[mythtv-users] No sound after channel change with Pinnacle PCTV USB2 tuner

Tue Nov 22 02:06:05 UTC 2011

For the past couple of years I've been struggling to make the audio of 
this system work *properly*.

This is the problem:
I hit Watch TV on the frontend and the channel shows up with sound; I 
hit + and - and the OSD shows "Audio Track 1": perfect.
Then I hit up arrow to change channel; after a while, new channel shows 
up but ***no sound***. I hit + or - and the OSD shows up *blank* (no 
audio track 1)
If I escape and start Watch Tv, the cycle repeats every time.

These are the details:
Mythbuntu 11.04 fresh installed (many times)
Zotac Mag backend/frontend. Laptop frontend (same problem)
Pinnacle PCTV USB2 analog PAL tuner (I need analog; my cable provider
does digital encrypted (which I use in the living room with a STB) and
about 100 free analog channels which I want to send to another room via
wifi/myth, avoiding cable run and another STB)
Backend/V4L capture/sound: ALSA:hw:1,0 (default doesn't work)
TVtime works perfectly (audio/video) with this tuner

$lsusb #relevant...
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 2304:0208 Pinnacle Systems, Inc. Studio PCTV USB2

$arecord -l
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC888 Analog [ALC888 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: PALSECAM [PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

$arecord -L #relevant
default:CARD=PALSECAM
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     Default Audio Device
front:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     Front speakers
surround40:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakers
surround41:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround50:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakers
surround51:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakers
surround71:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakers
iec958:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output
dmix:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     Direct sample mixing device
dsnoop:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     Direct sample snooping device
hw:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     Direct hardware device without any conversions
plughw:CARD=PALSECAM,DEV=0
     PCTV USB2 PAL/SECAM, USB Audio
     Hardware device with all software conversions

dmesg | grep em28xx
[   10.943665] em28xx: New device Pinnacle Systems GmbH PCTV USB2
PAL/SECAM @ 480 Mbps (2304:0208, interface 0, class 0)
[   10.943890] em28xx #0: chip ID is em2820 (or em2710)
[   11.074596] em28xx #0: i2c eeprom 00: 1a eb 67 95 04 23 08 02 10 00
1e 03 98 2a 6a 2e
...
[   11.075011] em28xx #0: EEPROM ID= 0x9567eb1a, EEPROM hash = 0x5b54bee4
[   11.075016] em28xx #0: EEPROM info:
[   11.075020] em28xx #0:       AC97 audio (5 sample rates)
[   11.075024] em28xx #0:       500mA max power
[   11.075029] em28xx #0:       Table at 0x06, strings=0x2a98, 0x2e6a,
0x0000
[   11.076198] em28xx #0: Identified as Pinnacle PCTV USB 2 (card=3)
[   11.829092] saa7115 2-0025: saa7113 found (1f7113d0e100000) @ 0x4a
(em28xx #0)
[   13.404850] em28xx #0: Config register raw data: 0x10
[   13.428859] em28xx #0: AC97 vendor ID = 0xffffffff
[   13.440855] em28xx #0: AC97 features = 0x6a90
[   13.440865] em28xx #0: Empia 202 AC97 audio processor detected
[   13.900071] em28xx #0: v4l2 driver version 0.1.2
[   14.852242] em28xx #0: V4L2 video device registered as video0
[   14.864136] em28xx audio device (2304:0208): interface 1, class 1
[   14.864176] em28xx audio device (2304:0208): interface 2, class 1
[   14.864308] usbcore: registered new interface driver em28xx
[   14.864316] em28xx driver loaded

# watch channel 1022 with sound, change to 1019, sound stops, end watch.
$mythbackend -v audio,record,playback,extra
$cat /var/log/mythtv/mythbackend.log
...
2011-11-14 19:48:28.828 mythbackend version: fixes/0.24
[v0.24.1-80-g1de0431] www.mythtv.org
...
2011-11-14 22:45:52.773 TVRec(1): Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-11-14 22:45:52.828 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2011-11-14 22:45:53.078 LoadFromScheduler(): Error, called from backend.
2011-11-14 22:45:53.088 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2011-11-14 22:45:53.944 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1022
2011-11-14 22:45:54.093 LoadFromScheduler(): Error, called from backend.
2011-11-14 22:45:54.107 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2011-11-14 22:45:54.169 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1022
[mpeg4 @ 0x961e6d0] removing common factors from framerate
strange error flushing buffer ...
2011-11-14 22:45:56.004 RecBase(1:/dev/video0):
GetKeyframePositions(0,9223372036854775807,#1) out of 1
2011-11-14 22:45:56.189 RecBase(1:/dev/video0):
GetKeyframePositions(1,9223372036854775807,#0) out of 1
2011-11-14 22:46:14.134 TVRec(1): HW Tuner: 1->1
2011-11-14 22:46:14.229 LoadFromScheduler(): Error, called from backend.
2011-11-14 22:46:14.240 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min
2011-11-14 22:46:14.306 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1022
2011-11-14 22:46:14.968 MainServer::ANN Monitor
2011-11-14 22:46:15.026 adding: golfinho as a client (events: 0)
2011-11-14 22:46:15.061 MainServer::ANN Monitor
2011-11-14 22:46:15.093 adding: golfinho as a client (events: 1)
2011-11-14 22:46:15.267 Finished recording Unknown: channel 1019
2011-11-14 22:46:15.301 LoadFromScheduler(): Error, called from backend.
2011-11-14 22:46:15.314 AutoExpire: CalcParams(): Max required Free
Space: 2.0 GB w/freq: 15 min

# doesn't help much with sound, does it? Just strange error... and
LoadFromScheduller()... (strange... errors aren't they?)

