[mythtv-users] Has MythTV bricked my HD-PVR?

Larry K lunchtimelarry at gmail.com
Sun Mar 4 03:07:12 UTC 2012


On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 11:49 AM, Derek & Cindi Cass <
cass at casscoenterprises.com> wrote:

> Can you at least cat /dev/hdpvr > test.mpg without erroring out?
>
You say that Mythtv bombs after 2 minutes.   Why don’t you try capturing
> video directly for about 5 minutes and see if that works.  This will
> eliminate Myth as the issue (I’m guessing that this is going to be a
> hardware issue).
>

Well, I thought I was able to, but thanks to your note, I now realize I was
mistaken when I said I can cat without error.  When I cat, most of the time
it just stops writing the file after a few minutes, the equivalent of maybe
200-300MB or so.  Once or twice it created a 1GB file before it failed.
 The HD-PVR stays aglow after the failure, and even after I abort the cat
command.

 **
>
> Other things to try would be different cables from your STB to the HDPVR.
>

Today, I switched out my component cables.  At first I thought that might
be the problem since one of the three video cables appeared to be loose.
 Sadly, that wasn't it.
Earlier in this thread I also switched out the USB cable.


> Does this happen for all channels? Do some channels work while others
> fail?
>

I select channels at random, and the result is always the same.  Recordings
work for several minutes, and then bomb out.


> You may try locking the output resolution from your STB to 720p to see if
> that stabilizes things.
>

Pretty sure I already have the STB set to 720P as has been a longstanding
recommended for the HD-PVR.  I'll need to double-check that.


> **
>
> I’m guessing that you are using component video and optical audio.  The
> HDPVR has a history of trouble with the audio when used with an optical
> connection (search the list).  I personally use an component/optical
> without issue.  Make sure that your optical cable is seated tightly, and if
> it has ever been bent too sharply it may have been damaged.  Try another if
> you can.
>

When I first got the HD-PVR, I tried to use optical audio, but I had
problems, so now I am simply using RCA analog audio cables.  Today, I
switched those out too, with no change.  The one thing I didn't try is to
go back to optical digital audio.   Maybe I should try that to see.


> ****
>
> ** **
>
> Are you sure you have sound on the short recordings that you are left with
> before they bomb?  I have also seen issues like this when the optical cable
> somehow disconnected itself from the audio in and reconnected itself to the
> audio out, all without my intervention because I would NEVER have made a
> mistake like that myself ;-).
>

I have sound and decent PQ in my recordings, for as long as they last.

An additional test I did was to attach the video cables from the STB to a
spare TV to see what was happening.  PQ was pretty good and nothing looked
amiss.

I think the problem has to be either the O/S (driver)  or the hardware
itself.   At this point I am not sure how to determine which.  Should I try
hooking the PVR up to my windows machine and capture from there?  Maybe
that would tell me if my Linux system is the culprit, or the hardware.

Talk about frustrating....

****
>
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