[mythtv-users] HDPVR Crashes With Missing S/PDIF Input

[Kirk Bocek]

On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Kirk Bocek <kirkbocek at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 10:32 AM, Johnny Walker <johnnyjboss at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 11:09 AM, Kirk Bocek <kirkbocek at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 7:38 AM, Greg Woods <greg at gregandeva.net> wrote:
>>>> On Tue, 2010-05-25 at 22:10 -0700, Kirk Bocek wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> After many backend reboots and power-cycling of the HDPVR I finally
>>>>> figured out that I had knocked out the optical S/PDIF cable
>>>> [...]
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm posting this because I've haven't seen this problem mentioned
>>>>> before.
>>>>
>>>> The HD-PVR will not work if there is no audio connected to the
>>>> programmed input. At least, what I know for sure is that if you are
>>>> using the SPDIF input and there is no optical cable connected, it
>>>> doesn't work. This has *definitely* been mentioned here before; I
>>>> encountered this problem myself about a month ago.
>>>
>>> Well it sure seems like the hardware (which is where I assume the
>>> problem lies) should handle this situation more gracefully. Should
>>> someone add a 'gotcha' warning to the wiki page?
>>>
>>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HD-PVR
>>
>> Unless someone JUST added it before I got there - please see
>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HD-PVR#Steps_to_Add_the_HD-PVR_as_a_Capture_Device_in_MythTV_.280.22_or_later.29
>>
>> where it states: "All cables must be functional and properly attached
>> in order for capture to succeed with the HD-PVR."
>
> My bad. I thought I had read the page very carefully. I missed that
> sentence. I guess I'm wanting that information in some kind of
> troubleshooting section.

Johnny,
This is in no way a flame about your post. It just took me awhile to
figure out why that sentence on the HDPVR wiki page isn't enough. The
statement is self evident: if you don't plug in all the cables, you
aren't going to get a recording. Duh.

The problem is that the HDPVR isn't behaving as desired or expected
when the audio cable is missing or broken. What is expected is that at
a minimum you'll get a recording with no sound. Perhaps an error could
be kicked back to the driver letting the application know something is
wrong. What is *not* expected is for the HDPVR to lock up and for Myth
to behave as if your new hardware has gone south in some way.

Locking-up in response to missing audio input is aberrant behavior and
should be addressed in the wiki.