$mythfrontend -v audio,record,playback,extra
$cat /var/log/mythtv/mythfrontend.log #another similar situation but on
frontend
2011-11-14 23:08:32.152 Using protocol version 63
2011-11-14 23:11:10.015 TV: Attempting to change from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-11-14 23:11:10.015 MythCoreContext: Connecting to backend server:
192.168.1.65:6543 (try 1 of 1)
2011-11-14 23:11:10.016 Using protocol version 63
2011-11-14 23:11:10.126 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- begin
2011-11-14 23:11:11.196 Spawning LiveTV Recorder -- end
2011-11-14 23:11:11.213 We have a
playbackURL(/var/lib/mythtv/livetv/1020_20111114231110.nuv) &
cardtype(DUMMY)
2011-11-14 23:11:11.213 We have a RingBuffer
2011-11-14 23:11:11.989 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Adaptor Name: 'NV17 Video
Texture'
2011-11-14 23:11:12.058 OSD: Base theme size: 800x600
2011-11-14 23:11:12.058 OSD: Scaling factors: 0.9x0.96
2011-11-14 23:11:12.156 OSD: Base theme size: 800x600
2011-11-14 23:11:12.156 OSD: Scaling factors: 0.9x0.96
2011-11-14 23:11:12.171 Player(0): Video timing method: USleep with busy
wait
2011-11-14 23:11:12.172 TV: Changing from None to WatchingLiveTV
2011-11-14 23:11:12.172 TV: State is LiveTV & mctx == ctx
2011-11-14 23:11:12.178 TV: UpdateOSDInput done
2011-11-14 23:11:12.178 TV: UpdateLCD done
2011-11-14 23:11:12.179 TV: ITVRestart done
2011-11-14 23:11:13.179 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Adaptor Name: 'NV17 Video
Texture'
2011-11-14 23:11:13.540 AO: Opening audio device 'default' ch 2(2) sr
48000 sf signed 32 bit reenc 0
2011-11-14 23:11:13.548 ALSA, Error: Setting hardware audio buffer size
to 6016
2011-11-14 23:11:13.549 ALSA, Error: Error opening
/proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/prealloc: Permission denied.
2011-11-14 23:11:13.549 ALSA, Error: Try to manually increase audio
buffer with: echo 6016 | sudo tee /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/prealloc
2011-11-14 23:11:13.549 ALSA, Error: Unable to sufficiently increase
ALSA hardware buffer size - underruns are likely
2011-11-14 23:11:13.564 AudioPlayer: Enabling Audio
2011-11-14 23:11:13.884 Player(0): Waited 100ms for video buffers
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUuL
2011-11-14 23:11:13.892 Player(0): Waited 100ms for video buffers
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUuL
2011-11-14 23:11:13.898 Player(0): Waited 100ms for video buffers
LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUu
2011-11-14 23:11:14.028 VideoOutput: Created YV12 OSD.
2011-11-14 23:11:26.388 BrowseDispInfo()
2011-11-14 23:11:26.388 BrowseStart()
2011-11-14 23:11:26.410 browsechanid: 1020 -> 1021
2011-11-14 23:11:27.588 BrowseDispInfo()
2011-11-14 23:11:27.592 BrowseStart()
2011-11-14 23:11:27.612 browsechanid: 1021 -> 1022
2011-11-14 23:11:28.788 BrowseEnd()
2011-11-14 23:11:30.453
RingBuf(/var/lib/mythtv/livetv/1022_20111114231130.nuv) Warning: Not
starting read ahead thread, already running
2011-11-14 23:11:36.615 VDPAU: Version 1
2011-11-14 23:11:36.615 VDPAU: Information NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared
Library  280.13  Wed Jul 27 17:18:15 PDT 2011
2011-11-14 23:11:36.640 VideoOutputXv: XVideo Adaptor Name: 'NV17 Video
Texture'
2011-11-14 23:11:36.707 AFD Warning: ScanATSCCaptionStreams() called
with no PMT
2011-11-14 23:11:36.707 AFD: Opened codec 0x9c418c0, id(MPEG4) type(Video)
2011-11-14 23:11:36.708 AudioPlayer: Disabling Audio, params(0,-1,-1)
2011-11-14 23:11:36.948 AudioPlayer: Disabling Audio, reason is:
Aborting Audio Reconfigure. Invalid audio parameters ch -1 fmt 0 @ -1Hz
2011-11-14 23:11:36.976 AFD: Resetting byte context eof (livetv 1 was eof 0)
2011-11-14 23:11:37.117 Player(0): Waited 100ms for video buffers
UUUUuLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUU
2011-11-14 23:11:37.123 Player(0): Waited 100ms for video buffers
UUUUUuLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUU
2011-11-14 23:11:37.134 Player(0): Waited 100ms for video buffers
UUUUUUuLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUU
2011-11-14 23:11:37.140 Player(0): Waited 100ms for video buffers
UUUUUUUuLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUU
2011-11-14 23:12:08.228 TV: Attempting to change from WatchingLiveTV to None
2011-11-14 23:12:08.658 TV: Changing from WatchingLiveTV to None

Concerning audio buffer reset error above, all /proc files are root
owned and not accessible by others or am I wrong? How is mythtv user,
not root group, supposed to be able to to write that file?

Anyway, I suspect the real problem is:

Aborting Audio Reconfigure. Invalid audio parameters ch -1 fmt 0 @ -1Hz

How did the parameters de-configure? They were right when we started
watching the first channel:

AO: Opening audio device 'default' ch 2(2) sr 48000 sf signed 32 bit reenc 0

Sorry for the long post, didn't find a shorter way to expose the matter.

Any help for a desperate user?
Rgds,
jss