[mythtv-users] mythtv newcomer.. need help setting up live tv

[Christopher Flynn]

I don't know the answers to all of your questions but I'll try to help
you where I can...

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 23:45:42 -0400, Evan Burrows <eburrows at gmail.com> wrote:
> I really need some help.. I just started setting up my myth box
> recently running fedora core 2.  I have been following Jarod's fc2
> installation guide but havent figured out what is wrong.  Right now
> all i want to do is view live tv but i am not sure what to do to get
> this done.  I ran the mythtvsetup and started to go through that.  My
> PVR-350 is set to /dev/video0 but i don't know what inputs to set.  I
> have digital cable and connected it to the pvr-350 card.

Through the cable box or from the wall to the computer? 
 
> for the host address backend setup i kept everything defualt. I am
> running the front end and backend on one machine. When it asks for tv
> format which option do i choose? right now i have it set to ntsc but i
> don't know anything about this stuff, the same with vbi format.  I
> have the channel frequency set to us-cable and i believe everything
> else was kept default.

Depends on where you live. In the USA, the standard format is NTSC. In
Euroupe they use PAL.

> I added the capture card chose PVR-350 option for card type
> video device: /dev/video0
> VBI: /dev/vbi
> Audio device: /dev/dsp  .. I enabled ALSA so do i need to do anything
> for this? I haven't even got around to see if the sound works since i
> haven't gotten the live tv to work yet.  But i do get sound when i
> play snes9x through mythtv.
> Default input:  I have no idea what to set this to.  I set TUNER-0
> since that made the most sense to me.
> Under video sources I believe all that is working because i can do a
> mythfilldatabase and go through the listings.
> Under Imput connection what do i change.  I tried changing tuner 0 to
> cable but I am not sure if that was what i was supposed to do.

For the audio, you can test it like so:
cat /dev/random > /dev/dsp
If you hear static, then you have the correct device. 
For the video, try:
cat /dev/video0 > test.mpg
and then try and play the test.mpg in mplayer, vlc or another video
player that plays mpg files. Tuner-0 should be the right input.

> I saved all that stuff and started up mythfronted and and selected
> watch tv and the screen just goes black.  Usign Jarods guide I did run
> some of the commands to set up tv out since i knew I would eventually
> be goign that direction but I didn't finish it since l didn't feel
> like ripping my entertainment center apart like i said before.. So i
> don't know if that is what is cauign my problem.

What happens when you let it sit there with the black screen for a
while? Do you cancel it with Ctrl-C or does it give you an error.
Remember, there is a buffer that takes a second or so to buffer and if
your sound isn't set up right then it will try to access the sound and
then give you a message that basically says there's no sound but you
can choose to watch video with no sound.

> I followed the directions for ivtv and i believe all that went out
> 
> Here is some output from my terminal when i started mythfrontenf:
> [mythtv at localhost mythtv]$ mythfrontend
> 2004-10-19 23:37:40 mythfrontend version: 0.16.20040906-1 www.mythtv.org
> 2004-10-19 23:37:40 Enabled verbose msgs : important general
> mythtv: could not connect to socket
> mythtv: Connection refused

That's bad... is mythbackend running? Is mysql running? Did you run
mythfilldatabase?

> lirc_init failed for mythtv, see preceding messages
> 2004-10-19 23:37:42 Registering Internal as a media playback plugin.
> 2004-10-19 23:37:42 Registering MythDVD DVD Media Handler as a media handler
> 2004-10-19 23:37:42 Registering MythDVD VCD Media Handler as a media handler
> 2004-10-19 23:37:43 Registering MythMusic Media Handler as a media handler
> SIP listening on IP Address 192.168.0.101:5060 NAT address 192.168.0.101
> SIP: Cannot register; proxy, username or password not set
> 2004-10-19 23:40:06 Connecting to backend server: 127.0.0.1:6543 (try 1 of 5)
> 2004-10-19 23:40:06 Using protocol version 13
> 2004-10-19 23:40:06 Using protocol version 13
> 2004-10-19 23:40:06 Using protocol version 13
> Using the PVR-350 decoder/TV-out
> 2004-10-19 23:40:10 Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
> pthread_setschedparam: Operation not permitted
> 2004-10-19 23:40:11 Running as SUID root would allow some threads to
> run with realtime priority, improving video smoothness.
> 2004-10-19 23:40:13 Waited 2 seconds for data to become available,
> waiting again...
> 2004-10-19 23:40:15 Waited 2 seconds for data to become available,
> waiting again...
> 2004-10-19 23:40:17 Waited 2 seconds for data to become available,
> waiting again...
> 2004-10-19 23:40:20 Waited 2 seconds for data to become available,
> waiting again...
> bad newframes: 665 0 325 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 325 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 325 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 325 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> bad newframes: 665 0 359 0
> 
> SO it looks like it isn't even making the connection.  Any ideas? I am
> sure this will take quite a few threads to straighten out but I would
> really appreciate any help i can get.. I have to justify my expenses
> on all the stuff I have had to purchase to build this box to my
> wife...So the sooner i get this working the better for me lol

Just tell her that because it's not working, and you are busy trying
to get it working, it's keeping you from buying other toys. ;-)

-- 
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Gandhi