[mythtv-users] Adding HVR-1600 to working PVR-500 mythtv setup -> no NTSC signal on HVR-1600 & ATSC guide info missing (comcast Mountain View, CA)

[Matt Beadon]

Hi,
I have a mythtv 0.21 setup running on debian lenny.  It is my first
experience with myth so it took me ages to get everything configured
correctly.  However now Comcast in Mountain View is cutting all analog cable
for channels >34 so I'm forced to add a ATSC cabability or lose most of the
channels I watch.  :(

Here's where I am so far:

I followed the procedure here: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_hvr-1600
My first problem was that using the HVR-1600 with the PVR-500 my /dev/video*
devices moved around on me depending on cold boot or warm reboot.  So I
created a set udev rules (below) to give me a consistent place to link my
various tuners.
/etc/udev/rules.d/56-custom.rules:

> KERNEL=="video[0-2]*", ATTR{name}=="cx18*0 encoder MPEG*",
> SYMLINK+="HVR-1600"
> KERNEL=="video[0-2]*", ATTR{name}=="ivtv0 encoder MPG*",
> SYMLINK+="PVR-500_1"
> KERNEL=="video[0-2]*", ATTR{name}=="ivtv1 encoder MPG*",
> SYMLINK+="PVR-500_2"
> SUBSYSTEM=="dvb", DRIVERS=="cx18", SYMLINK+="HVR-1600_digital"
>
Probably the last one is unecessary but I don't think it hurts anything (?).

Problem #1: No video on /dev/HVR-1600 (analog)

dmesg reports that the HVR-1600 was initialized.  The only odd message I see
is:

> [   16.838687] cx18-0: tveeprom cannot autodetect tuner!<6>cx18-0:
> Simultaneous Digital and Analog TV capture supported
>
Haven't been able to figure out if the tveeprom msg is important or not?

Using mplayer to test the various video devices I can see video on
/dev/PVR-500_* but "mplayer /dev/HVR-1600" gives me nothing but static.
Just for kicks I also tried "mplayer /dev/video0, 1 and 2.  Right now
HVR-1600 is video1 with PVR-500 on 0 & 2.  As expected video0 & 2 work fine
and video1 shows nothing but static.

As further confirmation I tried "ivtv-tune -c 47 -d /dev/video[0-2]" which
gave me:

> /dev/video0: 361.250 MHz  (Signal Detected)
> /dev/video1: 361.250 MHz

/dev/video2: 361.250 MHz  (Signal Detected)
>

Suggestions for problem #1?  The only thing that I haven't tried yet is
swapping the cable I'm using from the splitter between the analog and
digital inputs on the HVR-1600.  I'll try that tonight though I think it's
unlikely that I have a bad cable.

Problem #2: No guide data for ATSC channels

After scanning for both QAM-256 and QAM-64 channels using "-" (minus) as the
channel separator (since that matches the schedulesdirect listing better).
I have found a bunch of unecrypted channels that myth can tune.  I added a
schedulesdirect lineup for "Comcast - Digital" and setup my DVB tuner as
described in the HVR-1600 wiki.  Fired up the backend and frontend after
running mythfilldatabase but all the channels were listed as unknown.  I
could tune in a bunch of channels but without listing data why bother?

So after a bunch of searching online I got the idea that maybe
schedulesdirect "Local Broadcast Listings - Antenna" seemed to more closely
match the channels I was tuning.  So I switched my input connection for the
DVB tuner to broadcast and rescaned.

I still have digital channels that I can tune in but no listing
information.  Also now I appear to have an odd mix of channel numbers such
as 2,2-1,2-2,... ,83,83#3,93#3.

Questions:
2a) how can I dump out a list of all the digital channels I've scanned and
found?  I'd like to compare this list to my lineups to see if there's a
better match with broadcast or digital cable.
2b) Do I need to correct this mix of 2-1 and 83#3 channels?  I'm guessing
that I should have only one kind of channel separator and not two?
2c) What's the best way to wipe all the found channels to start over with
scanning?
2d) Does anyone in Mountain View with comcast have a list of clear QAM
channels that I should be able to tune and/or suggestions on how to get this
working?  The list on
http://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/lineupui/US:94043seems extremely
optimistic and doesn't match what I've found so far for OTA
or QAM256.
2e) Can anyone with comcast in Mtn View confirm that they have a mythtv
setup working with clear QAM?  I'm beginning to think I'll have to get one
of comcast's crappy STB tuners and dive into IR blasting that device from
myth (yuck).

If you made it this far thanks for reading and any suggestions or questions
welcome!
Matt
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