[mythtv-users] Hauppauge HVR-1600 Analog Tuner Issues

[faginbagin]

You didn't mention a cable box, so I'm going to assume you aren't using one. If I were you, I would first make sure the driver is working properly. There's no point in working with 8.04 Hardy, because the cx18 driver (which is the one that supports the analog half of the HVR-1600) was immature to non-existent at that time, and you said 10.04 is the release you want to use. So your first step should be to install Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit. That's what I'm using with an Athlon dual core 4850e and ASUS M3N78-PRO mobo. Once installed, you should then try to test tuning with the card outside of Myth. For this, you'll need mplayer and ivtv-utils installed, e.g:
sudo apt-get install mplayer
sudo apt-get install ivtv-utils
Assuming you've got a /dev/video0 device, you will now need to open two terminal windows.

In the first, you'll launch mplayer as follows:
mplayer -cache 8192 /dev/video0

In the second, you'll use ivtv-tune to try tuning in different channels, possibly using different frequency tables. For example:
ivtv-tune -t us-cable -c 23
should tune cable channel 23. Of course, you can choose any analog channel a TV hooked up to cable without cable box can tune. After a few seconds delay, you should see the result in the mplayer window.

If it doesn't work, you can try other frequency tables. ivtv-tune will list the options with the command:
ivtv-tune -L
In North America, there are three possibilities: us-cable, us-cable-hrc, us-cable-irc.
IOW, if the first ivtv-tune command doesn't produce sensible video and audio in the mplayer window, try these commands in the second terminal window:
ivtv-tune -t us-cable-hrc -c 23
ivtv-tune -t us-cable-irc -c 23

If you still don't get anything useful, then I suggest you post to the ivtv-users mailing list for help:
http://ivtvdriver.org/mailman/listinfo/ivtv-users

I think Linux kernel 2.6.32 has a version of the cx18 driver that will work well with the analog side of the HVR-1600. However, when/if you want to use the digital side with cable, you should get better results if you compile the latest v4l-dvb drivers. There was a fix that last November that significantly improved signal quality of clear QAM channels (digital cable).

Once you can show the card and driver are working with mplayer/ivtv-tune, then it's time to look at your MythTV configuration, as Geoff suggested. Make sure you've configured the same frequency table that worked with ivtv-tune. And, definitely, sign up for the free trial of Schedules Direct.

One other thought, if you've got a video clip (like one captured using Windows 7), try playing it using "mplayer file-name". That will rule out any issues that might exist with your on-board ATI graphics hardware and Linux.

HTH,
Helen