Timeless":
channel 1057 on cardid 1, sourceid 1
2007-01-05 13:59:05.110 FireRec: Buffered packets 2350 (9400 KB)
2007-01-05 13:59:05.119 scheduler: Started recording: Night Stalker
"Timeless": channel 1057 on cardid 1, sourceid 1
2007-01-05 13:59:10.468 JobQueue: Commercial Flagging Starting for Night
Stalker "Timeless" recorded from channel 1057 at Fri Jan 5 13:59:00 2007
2007-01-05 13:59:10.475 commflag: Commercial Flagging Starting: Night
Stalker "Timeless" recorded from channel 1057 at Fri Jan 5 13:59:00 2007
2007-01-05 13:59:10.639 Using runtime prefix = /usr
2007-01-05 13:59:10.661 New DB connection, total: 1
2007-01-05 13:59:10.683 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host:
localhost
2007-01-05 13:59:10.702 New DB connection, total: 2
2007-01-05 13:59:10.712 Connected to database 'mythconverg' at host:
localhost
2007-01-05 13:59:17.217
RingBuf(/mythtv/recordings/1057_20070105135900.mpg): Invalid file (fd -1)
when opening '/mythtv/recordings/1057_20070105135900.mpg'.
2007-01-05 13:59:17.225 Connecting to backend server: 192.168.1.9:6543
(try 1 of 5)
2007-01-05 13:59:17.231 Using protocol version 30
2007-01-05 13:59:17.232 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Monitor
2007-01-05 13:59:17.233 adding: vader.malibyte.net as a client (events: 0)
2007-01-05 13:59:17.234 MainServer::HandleAnnounce Monitor
2007-01-05 13:59:17.250 adding: vader.malibyte.net as a client (events: 1)
2007-01-05 13:59:20.145 FireRec: No Input in 15 seconds [P:0 N:2] (select)
2007-01-05 13:59:31.290 NVP::OpenFile(): Error, file not found:
/mythtv/recordings/1057_20070105135900.mpg
2007-01-05 13:59:31.321 commflag: Commercial Flagging Finished: Night
Stalker "Timeless" recorded from channel 1057 at Fri Jan 5 13:59:00 2007:
0 commercial break(s)
2007-01-05 13:59:31.325 JobQueue: Commercial Flagging Finished, 0 break(s)
found.
2007-01-05 13:59:31.328 Preview Error: Previewer file
'/mythtv/recordings/1057_20070105135900.mpg' is not valid.


(2) Audio on the NTSC/analog side is terrible...tinny and with high-end
distortion/"ringing".

(3) Sometimes Mythfrontend segfaults when I'm flipping through the tuners
(dvb -> analog -> s-video -> firewire); it seems to be random as to which
one it crashes on.

(4) Since updating to the latest nVidia driver (9746), clicking on
"backend status" in MythWeb crashes the X server. I can ssh in from
another machine but can't kill it or reboot the box. Anyone else seen
this?

(5) I haven't figured out how to get the audio input set up from the STB
for the s-video input. Currently I have a line out from the 5500 into the
line-in jack on my sound card (Audigy 2 ZS) for the NTSC channels; I have
tried a "Y" connection for the 5500 and the s-video on the line-in jack on
the sound card, but that won't work, since the audio for all of the v4l
sub-devices has to come from the 5500 card. Can someone clue me in as to
how to get the sound for the s-video input working?

(6) I have a couple of dvb channels which are mis-configured. Is there an
easy way to delete and re-scan just a couple of channels? I don't want to
screw up my otherwise finally-working channel database.


Questions:

(1) Can someone point me to a URL for the LATEST HowTo on setting up the
Recording Groups ("default", "High Quality", etc.) and setting up Storage
Groups? Currently I have a 768GB LVM group. Is it possible to set up a
recording profile for analog channels, another for dvb, and another for
the s-video input?

(2) Once I get all of this working, I have a Harmony 550 remote. I have a
USB IR receiver....can I just plug it in, configure lirc, program the
remote (I'm told that it works fine with Myth if it's told that it's a
Windoze MCE box)?

(3) Anyone have a working modeline for 1080i on a Samsung DLP TV?


Thanks very much -- Bob
-- 
________________________________________
Bob Sully - Simi Valley, California, USA
http://www.malibyte.net
http://www.malibyte.com


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