[mythtv-users] HD-PVR Issues

[Jeff Wormsley]

Alan Young wrote:
> Ok. That's a good sign that the HDPVR is not bad.
An even better sign is that I hooked it to my main desktop where I kept 
(after shrinking) the Vista partition that came with it, and ran the 
TotalMedia application that came with it, and it worked just fine.  I 
watched about 15 minutes of Palladia in 1080i and 5.1 surround without a 
hitch.

>> I then unplugged the USB cable, turned the HDPVR off, plugged in the
>> cable and turned it back on. I see the following from dmesg which looks
>> ok to me:
>>
>> usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 46
>
> This looks like a problem.  UHCI host controllers are limited to USB 
> 1.x "full" and "low" speed devices.    You need a controller that is 
> USB 2.0 or later to provide USB "high" speed.  If this motherboard 
> does not have a EHCI USB controller on board, you'll need to get a USB 
> PCI or PCIe card or move to a new motherboard that has a EHCI 
> controller onboard.
>
> If the motherboard does have a EHCI controller on board, make sure the 
> EHCI driver is being loaded.  You could also check your BIOS settings 
> to make sure the USB EHCI controller is enabled and/or USB 2.0 support 
> is turned on.
>
> If the EHCI driver is being loaded and lsusb shows USB 2.0 host 
> controller hubs, then I'd suspect you may have a bad USB cable.  
> There's also a possibility that the controller chip has been damaged 
> in some way.  Poor USB port designs are notorious for shorting out via 
> static electricity.
Hmm, this is indeed odd.  This has worked before, but I happen to have 
several brand new USB2.0 PCI cards laying around (bought for old PC's 
with no USB at all and then never used) so I may give that a try.  I 
think I have a couple of open slots.

... time passes...

Ok, in goes the new card, and a little lspci detective work, and a doh! 
moment, below.

> You might not need to update the firmware, but if you need to you'll 
> need to download the windows driver and attach the HDPVR to a computer 
> running windows to update it.   This isn't really recommended unless 
> you are having some kind of problem or happen to have a really old 
> version of the firmware that doesn't support Dolby captures.  If you 
> had a old version there would be a different message.  So I don't 
> that's the case here.
I updated it to the latest firmware a couple of months ago, and I don't 
think it has changed since then.

But, this tells me what has gone wrong.  That last firmware update I 
installed was because it fixed the resolution switching problem.  I had 
pegged my DCT-6200 box to 480i earlier, and I undid that when I 
installed that firmware.  Apparently, the hdpvr works on 1.1 USB at 
480i.  I never noticed my USB ports were 1.1 because of that, but 
looking with lspci at the motherboard chipset, I found datasheet and it 
plainly says UHCI, which is 1.1.

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1 
(rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #2 
(rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #3 
(rev 02)

I added a generic USB card, but I'm not sure what's up with it...

01:03.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 62)
01:03.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 62)
01:03.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 65)

I don't know why it says USB 1.1 on two ports and 2.0 on another.  It 
has four external and one internal USB headers.  It shows controller 2 
as USB 2.0, and lsusb says my hdpvr is on Bus 001 Device 002.

The important thing is I run cat and it records as long as I let it.  
And, despite occasionally the audio not coming in, it works in myth now 
at full 1080i resolution, even in Live TV.

> Check the controller info above and that should point you in the right 
> direction.
Thanks ever so much for your help.  Since I had it working before (but 
only in 480i), I never would have suspected a 1.1 USB port.


Jeff.