[mythtv-users] MythTV+Mageia2+PowerViewTV card(s)

[John Pilkington]

On 30/09/12 08:16, Marc Paré wrote:
> Le 2012-09-30 02:29, Nick Rout a écrit :
>> Now I wondered if I was right so I looked further! googling this card
>> and linux mainly results in posts by you to the mageaia mailing lists
>> LOL. One points here
>> http://www.factorydirect.ca/Product.aspx?sku=PO0010  which has a pic.
>> The pic shows a sticker on the card listing a number of analogue TV
>> standards: PAL, NTSC, SECAM.
>
> Yup, I had tried to sign-up to the MythTV mailing list 3 times before I
> finally got a reply to my sign-up -- it almost looks like sign-ups are
> moderated. Anyway, I am glad I am on the list as it look like quite a
> friendly and helpful list. However, as you most likely read, the members
> on the Mageia list convinced me that using MythTV on Mageia was indeed
> as possible as any other distro; their experience were all positive.
>
> As to the PowerView TV card that is mentioned in your text, yes, I have
> been making reports for a few years on the Mandriva then Mageia forums
> to keep anyone else appraised of the compatibility of the card with TV
> time, as well as the setup to make them work on these distros. It uses
> the Philips 713x or Bt 878 chipsets (labelled on the card). It says it
> provides Mpeg1 or Mpeg2 compression, but I always assumed it did this
> through software, but, only on the Windows side. It does not support
> Linux; I am not sure how to test this to see if it is through hardware.
> The manuals are quite cryptic and do not offer clear details ...
> obviously for the price you pay, you get what you pay for.
>
> I have installed dozens of these on Linux boxes as they used to cost
> around $12each but are now retailing slightly above $20Cdn. I have not
> heard of any of the owners complaining of loss of service yet.
>
>> This reinforces my view that the card is analogue only, and you are
>> getting some leftover Rogers analogue service.
>>
>> That may be switched off any time, so you will want to consider a move
>> to digital, but you might also fall foul of various encryption
>> problems - I don't know what Rogers makes available "in the clear".
>> You will need the advice of others on the same or similar services to
>> advise properly.
>>
>
> Hmmm, not sure. I thought that the notes we received from Rogers stated
> that if you used analog TV that there was no loss of channels. If you
> purchased a digital TV, then, some channels would be affected, and of
> course, they were advertising their "set top box" to fix this. I am a
> little fuzzy on this, but for now, we are getting all of our channels
> and our recent purchase of a digital TV (we finally joined the 21st
> century, yeah!), we are in fact getting some extra channels.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Marc
>

Hmm.  'No loss of channels' may mean that they'll just get fuzzier.  I'm 
well outside my comfort zone here, but it looks as if you have what 
Mythtv will think is a v4l device.  Does mythtvsetup see one of those? 
I have a Hauppauge device that I use only for dvb, but ISTR that I used 
to see a v4l side too; now I don't, although dmesg | grep saa shows that 
the kernel still recognises it.

With recent kernels mythtv has had, and may still have, issues in 
recognising tv cards, apparently because kernel modules were loaded in 
the wrong order.  I was able to work round this by restoring a working 
database but you won't have that option.  I don't know what kernel or 
mythtv release you have.

I think you really ought to be looking towards digital tuners unless 
there is an encryption problem.  Here in the UK you can get twin-tuner 
dvb usb devices that work reasonably well for under 30 GBP - and with 
one of those you could record 10 channels at once...

John P