[mythtv-users] HELP! I'm about ready to give up on MythTV!!!

Jeff Simpson llcooljeff at gmail.com
Thu May 19 04:45:53 UTC 2005


On 5/19/05, junk_inbox at comcast.net <junk_inbox at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> Ok, after having spending just a few hours a couple of months ago
> setting up a Myth 'test' box running FC2, MythTV .16 and a single
> PVR-350, I was very excited about MythTV and it's awesome potential to
> replace my two Dish Network PVRs.
> 
> So I bought a second tuner (a PVR-250) to start building a 'real' MythTV
> server.  I installed it in my test server, and it worked like a charm,
> perfectly co-existing with the PVR-350.
> 
> Then things sat for a while as other priorities took center-stage and my
> MythTV project was put aside for a couple of months.
> 
> When Tax Return time came around, I had a little extra cash to spend, so
> I decided to buy a HDTV3000 card before the 'broadcast flag' law went
> into effect. (This was just a couple of days before it was overturned)
> So anyways, the card came in, and I decided to re-build my backend
> server from scratch to start with a clean install.  (It was quite messed
> up from all the 'tinkering' I had done while learning Linux and how to
> setup and configure everything.)
> 
> I used Jared's guide for FC3.  But then I found out all sorts of little
> issues with FC3 that affected me...  Like the fact that the ENTER key
> didn't work for MYTHSETUP (and the frontend too!)  And the HDTV drivers
> didn't work on that version of the kernel, etc...  I searched gossamer
> and found that the enter-key bug could be fixed by downgrading 'qt' --
> But I couldn't downgrade 'qt' because of other dependencies...  So by
> now I was starting to get a bit peeved -- This was getting
> rediculous...  I searched the gossamer threads and seemed to determine
> that FC3 was a bad choice for me -- more so because of the HDTV drivers
> than anything else.
> 
> So I started over AGAIN, this time with FC2.  But now half the commands
> in the FC2 guide didn't work by doing a simple cut and paste (like they
> did a couple of months ago) because many of the packages referenced in
> the guide are not available anymore (obsolete versions?).  So I did my
> best to find the new versions of the packages and kept my fingers
> crossed that things would be OK in the end.
> 
> Well, things looked like they were going fine, until I tried the test
> video capture on my PVR-x50 cards.  All I get is a green screen and no
> audio.  No matter which card I use, or if I use the perl tuner app or
> not...  No such luck.  Searching the gossamer myth threads, it appears
> that at least one message seemed to say that it was the xvid driver
> issue, while another claimed a V4L issue.  But being pretty new to
> Linux, I haven't got a clue on how to do anything about it.  (The
> messages did not specifically describe how to fix it, it just stated
> that it was an issue with xvid or v4l)
> 
> btw: I am NOT a computer novice -- I'm highly technical...  I'm the guy
> that everybody comes to with their computer issues (primarily Wintel),
> and I can usually have them back up & running fine in minutes...  But
> this stuff is really testing me!!!
> 
> So what should I do???  Can I un-install IVTV and/or lingering HD3000
> drivers and try to re-install them, perhaps removing all the capture
> cards and only installing them one at a time?  (IE: The PVR-350 first,
> then the PVR-250 and finally the HD3000)  Or would it be better/easier
> to only have the 350 and 250 in the 'primary' backend server, then setup
> a 'slave' backend for the HDTV tuner?
> 
> I'm just getting so *bleeping* upset with this whole thing that I'm
> about ready to give up.  I don't *want* to give up, but it seems like a
> hopeless cause right now...  (and to add to the flustration, the
> 'evolution' email client I'm using has crashed at least 20 times while
> trying to type this message!!!)
> 
> :-O AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Ok, I fell a *little* bit better now, but not much...
> 
> PLEASE HELP ME IF YOU CAN!!!!  I would *LOVE* to have MytyTV working
> with two of my Dish receivers connected to the S-Video inputs of the 350
> and 250, and the HDTV tuner pulling in the over-the-air HDTV signals...
> That's my DREAM, anyways!!!!
> 
> Kernel: 2.6.10-1.771_FC2
> PC: Athlon XP 1800+ - 512MB
> Gfx: Nvidia GeForce 4
> Disk: 100GB SCSI LVM (Video) 18GB SCSI (boot,root) 20GB IDE (swap,data)
> Tuner cards: PVR-350 PVR-250 PCHDTV3000
 

not to start a flame war... but I suggest gentoo if you want to give
it another go. Esp if you're technical, you should have no problems
with a gentoo setup. It's more work to get started, but everything
just WORKS. downgrading / upgrading / all possible, no more hassle
with strange rpm dependencies, scouring the internet for the right rpm
to install, dealing with packages not being available.

AFAIK, the base setup for myth on gentoo is just, get base gentoo
running, "emerge ivtv", "emerge myth" and maybe a few more in there,
equally simple. I have a 350 running the latest myth and ivtv drivers,
no problems at all. (kernel 2.6.9-r13). I'm sure somebody here using
the HD3000 can tell you if that works well as well.

Good luck, don't give up too easily! I know the green screen is
something I've fixed in the past, it's a PVR-350 output problem. See
if the frontend works on a normal X session.

 - Jeff


-- 
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