[mythtv-users] PVR 350/500 problems (garbage in video, pulsating audio)

[Richard Woelk]

Ronald Frazier wrote:
> My mythbox has 2 analog cards. A PVR-500 and a PVR-350. I've got 2 problems.
>
> First problem:
> Ive noticed lately on the PVR-500 that the audio in the recording has
> a pulsating sound to it. It sounds almost like someone is slightly
> turning the volume up/down about 2-3 cycles/second. I can't hear it in
> normal dialog and sfx...only in continuous tone audio. Here's a clip:
> http://www.ronfrazier.net/mythtv/pulsating.mp3
>
> Ive tested and it happens on both tuners of my PVR-500, but it doesn't
> happen on my PVR-350. Now, the encoding is done onboard in hardware,
> and I can hear the same pulsating when playing it back under windows,
> so I really don't know what myth could be doing to cause it. I'm more
> inclined to think it's a hardware issue, but I'm hoping someone can
> suggest something.
>
>
> Second problem:
> My PVR-350 has a graphical glitch that's happend to it twice over the
> last 6 months. What happens is that you get a bunch of blockiness at
> the top of the screen, and it flickers twice in a row (about 1/4 of a
> second apart), and repeats this about once per second. Here is a
> screenshot:
> http://www.ronfrazier.net/mythtv/pvr350_flicker.jpg
>
> And here's a video (due to the framerate of the capture, you can only
> see one half of each pair of flickers):
> http://www.ronfrazier.net/mythtv/pvr350_flicker.wmv
>
> It almost looks like something to do with closed captioning, but I
> don't know what could be causing it. It will work fine for months and
> then just happen out of the blue. The last time it happened, nothing I
> did made it go away short of rebooting (or maybe even a full power it
> down...I don't recall). It's currently happening right now. I'm gonna
> try not to reboot it in case anyone has any suggestions (as it may not
> happen again for months).
>
>   
Ronald,
    I have had the first problem on my PVR-250 before, It was due to the 
encoder chip overheating. Since I got my new case with better airflow 2 
years ago, its only happened twice. with the old ivtv-ctl program you 
could force it to reload its firmware, but this isn't available in 
v4l2-ctl. The only way to fix it is to reboot.

I havn't heard that audio problem before. What are you recording from 
the tuner or line-in?
If your analog line cables are poor quality, it could cause all kinds of 
wierd problems.

- Richard