[mythtv-users] Re:Problem with PVR-250 - zero byte mpg files

[mail bag]

>> I've walked thru the entire install process listed on the page 
>> mentioned above. (I had to update my /etc/apt/sources.list file to 
>> append 'freshrpms' to the 'rpm http://ayo.freshrpms.net redhat/9/i386 
>> os updates' line)
>
>Hm... Not sure why that wasn't already there... It *should* already be 
>there... How exactly did you go about installing apt?

apt was already installed on the machine. I ran rpm -Uvh and pulled the apt kickstart from:
http://atrpms.physik.fu-berlin.de/dist/rh9/atrpms-kickstart/

It updated my /etc/apt/sources.list file with the apt repository for fu-berlin.de etc... so I know that it took. But I had to manually add the freshrpms. I've actuall blew away the box and am in the process of starting from scratch. As such I've just pulled down the apt-kickstart agian from:

  http://atrpms.physik.fu-berlin.de/dist/rh9/atrpms-kickstart \
  /atrpms-kickstart-13-1.rh9.at.i386.rpm

and the top section of the sources.list is:

  # Red Hat Linux 9
  #rpm     file:/apt redhat/9/en/i386 os updates doc
  #rpm-src file:/apt redhat/9/en/i386 os updates doc
  rpm     http://ayo.freshrpms.net redhat/9/i386 os updates
  #rpm-src http://ayo.freshrpms.net redhat/9/i386 os updates

There seems to be more in that source file than I remember last time, so I'm not sure if it has been modified. I'm trying a different approch this go round, so I haven't hit an error yet with 'freshrpms' not being there (assuming that was the download problem I was having).


>> Looking in '/tmp' shows:
>>   -rw-r--r--    1 root     root            0 Oct 19 14:53 
>> test_capture.mpg
>
>Well, everything up to the cat /dev/video0 looks normal... Have you 
>tried a different tuner type, per Joachim's suggestion?

Tried a few numbers, but it didn't work, didn't give it too much time since it would always produce a zero byte file, I was thinking there was a larger issue. 

>Double-check that you've got ivtv-fw-enc.bin and ivtv-fw-dec.bin in 
>/lib/modules also... Other than Joachim's suggestion, I haven't a clue 
>what's going on...

Unfortunately I formatted the box before I had a chance to check on those files. I've been doing some looking on the ivtv lists and it sounds like the issue may very well be the firmware. I'm going to try working on a fresh install so I can make sure I see what's going on while focusing on getting the card working. 

I do know that I didn't explicitly install the drivers, so if they weren't distributed by the ivtv rpm (and it sounds like because of licensing they may not have been), then that was probably at least part of the problem. 

I know this board is focused on MythTV and not ivtv, a distinction I was unclear on earlier, but I'll post whatever I find out back here for the sake of completeness, and just in case someone else ends up here instead of there.

-Alan