[mythtv-users] hdpvr won't record through myth

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 12:07 AM, Dave Badia <dbadia at gmail.com> wrote:
> Have 2 SBEs, each with a hdpvr attached.  One works, the other doesn't.
> Trying to figure out what's wrong with the 2nd.  I can do a cat /dev/video0
>> it.mpg and it works fine.  But the SBE recordings fail with poll timeout
> (full logs below).  After myth tries to use the device, cat fails until I
> rmmod/modprobe the driver again to get cat to work.

I think we can all agree that if cat fails, it is external to MythTV.

<WAG>
HDPVRs (actually, pretty much all the Hauppauge devices) are
notorious for power supply issues.  And their supplied power
supplies (to put it nicely) suck.  And they age badly (yes, they
actually *can* get worse than how they began)..  And power
issues result in random failures.  For diagnostic purposes, swap
the supplies, or, better yet, replace them with equivalent/better
supplies for long term better reliability.
</WAG>

<WAG>
HDPVRs (actually, most of these external "bricks") are notorious for
heat related issues.  If (for example) you have one of the HDPVRs
on top of the other in a stack (it looks neater that way), you might
be overheating one of them.  Rearrange and test.  Do give the
devices time to cool down a bit between tests.
</WAG>

<WAG>
HDPVRs have been reported as having issues with some USB
controllers.  Even if you are using identical systems, do not
presume that are identical under the silk screen.  Manufacturers
sometimes "rev" a chipset.  'lspci' and/or 'lsusb' may help to
check the specifics of your hardware.   Be sure that you are not
sharing the specific USB bus used by the HDPVR with other
devices.
</WAG>