[mythtv-users] Help with getting Firewire working with Mythtv-0.27

[Dipak Sitaram]

Hi,
 Recently downloaded Mythv-0.27 and have been struggling to get Firewire
working. My setup is as follows.

System: Dell Inspiron 530s, Core2 Duo with StarTech 3 Port PCI Low Profile
1394a FireWire Adapter Card (VIA VT6307 chipset).

OS: Debian (Wheezy), using newer firewire stack, firewire_ohci.

Set top box: Motorola (QIP-7001), although identified by mtythtv as
QIP-7100 from Verizon(FIOS)

1) I compiled mythtv from source and checked config to make sure FIREWIRE
was enabled in the build.
2) Added the new firewire capture card. The mythtv-setup program
recognizes the GUID of the capture card correctly.
3) Set up a new video source and input connections.
4) Added one channel to this source through channel editor.
5) Ran mythfilldatabase to populate the program guide.
6) Installed plugreport, plugctl, firewire_tester and test-mpeg2. Followed
directions from mythtv wiki to use plugreport/plugctl to determine p2p or
broadcast connection is best. Both firewire_tester and test-mpeg2 work in
p2p and broadcast mode. I am able to capture video into a *.mpg file using
test-mpeg2 and playback using mplayer without any problem.
7) Installed 6200ch, stb-command which are able to change channels and
issue commands successfully.

However, LiveTv and Recording from the firewire card does not work in
mythtv. I tried various combinations of p2p/broadcast with different
speeds and nothing works. When trying to change the channel to one on the
firewire card, mythfrontend just hangs with a blank screen and consumes
100% cpu and has to be killed. The .mpg file in tv/ directory is zero
bytes.
I also find that mythtv cannot change channels on the STB unless I put a
channel number in "Preset Tuner to channel". Only in this case, it changes
the channel when the backend is started and when I try to change the
channel in mythfrontend.
I tried putting "6200ch" as an external program to change a channel, but
it does not seem to get called since the channel is not changed.
Prior to my upgrade, I was running mythtv-0.21 version on a different
computer using the same set top box without any problems. So, I know the
STB is good.

The only message I see in the mythbackend log is that it was unable to set
the channel and changes the state from LiveTv to none.

Question: Does mythtv use the library libraw1394 ? It seems to link in
this library, but I am not sure if this library is intended only for
kernels running the old firewire stack. However, firewire_tester,
test-mpeg2 are also linking this in and have no problems, so my guess is
it has nothing to do with my problem.

I have another HDHOMERUN capture card which runs fine and in fact other
than this there have been no problems.

Can the experts help me here ? I am out of ideas.

Thanks.

Dipak