[mythtv-users] New Setup Status

jose rubio debian at nc.rr.com
Wed Nov 12 08:04:47 EST 2003


On Tue, 2003-11-11 at 20:56, Dave Anderson wrote:
> I thought I would give a status update since this list has been so helpful.
> 
> I have a PIII 650 MHz with 512M Ram
> 20G HDD for RH9
> 160G HDD for MythTV
> PVR-350 Tuner
> Installed using ATrpms
> 
> I have everything installed and have the video and sound working on the PC. 
> Watching live tv I'm using about 38% CPU. I assume since live tv works, 
> recording will work as well.
> 
> I still need to get the remote and video out working. When I installed ivtv 
> via ATrpms, I didn't realize the video out on the pvr-350 was not there. So 
> here is my question. Do I try to uninstall the ivtv from ATrpms so I can 
> download the latest? Or do I just install the Nvidia GeForce 5200 Ultra for 
> tv out? I held back this card as per recommendations from previous posts.
> 
> Does anyone have a pvr-350 and video out working? Was it hard to do? 
> 
> ----
I have it working, it's not hard to do at all (IMHO)  It's just a matter
of getting the latest ivtv drivers and following instructions therein.

Before I tell you what to do, know this:  tv-out is excellent quality,
no audio sync problems, that's good...  mythdvd and mythvideo still
don't work with the 350 tvout so you'll break those (I'm betting that by
year's end this will be a non issue though).

Now, I'm assuming that you've got myth .12.  Uninstall ivtv (if what you
are about to do does not work, then just re-install it and nothing's
lost).  Get the Halloween edition of the ivtv driver (it is pretty
stable and it works great with myth .12) from

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/axboe/ivtv/older

Now you've got the file decoder-alpha-311003A.tar.gz, 

$ tar -xvzf decoder-alpha-311003A.tar.gz
$ cd ./ivtv/driver/
$ cp ../utils/videodev2.h .
$ make
# make install

(this last step needs to be by root)
so far pretty easy no? (unless you got an error with make in which case
you need to post here what the error is and we'll try to figure it out
for you, or you can try the ivtv mailing list archive, I forget where it
is but I think you can find it if you google for: ivtv mailing list)

Now, if everything's worked we need to get your XF86config file.  First
note that there is XF86Config _AND_ XF86Config-4.  If you have both (I
think they're under /etc/X11/ but you can always do a 'locate
XF86Config' in your system)  Anyway, as I was saying, if you have both
then the one X uses is the -4 file (IIRC) so _make a backup_ (Always
make backups) and get ready to edit it.  The instructions on how to edit
it are in the file 

ivtv/driver/ivtv-fb.c

Make sure you follow them to the letter.

Now, after you've edited your XF86Config-4 file you'll need to re-boot
BUT before, you did change your lilo.conf or grub.conf file like
ivtv-fb.c said to do right?  if not do it.  Also, change your boot
runlevel to one that does not start X.  Now re-boot.

Any errors loading the new ivtv driver?  I hope not.  now, 

# modprobe ivtv-fb

You should have seen you tv blink.  If your tty froze then you did not
change your lilo.conf file properly. log-in from another computer and
re-boot. if your tty did not freeze and your tv did something then you
are done. startx, export DISPLAY=:0.1, mythfrontend.

If everything works the first time around like I said it would, then it
would be boring (wouldn't it?)  So, give it a try.  have fun.


-jose-



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