[mythtv-users] HDTV Blues - Any ideas?

[Chris Ribe]

I can't shed any light on the technical issues that may be at play
here, but I suffer the same issues.  I suspect the issue is with the
cable box.

Frankly, I don't expect firewire capture to ever work well, as the
cable companies have no incentive to make it work well.  It is only
there because congress says it has to be,  and the industry has
clearly gone in a different direction as far as cable box/tv
interfaces are concerned.

I would be curious to find out if anyone who has a TV with a firewire
input actually uses it with a DCT-6200, and whether they suffer
similar problems (the stream break up specifically, the periodic
failure to connect seems to be on the linux side of the equation).



On 3/19/06, Chris Lynch <lynchseattle at gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
>
> I had Myth running just fine but the HD upgrade has pretty much done me in
> (well, my wife more specifically).  Everything seems to be working fine with
> the exception of two problems, which are unfortunately big enough to put my
> HTPC efforts at risk at this stage :S  I'm running firewire from my Motorola
> DCT-6200 to my NForce3 Asus K8N-e Deluxe as the only source right now to try
> and get this working on a Sempron 3000+ with 1GB of RAM.  This is on .19 and
> I've tried all combinations of interlacing, XvMC on and off, etc.
>
> Here are the two problems:
>
> 1 - Watching LiveTV or recording a channel will not always work.  It will go
> to a black screen and then come back to the main menu.  With LiveTV trying
> over and over will eventually work.  When it's recording a show you have no
> way of knowing if it's actually recording.  This one has put me in the hurt
> locker with my wife on Myth :)
>
> 2 - Pixellation every 10 seconds or so.  It lasts for about 1 - 2 seconds
> and it is part of the recording stream so it's not a playback issue as best
> as I can tell.  I have verified that running my DCT-6200 direct to the TV
> does NOT exhibit the pixellation, so I don't think it's related to weak
> signal (I've even plugged in an amplifier to boost the signal strength).
>
> A few things I've tried:
> - Tried running firewire in through my motherboard directly and through a
> SoundBlaster Audigy2 card.  Same results.
> - Tried overclocking, XvMC, different video cards for output (a 5200 and a
> 6600).  No improvements, but I've spent plenty of money on it to experiment
> :(
>
> I get errors like this on the frontend and backend at the moments of
> pixellation:
> [mpeg2video @ 0x5d4a134]skiped MB in I frame at 82 67
> [mpeg2video @ 0x5d4a134]invalid mb type in B Frame at 59 60
> [mpeg2video @ 0x5d4a134]00 motion_type at 81 10
> [mpeg2video @ 0x5d4a134]00 motion_type at 80 12
> [mpeg2video @ 0x5d4a134]ac-tex damaged at 0 13
>
>  I'm wondering if it might be the DCT-6200?  Is that possible?
>
> Thanks for any help,
>
> Chris
>
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